The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-24 00:00:00

IRLAiti).

DU I3LIN, WEDNESDAY EVENING.
THE CRIMEAN BANQUET.

His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, etended by a
brilliant staff, arrived at a quarter to I o'clock, and,
amidst enthusiastic applause, was conducted to his seat
on the dais. The Lord Mayor took the chair, having to
his right the Lord Lieutenant, the Commander of the
Forces, Lord Talbot de Ma!abide, Lord Dunally, Admi.
ral Chads, and a number of superior officers who had
come in charge of detachments. On the left sat the Lord
Chancellor, Lord Vans of Harrowden, Lord Gougb, the
Right Hon. C. Horseman, General Sir J. Chatterton,
Col. Gordon Higgins, Mr. Dargan, Sir T. O'Brien,
M.P.. Col. Larcorn, ljnder-Secretary, Alderman George
Roe, LL.D., and a number of officers wearing the Cri-
mean medal.
Ample justice having been done to the profusion of
good fare provided by the committee, and grace having
been said by the Lord Mayor,
The LORD Mereit rose and said—l be,g to propose the
health of her Majesty the Q'ieen, a toast which, I am
sure no man in this le'aigdorn would refuse to drink, much
lees the military, for whom her Majesty has at all times
evinced such kindness, care, and love. (Loud cheers.)
The toast was responded to with the greatest enthu-
siasm.
The LORD MAYOR again rose. He had next the honour
of proposing " the health of the Lord Lieutenant, and
prosperity to Ireland." Tbere was not a man in this
country to, whom the virtues of the nobleman who repre-
sented her Majesty in Ireland were not known, and so
long as he continued to preside over its fortunes it could
not but prosper. (Loud cheers.)
His Excellency the LORD LIEUTENANT, On rising to
respond to the toast, was received with such deafening
cheers from all parts of the ball that several minutes
elapsed before he was enabled to commence his address.
At length, comparative silence having been obtained, his
Excellency proceeded with his speech, but was only able
to make himself heard by raising his voice to the highest
possible pitch. He said—Soldiers of the Crimea, my wish
now is not to speak long, but loud. I wish that every
man I see before me could hear me say how proud I feel
to be one of them this day. In the place I fill I have a
right to tell you in the name of the good Queen I serve
that her fine troops are welcome. (Cheers.) I have the
right to tell you in the name of the Irish people, that
they love brave men—that they know that you, one and
all, have fought, and toiled, and bled, and would have
died at your posts; • and 30 they have wished this day to
fill your cups to the brim, and to give you the fat of the
land. (Cheers.) Not for the worth of the thing, not for
the sake of gorging you with food, not for the stir of one
short hour, but to show you and those who will come
after you, and who some day will march under the same
lags, that your countrymen, and countrywomen too, alt
wish to thank you for what you have done, and show
you that they remember you still in peace, when the din
of war is over, and that they will toast you at their
feasts and bless you in their prayers. (Cheers.) We are
thrown upon Irish ground, and Ireland has a right to
give a welcome to heroes, because she has sent forth
many to every grade in your ranks. (Cheers.) But
Irish hospitality is not stinted to her own children, as it
was not asked, when the cheer arose loudest in your
charge, whether it had most of the English, Scotch, or
Irish accent—as it was not asked, when the red blood
flowed in the field or in the trench, whether the warm

