The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-29 00:00:00

THE BANQUET.

Upwards of fifty of the Brethren, in Masonic clothing,
sat down to a most sumptuous repast prepared by
Brother Radleigh, to whose skill in these matters very
many have frequently testified. Among the brethren
present we observed the Worshipful Master, Joseph
Hess, who was supported by the R. W. D. P. G. M.
John Drinkwater, Esq., the Mayor of Liverpool ;
P. G. S. James Morris, Esq., the V. W. P. G. T. ;
Lewis Samuel, Esq. ; and Brethren Henderson, Wood-
ward, Rampling, Statham, Eckersley, Blanch, Moly-
neux, Megeli, Hess, Butler, Ashcroft, Owen, Lewis
Samuel, &c. The repast, consisting of the choicest de-
licacies, having been discussed and removed, " Non
nobis" was sung in excellent style by Brethren Blanch,
Molyneux, Norris, and Dodd.
The WORSHIPFUL MASTER then gave "The Queen,"
and successively " The Queen Dowager and the rest of
the Royal Family. " The Duke of Sussex." " Le
Gendre Nicholas Starkie, Esq , Provincial Grand Mas-
ter of the Lancashire District."

Many very appropriate glees were sung between the
toasts by several brethren.
The WORSHIPFUL MASTER then gave " The
R. W. D. P. G. M., John Diinkwater, Esq.." In
proposing this toast, he observed, it was not usual to
couple the name of a brother with that of his official
capacity, except upon extraordinary events; and ob-
serving several old members of the craft present, be
conceived the occasion would now justify it.
Brother DRINKWATER acknowledged the toast in a
neat and impressive speech.
Brother HESS then rose and said, that he had the
honour to initiate into the mysteries of Freemasonry
that day two gentlemen, one of whom was known as
their worthy Chief Magistrate.—(Loud cheers.) He
rejoiced that the name had been received with the eclat
which it deserved. They all recognised Brother
Walmsley as a very worthy man, and he must neces-
sarily be a good Mason.—(Cheers.)
Brother JOSHUA WALMSLEY, Esq., returned thanks
in an excellent and appropriate speech. He observed
that the honour which had been conferred upon him
should be appreciated so long as he lived. It had long
been his desire to become a member of the masonic
body, but it was never too late to do well ; and he
should endeavour to carry out those principles of fel-
lowship which he had seen happily illustrated that even-
ing. It was not to himself, but to the members present,
to whom all the honour and praise was due. After
some further observations, Mr. Walmsley concluded
amidst the most enthusiastic cheering.
Several other toasts were proposed and responded to,
and the meeting soon after separated.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

---- a

SIR,—As Lord Stanley, and his Irish Bill, are so much
before the public at the present moment, allow me to re-.
mind you of his animated description of his then new allies
during the sitting of the late House of Commons, (upon
what subject I now forget,) when he said, .1 They would
never yield to clamour that which they had always denied
to justice I" What a true picture of Toryism! What a sen-
tence for a Senator, and would-be Statesman, to utter 1 It
ought to be engraven on every man's heart, and never to
be forgotton. I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
ANTI-SCORPION.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAT.
(From the Morning Chronicle.)
The ludicrous failure of the attempt to get up a public
meeting to denounce the war with China as " an opium war,"
affords but a poor augury of success for Mr. G. Palmer's
motion on Thursday. The few insignificant individuals
who figured at that lame and impotent affair, seemed quite
as much at a loss for reasons to justify the resolutions they
were prepared to pass, as the Tories who voted in favour
of Sir James Graham's motion. The fact is, the common
sense of the nation has proved too strong for the sophistries
of faction, and the well-meaning but exaggerated views of
mistaken philanthropy. The facts of the case are now
sufficiently known to exclude mistake and misrepresenta-
tion, and it is apparent to every one, that instead of
England going to war with China to support a gang of
smugglers in forcing their poisonous drugs on an injured
and innocent population, China has in point of fact chosen
to go to war with England, to confiscate British property,
imprison British subjects, and attack the British flag. The
British Government never maintained the cause of the
opium smugglers ; on the contrary, it solemnly declared
that if British subjects, engaged in that illicit traffic, were
caught, convicted and punished by the Chinese Govern-
ment, it would not interfere for their protection. Is it to
be accused of opium smuggling because it does not under-
take to do what the Chinese ought to do for themselves ?
What more can we do than to abandon to the Chinese the
repression of smuggling and the punishment/of smugglers?

