The Express.
London, England, 1860-10-18 00:00:00

LANDING OF HER MAJESTY AT GRAVE3END.

If her Majesty, the Prince Consort, and Princess
Alice have had, as we are informed by the German and
Belgian 'Dammam', wet weather during almost the
whole of their coatinental journeying, and ethane,
sad if, an we know, they had • thoroughly Eng-
lish rainy day for their departure, the genial bright
and warm sunshine which marked their " welcome home ^
mutt have been the
-more gratifying. Yesterday morning,
in the metropolis and its neighbourhood, opened with a
cloudless sky, but as the hours wore on the clouds began to
gather, and many were led to apprehend that the landing
of the royal party would be as little favoured by the atmos-
pheric influeoces as was the embarkation some three weeks
since. Towards mid-day, however, these apprehensions
were dispelled with the threatenin; clouds which crested
them, and by the turning hour of noon a brilliant run'
shine inaugurated an afternoon so like summer as anything
we have witnessed throughout this dreary wintry year.
Gravesend, which it will be remembered was specially
honoured by her Majesty, on the of last month,
for the third time as the most convenient shipping pert,
when the impulses of natural love and the claims of family
led her for a brief spa to bid adieu to that native land
over which oho reigns as much by the universality of its
affectionate leyalty as by the right of samession, was again
selected as the place for debarking. The notice of her
Majesty's intention, owing to the uncertainty as to the
precise time when she would be sufilciently recovered from
the cold caught a few days ago to leave Belgium, was
necessarily short, and the municipal authorities of the
ancient borough, which has of late so grown under the in-
guenees of the royal countenance as to throw its aid neigh-
bour Tilbury completely into the shade, despite its associa.
floes with the glories of the Elizabethan reign, were taken
almost unawares, when on Monday night the official intim'.
tiou arrived that her Majesty and the royal party would
land at the Terrace Pier on Wednesday, the 17th Weber,
somewhere between I and 4 o'clock in the aft mesa. Tele-
grams were instantly emit on to North Wales, when Mr.
Gardner, the mayor, who had dame the honours
on the previous clocaseen, had gene en • little
tour of his own, but, lost probably in the
i•triaeies of the Welsh slate quarries and iron mines, in
which it is said he is at the present moment somewhat ea-
tensively interested, they failed to reach him. Happily,
there is no lack of civic dignitaries at Gravesend. There in
as a matter of course, an en mayor, who, according to time-
honoured precedent, in the absence of the mayor de jars,
eejoys the enviable privilege of acting u the deputy. This
gentlemen (Mr. Gregory) at once saw the Deceesity of
putting all the corporate power in motion. (hide were
printed, stages were erected, the police were put through
their drill---ass or two of them, if civility to thou who
may ham duties to perform be any part of their manual,
with but indieferrint sitcoms ; the various bodies of load
volunteers were invited; despatches were sent to the lord-
lieutenant, the naval avid military authorities at Woolwich
and Chatham ; and by the aid of the dockyard workmen
of the former the pier was in the course of Tuesday and
yestenlay morning restored to the same state of decorative
grandeur, and convenience and oosnfort for the purposes re-
ilium', which characterised it when her Majeety and the
Prance Coasort last used it, and which was fully described
at the time. The inhabitants of the town generally and the
railway Authorities weft equally energetic' ; and from the
windows and balconies. and acmes the streets, along the
entire route of the royal carriages from the pier to the
',airway, emblazoned draperies floated as before, not perhaps
so profusely, but, thank" to the sunshine, with notch
greater effect ; *ldle at the station every arrangement for
the convenience and, as far as possible, for the privacy of
the royal traveller was provided.

One o'clock having bees named as the gullible hour cry
the arrival of the royal yacht, at that hour ell the prepara-
tions were completed, and all who were officially or sta In-
vited geode of the corporation entitled to be present were
in attendance. The deputy mayor, the town clerk tCaptain
Shatleed), the sixteen aldermea and commou councillors,
warn all present in their gowns Led with their wands of
office, ably assisted, in so far as the diguity of the Ludy wee
cowered, by • functionary in • heavy guld-braided drab
livery, wearing a huge curly wig, which at some remote
period has evidently been well-powdered suel greased, and
untying • gilt silver mace, said to be the largest and most
valuable, sod one of the most antique of its kind in England,
sad in corporate eyes adding no doubt in pro-
portion to the importance of its fortunate poasersors,
while exciting the envy of its compeers. A hundred
men of the Foe al Marines front Chatham, under the com-
mand of Captain Stewart, were standiug at rue in the
Terrace Gardens, waiting until their serviees me the guard of
honour should be required. A troop, or rather • detach.
meet, of the 16th Lancers, commanded by Lieut. F. &redly,
were in like manner waiting to escort the august party from
the 'femme to the etatioo. Lord Sydney, in full uniform
aa LonbLieutenant of the county, and with his gold key of
',Mee as Chanilwrlaio of the Household, accompanied by
General Eyre, military commander of the disttict, Lord A.
Paget, Admiral Bullock, the Hon. J. E. Drummond, fiat
ofihs:r of Woolwich, sod other naval officers, were
present to receive her Majesty ; and the Host. Jame*
ltyrig, the chairman, and Mr. Serjeant Cross and
Mr. S. Teulon, directors, with Mr. Eborall, the
traffic manager, and Mr. Knight, the superintendent
id the South Fasters Railway Co:malty, were shoo
there to conduct the Royal train to London. But • full
hour before this all the seats were occupied with spectators
—the liajotity of them ladies, dressed, of course, in all
the variety of modern fashion—who, to the number of scene
1,4 W, were doomed to wait upwards of five hours ere their
loyal curiosity could he gratified. In addition to the re.
I (War military there was • strong laxly of the
Kest Volunteer Artillery present, led by Captain
W. Rusher, of the Gravesend Company, who supplied
the guard at the railway statues, preserved the
line for the rowel ev.rteVit threezil the town, rind ailed in
the military deter, of the pier and its innuesliate vicinity.
Between 12 o'clock atid 2 the telegraphic wires between
timatheud and Tilbury were frequently put in requteiticu
with anxious infiniriee traasmitted from the oppo site side of
the water as to whether the rural squadron wr. yet in night ,
a the Nan. - it belog caletilabal that fnnu its snivel at the I
Note light au hour or an hour and a half would brio, it to
ttratoseod ; but the monotonous negative ountimied to be