The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-26 00:00:00

The annual entertainment given by the Dowager
Marchioness of Londonderry to the tenantry on
her estate took place yesterday in Cernlough, under
most favourable circumstances. The prosperous
and thriving little town was decorated with flags,
banners, &c., and several vessels which lay at
anchor in the harbour had their colours hoisted in
honour of the occasion. The weather during the
day kept up fine, and a large number of persons
from the surrounding districts availed themselves
of the opportunity of being present and enjoying
the amusements. A band was in attendance, and
contributed greatly to the pleasure of the pro-
ceedings.
About two o'clock her ladyship, accompanied by
Lord Adolphus Vane Tempest and Lady Vane Tem-
pest, Sir Hugh Cairns, M.P., Sir E. Macnaghten,
Capt. Claxton, Mr. H. H. M'Neile, &c., &c., ar-
rived from Garron Tower, and were loudly cheered
by all classes of the tenantry.
The entire proceedings were of the most interest-
ing and pleasing character.
The dinner took place in the Town Hall, which
was, as usual, very tastefully fitted up for the occa-
sion. Banners representing the severej townlands
on her ladyship's estate were erected on three lines
of tables, which extended the entire length of the
room.

At her ladyship's table sat Lady Londonderry,
Lord Vane Tempest, Lady Susan Vane Tempest,
Sir Hugh Cairns, M.P., Sir David Wood, Sir
Edmund Macnaghten, Major Thompson, Captain
Claxton, R.N. ; Mr. Montgomery, Mr. H. M‘Neile,
Rev. Mr. Betheun, Rev. Mr. Courtenay, Thomas
Johnson, Esq.
The croupiers were—R. Wilson, Wm. Orr,
Ballymena; R. Cassidy, Belfast; Rev. John Wil-
son, Rev. Mr. Starkley, P.P. ; Rev. Hugh Waddle,
Hugh Martin, Edmund O'Neill, R. Halloran.

The chair was occupied by Lord Adolphus Vane
Tempest. After the usual loyal toasts,
The CHAIRMAN, in a very effective speech, pro-
posed " The Army and Navy." After referring to
the political state of affairs in France, he proceeded
to show the necessity of this country being at all
times fully prepared to maintain that position in
Europe, and those liberties which had always been
her glory to maintain. He concluded by referring
in eulogistic terms to the gallant and heroic deeds
of both services.

Sir D. WOOD returned thanks for the army, and
Capt. CLAXTON on hehalf of the navy.
Mr. THOMPSON (one of the tenants), in proposing
" The health of the Marchioness of Londonderry,"
said he felt satisfied that it required no argument
on his part to insure for the toast that cordial re-
ception which the kindness and justice of her
ladyship so well merited.
The toast was drunk with enthusiasm.

Lady LONDONDERRY, who on rising was received
with loud applause, said—Once more, my friends, I
bid you welcome, and it is a great pleasure to me to
do so, though I always fear every year may be our
last, because, as years roll on and my health de-
clines, each effort of crossing the sea and coming
among you is greater than the former. Still, how•
ever, I am permitted again to redeem the pledge I
gave you six years ago, that while my life was
spared and strength allowed me, I would never
shrink from paying you my annual visit. (Ap-
plause.) Since I arrived I have not had time, even
if the weather had permitted, to go over the estate
and visit you as usual, but I gladly hear from our
mutual friend (my respected and valued agent), Mr.
Wilson, that you are making great exertions, and
although I fear that the severity of the season may
delay your crops from coming to maturity as early
as in other years, I trust that ultimately you will
reap the reward of your toil and industry.
(Cheers.) It is satisfactory to me to learn that
you have greatly increased your cultivation of the
flax crop, and I believe you will do wisely in ex-
tending this still further, and diminishing the
quantity of land you give to the potato. (Hear,
hear.) I know you kindly attach value to my
words, and you do me the justice to believe,
whether I speak to you in a strain of praise or
censure, I can have but one object, and that is an
anxious desire to advance, as far as my humble
abilities go, your prosperity and weal, and thus I
fearlessly and disinterestedly give you the best
advice in my power. (Cheers.) Now, there is one
subject on which I much wish you to allow me to
offer you some counsel, and that is the education of
your children. With the assistance of the National
Board, there are now good schools all over the es-
tate. Do you avail yourselves of them for your
children ? Do you sufficiently consider the solemn
duty of training them up in the way they should
go, or do you, when there is farm work to be done,i
make them assist you, and neglect their attendance ?
My friends, it is my duty, after what I have heard,
to put these questions before you, and leave you to
ask your conscience to answer them. I have an-
other observation to make. There have been some
changes of tenantry on the estate, where the tenant
holding at will was permitted, according to the cus-
tom of the country, to sell the good-will or tenant
right at twelve or fourteen years' purchase. Now,
in some instances, the incoming tenant has been
obliged to borrow a portion of the purchase money,
and, consequently, on obtaining possession of the
farm has not only heavy interest to pay, but has no
capital to stock or cultivate his farm. To remedy
this, which would bring things to a state of pau-
perism if continued, it must be understood that no
new tenant can be accepted unless he has really
sufficient capital to pay the purchase-money, and
afterwards to stock his farm and cultivate it pro-
perly. (Loud applause.) I have now the agree-
able task of reading the names of the successful
competitors, and acknowledging with gratitude the
trouble taken by Mr. Martin and Mr. O'Neill, who
have kindly gone over the estate and acted as
judges :—Her ladyship, having read the list of
names, then added—l have detained you long, and
it only remains for me to thank you sincerely for
the affectionate manner in which you have drunk
my health, and also to express my gratitude
to the visitors who have so kindly attended here
to-day. I am sure you must all unite with me in
feeling it a great honour that they should leave
concerns of so much greater magnitude to come to
this little, humble meeting. This is not the first
occasion that I have had to acknowledge Sir E.
M'Naghten's great kindness, and I deeply feel the
'compliment Sir Hugh Cairns has paid in being pre-
sent,i and to all I return my best thanks, and
h
every wish for your health and prosperity, I will
conclude. (Loud cheers.)
Sir HUGH M. CAIRNS, M.P., said he rose in baPPY
obedience to her ladyshi's command to propose as
the next toast, "Prosperity to Agriculture and the
Irish. Landlords ;" but when he had
said that, he
might, perhaps, say no more.
were anxious to hear and to speaknc knew that they
about farming,
and he, unfortunately, was no farmer. He could
not presume to follow the eloquent accents of af-
fectionate advice and encouragement with which
their noble hostess had addressed them, much less
could he hope to anticipate the counsels and sug-
gestions of mature wisdom which they would hear
from his friend Sir Edmund M'lstaghten. And yet
something he would desire to express feebly and
briefly of those sentiments which upon the annual
assembly of the tenantry upon an estate even a
guest or a bystander might be supposed to entertain.
In the first place he would remind them that agri-
culture was every day becoming lees and less of Et
mere manual occupation; And more and more of a

