The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-19 00:00:00

MINISTERIAL BANQUETS.

Viscount Palmerston, as First Lord of the Treasury, gave
a full dress banquet last evening at his residence in Picca-
dilly. There were present the Duke of Devonshire, the
Earl of Clarendon, the Earl of Camperdown, the Earl of
Abingdon, the Earl of Cork, the Earl of Dudley, the Earl
of Rosebery, the Earl of Zetland, the Earl Cowper, the
Earl of Fife, Viscount Enfield, Viscount Eversley, Vis-
count Bolingbroke, Lord Belper, Lord Hatherton, Lord
Llanover, Lord Taunton, Lord Portman, Lord Suffield,
Lord Vivian, and the Hon. Evelyn Ashley. Lady Palmer-
ston had an assembly after the noble Premier's banquet. It
was a very brilliant reception, all the gentlemen present
being in full dress, which imparted a varied and brilliant
aspect to the saloons. The majority of the Foreign Diplo-
matic Corps and at least 400 of the elite of society graced
the assembly by their presence.
Lord John Russell, as Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, gave a full dress banquet last evening at the First
Lord of the Treasury's official residence in Downing-street,
in celebration of her Majesty's birthday. Coverk were laid
for 40 persons. There were present—the Ambassadors of
France and Turkey, the Ministers of Belgium, Bavaria,
Hanover, Sardinia, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia,
Brazil, the United States, Austria, Saxony, Sweden, Russia,
Denmark, Honduras, Switzerland, the Two Sicilies, the
Hans Towns, and Peru, Viscount Stratford de Redeliffe,
the Right Hon. Sir Hamilton Seymour, the Right Hon.
H. U. Addington, the Hon. Mr. Scarlett, Lord Dunferm-
line, Sir W. Goee Ouseley, Mr. Hammond, Lord Wode-
house, Mr. James Murray, the Hon. G. F. Elliott, Mr. V.
Lister, Mr. George Russell, and General the Hon. Sir E.
Cust, Master of the Ceremonies to her. Majesty.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer gav,ea state dinner in
honour of her Majesty's birthday at his residence in Carl-
ton -gardens. The company consisted of the Duke of Argyll,
Sir William Dunbar, M.P., the Hon. H. Brand, the Hon.
C. Gore, the Hon. J. Howard, the Right Hon. Sir T. Fre-
mantle, Sir Alexander Spearman, Mr. Bagwell, M.P., the
Right Hon. Sir E. Ryan, Mr. K. Hugessen, M.P., Mr.
Laing, M.P., Mr. G. A. Hamilton, Mr. Goulburn, the Right
Hen. T. M. Gibson, the Right Hon. Sir George Grey, Sir
John Lefevre, Mr. Pressly, Mr. Herres, the Master of the
Mint, Mr. B. Dobree, Mr. A. Latham, the Right Hon. W.
Cowper, Mr. E. Homily, Lord Lyttelton, and Mr. C, Ryan.
Sir Charles'Wood, Secretary of State for India, gave a
state dinner to celebrate the Queen's birthday, at his resi-
dence in Belgrave-square. The company consisted of Mr.
Baring, Sir Frederick Currie, Mr. Mills, Sir James Hogg,
Mr. Mangles, Mr. Macnaghten, Capt. Eastwick, Mr. Prin-
sep, Mr. 'Willoughby, Sir Robert Vivian, Sir Henry Mont-
gomery, Sir J. Lawrence, Sir Proby Cautley, Mr. Arbuth-
not, Col. Durand, Sir Erskine Perry, Mr. Melvill, Col.
Baker, Mr. Grenfell, Sir Jas. Melvill, Col. Sykes, Sir Geo.
Pollock, Mr. Halliday, Mr. Vansittart, and Mr. Ricketts.
Sir George Come wall Lewis, Secretary of State for the
