The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-20 00:00:00

PARLIAMENT

EXHIBITION

Were it to be asked—What is there for Parliament
still to do, and why should it sit till the middle of August,
there are people who would be at no loss for a reply.
There are people, that is to say, who at all times and
seasons, and under all possible eircumetances, will advise
the immediate commencement of the most arduous un-
dertakings, to bo pressed with the greatest rapidity, in
the face of the most formidable obstacles. What is
there for Parliament to do! Parliament has to reform
itself. Parliament has to deliver the administration of
law from abuses a thousesee
years old. Parliament Ism
to
give• the metropolis what it has not—municipal matt-
tutione: Parliament has to solve a hundred problems
t
that have long been vexing tae brains of journalists,
and converting shiploads of good paper into unreadable
pamphlets. Consult these people, and at twelve o'clock
on aay Saturday night they would have the Cabinet
summeeed and Parliament assembled for the immediate
enactment of household suffrage and vote by ballot. On
the principle that good deeds are never out of season,
they would have Parliament set about the entire recon-
struction of the British Constitution at the very moment
when it is difficult to muster a House for any purpose
whatever. We are perfectly aware that we shall not
please all men by suggesting the consideration of time
and place; but believing, as we do, that there is a time
for all things, and that opportunity is one of the first
conditions of success, we must say that just now it is
not very easy to answer the question, " What is there
for Parliament still to do, and why should it sit till the
middle of August?"
The Great Exhibition has killed everything else. The
Court, the two Houses of Parliament, the nobility, the
gentry, the commonalty, the army, the police, carriages,
cabs, and emnibusses are all dancing attendance upon
it. The shops are unfrequented. The places of public
amusement are comparatively deserted. Even the rail-
ways lore their summer excursionists. Hampton Court
and Greenwich exhibit in vain their horse chestnuts in
bloom and their whitebait in season. We question
whether even the great Derby-day will attract :to large
a fraction of a million as it hat usually done. The
tall plant in Hyde-park has smothered everything in its
neighbourhood. The Exhibition is London; the Exhi-
bitiou is the Parliament; it is the British empire; it is
house end home; it is drawing-room and
sstudy;part
and
isd
p arterre, conservatory, and promenade; it is
club; it ie shop and bazaar, theatre, picture gallery,
paaorame—everything,, in a • word, which es man
or a. . woman wants in the metropolis. The
potsessor of a season ticket, with a small surplus for
cabse or, in default attract; a geed pair of
legs, is set up 'for the eessou. In a palace large
enough to be a .glaes.case for Versailles, or Windsor
Castle, filled with all that is ingenious, precious, beauti-
fal, carious. or rare, he walks at large, monarch of all ho
surveys. From the regalia of Indian dyeasties to the
last invention of Europeau science—from thermic manu-
factures of people who dwell by the desert, or under the'
llountains of the Moue, to the patent for separating the
long and short fibres of wool, which is to found a new
family of millionaires, everything that the eye can gaze
on or the mind can comprehend, invites admiration.
There is no door to be opened—no wants intimated—no
importunity to be repelled—no purchases expected. To'
all appearance some twenty or thirty theusund of this
metropolis have resolved to erajoy themselves in this
palace till they are compelled to Le content with two
days in the week, or to be lost in a crowd still larger
than themselves. But such days aed such insatiable
wanderings are very exhaustive. Even two or three
bouts amid " the hum of zealous " is enough to knock
up a strong man ; and we question whether, since the
war, there ever was such an amount of physical and
mental fatigue us there has been in this metropolis every
eveniug since the first of this month.
Parliament cannot continue to sit with any effect in the
face of so powerful a rival, and with so great a drain en
the strength of legislators as well as of all other classes.
June and July, too, have other attractions, which will
begin to hold up their heads and exert their influence,
should the novelty of the Exhibition wear off. The
season will probably be one of more than usual hospi-
tality; for there is hardly a family of any position or
means in the country that will not find its way to town.
With so much to distract, and so much to fatigue, it is
useless to say that Members of Parliament ought to be
at their posts, to make a House when wanted, to support
their party, and do other political drudgery. They
ought perhaps, but nevertheless they will not. The
session will be the struggle of a sleepy man under a long
and heavy sermon. He may open his eyes, shake him-
self, and pinch himself, but all to no purpose. After a
hundred convulsive efforts at attention, he will be utterly
unable to state either the text or the subject of the dis-
course. He will have lost an hour, and gained nothing
bat the discredit of an involuntary inattention. Perhaps
the House of Commons ought to do more this session;
but, in matter of fact, it will do no more. It will only
waste its time, and injure its character by an obstinate
and slovenly perseverance in its duties, when it has
neither the heart nor the strength for them. Under such
circumstances the sooner it shuts up shop the better for
itself, and the better eventually for the business of the
country.—Times.