science. It must be learned and studied if they
would turn their land to profitable account—if they
would desire to win or keep their place in the race
of competition, in that country, and in which far-
mers against .themselves and the rest of the world
were engaged. 30, 40, or 50 years ago they might
have left their farms unimproved, dirty, and half-
cultivated, yielding merely that poor return which
would satisfy the rent, and leave perhaps some
meagre subsistence besides for the owner. At
occasion
how-
ever, that time, that state of things was unfortunately
oarafford ord common course,room andfur
a
did not
contrast.
the case was changed. They had made
strides in art, in science, in manufactures, in com-
parison with which all former progress was almost
nothing. They .had seen steam the slave of man,
and lightning his messenger, and they had seen ob-
Now, surprise,
servation, and experiment, and scientific skill
applied to the cultivation of the land, and resulting
in a large increase in the productiveness of the
soil, and that combined with greater cheapness and
economy in the course of production, There were
two courses open to them. They might either
choose to avail themselves of those improvements,
or choose to despise and refuse to adopt them. But
they might depend upon it, if they did not avail
themselves of them, the result would be to them the
same which would happen to any millowner or
manufacturer who persisted in sticking to old
fashioned and cumbrous machinery, and declined
to adopt those improvements which would contri-
bute to the promotion of his interests. He :would
be undersold in the market, and his mill or manu-
factory would be thrown a loss upon his hands. He
would desire now to point out, in a word, the pe-
culiar advantages which they, the tenantry on that
estate, seemed to him to possess for the purpose of
rising to that higher view of the duty and calling
of a farmer of the present day. There were many
tenants, holders of small farms upon small pro-
perties, who, from circumstances, had not the ad-
vantages to enable them to develop the capacity of
farmers, but they had the good fortune to be con-
nected with one not more conspicuous in her exalted
rank than for the liberality with which she had
fostered every project that tended to promote the
moral and material happiness of the tenantry.
They had also the advantage of the experienced and
skilful agent of the estate, Mr. Wilson ; and he
would hers remind them that in that district of the
country, a short time since almost inaccessible by
either land or water carriage, they had now got on
the land sites, intersecting their farms, roads which
were the admiration of every one who passed over
them, and raised as if by magic, and the harbour
and port of Carnlough, where they could be
able to import their supplies and ship their pro-
duce stock. Now, with these advantages which they
possessed, if they only added to them, on their part,
industry and an honest desire to do the best in their
power, he thought they might not only drink pros-
perity to agriculture,but, with God's blessing, their
prosperity and success were in their own hands.
Just as in their moral and Christian life they would
be asked by those whose healths they had drunk
to, and who were their spiritual advisers, to consi-
der what progress they had made in the applica-
tion to their conduct of the great truths in the
principles of Christianity, so also with reference to
their worldly concerns, the annual recurrence of a
festival like the present might be well made an
opportunity for each of them asking himself what
was the use he had made of the worldly advantages
and opportunities which he had enjoyed—had his
farm been better laboured, better stocked, or more
productive this year than last ? Was his cottage
more tidy, clean, and comfortable ? Lady London-
derry had referred to the education of their chil-
dren. That might also be an important question
for them to ask each other. Were their children
better educated this year than last year ? Now,
they would forgive him if he, a guest and almost a
stranger, took the liberty of reminding them of the
importance of these questions, and he did so because
he was persuaded that upon the return of an occa-
sion like the present, a favourable answer to a
question like that would be the source of the best
pleasure to those who were the guests of her lady-
ship, and the greatest happiness to her whose hos-
pitality they enjoyed.
Sir E. MACNAGIITEN responded to the toast. He
said no one could understand farming better than
Sir Hugh Cairns, and if they only attended to the
lessons which he had given, he had not the slightest
doubt that they would succeed in their profession.
He expressed a pleasure he felt in being present,
and paid a high compliment to the tenants for the
good behaviour and general quietness which they
exhibited on their way home from the previous en-
tertainment. It was well known that good land
lords would make good tenants. Irish landlords, in
years gone by, were certainly not a model to all
the world. They were a grasping set, contriving
to get as much as they could from the tenants.
They forgot that the concerns and interests of one
were the concerns and interests of the other, and
their only object was to extort as much as they
could. Now, however, Irish landlords were very,
different, and they had found that their success de-
pended upon the success of the tenants.
The CHAIRMAN next proposed "The Tenant
Farmers," and in the course of his observations
stated that if the wish of his mother could carry
the realization of the toast, he was certain that her
feelings were in favour of all their interest and
happiness.
Mr. DAVID WILSON responded to the toast, and
concluded by proposing the health of Mr. Richard
Wilson, the agent of the estate, who replied, in his
turn, suitably.
" The Visitors," " The health of the Chairman,"
and " Our Next Merry Meeting," were also given
and duly responded to, after which the proceedings
terminated, and the tenantry returned to their
respective homes in a peaceable and orderly manner.
—Belfast Daily Mercury.

