The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-31 00:00:00

The toast was drunk with all the honours.
The CHAIRMAN said he had now to c ill on them
to fill their glasses to " The Health of the President
of the United States." (Cheers.) On an occasion
like the present they were delighted to pay a public
compliment to one filling that important position—
a man who had been selected by his fellow-country-
men—by that mighty nation across the Atlantic—
to be their leader and representative. (Cheers.)
They were quite aware that at this moment there
might be reasons why the policy pursued by the
President might not be considered satisfactory to all
parties in the United States. That was not the
time or place to discuss that question. (Cheers.)
Everybody, however, must admit, whatever their
prepossessions might be, that no one could have
more earnestly pursued or more decidedly carried
out the course of policy which, rightly or wrongly,
the President believed to be essential to theinterests
of the country. (Cheers.) All they had to do, and
he was sure the sentiment would be unanimously
responded to around that table, was to express an
earnest wish that the policy of the President might
be so guided and controlled as to be conducive to
the peace, prosperity, and best interests of that
great country, with which we were so nearly con-
nected by every tie of blood and interest. (Cheers.)
He pr)posed, with all the honours, " the Health of
the President of the United States." (Cheers.)
The toast was drunk with all the honours.

The CHAIRMAN, in giving " the Health of the
Prince and Princess of Wales and the rest of the
Royal Family," said there never was a Royal
Family so carefully trained and anxiously educated
to fulfil the duties expected of them as the Royal
Family of this country. (Cheers.) In their do-
mcaic, social, and public relations the members of
the Royal Family had from first to last been all that
the English community could wish or desire, and
on such occasions as the present they were, there-
fore, always sure of having their names received
with the utmost cordiality. (Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN, in giving the next toast, said it
would be found slightly varied from the form in
which it was usually given at public dinners. They had
long been accustomed to toast the army and navy of
England ; but, in the presence of their distinguished
guests from over the water, he proposed to alter the ,
toast, and he was quite sure they would be delighted
to adopt the alteration, and drink to the united
armies and navies of the United States and Great
Britain. (Cheers.) They knew and their fathers

had known what their own army and navy were ;
that army and navy had been supplanted by their
great corps de reserve, and he had no doubt they
would be found able to do all their predecessors
had done before them. They now also knew what
the army and navy of the United States were.

'They had long known what the navy of the United

States was, but it had been reserved for this gene-
ration to arrive at a true appreciation of the United

States' army. During the last few years they
seemed to have the facility not only of creating
armies, but of improvising generals for them.
(Cheers.) He looked upon it that the United

States and Great Britain united were the greatest
security for the peace and liberty of the world.
(Cheers.) We in England relied on the prestige of
a glorious past ; our brethren on the other side of
the Attantic seemed to hint to possess all the
vigour, the strength, and the indomitable energy
of youth. (Cheers.) Long may the Union to
which they now drank continue. (Cheers.) He
had great pleasure in giving " The Armies and
Navies of the United States and of Great Britain,"
coupling with the toast Colonel Taylor, of the
United States Army ; General Seymour, of the
British Army ; and Captain Luard, of the British
ary.
rho toast was drunk with all the honours.
Colonel TAYLort, who was loudly cheered, said
would that some gentleman more capable than
myself were present from America to respond to
the toast ivhich you have just been pleased to offer.
friends who have
But I am very pure that my

crossed with rat) in the three yachts the December
Atlantic will join with me in expressing our most

heartfelt thanks for the very great courtesy you
have extended towards us in remembering on this
occasion the army and navy of the United States.
I need not say how great is the pleasure I ex-
perience in replying to a toast which in its senti-
ment blends together the names of Great Britain J

