The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-13 00:00:00

g :ravated by the visitation of Divine Providence pecu- Mayor to propose to
lisrly affecting the sister kingdom and part of Scotland. City of Lond,n."—(
- ors.) I t‘')t t• , -ur ettenti.i?

themselves to relieve, as tar as was in their power, the
misery and destitution under which Ireland more espe-
cially has, unfortunately, been labouring.—(Cheers.)
They had the boldness at once to come to Parlia-
ment and ask for a liberal supply of money to meet the
exigencies of the case. This was granted to thesa in
the most unhesitating manner, while its administration
has beeen marked by the greatest discretion, and, I be-
lieve, success.—(Cheers.) But, notwithstanding all the
difficulties of their position, her Majesty's Governm. nt
have not been unmindful of the improvement of the
moral and social condition of the poor, by extending to
them the benefits of education.— (Cheers.) On this tic
count alone her Majesty's Ministers deserve well of too
country; and I believe the country will do them justice
in that respect.—(Cheers.) The citizens of London are
favoured very much in having for one of their repre
sentatives the Premier of England.—(Loud cheers.)
They are proud of their distinguished representative—
(Cheers)—and the Noble Premier, I have no doubt, will
carefully watch over the interests of this great city.—
(Cheers.) His public career has not been a short one;
his public services are well known; they are identified
with the history of the country—l need not now allude
to them—while his private virtues have endeared him to
all who know him.—(Loud cheers.) lam quite sure
that he and her Majesty's Ministers have only one ob-
ject in view, namely, to contribute, how they best can,
to promote the prosperity and glory of this great empire.
—(Loud cheers.) I therefore give as a toast, with all
confidence that you will duly honour it, "The health of
Lord John Russell, the Premier of England, and the
rest of her Majesty's Ministers."
The toast was drunk upstanding, with all the honours,
and great cheering.
Lord J. RUSSELL, in rising to respond to the toast,
was received with loud cheers. His Lordship spoke as
follows:—My Lord Mayor, I beg, in the name of my
colleagues and my own, to return you most grateful
thanks for the honour that has been done us in drinking
our healths on this occasion. You have most truly ob-
served, that the task we have to perform is one that
brings with it great anxiety. It is one that has not as-
sociated with it the brilliancy of achievements like those
of the gallant hero (Sir H. Smith) and the distinguished
men in the other service of the Queen. Our anxieties are
constant; and, in adverse times, our exertions cannot be
accompanied with uniform success. It is our wish, how-
ever, to endeavour so to act that we may enable the
country to have all the advantages which she can receive
from the administration of sound measures applied in
due season.—(Cheers.) When I say this I do not wish
to enter into any controverted topics of politics, which
are always out of place in assemblies of this kind. But
let me say with respect to the measures we have pro-
posed, that they have met the general and unanimous as-
sent of Parliament. Before it pleased Providence to
visit this country with the present affliction it appeared
to the Parliament of this country that the course to be
pursued was to give greater freedom of commerce--
greater freedom of entry and of export—freedom to come
in and go out, to diminish restriction, and to facilitate in-
tercommunication. Such was the general sense of Par-
liament, with scarcely discussion, certainly without dis-
pute. In so doing we could not expect—no man could
expect—that the calamity with which we have been
afflicted would be at once overcome, as though we could
reverse the decrees of Providence; such power is not
given to man. But it was an endeavour, by the applica
tion of those principles which we believe to be sound, to
alleviate the misfortune as far as it was in our power.—
(Cheers.) Let me say that there is another mode which
does not depend upon legislation—which does not de-
pend upon Governments—but which yet, in this time of
dearth, has a greater influence in alleviating the pressure
of public calamity than those who look merely to the
details of measures would believe to be possible;—l
mean that, while on the one hand we ought to favour as
much as possible a free admission of the greatest quan-
tity of food into the country, so likewise it is the duty
of every master of a household to economise as much as
possible the food we have.—(Cheers.) While the labour-
ing classes and the poorer orders of society have the
