The Sun.
London, England, 1851-06-12 00:00:00

THURSDAY

GRAND BANQUET BY THE MERCHANT
TAILORS' COMPANY.
Yesterday being Sc. Barnahas'-day, the annual exa-
mination of the Merchant 'Tailors' School was held, cc-
' cording to the time-honoured custom, in the presence of
1)r. Winter, the, master, tind the senior fellows of St.
John's College, Oxford, and other distinguished visitors;
and in the evening the master and warders gave their
annual dinner to the examiners and their friends. The
opportunity was at the same time taken of inviting a
number of the distinguished foreigners who are at pre-
sent in this country to partake of magnificent hos-
pitality of this ancient and distinguished civic company.
The banquet took place in the hall, and all the resources
of the company were expended in an entertainment which
should do honuur to the company, and enable our foreign
guests, who have come over to attend the Exhibition, to
appreciate the munificent hospitality of the great trading
companies in the metropolis. Wm. Robinson White, Esq.,
master, was in the chair, and there were also present—His .
Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, President atd
Senior Fellows of St. John's College, Oxford, the Marquis
of Douro, the Earl of Shell Ad, Earl Howe, Lord Vis-
count Strangfcrd, Lord Viscount Hardinge,Lord William
Pattie Lord Bishop of Oxford, Lord Sattour, Lord
Redesdale, Lord Colchester, Lord Fevershatn, Lord
Stanley, Lord Leigh, the Hon. Charles Hardinge, Cap-
tain the Hon. Arthur Duncombe, R.N., M P.; the Right
Ilon. Sir &Jorge Clerk, Bart.; the Right Hon. Henry
Goulhurn, the Right Hon. William Ewart Gladstone,
ti e Right Hon. Vice-Chancellor K. Bruce, Mr. Justice
Patteson, Mr. Justice Cress well, Mr. Baron Platt, Mr.
Baron Afartin, the Hon. Arthur Hardingo, Sir J. Doke,
Bart., M.P., and Alderman; rthjor-General Sir G. Pol-
lock, Major-Gen. Sir John Rolt. Sir Frederick Thesiger,
M.P.; Sir Charles Mansfield Clark, the Dean of Jersey,
Major Beresford, M.P.; Thomas Baring, Esq, M.P.;
Richard Maxwell Fox, Esq., M.P.; John Masterman,
Esq., M.P.; Mr. Alderman Thompson, M.P.; Dr.
Maine; 'the Governor and Deputy-Governor of the
Bank of England; the Deputy-Chairman of the East
India Company; Major-Gen. Kenah, Col. Gamoigne,
Col. Challoner, Mr. Alderman Finnis, Jas. Bentley, Esq.,
Treasurer of St. Bartholomew's Hospital; Richard Bag-
galley, Esq., Treasurer of St. Thomas's Hospital; H.
Kemble, Esq., the Master of the Mercers' Company ; A. K.
Barclay, Esq., J. Crocker, jun., Esq., Baron C. Pupil,
Chevalier de Burg, Dr. Sch alb atilt, Captain Abdul flamed,
M. Sallandrouza do Lamornaix, Professor Corridi, M.
Von Viebahn, M. Walwoski, E. Zohrab, Esq., M. Cuy-
]itz, M. P. Ralli, M. G. de Kauaensky, Chevalier de
Leueisa, Dr. Seyffarth, Don M. de Ysasi, Dr. Bolley,
Signor Hamda Elmkadden, M. Santillana, Dr. Steinbeis,
M. Roessler, M. Stahlschmidt, M. Noback, Signor
Carlo Trebbie, Charles Tottie, Esq., Peer Ibraheem
Khan Bahadoor, Syed Abdoolhah, an Indian chief and
his secretary, from the Punjaub.
The cloth having been removed,
The MASTER proposed " The Church and Queen,"
which was received with the utmost loyalty and enthu-
siasm.

