The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-06 00:00:00

PRICE SD.

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what extent our commercial relations with them might
be carried. He honoured the Noble Lord for having
devoted his leisure in that most useful field, instead of
in visiting countries, no doubt interesting in themselves,
but not so important to be known to a man who was a
servant of the Crown and a British Statesman.'--(Hear,
hear.) The presence of the Noble Lord, who had more
than once enjoyed the confidence of his Sovereign, and
was now a Cabinet Minister, stamped the works- on the
shore of Wallasey Pool, on the west banks, with that
degree of nationality which their warmest friends
claimed for them, but which the public at large might
not be willing to concede.—(Hear, hear.) Those
works were not undertaken for the benefit of a few
individuals merely, but partook of a national cha-
racter. When they adjourned from that room it
would be to open the Birkenhead Park ; for such a
duty no more appropriate person could be selected than
the Noble Lord, Knowing the warm interest he had •
always taken in the-sanatory condition, the health and
comfort of the people, and the improvement of towns,
he was sure the Noble Lord would feel gratified to see a
park devoted to the health and reereatidn of the people
in the mist of those piles of buildings which were ex-
tending in every direction around lt.—(Hear, hear.) On
an occasion like the present, when no political feeling
interfered, but where men of all parties wale met toge-
ther to celebrate the opening of a great national work,
lie was sure they would all unite in doing honour to the
toast.—(Hear, hear.) It was his misfortune to sit on '
the opposite side of the House of Commons from that
occupied by the Noble Lord; but neither he nor any
other gentleman who sat there could fail to pay the
Noble .
Lord's character that respect to which was en-
titled.—(llear, hear.) lie gave them "The Right Ilon.
Lord Viscount Morpeth."
The toast was drank with three times three. The
cheering having subsided,
Lord M'3RPETtI said—Mr. Chairman, ladies, and gen-
tlemen, I assure you that I feel most sensibly the more
than kind and cordial manner in which this toast has
been received.—(llear.) Ever since I have been called
to the office I have now the honour to hold, and which
connects me with the property of the Crown, I have
felt the strongest interest in the rising fortunes of Birk-
enhead; nor it is unnatural that I should do so, for you
are probably aware, that besides the general parental
interest which the Crown may be assumed to take
in the welfare of all that are represented by the ab-
stract idea of its subjects, it has also motives not so
peculiarly abstract or disinterested for wishing well to,;;,
the port and town of Birkenhead.,' I avow this the
readily, because it is quite 'obvious that the •
in which the undertakings here set on foot can r• .me
profitable to the Crown must be according to the degree
in which they are made valuable for the accommodation
of commerce and for the public good.—(Hear, heat.)
As a well wisher, then, to the public, and as a servant
of the C: oar, t a an admirer of courageous enterprise
and successful perseverance—(Hear, bear)--I find
cembination of claims upon me for doing, in combi-
nation with my colleagues by whom I am moat will-
ingly and zealously seconded, and in pursuance of
that iximple which be; been set to me by my. pre-
decessors in the same office—(Cheers)—all that in us
lies to promote, on all legitimate grounds, the perma-
nent prosperity of Birkenhead.—(Cheers.) With these
feelings, then, you may judge with how keen a relish,
with what lively emotion, I partake in all the pro-
ceedirws of this day.—(Loud cheers.) We hear some-
times of the old gala days of Venice, when the Doge went
forth in his golden galley to plight his faith to the wave
which bathed his pa:aces, but we have seen same-
thing this day beyond even the dreams of Venice. For
instance, such an array of steamers as has to-day graced
the Mersey, never could have been witnessed in Venice •
and though perhaps a steamer, when viewed by itself,
may nut be so picturesque an object as a gondola, I may
yet remind you that even in the pahniest days of her
pomps and argosies, Venice never could have sent forth
a message which ifi ten days might reach those harbours
and roadsteads of the New World where her flag never
waved. A pleasing omen Isbell think it, if amongst the
first uses of that ample basin into which our vessel to-
day has been the first to glide, surrounded by all those
striking specimens of engineering skill and admirable
masonry, we should apply those works to the admission
of the surplus harvests of more favoured regions, and
make provision for the bread which keepeth alive.—
(Hear, hear.) Next in the progress of time—l hope in
the course of this very autumn—you "ill be able to bear
your part in accommodating the timber trade. I will
not proceed further in those long vistas of usefulness, of
enterprise, and of success, which, I trust, will stretch
out before the future prospects of Birkenhead, and to
which I hope the proceedings of this day will have given
au auspicious commencement, and a powerful impulse.
—(Hear, hear.) I would just express a hope in pass-
ing, that the best feeling and the best understand-
ing will always prevail between you and the great
city immediately opposite you.—(Great cheering.)
Liverpool divides with London the supremacy of the
commerce of the modern world, and as London could
only feel benefited by the expansion of Southwark,
Liverpool can never have cause to repine at the growth
of Bit kenhead. Believe me, gentlemen, and I hope all
on the other side of the water will believe me too, that if
ever your own wide Mersey was thoroughly walled by a
double wall of docks and warehouses, there will not be
more than room for the corn, the cotton, and the forests
of eine western hemisphere.—(Hear, hear.) And I trust
you have this day forged a new and an abiding link to
thatschain of amity which ought ever to connect Eng-
land with America. I feel this is not the time to dilate
further on these points. It is well known the attrac-
tions of Birkenhead are not limited to its water frontage,
and that if the geidue of a Rendall has completed its
docks, the skill of a Paxton has laid out its pleasure.;
grounds.—(llear, hear.) .Nor will my most recent
ccupatien permit me to forget that this is one of the
first places which hes b, gull a systematic attention to
the physical comforts of the vast numbers of workmen it
calls togmlicr, and the important subjk et of public health.
With this as-urance about us and around U 3, I feel that
the pageant of to-day, even when its gaieties shall
have ra,sed away and its shouts are silent, will still
give us grounds for remembrance that it has not been a
iranerph which gathers its trophies from the strife of na-
tions and the aria of destruction—that it has not been a
mere unmeaning sacrifice to frivolity and dissipation, but
that it has struck its roots deep in public usefulness, and
will bear rich fruits of peace and progress through
corning ages.—(Cheers.)
The next toast given vt as, " The County Members."
Sir I'. EGERTON, M.l'., returned thanks. Two years
ago only he had attended the preliminary proceeding on
the commencement of the works which they had now
assembled to open to their uses. Ile had not expected
so si;on to ‘‘itness the fulfi'ment of their hopes, though
he had never been influenced by those who said that
they might as well propose to build docks in the air as
at I3irkerthead. He congratulated the Commissioners
upon having, while providing for the commercial im-
provement of the town, been equally attentive to the re
instruction, the health, and comfort of the poor.
Formerly there was a couplet—
From Birkenhead to Kilbree
A squirrel may hop from tree to tree.
Ere long he hoped they might read it thus:—
From Birkenhead to Kilbree
A ship may sail from .dersey to Dee.
The Eerl of LINCOLN proposed the next toast—" The
commerce of the Mersey," a duty which devolved upon
him in consequence of the absence of Siir T. Fremantle,
the Chairman of the Customs. His Noble Friend had
said that Liverpool and London divided the commerce of
the United Kingdom. He believed the commerce of the
Mersey, as represented by Liverpool, not only equalled,
but by the most recent accounts exceeded that of Lon-
don itself.—(Hear, hear.) And from this auspicious
date that that increase would go on until, in a few years,
the port of Liverpool would be equal to any two or
three in the kingdom, London included. He had been
informed that coals had beets that day sent from Wales
by the new railway to be shipped on board a steamer
already lying in these docks. An American vessel, too,
e
he understood, was now in the port, principallyactin
with guano, the cargo of which would be sent_ by
_a3(,,Haensdr.p)roblaieblcyo,ueirde nniogthbtfuatll,
eb:psrpersegada
othveersathmeefir.7ldilsw.
of enr ferventthis
och ocpe as
itohna the
be
ishtintroductiontaken
asoatnthais usfpeirctii,l)iuzsinogmaegnenotf
an abundant harvest. The Noble Earl, after some more
eloquent observations, formally proposed the toast, which
was drunk with enthusiasm.
The other toasts were—" The Mayor of Manchester;"
" The Chairman," proposed by Lord Morpeth ; " The
Birkenhead Docks;" " The Dock Warehouse Company;"
"The Guests of the Day ;" "Mr. Rendall, the engineer,
and Mr. Paxton, the designer of the New Park;" " The
Railway Interest connected with Birkenhead ;" " The
Cheshire Witches," &c.
After the dejeuner, Lord Morpeth, accompanied by
several distinguished guests, proceeded to open the New
Park, which has been formed with a wise foresight to
the future wants and sanitary condition of the popula-
tion of Birkenhead, at a cost of 127,7751.
The park was during the day the scene
or
asrewatre-
juicing and festivity, and in the evening there
.a,
I. was observed as a gaonrd i
geloiduesedd pispalar)t,lyat
of
holi-
day; and the workmen at the Birkenhead Docks, 2,000
in number, each received a day's wage. Later in the
firLerveorrpkoso. The day at Birkenhead,
evening a ball and supper took place in the Dock ware-
house, which had been appropriately fitted up for the
occasion, at which were present the majority of the
principal p,rsons who had attended the previous pro-
ceedings.

