The Lord Mayor presided yesterday over a meeting in the
Mansion- house, which he had convened for the purpose of expressing sympathy with the French people suffering from the late inundations. He had pre- viously communicated this intention to Baron Hausman, Prefect of the Seine ; and that functionary replied-
" If I may judge by my own impressions, this circumstance cannot fail to produce a lively feeling in France, and to contribute to draw more closely together the links of the cordial alliance now cemented between the two na- tions ; and certainly it will be a just cause of pride, and a cause of very deep satisfaction to the city of Paris, to see the administrators of the honourable Corporation of London mingling their names with ours, and claiming the right of citizenship on the subscription-list of the Hfitel de Ville."
The meeting, although convened at short notice, was well attended, especially by the City notables. The principal speakers were the Lord Mayor, Mr. Weguelin Governor of the Bank of England, Mr. Thomas Baring, Baron Lionel de Rothschild, Mr. Evelyn Denison' Mr. B. Heath, Mr. Dillon, Mr. Raikes Currie, Mr. G. Prescott, Lord Ravensworth, and Sir Moses Montefiore. These speakers entirely concurred in stating the motives from which they acted.
They had met to show" That commerce forms one of those links which com- bines the whole world in one common brotherhood. In the commercial city of London they felt good-will to all men. France would not for a moment imagine that they were met together because they thought she needed their assistance. All that we did was respectfully to ask that we might be al- lowed to contribute towards the subscriptions raised in Paris, in order that we might in soine tangible shape express our cordial sympathy with the 'sufferers of those inundations. Mr. Evelyn Denison, fresh from Paris, said he need not tell how deeply the news of the inundations had afflicted them all. They were anxious—everybody was anxious—to give their subscrip- tions in aid of the sufferers. He really must say, to the honour of a very valuable class of men, that this idea was first started and carried into effect by the personal exertions of the tenant-farmers of this country. (Loud 8.) Those subscriptions, raised in a simple and an unaffeeted manner, were received in France exactly in the spirit in which they were offered.
A resolution expressing great concern was adopted, and a committee appointed to collect subscriptions. The sum subscribed there and then was nearly 50001. The Lord Mayor said he intended to make a remit- tance to Paris the same night.
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