The Press. — London, England, 1858-09-11 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 11,1858. 870 fired a shot across the bows of the suspected vessel, which had the effect of producing the American flag at her peak ; but she still continued on her course, and seemed to be making her best endeavours to escape, when a well-directed shot from the Dolphin took effect in her fore rigging, causing her to heave to and lower her colours. On sending a best on board she proved to be a brig from the African coast, with 3 18 negroes. Her crew were instantly confined, and the prize placed in charge of Lieut. J. M. Bradford and Second Lieut. Charles C. Carpenter, and sixteen men from the Dolphin, with orders to proceed to Charleston, S.C. The captain of the slave brig is on board the Dolphin. MEXICO. THE EARTHQUAKE. The earthquake that took place in Mexico on the 19th of June last was one of the most severe that has been known since the Spanish invasion. At nine o'clock in the morning a shock came from the south. This was followed by three more violent shocks from the same direction. Then four more shocks equally severe from the east, and after them a few trent blings. In the city of Mexico the strongest struc tures reeled to their foundations, the water spouted in jets from the sewers; the street lamps vibrated from east to west for a quarter of a minute. The earth opened in the streets; trees writhel and swayed for many minutes, and some were thrown out of the earth. Houses, aqueducts, and railroads were seriously injured. About twenty.four towns and cities in Mexico sustained damage from the earthquake, and a great number of lives were lost. Damage to the value of more than a million sterling has been done to the city of Mexico. All the violent shocks took place in the space of about one minute and a half. The shocks and tremblings lasted about three minutes. AUSTRALIA. COMMERCE. We have dates from Melbourne to the 15th July. The political news is destitute of interest. Trade was not brisk, but the produce of the gold fields continued abundant. CHINA. THE BASIS OF THE TREATY. The following are the conditions which the Times believes will form the basis of a treaty between the British and Chinese Governments : Firat.—The residence of a British Minister at Tiensin, with access to Court, and direct communication with the Ministers. An official yamun for him during his visits to Pekin. All official documents to be written by him in the English language (to be accompanied by Chinese transla tions until the Court of Pekin has procured interpreters). An English college similar to that kept up by Russia to be allowed at Pekin. Second.—China to be opened to all the world ; persons to go whither they please and do what they please under a passport system. Third.—The Yang-tse to be opened to its commerce from its mouth to its source. Fourth.—Christianity to be tolerated. _ . Fifth.—lndemnity for the war and losses at Canton to be paid fur by the two Quangs, the amount to be agreed on by Special Commissioners at Canton. The tariff to be corrected, the Custom-house system revised, and the English to aid the Chinese in the suppression of piracy. Sixth.—ln proof of the friendship and goodwill of the Emperor of China towards the Queen of England, a special embassy shall be sent to England forthwith. gout anb las4ion. THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO LEEDS. THE Queen's receptiou in one :if our great seats of commercial industry has been meted by that enthusiasm which invariably greets the progress of our beloved sovereign through all portions of her dominions. Her Majesty, accompanied by the Prince Consort, the Princesses Alice and Helena, and Prince Alfred, left Osborne at a quarter past eight on Monday morning, and, crossing the Solent in the Fairy, disembarked in the Clarence Victualling-yard, where the special train appointed to convey the royal party to the north was in waiting, under charge of the directors and officers of the South-Western Railway Company. The Queen was attended by Lady Churchill, Lady in Waiting ; the Hon. Miss Stopford, Maid of Honour; Gen. the Hon. Charles Grey, Col. the Lion. Sir Charles Phipps, and Col. Ponsonby. The Right Hon. Spencer Walpole was the Secretary of State in attendance upon her Majesty. At the Kew Junction his Royal Highness :he Prince of Wales was in attendance to meet his illustrious parents. Prince Alfred, who on this occasion, for the first time in public, had donned a naval cadet uniform, here took leave of the Queen and his royal father, and joined his brother, who had come across from the White Lodge to meet the illus trious party. From the Kew Junction her Majesty was conducted over the North and South Western Junction Railway. and through the intricacies of the Camden-town goods station, to the Great Northern Railway, from whence the royal train started on its journey for Leeds at 19.55 p.m. The first point of the journey at which her Majesty was greeted was Hitchin, where the Earl and Countess of Albemarle and their family had come out to pay their respects, though the train was not timed to stop at this station. Her