New-York daily tribune., 1859-01-26
.BtIys CENTENNIAL ANs1FERsRT.
TIE AsTOR HOUSE DINNER.

y-irg gatherlBg-the large dinIg bsl baog t1rooged
py the admirers Of the Scottish bsI1. TIE coor' o.
Ercltnd sco,lsrd Ireland, End the United ststes,
were irapsi about The roctn aud portraits o: Burn',
Wastipeton F.anklia and othfrs grseed tss walls
Amcpg The invited guests presort were W. Bfyaot'
Ftz Greene Ilasck G. c. VesplaIck II. ". BeecheI,
Clnss Gould. DR.. John ". Francis, p. Cooper
Mi,uot, Dr. Bellows d. +. Tienann, 5. Ossood, IL.
Greeley J. c. Kjrg, Psrke Goiwip, VIM T. Ihsyer'
FIT Bfsdy. ". II. L. Ba1nes sHd Il. S. Willis.
WnLIAH CUIIEN BRYANT, esq, presided, anI hr.
AscHIgA1u. British Cyusul ofciatsd a. Nice-Presi-
dent
After diunor Mr J. CUSSISGHty, ss Pres!ent ofths
Burrs Club, presented Mr. WILLIAM CUBES BEr-
Ant e. the Honorary President, and Mr. EDWARD NJ.
ARCHIBALD, Wee President He sad the thanks OF
the Club were due TO there gentlemen snt to the Press
OF the city ard oouLty, well IS TO ar. Swami, who
teseraphed tho message between this aud other clubs,
ard TO Mr. John Hon for a similar Offer. NJ. Cin-
nin ,hsrn then read letters from Washington Irving.
TIE Hon. James Buchanan lgIeat cheeri tee Rev.
JOIN Thonp.cn, the Rev Geo. W. Behuns, the Rev.
E. Il. Cbspn lcheersl, Horny w. Longfellow, o. W.
Holnes, who sent the following sentiment,
Memory Of the A,aares Who u.de Ne dialect
nsfty empire and resins Oh f., and arts haye
Ia b. T'3' o3 o a ruth ard shSood aud sati, Z: !. a. ., /.
eau Gy p0u The winds Of Heaven
[gres. applause, Bsyard Taylor lcheen, Edward
Everett ard many Others.
MI Buchanans letter as follows:
WASHINGTON Jan. Is 1852
py.Rs1R have received youT hind behs Of
hc Club Of the C,J o New York 20 be pTeent 81 ne
pes. Slh aiseH .hoad e.tee it Ireat pe,.ar
Rsh prviese 70 Be You On hi, occasion bot my paOc
Poor Burn. have Away. dploed hi, bard fate. He t,
SnS be /. read eyerJ where and by
extent Of country and biz natural sssG' RcHsssS hi: I,1.S "
VAR CLiKEHuGH, esq, CorTespondug Secretary.
Mr.. BRYANT then rose to address the company, wren
he was greeted with storm Of enthusiastic applause
tbst lasted for several minutes.
Mr.. BRfAST's SPEECH.
Or rising 10 begin the announcement of the regular
oasts for this evening my rst duty s to thank my
excellent friends Of the Barns Club, with whom do
not now meet for the first time and whose annual tes
tvtes sre among the pessantest ever attended for
til honor they have done me in calling me 10 the char
occupJ-an honor the more to be prized 90 account
Of the rare occasion on which II IS bestowed. An
honor which can be conferred but once II century,
is an honor indeed. THIS evening the memory OF
Bum. will be celebrated as il never was before. lis
fame from the time when he first appeared before the
world as a poet, has been growing and frightening, as
the morning brightens into the perfect day. There
never was time when his merits were so freely ac-
knovledgcd as row; when the common consent OF
the literary world placed him go high or spoke ms
praises with 80 little ntermlXture OF dlsparage-
ment. when the anniversary of bis blTth could
have awakened 40 general and iervent an enthusiasm.
