The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-28 00:00:00

The Prince and Princess of Wiles-

• About 8 o'clock-on Tuesday morninS the Osbori
with the Prince of Wales, General Knot s,
and td le
other members of his suite on board, reached ae
,
Scilly Isles. It was not until a few hours before th
at
the inhabitants were informed they were to be hon-
oured by a Royal visit. Early in the afternoon of
the previous day a revenue cutter had been despatched
from Penzance to apprise them of the Prince's corn; ng,
but she unluckily got becalmed near the " Sewen
Stones," little more than half-way to her destination,
and the men, being obliged to row on shore, were
unable to reach Scilly before 3 or 4 o'clock. on Tues-
day morning. The moment, however, the news
arrived, the inhabitants, with Mr. A. Smith, who
reigns supreme in this quarter, at their head, did all
that could be done to give the Prince a loyal welcome.
Their efforts to make his visit agreeable were power-
fully aided by the co-operation of Nature. The
Scilly Isles possess in the fine summer weather a pe-
culiar beauty. Situat ed some 30 miles west of the
Land's End, they are remarkable for the mildness of
their climate, and in particular spots for the extreme
luxuriance of the vegetation. Their name is derived
from one
.of their number, a little spot only about
an acre in extent. They belong to the Crown, but
they have ever since the reign of Elizabeth been
leased out to various persons. Some 32 years ago
the interest in them of the Duke of Leeds was
purchased by the present proprietor. There are five
principal islands, the largest of which is St. Mary's,
which is nine miles long, and numbers something
like 1,400 inhabitants. The remaining portion of
the population, which in all amounts to between
2,000 and 3,000, is divided among the islands of St.
Agnes, St. Martin, Tresco, and Bryher. There are,
however, dozens upon dozens of smaller islets, some
covered with a scanty herbage, and some mere rocks
tenanted only by sea-fowl. The circumference of
the entire group is about 30 miles, and there is in
the centre a tolerably sheltered anchorage for ships,
called " the Road." Here it was that the Osborne
lay to on Tuesday. Shortly after her arrival Mr.
Smith went on board, but it was not until eleven
o'clock that the Prince landed at Hughtown, the
metropolis of St. Mary's. By dint of great exertion,
a few triumphal arches were by that time erected, and
flags, of which, somehow or another, there must have
been a considerable stock in hand, were widely dis-
played. The little town turned out all its popu-
lation in holiday garb to meet his royal highness at
the pier, and they cheered him with all their hearts,
just as they had done at Fowey and Penzance and
other places. The Prince was accompanied by Mr.
Smith, who conducted him from the pier to Star
Castle, which is situated on the top of a hill com-
manding a view of nearly the whole of the islands.
Star Castle is a fortified place built in the reign of
Elizabeth, and was until recently garrisoned by a
detachment of artillery. When her Majesty and
the Prince Consort honoured Scilly with a visit in
1846 they were greeted by the battery of the castle
with a royal salute. But on Tuesday there were no
guns to fire, and there is upon the island but one
artilleryman, who is in daily expectation of being
draughted off to some station where there is work
to be done. The Prince, having for a few
minutes admired the view from this point,
go into a carriage of Mr. Smith's, which was in
readiness, and drove round the island, pausing to
look upon the ancient churchyard near Old Town,
and to gaze for a moment on the fine group of rocks
which form the headland of Peninnis. He after-
wards proceeded in a barge across " the Road" to
Tresco, which lies north-west of St. Mary's, visited
the beautiful gardens, stocked with the choicest
flow era, which Mr. Smith has been at great pains to
cultivate, and partook of luncheon at Mr. Smith's
residence, " the Abbey." The rest of the day the
Prince spent for the most part on board the Osborne,
from the decks of which he had an opportunity of wit-
nessing one of those rarely beautiful sunsets for
which these islands are remarkable. Seen from the
heights of Star Castle, " the Road," which from that
point wears the appearance of a considerable lake
fringed by islets, seemed bathed in light, as were
the islets themselves, and the thousand outlets be-
tween them into the sea. Between St. Martin's and
St. Mary's a group of rocks called the Eastern
Islands arc much admired for the extraordinary
forms which they present. Indeed the same may
be said of the numerous other groups which crop up
in every direction. But lovely as the scene might
have been on Tuesday evening under the influence
of the golden and crimson sunset, and frequent as
such scenes may be throughout the summer, it is not
easy to tempt tourists to a spot so out of the way as
Scilly.. But in favourable weather the voyage across
from Penzance can be made, as it is three times a
week now by the Little Western steamer, in four
hours, and to a tourist finding himself in the vici-
nity of the Land's End the trip could hardly fail to
prove agreeable. In winter nothing can well be more
bleak or more lonely than these little dots on the
ocean. The storm-petrel, and cormorant, and sea-
gull have the rocks nearly all to themselves. Still
there are several of the inhabitants, now grown old,
who have never seen any other winter than that
which here visits them so dismally.
Mr. Smith rules his subjects, with a mild but firm
sway, from " the Abbey" at Tresco. Now that
he is relieved from assiduous attention in the
House of Commons, and the perplexing investi-
gation of the eccentricities of the national expen-
diture, he will have full leisure to exercise his
financial powers in controlling and directing the
revenues of Scilly. Mr. Smith had the honour of
dining in the evening on board the Osborne, which
lay in " the Road" until 4 o'clock yesterday morn-
ing, when she set out on her return to Penzance,
where she arrived shortly after 7. Between 11 and
12 the Princess of Wales, who stayed at Mount St.
Michael's during the Prince's trip to Scilly, together
with the Duchess of Sutherland and the Countess
de Grey and Ripon, was rowed out to the royal yacht
in Mr. St.Aubyn's barge, the boatmen dressed in the
same quaint costume as before. Her Royal Highness
on the previous day landed at Marazion, and took a
drive in one of Mr. St. Aubyn's carriages in the
neighbourhood of Penzance.
The Osborne, soon after the Princess caw e on
board, set out for Falmouth, but not before an ad-
dress had been presented to her Royal Highness by
the ancient corporation of the little town of Mara-
Zion.

