The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-06 00:00:00

to the confidence and goodwill which appear to have alai
mated all classes of society. I can remember visiting Shef-
field when I was not able to make these pleasing observa-
tions, but at periods when masters were distrustful and the
workmen in something like a state of revolt. In short,
Sheffield fluctuated between alternations of prosperityand
distress, and distress at one time continued so long that it
threatened to break the hearts of its inhabitants, and to
make them apprehensive that the prosperity of this an-
cient town had indeed come to an end. Bat I believe that
within the last few days a most important element of fu-
ture prosperity has arisen among you. I think that that
great discovery will not only increase the prosperity of this
town, but be of lasting benefit to the country at large. I
sllade of course t the wonderful discovery of Mr. Bessemer.
Perhaps as a coalowner I ought to be a little afraid, but I
have such confidence in my politico-economic creed that I
believe, however Mr. Bessemer may reduce the consump-
tion of coal, your prosperity will equally tend to produce
my prosperity, nor do I pretend to be extremely disinte.
rested when I express my earnest hope that that great dis-
covery may produce all the benefits which I most sanguinely
anticipate from it. I believe there never was a time
within the memory of most of us when all party politics
ere at so low an ebb, and party feelings so little iuflu-
enced men as at the present moment. Ido not deny
that this may have some disadvantage, but I speak
feelingly when I say that, isolated as I am from
public life, disconnected from every party whatever,
I am a somewhat useless individual. (Cries of " No,"
and cheers.) But this state of things has this great ad-
vantage—itis a season when all social improvements may
be greatly promoted. For instance, we see at this moment
persona of all creeds and political professions—men who en-
tertain on a -variety of subjects the most different opinions
—uniting together without any party feeling to obtain one
common end in the promotion of the education of the
people. Still mere recently we have seen an important
movement made for the reformation of juvenile offenders.
These are most important social questions, and I know that
in the town of Sheffield they have never been neglected, I
know that recently you have appointed a committee upon
tee subject of the reformation of juvenile criminals, who
have reported at considerable length, with a view to the
practical adaptation of- the principles so ably discussed at
Bristol. (Hear.) If I allude to these important social ques-
tions I do so with the hope that another important point
will not be forgotten—l mean the improvement of the
physical condition of the people ; for I am convinced you
must go to the root of the evil, and while endeavouring to
promote the reformation of juvenile offenders you must
weed and root out the nascent seeds of vice before they
have pervaded the minds of the young. Never let us for-
get that while we should support schools it is our duty to
improve the physical condition of the people, without which
all our efforts will prove feeble and ineffective. if there is
one politico-economic axiom more admitted than another, it
is that crime is in exact proportion to the poverty of the
country. I know of nothing more certain than that if you
succeed in rendering the situation of the labouring classes of
the country more prosperous you will, to a certain extent,
eradicate and prevent crime. Look at that country a short
distance across the water, which has afforded to every
statesman a lesson that he should learn and ponder upon
every hour of his life. What was the condition of Ire-
land some years ago compared with its present state ?
Seven or eight short years have elapsed, and the convic-
tions in that country have been reduced from 21,000 in
the year to not more than 5,000; and can you doubt that
that state of things has arisen from anything else than the
improved physical condition of the people ? And, again,
look at home, at what has taken place in your own county,
the West Riding, and you will find that even within the
last six months the diminution of pauperism is extraordi-
nary, while in the neighbouring county, to which I be-
long, it has been reduced from 1$ to 16 per cent. These ,
are subjects not merely for rejoicing, but for instruction,
and show us that while we support reformatories and edu-
cation we ought to do everything which can better the
physical condition of the labouring classes, and never forget
that it is not the position, wealth, and patriotism of the
aristocracy, but the industry, the enterprise, the riches,
and the virtues of the middle classes, which, combined
with the prosperity of the working population, produce the
chief strength of the nation. With peace we may hope to
continue happy and prosperous, for with these we may be
assured of strength in war. Nobody knows better than an
assembly of this character that the strength of a beam is
just equal to the tensile power of its weakest part, and I
trust we shall always endeavour to strengthen the weakest
part in the body politic that it may be enabled to bear
that pressure which must ere long from many quarters be
brought to bear upon it. (Cheers.) The noble duke con-
cluded by again thanking the company for the kind recep-
tion they had given him.
The MASTER CUTLAIR, in giving " the health of the
American Minister," said he should have been proud to
have the honour of his company at any time, but it was
doubly welcome now after the settlement of the recent
complications with the country he represented.
The toast was drunk enthusiastically.
Mr. DALLIS, on rising, was received with a burst of
cheering. He said—As I had never been at Sheffield, it
was with very great pleasure thatl accepted the invitation
moat kindly transmitted to me on this occasion. An
American citizen and a representative naturally desires to
see a community so eminently distinguished for its indus-
trial energies, of whose active enterprise it is impossible
that he can be ignorant. But I did not flatter myself
with the hope that I should receive a welcome so cordial
as that with which you have greeted me. It is too little
merited by your unknown guest to be regarded by him iu
any other light than as a sign of generous amity towards
his country. (Cheers.) As such it is received and recipro-
cated with the highest gratification and the warmest
thanks. (Cheers.) Like yourselves, the sons of the Wes-
tern Republic love the land to which they belong, and they
listen, especially when abroad, as to sweet music, to those
who express towards her sentiments of friendship, of hon-
our, and of goodwill. (Cheers.) It is not for me, a mere
stranger, to refer to the local topics of interest which
justly pre-occupy your minds. As to them lam a mere
looker-on, eager for instruction and anxious to understand.
But as, perhaps, not the least inappropriate to the occa-
sion among the numberless vestiges of this progressive age,
let mo allure your minds to a single one, perhaps the
latest, which I think must be of groat moment to the
social relations existing between the two nations. Let us
hope that the consequences may be mutually advantage-
ous. You have probably heard of the irrepressible cupi-
dity of my countrymen. They aro about to undertake a
daring exploit of annexation—an annexation that will at
once embrace these islands, and must ultimately include
all Europe, Asia, and Africa. (A. laugh.) I have actually
in my possession a piece of a bar which has been forged to
bind those three Eastern venerable continents to the fresh
one of Columbia. We say in the far West that you pos-
sess accumulated treasures, which we covet and must have.
(Hear.) The great discoveries of your explorers in the
earth and in the heavens are innumerable, and the
additions made to the comfort and happiness of
the human race by you are hundreds of millions ;
the schemes of your commerce, every step you make in
morals, in jur isprudenco, in the press, even in finance and
the stocks, we want and we must have, and have them as,
quickly as yourselves. We are aware that there is not in
the wings of the carrier-pigeon strength enough for this,
and that steam is too wretchedly slow for our impatience.
Bat a subterranean electric cable, with one grapple at St.
John's, Newfoundland, and the other at Valeutia in Ire-
land, resting on 1,700 miles, secure and indestructible in
the depths of the Pacific, will realise all our objects, achieve
all the desires of our hearts, and rivet an annexation more
wonderful and infinitely more praiseworthy than that of
Texas or of °tido. I should not have indulged in this flight,
even to beguile you for a moment, were you not perfectly
satisfied that the astonishiug fact whence it has sprung is
no longer disputable. Our two countries, the dominions of
her Britannic Majesty and the United States of America,
though separated by the stormy sea thousands of wiles in
width, will, in the course of coming years, be drawn by
the magical machinery, so to speak, of science, within con-
versational distance of each other. The preliminary sound-
ings were perfected a few days ago between these two great
arteries of sympathy of thought. I wish the lino were now
in operation, and why ? Because I would instantly illus-
trate its most glorious adaptation to the promotion of good-
will among men in distant places by sending your toasts to
ley compatriots, and giving you before you rose from this
table a full-hearted American response. (Cheers.)
" The Health of the Chairman" having been drunk on
the proposition of the Duke of Newcastle,
Mr. DUNN gave "The Health of the Members of the
West Riding."
Mr. B. Ds NISON returned thanks, observing that it was
now two years since lie bad been called upon to respond to
the toast, it not having been in his power last year to be
present. In that period groat events had taken place ;
mighty battles had been fought., and splendid victories
won, until at last the armies of England, conjoined with
those of their great ally, had at last been crowned with
suaeess. We sent our soldiers to take Sebastopol, and they
had done it. The war had begun while his noble friend
the Duke of Newcastle was one, and, in his opinion, one of
the most efficient, of the Ministry. (Lou 't cheers.) That
nobleman worked from morning till night and night till
morning. (Hear, hear.) He was the most abused of any
man in the service, and, as he (Mr. Denison) maintained,
had been most grossly calumniated. But the page of his-
tory would reveal the truth—(cheers)—and, as be believed,
would record the fact that the noble duke had been made
the scapegoat of the Ministry and the party. What his
colleagues had not been permitted to carry out their suc-
cessors had executed most satisfactorily, and he must say
that, in his opinion, Lord Palmerston deserved the thanks
of the 'United Kingdom. (Cheers.) He had nothing to do