The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-17 00:00:00

CEIMEAN BANQUET AT PORTSMOUTH.

PORTSMOUTH, TUESDAY EVENING.
To-day some 2,300 soldiers, sailors, and Marines, re-
cently returned from the Crimea, and now stationed in
this town, were entertained at a grand banquet provided
by the gentry and other inhabitants of the town and neigh-
bourhbod, in grateful recognition of their memorable ser-
vices and sufferings during the war with Russia, and as a
token of welcome on their return to their native country.
The entertainment was held in a spacious pavilion, erected
expressly for the occasion, at an expense of about 2001.,
in the Governor's parade ground, situate within the for-
tifications of the town, and, the day being remarkably
auspicious, a great concourse of the inhabitants, with the
gentry and others for many miles round, were present to
witness the ceremony. The recipients of this spontaneous
act of homage were all medal men, and many of them
were also decorated with the insignia of the French Le-
gion of Honour. They included 900 soldiers of the 20th
Regiment of Foot, 45 of the 21st Royal Fusiliers, 400
of the Royal Marine Light Infantry, 400 of the
Royal Marine Artillery, 400 of the 97th Foot, 35 Royal
Sappers and Miners and Royal Artillerymen, with a few
soldiers belonging to other regiments, making up the whole
of the troops now in the garrison here. There were also a
number of men selected from the crews of the Victory,
her Majesty's yacht, the Admiralty yacht, the Princess
Royal, Caesar, Colossus, Perseverance, Dauntless, Urgent,
Gorgon, Vigilant, Dragon, Lapwing, Cormorant, Bulfinch,
Pigmy, Fanny, Raleigh, St. Vincent, Soahorse, and Fire
Queen. The town throughout the day wore quite a holiday
air. Banners floated from some of the public buildings and
private houses, the church bells were rung and grins fired
at intervals. At 1 o'clock, the hour fixed for the dinner,
the men belonging to the feet and the several regiments
were marched to the pavilion, under the command of their
respective officers, and preceded by bands of musk; and
when they assembled within the building the scene was
extremely animated. The interior of the pavilion was taste-
fully decorated with banners and other naval and military
emblems. Over the seat assigned to the chairman the
flags of the allied nations were intertwined, and the words
" Welcome Home," "Honour to the Brave," and the
names of Sebastopol and Inkermann inscribed in the centre.
The front of a gallery designed for the accommodation of
ladies, which ran across the centre of the building, bore
the inscription " Florence Nightingale," in large letters of
gold on a white ground.
Dr. Englodue, a gentleman ',resident in the town, and
held in high esteem, had been unanimously elected by the
managing committee to preside on this occasion, and he
assumed the chair at 1 o'clock, supported on his right and
left by Lord George Lennox, Sir George Seymour, Vice-
Admiral and Commander-in-Chief; the Rev. J. P. M`Ghie,
vicar of Portsmouth ; Admiral Superintendent Martin ;
Major-General Mercer, Royal Marines, and other gentle.
men. Major-General Sir R. Dacres, Captain S. C. Dacres,
Mr. John Martin, of Cambridge House, Commodore the
Hon. Henry Keppel, Captain G. H. Seymour, Flag-Lieu-
tenant Malcolm, Flag-Lieutenant Brandreth, and several of
the municipal authorities were also 'present. General Sir
Harry Jones, General Sir W. F. Williams, and Colonels
Teesdale, Lake, and other gentlemen, invited to the officers'
banquet of to-morrow (Wednesday), arrived at Portsmouth
in the course of the day, and were in the G overnor's parade
ground witnessing the ovation to the troops and seamen, as
did also Lady Seymour and family, with many others from
the ladies' gallery. The non-commissioned officers of the
several regiments---a remarkably handsome body of men—
occupied a table assigned to their especial use, immediately
in front of the chair, and one of their number, Serjoant-
Major R. McCallum, of the Royal Artillery, was selected by
them to respond to the toast of the army. The dinner, pre-
pared by Messrs. Bathe and Funge, of the London Tavern,
and personally superintended by them, was an exceedingly
substantial one, consisting of, among other viands, cold
roast, boiled, and corned beef, venison pasty, all in plentiful
supply, with hot potatoes and bread. Two quarts of porter
formed the specified allowance for each man, but, in fact,
they had it ad libitum, and to each of them were given two
ounces of tobacco after the repast. Mr. Nightingale, the
father of Miss Nightingale, contributed a hamper of game
to the festival, with a choice selection of flowers to deco-
rate the tables. Sir F. Baring, Mr. Charles Osborne of
Fareham, and others of the gentry, sent similar presents.
Almost the whole of one side of the pavilion was open
to the public, and several thousands of them assembled on
the ramparts had a distant view of the proceedings in the
interior.