About 2 o'clock the Osborne rounded Falmouth
harbour, and shortly after there was a royal salute
fired from the Castle Battery. Upon the pier im-
mense crowds were congregated, and triumphal
arches were erected in the town, as they had been all
along the routes taken by the royal party since their
arrival in Cornwall. The Falmouth Volunteers
were drawn up in line upon the quay. Addresses
were, soon after the Osborne came to an anchor, pre-
sented to their Royal Highnesses on board, on the
part of the corporation of Falmouth and Truro, and
of the Falmouth Docks Company. Subsequently '
the Prince and Princess landed on the pier, on a
staircase carpeted with crimson cloth, and drove in a
carriage which had been provided by Mr. Tweedie,
of Truro, for the occasion, by Pendennis Castle. On
their return to the quay they embarked on board
the Undine and proceeded up Truro river—passing
on their way Tregothnan-house, the seat of Lord
Falmouth—as far as Victoria Point, where her Ma-
jesty landed in 1846. The Undine then put about,
and the Prince and Princess returned to the Os-
borne, which remained in the harbour till midnight,
and then set sail for Cowes.
Their Royal Highnesses, before leaving both
Mount's Bay and Falmouth, expressed more than
once the great pleasure they had derived from their
visit to Cornwall.

PORTLAND, July 27.
The Royal yacht Osborne, with their Royal High-
nesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, arrived at
noon. .After inspecting the Breakwater works they
re-embarked and proceeded eastward at 2 30.

THE FALL OF A HOUSE IN CHANDOS-STREET.—
Yesterday afternoon, the inquiry into the .death of
Andrew Daws, who was killed by the fall of houses in
Chandos-street last Tuesday week, was resumed at Char-
ing-cross Aospital. Several witnesses were examined in
reference to the cause of the accident, and it appeared that
both houses were in good order, but as Mr. Dent, surveyor,
appointed by the coroner to look over the premises, with a
view to making a report, was not ready, the inquiry was
adjourned until four o'clock on Tttesday next.