The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-12 00:00:00

sonally introducing to a predecessor of yours, and to the
citizens of this town, my late illustrious and ever-to-be-
lamented friend, Sir Robert Peel. (Loud applause.) I
well remember, upon that occa9ion, the unanimity and
enthusiastic feelings with which you conferred upon him
the honour of your freedom. (Applause.) Since that time
it has pleased her Majesty to place me in the position which
he had occupied for several years, to his own immortal
honour, and with incalculable advantage to his country.
(Loud applause.) I am sure that I need not say how
utterly hopeless and vain it would be in me if I were to
presume to expect to rise to the height which he had occu-
pied for several years, to his own immortal honour,- and
with incalculable advantage to his country. (Loud Ap-
plause.) I am sure that I need not say how utterly hope-
less and vain it would be in me if I were to presume
to expect to establish the same claim to public grati-
tude, or to carry into effect such measures as he accom-
plished ; but, at the same time, I may be permitted humbly
to hope that the recollection of his example and of
his friendship may not altogether be without its fruits.
(Great applause.) Gentlemen, when it pleased her Majesty
to place me in the situation which I now have the honour
to fill, I thought it my duty briefly and generally, but ex-
plicitly, to declare the principles upon which the Govern-
ment, of which I was placed at the head, would be carried
on. I have no reason to swerve from these principles or
that declaration. On the contrary, it is that to which I
desire to adhere. No doubt, the first great object would
naturally be to maintain and to extend that financial and
commercial system of my late lamented friend which, at
that time, had been recently established. But, gentlemen,
that now has become a superfluous work. There is no ne-
cessity for any one to constitute himself a champion, or a
defender, of the system—commercial and financial—of Sir
R. Peel, -for that, at least in this country, appears to be
universally adopted, and even by his enemies it is eit'uer
avowedly or professedly adopted, or, at least, silently ac-
quiesced in. I declare, too, that the main principle upon
which the measures of the Government rest was rounded
on a principle of conservative progress. Now, it has been
attempted to cast doubt ups,' the meaning of this term,
and it has been pretended that it is vague and not easy in-
telligible. Now, what I mean by it is this, that, while
the groat institutions of the country, and the fundamen-
tal principles of the constitution shall be religiously
preserved, I would, nevertheless, fearlessly carry the
hand of Reform into every department of the State.
(Prolonged applause.) I am satisfied it is only by such
principles that any government can long exist in this cowl;
try, or deserve the support of the people. (Cheers.) We
have endeavoured to act upon this principle, and, to a con-
siderable extent, I may look back with satisfaction to mea-
sures which have been carried for the advantage of the
public at large, and which appear to me to merit the ap-
probation of the country. Nay, even in the last session of
Parliament, although, from other circumstances of a very
peculiar nature, it was not possible to give the full deve
lopment to the projects of her Majesty's Government;
nevertheless, various measures were carried—fiscal, com-
mercial, and legal—all of which were fraught with great
advantage to the general public, and in ordinary times
would have been amply sufficient to have furnished the
materials for public thanks, and sufficient occupation for
the tession of Parliament. It is true also, that on that
occasion I felt it my duty to declare that the policy of the
Government was a policy of peace. I believe it will be ad-
mitted that to that policy we endeavoured firmly to adhere.
(Cheers.) Nay more, lam satisfied that thegreat and uni-
versal support we now meet with throughout the country
in the war in which we are engaged, is due to the belief
that we sincerely did our utmost to avoid war. When
war became inevitable, and at the moment when it. be-
came necessary to declare it, then, although I can frilly
say for myself that I clung to the hope of peace with
almost a desperate tenacity, yet, when war became inevit-
able, I declared that, so far as I was concerned, it should
be carried on with the utmost vigour and energy of which
the country was capable. Gentlemen, perhaps the mo-
ment is not inopportune to ae,k whether that pledge has
now been fulfilled? (Loud and prolonged cheering.) If,
gentlemen, you will only consider what has been done in
the course of six short months, I think you will admit that
this country never made an exertion at all comparable
with that which she has just made. An army has been
