The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-23 00:00:00

THE BANQUET.

A magnificent banquet was given in the evening at
the Imperial Hotel, when the party was increased by
numbers of the nobility and gentry of the south. The
chair was occupied by Edward Macdonnell, Esq.,
chairman of the Great Southern and Western Rail-
way, the completion of which mighty work the dis-
tinguished company had assembled to commemorate.
The great room of the Imperial was fitted up with
much splendour, and the fine band of the 41st Regi-
ment occupied the gallery.
The style in which dinner was served reflected the
greatest credit on the house. _ _

His Excellency the
_Lord-Lieutenant occupied the
post of honour to the right of the chairman, the Duke
of Leinster to the left, and on either side were the
Earl of Bandon, Lord Hawarden, the Lord Chan-
cellor, Lord Monteagle, the Hon. and Rev. the Dean
of Cloyne, Sir P. Crampton, Bart., Sir W. Somerville,
Sir T. N. Redington, Lord Dunkellin, A.D.C. ;
Major Henry F. Ponsonby, A.D.C.; Lord Kil-
worth, Lord Belfast, the Right Hon. the Lord
Mayor of Dublin, Admiral Sir M. Dixon, C. Con-
nellan, Esq., Sir Robert Kane, Sir M. Barrington,
Bart., Sir W. Lyons, Mayor of Cork, Colonel Sir
D. M'Gregor, Sir W. W. Becher, Sir John Macneil,
Sir Thomas Deane, Colonel Beresford, Colonel Browne,
Colonel Portlock, Colonel Spink, Robert Borrowes,
George Roe, E. B. Roche, M.P., Dr. Power, M.P.,
Edward Grogan, M.P., High Sheriff Sarsfield, Mr.
Fagu, Colonel ChAtterton, Colonel redder,

