The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-06-27
The Dickens Banquet.

NEW YORK, April 19.-Last night the proposed
banquet to Charles Dickens, given by the repre-
sentatiyes of the press. took place at Delmonieo s
and about two hundred gentlemen connected with
the press sat down II the festive board Mr.
Dickens was suffering from temporary indsposi-
ton. but Appeared in the parlors about q O'Clock
and was cordially welcomed. About nine O'Clock,
the more substantial and material portion of the
entertainment having been disposed OF. Horace
Greeley, who presided, rose and welcomed the
guest of the evening in a brief but appropriate
address, i'm which he alluded to the fact that
thirtv-four wears ago. in the first paper which he
published, and edited, he printed from an old
London monthly a story published by an unknown
author under the pseudonymn OF " boz; ana
also TO the fact that he was one OF not more than
twenty who welcomed Mr.. Dickens on n similar
occasion twenty wears ago. lie concluded with a
request that the company would join him in this
sentiment: Health and happiness, honor and
a generous, because just. recompensc 10 our friend
and guest, Charles Dickens" lGreat applause
and three cheers for Dickens.
Mr.. Dickens, in rising to respond, was received
with such loud and long continued cheering that
he mad to stand for some time awaiting an oppor-
tunity to speak. When the enthusiasm had
somewha subsidized, he spoke as follows =
Genitznen Il cannot do better than take my
cue from your distinguished President and refer,
in my first remarks, to bis remarks in connection
with old natural associations between you and
DlG. w = Il u vi " q lhAN0 NS
association of working members of the press of
New York to dine with them to-day, | accepted the
compliment in grateful remembrance of Il calling
that was once my own, and in loyal sympathy to-
ward a brotherhood which in spirit | have never
quilted. IGood, good.l To the wholesome train
ing of severe newspaper work when | was a very
young man. | constantly refer my first successes,
and my SONS will hereafter testify of their father,
that he was always steady proud of that ladder
by which he rose. [Great chcering.] II it were
otherwise l should have a very poor opinion of
their father, which. perhaps, upon the whole /
have not. Laughter and cheers. Hence, gen.
tlemen, under any circumstances, this company
would have been exceptionally interesting and
gratifying to me. But whereas L supposed that,
like the fairies pavilion in the Arabian Nights,
it would be but a mere handful, and | find it
turns out like the same elastic pavilion, CT pable
of comprehending a multitude, SO much the more
proud am | of the honor of being your guest for
you will readily believe, that the more widely
representative of the American press my enter
tanners are, the more l must feel for the good will
and kindly sentiments towards me of that vast
Institution. [Applause.J
Gentlemen, SO much of my voice has lately been
heard in the land, and L have for upwards of four
hard winter months contended against what /
have been assured was "a true American catarrh''
Ilaughter1, n possession which / have throughout
highly appreciated though L might have prefer
red TO be naturalized by any other outward and
visible means renewed laughter]F say, gentle
men, so much of my voice has lately been heard
that | might have been contented with troubling
you no further, from my present standing point,
were il not n duty with which | henceforth charge
myself, not only here, but on every suitable occa-
sion whatsoever and wheresoever, to express my
high and grateful sense of my second reception in
America, and to bear my honest testimony to the
national generosity and magnaDimity. [Grcat
Also to declare how astounded l have
been by the amazing changes that / have seen
nrOuul me IN every Alle-clanOe. moral changes
IN the amount of land subducd and cultivated
changes IN the rise of vast new cities changes in
the growth of older cities, almost out of recogni-
tion changes in the growth of the graccs and
gaietics of life changes i'm the press. without
whose management nO advancement can take place
anywhere. Applause.
Nor am |, believe me, SO arrogant as to sup
pose that in five and twenty years there have
been no changes in me, and that 1 had nothing To
learn, no extreme impressions TO correct, when |
here first. Applause. And, gentlemen,
this brings me to n point ON which i have, ever
since | landed here last November, observed IA
strict silence, however tempted sometimes tn
break it, but on which | will, with your good
leave, take you into my confidence now Go on;
on. Even the press, being human, may he
sometimes mistaken or misinioTmed, and | rather
that | have in one or two rare instances
known lis information to lie not perfectly accurate
reference to myself. Laughter and APP
plause. Indeed, | have now and again been
more surprised by printed news that l have read
of myself, than by any other printed news that I
have ever read in my present state of existence.
Laughter. Thus the vigor and perseverance
which l have, for some months past, been
materials for, and hammering away mt
n new book ON America, has much astonished me.
renewed laughter, seeing that all that time it
has been perfectly well known to my publishers,
ON both sides OF the Atlantic, that 1 positively
that no consideration on earth should
induce me to write one. Laughter. Bat what
| have intendcd-what | have resolved upon.-
and this is the confidence | seek to place In YOU,
is, on my return to England, in my own Eng
Journal, mantully, promptly, and plainly in
nv own person to bear for the behoofo of nv coun-
such testimony to the gigantic changes
in this country as L have limited at tonight.
Applause. Also to record that wherever | have
been, in the smallest places equally with the
largest, | have been received with indispensable
politcness, delicacy, sweet temper, hospitality,
and consideration and with indispensable respect
for the privacy daily enforced upon he by the ma
ture of my avocation and the state of my health.
Applause. This testimony, so long as | live
ana as long as nv descendants have any legal
right in my books, | snail cause to be republished
as an appendix To every copy of those two books
of mine in which i have referred to America ftu-
applause], and this i will do and cause
to be done. not in mere love and thankfulneSs,
but because | regard it az an act of justice and
honor. Bravo, and cheers.
Gentlemen, the transition from my own feelings
towards and interest in America to those of the
mass of my cOuntrymen seems to be n natural
one, but whether or no | make it with an express
object. 1 was asked in this very city, about last
Christmas time, whether an American was not at
disadvantage in Engladd, being a foreigner.
The notion of an American being regarded in
England as a foreigner at all, of his ever being
thought of or spoken of in that character, was so
uncommonly incongruous and absurd to me that
NV gravity for the moment was quite oyeruOw-
cred. As soon as il was restored. i said that for
years and years past hoped | had had as many
American friends and had received as many Amer
lean visitors as almost any Englishman living,
and that my unvarying experience, fortified by
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