Home Department, gave a state banquet at his residence.
Kent House, Knightsbridge, in honour of the day, to which
the following received invitations :—The Lord Chancellor,
the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, the
Master of the Rolls, the Lord Chief Justice Erle, the Lord
Chief Baron, the Lords Justices Knight Bruce and
Turner, Vice-Chancellors Sir W. Page Wood, Sir R.
Kindersley, and Sir James Stuart, the Speaker of the
House of Commons, the Lord Mayor, Mr. Baron Bram-
well, Mr. Baron thannell, Mr. Baron Martin, and Mr.
Baron Wilde, Mr. Justice Hill, Mr. Justice Keating, Mr.
Justice Williams, Mr. Justice Byles, Mr. Justice Cromp-
ton, Mr. Justice Willes, Mr. Justice Wightman, Mr. Jus-
tice Blackburn, Baron Rothschild, Sir James Duke, Mr.
Crawford, the Recorder of London, Dr. Lushington, the
Solicitor-General, the Attorney-General for Ireland, the
Right Hon. E. Cardwell, the Sheriffs Phillips and Gabriel,
the Right Hon. E. P.tVilliers, the Lord Advocate, Mr.
Massey, Mr. Drummond, Mr. Horatio Waddington, Mr.
Clive, and Mr. Stevenson.
The Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State for the Co-
lonies, gave a State banquet in honour of the day at his
residence in Portman-square. The company consisted of
Right lion.' Sir J. Young, Bart., Colonel Hill, Governor
of Sierra Leone; Mr. Keato, Governor of Trinidad; Mr.
Eyre, Lieutenant-Governor of St. Vincent; Colonel Ord,
ILE., :Lieutenant-Governor of Dominica; Mr. Seymour,
Superintendent of Honduras; Mr. C. Fortescue, M.P.;
Mr. Merivale, C.B. ; Sir F. Rogers, Bart.; Major-General
Macarthur, Lieutenant-Colonel owiloannehl
,Cmain.pe,„thmer.BiinshaollpiboufrtLoan:
buan, the Bishop of Sierra eojunset,ictehoefßNisehwopsooufthA
M Wales ;
r. Childers,
Ckhlioll.rdxe,ArCs:hiSMteelJh.ue' Stephen,
of Trinidad ; Sir C. MacCarthy,
Mr. Sydney Smith, Mr. Elliot, Mr. Murdoch, Sir V. Sur-
tees, Mr. Strachy, Mr. Boyle, Mr. Donaldson, Mr. Went-
worth, Mr. Haviland, Mr. Denison, and Mr. Engleheart,
Secretary.
The Duke of Somerset, as First Lord of the Admiralty,
had a full dress dinner last evening at his official residence
at the Admiralty. Among the guests were Admiral Sir
James Gordon, Governor of Greenwich Hospital; Vice •
Admiral the Hon. Sir Richard S. Duudas, Rear-Admiral
Sir Michael Seymour, Rear-Admiral Richards, Rear-Ad.
mind the Hon. F. T. Pelham, C. 8., Rear-Admiral Sir
Baldwin W. Walker, K.C.8., Vice-Admiral Sir Houston
Stewart, Sir John Liddell, C. 8., Rear-Admiral Lord
Clarence Paget, Professor Airey, Major-General Robert
Wesley, Colonel Green, Commodore the Hon. J. R. Drum-
mond, C. 8., Sir M. Bromley, K.C.8., Commodore H. R.
Yelverton, Captain Washington, Captain Drummond Hay,
Colonel Stransham, Captain Chas. Eden, Captain C. H. M.
Buckle, C. 8., Captain C. Frederick, Captain John Moore,
Mr. S. Whitbread, Mr. W. Romaine, C. 8., Mr. U. Richards,
R.N., Mr. Collier, &c.
The Attorney-General, Sir Richard Bothell, gave a grand
dinner, in celebration of her Majesty's birthday, to the
Queen's Council and the leading members of the bar at the
Albion, Aldersgate-street, the exterior of which was bril-
liantly illuminated in honour of the occasion.