collected, and transported from the shores of this country
such as never left them in preceding history—an army such
as the Duke of Wellington never commanded, and ap-
pointed in all its parts iu a manner which, humanly speak-
ing, is calculated to insure its success. (Cheers.) Gentle-
men, conceive what the extent of preparation must have
been, when you are told that not less than seven hun-
dred vessels are engaged in the same operation. The
difficulties connected with it, and the time re-
quired indispensably for such an undertaking, must
strike every man of common candour ; and yet we hear
delay talked of as if there had been delay. (Cheers.) I
will venture to say that such an effort was never, in the
history of the world, made in so short a time as has been
made. (Cheers.) This army has gone forth, and has
achieved its first groat victory, in conjunction with our
gallant allies, the strict union and concert with whom has
been fully established from the very first moment, and
holds out the most encouraging prospect to all Europe.
(Cheers.) Wo know not the details of this event, but
they appear to me to be most important, and, I trust, de-
cisive; for, although by the natural impatience of the
public, in which I myself partook, we were led to believe
the reports from different quarters of the consequences
—the immediate consequences of this victory, which are
now found to have been confirmed, still, let us hope
that what had been reported without foundation, may, in
a short time, become' reality. (Loud cheers.) At the very
moment in which I am now addressing you, there is no
reason not to hope that that event which, in the course of
last week, was erroneously reported, has new become a
fact. (Cheers.) I have said that the war would be con-
tinued with the utmost vigour and energy of which the
country was capable, but in this I do not abandon a pacific
policy. I believe that to carry on the war in this manner
affords the best prospect of arriving at an early and a satis-
factory peace. I believe that peace, although sought by
different means, is sought as effectually, under present cir-
cumstances, by this course, as it would be by written ne-
gotiations or diplomatic discussions, (Cheers.) Let me
observe that, in carrying on the war with this vigour and
with this energy, we have nevertheless done something to
deprive war of its horrors, to humanise and to mitigate
those atrocities with which war is inevitably accompanied.
At the risk and at the sacrifice of some belligerent rights,
we have admitted the commerce of neutrals, and we have,
by our example, put an end to privateering, a most dread-
ful relic of a barbarous age, and which the weird will now
probably never see revived. I say, then, that we have en-
deavoured to mitigate the horrors of war, even while car-
rying it on with the utmost vigour ; and in so carrying it
on, I repeat that I for one shall never lose sight of the
only legitimate object of all war, that of arriving at a
stable, just, and honourable peace. (Loud cheers.) Gentle-
men, I will say that war, when it ceases to he a necessity,
becomes a crime. (Applause.) I should consider any one
who had prolonged the war for a single day when it was
in his power to make a just, safe, and honourable peace,
would be greatly guilty Li the eyes of God and man.
(Cheers.) Gentlemen, I will detain you no longer, but I
will repeat my respectful thanks for the great kindness
with which you have received me, and which I have ex-
perienced at your hands. (Loud cheers.)
At the conclusion of the noble lard's address, the Pro-
vost proposed three cheers for the Queen, which were fol-
lowed by the like compliment to the noble Premier ; three
cheers were also given for the Army and Navy, and three
cheers for the Provost.

COURT OF ALDERMEN.

On Taesday a court was held for the despatch of
business.

The LORD MAYOR informed the court that a prisoner
who had been committed by Alderman Wire some days
ago having escaped, it would be necessary to adopt some
proceedings with reference to the occurrence, especially
as it had been suggested that the officers who had pri-
soners in their custody in passing to and from the City
police courts did sot receive sufficient assistance to
enable them to perform one of the most important parts
of their duty efficiently.
The subject was, upon the motion of Alderman Wire,
referred to the General Purposes Committee, to examine
and report on.

HEALTHY sun OP THE CITY PRISONS.
Mr. BURDON, the governor of Whitecross-street
Prison, reported that there were 196 prisoners in that
gaol, and added there had not been a single attack of
cholera. The prisoners generally have been orderly and
well-behaved, and but few cases of insubordination to
prison rules have occurred.

The usual orders relative to the arrangements for and
the observance of next Lord Mayor's day were issued
lsy the court: