The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-07 00:00:00

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[PRICE 4D. STAMPED SD•

• hon mred by the presence of one of the leading men of
• Amsrica, who is only one year younger than his own
country (General Mercer) ; but, notwithstanding the
youth of our country, how justly proud may we be cf
'her I At the tMe of her birth she was a puny creature,
sickly, feeble, diminutive. Look at her now, (Cheers.)
She then coetained but ;500.,040 people. Her popula-
tion is now 27,000,000 r' - Her T.erritory Was then a mar-
gin of he Atlantic. It hi now an imams° continent !
He wealth was then comparative poverty. Her re-
sources are now actually AxhaUstiOiBB ! (Cheers.) Her
moral greatness, too, bears a fair'proportion to her phy
sisal development. There is in-her physical configura
Cunt everything to delight the eye and exalt the imagina-
tion ;•she has the noblest mountaies, the most extended
lakoy, the widest rivers, Jim richest prairies. And in
harmony with this is the progre-s of her
_genius and of
her moral principles, and the great elevation of her
political maxims. (Cheers.) When Americans look
back at the short period during which their country
has existed up in the theatre of the world, they
have, therefore, some reason to be proud—(loud
cheers)—nay, I go further, this great country, whence
sprang the chief at ick of the United States, has rea-
son to be proud. In a 1 our great characteristics
we may be said to resemble the people of Great pritain.
We are brave--(chetre); wearecommereal ; we are free;
and, perhaps, in some respects we transcend them in
having carefully separated civil and religious liberty.
(Cheers.) But resemblance of this sort, gentlemen, in-
stead of being the cause of bar nony and union; are often
the cause of difficulty and dispute. Two brave men are
equally fearless of each other; one will never yield to
the other on a point ollonour, and, there'ore, they
sometimes come into collision. Two merchants pur-
suing the saw course of `adventure will sometimes find
their interests clash. The spirit of theTress' too, which
in free conntrits should ever be free, often brings on a
state of feeling which requires to be dealt with by the
wisest and moat conciliatory measures. (Loud cheers.)
It is a matter of sincere regret, but perhaps it is in the
order of Providence, that the freest nations are not al-
ways the sincerest friend,. (Hear, hear.) I cordially
concurred in the first, second, and tbird toasts that were
proposed. With regard to the second, permit me to
observe that if there is one feature of the American cha• I
rector more protninant than another, it is the heartiness
with which they receive the toast of the lady whose

name is always foremost in the hearts of Englishmen.
(Loud cheers.) I a4c my countrymen who are ac
quiinted with the univers I' spirit of America, who
know the e tent to vriic'a we carry our civilisation,
wh,ther we do not tlway, drink a double bumper to the
ladiea in preference to the gentlemen? (Cheers and
laughter.) As to the present toast, gentlemen, I thank
you for the manner in which you hire received it, its
wily merit le'ng that it comes from William Bilwn, o
Liverpool. (Loud cheers.)
General CADWALADEEL Said— I arn really glad, Mr.
Chairman, of the opportunity of meeting my distin-
guish!d ferow-;:otntryrnen, whom you have invited in a
quiet way to celebrate the 4th of July. You know that
at home the day aff rds an occasion for military display
and some reference is always made to historical and
statis'ical mi itary facts before the society of Cincinnati,
whose badge I have the honour to wear—(cheers)—but
I shall now confine myself to one or two facti which may
not be inappropriate t,r uninteresting to our friends. By
the report of the Ordnance Department at Wahingtoo,
under the act for arming and equippirg the whole body
of the militia, we return 2,566,502 free, able bodied,
white male inhabitants of the age of 18 year's and uoder
the age of 45 years subject to enrolment and liable to
perbrrn military service. These mea, up to a certain
grade of comrai=sion, are usually commanded by officers
of their own choice, and it is a pleasing commentary
upon our national institutions to know that more than

2,000,000 men, commanded mostly by officers of their
own choice, can safely be trusted with the national
arms in their hands. (Cheers.) The standing army of
the United States under the genius of our constitution
cannot be large in time of peace, but an ample corps of
highly educated and experienced officers, mostly gradu-
ates of the Wtst 13-int •Mtlitary Academy, sown broad-
cast throughout tie land, as the history of the Mexican
campaign will show. (Hear.) It gives ma pleasure, sir,
to say that I have in my eye at this moment two dis-
tinguished and highly accomplished gentlemen who
have held professorships in that military school. (Hear.)
But educ,tti in in our country is not confined to the mi-
litary class. The American people at large are a helpfu',
instructed people, and believe that the pen is strongtr
than the sword. (Cheers.) Naturally left to themsi lees,
they prize the comforts of peac.!, and if ever a d,fficulty
should arise with any nation it will probably find its
origin in a national charact-ristic. Sir, shall we say that
we belong to the genus ixritabile ? (Hear, and a laugh.)
We are a particularly sensitive race, and we need not
(among ourselves) disguise the fact that difficulty may
arise from some unwise, untruthful, unchristian-like irri-
tation. In all kindness be it spoken, the example is be-
f .re us ; I believe the public press in England can hold
in its hand the key to the American heart. (Cheers.)
My countrymen are naturally disposed to respect thetn-