MR. BODGES, BUILDER OF THE
VICTORIA-BRIDGE,

(From the London Illustrated News.)
We have much pleasure in presenting to our
readers the portrait and the following sketch of the
life of Mr. James Hodges, the gentleman who
superintended the construction of this the greatest
engineering work of the age. The antecedents of
Mr. Hodges constitute him another striking illus-
tration of " self•help." To his own indomitable
perseverance alone, coupled with the strictest
integrity of character and honourable conduct, does
he owe his present high position in the engineering
world—a position which did not fail to attract the
notice of his future King on the occasion of the lay-
ing of the last stone of the Victoria-bridge by his
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales on the 25th of
last month. Of the many claimants that have
sprung up, both here and in Canada, for the honour.a
of being the originator or designer of the Victoria-
bridge, bridge, it is not our intention to speak; but wnew
in
at the present time about to introduce a
connexion with this stupendous structurihaw
e hour
well deserves the record we give it. Fromt
the
last
in which the first cofferdam was laid 701
Victoria-
rivet was driven which completed t i .
presiding genius was
hid].
bridge as it now stands, the presf
the contractors,
Mr. Hodges, as the enginßeeertt:.
Messrs. Peto, Brassey, is nearly
That the plans goe:cupied from 1853
which
were supplied by the
to 1860 in its construction,
Messrs.
two miles in length,oafntdahnwedlibircihd
Stephenson and
anything of such works are well
Ross, all who know
engineers of the companY,
used
.in the temporary. works
the hands of Mr.. 11 d o ges the whole
aware; but, the mode of carrying them out being
left entirely in
the erection of forthe bridge were
necessary
of the
modelsand designs from his own
situation ; and these, when
appliances
the novelty of the and the extremes of heat
and cold incident to the climate of Canada are con-
I sidered, it may be readily inferred, were of no ordi-
nary character. Indeed, if none but a master-mind
could plan the Victoria-bridge, it required no less a
master-mind to carry the designs into execution ;
and, to afford some idea of the task undertaken in
this respect, it is only necessary to mention that the
whole of the temporary stagings, and works gene-
rally, had to be removed every
autumn prior to the
ice taking, and then re-erected in the following
summer when the ice had departed ; so that, in rea-
lity, the labour at the masonry at the bridge in its
earlier construction could only be carried on be-
tween the month:i of May and November ; and, as
all engaged in the ironwork were inexperienced as
to the rigours of the Canadian winter and its effects
upon that metal in erections of this nature, the
anxietie,i of him upon whom devolved the manage-
ment, of such an undertaking, and amid such per-
plexities, will he easily understood. But during the
whole time that these vast works were in hand no
emergency ever happened (and many emergencies
did happen) that Mr. Hodges, with his intuitive
genius and energetic action, was not ready to meet
and to vanquish ; and never will the writer forget
' the incessant labour and watchful anxiety displayed
in the winter of 1858-9 by that gentleman, and not
only by him, but, as showing the force of example,
by the hundreds of men who were working for him
.
at a time when, the performance of their %eke *reme ci