The grand City banquet to the Prime Minister and Foreign
Secretary came off on Saturday at Guildhall. The City authori- ties had, with great discrimination, decorated the site of Temple Bar with two silvered griffins rampant, on pedestals supported by side arches, Lord Beaconsfield's words," Peace, with honour," being inscribed on the band which connected the rampant griffins,—a very fitting symbol of Lord Beaconsfield's policy. The crowd cheered chiefly for Cyprus, for Lord Beaconsfield, and Lord Salisbury, and occasionally gave groans for Russia. The City Chamberlain, before presenting the freedom of the City to Lord Beaconsfield, gave him a short history of himself ; reminded him that his grand- father was a merchant trading successfully in the City, and suggested, with some humour, that had Lord Beaconsfield remained among the citizens, instead of seeking fame and for- tune elsewhere—" he might have been,—who knows?—even Lord Mayor of London." Lord Salisbury, too, said the City Cham- berlain, claimed descent from no less than three City aldermen, the last of whom—Sir Crisp Gascoyne—was in 1752 the first occu- pant of the present Mansion House. In accepting the freedom of the City, Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury made common- place speeches of the usual high-flown gratitude, destitute of any shimmer of the City Chamberlain's humour.
