A BANQUET AT HONG-KONG.

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"Ashuelot" came around the point in view of Macao a slight sea was rolling, and a mist hung over the hills. As soon as our ship was made out from the shore the Portuguese battery flashed out a salute of twenty-one guns, to which the "Ashuelot" responded. About five o'clock we came to an anchor, and the aide of the Governor came on board to say that the illness, and, we were sorry to hear, the serious illness, of the Governor prevented his doing any more than sending the most cordial welcome to Macao. The General landed and drove to a hotel. In the evening he strolled about, and in the morning visited the one sight which gives Macao a world-wide fame-the grotto of Camoens.

Senhor Marques, the present owner, had built an arch over the entrance with the inscription, "Welcome to General Grant." The grounds surrounding the grotto are beautiful and extensive, and for some time we walked past the bamboo, the pimento, the coffee, and other tropical trees and plants. Then we ascended to a bluff, and from the point we had a commanding view of the town, the ccean, and the rocky coasts of China. The grotto of Camoens is inclosed with an iron railing, and a bust of the poet surmounts the spot where, according to tradition, he was wont to sit and muse and compose his immortal poems. General Grant inscribed his name in the visitors' book, and, accompanied by Senhor Marques, returned to the "Ashuelot," which at once steamed for Hong-Kong.

On the evening of our return to Hong-Kong, Governor Hennessy gave General Grant a banquet, and at the close delivered an address, proposing the health of General Grant. "It is now," said Governor Hennessy, "a matter of history. that in both houses of the British Parliament there were foes and friends of freedom; but we may recall with pride the fact that two men so diverse in person and disposition and party relations as John Bright and Benjamin Disraeli, were sagacious enough to know that the honor of their own country and welfare of the world were bound up in the cause for which Ulysses Grant was contending. Whilst Bright was repairing the blunders of one or two eminent men of the Liberal party, the great

Conservative chief was, to my own personal knowledge, laboring night and day to counteract unreasoning prejudice amongst his own followers; and it is ever to me a source of intense satis

faction that, though in a very humble way no doubt, I was one of those members of the House of Commons who loyally supported his prudent and patriotic policy. But this is not the only personal reason that is present to my mind to-night. I

am a citizen of Cork; I come from that corner of the whole world nearest, and not least dear, to the United States; and on behalf of my fellow-citizens I now assure General Grant that in no part of the civilized globe would he have received a heartier welcome, if he had honored us with a visit, than in my native city."

At the close of this address the band of the Thirty-seventh Regiment, which was in attendance, played "Hail Columbia." General Grant responded as follows: map

"YOUR EXCELLENCY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I am very grateful to you for your kind address, to which I would be happy to respond, but there is so much personal and flattering to myself that I find it impossible. It is only a continuance of the kindness that I have received, not only in England, but in India, in the British colonies, wherever, in fact, I have met Englishmen. I have met nothing but courtesy, hospitality, good-will to myself and my country. As you have said, I am about to leave the British and pass into the Chinese empire. I have met no gentlemen so kind as the gentlemen of England. For their reception, more especially for the reception in Hong-Kong, I am grateful, and I do not know that I can say anything which is nearer to my heart, now that I am leaving the British empire, than to ask you all to unite in this sentiment: The perpetual friendship and alliance of the two great English-speaking nations of the world-England and America.""

At the close of the dinner there was a reception, and the grounds of the Government House were illuminated. Sunday was spent quietly with Governor Hennessy, and on Monday morning General Grant took leave of his brilliant and hospitable host. Before leaving, Colonel Mosby, the consul, presented a deputation of Chinese merchants, who delivered an address. After the reading of the address the General and his party, accompanied by the Governor and his party, took chairs and proceeded to Murray's Pier to embark for a cruise along the coast of China. Governor Hennessy took his leave of General Grant on board the "Ashuelot," and as his Excellency left the vessel a salute of seventeen guns was fired, with the British flag at the fore.

Our cruise along the coast of China was exceptionally pleasant, so far as the winds and the waves were concerned. There was a monsoon blowing, but it was just enough to help us along