The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-17 00:00:00

LIBERATION SOCIETY.

Yesterday morning the annual parliamentary break'
fast of the Liberation Society took place at the Cannon'
street Hotel, under the presidency of Mr. C. REED, art.
Among thoie present were A. Illingworth, M.P., 11'
Richard, M.P., Alderman Gourlay, M.P., J. Candlisb,
M.P., McCarthy Downing, M.P., Sir John Gral'
M.P., E. Miall, M.P., C. Reed, M.P., D. M`Laren, 'ALF"
Robert Macfie, M.P., S. Courtauld, the Hon. Aubera
Herbert, J. Crum-Ewing, M.P., Mr. Shaw, MX, Si'
George Young, Hon. George Brodrick, Rev. Nevilo2l)
Hall, Rev. Mr. Rogers, Mr. Wm. Sha,W, Mr. Charirei
Miall, Rev. Dr. Brock, Rev. T. Binney, and Mr. I"
Colman (Norwich).
The CHAIRMAN addressed the meeting in highly COIF
gratulatory terms, and expressed his belief that the 1C°11•
conformist bodies would give their hearty support to gr.
Gladstone's policy on the Irish Church.
Mn H. Richard, M.P., Mr. Duncan M‘Laren,
Mr. Crum-Ewing, 141. P., and Sir John Gray,
spoke especially on the question of the Irish Church.
The University Tests Bill was opened by Sir GENIC
YOUNG (Trinity College, Cambridge), in a lucid and stile
speech, fully explaining the disabilities under which N°ll'
conformists now labour, and the extent to which theY
would be removed by Sir John Coleridge's bill. 11::
necessity of a still more Radical measure was wail
urged by the Hon. George Brodrick and the Hon. Auber°-
Herbert.

Mr. CANDLISH, M.P., in the absence of Mr. Hadfield,
M.P., addressed himself to the Burials Bill.
The Rev. P. W. CLAYDEN, in the absence of
Michael, M.P., congratulated the meeting on the 01.
Bowed Schools Bill, which was characterised by the It:
Mr. Rogers and the Hon. G. Brodrick as a very ink
dent measure in its not throwing open the head waste'.
ships of the schools to Nonconformists.
The proceedings terminated by a vote of thanks to th°
chairman, moved by Mr. Illingworth, IVI.P.

THE PRINCE AND THE PRINCESS 01

WALES.

