The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-31 00:00:00

have, and they all agreed a first-rate one. Such
dinner he hoped they hai been supplied with.—("Yes,
yes," and loud cheers.) The nest matter was the
music, and the first professional gentlemen were
secured. He hoped on that point, likewise, they were
satisfied —(" Yes, yes.") He hoped they had all been
satisfied with the entertainment provided.—(Loud
cries of " Yes, yes," " All, all," and general cheer-
ing.) If they were all satisfied, he was pleased and
delighted; 'and he would further say, that in what-
ever position they might think fit to place him, how-
ever humble the appointment might be, his services
would be at their disposal. (Loud cheers.)
Chorus—" When the wind blows."

Mr. CUFFLEY rose and said—l have great pleasure
in informing the meeting that Mr. Edward Baker, of
the firm of Baker and Ward, Bouverie-street, is the
first volunteer of 100 guineas for the establishment
of a school.—(This announcement was received with
tremendous cheering.)
Mr. F. STARR was next called on for a toast, and
I spoke to the following effect :—I may safely say that I
feel myself in quite the same position as some other
gentleman who have addressed the meeting ex-
pressed themselves—when I say I wish the toast I am
about to propose had been placed in other hands who
would have been better able to do it justice. I
regret having volunteered to introduce the toast,
not from any want of appreciation of the great
power of which it is the subject, but of my want of
ability to place it in its proper light before you. I
would not have so felt had the toast only referred to the
National Mercantile Assurance Company, but it is
one of the greatest importance, connected as it is, not
only with the country at large, but with every other
similar society to the present throughout the extent
of the land.—(Cheers.) So satisfied am I of its mag-
nitude and importance that, like Frankenstein, I am
frightened at the task I have undertaken. The toast I
have to propose, gentlemen, is " The press," and taking
into account the effects produced in the country by it, it
must command our fullest homage and respect.—
(Cheers.) The subject lam free to confess, however,
is one which leaves me without words to express what

I really think in reference to it ; nay, I very much
doubt whether I am justified in entering into the sub-
ject, and anticipating a gentleman who is to rise after
me, and who is more competent to do it j ustice than I
possibly can.--(Loud cheers.) Still, I may say, no
one more than myself is disposed to pay homage
to the intelligence and power of the press ; and
there is no body of men that owe more to it than
such as I see around me. I do not say that you are
much indebted to it on your own behalf for the sup.
port of your Life Assurance Society, but, indirectly,
you are under much obligation to it—not only to the
Great Thunderer of Printing-house-square, but to
your facetious friend Punch; the whole press, from
the one to the other of these, through all its interme-
diate stages, declares that life assurance is a good
thing.—(Cheers.) On all occasions the principle of
life assurance has had the benefit and support of
its influence.=---(Hear, hear.) Six years ago we
could not exhibit to the world such an association
as the present; but the press showed the way
and assisted and cheered us, guiding us by its intelli-
gence and advice, until we have become successful.—
(Cheers.) No one more than myself admires the in-
tellect and industry that characterises the conductors
of the press, and none is disposed to pay it greater
consideration and respect, as a powerful moral engine
for elevating, improving, and guiding public opinion.
Gentlemen, in conclusion, I beg leave to propose—
" The Press, and long life to those who direct and
sway its pages, and whose labours regulate and
govern the feelings of the country."—( rhe toast was
received and drunk with loud and long continued

cheering )
Mr. MURDO YOUNG rose and said—Mr. Chairman
and gentlemen, I will not detain you long in the
observations lam about to make. I feel great plea-
sure at the high character which the gentleman who
has just addressed the meeting has given the press.
The public press, like Joseph's coat, is made
up of many colours, or, I may rather say, of many
opinions, but in the main I believe those opinions to
be honest, and that they have a virtuous and
benevolent tendency. We are—in the words of the
poet—

" Brethren in arms, but rivals in renown."

