Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
India.
" Right AA ' orshipful Sir and Brethren , —To say that 1 feci highly complimented by the honour you have done me personally and by the manner in which , the expression of the compan y has been so kindly given to the toast , and to the tribute offered to the exemplary conduct of the army in all respects , can but inadequately convey the extent of obligation , under which you have placed me . I have but one voice in proclaiming the praise due to the troops , but it is most gratifying to me to know , that government entertains the most favourable opinion of them ; ancl this can be supported by a distinguished member of it , who is present , and who I am proud to say always with his colleagues , exults in the fame of the army .
i mean liro . Held . 1 here are many other gentlemen ot the civil service here to-night , ancl in other civil occupations , who have cordially joined in the acclamation , and in whose friendship , hospitality ancl kindness , my brother officers and myself have largely participated . 1 arrived here six years ago , known to my own cloth , but an entire stranger to the gentlemen composing the civil service ; since then I have frequently been their guest , ancl I have occasionally been their host . I can therefore speak from experience and say , that in all the relations of life ,
public and private , I think it impossible to find any class of men surpassing them , in zeal ancl efficiency on points of duty , or possessing a higher sense of honour and integrity . After the eloquent , and I may add brilliant , addresses from the two speakers who have preceded me , I cannot think of prolonging your attention to myself another moment ; as I freely confess that I do not possess the power or ability to give utterance to half what I feel . " pThe cheering stopped the gallant General for some time ; after which he continued in the following words . ]
" Right AA'orshipful Sir , —I have the greatest satisfaction in proposing the health of 'Mrs . Grant , Masons' Wives and Children , ' and I claim for myself the best right of any man in this room to that privilege ,, for I have known antl esteemed this lady from her earliest days , and I had the honour of being present at her wedding , which took place at Calcutta , where her great amiability of disposition , kind manners , and charms of temper , secured for her in the extensive circle of the best
society in which she moved , the regard of all who knew her . I beg leave to propose that this toast should be a flowing bumper . " ( Immense applause . ) The PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER OF BENGAL then replied : — " I thank your Excellency most sincerel y for the honour you have done to one so inexpressibly clear to me , ancl your kindly allusion to the happiest day cf my life . That honourto say nothing of the quarter
, from which it emanates , is enhanced by her name being associated with Masons' wives and children . I will venture to say that there is not a Mason present , whose heart was not as full as the bumper-. toast in his hand , when his Excellency proposed that toast . But with what a remorseful feeling must our bachelor Brothers have listened to it ! Let
me entreat ot them to hasten and rid themselves of what that revered and illustrious nobleman , to whom our R . AV . Brother has so beautifully alluded , happily called—their 'lamentable distinction . ' Let them lose no further time : but contract that golden link which gives man his true dignity in the social scale and sweetens all his cares . " Conceiving Masonry , under proper regulation , to be eminently calculated to benefit the natives of this country , I need not say how rejoiced I am to hail the presence here to-night of several native Brethren . I hope , in process of time , to see the number greatly
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
India.
" Right AA ' orshipful Sir and Brethren , —To say that 1 feci highly complimented by the honour you have done me personally and by the manner in which , the expression of the compan y has been so kindly given to the toast , and to the tribute offered to the exemplary conduct of the army in all respects , can but inadequately convey the extent of obligation , under which you have placed me . I have but one voice in proclaiming the praise due to the troops , but it is most gratifying to me to know , that government entertains the most favourable opinion of them ; ancl this can be supported by a distinguished member of it , who is present , and who I am proud to say always with his colleagues , exults in the fame of the army .
i mean liro . Held . 1 here are many other gentlemen ot the civil service here to-night , ancl in other civil occupations , who have cordially joined in the acclamation , and in whose friendship , hospitality ancl kindness , my brother officers and myself have largely participated . 1 arrived here six years ago , known to my own cloth , but an entire stranger to the gentlemen composing the civil service ; since then I have frequently been their guest , ancl I have occasionally been their host . I can therefore speak from experience and say , that in all the relations of life ,
public and private , I think it impossible to find any class of men surpassing them , in zeal ancl efficiency on points of duty , or possessing a higher sense of honour and integrity . After the eloquent , and I may add brilliant , addresses from the two speakers who have preceded me , I cannot think of prolonging your attention to myself another moment ; as I freely confess that I do not possess the power or ability to give utterance to half what I feel . " pThe cheering stopped the gallant General for some time ; after which he continued in the following words . ]
" Right AA'orshipful Sir , —I have the greatest satisfaction in proposing the health of 'Mrs . Grant , Masons' Wives and Children , ' and I claim for myself the best right of any man in this room to that privilege ,, for I have known antl esteemed this lady from her earliest days , and I had the honour of being present at her wedding , which took place at Calcutta , where her great amiability of disposition , kind manners , and charms of temper , secured for her in the extensive circle of the best
society in which she moved , the regard of all who knew her . I beg leave to propose that this toast should be a flowing bumper . " ( Immense applause . ) The PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER OF BENGAL then replied : — " I thank your Excellency most sincerel y for the honour you have done to one so inexpressibly clear to me , ancl your kindly allusion to the happiest day cf my life . That honourto say nothing of the quarter
, from which it emanates , is enhanced by her name being associated with Masons' wives and children . I will venture to say that there is not a Mason present , whose heart was not as full as the bumper-. toast in his hand , when his Excellency proposed that toast . But with what a remorseful feeling must our bachelor Brothers have listened to it ! Let
me entreat ot them to hasten and rid themselves of what that revered and illustrious nobleman , to whom our R . AV . Brother has so beautifully alluded , happily called—their 'lamentable distinction . ' Let them lose no further time : but contract that golden link which gives man his true dignity in the social scale and sweetens all his cares . " Conceiving Masonry , under proper regulation , to be eminently calculated to benefit the natives of this country , I need not say how rejoiced I am to hail the presence here to-night of several native Brethren . I hope , in process of time , to see the number greatly