Majesty next stopped at the cathedral city of Peterborough, where the bishop of the diocese with a great many clergy, the Marquis of Exeter, Lord Lieutenant of the county of Northampton, and the Earl of Westmoreland, were present, with many others, to welcome the Sovereign. Her Majesty shook hands very cordially with the Earl of West moreland, anti accepted his escort into the station hotel, where Mr. Pereivall, the well-known proprietor of this large establishment, had provided an elegant luncheon for the royal party. The station was very full of spectators, who gave the Queen a most hearty welcome. At Doncaster, another loyal demonstration greeted her Majesty. Proceeding thence, the royal party reached Leeds at 6.15 p.m., and were received at the station by the mayor ( Mr. Fairbairn) and corporation. The mayor's obeisance was graciously acknowledged both by her Majesty and the Prince Consort. The mayoress, stepping forward at this moment, presented to the Queen a charming bouquet, and received her Ma jesty's acknowledgments. Miss Fairbairn had also the honour of presenting a bouquet to the Princess Alice. Before the Queen left tho station, her Majesty caused to be conveyed to the directors of the Great Northern Railway her thanks for the great attention which had been shown to her comfort and conve nience during the journey, which was under the general direction of Mr. Seymour Clarke. her Majesty, escorted by a guard of honour, at once pro ceeded to Woodslerhouse, the residence of the mayor, which had been entirely given up by Mr. Fairbairn for the use of her Majesty during her brief stay in Leeds. After the mayor had conducted her Majesty to Woodsley, his worship left for the residence of Mr. Nunnelly, a private friend, with whom he was about to sit. down to dinner, when the Queen graciously commanded him to join the royal dinner•party. His worship immediately obeyed her Majesty's summons, and, beyond the Earl of Derby and the members of the Queen's suite, Mr. Fairbairn was the only addition to the royal circle. Before her Majesty sat down to dinner, she caused a telegraphic message to be forwarded both to her royal mother and to the Prince of Wales, informing them of her safe arrival in Leeds, and the gratifying reception she had everywhere experienced. The Queen's reception was most enthusiastic. The streets were lined with many thousand spec tators, and the line of route, which waved with flags, and was embellished with triumphal arches, pre sented a most animated appearance. The illumina tions in the evening were very numerous. Tuesday morning broke unfavourably, with oeca sional showers, and great anxiety was felt lest the inaugural ceremonial should be marred by unfavour able weather. Happily, the result justified the most sanguine anticipations, and although the sky was occasionally much overcast, the day must be considered to have been almost brilliant, when the murky condition of the general atmosphere round Leeds is remembered. Her Majesty left Woodsley-house at half-past ten. The actual procession was a very long one, as it con sisted of all that were members of the Leeds corpo ration. The royal procession, however, was only of three carriages. The first contained General Grey, her Majesty's Equerry ; Sir Charles Phipps, K.C.8., Privy Purse ; and Colonel Ponsonby, the Prince Consort's Equerry. The second contained Lord Derby, Minister in attendance; Miss Hildyard, the Princesses' governess ; Lady Churchill and the Hon. Miss Stopford, Maids of Honour to the Queen. The third contained the Queen, the Prince Consort, the Princess Alice, and the Princess Helena. Sir Harry Smith, K.C.8., rode on the left of her Majesty, nod Earl Fitzwilliam (Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding) on the right. In attendance were a squadron of the 18th Hussars, under the command of Vent.- Colonel Knox, and a squadron of the 2nd West York Light Infantry. Almost as her Majesty started the clouds broke up, and the sun shone fully as she came unGn the moor, amid the children of the charity and free schools, in two huge divisions (including teachers) of 16,000 each, and the thousand little eager faces which gazed with such intensity not more on her than on the young Princesses with her. As soon as the cortege came in sight, the signals " Prepare to cheer " rose up cn every side, but they were need less ; the difficulty was to keep the children quiet, for all the children strained their throats, and waved their hats and handkerchiefs with astonishing vehemence. Nearly 30,000 little trebles set agoing are not so easily stopped ; and what with their own enthusiasm, and what with what they saw of others, some time elapsed before the shouts were done, and the thundering bass accompaniment of the populace outside—mostly the parents of the children —went rumbling away in a hoarse roar in the distance. Then the conductor waved his wand, and slowly swelling upwards, like a vast organ of human voices, came " God save the Queen." With th e f i rst notes her Majesty held up her hand, and the carriage halted in the centre of the moor amid the children, while the great choir of