The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-30 00:00:00

V re r
.....64 i 4, 0t t toi to 4'44

SUN OFFICE, Seven o' Clock.

THE ROYAL VISIT TO

THE CITY.

OPENING OF THE NEW
COAL EXCHANGE,
(THIS DAY.)

That loyalty which has on so many memorable
occasions peculiarly distinguished the citizens of
London—which demolished a \Vat Tyler in Smith•
field, and settled the fate of a Jack Cade—was
evinced in a reinarkable degree to-day on the visit of
the Royal Consort of Victoria, and the Prince of
%Vales and the Princess Royal, to the opening of the
New Coal Exchange. Such an event could not be
looked upon but as one of great importance in the
annals of the City. The first visit and introduction
of a youthful Prince of Wales—the future hope, and
it may be, the pride and glory of the kingdom—to
the most renowned corporation in the world
is an event which our chronologists have
occasion only at very long intervals to record, and
therefore may be fitly and judiciously chosen as a
period for a great civic demonstration. May it not
reasonably be expected, as this is his first appearance
in public—his debut, as it were, in that public
character in which perchance he may afterwards be
so much distinguished—that the warmth and loyalty
of his reception by the citizens will not only never be
effaced from his mind, but will induce him by every
act of his subsequent career to win their attachment ?

The disappointment of the public at the absence of
the Queen was of course considerable, and might
have had some effect in lessening the number of
spectators; and it was only exceeded by the regret
universally felt at that unfortunate indisposition
which prevented her honouring the ceremony with
her attendance.

The public, no doubt, would have been favourable
to a postponement until her Majesty was convalescent,
but, with that characteristic goodness which so much
distinguishes our Sovereign, she was unwilling to
sacrifice all the trouble and expense to which the
Corporation had gone in preparing for her reception.
By that happy fatality which has accorded, almost
in every instance, fine weather to royal processions
during the present reign, the day was as beautiful and
the air as mild as the most hopeful pleasure-seeker
could desire. The Goddess Aurora, as if to show her
approbation of the interesting ceremony, ushered into
existence one of those delightful mornings which,
even at this advanced period. of the year, are not
altogether foreign to our hemisphere. And the sub-
sequent applause of the day did not leave unfulfilled
the promises of the morning, for as it advanced the
shy became clearer, the sun brighter, and the atmos-
phere more salubrious. The spirits of all were con-
sequently cheered and exhilerated, and a zest created
for a thorough enjoyment of the spectacle about to
be witnessed.

The more immediate scene of action—the neigh
bourhood of the Coal Exchange—presented an ap-
pearance of extraordinary excitement and gaiety.
The Corporation and their officials seemed to be in a
perfect fury about the importance and responsibilities
of their position, and could only be compared
to a man coming into some unexpected
good fortune, and being incapable, from the
suddenness of the change, of distinguishing between
standing upon his head, and assuming his proper
perpendicular. If their loyalty had been confir.ed
under hydraulic pressure, and had suddenly got a
vent, their anxiety to give expression to it could not
have been snore unbounded. They were all attired
in Court dresses, wearing at the same time their
scarlet gowns and their chains and insignia of office,
and they certainly did no discredit to the rich and
powerful constituency which they represented. The
Aldermen who had passed the chair, and a priori
partaken most frequently of "ye sumptuous feasts
of ye ancient City," spoke volumes by their appear-
ance of the hospitality of the Corporation, for each of
them represented a corporation in his own person.
We were disappointed in finding the absence of that
well-known class of individuals who, with what
Justice we will leave the initiated to ask, have
acquired a world-wide reputation ; we allude to the
fish wives of Billingsgate. Although they may he
presumed to have a somewhat dubious claim to the

respect of the public, there cannot be a shadow of a
doubt that there is not a more loyal and patriotic
array of women in the kingdom. What would have
been a more interesting sight than an assemblage of
these redoubtable characters, not in their fishey
dresses, but in their best attire, with clean aprons, gay
ribbons, and jolly rubican countenances, which would
even bear comparison with an Alderman ? A visit
from a Prince of Wales would have set them almost
mad, and made them as enamoured of the little fellow
as the ladies of Scotland were of Prince Charlie. Un-
fortunately, these members of the softer sex have got
into bad repute, not so much through their own acts
as through their tongues; but it should be recollected
that their ♦ocabulary is as necessary to the sale of
fish as French is to a schoolmaster; and that, bad as
some think it is, it has been sadly corrupted by
foreign importations, for no slang phrase gets into
circulation now•a•days but it is said to belong to the
lexicon of Billingsgate.