The CHAIRMAN said—Heretofore, in proposing the
health of her Majesty, it was the duty of the chair-
man at banquets like the present to give assurances of'
the loyalty and affection the Irish people. This is
no longer necessary—her Majesty can now judge for
herself, and I am certain that she is satisfied that in
no part of her extensive dominions has she subjects
more loyal, more affectionate, and more attached to
her Royal person than her Irish subjects. It is true
she visited us after years of unparalleled distress, and
it must have gratified her Majesty to find us willing
to forget our own griefs to be happy while she was
with us. We all hope and trust that that visit is but
a prelude to many others, and in happier times ; and,
if so, there is not a doubt that we shall have to date
the prosperity of this country from her Majesty's first
visit to Ireland. I give you " The Queen."—
(Enthusiastic cheers.)
Air, " God save the Queen."
'rhe CHAIRMAN then gave—" Prince Albert, the
Prince of Wales, now Eerl of Dublin, and the rest
TLoadAcrh:yrsa.)nd
of tThehe Royalnex
ttoba'as
rnt
Navy."
Admiral Dicitsoie and Colonel SPIN sev
erally
returned severe y
returned thanks.
The Cuatameer then rose and said—The next toast
I have to propose is, " The Lord- Lieutenant and
prosperity to Ireland."—(Loud cheers.) I propose
this toast in the usual form, but if ever there was a
name that deservedly ought to be coupled with the
prosperity of Ireland, it is that of the Earl of Claren-
don. Evincing, as his Excellency does, the greatest
anxiety, and devoting the most untiring zeal to for-
ward any interest connected with it, he is always to
be found willing to receive and consider any proposi-
tion that he considers likely to advance it. Let us
look back at the state of things in this country since
he undertook the government. He found us
in the midst of famine—our trade and com-
merce totally paralyzed— our agricultural inte-
rests ruined by the failure of our crops,
which are the floating capital of this country. In
place of finding U 3 united and willing to join in one
common effort to raise the country from this dread-
ful state, he found us a divided and unhappy people.
Shortly after a revolutionary movement broke out in
almost the entire of the Continent, which communi-
cated itself to these countries in a minor form. But
such was the prudent government of his Excellency
in putting down the attempt, that we can now look
back with pity on those who had the madness to join
it; but which, if mismanaged, might have left recol-
lections that years could not efface. In this state of
things, little could be done by his Excellency to for-
ward anything for the good of the country. But the
moment a gleam of hope of better time appeared on
the horizon, he advised, nay, perhaps, induced her
Majesty to visit this country—knowing that her royal
visit would be accompanied and followed by crowds
of English, with foreigners, who should then see the
real state of this country—its miseries as well as its
capabilities—and the result was just as he antici-
pated; and it is from the consequences that will re-
sult from that visit, to which we are indebted to his
Excellency, that I look forward to future prosperity.
But, to couple his name with the objects of the rail-
way interes.s, I shall show you that he practically
carried out his intention for the good of Ireland. His
first visit to this line was when we first opened the
branch to Carlow, and we never can forget the plea-
sure he felt and the manner in which he spoke on
that occasion, at seeing what he considered the first
proof of the enterprise and exertion of this great
undertaking. Subsequently he came to the Limerick
opening, and there, in the presence of congregated
hundreds of our nobility, merchants, and traders, be
gave out his feelings in a way that we cannot forget,
and there declared that, looking upon a welt-digested
system of railways as one of the great levers by which
to uplift this country from its prostrate state, he
pledged himself to assist similar undertakings; and
you have the declaration of the chairman of the Mid-
land Great Western Railway, that it was owing to his
assistance that they obtained the loan of 500,0001,
without which, I say, it would have been madness to
attempt a line to Galway. As representative of that
Government to which, we are so much indebted for
the timely assistance given to us, and which the Prime
Minister had such difficulty in passing, lam delighted
he has this day seen the value that loan was to us—and
also the value we have given for it, in the stupendous
works he has this day seen ; and I have now to tell his
Excellency that hail we not succeeded in getting that
grant, such were the financial difficulties of these coun-
tries at the time, these works must have been stopped,
and hundreds thrown out of employment, at a time of
all others when employment was so necessary. I will
not dwell longer on these topics, which I have
brought forward to show how anxious his Excellency
is to forward in every way the prosperity of this
country, but will conclude by proposing " His Ex-
cellency the Lord-Lieutenant, and Prosperity to Ire-
land." The toast was received with the warmest ap-
plause, the band playing up " Patrick's Day."
His EXCELLENCY arose amidst the most enthu-
siastic acclamation, and observed that it was with no
ordinary feelings of gratification he had heard his
name associated with the welfare of Ireland, and
had witnessed the manner in which that toasthad been
received by such an assemblage. The chairman had
connected his name with a subject which had long
and anxiously occupied his thoughts, and which,
no matter whether he should be in a public or
private station, should still engage his unremitting
solicitude.—(Hear, hear.) It was with such
feelings as these that he had accepted
with alacrity the invitation of the chairman and
board of directors to witruss the opening of their
railway, because he considered that undertaking as
one of paramount importance in relation to the future
prosperity of this country.--(Hear.) They had all
that day had an opportunity of witnessing the splen-
dour of the works—the magnificent viaducts—the
noble arches—the cuttings and embankments, all
finished in the most complete and permanent manner,
and, when the immense labour was considered, in an
amazing short space of time. What an amount of
benefit must not this work have conferred upon the
districts through which it passed. Their chairman,
he observed, had alluded in grateful terms to the loan
sanctioned by the Government to promote the com-
pletion of this railway ; and it was his belief, but
for that well-timed loan, that they could nct now
reach Cork by railway.—(Hear, hear.) If they
looked back to the period when his Noble Friend
at the head of the Government, with prudent
foresight, consented to advance that money, they
would find that it was in time of such pe-
cuniary difficulty that companies even of the
highest standing were unable to procure advances
upon almost any terms. No doubt some inconveni-
ence might have been felt by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer from a loan at such a time ; and they were
bound to feel grateful for the consideration and fore-
sight of his Noble Friend in providing assistance at such
a crisis, to enable the company to facilitate their
works, to give extensive employment when the neces-
sities of the labouring classes so much required it, and
thus to hasten the completion of a great line of rail-
way which must prove of incalculable service in pro-
viding for the farmer a ready market for the sale of
his produce.—(Bear, hear.) Allusion had been made
by the chairman to his (the Lord Lieutenant's)
previous visits to this railway, and that to Dundrum
especially he well recollected, because he had there
availed himself of the opportunity of speaking upon a
subject which still filled his mind—he meant the vast
importance of railways in affording facilities for ex-
tending improved modes of husbandry—in opening
the best and readiest markets for the sale of agricul-
tural produce. They could not over-estimate the
advantages to the farmer which must be conferred by
this railway, connecting Dublin, Limerick, and Cork,
and the intermediate districts, in one chain of
communication.—(Hear, hear.) It was to such fa-
cilities and advantages the farmers should now look
in sustaining themselves against the severe competi-
tion they had to undergo, which could only be ade-
quately met by persevering energy, and by taking
advantage of all available means to increase produce
by the adoption of the best system of cultivation.—
(Hear, hear.) Considerations like these had influ-
enced his Noble Friend at the head of the Government
when he had determined to aid this company by an
advance of money. The manner in which the affairs
of this company had been conducted was most cre-
ditable to the gentlemen entrusted with its manage-
ment, and a more honourable and high• minded body
of men did not exist than the chairman and board of
directors. Possibly they might not be satisfied with
the present proceeds of the line; bnt he could not
help remarking, it was the general impression
that rails% ay property had now reached the lowest
point of depression ; but when this railway, at a
period of unexampled depression, yielded such a
traffic as that now in progress, what extent of
increase might they not expect in better times, when
the country assumed its normal condition, and its
vast resources should be amply developed by the
, efforts of agricultural improvement now becoming so
, I general, facilitated as they would be by the comple-