Page images
PDF
EPUB

amples, let me only say, besides, take care of our healths as well as of our morals, and, in addition to dry cups at Donnybrook, give us dry footing in Dublin. If we extend our glance from the city to the country at large, though there are strips of its territory in which sad warning has not been wanting of the necessity of continued vigilance and even of stern repression, yet upon the whole broad surface of its territory we may acknowledge with thankfulness a wonderful absence of disorder, turbulence, and crime; and though the last lesson which such blessed intervals ought to teach us is wantonly to presume upon their continuance, still I cannot but indulge the hope that in the improved condition and habits of the bulk of the people, in the interest which is felt in many quarters in the promotion of their education, and, perhaps the most remarkable of all, in their increased spirit of industry, enterprise, and self-reliance, fair promise is given of a long Irish summertide of peace and plenteousness. But when an occasion like this, which assembles so many distinguished men from all quarters of the country and of the empire, and especially on the very first day of the reassembling of the Imperial Parliament, we cannot wholly restrict our sympathies to our streets, or even to our own shores. I cannot, of course, make any such authentic announcement as was made by the Sovereign whom it is my high office to represent in this country to her assembled Houses of Parliament on this very afternoon, still, thanks to the marvels of modern discovery, we are enabled to form a tolerably precise notion of the contents of what was then delivered; and we know that from her gracious lips has fallen to-day perhaps the most gracious word that can be vouchsafed to human utterance, and that word is Peace. Let me not be here mistaken. I feel confident that from neither the Sovereign, nor the Government, nor the Parliament, nor the people of this country, can a consent be extorted to any peace which shall not substantially satisfy the grounds upon which recourse was had to the dreadful extremity of war, and which would not be consonant with the fair claims of national good faith, justice, and honour. With respect to my own feelings, I certainly cannot charge myself with any indifference either to the endurance or to the renown of our brave countrymen in arms; and proudly indeed may Ireland count up the services and the triumphs of her sons on many a corpse-strewn field and many a blood-stained rampart. Even in this peaceful and festal assembly I am not a little pleased to come amongst you attended by several gallant youths, who have

borne their full brunt of toil and peril in the bivouac, in the trench, and in the battle, and you may see honourable marks about them,—and who do honour even to the exalted position which it is my fate to fill, by spending with me the brief period of inaction which recent wounds, or shattered health, or the compulsory regulations of the Service necessarily impose upon them; and who, I know with most certain knowledge, are panting for the time of resuming active service at the first summons of their Sovereign and the earliest call of honour. They might not, then, perhaps feel full sympathy with me; but I know I might appeal for full sympathy, had not circumstances unfortunately prevented his being present on this occasion, to that distinguished and gallant veteran, the Commander of the Forces in this country, who has in many portions of the globe served the public with such fulness of credit and honour. I know he would feel full sympathy with me when I proceed to state that, assuming as I know we may assume that all claims of national faith and honour will be completely secured by whatever conditions of peace shall be adopted, I shall hail with unmeasured joy and thankfulness the advent of peace itself. To pretend, after all that our military forces have done, and dared, and suffered, and with the knowledge which we have of the bristling state of equipment, efficiency, and vigour with which they are now braced up for any number of campaigns that may follow-to pretend that, with such a past and with such a present, the military renown of this empire has suffered any tarnish, seems to me to be only more absurd than it is calumnious. From one thing, indeed, I should think that the fair fame of England would suffer tarnish, if for the sake of effect-for the sake of a more imposing attitude at the dropping of the curtain-if for the sake of an additional gloss upon her well-won laurels she were to consent to one hour of unnecessary war. But these are matters which I will not anticipate. I shall rather express my fervent hope and prayer that you, my Lord Mayor, and the long series of your successors, may exercise your high functions through an unbroken period of restored peace, of reviving industry, and of confirmed national prosperity.

MANSION HOUSE-MUNICIPAL BANQUET.

THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD ATKINSON, LORD MAYOR Of dublin.

[FEBRUARY 19TH, 1857.]

HE LORD MAYOR said :-
:-

THE

MY LORDS AND Gentlemen,

I have now the honour to propose a toast which, I am sure, will be received with that respect and enthusiasm which it so highly merits; it is the health of a distinguished nobleman, who has for many years evinced an untiring solicitude to promote the best interests of Ireland— whose sound, statesmanlike views, great talents, and discrimination, have been devoted for many years to serve our common country. I therefore give you, with much pleasure, the health of His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant. Any panegyric from me would be unbecoming and uncalled-for, and in the presence of our illustrious guest would be painful to his feelings. I shall therefore merely give you— "His Excellency the Earl of Carlisle, and Prosperity to Ireland."

