The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-02 00:00:00

ACCLIMATIZATION SOCIETY,

FRASER.—" Indian Prospects" is the first subTherejemis
to attract the attention of the reader.
nothing very new or striking in the article which
recapitulates the signs of progress and development
perceptible in our Eastern Empire, and then de-
nounces the "mammon worship" of those speakers
and writers who are always encouraging the cultivation of
India and the extension of its trade. Of course, if trade is
allowed to become a mere matter of selfish barter, and laws
are passed for the benefit of European traders and thee e op-
pression of the Hindoos, our rule does not deserto
prosper, but under the equitable laws which real
free trade necessitates, and guided by the high principles
which usually influence our statesman in questions
of public morality and justice, there is no need
to fear that because the wastes of India are converted into
profitable fields, end her savage tribes transformed into
peaceable labourers, we are injuring the cause of Chris-
tianity
i ndu reg
development
erl
are sufficieylaont
and civilisation instead of advancing it. The intro-
ductiontferaeshh'
will
s of honest, profitable, and pacific means of livelihood
pht plmeyrrosivnnett
than
eolafl ni
tgahe assistance
resources
ands
hindrance.t aceeept
capable
Thel meotroanl
pa
traionvfide
to
bofy Indiae
v religiouser every
our responsibilities are
of suffering of their country instead
from it as
a better day has dawned over the rulers leresacs
mere savages might do. Doubtless
England feels the weight of tenedsolemnownchdelual.
Englishman in
. great, and th
an in India, as Lord Stanley once observed, has
a powerful and extended influence,
worthy of it. A very excellenittlpaper on
But we may hope that
rc,agt:et ohi fbsehe
ruled Liberty
Criticism and the Law of
o fLilboewl"
voluntarily undertaken, and is her-
selfrnegsttottperovreeade
It discusses a point
political speakers and writers to
important to
oaAattract them to
the consideration of its arguments.
Chapter showing
how Lord P— became our Rector," gives
some amusing
anecdotes of a Scottish celebrity of the last
"A Derby Day among the Arabs" recounts thelleration.
e writer's
experiences of an Arabian tribe, and describes a race
among
the dwellings in the desert. The writer repeats anaasser-
tion which he heard, which, if true, is certainly singular
The owner of an English thoroughbred assured the traveller.
that his horse had distanced every Arab he had tried him
against, and that having become acclimatised and accus-
tomed to hard life and hard fare, he was quite equal to the
desert horses in hardiness and endurce. The entymo-
logical will be attracted by an account of some of the vary-
ing species of British snails, and theh
of epicure may
ilpossibly
feel disposed to experiment on a dis apple snas, but,
notwithstanding Evelyn's verdict that they are " huge
fleshy, and delicious," we do not anticipate that the taste
will become popular, "Ow Modern. Yoath" is the title of

The anniversary festival of this society was cele•
brated by a dinner in St. James's-hall last evening.
On this occasion the festival was intended "to il-
lustrate, in the first place, some of the special ob-
jects of the society, as, for example, the introduc-
tion of the Chinese sheep and the yam, or Dioscorea
Batatas, and, in the second place, the food of other
countries, which do not usually find their way to
our tables." In the unavoidable absence of the Duke
of Newcastle, president of the society, the chair was
taken by Mr.. Herman Merivale, C. 8.; and among
the other gentlemen present were the Marquis of
Conyngham, the Earl of Breadalbane, Lord Rivers,
Sir W Maccarthur, Sir C. Nicholson, Sir C. Scott,
Mr. W. H. Russell, LL.D., Captain Grant, Captain
Speke, Mr. Bernal Osborne, M.P., Sir L. Palk, Sir
E. Smith, Mr. P. Du Chaillu, the Hon. G. Berke-
ley, Mr. E. Wilson, Captain Clarke, &c. Among
the numerous dishes served up on the occasion were
the white soup of the Chunnel Islands, lucioperca,
grenouilles, or edible frogs, pepperpot, Chinese
lamb, roasted whole, with pileff and knscoussoo,
poulet 5. l'emancipation des negres, and ostrich eggs.
Besides the wines ordinarily produced at public
dinners in this country there were various Greek,
Hungarian, Australian, and Californian wines. The
apartment in which the company were assembled
was decorated with the heads, horns, and skins of a
variety of foreign animals; and as if to acclimatise
Englishmen to the atmosphere of far distant re-
gions, the room in which the guests were assembled
was of a tropical temperature. The loyal toasts
were drunk with enthusiasm, and the chairman
explained that the main object of the society
was to increase and vary the useful natural pro-
ducts of the empire, and to spread abroad a
better knowledge of the uses of those which
we possess. The Marquis of Conyngham replied to
the toast of " The House of Lords." Mr. Bernal
Osborne responded to that of " The House of Com-
mons," and in so doing said he was not astonished
at the absence of the Duke of Newcastle. One of
the dishes with which the company had been re-
galed was " the white soup of the Channel Islands.'
It appeared from a statement made on the authority
of the society that this delicious white soup was
made of the conger eel—" a creature so despised
that the starving Irish have refused to add flavour
and nutriment to their potatoes by boiling with
them a salted steak of the conger." He had tasted
this delicious soup on the present occasion ; the
Duke of Newcastle had experienced it at a former
dinner, and he was at no loss to account for the ab-
sence of his Grace. (Much laughter.) They had
tasted "hybrid ducks" at this banquet, but the
e
sight of these birds was no novelty
members of the House of Commons, for
there were several of the
species on the
Treasury bench. (Renewed laughter.)
They had
also seen a Chinese lamb, but he was sorry to say
that there was very little woe], and
be bad met
which
another disappointment in the ostrich eggs
he had come there to eat. He expected a genuine
ds of
English article from acclimatised bark,lr
but to his
logical Gardens, in the Regent's-pthe Zoo-