Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
India.
Byng , Aide-de-Camp , presided respectively at the other tables . On the right of the chairman sat his Excellency Sir C . Napier , G . C . B ., and on his left his Honour the Lieutenant-Governor ; while near him , on either side , were seated Colonel Mountain , C . B ., Adjutant-General of her Majesty ' s Forces ; Colonel Stuart , C . B ., Secretary to the Government ; Colonel Grant , C . B ., Adjutant-General of the Army ; Colonel BirchJudge-Advocate-General ; Mr . CourtenayPrivate Secretary & c .
, , , The band played at intervals during dinner : and , on the dessert being laid , the Chairman proposed the usual masonic toast of " The Queen and the Craft , " which was followed by the band playing " God Save the Queen . " The Hon . J . C . Erskine next proposed " The Earl of Zetland , Grand Master of the Masonic Order in Great Britain . " Tune , " Freemasons ' March . "
" The health of the Most Noble the Marquis of Dalhousie , Grand Patron of the Masonic Order in India , " whose absence from the party was occasioned by indisposition , and much regretted by the Craft and company , was proposed by Bridgeman Wigstrom , Esq ., who observed that , the noble Marquis being member of a Scotch lodge , could not be elected Grand Master of India ; but , notwithstanding the toils and cares inseparable from his exalted position , he had gracefully accepted the office of Grand Patron of the Order . Air" God Save the Queen . "
, The CHAIRMAN then addressed the company , introducing the toast of the evening— " Gentlemen , I have been honoured by a request to propose to you a toast which requires no preface to insure its cordial reception . The name and career of our gallant guest , Sir Charles Napier , are too well and too widely known to permit of my presuming to comment on them . His services and successes have been stamped by the approbation of the first soldier of the age . ( Cheers . ) Tried in
many high posts , and tested by conjunctures as dangerous as difficult , ever true to the ancestral motto of his ancient race , ' Ready , aye ready , ' he has been found equal to every emergency that has marked his long and illustrious career . The masonic fraternity may well feel proud to see the gallant General ranging himself under the banners of their timehonoured Order , and appearing among them this evening as a brother . I shall no longer trespass on your time , gentlemen , but at once call on you to drink the health of Sir Charles Napier in a bumper , with three times three . "
The cheers which followed the chairman ' s toast , abundantly testified the enthusiasm with which it was received . The band struck up " The British Grenadiers , " and almost immediately after the air ceased , SIR CHARLES NAPIER rose and said— " AVorshipful Master and Gentlemen , —I return my cordial thanks for the honour you have done me . I should not myself have been inclined to admit that I merit the compliments paid me , but introduced as they have been by Colonel
Curtis , and acknowledged in the manner you have been pleased to receive them , I suppose I must believe I am , in some measure , deserving of them . Few Masons can say that they owe so much to Masonry as I do . I am an old and , I fear , a good-for-nothing Mason . I have been forty years a Royal Arch Mason , and yet I fear I could not work myself into a chapter of that hi gh degree ; but , with the aid of my friend , Colonel Curtis , I hope to rub off the rust , and be able to do so ; for , as I said before , probably no man present can say that he is under the same obligations to Masonry that I am ; and I am always glad of an
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
India.
Byng , Aide-de-Camp , presided respectively at the other tables . On the right of the chairman sat his Excellency Sir C . Napier , G . C . B ., and on his left his Honour the Lieutenant-Governor ; while near him , on either side , were seated Colonel Mountain , C . B ., Adjutant-General of her Majesty ' s Forces ; Colonel Stuart , C . B ., Secretary to the Government ; Colonel Grant , C . B ., Adjutant-General of the Army ; Colonel BirchJudge-Advocate-General ; Mr . CourtenayPrivate Secretary & c .
, , , The band played at intervals during dinner : and , on the dessert being laid , the Chairman proposed the usual masonic toast of " The Queen and the Craft , " which was followed by the band playing " God Save the Queen . " The Hon . J . C . Erskine next proposed " The Earl of Zetland , Grand Master of the Masonic Order in Great Britain . " Tune , " Freemasons ' March . "
" The health of the Most Noble the Marquis of Dalhousie , Grand Patron of the Masonic Order in India , " whose absence from the party was occasioned by indisposition , and much regretted by the Craft and company , was proposed by Bridgeman Wigstrom , Esq ., who observed that , the noble Marquis being member of a Scotch lodge , could not be elected Grand Master of India ; but , notwithstanding the toils and cares inseparable from his exalted position , he had gracefully accepted the office of Grand Patron of the Order . Air" God Save the Queen . "
, The CHAIRMAN then addressed the company , introducing the toast of the evening— " Gentlemen , I have been honoured by a request to propose to you a toast which requires no preface to insure its cordial reception . The name and career of our gallant guest , Sir Charles Napier , are too well and too widely known to permit of my presuming to comment on them . His services and successes have been stamped by the approbation of the first soldier of the age . ( Cheers . ) Tried in
many high posts , and tested by conjunctures as dangerous as difficult , ever true to the ancestral motto of his ancient race , ' Ready , aye ready , ' he has been found equal to every emergency that has marked his long and illustrious career . The masonic fraternity may well feel proud to see the gallant General ranging himself under the banners of their timehonoured Order , and appearing among them this evening as a brother . I shall no longer trespass on your time , gentlemen , but at once call on you to drink the health of Sir Charles Napier in a bumper , with three times three . "
The cheers which followed the chairman ' s toast , abundantly testified the enthusiasm with which it was received . The band struck up " The British Grenadiers , " and almost immediately after the air ceased , SIR CHARLES NAPIER rose and said— " AVorshipful Master and Gentlemen , —I return my cordial thanks for the honour you have done me . I should not myself have been inclined to admit that I merit the compliments paid me , but introduced as they have been by Colonel
Curtis , and acknowledged in the manner you have been pleased to receive them , I suppose I must believe I am , in some measure , deserving of them . Few Masons can say that they owe so much to Masonry as I do . I am an old and , I fear , a good-for-nothing Mason . I have been forty years a Royal Arch Mason , and yet I fear I could not work myself into a chapter of that hi gh degree ; but , with the aid of my friend , Colonel Curtis , I hope to rub off the rust , and be able to do so ; for , as I said before , probably no man present can say that he is under the same obligations to Masonry that I am ; and I am always glad of an