Star.
London, England, 1818-05-29 00:00:00

•qf Mr. PITTs BIRTH-DAY.

Yesterday the Membert of the Pitt Club (fund to.
gather at the City of London Tavern, Bishopsgate-
meet, to celebrate the Anniversary of the Birth of
the late Right Honourable WILLIAM Pm, Lord Vis-
Chant Lescutis in the Chair.
At *about half-past six his Lordship entered the
room, attended by the LORD CHANCRLLOR, the Earls
of LivaarooL, BATHURST, WESTMORLAND, and
HAREWOOD; the CHANCE.LLOR of the &CHEQUER,
Sir WILLIAM SCOTT, Sir EDWARD BURRELL, Sir
WILLEAH GRAN/ Sir ROPIRT VAUGHAN, and about
one hundred other Members of the Club.

--
The Company sat down to an escellent dinner,
during which the Band played several appropriate airs.
After the removal of the cloth, Non nobis Domino
was sung in the best style, by Messrs. BROADHURST
DIOUSI, HAwas, BAPLLAKT, TYRRELL, EVANS, and
N
snare other distinguished vocal performers.

The Noble Chairman thenfave the following toasts:
" The King," which was drank in silence. 30.4—.602 save
the King.
" The Prince Regent." Song--Mail Star of Branswick.
" The Queen." Song—Glorious Apollo.
" The Duke of York and tike other branches of the P.oyal
Family." •
After these had been drank with loud applause,'
Lord Lascata.ns rose and said, that in proposing
the usual toast, and making those observations which
were erpectied from persons situated•as he then was,
he had little if any of novelty to offer on the subject,
and to snob a numerous assemblage of the Club as
he then had the honoir of addressing, who had
made it a constant practice to attend the anniver-
sary Meetings, any thing which could be said on the
subject which had brought them together, would
not be new. This circumstance was in itself a high
honour to the name of that great man whose me-
mory they were about to celebrate—( Hear, hear.)
—ln taking a review of the conduct of Mr. Pitt, it
would be necessary to look back to the wars in
which he was engaged, to the difficulties he had to
encounter, and to the final result of great and la,l)o.
rious exertions. Every thing which he foresaw had
since come to pass,—(Heart hear,)—and the country,
was now in the enjoyment of _most of those bless-
ings, to procure which he had so long patriotically
struggled. It was true, that in the attainment of
these advantages, the country had to encounter with
great embarrassments, some of which were not quite
removed, but the man who should calculate the va-
lue of Mr. Pitt's principles upon such narrow grounds
as these, would certainly be most erroneous in• his
calculation—(hear, hear.)—The only true calculation
• of the value and importance of these principles should
be founded upon a consideration of the power, the
grandeur, and the influence, political and commer-
cial, which this country at present enjoyed among
the nations of the earth—upon a comparison of what
we once had been in the..e respects, to what we now
ware—(Hear, hear, hear.)—To look at the dangers
which had surrounded ;is, and the glory with which
we had escaped them--(hear, hear, hear.)—lf wee
were to take a view of these circumstances—if even
we were to compare the state of the country at the
period of the last meeting of the Club, with what it
was at this day, and reflect, that these improving
changes were produced by the adherence to the prin-
ciples of Mr. Pitt, we should then form a fair judg-
ment of their value, and a true calculation of their
importance—.(hear, hear.)—ln viewing the present,
we should see no ground for despondency, and in
looking to the future, the prospect was still better.—
In taking thus the state of the country into conside-
retion, he was gratified to find that there was so
much cause for congratulation, but then this view
was not wholly unitized with some feelings of re
vet. He could not, nor could any of the Gentle-
men whom he addressed, be unmindful of the at-
tempts which were daily making in various parts of
the country to demoralise the sentiments of the great
body of the lower classes, by the continual publica-
tion of the most vile and blasphemous wnungs--
(hear, hear.)--The industry with which these articles
were circulated, should be sufficient to give great
cause of alarm to every man who had the well-king
of his country at heart. Their dangerous tendency
no moral man would deny, and the infamous object
of those vile wretches, who sent them abroad to the
Public, must be perceived by any man who for a
moment reflected on their character—(Hear, hear.)
—lt could not be maintained, that the intention of
the fabricators of such publications was to benefit
those who read them, for they were of a description
from which not one person could derive a single
particle of information that would make him a bet.
ter subject, or more useful or honourable member of
society--(hear, hear.)—Oa the contrary, they had
the effect of poisoning the minds of the ignorant,
and they had also these other effects, they destroyed
the benefits of what little education was possessed
_by the lower orders, and rendered persons of supe-
rior rank indifferent about the imparting of any edu-
cation, when it was immediately exposed to such
perversion—( Hear, hear.)—He had felt it necessary
to say thus much upon this subject, because he con-
ceived it was connected with the great object for
which they had assembled that day, as it spewed
the necessity of a firm union between that band of
men, who by following the precepts and adhering
to the principles' of that great man, to whose me-
mory they were paying so honourable a tribute,
they would insure the best means of counteracting
the great evil he had pointed out—(Hear, hear.)—
They, would look back to the time of Slr. Pitt—
examine his conduct in circumstances somewhat
similar, and see and follow what he would do in cir-
cumstances like the present—(hear, hear.)—The
Noble Lord concluded by giving—
.. The Immortal Memory of the Right lien. Win. Pitt."
This toast was received with the most lively accla-
mations, and drank with three times three.
E. L. SWIFT, Esq. then rose, and recited an Ode
which he had composed for the occasion. This Ode,
which did equal credit to the poetic talent of its
composer, and to the subject which had called it
forth, was received with loud and deserved applause.
Lord LASCIELLZI next proposed, " The Navy and
Army.".—Air, Hearts ef Oak. Song, Rule Britannia.
The next toast was, "The House of Brunswick, and
may they never forget the principles which seeted
them urn the throne of these realms."---This was
dook with loud cheers, and followed by the song