The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-18 00:00:00

_ -
THE HON. ARTILLERY COMPANY.

The ancient and Hon. Artillery Company, of
which his Royal Highness the Prince Consort is
Captain-General and Colonel, last night celebrated
the 250th anniversary of the revival of the regi-
ment by King James 1., by a banquet in Willis's
Rooms, King-street, St. James's-square.
The decorations were simple, but characteristic,
consisting chiefly of military flags and banners,
tastefully disposed in the orchestra and around the
walls of the handsome hall. Immediately behind
the chair were suspended the present colours of the
regiment, the Queen's colour on the right, and the
regimental colour, with its motto, "Anna pacis
fulcra," on the left. At the lower end of the hall
and on either side were ranged the ancient colours
of the company. The hall was arranged for 450,
six tables stretching at right angles from the top
table the entire length of the hall.
Lieut.-Col. Lord Colville presided, supported on
the right by Major-General Lord Rokeby, K.C.8.,
Major-General Sir Richard Dacres, K.C.8., Alder-
man Copeland, M.P., Sheriff Lusk, Surgeon Brod-
hurst, Col. Palmer, Capt. Hall, H.A.C., the Rev.
Thos. Hugo, chaplain, Mr. Tahourdin, secretary,
Major Snell; and on the left by the Right Hon.
the Lord Mayor, Col. Lord Frederick Paulet, C. 8.,
Alderman Sir James Duke, M.P., Col. M'Murdo,
Lieut.-Col. the Hon. C. H. Lindsay, Dr. Jeaffreson,
Lieut.-Col. Hicks, L.V.R.8., Captain Hall, Royal
London Militia, Capt. Potts, Capt. Field, Major
Robinson.

The company were all in military uniform.
The dinner, supplied by Messrs. Willis, was first,
rate in quality, but somewhat tardily served. II

wag near 10 o'clock before the cloth was removed.

His Royal Highness the Prince Consort and his
Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge were unable
to attend in consequence of an investiture of the
Garter at Windsor. His Royal Highness the
Prince Consort sent a plentiful supply of venison.
Grace before dinner was said by the Rev. the
Chaplain. After the cloth was removed the vocalists
in attendance—Messrs. Ransford, J. L. Hatton, IV.
E. Ransford, and T. Young, assisted by Miss Rans-
ford and Mist M. Wells—sang " For these and all
147 mercies," from the Laudi epirituali, 1671.
The CHAIRMAN, in rising, was received with loud
and conflated applause. He said,—ln addressing
an assembly such as I see before me, composed as it
is chiefly of
British soldiers and volunteers, I feel
that the fist toast I have to propose needs no pre-
face from me. At in
"Health and happiness, a long
life, and a long
to Her Most Gracious Majesty
the Queen." (Zond 'cheers.)
The toast was drink vgi h
t all the honours, and
followed by the NatiOnai Anthem.
, ,
The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the next toast said
" Health of his Royal
—I now propose to you
Highness the Prince Consort, captain General and
Colonel of the Artillery Company?,
Highness to
(Loud cheers.)
I am desired by his Royal express to
you his great regret that he has not been able to
a
attend here this.evening,nd to assure the members
of the Artillery Company that he still takes, as he
always has taken, the greatest possible interest in
your prosperity and welfare. (Much applause,
followed by Prince Albert's March.)
The CHAIRMAN.—I now have to give you the
toast of " His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales
and the rest of the Royal Family." (Loud cheers.)
We Volunteers are very proud to reckon his Royal
Highness as a comrade. (Loud cheers.) The whole
country rejoiced in his safe return from his voyage
across the Atlantic, and the fine performance of his
first public act—that of drawing closei the ties that
ought to exist between the mother country and her
children. (Loud cheers.)
Glee.—" Blow, gentle gales."

The CHAIRMAN—I have now to give you the
toast of "The Navy, the Army, and the Volunteer
Services of the Country"—(loud cheers)—and I beg
to couple with the Navy Sir James Duke, who,
although he-haa been Lord Mayor of London, com-
menced hickcareer in the Royal Navy;—(cheers)—
with the Aztpy Lord Rokeby ; and with the