The Lords of the Admiralty will have to extend
their tour, on their next visit of inspection, to the various
dock yards. The Royal Surrey l)ock Yard now assumes
such a formidable attitude that Prince Joinville will, In
all probability, feel compelled to write another pamphlet,.
Wet and dry docks are excavating, first-rates and frigates
building, and all the bustle and activity of a dock yard of
the Erst magnitude on the eve ot.a war. Seriously, the
preparations making at the Royal Surrey Zoological
Gardens, for the siege of Gibraltar, are on such a gigantic
scale few persons have any conception of, and we are
warranted in asserting that the tortbcoming representa-
tion will exceed anything yet attempted.
THE LAMPLIGUTERS ON THE FAST DAY.—The
lamplighters of Manchester, resolving, at the suggestion
of their superintendent, to turn to some account the Into
general fast, made a small subscription through the force,
am, }tinting to 1/. 7s. 6,1., with which they purchased
twenty-two dozen soup tick-ts, and distributed their
several proportixis amongst the destitute pour in their
ditkrent localities. Thus were they enabled, at a trifling
sacrifice to themselves, to afford temporary. relief to at
least 100 of their less fortunate and suffering brethren.
This is a gratifying illustration of the good that may be
effected, even on a small scale, where there is a disposi-
tion, and-an example worthy of imite,tion.—Guardiaa.
The cost of a passage in the forecastle from Cork
to America is raised to 4/. 10. s. and 51., that is 20s. to 30s.
over the usual charge. mit_ilsn...• thehinognloyt
ou'in'litye Northern
in Ireland
which Whig hstaaatensotthat,toAucnbteria.
Government money.
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