The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-06 00:00:00

(From the Montreal Pilot of August 22.)
The subjoined account of the proceedings of the public
dinner in honour of Robert Stephenson, Esq., M.P., will be
read with interest. Apart from the circumstance of the
worldwide ability of the subject of the testimonial, the
conspicuous position of the guests invited to pay due honour
to his presence, and the high respectability of the parties
who acted as the hosts in subscribing to the festival, there
are other points which invest it with more than ordinary
importance. The matured judgment of such persons as
Mr. Stephenson and Mr. Jackson on the matters descanted
on by them, with such " native unadorned eloquence," are
entitled to, and will doubtless carry, great weight in this
country, in the future regulation of our railroad policy.
We need not urge attention to these remarks—their intrin-
sic merit and their vast importance will command for
them due respect. The speech also of Mr. Hincks, and in-
deed of all the gentlemen who addressed the assembled
company, are worthy of careful perusal and study.
In our last, we briefly adverted to the gratifying man-
ner in which the dinner passed over, and in giving the
present more exteittled account of the proceedings of the
evening, we must repeat our tribute to the entire excel-
lence of the arrangements. We have never in Canada
been present at a public dinner so well provided in every
respect with the luxuries and delicacies of the season, and at
which the wines were so recherche in quality, and the wait-
ing so excellent.
The decorations of the tables and of the room were in
excellent taste. In front of the chairmen was a model of a
railroad bridge, with cars passing over, and shipping be-
neath it, extending the whole length of the table, and
ornamented with appropriate flags and devices, which were
also exhibited at other parts of the table. The excellent
band of the 2Gth Regiment being placed in a shed con-
structed outside of the building, the sound was _rendered
not too powerful. It contributed largely to the gratifica-
tion of the meeting by the admirable manner in which it
performed a number of delightful pieces of music.
The chair was ably filled by the Honourable Peter
M`Gill ; to whom the audience evinced, alike by their
attention, and by the enthusiastic manner in which they
greeted the highly appropriate remarks with which he in-
troduced the several toasts, the high respect in w' doh he
is universally held. The two members for the city, the
Hon. Messrs. Young and Badgley, ably sustained the
office of Vice-Presidents. To the right of the chairman
was the guest of the evening, Mr. Stephenson ; to his left
the Hon. Francis Hincks ; they were respectively flanked
at the upper table by R. Jackson, Esq., M.P., the Hon.
Messrs. Rolph, Ross, and Tache, Col. Bruce, and Col. Napier.
We observed the following members of the Provincial Le-
gislature amongst the party : Hon. Mr. Bourret, M. L.
C., Sir A. N. Mac Nab, Mr. J. A. Macdonald, Mr. Egan,
and Mr. Cartier. Mr. Sheriff Boston and other public
functionaries, Mr. Allan, President of the Board of Trade,
and a large proportion of the leading members of the mer-
cantile body ; Messrs. Holmes, Molson, Brewster, Delisle,
Coffin, and other of our railroad directors and projectors
were also 9 present. Altogether, the company may truly be
said to have embraced a large proportion of the wealth and
intelligence of the city.
The Hon. Peter M`Gill rose and proposed the health of
the Queen. which was drunk with all the honours, and
followed by the " National Anthem" by the band —the
words sung by Augustus Howard, Esq.
The second toast, " Prince Albert and the rest of the
Royal Family," was also drunk in similar style, followed
by the band with " Prince Albert's March."
The third toast, " The Governor General," the chair-
man said, was not merely due to the high station of the
distinguished individual, but to the efforts he had made,
most efficiently, to advance the material interests of the
country in canals and railroads. He had done everything in
his power to promote the prosperity of the country. His Ex-
cellency had been to him, (Mr. M`G.) personally, verykind ;
he might say to his Sovereign, when he reached home, that
he had left the colony in a more prosperous st Ito
than any other Governor had done. He hoped they would
wish His Excellency a prosperous passage to his native
country. (Cheers.)
The toast was then drunk, and received with immense
cheering. After the air from the Band, " Scots wha
hae "
The Hon. Colonel 13Rums rose to return thanks. He was
gratified by the eloquent address with which the toast had
been introduced, and the cordial manner in which it had
been received. No mau could more appreciate this mag-
nificent testimonial of the kind feelings than the Governor
General himself. No one hails with more pleasure, the
advancement of every district, and particularly the com-
munication of one with the other. His Excellency had
this great work at heart, and trusted it would extend to
link the North American provinces with the far West.
The project was no longer " looming in the distance," but
was nearly accomplished. The toast was not the less
gratifying that it came from a gentleman for whom both
in his public and private capacity, he had the highest
esteem and regard. His Excellency leaves for a short
time to revisit his native country, and in enjoying that
relaxation, he will not abate one jot of the deep interest
he will ever take in the material prosperity of Canada and
as an earnest, after the conclusion of the late long—he
might almost say tedious session—His Excellency had
ascended the Ottawa, and had even gone further west, and
-touched a little bit of California gold, (so we understood,) and
was not the man to spend his time in indolence. (Cheers.)
Hon. Mr. M‘GILL then gave " The Army and Navy,"
and remarked that there were at present rumours of war,
which he hoped would all end in smoke. If they did not
the soldiers and sailors in the British service would be
prepared to do their duty, as they had always done before.
Colonel NAPIER, C. 8., Actg. D.A. General, returned
thanks.
