The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-03-04 00:00:00

SPEECH OF MR. MACREADY.

At the Macready banquet, on Saturday, at which Sit
E. L. Bulwer took the chair, the talented performer, in
reply to the toast of " Health, happiness, and long life to
William Macready," which was drunk by the company
upstanding, and was followed by rapturous cheers, which
were renewed and continued for some moments, delivered
an able reply. On rising, he was received with a fresh
outburst of cheering and the waving of handkerchiefs.
He said :—I rise to thank you, I should say to attempt to
thank you, fa I feel the task is far beyond my power.
What can I say in reply to all that the kindly feeling of
my friend has dictated ? I have not theskill to arrange and
dress in attractive language the thoughts that press upon
me, and my incompetency may appear like a want of sen-
sibility to your kindness, for we are taught to believe that
out of the heart's fulness the mouth speaks. But my diffi-
culty, let me assure you, is a contradiction to this moral.
I have to thank my friend, your distinguished chairman,
for proposing my health to you, and for the eloquence—
may I not add the brilliant fancy ?—with which he has
enriched and graced his subject. But that we may readily
expect from him who in the wide and discursive range of
dis genius touches nothing that he does not adorn. (Hear,
and cheers.) T have to thank you for the cordiality and
—if I may, without presumption, say so—the enthu-
siasm with which the compliment proposed has been
received, and for the honour—never to be forgotten—that
you have conferred on me by making me your guest to-
day. Never before have I been so oppressed with a sense
of my deficiency as at this moment, looking on this assem-
blage of sympathising friends, crowded here to offer me
the spontaneous testimony of their regard. I observe
among you many who for years have been the encouraging
companions of my course ; and there are present. too,
those who have cheered my very earliest efforts. To all
who have united in this crowning tribute, so far beyond
my dues or expectations—to my old friends, the friends
of many years, who welcomed me with hopeful greeting in
the morning f my professional life, and to the younger
ones, who now gather roLnd to shed more brightnesson my
setting, 1 should wish .o "Turf° -th the abundant expression
of my gratitude. You are not, I think aware of the full ex-
tent of my obligations to you. Independent of the substan-
tial benefits due to a liberal apprec - -
my very position in society is de
which your approbation has set ur

Ition of my e

rtions,
stamp

(cheers ;)

let me unhe

y affirm

or Mot

would not exchange the

ateful pride of your

any favour or advancement that the more privileged in
station could receive. (Great cheering.) I really am ton
much oppressed, to: much overcome, to attempt to detain
you long; but with the reflect ion, and under the conviction,
that our drama, the noblest in the world, car: never lose
its place from our stage while the English language lasts,
I will venture to express one parting hope—rat the

Id the
Hear.

hear," and cheers.)
to elevate their art,

iat they wit

,nd also to

mselves above

distinction. by a 'faithful ministry to the genius of our
incomparable Shakspeare. (Cheers.) To effect this cre-
ditable purpose, they must bring resolute energy and un-
faltering labour to their wcrk; they must be content " to

spurn delig,

Ms, ai

Member that v

'er is excel

Lent in art c

st spring from

labour and endurance.

"Deep the oak

Must sink in stubborn earrth its roots obscure
That hopes to lift its branches to the sky."

(Loud applause.) This, gentlemen, I can assure you,
was the doctrine of our own Siddons and of the great
Talma—(hear)—and this is the faith I have ever held
as one of their humblest disciples. Of my dire:tion of
the two patent theatres, on which my friend has so kindly

dilated, I wish to say but little. The preamble of their
patent recites, as a condition of their grant, that the
theatres shall be instituted for the promotion of virtue,

are the words. I can only say that it was my ambition,
to the best of my ability, to obey that injunction (hear,
hear, and cheers) ; and, believing in the principle that
property has its duties as well as its rights, I conceived
that the proprietors should have co-operated with me.
(Loud cries of "hear.") They thought otherwise, and I
was reluctantly compelled to relinquish, on disadvanta-
geous terms, my half-achieved enterprise. Others will take
up this uncompleted work, and if inquiry were set on foot
for one best qualified to undertake the task, I should seek
him in the theatre which by eight years' labour he has,
from the most degraded condition, raised high in public
est

spectability of his audiences, but by the learned and taste-
ful spirit of his productions. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I
shall not detain you longer. All that I could desire, and
far more than I ever could expect. you have confarred
upon me in the honour you have done me to-day. It will

be a memory that must remain as an actual possession to
me and mine which nothing in life can take from us. The
repetition of thanks add little to their force, and there-
fore, deeply as I am already obliges to you, I must draw
still further on your indulgence. You have had faith in
my zeal for your service; vou will, I am sure, continue
that faith in my gratitude for the value you have set upon
it. With a heart more full than the glass I hold, I re-

LATEST INTELLIGENCE

BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

HOUSE OF LORDS.-MONDAY,

Their Lordships met at 5 o'clock. The Earl of RODICH
presented a number of petitions against the Papal aggres-
sion, and supported their prayer.—The Marquis of LANS-
DOWNE then stated that after the failure of three succes-

sive schemes for constructing a new administration, her
Majesty, after full and mature deliberation, and in con-
formity with the advice of the Duke of Wellington, had
been pleased to command her late ministers to resume
their office, and endeavour at least to carry on the busi-
ness of the country. Under these circumstances. they
had no alteration but to obey the royal command.—The
Duke of ARGYLE presented a petition from Glasgow in
opposition to the Papal aggression, and assured their
lordships that the people of Scotland were no less unani-
mous and decided in their disapprobation of the act of the
Pope than the people of England.—Lord BROUGHAM
presented a similar petition, but could not concur in its
prayer. He implored the government not to legislate
upon this subjtct at least at present, but to be content.
with a resolution of both houses of parliament.—The
Marquis of BREADALBANE maintained the necessity of-
efficient measures as a check to Papal encroachments.—
The Earl of ABERDEEN agreed with Lord Brougham,
chat the evil complained of would be only increased by
legislative enactments, and recommended proceeding by
resolution.—The house adjourned at six o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMON
The Speaker took the chair at fc

after five, on the motion for r
the day for the second reading ,

Assumption Bill, Lord J. R
what occurred since he las

:1 Stanley's ear)!

I shortly

ng over the order of
lie Ecclesiastical Tit!ee

e no remark

)wer to form 4
dal he had re

lordship had had full
and that no requests
her Alftiestv would have t

:ling even

I J. tins

(Sunray) morni

dmiiteA to an 'audiei

some cheerir

that pu

e hou