The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-12-11 00:00:00

THE

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1855

FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

MONDAY MORNING.
HER MAJESTY the QUEEN has long been noted for an
early riser, but never, probably, since the memorable morning
on which, with her royal presence, in the northern metropolis,
she surprised the denizens of " Auld Reekie" and awoke the
slumbers of "JAMIE FORREST" and his somnolent Bailies,
has she displayed so marked an inclination for beginning the,
labours of the day betimes, as on Thursday last, when taking
leave of her royal guest the King of SARDINIA. At half-
past four o'clock on the last-mentioned morning, the QUEEN,
the King of SARDINIA, Prince ALBERT, and the Duke of
CAMBRIDGE sat down to breakfast; and at five HER MAJESTY
took leave of the Sardinian Sovereign at the grand entrance
of the Castle. This was a feat of no ordinary kind. One
often hears of a farmer's wife starting by four of a summer's
morn to prepare for market—occasionally a tradition may
reach the ear of the inquisitive to the effect that Mrs.
BRow-s prepared breakfast for her beloved spouse, as he was
about to start on his northern journey by the 5.30 a.m. train
—or that Mrs. SMITH kissed the rosy tips of her lily-white
fingers as a parting token to " dear old Uncle ROBERT" from
whom she has large expectancies, as he hurries past the
boudoir window at six to catch the steamer that will start in
half an hour, while he has a forty 'minutes' drive before him
to reach it ; but, who ever before heard of a royal breakfast
completed before five o'clock in the morning, a few days
before Christmas p Verily, the court chronicles of many a
dreary year gone by will be searched in vain for precedents of
such an event l On this, as on all occasions, HER MAJESTY
wore her state with dignity and ease, and in the sweet com-
posure of her matin smile set an example which many, if not
all ladies would do well to follow.
Now that the head of the royal House of Savoy has left our
shores, as was the case before he reached them, and will be for
many long years to come, the object of his visit is a suggestive
theme for conversation and conjecture. Whatever purpose
may be assigned to it among those who claim pre-eminence in
the spinning and weaving of- political cobwebs, its significance,
like that of the Emperor of the FRENCH, is pregnant with
matters of important consideration. Leaving the fertile vales
and sunny skies which surrounded him in his southern home,
the period of his visit here, alone, is sufficient to mark it as
other than an empty ceremony ; while the reception he has
met with from all classes and parties has been such as could
not fail to mark the national sense of his spirited and
chivalrous conduct. Among the emphatic answers to the
numerous addresses presented to him, or orally delivered in
his presence, that portion of his reply to the address of the
city of London, in which he spoke of his reasons for joining
the Western Alliance, was most calculated to win the affections
of the British -people. He joined it, he said, because "it had
ever been the custom of the House of-Savoy to draw the
sword where justice and independence were at stake among
nations." The belief that such a feeling animated him in the
choice of his position, had already procured for him a hearty
welcome among all ranks of British subjects, and with no
trivial amount of gratitude do they thank the corporation of
the city for the welcome bestowed on him on Tuesday last
True, on that day, he found the " dim spot " enveloped in a
gloom deeper than is imparted by its usual sombreness, it
being wrapped in obscurity by a dense though only topical fog;
but to those who could look beyond the mere surface, it was
easy to see the " sunshine of the mind " gilding with fervid
glow the numerous preparations indicative of welcome. If
the air without was thick and raw, drowning the plaudits,
and dimming the lustre of the regal pageant, the contrast
afforded by the splendours of the interior of Guildhall added
much to the enhancement of the latter. The decorations were,
in many respects, magnificent ; and the arrangements fitted to
afford a princely welcome to the royal guest. The presenta-
tions and the oratory were gone.through in the grand hall,
which cynical critics might say was decOrated with more gor-
geousness than good taste. The hall was a perfect blaze of
light. It was provided with a richly ornamented throne,
overshadowed by a canopy supported on gilt caryatides.
Above the west-end gallery were suspended portraits of the
Allied Sovereigns ; above these w ere representations of the
soldiers of each nation. If His MAJESTY was not before
acquainted with the " English School of Painting," he
was not likely to receive much information, nor a favourable
impression of its merits, from these " wonders of pictorial
art." They were palpably improvised for the occasion, and
participated more in the characteristics so graphically, as well
as quaintly, attributed by the "author of Waverley " to the
school of which "DICE TINTO" was the head, than of that
which REYNOLDS founded and ETTY- brought to perfection. If
the decorations were to some extent defective in design and
execution, the preparations for the banquet were carried out
in a style of great artistic beauty. It was served with taste
and splendour, and the banquet itself was worthy of the renown
accorded to civic gastronomy. The wines were truly choice
besides those—Ot generally admitted reputation, there were
hosts of others, whose fame and virtues are only known among
the Royal Arch brotherhood of Bacchanalian epicures ; the
famous Nelson Sherry, eighty years old; Champagne of 1834;
Hock from the Steinburgh Cabinet ; Falernum Ciecubum,
the delight of ancient wine-bibbers, and now a wine almost
unknown ; the celebrated Est, Est, Est ; and many more of
first renown among erudite philo-vinists. Only three toasts
were drunk, notwithstanding the great array of wines : the
first, the health of " THE QUEEN," the second that of the KING
of SARDINIA, "our august visitor and welcome guest," by the
LORD MAYOE, and " Prosperity to the City of London" was
Proposed by His MAJESTY.