Volunteers Colonel M‘lquectO and Colonel Hicks.
(Cheers.) I have purposely joined those three
services in one toast because I think it 's a fact very
much overlooked in this country that ur army and
navy are essentially Volunteers. (C is ers.) Unlike
those vast Continental armies tha are maintained
by forced conscription, the ranks of the army and
navy are filled by voluntary enlistment. Our
thoughts have naturally been turned towards our
brave countrymen who are fighting our battles in
China. (Cheers.) Let us hope that the last telegram
we have received in this country is true; that a firm
peace has been established, and that our army has
left Pekin ; but let us also hope that if the army
has left Pekin they have left behind, hanging on
the gates of the city, those miscreants—if they be
Mandarins all the better—who dared to torture our
fellow countrymen. (Loud cheers.) And, further,
gentlemen, for the sake of the pockets of those who
remain at home, let us hope that the army has not
left Pekin without having had most ample assu-
rances from his Majesty the Emperor of China that
he will settle his little bill with the people of this
country. (Loud cheers.)
The toast was drunk with all the honours.
Lord ROKEBY, in returning thanks for the army,
said, as the result of his military experience he could
say that both army and navy were all animated by
the same spirit of devotion to the interests of the
country. (Cheers.) He was fully sensible of the
honour of having to return thanks for the noble
profession to which he belonged. The noble chair
min had referred to the services now being ren-
dered by the army in China in bringing the cam-
paign to a successful termination, which showed
that they had not forfeited the high and honoura-
ble place they enjoyed in the estimation of their fel-
low countrymen. (Cheers.) He had many friends and
comrades in China, as previously in the campaign
in India, with whom he had corresponded, and he
was happy to say that they might all be justly
proud of the present condition of the British army.
(Cheers.) It was second to none in the world—
(cheers)—and never would be found to fall short of
the just expectations of the country, whose honour
and dignity it would ever maintain intact. (Cheers.)
From the remarks he had recently made to the
Volunteers in his own county some people seemed
to think that he was disposed to decry the merits
of the army in order to cry up those of the Volun-
teers. Nothing, however, could be further from his
intention. But when he was speaking of the effici-
ency they had attained he very naturally stated
what he sincerely felt, that it was impossible to over-
estimate the importance of the service the Volun-
teers of Great Britain had already rendered to the
country. By coming forward as they had done
they had strengthened the diplomacy and Govern-
ment of the country, and made it perfectly certain
that this country, at all events, was safe. (Cheers.)
He felt still more sensible of this when he
spoke in the presence of such a company—the
pioneers of the British Volunteer service. (Cheers.)
When he reflected that this was the 250th anni-
versary, not of the formation but re-establishment
of this corps, the senior of those noble regiments
which he had the honour to command dating not
so far back by 40 years, he naturally felt that the
Hon: Artillery Company were the beacon lights
which had taught the patriotic men of the country
who were willing to devote themselves to its ser-
vice what road they should follow at any time of
emergency. (Cheers.) He felt it a great honour
to have his name associated with the army, and he
begged again to offer the company his best thanks.
(Cheers.)
Sir JAMES DUKE acknowledged the compliment
on the part of the navy. He felt assured that if
they were no longer to boast of their wooden walls,
if from the circumstances of the times they might
have to build ships of iron instead of oak, the cha-
racter of the gallant tars who manned them would
never change, and when their services were re-
quired to maintain the honour or interests of the
country they would be as conspicuous for valour
and success as in themost glorious annals of our his-
tory. He had great pleasure in being present as
the guest of the honourable, ancient, and patriotic
corps. (Cheers.) It must be a proud thing for the
noble chairman their lieutenant-colonel to see so
many comrades in military uniform, and he as
representative of London could only say that they
were equally respectable and honourable as citizens.
He should always be proud of being vice-president
of that honourable and ancient company. (Cheers.)
Colonel M'MURDO, in rising to acknowledge the
toast of the Volunteers of England, which had been
so enthusiastically drunk by the most ancient
Volunteer corps in the world, felt he was acting
the part of a child speaking to its parent. The
child was a very young-grown infant, and naturally
very proud of its father. (Cheers.) It was a
pleasing thing to see assembled in such num-
bers the representatives of so ancient a
corps ; and it must be an answer to those who
talk of us as not being a military nation (cheers)
to think that the Volunteer element, the germ of
the movement, though latent in the country for
many years back, when our armies moved abroad
or danger threatened abroad, was ready to expand
into force to protect our shores. (Cheers.) That
happened once before at the beginning of the cen-
tury; and now again the Volunteer element has
expanded into force, not from fear of danger to our
shores, but from the deliberate opinion expressed
by the nation at large that it is necessary for the
defence of this country. (Cheers.) Therefore,
wherever our armies went carrying with them vic-
tory, civilisation, commerce, the Christian religion,
wherever the Saxon tongue was spoken, they must
still look back to the mother country, and to the
Volunteers on whom its safety depended. (Cheers.)
The great Volunteer movement was still progres-
sing; it was an institution of the country, and of its
efficiency he was fully able to speak. In its ranks all
that was noble, intelligent, and educated in the
country was to be found. (Cheers.) It was only
a week ago since he had to inspect a corps of
highly educated men of course, because they were
"the Devil's Own "—(a laugh)—and he mentioned
them as an instance of what intelligence would
do in the way of drill—he never saw a corps move
as they did. (Cheers.) To prove the intelligence
brought into the movement, he would tell them
that when he had occasion to go recently to the
north of England to an inspection of 5,000 men, he
had met at dinner a gentleman who was by profes-
sion an engineer, and who was at the head of an
artillery brigade. He mentioned that he had been
at Malta with his family for their health, and had
attached himself to the Royal Artillery. Having
asked him whether he had not learned something
from them, he received for reply that he did,
and he thought he had taught them some-
thing too. Being a practical engineer and
commanding engineers, it would be strange if
he could not show them how, by the appliances
of mechanics, they could economise both their
time and their power. (Hear, hear.) He would
only add that one of those famous guns that
had fired at the longest range, 10,270 yards, was
the gun of a Volunteer company, made in the Mer-
Sey Iron Works. (Hear, hear.)
Colonel HICKS on the part of the London Rifle
Brigade, also returned thanks.