singers went pealing forth their anthem with such a truth and sublimity as seemed to move even the most distant hearers. When this was over the procession continued its way and the hymns of the children continued —the long soft notes of every psalm resounding far and near, and making itself heard above the cheering, even when the procession was wending its way through the most crowded parts of Leeds. Front this point her Majesty's reception was as grand in its enthusiasm as anything could be. For nearly four miles it was one continued ovation. At the Town-hall the crowds were so great that the barriers seemed quite inadequate, and, at last, bent, cracked, and splintered before the immense pressure. Yet the admirable arrangements of the police averted all mishap. The crowd was pacified, the barriers shored up, and bound 4with iron bands ; and, with such aids and exhortations to quietness, the affair was managed. At twenty minutes to twelve o'clock precisely the royal cortege entered the great square in which the hall is situated, when the scene quite defies all attempts to portray it in words. The cheers literally seemed to rend the very air. After acknowledging these salutes and those of the guard of honour, about which latter the Queen is alv ays most punctilious, her Majesty with the Prince Consort gave their undivided attention to the noble building they bad come to inaugurate : The extmal form of the edifice is that of a parallelo. gram, being' 50 feet long by 200 feet in breadth, and its general appearance, from the approach to the main trout, is imposing in the extreme. Standing on an elevated platform, it is surrounded by Corinthian columns and pilasters, supporting rich entablature and balustrade, altogether about seventy feet in height. The south, or principal facade, is approached by a handsome flight of twenty steps, 110 feet in length, and has a deeply recessed portico of twelve columns, ten of them being in front and two recessed. This cannot fail to command attention and admiration by its grandeur end the harmony of its comp. sition. In the centre of this facade, and adjoining the south end of the large hall, rises the dome, which will, when completed, be 225 fewt in height. Thei two sides and north end of the building are somewhat similar to the south front. The interior of the building is characterized by almost unequalled adaptation to the various municipal and judicial purposes it is intended to subser:e, besides which it is in several important portions marked by ornamentation of the highest style of excellence. The principal entrance opens into a vestibule of very fine pro portions, with a d oiled ceiling supported by four arches and fluted pilasters of the Composite order, the apartment being seventy feet high and forty-eight feet by forty-tive feet wide. It is separated from the large hall by a glass screen. In the centre of the vestibule stands the Mosul statue, in white marble, of Queen Victoria. The Oren Hall is entered from the vestibule, and, whether viewed in relation to its size, the harmony of its proportions, or the extreme beauty of its decorations, it is one of the noblest public rooms in the country. Its dimensions are 101 feet long by seventy-two feet wide and seventy-live feet high, giving a greater area than that of almost any other provincial hall. The cost of the whole building has been within 100,0001. • The mayor and mayoress received the royal party as they alighted, and the mayor conducted her Majesty and the Prince up the steps of the south facade. On entering the vestibule, the architect, Mr. Brodrick, was in. attendance, and had the honour of being presented to the Queen and the Prince Consort. Here also her Majesty had an opportunity of seeing the mayor's princely gift to the town—her statue, by Noble, the sculptor. A few moments were passed in admiring this and in her Majesty's express.on of warm approval of the building, and the royal party entered the hall, thronged with all the rank and fashion of the county, the varied dresses of the choirs above the northern end of the hall showing out like a rich parterre, A kind of background to the magnificent dresses and uniforms that were conspicuous in every part. As her Majesty entered, the whole mass of visitors rose and made the hall echo and vibrate again under the great welcome given to their Queen. Yet almost as suddenly as this began it ended, as the Queen , reaching the dais, stood with the Princess Alice on her right, the Prince Consort and Princess Helena on her left, and the Bishop of Ripon, advancing, read aloud, with much solemnity, an impressive plitYeri specially composed for the occasion. The prayers for the Queen and Royal Family having been responded to by a long and deep " Amen " from all parts of the hall, the National Anthem followed, and then, advaucing with th e mayor to the foot of the dais, the town.clerk, =qr. Ikin, in a clear tone, read the address of the mayor , aldermen, and burgesses of the borough thus tinguisbad by the presence of the Sovereign. sen t for As the address was presented her M a j est y Lord Derby, who was in the hall, to stan d on the dais, d