If We could imagine human being endowed with the
power of making himself through the medium o' big
senses witness or whatever II psssng on the lace OF
the globe what series Of festivities what Successive
manifestations Of the love and admiration wich al
who spea our language bear 10 the great Scottish
poet would present themselves to lns observation,
accompanying the shadow Of this night in it circuit
round Le earth Some twelve hours before this time
he wond have heard the praises OF Burns rected AMI
the songs o Burns sung on the banks OF the Ganges
the uuic flowing out at the open windows on toe sot
evening air Of that region, aud ningng with the mar
murs of .he sacred riyer little later, he might
have heard the same sounds from the mouth
Of the Euphrates; later still, from the southern
extremity of Africa under consultations strange TO
our eyes-the stare If the Southern Hems phere-aud
almoi. at the same moment from the rocky shores OF
the Ionian Isles. Next they would have been heard
from tie orange groves of Malta, and from the Winter
color Of English and Americans on the balks OF the
Tiber. Then in IFS ur1 TIE Seine takes The STRAIN
and what chorus rises from the British lsles-!fom
every ocean-maIt and river, and mount slde WITH
distant res ponse from the rock OF Gibraltar Last,
In the Old World IN it, westernmost verge, the OBJ
server whom / have imagined would have heari tue
voice Cf song aud Of glsdness irom the coasts o LDs
ria ard Sierra Leone among race coLsttdhonaliy
ard passionatey fond OF music, and To weh We rave
given our language aod literature. In tue Ne8
World frozen Newfoundland has already lei 10
the festival of this night; and mex, those VINO
dwell where the St. Lawrence holds an icy
, mirror to the stsrs; thence il has passed 10 the
hills snd valleys of New-England; aed it IA now
our turn, on tie lordly Hudson. The SchqykM Wil
follow, the Potomac the rivers Of the Carolnas the
uaies;ic st. Johns, drawing bis dark, deep waters
from lie Everglades the borders OF our mighty lakes
the beautiful Ohio, tine great Mississippi, "lth ~
founta III, gushing undeT fields of sEow and s NOUN
anon. flowers that fesr not the frost. Then will our
festival, IN its westward course, crOss the Rocky
Noun aIs and gather III joyous assemblies those woo
pasture their herds Oh the Columbia, and thoHe VINO
4 q. g.. ~. RU a
tefyal II will pass TO Australia, living in her dis
q an. solitude Of water-, and now glosi1g with the
heats of midsummer where fear the Jealous country
men OF Buns viii fBd tho short night OF the season
too shert for their Festivities. And thus Will this )in-
uemofatioI puTsue the sunfet round the globe,
ard .ollow the journey ol the evening star
TIL that gentle plsuet shines on the waters
OF Chipa. Well has our great poet deserved thi,
uniyeI ssl comuemoratior-fo who has written Ike
him What poem descriptive OF furai msLners snd
virtues rursl lie in It's simplicity and dgniiy-yot
without suge iase outline Of touch OF fase COLOR
ing-cI * to oar memories and lives IN our b0soms
Ike his Cotter's Saturday Night What humorous
narrative in can be compared with h!s AN
OShauter From the fall Of Adam to his time, be-
lsve there was n.thicg written in the vein OF his
Mountain Daisy; others have canSht HIS splrt fToin
that poem but VINO among them 81 has eXcelsd him
OF al the cOlviyal songs have ever seer 10 any
language there ls none 80 oyeTh0wns Wlth ne SfHI
Of convvisty 90 Joyous, 80 contagious as us song
Of "r'lie brewei peck . insult WAT love-
songs are sweeter and enderer than those q Burns
Nha soTg addresses i'seI 20 mOy1gly 70 or
love OF old friends ard our pleasant recollection Of oi
days As his Aud Lang >yne,' or to the tomeslic
affections so powerfully as his John A'.cerson /!
You heard Yesterday, ny friends, AMI will near again
to-day better things sai Of the genius OF Burns than
! can say. That viii be ycur gain and mine. BlI
there s one observation winch II have not already
tined your patience too far would ask your leave -
make. Ii Burns was thus great amons poets, II was
not because he stood higher than they by any prceEi
rence OF a ere alive AMI frrte imagination. Original,
arsnF cayf q ~