selves, and feel kindly disposed towards England. Be
assured, Sir, the American daughter is of herself willing
to hare her breast t) nurture and sustain her venerable
parent. (Cheers.) lam confident, if her Majesty the
Queen or her Royal consoit (for the Queen is a lady
and the Americas people are a gallant people) should
visit her dominions in Canada and return home

through the United States, that the Royal progreAs
would be everywhere haiied with as much respect and as
much enthusiasm as would be shown by her own loyal
subj,cts. (Lout! cheers ) There is in the United States
a Loge Con,ervative cla s who are entirely removed from
t'w arena of politics, and I can say that these good
people think that the public press in America and the
public press in England can well afford to consult
the national peculiarities of each other. Allow me,

Sir, to propose the toast I have in my hand—" Great
Brit tin and the U •ited States ; frank intercourse,

dial friendship, and perpetual peace between them."
(Drur.k wi h immense cheering.)
Mr. JOHN Al`GßEGoll, M.P., as the representative of
a great coast tiency which Lied great intercourse with
America, proposed the health of his friend Mr. George
Peabody, who was a most active promoter of that amity
which ought always to exist between two nations speak-
ing the same language and descended from common
cestors.

The toast was received with loud and prolonged cheers.
Mr. PEABODY, in returning thanks for the very kind
recew,ion given to the toast, said that he was exceedingly
gratified at being surrounded on that glorious day by s 9
large a number of his countrymen and his English
friends ; that he was most happy to witness the rerfect
harmony which had prevailed throughout the proceed-
ing of that evenine, : and ho trusted that it ever would
be so, and that his life might be spared to meet his
friends on many similar occasions. (Cheers.) Ile had
no difficulty in providing for their physical appetites, but
they must look to those more capable of making
speeches than himself to cater for their intellectual en-

j,yrcents. He felt his beart was right, but he wanted
the power to express in suitable language its feelings.
Daring his long absence from his native country he had
formed many attachments, but the land of his birth was
always uppermost in his affections, and he would ever
rtjoice to call it his home. Again thanking them for
their kindness, he sat down amid renewed applause, the
band playing " Home, sweet home."
Mr. CORBIN, with a few appropriate remarks, then
gave "Our English guests," which was drunk with
all the honours, Mr. S. C. lan replying.
The next toast, "Professor Morse," whose name was
associated with the • wonderful improvements in the
electric telegraph, having been responded to,
Mr. PEARODY proposed " The Hon. Mr. Carderon;
of Canada."

Mr. CAMERON, in returning thanks, observed that he
was happy, as a coloni-t of Great Britain in the New
World, to tell them how proud the Canadians felt of
Old England, and ha w attached they were to their So-
vereign—feelings a hich arose from the kind and fos-
tering hand which England extended to them, and to
the perfect freedom she had granted them in the manage-
ment of their own affairs. To the old colonies she had
acted the part of a harsh step-mother ; she had coerced
and chained her children down, until the iron had entered
into ther soul,i, and in their anger and despair they had
broken the fetters that galled them and severed the
chain that bound them. To the new colonies she had
been a gentle and nursing mother, assisting them to de-
velope their resources, directing their energies, aiding
their enterprises, and conferring upon them the inesti
mable boon of self government, (Cheers.) And mark what
had been the results; with nearly a million of people
more than the old colonies possessed at the time of the Re-
volution, their attachment to England was steadfast and
strong ; and, while the Americans always spoke, when
about to visit the Old World, of "going out to Europe,"
it was still with the colonists, when they crossed the
seas, " coming home to England." (Cheers.) War had
been spoken of between these islands and the continent
of the West, and none could think of such a calamity
without a shudder ; but men must not shut their eyes
tc. the possibility of such an event, and considerations of
humanity and religion must be invoked and concessions
made to avert the catastrophe. (Cheers.) England cJitld
afford to concede, and the world would be spared the
spectacle of the two great Protestant nations of the earth
warring against each other, and wasting, on the battle-
field those precious lives that in peace might extend re-
ligion and civilisation to the ends of the earth. (Cheers.)
England had made Canada the anomaly of an indepen-
dent dependency. She allowed her to pass her own laws
of trade and navigation, nay, even- to make her own
treaties, as witness the Reciprocity Treaty—(cheers)—
which had already increased the export trade of Canada
500 fold. The time might come when, in the world
wide struggle of freedom against despotism, British
hands and hearts in the colonies, from Newfoundland
to Hudson's Bay, the American lovers of liberty fram
Maine to the Pacific, might circle these islands of the
sea to defend them with their wooden walls against the
despotic Powers that desired to trample the life out of
'liberty, and England might owe her preservation as a
nation to those who had sprung from her own loins.
(Cheers.)
The concluding toast of "The Ladies" having been
given by Mr. Peabody, the company separated shortly
before 12 o'clock, all of them highly gratified with their
evening's entertainment.
The national airs of the two countries were played at
iatervals daring tho evening by a very efficieut Wad.