Whatever may heve been the object of this the third royal
visit of the year, VICTOR EMMANUEL has " won golden
opinions from all sorts of men." In the free-speaking circles
of the city—in the reserved and frigid coteries of Belgravia—
and in the languidly refined cliques of the West End Clubs,
not less than in the noisy fervour of the populace, his praise is
heard from every tongue.

While regal pumps and civic festivities have been thus com-
bined in honour of the nation's guest, the public business has
not been peimitted to stand st ill. On Friday, a Privy Council
was held at Windsor, which ordered the further prorogation
of Parliament from the 11th of the present month to the 31st
of January next, then to meet for the despatch of business.
As next Easter-day falls on the 23rd of March, there will not
be more than six weeks applicable to the transaction of busi-
ness during the early part of the session. This fact is vari-
ously interpreted by various parties. Some see in it an indica-
tion that Lord PALMERSTON intends to,renew the Ministerial
policy of kit spring, and carry on the business of the country
without 'the aid or intervention of Parliament. Others declare
their belief to be, that tiaePREM lER, knowing the small extent
of his Parliamentary strength, calls the Legislature together
merely that he may submit to it some leading point of policy,
popular in the general bearings of its aspect, yet so framed as
to inspre its rejection, that he may then appeal to the nation i
on an ad captandum plea of factious opposition, in the very
vain hope that he will thus be able so to remodel the political
aspect of the House of Commons as to give him a working
majority. While not a few, and those generally well-informed
on such topics, maintain that Lord PALMERSTON is personally
sick of the matter, and will be only too glad to avail himself of
any feasible-pretext to rid himself at once of a set of insubor-
dinate and mutinous colleagues, who are disunited on nearly
every principle of foreign and domestic policy, and, in quitting
them, to quit also the responsibilities of a position the duties
of which he is inadequate to the performance of. No rumour,
indeed, is more current in the political clubs of the metropolis,
than that it, is Lord PALMERSTON'S wish and intention to
resign. Numerous are the conjectures as to his probable suc-
cessor. The rampant portion of the Whig-Radical section
assert, confidently, that Lord Jons RUSSELL, although not
likely to be appointed, will be consulted on the new arrange-
ments; and these parties, knowing well their man, assert that
he will so play his game, that, while nominally excluding him-
self, he will pull 'the wires of the puppets whose installation
into office he will secure, and so dexterously arrange the pack,
that, at the next deal, to be made at no distant day, he will
himself turn up as the leading trump! His followers have
strange confidence in his winning by odd tricks; and those
who know him best seem to prize his dexterity at a much
higher figure than his probity. In the meantime, the watchful
Peelites—though still as dormice, are known to be as alert as
owls in twilight—make no scruple in hinting that they have a
statesman equal to the occasion, who is willing, and able, (?) to
combine the views of all parties, and forma strong administra-
tion. Where he is to come from, they do not hint, and no one
can guess who he is. What are the Conservatives doing in so
important a conjuncture? is the qUestion asked by all; but,
like numerous other questions of vital interest, for the present,
at all events, it is asked in vain.
If conjecture finds numerous grounds for exercising its in-
genuity upon in reference to Ministerial secrets and successions,
it has double scope when it turns its bovdairingvyisoifomn
aotveerriatl outhe'gred of
fields of fight." There it finds every variety
structure
that can
which to manufacture every kind of et
apply to " war's vast art ;" the favouritetissueate tihse
familiar
present
being the mantle of peace. Every one
with SWIFT'S celebrated narrative of " The Battle of the
Books," and all must be aware of the important nature of the
conflict therein described. Animated and stern as was that
frightful combat, it was but child's play to the every-day
uestion.
" Battle of the Newspapers," on
the
Peaceor War qournals,
The diurnal combat is commenced by the morning j
whose heavy ordnance being discharged by mid-day, the