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The duties performed by these so-called temporary clerks
are the same as those falling to the share of the regular
establishment, and their efficiency and zeal have repeatedly
been acknowledged by those in authority over them. But
though on a footing of equality with the regular clerks in
regard to all they give, they are far from being so in regard
to what they receive, for besides the drawback that their
salary can never rise above £l5O, they labour under the
following disadvantages as compared with the clerks on the
establishment :

1. They cannot obtain a rise, however small, in their
salary, from £l2O upwards, without being waled upon to
give considerable extra time.

2. The leave of absence to which they have a claim during
the year is less by three weeks than that allowed regular
clerks.

3. When attacked by illness, and obliged in consequence
to be absent from the office beyond the period of leave to
which they are entitled, their pay is stopped, and they are
liable to bo dismissed.

4. That in consequence of the difference in the extent of
their leave of absence, each of the temporary clerks gives
three weeks more of labour every year than the regular
clerks, besides the extra time he may give every day. When,
in addition to this, it is taken into consideration that many of
the gentlemen employed as temporary clerks were appointed
before the existence of the office of the civil commissioners,
and that now, being disqualified by ago from competing at
the periodicalexammation, they are left without a chance of
being placed upon the establishment, it will be admitted
that there is much in their position that calls for ameliora-
tion, while none of the features in it are so painful as their
being liable to be dismissed at any period. It may be said
that having accepted the appointment with these conditions
attached to it, and being at liberty to throw it up whenever
they please, they have nothing to complain of; but let it
bo remembered that many of these men have spent four,
five, and even seven years of their life and their, best
labour in the avocation, and, since they are continued in
their places, it ie evident that they have done so to the
satisfaction of their employers. Now, is it an eco-
nomy worthy of the Government of a great country like
ours to retain a class of men in their service under what
may surely be denominated a pretence, in order to keep
them within conditions which could not otherwise be
offered ? Four years have now elapsed since the conclu-
sion of the war for whose special exigencies they were ori-
ginally engaged, and their number instead of decreasing is
apparently increasing. Does nut this show that the War-
office is in need of permanent assistance ? Why, then, call
the men who give this, " temporary clerks," and thus
maintain in the service of the state a class of servants con
fessedly underpaid, though admitted to be zealous and duly
qualified for the labour imposed upon them ? for the fact of
the regular clerks receiving higher salaries every year,
being allowed longer leave of absence, and not being sub-
jected to dismissal except for misconduct, is tantamount to
a confession that the other men, who do the same, if not
more work, and are equally zealous and efficient, are very
considerably underpaid.
That cases of actual hardship do occur under the system
may be illustrated by the following two. The one is that of
a gentleman who having served four years as a temporary
clerk was seized last summer with a severe attack of rheu-
matic fever, which confined him to his bed, and incapaci-
tated him for work for a period extending beyond the few
weeks' leave of absence to which he was entitled ; in consi-
deration thereof a further short term was granted him, but
his pay was stopped. Having a wife and children to sup-
port, this was a deprivation which ho could not endure, and
consequently while obliged to support himself on crutches, he
dragged himself painfully into his seat in the office
every day, and endeavoured to perform his duty as
well as possible under the circumstances. His col-
leagues deeply compassionated his sufferings ; s me of
them would willingly have foregone part of their leave if
it might have added to his ; but official routine leaves no
opening for the exorcise of generous sympathy, and the
poor man, whose illness had been brought on in the per-
formance of his duties, was dismissed with n small gratuity,
granted at his own earnest solicitation, and thrown breo-
- and helpless on the world with a wife aad
Another clerk, who had been likewise ill from fever, ex-
ceeded his. leave of absence, and wrote to his immediate
principal to ask for an extension of the leave—which Feti-
non, being strongly backed-by the latter, was granted by
the chief clerk-7, not, however, in the most gracious in saner,
for he observed that, according to the rule, the sick clerk
ought to be dismissed, and his pay was fortl;with stopped.
It is in the hope of attracting the notice of the public and
of Parliament to a state of things so anomalous and so de-
rogatory to the character of the public service that this
statement has been prepared. If tho the IVar-office re-
quires permanent assistance let the establishment be in-
creased, and all the clerks receive the same pay and the
same advantages in return for the same work ana the same
zeal, and let not ono class of them, because called on by an
erroneous appellation, be made to do more duty for less
pay, and be excluded from the privilege of regularly in-
creasing pay, and to hold their places at the caprico.of Go-
vernment, with no other advantage to the latter that can
be seen than that of furnishing a convenient opening for
patronage, as one temporary clerk may be dismissed and
another engaged without any one having the right to com-
plain or to ask a question.