The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-04 00:00:00

Royal Botanic Society of London,

There was a magnificent exhibition at the society's gar-
dens, in the Regent's-park, on Saturday. The fruits,
especially the grapes, pines, and peaches, might, from their
size and richness, have been ga,hered in a garden that had
been presided over by Pomona herself. There was one pine
amongst those exhibited that weighed over ten pounds,
and there were three bunches of grapes more than ten
p Junds each. These fruits did, indeed, look magnificent,
but we must add that they were very tantalising also. The
exotic orchids were very beautiful, and so were the gera-
niums. The ambition of the growers of geraniums appears
now to be to exhibit the largest plant in the smallest pot.

Among the company present were the Princess Mary of
Cambridge, the Bishop of Oxford, Marquis of Bristol. Earl
of Home, Earl of St. German's and Countess of St. Ger-
man's, Lord Chesham, Lord Yarborough, Lord A. Hervey,
Lady Mary Hervey, Lord Alfred Hervey, Lady Laura
Palmer, Lrdy Elizabeth Waldegrave, Lady Duncombe,
Lady Julia Powers, Lady Anson, Lady Laura Gratton,
Lady Mary Stanley, Lady Cremorne, Lady Frances Rus-
sell, Lady Yarborough, Lady Proby, Lady Bannerman,
Lady Isabella Blatchford, L Aly Fainter, Lady 11l‘Farlane,
Baron Nathan De Rothschild, Sir Walter Stirling, Sir
Philip Duncombe, Sir John Anson, Sir William Hooker,
General Dixon, Colonel Hammer, Hon. Mrs. Calthorpe,
Hon. Mr and Mrs Twistleton, Miss Burdett Coutta, Mrs
Gladstone and family, and the Portuguese, Itussian,
Danish, Spanish, and Austrian Ministers.
The bands of the Ist Life Guards and of the Royal Horse
Guards performed during the day a selection of overtures
from the principal operas, marches, and dance music.

Un Friday evening the inspee-
-or-general of volunteers, was entertained at a
banquet at Edinburgh. In speaking cf the condition and
prospects of the volunteers, the gallant Colonel bore high
testim ,ny to their efficiency, and said he considered their
present strength to be but the nucleus of what would be
required in times of war. The number at present enrolled
was 163,003, of whom about 130,000 or 140,000 were efficient.
Judging by the number who had passed through drill, and
-eared from the force, he calculated that in an emergency
the volunteers would very rapidly increase to 200,000.
Colonel M'Murdo made a passing allusion to another body
of volunteers, the yeomanry, whom he said he should like
to make more of soldiers than they now aro."
FESTIVITIES AT COWES —Oa the marriage of
the Prince and Princess of Wales the plot of land
known as the Green, and which was then in the market for
sale, was purchased by Mr G. R. Stephenson, C.E., for
presental ion to the town as a place of recreation for the
inhabitants. Some time has been occupied in building a
new sea-wall, returning and draining the Green, and erect-
ing a very handsome drinking fountain and stand for the
band. The whole expense of these improvements, amount-
ing to nearly £3,000, has been liberally defrayed by Mr.
titephenson. On the occasion of the opening the townspeople
made a general holiday—shops were shut up, and flags innu-
merable flying in every direction. The schools and various
societies of the town formed in procession, and at 2 o'clock,
headed by the bands, proceeded to the Green with their ban-
ners. A salute having been fired from the yacht Tyne was the
signal for hoisting the royal standard, which soon floated
trom the flagstaff in the middle of the Green—the bands
then struck up the National Anthem, in which the people
joined heartily, and the Green was formally declared of en
by the town council. The poor of the town were provided
by Mr Stephenson with a substantial dinner, and the school
enildren, 1,400 in number, were regaled with tea, cake, &c.
Then came the tradesmen's dinner, followed by an open air
concert by 400 voices, setected from the different choirs in
the island, Southampton, and Winchester. A handsome
orchestra was erected, and the e ingers, having been provided
with a cold collation under the marquee belonging to the
Agricultural Society, took their places on the orchestra,
and sang through a variety of national part songs, &c., to
the manifest delight ot nearly 20,000 people. Special
steamers and trains brought their thousands from Ports-
mouth, Southampton, Hyde. Newport, and other places.
LORD PALEIERSTON.—The London Correspon-
dent of the Liverpool Albion says :—"Lord Palmer.
ston is game yet, notwithstanding his failing health and
increasing infirmity. On Tuesday night, in the House of
Commons, he showed himself perfectly au fait with the
phraseology of the stable In the discussion about our
breeds of horses, he was full of turf technicalities—" leggy
weeds," " two-year-Olds," " featherweights," handicap-
ping, ko. On Thursday he rode on horseback down to
Harraw and back—a distance of at least 22 miles, 11 each
way—and was in the House of Commons the same evening.
' It was speech day at Harrow ; and the boys cheered him
lustily. The name " Henry Temple" remains on one ot
the desks there, where he cut it with a penknife 7',") years
ago, when he was a Harrow boy I
A letter from St. 134:tet sburg of the 24th ult. says