(From the Times. )
The humbug phantom which for some years has figured
.n this country under the imposing name of Reform is evi-
dently on its last legs. Observant and reflecting people
are now ashamed that its swaggering pretensions should
have gulled them so long; nor, after the sickening dis-
appointment it has occasioned to all parties, can we wonder
that the daily humiliations which it sustains in the House
of Commons are ratified and responded to by the general
voice of the nation. To say nothing of the emphatic
manner in which a large metropolitan meeting of
Liberals and Dissenters have just concurred with
Sir James Graham's motion in chastising the Reformed
Government's opium war in China, we find that
wherever Parliamentary vacancies have latterly been filled
up by independent constituencies, superior to the feudal
influence exercised in the counties of Rutland and Suther-
land, the force of public opinion in opposition to the
Whigs bas either deterred Ministerial candidates from
coming forward, or has repulsed them with ignominious
defeat. Thus Lord Cantilupe took possession of Lewes
without a contest. Mr. Basset succeeded his Lordship at
Helatone in the same easy way. No Ministerialist has
dared to show himself either in Inverness-shire or in the
county of Elgin ; while in Perthshire and the borough a
Totnes, where desperate struggles were made by the
Liberal Government, Conservative Members have been
returned.

(From the Morning Post.)
Again we take leave to call upon honest men of all par-
ties to beware of the falsehood with which the O'Connellite
faction arc striving to hide the real object of Lord Stan-
ley's Bill. The Bill is not, as they with desperate effron-
tery continue to describe it, a all for restricting the
elective franchise in Ireland. The Bill is to correct the
monstrous abuses in the registration of the franchise,
which to the shame of all justice and of common decency
have obtained in Ireland. No man who honestly possesses
the franchise can be dispossessed of it by Lord Stanley's
Bill. But they who dishonestly have pretended to pos.
sets the franchise, and have supported this dishonest pre-
tence by continued fraud and repeated perjury, they in-
deed will be dispossessed of that which they have criminally
obtained. Hence the bitter outcry against Lord -Stanley's
Bill. It is a Bill for the furtherance of honesty and the
defeat of fraud; hence if it pass it will be exceedingly
detrimental to the:qause of O'Connell, who thrives by fraud
and hates hontsty, as thieves do the police.
(From the Morning Advertiser.)
To little purpose would Mr. O'Connell " hurrah I for
the repeal of the Union l" if the malignant enemies of
Ireland did not constantly supply him with fresh grounds
of accusation against the Imperial Legislature. It is not
Mr. O'Connell, but such men as Lords Lyndhurst and
Stanley, Lorton and Roden, and their supporters, who
excite the people of Ireland to struggle for a domestic
Parliament. Lord Lyndhurst, by his denunciation of the
people of Ireland as "aliens," Lord Stanley by his Bill
for the dismemberment of the Irish constituencies, and
Lords Lorton and Roden by their bigotry and fanatical
persecution, have individually aroused the people of Ire-
land to battle for their rights, more than could Mr. O'Con-
I nell, without such aid, have done by a whole life of bustling
agitation.

Old Astley, who piqued himself extremely on
suffering no imposition of any kind to be practised on the public
at his theatres, having ordered a drop scene to be painted, re-
presenting a temple, he was, on examining the performance,
scandalised by observing that his artist had shortened the pil-
lars in the back-ground—in fact, that the pillar was so much
the shorter as it was farther removed from the eye of the spec-
tator. Having called the painter to account for this, in his
strange irregularity, and being assured that the
judgment,r ulesofprspective required it, he indignantly replied, " Don't
talk to me, Sir, of perspective—l know nothing of the rules of
perspective, but 1 know the foot rule, and I know by it that
these pillars are net all of a length, as pillars in temples, or
what is the same thing, churches, always are ; and I won't have
the public imposed on or defrauded of full measure of their
pillars. They pay their money at the door to see pillars in my
drop scene, and they shall have good measure for their money.
or my name is not Astley. Make them all of a size, Sir, as I
bid yon, or I will find some one else that will." The painter
did as he was commanded.
A NEW COIsIEDY.—Mr. Leigh Hunt has been
for some time past occupied in writing a comedy for Covent-
! Garden Theatre, which he has nearly completed. It is ex-
I peeled to be produced by the middle of next month.