The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-14 00:00:00

BANQUET AT MERCHANT TAYLORS'
HALL.

On Saturday evening the Masters and Wardens of the
ancient civic guild of Merchant Taylors entertained a dis-
tinguished company of noblemen and gentlemen at a
banquet which was served with great splendour in their
stately hall in Threadneedle-street. In accordance with
the political traditions of the company the invited guests,
as a rule, were Conservatives, and included, among others
Lord Cairns, Lord Derby, andi most of the rank and file of
the party in both Houses of Parliament. Mr. Disraeli had
received an invitation, but is understood to have excused
himself on the ground of the state of his health, to the
great regret of the masters and wardens. During the day
there was the usual examination of the company's school
in Cannon-street for prizes, and for scholarships at St.
John's College, Oxford ; and in the evening, previous to
the banquet, the company elected Lord Cairns. Field
Marshal Sir G. Pollock, and Sir Roderick Murchison
honorary memhers. The dinner party comprised about 180
noblemen and gentlemen. The Master of the Company,
Mr. Edward Masterman, presided at the entertainment.
After the cloth was removed, the choir chanted grace,
and the usual constitutional toasts were given. The
healths of the three new honorary members were given.
Lord Cairns, who was suffering from hoarseness, said :
If any additional gratification could have been conferred
upon him at a time when he was promoted to such an
honour it would be in the fact that his name had that day
been added to the roll of the honorary members of this
company, in the room of another name with which
his should never have been put in comparison—a name
which could never be mentioned in that hall, or in any
assembly in this country, without feelings of love and
veneration—he meant that of his late lamented friend
Lord Derby. And yet one more addition to the
compliment was derived from the circumstance that he
found he was associated in that honour with his
friend Sir Roderick Murchison—a name that had tra-
velled into every part of the habitable world where
science was respected and cultivated—a name which had
accomplished by purposes of practical utility the feat of
marching into the bowels of the earth without impedi-
ment. He did not quite know what they had pledged
themselves to, but he believed they must not employ
French tailors, and must attend the feasts of the company
whenever invited, which, for his part, he should be very
willing to do.
Sir Roderick Murchison, in returning thanks for the
compliment paid to him as a man of science, expressed
a hope that his illustrious friend, Dr. Livingstone, would
live to return to this country, and share the hospi-
talities of the Merchant Taylors.
The Master then proposed " The Houses of Lords and
Commons," coupling with them the names of the Earl of
Derby and Sir J. Pakington.
The Earl of Derby was enthusiastically cheered. He
said,—Master, my. lords, and gentlemen, I have great
pleasure in returning thanks on behalf of the House of
Lords, although, when I look around this table, and
when I consider how very lately I have become a
member of that body, and how very small a part
I have been able to take in its deliberations, I am
almost disposed to apologise to my brother Peers for
accepting that position. lam very glad to hear that you
connect the two Houses in one toast, and I shall be still
better pleased if their actual union on other occasions is as
complete as it has been in the Master's speech this eve-
ning. In the course of the present year we, in the House
of Lords, have not been exceedingly active. That is
rather our misfortune than our fault, if it is a misfortune ;
but, after all, doing nothing is better than doing mis-
chief. A very large part of our duty, taking things as we
find them in the present day, consists not so much in
positive action on our own part as in preventing injurious
action on the part of others. But that happy season of
tranquillity for us is rapidly passing away, and the
time is coming when we shall be upon our trial
before the country. Within a few days the most
important measure of the Session will be in our hands,
and upon the decision at which we shall then arrive many
important consequences will depend both in the present
and in the future. Now, you will naturally expect from
what I have said that I should tell you what the Lords are
about to do on the Irish Land Bill. If you entertain that
expectation lam afraid I shall be disappointing you. I
cannot tell you because I don't know. But I can say
that never was there a case in which it was more our
duty to act at the same time temperately, cautiously, and
firmly. It will be our duty on principle and on
policy to accept all that we can, and resist only what we
must. It will be our duty in prudence and on
policy to aim at nothing more than we can safely carry
into effect; it will be our duty, in self-respect, to adhere
firmly to all that we have on deliberate reflection adopted.
Well, gentlemen, that is the theory of what we have got
to do ; what the practice will be I shall be better able to
tell you six months hence than now. (Laughter.) The
only thing on which I feel quite sure is this—that what-
ever course we may take we shall not be able to please
everybody—(a laugh)—on the contrary, we may please
many men on both sides of the House, whose honest and
conscientious views we have to oppose; but, after all, if
that is all that can be said against us, we still have the
satisfaction of feeling that we have endeavoured, to the
best of our power, to solve this great problem of Irish
discontent.

Sir John Pakington said he always felt that on such occa-
sions the toast of the House of Commons should not be
taken in a party sense. It was the noblest representative
assembly in the world, and he must say that, whatever
might be its party complexion, it was always composed of
men who were sincerely anxious to, promote the welfare of
this great empire. The present House of Commons had
been called on to deal with subjects, of no ordinary
magnitude and importance ' • and looking to the last and
the present session he could not shrink from saying it had
had to entertain measures which he for one viewed' with
anxiety and alarm. But in a few days it would be invited
to consider a question which he, among others, viewed in
a very different light, and he hoped the present session
would not conclude without passing what he had long
wished to see—namely, a great measure for the education
of the people. _ _

The Master proposed " Prosperity to the Merchant
Taylors' School," paying as he did so high a tribute to
the Head Master, Dr. Hessey, with whose, wine he asso-
ciated the toast. The school, he said, had existed for
more than three hundred years, and still maintained its
ancient prestige, taking a high place in the educational
institutions of the country. Its early founders weiki%
men of large and philanthropic views, and it had devolved
on the governing body in modern days to carry out, as far
as they could, the wishes of their predecessors, and
to adapt the institution to the exigencies of the present
time. _ _ _

Dr. llessey, in replying, referred to the results of the
system of education that was earned out at the Merchant
Taylors' School, over which he had presided for 25 years.
The young men who had been sent up to Oxford from that
school had taken high posftions, and many distinguished
men had received their early education wtihin its walls.
Among these he mentioned the names of Sir Christopher
Wren, the present Dean of St. Paul's, and the President
of St. John's College, Oxford—the two latter gentlemen
being present.
After the healths of the legal dignitaries present had been
given, and other toasts drunk, the party separated about
eleven o'elock.

THE " TOMAHAWK " AND THE LATE MB. DICKENS.
—The Tomahawk has an obituary notice in memory of the
late esteemed author. It says :—" He never wrote a line
to cause a blush. He never published a thought that was
not good. He was a protector of the poor without slander-
ing the rich. He founded the ' real ' school of fiction,
and was the foe of sickly sentimentalism and false
morality. He was a great writer. A good citizen. A
Christian man."