The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1854-03-28 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

DINNER AND PRESENTATION.—Last night, Mr. Alex. Speirs, manager of the Vauxhall Foundry, wasentertained to dinner in Feeny's New Merchants' Dining Rooms,when he was presented with a handsome service of 'fiver plate, consisting of a massive silver teapot, a coffee-pot, a sugarbasin, and a cream ewer, in testimony of the estimation in which he is held as manager of the above-named foundry. Upwards of 150 of the various employe& in that establishment, and a few of their friends, assembled on the occasion. The chair was occupied by Mr. George Somers, foreman of the fitters and turners, who was supported on the right by Mr. Speirs, the guest of the evening, on the left by Mr. Duncan, of the Corporation Waterworks. The grace was sung by Messrs. Lawrence, Graham, G. Wheeler, and W. Lloyd ; and, on the cloth being removed, the same gentlemen sung " Non nobis domini." The chairman then gave in succession, as toasts, " The Queen," drunk with all the honours, after which, the National Anthtm was sung. " Prince Albert and the rest of the Royal Family,' was drunk with much applause; "The Emperor of the French;" Glee—" The Bright Sword of Liberty." The next toast was " Success to the Naval and Military Forces of England and France." The Chairman then, in a neat address, in which he alluded to the good feeling which had always subsisted between the workmen of the Vauxhall Foundry and their late manager, with which that gentleman had been connected for the last 26 years, presented him with the very handsome testimonial of esteem which they wished his acceptance of. The salver bore the following inscription : " Presented by the workmen of Messrs. George Forrester and Co., Vauxhall Foundry, Liverpool, to Alexander Sp Ars, Esquire, Mai aver, as a testimonial of respect on his leaving the above place, March, 1854." In acknowledging the compliment Mr. Speirs alluded to the reminiscences which crowd upon the mind of one who had been so long connected with so important an establishment as that he was quitting. The duty and the responsibility of a foreman, he remarked, caused his position to be one of great delicacy and difficulty, as he was open, on the one hand, to suspicion of overleniency to the men, and, on the other, of too rigid an exaction of duty from them to the employer. He had endeavoured to steer his way as evenly between these difficulties as he could, and the reception he had met with that night showed he had not been altogether mistaken in his efforts. The anxiety he had experienced for the last few years was very great indeed ; and he was glad to think that the new appointment he was about to enter on would not be so environed by difficulties. The evening was spent with a great flow of genial good humour and much social harmony, which was enhanced by the singing of numerous glees, duets, and solos, by the musical gentlemen already named. The viands, wines, and liquors were supplied by Mr. Feeney, in his usual style of tasteful abundance. The plate, which was above £6O in value, was manufactured by our townsman, Mr. Joseph Mayer, and was characterised by the good taste for which his establishment is proverbial.  WILLIAM THOMPSON, aged twenty-one, has been condemned to death at the Norfolk Assizes by the Chief Baron, for the murder of Lorenz Beha, on the 18th of November, atTittleshall.  The LORD MAYOR gave a grand banquet on Saturday to her Majesty's ministers, the Foreign ministers, and a distinguished party. Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston, and Sir James Graham were not present, the former on account of illness, and the latter two from fear of it.