The Hon. Mr. M`Gmr, again rose, and said the next
toast was emphatically the toast of the evening. (Cheer-
ing long and loud. After silence had at length been pro-
cured, he went on.) He would introduce to the company
their distinguished guest on his right hand, Mr. Robert
Stephenson, M.P., whose reputation as a practical and scien-
tific engineer was confined only to the limits of the civi-
lised world. Gentlemen of Montreal were doing them-
selves honour by doing honour to him. His name alone
was sufficient to ensure the toast an enthusiastic reception.
He was the son of the celebrated John Stephenson, and
had inherited his father's genius and his father's reputa-
tion. In 1828 he was called by his father to assist him in
the Live-pool and Manchester Railway. In 1832 he was
in charge of the Liverpool and Birmingham as engineer,
and experienced numerous and great difficulties in the
work. He had also been engaged by mining companies in
England and Peru, and prove. f himself full of mechanical
resources. In 1847 he had the Chester and Holyhead Rail-
way, and it was here that his masterpiece of engineering
was effected, the bridge over the Menai Straits. This stu-
pendous work would be looked upon by after ages as
one of the wonders of the world. He had also laid out
great works on the continent of Europe, and the Pasha of
Egypt had secured his services . for works on his Pashalik.
He was now here amongst us to do us good, by designing
the bridge at Montreal. Under his auspices, success was
certain ; and when built, the structure would not be the
least monument that would carry his name down to pos.
terity. In connection with the bridge, he would also
mention the great railway system now commencing in
Canada, and the great benefit we were to derive from it.
We could not imagine that engaged as he was in works
all over the world, he could devote all his attention to this
work. But Wellington and Napoleon had their generals
and adjutants under them, and Mr. Stephenson would be
ably represented by Mr. Ross and others, until his return
next spring He gave the health of Robert Setphenson,
Esq., M.P.
Mr. STEPHENSON rose amidst much applause, and said
that he owed much to the honourable chairman for the
distinguished compliments he had paid him, and the high
appreciation he had been pleased to express of his merits.
He had come to Canada upon a professional visit, and
from what he had seen of the country, he was convinced
that the present was but the commencement of a great
railway system, and he ventured to express his sincere
desire, that Canada should avoid these errors in producing
the system which other countries had committed with
theirs. Canada was yet only on the threshold, and the
proper laying out of the plan, he thought of as much im-
portance as the introduction of railroads themselves. He
hoped that the legislature of this country would not do as
those of some countries had done, for although there were
difficulties in the way, yet here it appeared to him they
were principally. those of legislation. Canada, at present,
had an unoccupied field before her, and much would de•
pend upon tbe first step. If it were taken with judgment,
other difficulties would be of comparatively little import-
ance. If it were taken injudiciously, what seemed but a
speck in the west might become a thunder cloud. The
dangers might not be apparent to Canadians at present,
but before he sat down he would endeavour to make us
sensible of them. He had seen the rise and progress of
railways in England, and those who had not could hardly
appreciate the enormous losses occasioned by false legisla-
tion. Few, indeed, know the rise and progress of the
legislation with respect to them. He would occupy a few
minutes in pointing out what those errors were, and what
course to take to avoid them. He was incapable of ora-
tory ; but, having been mixed up with railway con-
tentions for twenty years, he thought he could teach
them how to avoid them. (Here the speaker was
inaudible for a few minutes, owing to a slight
noise in the room. The general purport of his
observations was to point out the difficulties in-
interposed to the construction of the first railways in Eng-
land.) After these obstacles raised in the first instance
had been removed, the people then became sensible of the
immense advantages of the railwoy harse, and the question
assumed a new phase. Then all places rushed into rail-
way speculations. The country was tolerably well filled
up with railway lines. Competition arose within the
walls of Parliament, not for interest, but for vanity.
Here Mr. Stephenson went into the history of several
railway struggles, and stated that the committees in Par-
liament took into: their consideration, not who was right
or who was wrong, but entered upon questions entirely
subsidiary, not at all connected with the profit of the lines
or the necessity for making them. The consequence was
that committees sometimes decided upon different lines
upon reasons entirely apart from their real merits, or the
district scientific questions involved in the details. There was one
st
hthat, if which
oneit wasgot
a proposedeher er tot runo
o t twoh eother
might lines,
and there was no other difficulty between them than the
simpleiric t thug
rivalry,o
also. But hero, where the committee • might have given
both, they gave neither. In another
instance, two lines
were projected through a barren
country, and the com-
mittee gave the one which afforded the I
tion to the public. In another, where a lineeast accommoda-
was to be run
merely to shorten the time by a few
through a mountainous country, the committee iuutes, leading
so that where the committee might have • gave both ;
gave neither—and where they should have
both, they
given neither,
they gave both. Such a species of legislatione
and he hoped it would not be imitated i th,sas faulty,
There was, indeed, a committee now sitting ini country. England,
the attention of which he had called to these facts. After
lines were granted, the competion, which began within the
walls of parliament, continued when the lines came to be
put in operation. People said it was necessary to have
oompetition for the benefit of the public, that the whole
country would be under the dominion e, railway corpo-
ration, and competition was the only means of checking it,
and preserving moderate prices. Well, he could say,
upon the authority of the Board of Trade,—and from
his own knowledge that, since competing lines commenced,