The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-07 00:00:00

THE PRINCE'S VISIT TO CANADA.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)

QUEBEC, AUG. 23.
On Monday, Aug. 20, when I despatched my
Last brief letter, I mentioned that the weather was
then about as intensely unfavourable for all the
arrangements connected with the Prince's visit as
could possibly be imagined. It rained for about 14
hours with a steady, dull monotony of water, as if it
meant to wash away Quebec, 'winding up in the
night with a terrific thunder storm, which left the
air rather thicker than it was before, and certainly
no drier. The decorations of some of the arches
were decomposed into the dimmest and most extra-
ordinary outlines of their former selves, the bal-
conies were limp and frowzy, and people groped
their devious ways through the streets under the
branches of small wet fir-trees, that rendered an
umbrella doubly necessary at the time they utterly
prevented its use; in faot, these festive evergreens
seemed only to answer the purpose of wetting the
benighted struggling passengers, save where the
wind had overturned them across the footway in
dark corners, where they all at once fulfilled another
and still more unpleasant duty for those who did.
not cautiously look whore they were treading.
The streets and little by-ways of Quebec (the latter
always the majority) were trodden into swamps,
neither mud nor water, though partaking largely of
the most unpleasant attributes of both, and in these
crowds of Canadians squattered and splashed, for
many had come into town that day to see the fire-
works which were appropriately fixed for the even-
ing, as affording some variety after the rather libe-
ral allowance of the other element. On such a day,
of course, all jumped to. the conclusion that nothing
would be done by his Royal Highness, and the idea
was encouraged by every rational and sober-minded
person in the town. But Royalty has its duties,
&c., and as it had been arranged that the Prince
was to make a private and unostentatious visit to the
falls of the Chaudiere on this day, to the falls he went
accordingly—though as long as his Royal Highness
remains in America he is never likely again to pass
through so much water to see so little. Mark
Tapley himself would have succumbed to the adverse
influences of such weather; and had the trip been
arranged for anybody short of Royalty it would
have been thought sheer lunacy to adhere to it.
But the programme for the Prince is clung to
everywhere with desperate tenacity, and the laws
of the Medes and Persians seem mere by-rules when
compared with this. So the Prince and his suite
pushed their way through the dense rain as they
best could, and saw the tumbling, smoking falls of
the Chaudiere, which, as their name implies, seethe
away in spray as if their waters were boiling hot ,
and fell steaming among the rocks. Their effect,
however, must have been rather lessened in Royal
estimation by the weather of the morning, for
such a waterfall as they had passed through to
reach them was almost enough to make anything
short of Niagara seem tame and dull. If the
programme is to be followed throughout after this
fashion, I can only say that his Royal High-
ness is certain to come back a sadder and a
wiser man, for the mere personal fatigue in-
volved in these continued journeys, balls, ad-
dresses, and receptions would wear down almost a
constitution of iron. That the inexhaustible fund
Of good humour and good spirits which his Royal
Highness possesses will carry him through anything
I well believe, but I almost fear arrangements must
be made for relieving the suite, who, though of
course not wanting in the amiable characteristics
which distinguish his Royal Highness, do not possess
that charm against all excitement and fatigue which
belongs alone to youth. As for mere journalists and
correspondents, who have to go everywhere, see
everything, travel all day and write all night, relays
of them should be ordered in advance along the route
like post horses. A great many programmes of
what the Prince is to do each day during his Cana-
dian tour have been given to the public by the
American and Canadian journals. Not one of
these has been entirely correct, as, till this after-
noon, nose was definitely decided on for the route
from Quebec. I subjoin it now with its latest
alterations, from the day of his landing here to his
final departure from the Canadas. None of your
readers who glance at this and bear in mind that
the visit to the States is to follow on it immediately,
and that this, in balls and entertainments, is likely
to be the hottest work of all, will think I have at
all over-estimated the amount of fatigue both his
Royal Highness and suite will have to endure before
the tour is over. Nothing has yet been decisively
fixed for the American trip.
It is proposed that the Agricultural Exhibition
of Upper Canada, for which very extensive ar-
rangements are beirg made, shall be opened by his
Royal Highness at Hamilton. At Hamilton seve-
ral gentlemen have offered to place their houses at
the service of his Royal Highness, but considering
the limited time at his Royal Highness's disposal,