The EARL OF CARLISLE said :—

MY LORD MAYOR, MY LORDS, AND GENTLEMEN,

I rise to return my thanks for the honour you have just been good enough to pay me. I feel that my increasing familiarity with the festivals held within these walls only inspires me with fresh motives to derive satisfaction and pleasure from their recurrence. Among the most prominent of those motives, on this occasion, is the circumstance of my having just had the honour to have my health proposed to you by a Chief Magistrate who, a very short time ago, made such a speech as that uttered by you, my Lord, on the occasion of your inauguration to your present high office; for I may truly say that, to my mind, that speech contained a retrospect, and described a career, and imparted advice which made it one of the most well-timed and impressive addresses that could

be delivered. It placed before us a spectacle than which some may be more exciting or dazzling, but none, I am clear, can be more really honourable or more conformable to the best spirit of our institutions--the spectacle of a life spent in the pursuits of honest industry and sober enterprise mellowing into an age of comprehensive charity, and now drawing its crowning reward and honour from those among whose ranks his day of labour and burden was spent, the body of his fellow-citizens. I have the further pleasure of seeing at your Lordship's side your respected predecessor in the office; and I am sure I only add to the echo of the general tribute to the friendly and honourable mode in which he fulfilled the duties of his honourable post. And, perhaps from a most pleasing reminiscence, I am especially led to remark on the great zeal, tact, and successful effort which he brought to bear upon a most memorable occasion, the Crimean Banquet of Dublin, when the inhabitants of this city, or perhaps I may say with more truth of this island at large, eclipsed, unquestionably, all other portions of this empire, in the splendour and heartiness with which they celebrated that feast of heroes. There is one other motive, slightly more personal to myself, which causes me more eagerly to appreciate the kindness with which you have received me this evening; for I perceive that there are quarters from which I-in common, indeed, with all the future Lord Lieutenants of Ireland-have been threatened with a deposition from my present viceregal state. I certainly have received no official intimation on the subject. Our most gracious Sovereign has not made me believe that there is any intention of depriving me of that delegated authority which I so unworthily wield in her name. And I cannot pretend to say that I have received my doom in the countenances or demeanour of the Irish people, or even of this brilliant assembly. I therefore will only conclude that that question, in Parliamentary parlance, has been indefinitely adjourned. But, being now in my place, I should find it impossible, and I should think it unjust and ungenerous if it were possible, to refrain from congratulating the inhabitants of this city, and of the country at large, upon the general symptoms of prosperity and progress which are now in active and healthy operation around us. It would, indeed, be little suitable to an occasion of relaxation and festivity like this, if I were to assail such a company as the present with an array of statistics. They are the proper food and material for council chambers and deputations, and do not properly enter within such a

G

charmed circle as this. Now here in Dublin, notwithstanding the sincere respect which we all feel for the present Commissioners of the Dublin Police, yet sometimes an opinion will ooze out that they form rather an expensive bulwark for our properties and persons. But just to show you that there is value received, as well as value paid, I would ask you to compare, for instance, the year 1838, which was the first year of the introduction of the present police in this metropolis, and the year 1855, the last year for which the full returns have been made out. In the first year of my comparison (1838), I myself spent a considerable portion of the year in the neighbourhood of Dublin, and certainly, notwithstanding some faction fights, and funeral fights, and combinations, and strikes of workmen, and "slating" obnoxious individuals-the feuds of bludgeons and Billy-welters-I found it by no means an intolerable place of residence; but, looking to the authentic contrast, I find that in that first year, 1838, the persons arrested in the Dublin police district for manslaughter and assaults with intent to murder, amounted to eighty-six; in the year 1855 they amounted not to eighty-six, but to one. The total number of offences, including all offences, both against the person and against property, in the first of these years, was 30,000 and odd; and it is now, notwithstanding a much more efficient system of detection and repression, fallen down to 18,000 and odd. With respect to the Poor Law there is less plain sailing, because, as many of you must be aware, it operates more severely on the districts of Dublin than on any other portion of the country, from causes on which I need not now enlarge; but still I hope that even in this respect the corner has at length been turned. In January, 1856, in the North Dublin Union there were 2,871 inmates, who have fallen in 1857 to 2,500. In the South Dublin Workhouse there were 3,417; the number has fallen now to 3100. And the decrease of the rates is still more favourable; for in 1856 the rate in the North Union was struck at 28. 11d., it has now been struck at 18. 6d.; in the South Union, at 28. 3d., and now at 18. 4d. But if we compare the state of Ireland generally, in respect of crime, even with England herself, though, from time to time, there are still occurring events here which must disturb undue complaisance, and stimulate increased vigilance and caution, yet still the whole results must be regarded as most favourable. If we can credit all we read, the English mind of late seems almost disturbed from its accustomed propriety about tickets-of-leave; and there would appear

« PreviousContinue »