tide gushed from English, Scotch, or Irish veins—and
here to-day you are seated side by side at the same board,
and you need no passport but the bright medal which
glows upon your manly breasts, (Loud cheers.) It is in-
deed a deep cause of thankfulness to see you here thus ;
you, who have breasted the deep slopes of the Alma—
yon, who have dashed a'ong the fatal pass of Balaklava
—you, who have held the blood-red heights of Inkerman
—you, who have survived the midnight trench, the
thundering rampart, and the deadly hospital. (Cheers.)
It is a matter of deep gratitude to see you thus under a
roof of peace, and before a board of plenty. (Cheers.)
I. know well, my friends, that your strength and your
blood would be again given to your country if your
country should require them of you. But I humbly trust
that it will be so ordered that those faces I now see
lighted up with such an honest glow, will never again
be darkened by a frown upon an enemy—(cheers)—but
may ever beam with good will towards your fellow-men,
and gratitude to your God. I have now only to add that
in my belief neither a Lord Lieutenant nor any other
person ever had his health drunk by such a body of men;
and I have only now to say, which I do from my very
heart, to 0113 and all of you, may God bless you. (Loud
and deafening cheers, amidst which his Excellency
resumed his seat.)
Lord GoUGH then rose amidst tremendous cheering,
the entire assembly standing, and said—My Lord Mayor,
your Excellency, my lords' and gentlemen, and, I wit
add, one form more dear from early associations, brother
moldiers. (Loud cheers.) I feel the present one of the
happiest moments of a long life of military vicissitudes.
(Cheers.) To be associated with my countrymen in this
public demonstration of a nation's gratitude for military
deeds well deserves a nation's praise and best feelings.
(Cheers.) I see before me a brilliant display of those
brave troops— a deputation, in some measure, from those
quartered in Ireland, who have so nobly fulfilled their
duty to their Sovereign and to their country in the field
of battle, and who, I am well convinced that iu times of
peace, gained by their indomitable gallantry, will equally
act a soldier's. part in upholding the laws of their coun-
try. I have now to propose to you the health of our gal-
lant allies, who so gloriously participated in all our dis-
tresses and in all our glories. (Cheers.) It is known
to you. brother soldiers, the noble part taken in the late
campaign by that great monarch now happily presiding
over the destinies of France ; how nobly he bas supported
the British Government—how nobly his armies acted in
conjunction with British soldiers—(cheers)—how happily
by their united energies they brought a war, fearful
almost to extermination, to a happy peace. (Cheers.)
We feel a debt of gratitude also to that chivalrous mo-
narch who, situated in the midst of governments either
lukewarm or fearful to throw themselves into the strug-
gle, sent his soldiers, few in numbers, but great in disci-
pline and courage, to support us in the fight. The
Turkish troops had not opportunity tf acting with our
brave fellows—Oa:Os—but they did their duty when
they were called upon both nobly and effectually—
(cheers)--and the defence of Silistria and that of Kars
can never be blotted net. (Great cheering.) Having now
fulfilled my duty of addressing you, I shall be happy to
fulfil that which I am placed here to perform by prepos-
log the health of the Efll peror of the French and our
noble A.iliee, who so well viol:a:reed us in the great
cause which we are met this- dejeke commemorate.
The toast was drunk with all the honours. Air—
" Parient pour la Syrie."
The French Consul, M. DE 13CS*RA.FF, who was re-
ceived with loud applause, then rose and said—The
gallant general has just spoken to you in such terms of
our alliance and of the hearty feeling of the British,
Sardinian, and French army, that I should only have
said a few words to return thanks, if your cheers had
not brought to us the re j
remembrance of your exertions,
of your pains, of your sys, of your victories in the
Crimea. You hear i them, officers awl soldiers of the
20th and 331 regiments, when mastering yourselves the
Russian batteries. At Alma you say- the Zoueves
ca,eming the heights oe your left side ; 37()" t
Brigade, you recollect them, when the Cea.sseurs
d'Afrique, your admiring brothers in arms, cane after
your heroic charge at Belaklava. (Cheers ) Guards,
these cheers are still in your memery, for they are
coupled with your victory at Inkerman ; and you,
Royal Irish, you will n t forget that alter you had
housed yourselves in tiebastopol, they hailed your
happy but unwilling returo. (lestel cheers ) These
events are living in our hearts, hut you nsust me believe
that we will forget these labours which did not shins
so brilliantly, but which were net less glorious. We
remember well your weary Retching nights, your fights,
steel to steel, hand to hand, when you could not`knew
friends from foes ; your suffering on the sick bed, and
your eoristancy in enduring the greatest privations. It
was your high sense of discipline which made you master
such hardships. Too many are missing to-day, and if
we give our regrets to those who are no more, let me, as
a Frenchman, join my hearty welcome to the welcome of
Ireland to the army of Sebastopol. (Loud cheers.)
Serjeant BRUCE, of the Royal Artillery, returned
thanks. He was very indistinctly heard. He said his
. fellow-soldiers and himself would always be prepared to
defend the weak against the strsnee when the cause of
right demanded it. The battles of the Alma, Balakiava,
and Inkerman had testifies as to the manner in which
the Artillery did their duty ; and the blood-stained walls
of Sebastopol tessified as to the mariner in which the
soldiers united with their brother blue jackets of the
Naval Brigade. If it should please God to call on them
once more, they should be ready and willing to serve
their Queen and their country. (Cheers.)
Serjeant-Major WOODEN, 17th Lancer,, returned
thanks for the cavalry. He said—May it please your
Excellency, my Lord Mayor, and gentlemen, i rise on
behalf of Cdose present here to return thanks to you fir
the entertainment which you have so liberally provided
for us this day, and also for the opinionyouhpaye ex-
pressed upon the army in general, and more o n
ally
upon these who were fortunate enough to form part
of
the Crimean army. We little thought at one time ever
to see such a festive scene as this. W.e have gone through
much danger, both from sword and sickness, but we brave
been mercifully spared, and no soldier can say that the
countrymen hate forgotten the hardships he had to con-
tend with. Is it not shown to us this day bow the citizens
of Dublin and people of Ireland remember our services ?
And no country could have shown more
the people of ore anxiety for her
soldiers, or done more for there, ha
Bri-
tain did for the soldiers during the Crimean campaign.
Comrades, there is no occasion for roe to say how we all
appreciate this good feeling on the part of the peopled of
Ireland ; but let me say this, that should cur country re-
quire our service again, we will do as we have done be
fore, and through hardships and everything else we will
do our duty cheerfully ansl with a good heat. Again I
wish to thank you all for yetir kindness, and the good
feeling you have shown towards teh
Qearterrnaster-Sereeant «' se. LEFONG, of the 77th Re•
giment, spoke as follows f T the infantry—Sons of Mare,
I solicit your attention. Inhabitants of this beautiful isle
—the Emerald Isle, commonly called " Old Ireland"—
you are worthy of our thanks for the kind manner in
which you have received us and ati ended to us this day.
That attention and that kindness will animate the rising
generation—that is, our children—when we are no nior s
When their country requires their services, they will fly
to arms to maintain the name of Old England—and show
that she never shall be conquered, nor those who assist
her. (Cheers.) They will to arms to conquer or die.
JoEUT POULTON, boatswain's mate of the La Hogue,
returned thanks on behalf of the navy, ascending for
that purpose, with singular expertness, to the head table,
and not satisfied with the ordinary trumpet call by which
the attention of the guests was demanded, enforced si-
lence after his own fashion by mounding the shrill pipe
with which, in virtue of his office, be wag invested. The,
gelar and wholly unexpected act, combined with the