The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-02 00:00:00

YACHTS AND PACKETS.

Victoria and Albert royal yacht, Captain Lord A.
Fit zclarence.

Fairy, screw-tender to ditto, Master Corn. Welch,
Black Eagle Admiralty yacht, Master Corn. Cook.
Banshee steam-packet, Master Corn. W. Smithett.
Vivid steam•packet, Master Com. L. Smithett.
MEN-OF-WAR ESCORT.
The Hogue, 60 guns, 500 men, screw two-decker,
Captain M'Dougall.
The Arrogant, 46 guns, 450 men, screw frigate, Cap •
tain R. Fitzroy.
The Dragon, 8 guns, 200 men, frigate, Captain W.
H. Hall.

The Sphinx, 6 guns, 160 men, sloop, Commander
Hewlett. _

The Stromboli, 6 guns, 160 men, sloop, Commander
Lord A. Beauclerk.

The Trident, 3 guns, 65 men, gun•vessel, Lieutenant
Risk.

The Lucifer, 2 guns, 55 men, gun-vessel, Lieutenant
E. Lloyd.

On the departure of the Royal squadron from Dublin
all the above-named vessels will proceed to some dis-
tance with her Majesty, when the Hogue, Arrogant,
and Dragon will part company with the royal standard
and proceed to Devenport.
The squadron will then go on to Belfast, and
thence to Greenock ; and after the debarkation of
her Majesty and Prince Albert, the royal yacht, with
the Fairy, Stromboli, and Sphinx, will return to
Portsmouth ; the Lucifer and Trident, to Cork ; the
Banshee, to Holyhead ; the Vivid, to Dover ; and the
Black Eagle, to Devonport, to await the orders of the
Admiralty.
PORTSMOUTH, WEDNESDAY NlGHT.—Never has a
Sovereign of this empire prepared to visit Ireland in
so quiet and unostentatious a manner as that which
her Majesty this day adopted since the time George
IV. crept on board the little Holyhead steam •packet
and fought his way to the royal carriage through the
unruly crowds at the obscure harbour of Howth.
The departure of our monarchs for that country
hitherto has been signalised by all the pomp and
circumstance of war, with a single exception. A
countless flotilla of half-decked boats, filled with
archers and men-at-arms, set forth from some
stirring port on the west to accompany their
King on a mission of conquest and subjection, or
a fleet of high-pooped caravels laden with grim
Puritans or gay Jacobites and Cavaliers, swept
across the channel, to make Ireland a battle-field, in
which victory was a sure token of disaster to thou-
sands of inhabitants. Whether as King, Protector,
or Pretender, the armed representative of the so-
vereignty of England set foot on the .
Irish shores
with hostile armies in his train; but it reserved
for us to see happier days, and fortunate indeed will
it be for the empire should the anticipations of peace
and goodwill which the Queen's visit to that distracted
kingdom give rise to be even in some small degree
realised. A day of bright sunshine—scarce wind
enough to swell the white sails of the yachts that
floated on the waveless sea, and a sky without a cloud,
were favourable auguries for the Royal voyage. But
few persons were assembled to witness its corn-
mencernent, what millions will celebrate its termi-
nation ! The yachts at Cowes were dressed with flags.
Some hundreds of persons were on the look-out from
points which commanded the embarkation, and an oc-
casional glass was in play from the more distant
heights and the opposite shore, but no public excite-
ment of any kind marked the great event of the day.
At half-past 12 o'clock the little squadron in Cowes
road, which had been for some time before busily
engaged in making as much smoke (and we presume
getting up as much steam) as possible, were under