The Sun.
London, England, 1828-05-30 00:00:00

THE DINNER.

Yesterday at half-past five o'clock a numerous
company sat down to dinner at the London Tavern,
Bishopsgate-street. Indeed, the great room in.
which about 300 persons dined was insufficient to
hold the numbers who had purchased tickets for the
occasion, and'an anti-room was obliged to be appro-
priated for their accommodation. The Dinner, we need
scarcely say, was excellent, and the 'wines also were
such as the most fastidious could not fail to relish.—
A number of professional gentlemen also attended
to give further zest to the festive scene; and upon
the whole we have seldom witnessed an occasion
where social enjoyment was so perfectly unalloyed.
The names of the singers were Messrs. Fry, Ashton,
Lewis, Newton, Evans, and Hudson.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex not
being able to attend the dinner, C. BARCLAY, Esq.
took the Chair, supported on his right hand by Mr.
Hodges, thedistiller, and on his left by John Cam
Hobhouse, Esq. M.P.' As soon as the cloth was
removed, "Non nobis Domine" Was beautifully sung
by the professional gentlemen, who were joined by
several of the company.
The CHAIRMAN then gave the first toast, " the
health of his Majesty," with three times three.
Song_" God save the King."
The CHAIRMAN then gave the second toast, " the
Memory of his late Royal Highness the Duke of
York, late Patron of the Licensed Victuallers'
School," which was drunk in solemn silence.
The next toast was, " His Royal Highness the
Duke of Clarence, Lord High Admiral, and the re-
maining branches of the Royal Family," with three
times three..
Glee—" Hail! Star of Brunswick."
The CHAIRMAN, in rising to propose the next
toast, said Gentlemen, the toast which I have now
the honour of proposing to you is " the health of
his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, the Patron
of this Institution, and Prosperity to the Licensed
Victuallers' Asylum." It is part of my painful duty
to apologise to you for the absence of his
Royal Highness, from a cause which you will easily
understand, that of his not having sufficient strength
to go through the ceremony of this morning, and
likewise to attend at this festival. He has, I think,
shewn that he is well entitled to your gratitude, by
having made such extraordinary exertions, (not to
disappoint your expectations, in the early part of
this day, when he performed the ceremony of
laying the first stone of your excellent Asylums--
(Hear.) I think I should be wasting your time,
and I feel myself very inadequate to the task,
were I to attempt to recount to you, the various
calls which his Royal Highness the Duke of
Sussex has upon your gratitude, and that of the
country at large, for promoting the prosperity of
the various charities in this country, and the interest
he takes in them. I stated that it was a painful
duty to me to be obliged to give you this reason
for the Duke's absence; but there was another rea-
son, which I felt perhaps, too forcibly, for which I
should at all times feel myself incompetent, that, unpre-
pared as I have been for the honour of presiding at
this meeting, I consider I have the greater claim
to your indulgence, and in making that claim, I shall
receive the indulgence I now solicit.—(Applause.)
The object, Gentlemen, for which you are this day
met, is one so plain and so clear to the under-
standing of every one, that it certainly must appear
needless to enter at large into the nature of the
Institution, and I am spared from going at any
length into it, in consequence of having a very ex-
cellent report laid before
,me, which will be
immediately read by the Secretary, I can-
not, however, forbear congratulating you upon
the commencement of this great work ; I would
venture to say, that it would hardly be undertaken
by any other body of men than the one I have
now the honour of addressing.--s(Hear.)—Gentle-
men in your prosperity you have never forgotten
you companions in adversity. You have ever been
ready at the call of charity, and you have combined
together—not a combination, such as we have heard
of in different societies—a combination which has
been cried down by the Legislature of the country,
but you have combined and united together, in one
body, to relieve thoseamongst you who are distressed
and-have called for your aid. (Hear, hear.) You
have to boast of one of the most excellent schools,
of the many with which I am acquainted in this
country. lam sure there is not one conducted so
well, on the principle of economy; which affords a
better opportunity of promoting the objects of
the charity; and every person who has the satisfaction
of belonging to that charity knows well the
hundreds of individuals who have been rescued from
want and misery by the charity, and who are now
respectable, useful, and ornamental members of the
commonwealth. But, Gentlemen, this was not
enough to satisfy your praiseworthy ambition ;
you wished that those who, from individual misfor-
tunes had lost that prosperity upon which they de-
pended for support and maintenance in their old
age, should be protected; you combined therefore
together •to form an Institution by which you
might give assistance and relief to those indi-
viduals who were not so fortunate as yourselves.
You granted pensions to those, and proudly you
may say, that you distribute weekly 501. amongst
those who have been formerly victuallers, but not so
fortunate. There was but one thing wanting,
and that was, that you should find them a
place—an Asylum—a refuge in their old age;
and this day are you met to celebrate the
Commencement of that great work—an Asylum-
which, I trust, ere long will be a place of refuge
to a hundred individuals. As I said before, the
object of this Asylum is 30 clear and simple, that it
would be absurd forme to dilate upon the benefits that
must accrue to those individuals who will hereafter
be the object of your bounty. But I must take
this opportunity of stating to you, that a great deal
does depend on the event of this meeting. I trust
that when I see myself surrounded as I am on the
present occasion, by so many respectable individuals,
many of whom I have been so long acquainted with,
and whose zeal and ardour its the cause of charity
I am so - satisfied of,_ we shall not at the
close of this Meeting have to regret that our
friends are not sufficient to complete the whole
work. Ido hope and trust this charity will not'
suffer from the inadequacy of the person who endea-
vours to advocate its claims.---(Hear, hear.)--I
am assured, if his Royal Highness had been here, he
with that eloquence, which you know he possesses,
would have persuaded you to have gone to the ut-
most of your means in support of this Institution;
and I trust and hope that the humble individual
who now addresses- you, may find, at the con-
clusion of this meeting, his feeble, but most earnest
endeavours have not been in vain, and that he will
have to rejoice in being that humble individual who
has appended to this toast of the health of his Royal
Highness, the prosperity of the Licensed Victuallers'
Society. Gentlemen, I have new only to request
you to do that which I am sure you are all longing
to do,:drink with three times three, " the health—the
better health of his Royal Highness the Duke of
Sussex, and prosperity to the Licensed Victuallers'
Society."—(Loud cheers.)—The toast was then
drank with the greatest epthusiasm.

Amongst the to,asts intended to have been pro-
posed we noticed that of ‘.‘ His Majesty's Ministers,"
to which Mr. Alderman Thompson's name was ap-
pended, probably under the impression that the
Hon. Alderman being a supporter of the Ministry,
would have felt himself called upon to speak to this
toast. For some motives, however, which Ive do
not take upon ourselves to explain, the toast wa4
erased from the catalogue, and Mr. Alderman
Thompson did not make his appearance in the room
during the evening.
Mr. GILL, the Secretary, then proceeded to read
the Report, of which the following is a copy:--
'The Governor 3 of the Licensed Victuallers' Asylum, in
stating briefly its rise and progress, have lunch satisfaction
in congratulating its illustrious Patron and kind friends