The feeling of those connected with the public press
is to do good, and to advance, as far as in ti-em lies,
the general interests of society. They do not pro-
fess to be. superior to their fellow-men,
but they say what they think, freely, independently,
ar.d with the best intentions. The press is the great
mirror of public opinion—it reflects its hopes and
fears. Perhaps it foreshadows too truly the conse-
quence of coining events, but in the main it is a
friend that may be trusted. To have an honest press,
the people must themselves be honest.—(Cheers.)
We think deeply and, it may be, correctly on many
questions, but you think on a greater variety of
subjects, and are well qualified on many of these to
set us right, from your more intimate knowledge of
all their various bearings. In this spirit the gentle-
men connected with the press are ever ready
and happy to learn the opinion of parties
experienced in the several walks of business
with which they are connected. Much is said of the
power of the press, but in reality the press has no
power but in the conscience of the people. The
people think much the same as the press, and when
the press comes out publicly with their private
thoughts, they give the press credit for
divining too happily their own very abstruse medi-
tations. But there is no wonder in that after all—for
"What can we reason but from what we know ?"

and the public press is but the pulse of public opinion
—it beats quick or slow, as the temperature of the
mind or the body politic may indicate. You may, per-
haps, recollect the observation of a Dutch Minister—
De Witz, I think—who said to his son, " Go and
travel, and see what the world is ;" and the young
gentleman went, but he went in an easy chair, saw
people disguised like himself, and he returned, like
Captain Cook's celebrated cow, which had travelled
all round the world, but came back as wise as when
it set out.—(Cheers and laughter.) But if that
old gentleman lived at the present day, I
am sure he would say to his son, should he
wish him to possess an efficient knowledge of
society, " Go, and become a British commercial
traveller.—(Loud cheers.) You will then see
the world as it really is, in its manifold phases
and conditions," and—
" Survey mankind from China to Peru."
—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, you have said that the
press represents public opinion—so it does. It
reflects the feelings and sentiments of society a,
water reflects the rays of the sun.—(Loud cheers.)
Commercial travellers go everywhere—east, west,
north, and south, and if a war were to break out, I
am sure they would make an excellent army of
observation.—(Cheers.) They, indeed, are the true
interpreters of public opinion, whether they go
through the extent of Yorkshire or Lanca
shire, or throughout the wilds of Scotland :
wherever they- go they are the men to ask what is
the state of opinion upon any question. I have heard
with great ple..sure a gentleman who has addressed
the meeting refer to that glorious institution you have
just established—the School.—(Cheers.) Careful
as you have been in building up your Assurance
Society, and provident as are the objects it has in
view, there is something still beyond that which is
required—something to which you can, as hus-
bands and f4thers, look to, as conferring a
benefit on your children—(Loud cheers)—as
a means of providing elements of knowledge
to the youthful mind—
" To teach the young idea how to shoot,"
by the success of your own bright example, the ad-
vantages of such a school cannot be too highly esti-
mated. It is an institution which, in addition to the
Assurance Society with which you are connected, or
rather an emanation of your own, is entitled to the
warmest and most energetic support. The press, it is
said, is the fourth estate ; but there is another estate
which has recently grown up—l mean the railway
estate--if the Railway King will condescend to
be one of us.—(Laughter.) Yet beyond these
there is a still more provident estate—that of as-
surance compinies. These societies are springing up
around us far and wide, and doing good everywhere.
Your society is one of these, the principle of
which is entitled to every encouragement, and
which lam sure it will receive from the great, in -
dustrious, and energetic body to which it mainly
looks for support—l mean the British commercial
travellers. It has been said that you should look
to royal assistance ; but, however desirable that
may be under certain circumstances, my advice is,
look to yourselves.—(Cheers.) If you determine to
go forward in your present course you will reap
the reward of success, and all the world will applaud
you. You will set a good example, and your pros-
perity will induce others to go and do likewise.
Mr. STARR then proposed the "Health of the
Ladies," which having been drunk with the greatest
enthusiasm, the chairman left the chair, and the
meeting immediately afterwards separated.

PREPARING FOR THE ATTACK.—Free4raderS are
qualifying in Nottinghamshire, in order to be prepared, at the
opportune time, to make a resolute attack upon the fortress of
monopoly. At the period of the Reform Bill that county re-
turned six Reformers ; since then the " landed interest" has
regained hold. It is now perceived to be high time that an
assault was commenced in right good earnest upon the
Chandos camp.' Let this only be well done throughout the
country, and 'haughty, selfish, and unfeeling brown bread,
curry, and potatoes Dukes—whether royal or not—must sur-
render to the force of reason. Truth and justice are against
them; this they well know. That, for the purposes and
ends of a partiCtilar class, the rest of the community should
suffer (and in Consequence be kept in discontent) is a thing
too grievous tobe allowed to continue.—From a Correspondent.
Mr. W. H. Polk, brother to the President of the
United Statei, is at this moment in Paris. He will remain
some time awaiting dispatches from Washington, and will
then proceed to Rome and Naples, where he will act as En-
voy Extraordinary from the Union, in order to exchange the
ratitications of a treaty of commerce and amity recently con-
cluded between his Government and the kingdomn of the Two