THE LORD MAYOR'S BANQUET TO HER MAJESTY'S MINISTERS.

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 460, 11 September 1850, Page 3

THE LORD MAYOR'S BANQUET TO HER MAJESTY'S MINISTERS.

1 On Wednesday the l7thof April the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress entertained her Majeity's Ministers and their ladies, and a large party in the Egyptian Hall which wa» prepared for the occasion in a style of great magnificence. The cloth having been removed, and the " loving enp" having been passed, the Lord Mayor proposed the usual loyal toasts which were drunk with the usual honours. The next toasts were the Army and Navy, which were respectively acknowledged by Lord Howden and Sir Charles Napier— the latter gallant officer expressing his conviction that those changes in the law which unshackled the commerce of the country would nddja stimulus to the shipping interests, improve the character of our merchant ships, and benefit the merchant seamen. The Lord Mayor then gave '• The Health of Lord John Russell and her Majesty's Ministers," which was drunk with three times three cheeri. Lord John Russell, in acknowledging {the toast, said -—" My Lord Mayor, you have done us the honour of drinking our healths at the Members of a Government who are entrusted with the important task of administering the affairs of this great country. During the time we have had the honour to hold office, there have been times of difficulty, times of commercial distress, and times of famine. We have had to encounter in one part ot the empire scarcity of food, amounting to absolute famine; we have had to encounter commercial distress in this great metropolis and in the large towns of this kingdom ; we have had to contend also with attempts at rebellion, and at the seperation of her Majesty's dominion!. Far be it from me, and it would be most improper on this occasion were I to attempt to enter into [political topics, or to discuss in any way the policy which we have pursued ; but this I will ventuie to say, that we have been desponding in times of difficulty, that we have never quailed before the enemies of our Sovereign, and that in times of commercial pressure we have at least, given our best efforts and our most earnest attention to the consideration of every measure that could possibly tend to the relief of that distiess, and to the restoration of commercial prosperity. Such has been our intention— l can answer for no more than the spirit in which we have met those difficulties, I trust that spiiit was not unworthy of Englishmen, nor unworthy of that great country whose afl'airs we have had the honour to direct. (Cheers ) Accept my aisurance that we shall endeavour to conduct the affairs of this great country in the same spirit in future— that we shall consider the instilntions of this country are never so safe, are never so honoured and respected, as while we continue to receive all the amendments of which, from time to time, they are capable. I say we should never throw out any thing at strange and absurd because it is new. It is by combining a due reverence for antiquity and preserving that respect for the spirit in which our ancesson founded our institutions to the wants of the present day — as it is by this combinatiou of respect for antiquity and regard for modern acquirements and im« provements, that the freedom and happiness of the country can be best secured. It gives me much pleasure to see again beside me, at this festive board, the French Ambaisador, who, I remember, on a late occasion said that his presence here was a token of the intimate union and friendly connexion existing between the two great countries of England and France. May that intimate union and connexion long continue. (Cheers.) I believe the union and alliance of two such mighty nations — nations who have proved their prowess in arms, and which have attained so high a position in all the department! of science and civilization— cannot but tend to the peace of the world and promote the welfare of mankind." (Lond cheers.) j The Lord Mayor next proposed •' The Foreign Ministers,,' coupling with it the health of the French Amdassador. M. Drouhyn de Lhuys returned thanks. He said —- " As I begin to be somewhnt familiar with City legends, I remember having read in one of your quaint chronicles some strange accounts of the warlike duties formerly imposed on your corporation;. At one time they were required (guch are the words of the writer) to get ready good, apt and tall persons, of agility and honest behaviour, covered with corsleti, weaponed with pikes and bills, and dressed in yellow woolled cloth to fight in-Flanders. At another they were ordered to ee||forth ships to annoy the King of Spain ; and again they were lummoned to fit out pinnaces for the suppressing of Dunkirkers. When on such occasions the brave citizeni assembled at Guildhall, what bursts of patriotic wrath must have responded to the Royal commands. Could Gog and Magog re«echo the threats which were the poured out against the offending foreigners what dreadful things we should hear* Now, thank God you meet in this splendid palace not to provide tbe means to suppress or annoy your neighbours, but to greet them with a courteous hearty welcome. At the Mansion-house not a bitter drop is to be found in the loving cup, it is, therefore with the greatest pleasure and the sincerest gratitude that we acknowledge your cordial reception." The Load Mayor then proposed " The House of Lords," coupling with it " the health of Earl Grey," which having been drunk,

