The Express.
London, England, 1865-05-16 00:00:00

STAMPED, ld. ADDITIONAL.]

THE VISIT OFO THE PRIDUBLINNCE OF WALES
T.

(nom °us snow,

DUBLIN. MAY 14,
The gracious labours of hie Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales in giving a fair start to the Dublin
Exhibition have now drawn to a happy close, and
his royal highness is, I trust, by this time enjoying
the repose of the domestic hearth, a luxury of which
be is by no means permitted to have a surfeit. On
Thursday his royal highness paid a prolonged visit to
the Exhibition, carefully examining its multi-
farious contents, and gratifying the exhibitors by
judicious praise everywhere, and in some came by
liberal orders for their choirs goods. As on all pre-
vious occasions of his royal highness's appearance in
public, the people crowded the streets to see and to
cheer him ; but again I am sorry to say there was a
good dealof disappointment in consequence of trouts
different from the ordinary one having been chosen
lby whoever had the direction of the carriage
arrangements. And here I may be permitted
digress for a moment, to allude to one or two
matters, which for obvious reasons I hesitated to
mention while his royal highness remained in
Deb•in. Almost immediately on his royal higheese's
arrival, some contemptible and silly persons, calling
themselves members of the Fenian brotherhood,
drove about the town in hackney carst circulating
handbills, headed " Sic simper tyrannis," and call-
' lag on the people not to shout for or follow the
chariot wheels of a foreign mines, the son of a
Saxon mother. These weak ebullitions of a wicked
sedition were treated by the public with the most
entire contempt, as has been proved by the extra-
ordiniry fervour and unanimity of the public sen-
timent whenever the Prince showed himself to the
people • but still, if the sudden changes in the
travelling arrangements had been other than
the result of mere accident, some allow-
ance must be made for the min who
had devolved upon them so serious a respon ionssibility
as the safe keeping of the heir apparent to the
throne. The loyal feeling of the Irish people to
her Majesty and family was never more conspi-
cuously nor more universally displayed than during
the Prince of Wales's visit, and never was it re-
ceived with more gratification or implicit faith
than by its recent illustrious objeot ;but then it is
very well known that any great crime or criminal
attempt happening anywhere sets &lithe madmen in
the *arid in an extra erase, and the recent occurrence
of Mr. Lincoln's murder, and the wicked allusion to it
in the Fenian handbill, might excuse a little extra
caution in the Castle authorities. Some of wliat
has happened has been, however to my certain
knowledge, the result of sheer accident, as, for ex-
ample, the going in a close instead of an open
carriage to the opening. The moment his royal
highness stepped into the carriage he ordered the
top to be thrown back, but on tb. attendants at-
tempting to do so it was found to be immovable, and
there was no time to alter the arrangements. In the
same way the town is full of gossip at the way in
which the Kingstown Railway Company was
treated, a royal train having been ordered,
and heaps of luggage sent down for the
departure whilst the Prince came down
to the waterside by an entirely different route. The
explanation of this is, that his royal highness felt so
impressed with the patriotic exertions of Lord
Poweracourt in forwarding the objects of the Exhi-
bition, that he determined upon paying that noble-
man a special visit at his residence, in the same
manner as the Queen had before honoured Mr.
Dargan, and the situation of Powersoourt-house
• • • wed it much more convenient to proceed from
it at once to Carlisle-pier than to come up to
Dublin and go down again by rail. But at the
review the Prince rode along on horseback, in
front of and quite close to the cheering crowd, in the
most unrestrained and condescending manner, and
in his visit of inspection to the Exhibition, drove
through the most public streets in an open carriage,
and without any military escort.
His royal highness was received by the Exhibi-
tion authorities at the principal entrance, and at
once commenced a promenade down the naves,
giving to a majority of the cases a most careful
examination. The English exhibitors complain that
Mr. Benders, the able chairman of the executive
committee, who is himself an Englishman, was on
this occasion like the one Saxon in the
Connaught Rangers who always made it a
point to be the first man drunk on Patrick's day—
more Irish than the Irish themselves, and gently
led the Prince to the Irish cases exclusively. But
this ma' have been all fancy, for Ireland is a land
of imagination and surmise. Certain it is that his
royal bighoess found much to admire in the local
cases. He stopped a long time before Mr. Fry's
beautiful poplins, and I believe (adored some, and
was much pleased with Mr. Scriber's display of
jewellery. Aubert and Linton's cage, on the oppo-
site aide, had but a passing glazes, but Mr. Liston
was condoled by being honoured with an audience
next morning at the Phoenix-park, to submit to
his royal highness's inspection the beautiful coral
suite, the work of Louis Gismolidi, of Nice, and
which daily attracts all the visitors to the Linton
case. An appended card informs the spectator
that the artist took twenty years to collect his ose-
terials and complete his work ; and as the suite is
all of the rare sod valuable pale variety, and is
most elaborately carved, this is not improbable.
The coral suite promises, in fact, to be a worthy
successor to the Piping Bullfinch 4 1862,
whose melodious notes were the means of
collecting 1,5001. for charitable purposes. The
Prince most carefully inspected the suite, and ex-
pressed high admiration both of its material and
workmanship. The case of Mr. Waterhouse, gold-
smith to the Irish court, was honoured with a long
inspection, the Priuoe expressing high approval of
the rich contents ,• and Mr. Brunt's:, another local
jeweller, had the honour of submittiug the whole of
his rich wares to royal inspection. But whilst ad-
miring the beautiful, bar Royal Highness did not
forget the useful, but carefully examined
the specimens of the rapidly rising Irish wool-
len manufacture, exhibited by a Rathfarnham
house, the name of which I do not at this
moment recollect. They consisted of friezes and
tweeds, both excellent of their kind, and of a sort
which is rapidly getting into general consumption.
The enterprising firm by which they are exhibited
have lately fitted op English machinery of the
most of icient kind, and have every hope of making
the woollen only second as a staple to the linen
manufacture of Ireland. I hope the great national
importance of this infant manufacture, and the
notice taken of it by the Prince, will justify this I
rather lengthened notice of the (sae. His
Royal Highuesa gave so much of his time
to the Irish exhibits that he had little left
for more than a very few moments' delay in the
foreign department, where the French goods shoos
so conspicuously. The beautiful tapestries, how-
ever, and the Sevres vases were honoured with a
glance, after which the royal party proceeded to
the gallery, when the first visit was paid by his
royal highness to the Belgian pictures. On Mr.
Corr Van der Kaaren, the Belgian oomminrioner,
being presented, his royal highness said, "I have
good news for you. The King is getting well. I
had a letter from the Duke of Brabant this
morning to that effect, and he also parti.•
calmly requested in. to look after the Nal-
gian pictures." I give this as a spealesem
of the frank affability with whisk his Royal
nese addressed himself to the week in hand,and I
need hardly say how much the worthy
commissioner was overwhelmed with the
condescension. I should add that although
Royal Ermlinswes visit had not bees peenewsly
linnoWised, the public somehow mimed to have,
got sprettypossal intimation of it, aad semadia#7'