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 318 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 the first 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 the
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.
sent for
As the address was presented her Majesty
Lord Derby, who was in the hall, to stand on the dais,