additional and most appropriate member of the special Order of the National Chivalry; and I ask you all to drink "Length of health, honour, and happiness to Lord Viscount Gough. PRESENTATION OF COLOURS TO THE SECOND BATTALION OF THE EIGHTEENTH ROYAL IRISH, PHOENIX PARK. [AUGUST 24TH, 1859.] COLONEL CAMPBELL, OFFICERS, NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS, AND PRIVATES OF THE SECOND BATTALION OF THE ROYAL IRISH IAM, in good truth, glad to meet you here to-day. I am proud you should take from my hands the colours I have placed in yours. I feel this from more than one cause. In the first place, three short years back, on the self-same day, it was my high honour, not on the same spot, but still on the green Irish sod, to present the colours of the other and older Battalion of the same Royal Irish Regiment, acting in behalf of that much beloved Queen whom I still here represent; next, because the flag that I then gave to their charge has been held by no unworthy hands, but has been borne on to noble fortunes. It was my part to tell them there how the brave band over which it waved had fought all the fights of the great Duke of Marlborough, how it shared in the great wars of Egypt and China, under our own veteran hero, Lord Gough, and how, in the days that seem scarce yet passed, it had been what I took on me to call "housed in Sebastopol." These brave fellows did not go to sleep on their laurels, but have since the time they last left this shore been doing the tough bloody work of their Queen and country on the hot plains and midst the fierce mutinies of India, more to be feared and deplored than the most destructive efforts of the foreign and open foe. Thus far I have spoken mainly of your associates in the other Battalion; but as you will bear the same name as you will march under a like flag-as you spring for the most part from the same race-I have no fear that you will in any way fall short of what they are and what they have done, and that the only doubt will be of which of the two Battalions of the Royal Irish, the service and the Queen and your own old Ireland will have most reason to be proud. I am pleased to hear that since the orders came out for the formation of the second battalions the ranks of no regiment could have been more promptly and closely filled than your own; still more pleased, too, am I to learn that since the time of its being assembled here the Regiment not only presents the fine appearance which all around can judge, but by its good conduct and discipline has earned the approval of the commanding officer, and of the distinguished general, that excellent soldier and excellent man, who has the chief military command in this country-Lord Seaton. Little now remains but that I should give these, your new colours, to your own good keeping. It is not given to me, or to any man, to foresee under what circumstances you may have to use them, or whither they may be privileged to lead you. You receive them under what, as a not fighting man, I may allow myself to call happy conditions-here, under the eye of brave comrades, of approved commander, of sympathizing beauty, upon the noblest of Irish swards, beneath skies of more than accustomed lustre, at a time when a generous God has permitted our homes to repose and our harvest to be gathered in peace-has quelled the frenzies of rebellion-has saved us from the shock of contending nations. The soldier can never tell how soon these fair conditions may be reversed-how soon he may be exposed to unhealthy climates, to severe privations, to all the risks of battle, to the deathbed of fame. I am sure I am not wrong in thinking that I see men before me prepared for all fortunes. Take, then, these honoured colours-may the Almighty bless them to you in peace and in war, in sunshine and in storm. Hold fast to them and to all the high efforts of which they are the signs and symbols, even as you hold fast to the ways of honour and the hopes of heaven. THE DEJEUNER. Lieutenant-Colonel CAMPBELL having proposed "The Health of the Earl of Carlisle," His Lordship said : LIEUTENANT-COLONEL CAMPBELL, AND GENTLEMEN, I need not tell you that I feel very sincerely your having just done me the honour of drinking my health. I feel that I have lost my voice in the service of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish; but when I know many I see now before me are prepared not only to risk their voices but their lives for the credit of that gallant Regiment, I do not think I can make much of my own privations. I had an opportunity of saying nearly all that occurred to me on behalf of your noble Regiment. I hope you will make yourselves the equals of the first Battalion-you cannot do more, nor will Colonel Campbell or yourselves be satisfied with your being or doing less. I have nothing more to do except to say that to all the other merits of the Regiment they add that of a most liberal and gracious hospitality; and, therefore, Ladies and Gentlemen, who are now their guests, we feel ourselves sufficiently primed to drink, with right good will and sounder lungs than I can at this moment command, to the honour and prosperity of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish. Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I propose-"Colonel Campbell and the Royal Irish Regiment!" I consider it a high and fortunate privilege for myself, that by virtue of the position which I fill in this country, and specially in this Society, I am charged with the duty of placing the very interesting and appropriate Address to which we have just listened, in your own brave and honest hands. The document itself amply and sufficiently sets forth the exact grounds upon which this recognition and distinction have been awarded to you by the eminent body which is now gathered around you. It is not the first body from which such tokens have proceeded--it will not be the last. We are echoing here to-day the expressions of welcome and approval which have already found utterance from the Corporations of Dublin and London-from the Parliament of the united realm-from the Royal lips which have supplied the new title by which I have addressed you. The qualities of disinterested and chivalrous enterprise, of manly hardihood, of self-collected calmness in perplexity and danger, are obvious to all who have followed your eventful story. The contributions you have made to geography, to natural history, and to science generally, can be best appreciated by this and other kindred learned bodies. But if I may speak for myself-and I may say, in passing, that if it had not been for a very special interest in the proceedings of the day a recent family bereavement would have kept me in privacy-if I may assign weight to my own immediate impressions-above the mere attributes of bravery and fortitude, common, we may proudly think, to so many of your countrymen, and certainly to so many of your associates-above any additions to our geographical and scientific knowledge, however intrinsically important, I should class that genuine, thorough absence of all assumption and affectation— that pervading modesty of the manners and the heart, which is typified in your whole career, in the clear, transparent current of your narrative, most of all, perhaps, in your breathing and living presence. None, indeed, like the brave and trusty companions of your wanderings and your perils, can have felt the force and the contagion of that even spirit— that hopeful cheerfulness-that sober piety, as unostentatious, and more precious than all the rest. Yes, and they must have felt during that long unbroken night of Arctic winter, when no change of hue relieved the leaden sky-when no sound of life broke upon the icy air, that though the material sun had departed from their gaze, and ceased to mark their day from their night, there was a moral light and a moral warmth among them, which, in the darkest and the dreariest hour, kept clear for them the path of their duty and fed the beacon of their hope. Receive, then, Sir, even from these inefficient hands, the Address which the Royal Dublin Society now tender to you. Perhaps, from a man who, in his day and vocation, has done so much, it would hardly be fair to expect that any more remained to be done; but whatever may be the Divine will in this respect, I am sure that we all join in wishing that you may very long enjoy the affectionate intercourse of your friends and the admiring gratitude of your countrymen. THE DEJEUNER ON BOARD THE "ADRIATIC" GIVEN BY THE DIRECTORS of the GALWAY ROYAL MAIL STEAM- THE [JULY 30TH, 1863.] HE Chairman, J. CHAPMAN, Esq., rose, and said that one of the most gratifying duties which a person in his position had to discharge was when he had the opportunity, rarely afforded him, of proposing the health of a high and distinguished officer of the State, of one occupying the exalted position of Her Majesty's representative in Ireland. In proposing the health of His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, who had so kindly honoured them with his presence that day, he felt he was proposing the health of one who had endeared himself to the Irish people. In speaking of His Excellency he could not forget that he referred to one to whose family his (the Chairman's) family were deeply indebted in days gone by. Amongst the most delightful recollections of the sunny days of his boyhood were those on which in his grandfather's old yellow chariot he enjoyed the pleasure of being driven through the majestic glades and avenues of Castle Howard. At that period he could never have imagined that he would stand there, a white-haired man, the Chairman of the Galway Packet Company, to propose the health of the head of that distinguished family, now occupying the high position of Viceroy of Ireland. He felt, therefore, peculiar pleasure in proposing the health of His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, and prosperity to Ireland. The EARL OF CARLISLE said:- Mr. CHAIRMAN, MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I am sure you will allow one white-haired man to return thanks for the courtesy and kindness that have been bestowed on him by another white-haired man. In taking advantage of the very kind invitation of the company to inspect this noble ship and to partake of its liberal hospitality, I am most glad to express the hearty good wishes I feel for the future success and prosperity of the Royal Atlantic Mail Steam Navi |