inner at Cowes to the New York Yacht and America. (Cheers.) I am no speechmaker,
Club. yet the veriest tyro could not hesitate to
respond when such common interests are
noupled together (cheers) ; and I must confess
the higher and wilder beat the pulsations of my
heart when I think of the cordial sincere friendship
and love cementing the ties which should be our
natural bond. (Cheers.) England and America!
Both nations have been rivals for years. England
is the mother; we are the child. (Cheers.) Both
have set the most brilliant examples of everythi ag
right, proper, noble, good, and virtuous. (Cheerrf.)
We have tried to follow in your wake. If our steps
have been onward, yours have been upward ; we
have tried to emulate them. What we have draw
you have taught us to do. (Cheers.) If in years
past our flags have been joined together and. our
hands clasped, let us hope and wish that in years to
come England and America may be still more closely
united. (Loud cheers.) Looking down the long
vista of years to come, through the long corridors
of time, no dearer dream can we realise than that
iof Great Britain and America joined hand in hand,
marching onward and upward together—(cheers)--
the stars round which our thoughts revolve like
satellites. (Cheers.) For, gentlemen, whom God
hath joined together let no man put asunder.
(Loud cheers.)
Major-General SEYMOUR, in replying for the
British Army, said,—l thank you sincerely for the
hearty way in which you have received the toast
proposed. The English army is, as you know, cer-
tainly not overpaid—(a laugh)—and in this respect
at least probably unlike the American army—(a
laugh)—so.our guests whom we are assembled here
to honour will understand and believe me when I
say that it does not look to personal advantages or
pecuniary rewards as an incentive to do its duty half
as much as to the hope of being able to attain the
respect and approbation of its countrymen. (Cheers.)
These public occasions are, therefore, always hailed
by both services as affording a test and gauge of
the degree to which they are valued at particular
moments, and I am not afraid of being contradicted
when I say that, although our army is too small, it
never was more efficient. (Cheers.) Soldiers, equally
with sailors, are never backward in appreciating
enterprise and skill, qualities which both have been
shown in no ordinary degree on the present occa-
sion, as proved by the almost unprecedentedly
short time in which those American yachts have
made their voyage at this inclement season of the
year. (Cheers.) I say almost, because her Ma-
jesty's ship Newcastle at the same season came in 11
days to Falmouth ; but then there was the differ-
ence of tonnage, which makes all the difference in
the risk and danger. (Cheers.) It is with much
pleasure, then, that as a soldier I am allowed to
take my humble share in doing honour to these gal-
lant gentlemen who have made Cowes the goal of
their interesting race--(cheers)—and it is the more
pleasing that I have had many opportkinities of
hearing my brother officers speak with gratitude of
the facilities which were given them by American
officers of seeing the movements of the armies under
their guidance during the late war. (Cheers.) I
have often heard my father—whose name is, I be-
lieve, well known in America as almost the oldest
Admiral in the Fleet, and who was known probably
to several Cowes men now present as a near neigh-
bour in old days at Norris Castle—(cheers)—I have
heard him say that, in the different positions in
which he has found himself in various parts of the
world, he had continual intercourse with commanders
of American squadrons, and that he looked back to
that intercourse with much satisfaction. (Cheers.)
I repeat, therefore, that it is personally grateful to
my feelings to be present, but I have still a more
pleasing duty to perform. I happened to be at Os-
borne in attendance on the Queen when the yachts
arrived, and .1 can speak, therefore, to the lively
interest which her Majesty evinced in all the parti-
culars of the voyage—(cheers)—and I am com-
manded by her Majesty to express her thanks for
the readiness which was shown to-day in bringing
the three yachts off Osborne. (Cheers.) The Queen
and the Royal Family derived much gratification in
seeing them under way. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I
again beg leave to thank you, and to drink all your 1
good healths. (Cheers.)
Captain LUAIW, in speaking to the toast for the
navy, said,—Although I cannot but feel that I rise
at very great disadvantage after the extremely in-
teresting speeches of General Taylor and General
Seymour, it is yet with no ordinary emotion
that I rise to return thanks in behalf of the
English navy on the present most auspicious occa-
sion. It is always a very great pleasure to us to
welcome the American flag into our waters ; but on
this occasion, when so remarkable an event as the
termination of the great ocean race is signalised by
the appearance of that flag here it is more than
usually so. lam sure that no Englishman—certainly
no English naval officer—can forget the memorable
words spoken by an American Commodore at the
taking of the forts at Peiho, that blood was thicker
than water—(cheers)—and we all believe that the
spirit which prompted these words, and not only the
words, but the very efficient assistance then ren-
dered, will never be wanting on the part of the
great republic-of the West. (Cheers.) lam sure,
speaking for the mother country— far away down
east, as they would say on the other side of the
Atlantic—the impression made by the words uttered
and the assistance so generously given will never be
obliterated. (Cheers.) Through all the storms of
political controversy, through all the necessities of
national statecraft, through all our most distant anti-
cipations of the future, we may confidently hope and
trust that the two nations may press forward hand
in hand together—(cheers)—and that the future
anticipated
by Colonel Taylor may be realised.
(Cheers.) The numbers assembled to do honour to
this occasion must be a gratifying as well as con-
vincing proof of the interest taken by England in
all that concerns our Transatlantic neighbours. In
the name of all ranks and grades of the British
navy I thank you for the honour you have done
them by coupling them with the army and navy of
the United States. (Cheers.)
The CHAIR3IAN, in giving the next toast, " Peace
and Prosperity to the United States and to Great
Britain," said be proposed it with a firm conviction
that these would be best secured to both countries
by their permanent and indissoluble alliance.
(Cheers.) Nay, more, in that alliance would be
found the best security for the peace, the intellec-
tual progress, and the liberties of the world.
(Cheers.) In this toast every true lover of his
country itieither hemisphere would, he was con-
vinced, heartily join. All would feel with him,
that two great nations so closely united by every
tie of blood and of interest should never be
severed even in thought. (Cheers.) The union be-
tween England and . America appeared to him
hardly to belong to the mere category of political
arrangement, but to have in it something of a closer
and more domestic character. He thought that in
this was to be found the secret of those transient
clouds which occasionally darkened the serenity of
our horizon. It had often been said by social phi-
losophers that husband and wife should not be
exactly similar in temper and disposition. The self-
knowledge of each of the parties to the contract
made them see each other's little defects and failings
with an eye sharpened by their consciousness of
their own misdoings and defiCiencies. (Cheers.)
Ile believed that. this might be the case as between
ourselves and our great relative across the Atlantic.
IVe were too much alike always to be perfectly
agreed. (Cheers.) Be that, however, as it might,
supposing any such clouds to exist or to have arisen
he feld sure that by a frank and cordial explanation
they might be blown to the winds, and that the
words of the old poet, " the falling out of faithful
friends renewing is of love" might be completely
realized. He was certain that the more the two
nations saw of each other the more would their
mutual regard and respect be deepened, and hence
he augured well for the resalts of this auspicious
evening, (Cheers.) Bound together as the two
nations were by every tie of a common origin, a
common language, and a common literature, they
ought to go hand in hand upoi! the. great mission of
pthaetiAonngolfo-tShaexon race—the civilisation and einanci-
Nverld(Loud cheers.) He begged
to couple the toast with the name of Mr. L. R.
Jerome.
The toast was drunk with great cordiality.
Mr. JEROME said—Mr. Chairmanaudgentlelneu,