The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-23 00:00:00

.

tz .G

41
nour of their attention to himself,--especially in re-
ference to this magnificent and distinguished enter.
tainment.—(Applause.) He most.cordially and sin-
cerely drank health and happiness to the Corpora-
tion.—(Applause.)
The MATOR returned thanks. After some other
toasts,
JOHN M'GREGOR, Esq., of the Board of Trade,
gave, " The Town and Trade of Manchester, and tbe-
industry of the district ;" in doing which he spoke at
some length, but was almost inaudible to the re-
porters. He was understood to say that the toast of
itself constituted a text, involving the gravest, as well
as the most interesting, considerations for the study of
the statesman, of the legislator, and of all who knew
and cared for the well-being and the happineis of their
ffellow-men. All experience and all knowledge"proved
the fact, that the growth and prosperity of great cities
had been accompanied by the prosperity of the sur-
rounding country, and the well-being of the inha-
bitants.—(Applause.) It would be idle and pre-
sumptuous in him to dilate on the fact, that the
growth and progress of the several districts of
Lancashire and Cheshire, particularly in the value
of property, and in the consequent better employ-
ment and well-being of the people, which accompanied
the rise and progress of this great town, and of the
great industrious district of which it was the focus.
If they would bear with him, he would offer a few
observations on the condition of one or two countries,
in which great industrious cities had flourished, but
which had ceased to ,flourish. He then referred to
the cities of Venice and Augsburg. A Venitian
Duke, whom he had the honour of knowing in 1838,
inherited, from a long line of ancestors some of the
finest lands on the banks of the Brenta, represen-
ted to him that the rents of those lands, during the
prosperous trading days of the republic, enabled hie
ancestors to build the splendid palaces on the banks
of the grand canal of Venice, and the large one, a few
rooms of which only the noble owner had been able
to keep habitable. On the banks of the Danube was
once an imperial city and also a great entrepot for
trade, and a seat of manufactures, the city of Augs-
burg. At that period, so greatly did the prosperity
of Augsburg cause the increased value of property in
Suabia, that the landlords built some of the most mag-
nificent palaces of the age in the imperial city. Po-
litical and other causes drove the trade and manufac-
tures from the city ; and, on the departure of industry
and trade, the population decreased more rapidly than
in any other city of the empire.—(Hear.) After-
wards 'Vallenstein inhabited one of those palaces, and
two of them had since been converted into hospitals.
—(Hear.) In conclusion, he gave " The town and
trade of Manchester.—(Applause.)
The toast having been drunk with all the honours,
it was acknowledged by
JOHN POTTER, Esq., who said, that, though he
could have wished that the response had devolved on
some one more able than himself, still he could not
hut feel he should be deficient in duty to the town, if
he did not express his acknowledgments. When he
knew that the toast was proposed by one who had
rendered more services to the commercial statistics of
this country than any man now living, he trusted in-
dulgence would be shown to him, and he hoped they
would not forget the importance f the community in
which they lived. When he knew that nothing was
wanted but employment for the industry of the disco
trict, he felt that the illustrious Quest
f the evenin
had conferred great honour upon there, and, through
g
them, upon the manufacturing industry of the col::"
try. He trusted that the same liberality which had
characterised Sir henry Pottinger's treaty with the
Chinese would characterise all ,our treaties with
foreign countries.—(Applause.)
JAMES ASEINALL TURNER, Esq., next proposed
" The Members of Parliament for the county and
borough."
WILSON PATTEN, Esq., M.P., acknowledged the
toast, and said that for many years he had been so
unconnected politically with this part of the country,
that he felt the honour the more. He had recently
expressed his sentiments towards their distinguished

guest; and he should not have attended if he did not
believe it would be gratifying to his manufacturing
constituents to unite in paying this compliment to
him. The gratitude of the county of Lancaster was
not limited to the great boroughs of Liverpool and
Manchester, but was felt in every valley of the county.
WILLIAM ENTWISLE, Esq., M.P., said it had but
seldom fallen to his lot to meet so large an assemblage
of all classes of political opinions in his native town,
on an occasion of such unanimity as had distin-
guished the present meeting. He gladly availed
himself of the opportunity to testify his admiration
of the principles of the guest of the evening, and he
would do his utmost to forward the principles of the
Pottinger treaty.—(Great applause.) That the ab -
stract doctrines of free trade had been adopted in
high quarters he considered as generally known ; and
he would allude to an observation of Lord Stanley, in
Liverpool, on that clause which includes all other
nations in the same clause as ourselves ; and his Lord-
ship had said no clause would tend more to improve
our condition with the Chinese.---(Applause.)
The company separated a few minutes after twelve
o'clock.

ELECTION of COMMON COUNCIL•

MN.-4SAT UEDA Y.)

' ST. THOMAS'S DAM:
This, tfie day 'annually devoted Ack the election of
Common Councilmen for the different wards of the
City of London, passed in an unusually quiet manner.
In the parish of _ _

WALBROOK,
The LORD MAYOR, attended by his Civic suite, opened
the proceedings, in the Charity-school room. The place
was crowded with an anxiously curious audience, but this
ward, contrary to expectation, formed no exception to
the general quietness, the gentlemen who had repre-
sented the board during the past year having been re-
elected without opposition.

/ //
,~ ..