The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-04 00:00:00

preme and paramount.
It befits the loyalty of course of the Council
of the Royal Horticultural Society, while
obeying the behest of Her Most Gracious
MAJESTY, and while accepting the offer of His
Royal Highness the Prince of WALES (an offer
which we shall take occasion immediately to specify
as comprised within the closing sentence of
H.R.H.'s letter), it befits the loyalty of the Society's
Council, of course, to express, at the same time, the
regret with which they contemplate the loss of
Her MAJESTY'S statue. Yet it cannot surely but be
recognised by everyone, as clearly as it is first of all
recognised by her MAJESTY herself, that the most
appropriate statue wherewith to crown the memorial
of the Great International Exhibition of 1851 must
be—not that of the QUEEN in whose reign it took
place, but that rather of the august and gifted
PRINCE, her MAJESTY'S Husband, in whose refined
and cultivated genius the whole magnificent scheme
originated. The Exhibition of 1851 was the
original suggestion, was the superb creation of his
late Royal Highness; and it is but fitting, conse-
quently, that his effigy, and the effigy of no other than
himself, should crown and complete the memorial of
that resplendent enterprize.
As to the gracious offer with which the communi-
cation of the Prince of WALES to the Council of

the Royal Horticu!tural Society closes—that
is one certainly which is eminently deserving consi-
deration—particularly couched, as it is, in language
so eloquent with the tenderness of filial love and

gratitude. " Anxious," writes the young Prince
in conclusion, "Anxious, however humbly, to testify
my respectful and heartfelt affection for the best of

fathers, and the gratitude and devotion of my so:•
rowing heart, I have sought, and have with thank.

fulness obtained, the permission of the QUEEN my
mother to offer the feeble tribute of the admiration

and love of a bereaved son, by presenting the statue
thus proposed to be placed in the gardens under
your management." And so has it in consequence
been now definitively decided.
The memorial of the Great International Ex-
hibition of 1851 will he crowned, as it ought
by right and in reason to be, by the statue
of the Originator and Creater of the Exhibi.
tion, his Royal Highness ALBERT the PRINCE
CONSORT of England : and that effigy, while it will

servo to remind the people, of after times
et? the genius and philanthropy of tho de-
parted PRINCE, will affectinzly commemorate

also the tender regrets and the grateful affection
with which his beloved memory was treasured by
hi© eldest son, ALBERT EDWARD, tlio future King of
England.

Here, however—in this suggestion of the QUEEN,
and in this proposition of the Prince of WALES—
Iet us hope that the notion of commemorating his
late Royal Iligianess's memory dawn in the neigh-
bourhood of Kensington will terminate. The me-
morial to be raised in honour of the Great Prince,
and of his master-v; ork the Great Exhibition (of 1851)
at Kensington Gore, is in the notion of it, and in
every possible point of view—admirable. Nothing

reasonably gratify our Northern friends after such
a series of disasters. The skill was worth more
than all—there having been hitherto such a total
want of it on the side of the Federals.

The Confederates appear, however, to be in un-
diminished force near Washington. Not long ago
they attempted the passage of the river, and had
collected, to the surprise of the North, not less than
50 boats. The attempt was, however, frustrated.
By this mail we observe that a force of the Fede-
rals having advanced a little to reconnoitre, and to
seek forage, it was met immediately by four regi-
ments of infantry, one of cavalry, and a battery of
six pieces of artillery. After an hour and a half's
action the Confederates,we are told,were thoroughly
routed, with a loss of 60 killed, and of all their
equipments, the Federals only losing 10 men. This
also is a little encouraging to the North, but it

seems also to show that the Southerns are close at
hand in considerable force ; and they have, as we
know, long commanded the ascent of the Potomac
from the sea to Washington.

An admirable letter addressed by his Royal
Highness the PRINCE of WALES to the Council of
the Royal Horticultural Society will be read with
profound interest by the community at large. It
may sound the merest commonplace, yet it is at the
same time the literal truth, to remark, as hardly
any one can fail to do instinctively, that it is a
communication that does honour alike to the head
and heart of the young PRINCE. It is :writithi
within a week from the interinent of the beloved
and ever-lamented father of the heir apparent fo
throne of England. Five days after his Royal
Highness has assisted as Chief Mourner at the
solemn sepulture of those dear remains, he takes
pen in hand at Osborne on the 28th of December,
1861, to express in the most simple and natural
affecting manner the emotions of tender regret and
grateful remembrance, henceforth sanctifying for
the QUEEN and her children the every recollection
of their dead Father and Husband. " Prostrated
with overwhelming grief," writes his Royal
Highness, " and able, at present, to turn her
thoughts but to one object, the QUEEN, my mother,
has constantly in her mind the anxious desire of
doing honour to the memory of him whose good
and glorious character the whole nation in its sorrow
so justly appreciates." The young Prince then goes
on to explain how it is that her MAJESTY now
proposes to do this in the first instance—the pur-
port in fact of his Royal Highness's missive to the
learned Council, who are the recipients of his gra-
cious communication. " Actuated," he writes, "by
this constantly recurring wish, the QUEEN has
commanded me to recall to your recollection that
her MAJESTY had been pleased to assent to a pro-
posal to place a statue of herselfupon the memorial of
the Great Exhibition of 1351, which it was intended
to erect in the new Horticultural Gardens." The
sentence which then immediately follows contains
within it perhaps the most graceful and gene-
rous tribute that has yet been paid in words to
the memory of his Royal Highness the PRINCE
CONSORT ! His eldest son, writing of him so very
truthfully and tenderly thus ;—" The characte-
ristic modesty and self-denial of my deeply-lamented
father had induced him to interpose to prevent
his own statue from filling that position, which
properly belonged to it, upon a memorial to that
great undertaking which sprung from the thought
of his enlightened mind, and was carried through
to a termination of unexampled success by his
unceasing superintendence." Any such magnani-
mous self-abnegation, however, his widowed CON-
SORT cannot for an instant dream of allowing
thus, in his regard, to be posthumously perpe-
tuated. "It would now, her MAJESTY directs me
to say," continues the Prince of WALES, "be
most hurtful to her feelings were any other statue
to surmount this memorial but of the great, good
PRINCE, my dearly beloved father, to whose honour
it is in reality raised. The QUEEN, therefore,"
he adds, " would anxiously desire that, instead of
her statue, that of her beloved husband should
stand upon this memorial." Than which—by the
way—we cannot well imagine to ourselves any
more splendid or appropriate memento to the noble
life now so prematurely terminated. For—beyond
all question—among the individual achievements of
the Royal CONSORT of Queen VICTORIA, the Great
International. Exhibition of 1851 stands forth su-