greatest difficulty in providing for the daily subsistence
of themselves and their families, it is the duty, I say, of
every master of a household to do what in him lies that
that calamity shall not be aggravated by his own waste.
(Cheers.) And while I state that to be a general
duty I am happy to say that the highest head of a house-
hold in this kingdom—her Majesty the Queen—has
directed that in her own household the utmost economy
should be used in the consumption of every article of
food.—(Loud cheers.) There are other matters con-
nected with this subject—not matters of government or
legislation—but which, standing as I do before you and
this company, I cannot overlook. The calamity which
has visited our brethren in Ireland and part of Scotland
has called forth, in a most remarkable degree, the
sympathy and the benevolence of those in the more
favoured portions of the United Kingdom.—(Cheers.)
They have distressed themselves in order to come with
relief to those who were entirely deprived of the means
of subsistence ; and among those who in this country
have been foremost in coming to the assistance of our
brethren in Ireland, adding largely to the very liberal
and munificent subscriptions that have been made, I
will venture to say that none have surpassed those whom
I have the honour to call my constituents, the merchants
of all classes in the city of London.—(Cheers.) But
this spirit of charity and benevolence has not been con-
fined within this city, or within the limits of the United
Kingdom. lam happy to say that day by day we re-
ceive the intelligence that those who sprang from the
same origin with ourselves have a fellow-feeling with us
in our prosperity and adversity.—(Cheers.) The Con-
gress and people of the United States of America have
shown their deep sympathy for the misfortunes under
which parts of this United Kingdom have been:suffering,
owing to the failure in part of the food of the people.—
(Cheers.) I rejoice in this manifestation of sympathy
and philanthropy. It shows that no remoteness of dis-
tance—no diversity of institutions—no records of sepa-
ration, even though written in bloody characters—have
obliterated that sympathy which a people sprung from
the same stock with ourselves feel for us, recollecting
that they speak the same language, that they read
the same authors, that they acknowledge the in-
spiration of the same sacred truths, that they read
and revere the precepts of the same religion on the
banks of the Hudson and the Mississippi in the
same book with us on the banks of the Thames and the
Shannon.—(Loud cheers.) I rejoice that they have shown
this enlarged spirit of charity and liberality, and I am
sure that, whatever may be the misfortunes of the pre-
sent crisis, it is among the consoling circumstances of our
lot that it will tend to unite these two nations in bonds
of brotherhood in time to come.—(Loud cheers.) Ex-
pressing these sentiments, I will not deny expressing
them for the purpose that our brethren in America may
know that one who has the honour of holding high office
in her Majesty's councils, is deeply affected by the sym•
pathy the people of the United States have shown, allow
me to add one word with regard to the present circum-
stances of this country. I do not mean to hold out any
flattering hope that we are suffering from a misfortune
of a mere temporary character. The extreme dearness
of the main articles of food in this country, the dearness
at the same time of a great staple of our manufactures,
and other circumstances concurring, must entail upon
this country for a considerable time great difficulty, and
perhaps considerable suffering. Ido not think it would
be either wise or manly in us to shut our eyes to the
greatness of our difficulty. But I do trust that by a
combination of all classes in this country—by that ab-
sence which I am proud to acknowledge of any wish in
any party to embarrass the Executive Government of
the country. by the general desire of the Legislature to
meet the difficulties and calamities as they arise,
according as their understanding and feeling
show them what is best to be done—by that
spirit which animates our warriors on the plains of
India, which enables our men to encounter the
enemy in the most sultry climates, which enables our
forces at the same time to meet every rigour and every
difficulty—l do trust that by the power of that same
spirit, in humble confidence in the Almighty, these diffi-
culties will be overcome, and that the prosperity and
glory of this nation will be preserved.—(Loud cheers.)
I give you, my Lord Mayor, as a toast, " The health of
the Lady Mayoress."
The Noble Lord sat 'down amidst loud cheers, and
, the toast was drunk with all the honours.