Earl Grey said — "This tiibute of respect paid by the City of London leads one's thoughts back over the long series of years during which the House of Lords and the City of London have held conspicious parts in the institutions of the country. Both are ancient corporations both take their origin from the earliest period of our histoiy; and while centuries have rolled by and amid the social and political changes which those centuries have produced, the House of Lords and the Cor- i poration of the City of London, have preserved nnbroken, from generation to generation, that great chain of succession which unites their past with their present existence. (Cheers.) Who are members of one or the other are like the inheritors of a proud tradition* The services which these two bodies to which we respectively belong have performed are recorded in the history of our "country. I think it is not inappropiatc, when lam called upon to respond to this toast to call attention to those historical associations which are connected with the House of Lords and with the City of London. I believe there is advanttige in permitting the mind to dwell upon those recollections of the past ; for while we are bound to acknowledge with humble and reverential gratitude that to a wise and over-ruling Providence is owing in the first place the blessings which we enjoy as a nation, I think one may recognize j among secondary causes that disposition which has ever characterized Englishmen to look back to the pait with reverence and respect. It ii this disposition which has led the people of this country — while they are ever ready to meet the wants of the advances of society by improving our laws and social institutions —still to cling to the remembrances of the past, and to amend rather than destroy institutions of which they are so justly proud. I believe it is to this disposition that we owe the stability of our Monarchy, and which lias proved so main an element of success ia working oat the happiness of this great country." The Lord Mayor had now the honour and satisfaction of proposing ■• The Members of the House of Commons," coupling with it •• the health of Lord Palmerston." The toast having been drunk, Lord Palmerston said — " It is natural that when your are assembled in this hall, and are acknowledging by your reccollections the various public bodies and great institutions of this mighty empire, that the House of Commons should not be forgotten. For between the City of London and the Commons house of Parliament there is natural link of connexion which unites the principle of commerce with civil and political liberty. For while you, great merchants of the City of London, are the worthy representatives of the commercial principle so the House of Commons are the peculiar guardians of the constitutional liberty of the country. (Hear.) Liberty and commerce go hand in hand and whichever takes the lead is sure to be followed by its companion and brother. Thus while commerce paves the way to constitutional liberty constitutional liberty gives to commerce its proper security and stability. Commerce induces the consideration of the freedom of action without which we cannot prosper and commercial freedom gives to the commercial man that liberty without which commerce cannot be fully developed. It is on that account that we have seen that wherever political and civil liberty hate existed, however confined the territory however uncongenial the climate, however unpromising the soil, that there commerce has taken its root and attained Us full growth, and that small states and individual cities have arisen to a degree of commercial wealth and political eminence which nature appears to have denied these — to much greater wealth and eminence, relatively speaking than has beeu attained by larger and more powerful empires. (Cheers) But commerce has higher aims and higher functions than the mere accumulation of wealth. Commerce contributes to the happiness of all mankind by connecting the different nations of the earth together and by enabling them to contribute to each other's wants and enjoyments ; tends to efface those prejudices which constitute the only foundation of the unreasonable animosities which as yet exist among different portions of mankind ; commerce by ■bowing men that they are dependent on each other and making them acquainted with each other tends more than any thing else to secure the peace of the world. (Hear.) And I can venture, without exaggeration to say that those commercial links of amity be they of gold, be they of silver or of the more fragile element of cotton, are far more powerful as bonds to unite mankind together in the peaceful relations of friendship than the strongest obligations of treaties, (Cheers.) And I may say that the citizens of this great metropolis of the commercial woild by pursuing their own moro humble avocation, in amassing wealth for themselves and their country, at the same time perform those higher functions to which I have just averted and therefore deserve to be ranked amongst the greatest benefactors to mankind. (Hear.) After soina other toasts, the Company separated.