--Yesterday were launched from the naval building yard
near Cronstadt the ironclad floating battery Ne trone mania
(Touch me not), and the ironclad gunboat with two towers
the stne,etch. The tenth and last mentor with one tower
will be shor:ly launched. The Russian squadron of iron-
clads will be Os year composed of two floating batteries
and eleven monitors with towerston the system of Ericcson
and Kuiz.
In the Belgian Chamber of Deputies, two days
back, before resuming the discussion on the Budget
of Public Works, M. Orts, a member of the Left, brought
forward a motion for adding to the number of deputies in
the Chambers, The constitution fixes a representative for
every forty thousand inhabitants, according to which
calculation there is at present a deficiency of six de-
puties and three senators. The motion was accepted
by all the Opposition members, and a considerable
portion of the Ministerial supporters, and referred to a corn
mittee. Should the proposition be definitively agreed to,
es appears probable, Antwerp, Charleroy, Waremme, and
Philippeville will each gain one deputy, and Brussels two.
The Belgian Minister ot Foreign Affairs has re-
ceived from M. Max, Consul of Belgium at Athens, an
account of the progress of the cultivation of cotton in
Greece, from which it appears that this year's crop will
amount to between 14 and 16 millions of kilogrammes.
THE ROYAL WILTSHIRE LIFEBOAT.—A grand
demonstration took place at Marlborough. a few
days ago on the occasion of the naming and presentation
ot the "Royal Wiltshire" lifeboat, the coat of which had
been collected in the county by Captain N. J. Reed, R.N.,
of Marlborough. Early in the morning the town mani-
fested great interest la the humane undertaking ; and when
the lifeboat mounted on its transporting carriage, was
drawn' through the town by a team f
fine horses, gaily
decoraed, thousands of people followed the procession,
which was headed by a band of music. Captain Reed,
R.N., on behalf of the county of Wiltshire, presented the
boat to the National Lifeboat Institution. He said it .was
a proud day for him to assist irt' presenting the society with
so splendid a lifeboat on behalf of t,Lxe county of Wiltshire ;
-it wished the life
and he felt assured that every one prese.
boat "God Speed." Richard Lewis, Secretary• of
the National Li eboat Institution, then act,. e_,._,.
_e-I.:"
dged
brim --,
assured the crew of the lifeboat at Dover would always 137
tinguieh themselves in the Royal Witshire when the lout
of need came. (Hear, hear.) He referred to the remark-
able fact that last winter the neighbouring lifeboat at Rams.
gate, in conjunction with a steamtug, had saved 120 per-
sons from two shipwrecks on the Goodwin Sands, during
an awful midnight storm. The lifeboats of the institution
rescue on an average between 400 and 500 persons every
year; and altogeth .r, since the establishment of the society,
nearly 14,000 shipwrecked sailors had been rescued through
its instrumentality. (Cheers.) He requested them to imagine
such an army proceeding through their principal street, and
then to conceive the number of persons connected with
these 14,000 men, and they would probably find that 40,000
persons had been saved from being widows and orphans.
The Rev. T. W. Dowding then pronounced, in suitable
and impressive terms, a benediction on the lifeboat. Mrs
Kean, Capt, Reed's daughter, in the unavoidable absence
of the Marchioness of Ailesbury, proceeded, amidst hearty
acclamation of the people, to name the boat the Royal Wilt-
shire. The lifeboat was afterwards sent by rail to Dover.
ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL, GRAY'S-INN-ROAD.—
The number of patients relieved at this hospital during the
week ending the 2d of July was 3,923, of which 1,264 were
new cases.
The Hon. Edward Chandos Leigh is appointed
Recorder of Stamford, in the room of Mr Flowers, appointed
a mettopolitan police magistrate.—Observer.
MR. COLLEY GRATTAN, THE VETERAN AUTHOR
Or " HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS," now lies, we grieve to
learn, in a precarious state.
MR. CLVENTRY PATIVORE, the popular poet of
the domestic affections (yids " The Angel in the House")
has recently become a convert to the Roman Catholic

religion.
During a violent storm a few days ego the
lightning fell on the north-east side of the Puy-de. Dome,
and earned considerable damage to that part of the moun-
tain. A largo mass of earth, roots, and turf was preci-
pitated cown the steep, so that for a length of about 50
yards, by a breadth of 15, the rock which forms the top of
the Puy has been laid bare.
The Emperor of Austria has just appointed M.
Mendel Consul-General of Austria at Amsterdam. M.
Mendel h a it ss,
Count Walewski and the Countess Walevfolia
hsrve ani?ed at the battle of Mont,Dore,