HER MAJESTY'S STATE BALL.
The Queen gave last evening a State Ball at Buck
ingham Palace, to a most brilliant Court, the invitations
exceeding 2,100. The arrangements were similar to the
first reception; this season, the entire suite of State
Saloons being opened and brilliantly illuminated with
handsome crystal metres and gilt chandeliers; the Gar-
ter-room and Ante-room at the scu.h end of the Picture
Gallery wore also opened for the accommodation of the
numerous visitors. The choicest exotics and fragrant
flowers were tastefully arranged in the alcoves behind
the elevated seats reserved for her Majesty and her
Royal guests, both in the Ball-room and also in the
Throne-room; groups of flowers also adorned the Pic-
ture Gallery and the Grand Hall.
The company began to arrive soon after 9 o'clock,
those having the entree alighting by the temporary gar-
den entrance, and the general circle entering the Palace
by the Grand Hall. All the visitors were conducted by
the principal staircase through the Green Drawing-
room to the Picture Gallery and the Grand Saloon.
Her Majesty the Queen and his Royal Highness
the Prince Albert entered the Grand Saloon at a quar-
ter before 10 o'clock, accompanied by her Royal High-
ness the Duchess of Kent, their Royal Highnesses the
Prince and Princess of Prussia, his Royal Highness
Prince Frederick William of Prussia, his Royal High-
ness Prince Henry of the Netherlands, his Royal High-
ness the Duke of Cambridge, their Royal Highnesses the
Duke and Duchess of Saxe Coburg Gotha, his Royal
Highness the Duke Ernest of Wurtemburg, his Serene
Highness the Prince of Leiningen, and his Serene
Highness Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar.
Her Majesty and her august circle passed through the
assembled company in the Grand Saloon, and were con-
ducted by the Lord Chamberlain to the Ball-room,
where Mr. BOOFES quadrille band was in attendance.
The general circle followed the Queen and Prince Albert
and their Royal guests into the Ball-room.
The Queen wore a blonde dress over white silk, with
coloured flowers of various kinds worked on it, orna-
mented vith bunches of flowers to correspond, and dia-
monds. Her Majesty's headdress was formed of a wreath
of flowers of various kinds to correspond with the dress,
ornamented with diamonds.
Her Majesty opened the ball with his Royal Highness
the Prince of Prussia, in a quadrille, at five minutes be-
fore ten o'clock; the vis-a-vis being his Royal Highness
the Duke of Saxe Coburg Gotha and the Duchess of
Sutherland. The other members of the Royal party
joined in this quadrille.
After this dance, a number of quadrilles, waltzes, and
other dances were performed in the Ball-room, by Mr.
Boose's quadrille band.
Dancing afterwards commenced in the Throne-room,
(where Jullien's band was stationed) with
The Great Exhibition Quadrille ...... Jullien.
In the orchestra were Herr Kceaig (cornet a piston),
M. Collinet (flageolet), Messrs. Baker, Cooper, Doyle,
Lavigne, Cioffi, Jarrett, C. Harper, Anglois, Collins, &c.
The following dances were played by the band during
he evening:—

Quadrilles.
La Tempests, from Halevy's Opera.
The Nepalese •• • O. • • • Jullien•
Enfant Prodigue Auber.
Valses.
Straus.
Karl Buller.
.•• •••
Polkas
Karl Buller.
lion. Capt. Mildmay
•••
Doyle.

Dabutanten •••
MaliWe
La Mandolins ...

The Crystal Fountain ...
Die Zapfenstreich ...
Polka des Poignarda
The Koh•i-noor

..•
Golops•
„ Karl Buller.
The Amazon and Tiger
.
. Jullien
Jullien.. The Review •••
The Derb •••
the evening the company were served with rei.
frepshuoarienng the
in the Garter-room and the Green Drawing.
room.
A State supper was served with regal magnificence,
soon after twelve o'clock, in the principal dinner-room,
on long ranges of tables; the splendour of the service
heightened by the consummate taste of the
decoration. They were most brilliantly lit by gold
candelabra.

COURT CIRCULAR.
The Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the
Prince and Princess of Prussia, Prince Frederick Wil-
liam of Prussia, the Duke and Duchess of Saxe Cobourg
Gotha, and the Duke of Wurtemburg, left. Buckingham
Palace at nine o'clock yesterJay morning, to continue
the inspection of the Exhibition of the Works of In-
dustry of all Nations. The Royal suites consisted of
the Hon. Beatrice Eyn,,e, the Countess A. do Hacke,
Baroness Wangenheim, Col. Hon. C. Grey, Lieutenant-
Colonel F. H. Seymour, Major von Boyen, Lieutenant
Heim. z,and M. B. de Treskow.

Her Majesty end Prince Albert returned to Buck-
ingham Palace at half-past eleven o'clock.
The Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred, attended by
Mr. Birch, also visited the Exhibition.
The Duchess of Kent, accompanied by the Prince of
Leiningen, and attended by Lady Fanny Iloward,
Baroness de Speth, and Sir George Coupe'', also in-
spected Exhibition yesterda morning. •
Prince the
Frederick William ofy Prussia, returned to
Buckingham Palace on Saturday night from Liverpool.
ur; visited the
The Duke and Duchess de Nemo
Queen yesterday, and also paid a visit to the Duchess
of Kent.
Princ© Albert, attended by Lieutenant-Coloneljth therin cess
esterday
Seymour, rode out on horseback
w y.
Alice,
In the afternoon the Queen,c
accompanied by the Princess of Prussia and the Duchess
of Saxe Cobourg Gotha, took a drive in an open car-
riage and four; Colonel the Hon. C. Grey end Lieutc-
nant-Colonel the lion. H. Boyle attended on horseback.
Prince Albert, accompanied by the Prince and
Prince IFrederick Wall= of Prussia, the Duke of Saxe