and that his other residences, whether at Toronto
or at the Falls, are so accessible, it is possible his
convenience may be better suited by engaging a
portion of the hotel at Hamilton, and arrangements,
subject to his Royal Highness's sanction, have been
made accordingly at the Royal Hotel, Hamilton. It
is proposed that an entertainment shall be given on
the Exhibition-ground to the agricultural popula-
tion, and also that his Royal Highness be requested
to inaugurate the new City Waterworks and visit
the Central School. It is also proposed that a num-
ber of Indians from Brantford shall be brought to
Hamilton during the Exhibition."
From this point his Royal Highness goes direct
to the falls of Niagara, and here the Canadian Go-
vernment leave him for a few days' rest, when he
at once passes into the United States. As to the
time or direction of his tour here nothing whatever
is definitively decided yet, beyond that as a matter
of course a visit will be paid to Washington, and
one to Ne ve York. The port for departure, it is
now almost certain, will be Boston.
Beyond the damp visit to the Falls of the Chau •
diere I have already mentioned that nothing of note
took place on Monday the 20th. If I paid the least
attention to popular rumour, or believed in the often
offensive and always ridiculous canards everywhere
afloat about his Royal Highness, I could easily fill
up my letters with such thrilling adventures by flood
and field, of daring feats attempted, mingled with
absurd impertinences and gaucheries committed here
and there, as would, no doubt, impart a most pecu-
liar interest to my narrative. But alas !in this
matter I find myself everywhere fettered by the
unfortunate necessity of adhering only to what is
true, and rejecting at once the half-romantic, half-
scandalous garbage with which, in the way of private
anecdotes of the Prince, some of the American
journals are just now entertaining their readers.
As a matter of course, their fancy sketches differ
considerably in their outlines, and not less so in
the deductions as to character drawn therefrom,
if all of which are to be believed his Royal High-
ness must be one of the most extraordinary com-
pounds of chivalry, impudence, dignity, and buf-
foonery that ever landed in America. According
to one he is represented as systematically in-
sulting his partners in the dance by refusing to
gave them his right hand. Another portrays him
as amusing himself by shooting soda-water corks at
the head of the Duke of Newcastle during lunch.
One of the illustrated papers will shortly have a
thrilling woodcut of his Royal Highness as he ap-
peared when rescued from the deep and dangerous
waters of the Saguenay by a gentleman named
Price. Already there is a rumour of his horse
having run away with him when on his way to
Montmorenci, and of the infuriated animal having
jumped clean across the Falls, or something equally
monstrous and improbable. An account of this will
doubtless appear in time, written with all the wealth
of adjectives peculiar to that style of composition
known among Americans as " Hivalutin." For all
these lively but frivolous anecdotes there is not a
particle of foundation. They all have their origin
in a morbid appetite for " sensation writing"
which
is just now so unusually strong that these rank
morsels are swallowed with an avidity that must
in the end severely tax the imaginations of the re-
porters if the diet is to be continued. Some of the
higher New York journals are honourabl:dexl mceap-
lions to this, but they are exceptions,
a
sorry 'to say, rare ones. His Royal Highness.ter lite-
rally must,
indeed, be cautious how he slips here, h
rally or metaphorically. At the ball on Tuesday
night his Royal Highness, in waltzing, caught his
spurs in a lady's dress, lost his balance and fell
slightly, releasing his partner before he did so. In
10 minutes afterwards, I am told, it was telegraphed
to the New York press that " his Royal Highness
ichba
had a heavy fall while dancing in fifthaltllhwtehayussdistin.
et . "
Next day, one of the leading New York papers,
rwui
shhit,the
headedtaste
iandts
account de l c y
of which
the
THE CANADIAN COMMOTION.
Splendid Splurge of the Quebeckers.
The Prince at the Grand Ball given by the City.
He danced Twenty-two Times, tripped and fell,
his
Beautiful Partner rolling over him.
Honi soit qui mal y pen„.
The Prince immediately picked himself and Partner up and
continued the Dance.
Levees, Fireworks, and Dinners.
Curious Prince's
Terrible Flutter of Crinoline.
Barber.
Salutes,
curious Illuminations,
Speculation
of the
Souvenirs of Royalty.
One of the Government Steamers placed at the Disposal of

the Reporters; &c.
How this little mishap was detailed in various
narratives, each more coarse and vulgar if possible
One
puts that which preceded it, I need not sat.
puts on record that he always wears very ill-
fitting dirty white gloves ; another, that ~ his hair
is soft, with a strong tendency to grow clown on the
forehead, while his head is well shaped, and would
indicate mildness, firmness, benevolence, quicicness
of perception, a love of music"—
and a trifling
knowledge of the trombone, it should have added to