The LORD MAYOR, having acknowledged the compli-
ment, proposed "The House of Peers," which was re-
ceived with three times three, and appropriately
re-
sponded to by the Marquis of NORTHAMPTON.
" The. House of Commons" was next toasted.
Sir C. NAPIER returned thanks.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE proposed " The health
of the Lord Mayor," and highly
complimented him for
the many public and private virtues he possessed, and
the splendour of his hospitality.
The toast was received with all the honours, and ap-
propriately acknowledged by his LORDSHIP.
The following toasts were then drunk:—" The At-
torney-General and the Bar of England" (acknowledged
by Sir J. Jervis); " The Representatives of the City of
London" (acknowledged by Mr. Masterman); " The
Magistrates of the City of London" (acknowledged by
Mr. Alderman Lucas).
Lord PALMERSTON then rose, and said:—The Lord
Mayor has been kind enough to permit me to give a
toast which I am persuaded will be received with the
greatest satisfaction by everybody here present—a toast
indeed, of the greatest and deepest interest, not merely
to the happiness of this great city, but to every one
who lives in the country in which it has been our lot to
be born, and I may, without exaggeraticn, say, fraught
with interest to the whole of the civilised world. The
toast which I wish to propose is—" Prosperity to the
City of London,"—(Loud cheers)—prosperity to that
great city which is the source of wealth to the whole of
this empire—which is an example to all that live within
the realm, and which by animating the commercial rela-
tions of every country in the world conduces to the hap-
piness of the nations and to the progress of universal
civilization.—(Cheers.) It is the peculiar character of
the days in which we live that the merits and advantages
of commerce are duly appreciated by all. In earlier
stages of civilization men looked with admiration to
the
exercise of power,—power employed in conquering and
subjugating their unoffending neighbours; but in pro-
portion as intelligence has been diffused, and as
civilization has advanced, men have been led to think
that the increase of commercial enterprise, the advance
of commercial prosperity, is one of the objects most
deserving of the attention and of the cares of mankind.
_(Loud cheers.) Men are now well satisfied that the
glory of a country consists, not in overthrowing the
liberties of their neighbours, but in diffusing those prin-
, ciples of commercial intercourse which are the great
foundations of international peace.—(Cheers.) Men are
satisfied that commerce is the great foundation of peace,
and that peace htt,,rds the surest and only protection to
commerce. (Loud cheers.) Viewing,
the commerce,therefore, this
great city of London as the metropolis of
and therefore the sanctuary of the liberties of the world,
I feel proud in having been permitted by my Lord

you, as a
Timid and

toast, " Prosperity to the
continued cheering-)

t; vi Lilt! Litt ;k
1173 believea they were at nil times ready to give every
possible assistance to the Governtritnt and to the mer-
ean:lle interest. Certainly of late there had been rath. r
a pre,sare upon that establishment, and he was sure
they would exercise all the liberality they could, con-
sistently with the pruicuce it was their duty to ob-
serve,

The GOVERNOR of the BANK returned thanks. lie
sincerely hoped the manner in which the directors or
the Bank of England had done, and would continue to
do, their duty, would meet the approbation of their
fellow-citizens, and conduce to the welfare of the
country.—(Loud cheers.)
Sir H. SMITH proposed the next toast—" The C hairtnatl ,
and Deputy-Chairman of the Hon. East India Company."
He felt proud in being the servant of one of the most
extraordinary companies that ever existed ; originating
in a few individuals, the great victory of Assaye ren-
dered them at once an important body; and now, under
the protection of her Majesty and her Ministers, they
had a mighty empire under their sway, with enormous
resources, and au army whose fidelity remained proof to
all temptation; and which no foreign power would ever
be able to overcome.—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN of the East India Company having
briefly respended to the toast, the health of the Sheriffs
was given, and the company retired to the drawing.
room ; and, after partaking of coffee, left the Mansion -
house shortly after midnight, greatly delighted with the
splendid hospitality of the Lord Mayor and Lady
Mayoress.