The Sun.
London, England, 1812-03-18 00:00:00

ST. PiTl?lOlCii'

Yesterday the friends to the BeneVoient Society of
Patrick
; A
clad their Annivcr,a-y Dinner at ihe Free
as‘'ll's Tavern, the Marquis of LANSDOWNE in the
%;haif.

The cloth being removed, the Marquis of LANS..
1)owN11 rose to propose a toast, 'in w filch, he wds
fic°llfltlent, all parties would concur. But before he
aid this, however; he thought it necessary to call the
attentioit of the company to the particular, the exclo-
tve objed of their meeting, which was charity.—
ial ihis alone in their view, he truster ihat for
V
that day at least, all political feelings _which were, he
:lWould not say contrary to, but separate from the ob-
ett of their meeting, woulif be forgotten. The
1(33M3 Which it was his ciwy to propose, had been
so framed that it was hoped .they would awake no
Party spirit, and he trusted the current of their
charity would flow freely, unmixed with, and on-
!tribarrassed by, feelings proceeding from any other
11°Llree. He concluded by proposing as a toast—

The health of the King.
Then followed
The Prince Regent.
Upon the health of his Royal Highness being
I've 4, a few persons attempted to h-ss, but their
olignant efforts were drowned in the applause of
,
rest of the Company.
The Queen and Royal Family.
The Army and Navy..
The Benevolent Society of St. Patrick. And
The Mother of .St. Patrick.
The Children educared by the Society were now
401roduced and passed in procession down the room,
o(1 furnished a most interesting siietti!cle. Lord
'"1010A Oresented one of the bo) s with a medal, as
a distinguished badge of honour, at the same time
cidresing him la a manner equally impressive and
aPpropriate•

4:S he Earl of Wellington, the gallant Armies he commands,
success to the giorious struggle in the Peninsula,
Was
next given, and drunk with uuiversal applause.
t.The Lord Mayor, the Sheriffli, and Corporation of the
sil,Y.o! London, with thauks to the Lord Mayor and Mr.
-lieygate, for the honour of their company this day,
Was Ilex( drunk with loud acchmations.
The LORD MAyort returned thanks for the Cor-
Porznion of the City of London, and for the Sheriffs;
61t for himself, he hardly knew how to thank them.
Was himself half an Irishman, and felt not less
q' Linn for Ireland than for\ the City of which he
illiad the honour to be the presiding Officer. In con-
~iustott he returned •a thousand thanks for the
"u,,bur which they had conferred upon him. (Great
OPPlstu.!e.)'
Siit.“-ttr HEYGATE also returned thaiks:
r-e. list of new subscriptions were read by the
S"c,tiAry, and were extremely gratiiyhrg, as were
"t Beni ral statements respecting the funds of the
4t)eiet'i. The new stabcriptions, added to the sums
at the tables, made a total of 17511. ,

The next toasts were—
Welsh
tk".u.! meritorious the Scots C,rpor.ation and
and prosivrity to all I liSiltUtlUnS that eat:gate:l the
° 'orant and succour the ite:p%ess.
41,:tillt Marchioness of Downshi re, the Countess of Loudon
thid'ioira, and may e protection of the poor be ever the
ttJt the thotheiS and daughters of Ireland.
T"v I ,st caned t,p—
-j lie LANSDOWNE, who observed, it was
rilposslble. tii c .atttletnuratey the Pa-
trons of tide Chdrny, they trust therefore pass them
ver- ; but as a splendid exception, he
plop)he

