The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-03 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCT. 3, 1867.

The good city of Belfast is celebrating the autumn
holidays in a very pleasant and profitable manner.
Scarcely have the labours and excitement of the
Social Science Congress come to a conclusion when
the first official entry of the Lord-Lieutenant, on
an interesting and important occasion, reconciles for
the time being all party differences, and gives a
fresh opportunity for holiday-making. The inci-
dent which drew the Marquis of ABERCORN to the
good city of Belfast was one which gave
the people of the vicinity good reason for re-
joicing, affording, as it does, satisfactory evidence
of the growing energies and capacities of their
town, and promising an increase of wealth and
traffic which may bring substantial blessings in its
train. Belfast has long been considered the Liver-
pool of Ireland, and wishes, it would seem, to be the
Manchester as well. At any rate it may claim to
be the first commercial city in the sister kingdom ;
and the new docks, which the Lord-Lieutenant
opened with all due pomp and ceremony on the Ist
of October, can hardly fail to give a powerful
impetus to trade. Hitherto there have only been
one or two small docks, and the majority
of the vessels have been compelled to put
up with what accommodation they could get
at the quays. The new graving dock and tidal
basin on the County Down side of the river will
give immense relief to the shipping, as the value of
the export trade was last year over twelve millions
sterling. The basin which, in honour of his Excel-
lency, is called the Abercorn basin is 700 ft. long
by 700 ft. wide. In it is the new graving dock,
450 ft. long by 80 ft. wide at the coping, and 50
ft. at the bottom. It is most substantially built
with all the modern improvements. The
materials are chiefly procured in the neigh-
bourhood, and the workmen have been
local residents, so that the undertaking has been in
every sense a benefit to the vicinity. The day of
the inauguration was kept as a holiday, and much
satisfaction was felt at the public recognition of the
energy and importance of the town shown in the
Viceregal visit. The several public bodies marched
in procession to the harbour, and all business being
suspended the people flocked out in holiday attire.
The address presented by the Mayor to Lord
ABERCOEN referred to the happy contrast afforded
by the occasion to the troubled condition of some
parts, and his Excellency's reply expressed the
satisfaction with which he visited a town " which
had been raised within so short a time by the energy
and enterprise of its inhabitants to so prominent a
place iu the commercial world." Let us hope that
the prosperity of Belfast may be a happy augury,
and that other towns and cities in the Emerald Isle
may before long show that they can emulate its in-
dustry, its energy, and its consequent good
fortune.

The course pursued by the Reform League with
reference to the celebration of the passing of the
Reform Bill is certainly rather an original one, and
seems likely to afford amusement and excite curio-
sity during this dull season. Last night a meeting
took place of the Council of the Reform League,
Mr. BEALES in the chair ; and a long discussion
followed as to the most fitting line to adopt under
the circumstances. It was reported that the Agri-
cultural Hall could not be procured for the pur-
pose, because repairs were going on there. Mr.
BRISK moved that the banquet be postponed until
July 23, 1868, the anniversary of the falling of the
Hyde Park railings, since a fitting place could not
be found for the celebration of the festival. What
connection there is between the Reform fete and the
Hyde Park railings it is difficult to find out, but all
must admire the polite way of describing the occur-
rence by " falling railings." Mr. ODGER declared that
the postponement of the banquet should be placed
upon higher grounds than the want of a building
in which to hold it. This is false reasoning, because
one sufficient reason is always enough to give, and all •
that follows are superfluous and uncalled for. It
would have been well if the discussion had ceased
here, and if these worthy gentlemen had followed
the example of the KING, who exclaimed, upon
hearing the excuses proffered as to why guns had
not been fired in his honour, " In the first place, we
had no cannon." " That will do," said his MAJESTY,
" that is quite explanation enough." Now, if there
be no place where a Reform Banquet can take
place, why go beating about the bush to find other
reasons why, if there were a place, it should not,
ought not, must not take place? Such a course of
proceeding looks very like the sour grapes story,
and suggests all kinds of unflattering comments.
At any rare it is out of taste and quite out of
character for the League to pass the resolution
which they did. It is in a manner quite contra-
dictory of all that they had previously affirmed, and
certainly a flat denial to the assertions recently
made by Mr. BRIGHT that it was well to rejoice
over the measure of Reform as an instalment or
step in the right direction. It would seem that
the time which has been spent in looking for a
place to celebrate this Reform Bill has shown
to the members of the Reform League that the
said measure has worked very badly, so that the
joy which they should have experienced has been
turned into scorn. Mr. ODGER said that Mr.
GLADSTONE was right in advocating a small rather
than a large measure of Reform, because of the
conduct of the landlords. The Chairman explained