The MASTER said the next toast was " Prince Al-
bert" (citizen and Merchant Tailor).—(Cheers.) lle
had entertained great hopes that his Royal Highness
would have been present on that occasion; but as ho was
unavoidably absent, ho proposed that they should drink
his health.—(Cheers.)
The MASTER said they had present with them an
illustrious Prince, who was also . a brother Merchant
Tailor—his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge.—
(Cheers.) His Royal Highness was the last of the illus-
trious names that had been enrolled on their list of
honourable members, but they were happy to enrol his
name among the many distinguished men that had been
connected with them as honourable members. He begged
to propose " Ills Royal Highness the Duke of Cam-
bridge, the Prince of Wales, and the other members of
the Royal Family."
The Duke of CAMBRIDGE said he felt at all times
honoured and gratified to have the advantage of meeting
in that hall the master, wardens, and members of this an-
cient and loyal company—a company to be enrolled on
whose tablets he considered a distinguished honour.—
(Cheers.) He, as an humble individual, felt strongly
that these ancient institutions were of the greatest ad-
vantage and of the greatest importance to this great
country. It was, therefore, a gratification to him that
he had the honour of being a member of ono of these
ancient and distinguished civic companies. He was al-
ways happy in being permitted to meet them at their
hospitable board, particularly when, as at present, he
saw around him, not only distinguished members of this
country, but also so many foreigners of distinction.—
(Cheers.) He felt that the friendly intercourse which
was thus produced would tend to promote tho general
advancement and civilization of the world. He trusted
that such would bo the result, and he was proud, with
the permission of the Master, as well as of the other
members of this corporation, to bid these foreign gentle-
men welcome to their hospitable board.—(Cheers.)
Tho MASTER then proposed " The Army and Navy."
Lord lIARDINGE begged, in the absence of the Com-
mander-in-Chief, to return his cordial thanks for the
army, who, he said, were proud on all occasions to re-
ceive the approbation of their fellow-citizens when
assembled on these festive occasions. Be would remind
them that the British army maintained her Majesty's
dominions in colonies extending over one-tenth of the
whole terrestrial globe; and in one of which colonies
alone, that of India, there was assembled one-tenth of
the population of the world. That reminded him fur-
cibly of the obligations they owed to th 3 Indian as well
as to the Queen's army; and he could never accept
praises for the one without broadly hoping that they
would unite the other.—(Cheers.) With respect to the
British army, he must say—and he appealed on this
point to his Royal Highness, who was an excellent judge
—that the British army was as remarkable for discipline
and good conduct at home as it was fer energy and gal-
lantry abroad. He hoped, however, that their swords
would now be turned into ploughshares, at least for a
long time to come, and in that expectation he cordially
drank their good healths.
Lord COLCIIESTER, who returned thanks for the
navy, said, he had no doubt, if their services should
be required, that the navy would be found not to
have degenerated from the effleicecy of their prede•
cessors. But it must be remembered that the navy
had different duties to fulfil. They were not only
called upon to protect the country against foreign ene-
mies, but they were called upon also to protect the
commerce of the world. They had done this duty
hitherto, and he hoped they would continue to do it for
the future.—(Cheers.)
The MASTER said one of the most pleasant duties was
the examination of the boys at the school of the com-
pany, and the election of the senior scholars to St. John's
College, Oxford. The task of examination had been
kindly discharged by Dr. Winter, who was himself a
Merchant Tailor, and that day forty years had been
elected into the Merchant Tailors' school—now he was
the distinguished president of his college. He begged to
propose " Dr. Winter, the president, and the senior fel-
lows of St. John's College, Oxford."—
(Cheers.)
Dr. WINTER returned thanks. it was now, he said,
several centuries since the Merchant Tailors' School had
been opened, and since Sir Thomas White, the origina-
tor and founder of St. John's College, Oxford, had con-
ferred upon the company the privilege of nominating
three-fourths of the fellows of his college. Since that
time the Merchant Tailors' School had been industri-
ously and faithfully engaged in training up children in
the principles of sound learning, pure religion, and de-
voted loyalty. In the examination of this year he was
happy to say that the boys had highly distinguished
themselves, because they had been able to nominate three
fellows; and though it did not become a prudent and
sober person to deal in prophecies, yet he might ven-
ture to predict that these boys would do credit to them-
selves and to their college, and that they would establish
for the school additional claims to the respect and grati-
tude of the nation at large.—(Cheers)
The MASTER then proposed " The Honorary Mem-
bers," among whom, he was happy to say, they reckoned
one name that was the glory of the World—the Duke of
Wellington.—((.heers.) There were other names that
were not far behind him—such as Lord Hardinge, Sir
George Pollock, and other illustrious men.—(Cheers.)
He begged to propose " The Honorary Members of the
Company."
Lord LIARDINGE returned thanks.
The MASTER then said they were gratified with
having the honour of entertaining a number of distin-
guished foreigners, who had come to this country in
connexion with the Exhibition of the Arts and Industry
of All Nations. He was proud to see, also, that several
distinguished statesmen who were present were also
connected, as Royal Commissioners, with that Exhibi-
tioif; and he begged to propose as a toast, " Her Ma-
jesty's Commissioners and the Foreign Commissioners
for conducting the Great Exhibition," and he would
couple with the toast the names of Lord Stanley and
Baron C. Dupin.—(Cheers.)
Lord STANLEY was received with loud cheering. He
said—l little expected when I entered your hospitable
room this evening that I should be called upon to return
thanks for a body of men to whom, an every account,
I feel it a pride and a gratificatiou to belong. But
to you, master, and to this company, I personally
owe a deep obligation, and I should feel myself un-
worthy of the kindness which I have received at your
hands if I were for a moment to hesitate, however inade-
quate, to undertake the task which you have set me.
This is not the first time I have had the honour of
speaking on behalf of the Royal Commissioners of the
Great Exhibition, as I think I may now call it, of the
Industry of All Nations. I have spoken upon this sub-
ject in the City at a time when the balance of public opi-
nion was suspended between the chances and hopes of
success and the fears and apprehensions of signal failure.
I remember in this city, though not in this room, a
great impulse was given to the popular excitement in
favour of the Exhibition by an entertainment, which
was attended by his Royal Highness Prince Albert,
under whose auspices the idea originated, and was, I
may say, perfected. At that time great doubts existed
whether the Exhibition would in any respect answer the
ideas of its originator and proposer. There were I know
not what apprehensions; there were fears of a pecuniary
failure—perhaps that was a failure of the least kind—
there were fears of constant discomfort—there was talk
oven of an interference with the national amusements
and recreations of the people—there were fears
and apprehensions that, from the gathering of
all nations, this country would become the
focus of internal sedition and of external anar-
chy. I thank God first—l thank the genius and spirit
of my countrymen next—that these apprehensions bare
vanished and melted into thin air.—(Loud cheers.) Nay,
even the difficulties and obstacles which were interposed
served only to heighten the magnificence and the splen-
dour of the ceremony; for I well remember, when ob-
jections were raised on a point of feeling in which I
myself participated, that it was hardly right to desecrate
those splendid parks which are the beauty and glory of
this city, by destroying those venerable trees under
whose shade succeeding generations have sported and
been amused; and when the preservation of these trees
was forced upon the Commissioners by the controlling
power of public opinion, that objection actually con-
tributed to produce the grandest and most magnificent