The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-09 00:00:00

SPEECH OF THE HON. JOHN JAY.

Mr. JAY, after thanking the chairman and the company
for their cordial reception, remarked that a recent essay in
th© "Revue des dens Mendes " on the European question,
closed with a reminder that in thirty years- America would
have a population of ono hundred millions, and would then
be a match for the whole of Europe, and its tone seemed
to suggest the possibility about that time, if not sooner,
of an European invasion. .

The idea, said Mr. Jay, struck me as a strange one, but
I am persuaded that there is a good deal in it, and if the
writer wore here to-night he would be satisfied that the
invasion had begun—(cheers and laughter)—and that a
respectable detachment of the grand army, in excellent
spirits, with well-appointed ambulances and capital rations,
were comfortably quartered in the Bois. (Applause.)
Ho would learn, too, that the main body of the invading
corps were already scattered throughout Europe; that a
fleet of ocean steamers was almost daily bringing new re-
cruits from every state and city in America, and that there
is still a countless army of reserve at home hoping to join
their comrades on the field of Europe, to advance the lines
of approach and communication. (Cheers.)
Two telegraphic lines in opposite directions are now in
progress for this army—the one by Russia and California
—the other that of our indefatigable countryman, Cyrus
Field—(applause)—and perhaps in this connection I may
refer to the presence among our guests to-night of Mr.
Secretary Fox, who, I hope, will answer for himself. (Groat
applause.) Ho has brought over some of our nicest iron-
clad; and there is a rumour, which I believe to be correct
that in his successful cruise across the Channel he capti-
vated by a single " coup " the Lords of the Admiralty and
the editor of the Times. (Laughter and applause.)
Occasionally our Amerioan detachments, as we have
been pleasantly reminded this afternoon, come with troops
of light and heavy infantry—(applause)—admirably drilled
in their evolutions—(laughter)—and sometimes with fair
and fearless Volunteers armed for victory, who contem-
plate without dismay an engagement with the most gallant
of the European aristocracy. (Laughter and cheers.)
Those of us who have recently come from Italy—that
beautiful land whose noble people in this great struggle
have all our sympathies—(loud applause)—have known
something of our southern wing during the winter.
We saw them at Naples surveying its lovely bay from
Castellamare to Baia, parading the Chiaja and Villa Reale
taking observations from the Capo di Monte and the stun-

mit of Vesuvius, re-peopling for the moment the silent
streets of Pompeii, and lending by their bright presence
a new charm to Sorrento and to Capri.
Rome, as every one knows, was their head-quarters
during the seven days' battle of the Carnival—(laughter)
—the ancient prowess of the Romans paled before the
valorous enthusiasm of tho fair strangers from our New
World.

Young and old mingled in the fray as though it was
the great business of life, and from their balconies and
masked batteries they fired volleys of confetti and flowers,
and received the shot of the enemy in return with a
bravery that never flinched, and a resolution that never
flagged. (Cheers.)

They stormed St. Peter's during Holy Week. (Cheers
and laughter.) They invaded the Vatican by regiments.
In Indian file they explored the catacombs in companies.
Armed with their Murrays they trooped through the gal-
leries by platoons.
They were reviewed in the morning at the Pazza d
Spagna, and in the evening on the Pincio with a military
band. They marched and counter-marched the Corso
from the Piazza del Popolo to the Forum of Najan.
They gathered in the Colliseum by the light of the
moon, and by the most brilliant illuminations. They
bivouaced in the villas of the Italian nobles ; and ex-
tended their lines to Albano, Frascati, Tusculum, and
Tivoli. Their cavalry assembled at the meet and scoured
the Campagna, and they rendezvoused week by week in
the beautiful garden of the Emperor of the French, which
crowns the ruins that were once the palaces of the
Caasars. (Cheers.)
As we came northward late in the spring we assisted in
bringing up the stragglers in the rear, and swelling the
trains of baggage. At Florence they were in possession
of the Pitti and Uffizzi. From thence to Bologna they
were studying the admirable engineering of the railroad
across the Apenines. At Venice they were at home in
the piazza of San Marco, or embarked in gondolas on the
grand Canal, from the Bridge of Sighs to the Rialto. A
Padua, Ferrara, Milan and Como, Turin and Susa, were
parties of skirmishers, with couriers hastening to recross
the Alps, to renew in Paris their munitions of war, and
refill what the French with charming propriety designate
armoires. (Applause and laughter.)
Nor is it to be supposed that they returned empty-
handed, or that their invasions of the studios and ateliers,
of ancient palaces and curiosity shops, have been without
results. The bankers of Italy could assure you on this
point. The forwarding houses could point you to the
piles of boxes containing the frnits of their forays—paint-
ings, statues, cabinets, and antiques.
Indeed, I heard of one party from Boston, who in a brief
foraging expedition had actually captured an entire gal-
lery, which is, I believe, now on its way from tho City of
the Sea to the Hub of the Universe. (Laughter and
applause.)
In this beautiful Paris, whose increasing magnificence
commands our constant admiration, a handful of volun-
teers from New York have seized upon one of the finest
works intended for the approaching Exhibition—a group
in bronze of a tigress and her cubs, by Auguste Cain—and
this trophy is devoted to our Central Park. (Great ap-
plause.) And thus are the European masterpieces of the
olden and present time being rapidly gathered for our
country from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; and this thought
suggests another, that /ma is the time for the American
people to lay the foundation of a National Institute and
Gallery of Art, and that the American gentlemen now in
Europe are the men to inaugurate the plan.
This brilliant assembly, then, is but a detachment of the
American army of invasion, whose coming is so cordially
greeted. You see here but the rear guard, temporarily
left at Paris, while the main body occupy the watering-
places of France and Germany. Some preparing to invade
Denmark and Russia, others to push their route, like Julius
Caesar, to the shores of Britain ; or hastening to conquer
the passes of the Alps, mounted on a mule, like the first
Napoleon. (Cheers and laughter.)
Wherever this army goes, it goes as an army of ideas ;
wherever its members go they go as citizens and as
sovereigns ; representing the nationality, watchful of the
rights, jealous of the honour of the American Republic.
(Applause.)
We are happy in meeting at a spot where all Americans
are at home—in the heart of that France that•has fought
by our side, but never against us (onthusiastic and pro-
longed applause)—and between whose people and our
own exist none but bright and cordial memories. (Re-
newed cheers.)
It is a pleasant thought that to-day Americans in Europe
aro assembling everywhere as we aro assembled here ;
delegates from far different sections, members of different
parties, advocates of opposing policies, but all uniting, as
of old in the family circle, to celebrate with a common
pride the birth-day of our common country. (Warm and
prolonged applause.)
Let me close by calling for three cheers for the President
of tho United States.

Thoso were given with waving of hats and handker-
chiefs and wild onthusiasm.