- -
Grace having been said by the vicar, the men sat down
to dinner, the band of the 22d Regiment striking up, as
they did so, " The Roast Beef of Old England," which
4,sused --Wa.",trpnce !V "..2...21-h-SALifem....DAM"C?..f,7)f an
hour, at its contilu-d-on;n (iII
g
by the sound of a bugle,
The CHAIRMAN rose and said—My gallant fellow-coun-
trymen, whenever and wherever Englishmen assemble
there are two duties not only imperative on them, but in
which they take delight. The one is to hold in grateful re-
membrance the land which gave them birth, and the other
to revere the monarch who reigns over them. I propose
to you, then, " Health and long life to our most gracious
Sovereign, Queen Victoria."
The toast was drunk with enthusiasm ; the band, played
the national anthem, and a royal salute was fired from the
ramparts.
" His Royal Highness Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales,
and the rest of the Royal Family," the next toast given
from the chair, elicited a similar manifestation of feeling.
The CHAIRMAN then said he had to propose a toast which
he was certain they would drink with enthusiasm, because
it was the health of his Royal Highness the Duke of Cam-
bridge, their Commander-in-Chief. He could not avoid
telling them on that occasion what civilians thought of his
Royal Highness and of them: He would ask them who
led them across the Alma when they dashed up its steeps,
rushed forward to the Russian batteries, and drove the
enemy to the rear of his own entrenchments? (Cheers.)
Who led them in the early morn, on the memorable sth of
November, when they were outnumbered by 10 to 1—
" And foot to foot, and man to man,
" They fought as only Briton's can.
" Until thy glades, 0 Inkerman !
" Ran ancle-deep in blood."
They had no idea what effect their deeds on that day pro-
duced in England, as related by Mr. William Russell.
(Cheers.) Every man's breath was hold, and his pulse
beat quicker and quicker as he bent over the glowing nar,
naive—

" Nothing could daunt, nothing dismay
" Those island warriors on that day,
" Through all the changes of the fray
" No matter how the battle sped,
"Unbroken stood the line of red
"Majestically firm.
" The line of red that never yields,
"Victorious in a hundred fields ! "
(Cheers.) Their Commander-in-Chief stood by them on
that cccasion, amid their dangers and perils, and he was
with them still, now that these had passed away. Civi-
lians believed that he was the right man in the right place.
They anticipated he would do all he could to carry out their
determination to maintain the British army, not only in
the state in which it now was, and in which it always
would be, pre-eminent for valour and discipline, but that
he would endeavour to carry out the wishes of the British
people—so that it should be an army Composed not only of
[ free men, but of educated men, well paid and conscien-
tiously tended. (Cheers.) Ho proposed to them in a
bumper—" His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge
and the British Army." (Cheers.)

_ .
Serjeant-Major R. M'CA.LLUM, of the Royal Artillery,
responded to the toast. He said he could scarcely find
words to express how sincerely his bravo comrades who
surrounded him and himself appreciated the honour con-
ferred on them that day by the gentry and inhabitants of
that neighbourhood. (Cheers.) It was a day they would
always remember with pleasure. The manner in which
they had been welcomed to their homes would help to
make them forget the hardships they had endured in the
service of their beloved Queen and country—a country they
were proud of for its benevolence—a Queen they should
ever revere for the deep sympathy she had felt in their
sufferings, whose honour it was their privilege as well as
their right and duty to defend ; from which duty they
had never shrunk, and never would shrink, while there
was a sabre left in Old England and an arm to wield it,
a musket with a hand and heart to use it, or a piece of
artillery and men to serve it. (Cheers.) Should they ever
again have to fight the battles of their Queen and country,
they would stand their ground, and, should ammunition
fail, they would again resort to stones, as they did at
Inkerman, and try what virtue there was in a British
bayonet. (Cheers) Ile wished, in conclusion, to acknow-
lege the obligations his brave comrades and himself were
under to the navy for their support throughout the cam-
paign. They were with the army at the Alma, and did
good service on the enemy's flank; they were with them
again at Inkerman, and rendered valuable assistance there;
and they were with them during their arduous trench du-
ties, to their own great credit and the glory of old Eng-
land. (Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN next asked permission to return to ano-
ther branch of the public service—the sailors, the brave
and the true. None in this country knew better than the
people of Portsmouth the power, the might, and the chi-
valry of the British sailor; and he would ask the men in
red how they would have gone to the scone of their glory
and their sufferings without the sailors ; or whether they
could have maintained their position on the heights of
Sebastopol if they had not been watched over and provi-
sioned by them? Need he ask them to bear witness to the
efforts the sailort made and the dangers they went through
while they were in the trenches side by side with them
,during the :whole of that dreary winter? Need he sing
out the names of Lushingtou and Keppel, or those of