It seems from Dr. Russell's letters to the Times that Oa
progress of the Prince and the Princess of Wales up the
Nile is, on the whole, rather slow. " The procession o',
steamers winding in and out of the channel, and
ribandwise along the bends in the river, led by the elegae:
Farad Rabanie, and the royal barge with the roY°
standard and the Prince's own flying, while the sun
flashes at every turn from the white sides and gilt
mouldings of the ships, and is reflected back tr°ll3
the mirrors and burnished garniture of the saloilij
through the open ports, would surprise by its novelty,
though it would not reward the most patient to g°oo
watching it day after day. One cannot, says the doctor,
sketch, or write, or read, or lounge for ever. One date
palm is like another, each water-wheel is very much the
same as its neighbour, and the shadoofs vary only te
number of lifts and of the men who work them, and
the men—well, unless we go very close they are al"
uncommonly similar in hue and dress or want Of
though their rich brown is now and then diver,:
sified by the intense blackness of the Nubian
epidermis. No wonder, then, if in the intervalbetween tubbing in the. Nile water and the walk on deer
there is a longing for breakfast, and that when that isuled
the hour of lunch becomes of increasing importance, en
that towards the close of the day dinner time grallr.„ll9
asserts its claims, and the halt at sundown, which ah°
every one to go on shore'—i.e.,tbe next field on the had'.
is looked for with pleasure, the crowning joy of the d'irr;
if it be not a bull to say so—being the soft, cool VIII
when the stars twinkle and the moon shines aloft, and al
a
are invited to the hospitable saloon of the royal Yin,
where a generous welcome awaits them, and a dorb3ro
held till it is time to walk the plank, and seek each one -0,
ship by the blazing torchlights, and sink to sleep, lir°, I
lested, be it noted, of mosquito or nightly depredator lo
the most part of us."
One day, the 22nd of February, seems, however, to hnce
been a " jolly" one for all parties. It is thus described
"A day of small misadventure and of fatigue and toil fol
the Prince and Princess. It was arranged that her 11°Y.
Highness should proceed in a boat as far as the foot of the
First Cataract, about three miles above Assouan, where
donkeys were to be in waiting, in charge of Abd-el-Xnue.,
'
the Viceroy's aide-de-camp. The Nile above Assouan
bieaks into several streams, and meanders through °els
barren islands of sandstone and granite. The Prince s
took a wrong branch of the river, and ca-te
to a bank of loose, deep sand drifted on ~•0
a bed of craggy, glistening rocks. The Prince, after ol
visit to Lady Duff Gordon, went to another point belol
the Cataract, but where were the Princess and her partyi;
Abd-el-Kader, who had posted far-seeing Arabs on the
rocks, was in despair at the news that the Princess
boat was ascending another channel. He dashed rOOO
with his corps of donkey-boys to meet the Princess at c
place to which the boat appeared to be bound, sendin4'
the camels by a long detour, as they could not make 'v..;
by the rocky banks of the river, but when the nssi:‘,
arrived the Princess was not visible. By some
accident two very wretched donkeys were espied
the spot where the Princess landed. They had neit:i
saddle nor bridle, but on the back of each was a
without girths, and on these animals the Princess of W3';
and the Hon. Mrs. Grey had to poise theinseire:
and to plod under a burning sun towards rb'i x,
The Princess laughed at her novel situation and p
peared to enjoy her newly-found property of balan°,l.o
herself on a pad without any girths to keep it in its Pl.ed3
with intense lightheartedness. In an hour or so tud
came up with the Prince and Sir S. Baker, who baoilig
small experience of the pleasures of the day', in'',cl
waited for their donkeys for an hour and a bale,' and
the whole party now provided with animals enjoye° the
wonderful performance of the Arabs who swim down the
boiling current of the First Cataract for the benefit 0
tourist in the hope of backsheesh.' It has been often
described, but it must be seen by those who want to .1°;
an idea of savage man—why should I call bin' 63v:fere
though ?—as he battles with a mountain torrent ~
ces
civilisation has washed the energy of his native t° the
out of him ! A native Arab is never drowned top
whirling, boiling rush of waters. Several English
we were told, had tried it, and all had perished:, oa
spectators stand on rocks at the end of the fa",
distance lends decency to the blacks fellows, Na. lelent
from a ledge high up one after the other, and in a ni°'-001
are seen bobbing like the buoys of a fisherman's netw'birl.
then, with arms raised aloft alternately, are borne tstog
ing through the whitish foam to the feet of the ePec,acir.
sh an
eed scramh ble u
il p in
the their waistandcloths
Princess to fight fo
were to.
s.' W h e
tinning their ride over parched desert eat the
wards the green patch of trees which Inar7lty,
site of Philin from afar, the rest of the f;0100e1
consisting of Lord Stafford, Lord A. L. Gower, gr.
Stanton, Major Alison, the Hon. O. Montague!airet
Sumner, Sir H. Pelly, and myself, who had ridden riuryia
from Assouan—a route seven miles long over an:loE:t beef'
country, in a sun which would almost have cooked There,
steak—arrived at the little village belowtheislan-A •
crag
under the foot, but not the shade, of two castle-like art.
of rock, we found pitched a large tent in three e01:13430
ments, handsomely carpeted, a dinner tent caPnur the
receiving forty guests, and a couple of tents f°o the
accommodation of the servants. Close at hand wetrr
aris.
vessels to which the royal party were to be seeo
ferred, and long strings of camels were to be furni•
coming over the Desert with the stores and ~aract.
ture and baggage for the voyage to the Second egLeote
The orders bad been given to send on some refreen;its
to the island on which stands the Temple, lovely is
red
ruin, and thither, heated, sanded, and thirsty', rePafroin
the weary riders of stirrupless donkeys all the way ilex
Assouan. It does not sound much, but the sevell, ever
were, under the peculiar circumstances, the longestDitais.da
travelled. A rude bark ferried us over, and our _web
were naked little boys who floated on logs of wood,
they propelled by foot or hand with great ease, br To
the wood on which they lay in happy
security
00 of
the blazing heat we wandered about over the rultrote
,
the town of a few centuries old, and the 19755i0d,
slabs and columns of the temples of the Sacred
,seed
The royal party came not, and hour after hour Poiced
away amid the increasing uneasiness of the andv were
4uard, and, just as they had taken boat again 0f joY
returning to the opposite bank, the loud shrill crsonkeyo,
of the Nubian women was heard, and a group "'lv les de
among whom the Prince and the Princess of T, ale
de•
Mrs. Grey soon became discernible in the rays 0f the
landing
-place
the fseigrrhyt.,bmoaattnagrothugeihr sysiaoypet,olarruou,....:oo7
field of pulse. The visit of the royal party to the,irt.°''
was limited, of course by the want of claylio

THE LADIES OF THE PERIOD.—At a Paris fa;
concert it is written up, "Ladies aro requested 0"
smoke in this room." •

.vorking

Mr. Dykes, secretary to the Glasgow S'
Ye:,'s Conservative Association, his received a letter fr"-ds,
g
I,o)d Statley, int:matieg his wil;ingnoss. to receive 011 pg
(Bess front the Conservative crking men of Glasgow.cluri
his vi: it to that city next mout!,. ,r 9,1,3"
A PE EP INTO 14. UT URITY. —There is in the
yard attached to Maudlin-street Chapel, KilkennY'3lleitg
stone, erected since October 186:8, bearingof
inscription :—" Erected in memory of Patrick rower'h's
Maudlin-street, who died in 1819, aged 73 years. gaY,-1,10
soul rest in peace. Amen." This stone is erected bY
said Patrick Power, who is still living in Illaudlin-streel
and confidently asserts that ho is to die in the 113°Ditli,4°T
June next, or thereabouts. Meanwhile Pat rgulf":
visits the graveyard, says his prayers at the headstoill
ecc. ; but beyond this he seems eery little riled l'l)°°
concerned ,;1
the near ,p )r, "
• ,ao ,accordin; to his own account) el
dissolution.—DuVin,rx,prem. the follo vi