• The flealth of the Earl of Moira.
Lord M-:IRA returned thanks with much feeling
'tlct eloquence. On 'his day, it seemed as it their
1)11-ort and S lint had spread his influence over them,
cared forth a species of feeling distinct from
~.*,h3t was usually to be met with. He expressed
'"11 great energy his affeCtiohs• for Ireland, .and
lixuited in that indefinable distinaion which was.
„ePt up between ehe different parts of the ern-
-11'1.".. These had the happy effect of making all
"x4sus to maintain the hot oor of the country to
nich they belonged. The effect of Meetings tike
e Present-was to keep up iuch distinctions, and
those who wished to unite the whole empire in one
"iiscriminate mass, took an erroneous view of the
tubieet. To take those destintStions away, woulde to take away the bold and prominent. features of
Country, and to reduce the people to such a
rdle, that they might be compared to worn shil-
il"gs, of which the value given them by tile Mint
414 been smoothed away. He spoke at some
'gill on the affairs of the Society, which he
lta!ed to be in a more prosperous state thin ever
iheY had been before. • In 1809, they had
!).0001. and one hundred and twenty children,
`l'o v, ere relieved by the Charity. At present they
about ,24,0001. and 159 children on the lista-
ulishmetit ; su that it would be seen that since 1809,
th"gh 39 children had been added to the number
of ttiose educated by the Secicty, yet their funds,
114 from experitneing any diminution, had -been
ill-lginentedby mare lhan.4oool. His Lordship alter-
Wards proposed the lieAth of

The marquis of Lansdowne,
Winch was drank will) great applause.
The Marquis of LANSDUWNE felt much satisfac-
lkn on receiving such air honour from persons
41tose expressions were as generously warm as their
lteaits were faithfully sincere
O the Vice• President's being giveu and drunk b.)
the, company,
Lint Mon NTJOY returned thanks.
Mr. SHER IDSN, in consequence of being loudly
Called, alio returned thanks, and expressed his love
for Ireland, and his atkuiration of the illustrious
Prince Regent.

The hcalth of the Marquis Wellesley

was p!oposed.by the Noble President, anti received
With gre.:t applause.
Mr. 11, NVELLEsiAv returned thanks.
LANSDO vy NE now informed the Society, that
the Duke 01 Devonshire Ltd consented to be their
President for nexi year. He was happy in succeeding
the Marquis of 1) 'wushire, and iu being succeeded
by the Duke of Devonshire. He then'. gave—

The Duke of Devonshire's heaith,
which was drunk with three -miles thr.-e.
heatih of the. Right I-ton. W. CURRAN was
I'M given, for w lich Mr. R. CURRAN re!urned
thanks.

The'health of the Stewards and other OrTicers of
the Society were alto drunk, and several Gentle-
, filen returned thank fur this honour.

Tn the course of the- evening—a Non No4as DO.
,nine,":.-" Ocid save the
.I(ing."•='.';-"
Gloriotie.i 4°116," and 3 variety of other
songs, were sung bY.Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. DidNum,
Master BOYLE, and several other vocal performers.
A Mr. WEris afforded great. einertalt!foent by sing-
ing " The Shamrock of. Erin," cornpoed for him
by Mr. WHITTAKER ; and " The Filrrosa MOtio;"
" A Fat gh a Ballaugh,"—Clear the way.
The Marquis of LANSDOWE did not retire till near
twelve o'clock.. The attendance was uncommonly
numerous.

- Lord KIRKWALL, who was one of the Vice-Presi-
dents, was, we are sorry to say, prevented by in-
diiPosition froth attending.

FOR THE SUN.

MR. EDITOR,

The horses, it seems, are to be driven over the
theatrical course again, after Lent. Nbw, Sir, as,
they are likely to run away with all the profits of
the benefits, which, in the good old times of the
English stage, used to take place about that period,
I think it would be but an a& of justice in the Pio-
prietors, to let those same horses kick up something
for the advantage of those Performers on whom
Nature has been so niggardly as only for bestow two
legs.--4 do not objet to the conduct of tie Propri-
etors in taking advantage of the degeneracy of pub-
lic taste, by bringing forward such exhibitions, but
I humbly conceive that the Performers have some
right to profit by that degeneracy, particularly as they
had no hand in promoting it, but were the tnelan
choly witnesses of its progress. I propose then, Sir,
it the horses are again to drive all before them, that
they should be Fermitted to have a run in favour of
the benefits. N: UNFORTUNATE BIPED.