The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-03 00:00:00

DUBLIN, THURSDAY MORNING.
CEUBRATION OF THE LAYING OF TIIE CABLE.
The banquet of the Lord Mayor to celebrate the
greatest triumph of modern science, which came off
last night, and which was to have gathered round
the civic board men of all creeds and parties, has,
for very simple reasons, upset Lord Eglinton's
popularity with the Roman Catholic party. Car-
dinal Wiseman has done it all. His untimely ar-
rival in Dublin has been the herald of a politico-
religious storm, of which, now that it has been
raised after ft long lull, no one can foresee the end.
In order to understand clearly the situation of the
belligerents it is better to let the eaves belli be
narrated by the Freeman's Journal, up to this very
morning a generally warm and disinterested sup-
porter of the policy of the Viceroy since his arrival
in Ireland :---::

" During the-past few days we have observed a scrupu-
lous silence regarding the various rumours that were afloat
with reference to the strange course which it was said
Lord Derby's representative in. Ireland was about to adopt
with reference to the Mansion-house banquet. It will be
remembered that the fashionable announcements' some
weeks ago informed the public that his Excellency had
fixed the Ist of September as the day on which it would be
most convenient for ma to be present at the banquet de-
signed by the Lord Mayor as a just tribute to the genius
and perseverance of Mr. Mg-ht. His Excellency had, in
fact, fixed the day. Rtunour within the past week hinted
that because the Lord Mayor had extended his hospitalities
to a man whose genius and acquirements have aichieved for
him as high a position in the world of letters and of arts as
his N ;qIICS and learning have marked him out as fit to hold
in the Church of which he is so distinguished an orna-
ment, the Tory Viceroy would decline an invitation. No
question was in issue as to precedence, as to the order of
the toasts, or as to the character of the toasts. If there Ivsts,
some excuse might be made for the over-sensitiveness of
Lord Eglinton. But no such point was even hinted at.
The judgment and discretion of the Lord Mayor were
ample security against any cause being giveneven. for doubt
on such matters. Indeed, it is but right to say that no
doubt was even suggested, and the sole cause given for the
studied and ostentatious absence of Lord Eglinton was the
presence of the Cardinal, and the unwillingness of a mem-
ber of Lord Derby's Goverrment to sit publicly at the same
board with a Prince of the Church, because he also hap-
penedto be the Archbishop of Westminster. Webelieve there
is not on record an instance of such paltry bigotry as this.
It is said that Lord Eglinton was not personally afraid to
encounter the 'red cloak,' and that he wrote for orders to
the other side. It is also said that the orders were of the
most peremptory character. But, whatever may be the
truth of these tumours, tha-fact is, that immediately after
his arrival from the north, Lord Eglinton intimated to the
Lord Mayor his determination to be absent in a manner
that left no doubt as -to the real notive ; and it is also equally
clear that this procedure was perfectly in keeping with the
whole tenour of his political career. It w ill be remembered
that when a Bill was introduced by the Marquis of Lans-
downe in 1848, to enable the Queen to carry on diplomatic
relations with the Court of Rome as with all other foreign
Courts, Lord Eglinton took a prominent part in defeating
that rational measure, which would have substituted open
dealing for the base intrigues alleged to be carried on by
English agents for the purpose of misleading opinion at
Rome. The manner in which Lord Eglinton defeated the
bill showed at once his dexterity and his early hatred to-
wards ecclesiastics of the Church of Rome."

