Mr. CHARLES DICKENS returned thanks.  In referring to Mrs. H.B.  Stowe, he observed that, in returning thanks, he could not forget he was in the presence of a stranger who was the authoress of a noble book, with a noble purpose.  But he had no right to call her a stranger, for she would find a welcome in every English home.

STAFFORD HOUSE RECEPTION—­MAY 7.

The DUKE OF SUTHERLAND having introduced Mrs. Stowe to the assembly, the following short address was read and presented to her by the EARL OF SHAFTESBURY:—­

“Madam:  I am deputed by the Duchess of Sutherland, and the ladies of the two committees appointed to conduct ’The Address from the Women of England, to the Women of America on the Subject of Slavery,’ to express the high gratification they feel in your presence amongst them this day.

“The address, which has received considerably more than half a million of the signatures of the women of Great Britain and Ireland, they have already transmitted to the United States, consigning it to the care of those whom you have nominated as fit and zealous persons to undertake the charge in your absence.

“The earnest desire of these committees, and, indeed, we may say of the whole kingdom, is to cultivate the most friendly and affectionate relations between the two countries; and we cannot but believe that we are fostering such a feeling when we avow our deep admiration of an American lady who, blessed by the possession of vast genius and intellectual powers, enjoys the still higher blessing, that she devotes them to the glory of God and the temporal and eternal interests of the human race.”

The following is a copy of the address to which Lord Shaftesbury makes reference:—­

“The affectionate and Christian Address of many thousands of Women of Great Britain and Ireland to their Sisters, the Women of the United States of America.

“A common origin, a common faith, and, we sincerely believe, a common cause, urge us at the present moment to address you on the subject of that system of negro slavery which still prevails so extensively, and even under kindly-disposed masters, with such frightful results, in many of the vast regions of the western world.

“We will not dwell on the ordinary topics—­on the progress of civilization; on the advance of freedom every where; on the rights and requirements of the nineteenth century; but we appeal to you very seriously to reflect, and to ask counsel of God, how far such a state of things is in accordance with his holy word, the inalienable rights of immortal souls, and the pure and merciful spirit of the Christian religion.