The banquet, the source of so much discord, was
nevertheless well attended by men of all parties,
the Cardinal being, of course, the undisputed lion
of the evening. It is, however, stated that, in
addition to the Lord-Lieutenant, the Chancellor,
the Lord Justice of Appeal, and many other pub-
lic functionaries, as well as many gentlemen of
high social position, who had accepted the Lord
Mayor's invitation, felt constrained to absent
themselves in consequence of the expected presence
of Cardinal Wiseman. After the preliminary loyal
toasts had been drunk, the Lord Mayor—himself a
zealous but extremely moderate Roman Catholic—
rose to propose the health of the Lord-Lieutenant.
He said :
" I have the honour of proposing ' The Health of his
Excellency the Lord Lieutenant,' whose absence this even-
ing I exceedingly regret. (Hear.) On a former occasion
it was also my good fortune to have to propose the health of
his Excellency's predecessor, and to refer to the.many claims
upon the people of Ireland which the Earl of Carlisle pos-
sessed for the warm-hearted zeal and untiring ability with
which he studied to promote the prosperity of this country
—(loud applause)—and I cannot more adequately or more
sincerely express the sentiments of respect and esteem
which we must all entertain for his Excellency the Earl of
Eglinton: than by saying that since his accession to his
presmt high office he has exhibited no less warm a zeal,
and no less earnest a desire to promote every useful and
practical undertaking which can conduce to the general
good and prosperity of Ireland." (Renewed applause.)
The health of Mr. Charles Bright and his sci-
entific associates having been given amid loud
cheers, and responded to by Mr. Bright,
" His Eminence Cardinal WISEMAN, who on rising was
received with loud and protracted cheering, said,—My Lord
Mayor and Gentlemen,—I have presumed to rise almost
against the remonstrance of my Lord Mayor, assuming to
myself the privilege of proposing to you his health, which I
think should take precedence now of every other considera-
tion. (Applause.) It would ill become me to expatiate
upon his excellent qualities or his civic virtues, because I
have had such comparatively slender opportunities of be-
coming acquainted with them compared with those which
you who surround me enjoy, that the most I could have
done would have been to endeavour to echo those sentiments
which you already entertain from what some of you may
in your kindness have communicated to me. I consider
that the fact of his presiding this evening, and of his hav-
ing been raised by his fellow-citizens to the very highest
civic position which could be the object of ambition to any
one in his position to attain—the fact of his having been
raised to the chief magistracy of the capital city of this
portion of the empire, speaks forcibly as to his merits, and
at once proclaims your high opinion of him. (Loud ap-
plause.) At the same time, lam glad to find, since I en-
tered this room, that our acquaintance is not merely of this
evening. Though he has entertained me this evening in
common with many others with so much splendour, it ap-
pears that many years ago I had the advantage of being
his host. Among the Tusculam hills, in a sweet and lovely
recess, which many who are near me have often enjoyed,
he was good enough to be as one of our own little commu
nity—a youth himself, mingling among the youth of that
day (I am sorry to say that we are no longer such)—and
he reminds me that he was then associated within our
humble collegiate walls with two men that I consider it a
pride to have been at any time connected with—the two
illustrious cardinals, Pacca and Gregorio. (Applause.) I
therefore feel that I have this evening renewed that loving
bond of hospitality, and that familier tie which in ancient
times was indissoluble, and which, once enjoyed, was ex-
pected to continue through life ; and I think myself happy
in having the opportunity of renewing those early relations
of friendship. (Hear, hear.) If it would be presumptuous
in me to speak of those personal qualities that belong to your
estimable chairman, there can be no impropriety in my
alluding to those more public and general circumstances
which I think we may well congratulate ourselves on being
probably the future characteristics of this his civic reign.
(Hear, hear.) I have been travelling—not indeed through
the whole length, but at any rate through the entire
breadth of this island, and I think this year we shall be
especially blessed by the hand of Providence with what
must be considered among the greatest of the wants
and the blessings of this island—an abundant harvest
and an untainted nourishment. (Hear, hear.) This
will, I trust, be one happy retrospect of his mayoralty in
Dublin. And further, I have approached sufficiently near
the shores of the West to have almost caught distant sight
of the steamer which, parting from this coast, went forth as
another of those messengers which have been despatched
with such enterprise, and I trust with such success, to vin-
dicate the geographical place of Ireland on the map of the
world. (Applause.) For if in the olden time she was
considered the Ultima Thule,' as the last place in the
race of nations, she is now the foremost, the avant garde
of Europe, in its advancement towards the great continent
of the West ; and if her craggy shores have been the very
spur and buttress which Europe has thrown out against the
roaring Atlantic Ocean, it is likewise the nearest point from
which Europe can stretch across to grasp the hand of
friendship with that great and increasing world. (Great
applause.) But still more has his Lordship reason to con-
gratulate himself that his year of office has been signalised
by the accomplishment of that great enterprise of which he
has so admirably spoken, and which has procured for us
this evening one of the most admirable specimens of simple
and modest eloquence--(applause)—that really unassuming
and truthful narrative which has told us so much that we
were unacquainted. with, at the same time that it has been
disencumbered of all that could be personal or presumptu-
ous—(hear)—and has advanced tenfold in our estimation—
that which we had in our hearts allotted to Mr. Bright.
(Applause.) It is difficult, after what has been said, to
return again to the subject ; but you will pardon me if I
indulge in a few reflections suggested by this wonderful
work. Hitherto there seems to have been above earth but
little or no obstacle to the enterprise of man ; and yet
PM has often been /milked in his attempts to pass