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

see, that one can properly appreciate the nature and
niversality' of the welcome given him. Except
on one or two remarkable occasions, I have never
seen anything like it at Royal progresses in
England. Each city seems to strive to surpass
what has gone before it, and we already know
by rumour that the preparations for the ball at
Montreal are being made on such a scale of lavish
splendour and expense as, if all be true, must make
it one of the grandest fetes that have ever been
attempted in Canada. It must, however, be a very
brilliant one indeed to surpass that of Quebec.
About 1,000 guests were present in all, among
them a large muster of naval and military officers ;
and, as usual, when the sister services meet on these
occasions, the military generally go to the wall.
There is an impetuosity about the gallantry of naval
officers which carries all before it with the fair sex,
and against which the conventional beau of a garri-
son town seems to stand no chance. Thus the com-
manders and lieutenants whirled off the prettiest
partners in triumph, and were deeply engaged all
through the evening, while ensigns and subalterns
could scarcely find partners at all. The Prince
arrived at 10 o'clock, and immediately betook him-
self to the festivities of the evening with that gal-
lantry and keen relish of the scene which always dis-
tinguish the Heir Apparent at these balls. Except
during a short interval, when he partook of some
refreshment, he danced every dance that was danced
between 10 at night and 4 next morning. Immense
numbers were at the same time dancing, or rather
trying to dance, and knocking against each other
with an energy that was worthy of a better cause.
None can well avoid collision when limited to a spot
not larger than a pocket handkerchief, and the
Prince and his fair partners had to run the gaunt-
let of polkas and waltzes like the rest. It was in
one of these Terpsichorean struggles that the con-
&stones I have already alluded to occurred, and
the Prince, catching his spurs in a lady's dress,
tripped and fell. He was up again in an instant,
laughing and dancing away again more vigorously
than ever. The supper preparations were for a
time involved in a state of perilous uncertainty,
for when the hour came for the banquet to be laid
it was found with dismay that the waiters were not
in a condition to be intrusted safely with glass or
china. Eventually, by all sorts of aids and contri-
vances in the way of amateur assistants, this diffi-
culty, which had been calmly expected and clearly
foreseen by many, was overcome, and the curtain of
the pretty little theatre at the end of the hall rose
at last on the supper. Like most theatrical suppers,
however, it had a bright, unreal character, for the
tables would not accommodate a tithe of the guests,
and a very numerous majority, therefore, could only
feast their eyes—the most unsatisfactory medium
possible though which to enjoy a banquet. I will
let the curtain fall again, therefore, over this delusive
portion of the entertainment, and return to the hall,
where dancing was kept up by almost undiminished
numbers, and certainly with undiminished spirit,
till the lights began to " pale their ineffectual fires"
before the rising sun. The Prince was only highly
popular when the fete began—he seemed idolised
when it was over.

On Wednesday, the 22d, it had been arranged
that his Highness should drive out to the Falls of
Lorette and visit the Indian village. The former
is a beautiful cataract; the latter, like everything
else connected with the Indians that I have yet
seen, is an intense humbug. The Falls pour down
a very rocky glen, tumbling over a sloping mass of
cliff, which beats the black waters of the Lorette
into the nearest approach to a white foam they can
ever be forced to assume. From this cliff the whole
mass of water rushes down a chasm in the rock some
30 feet deep, and about six feet wide, at an inclina-
tion of some 60 feet in a hundred. The velocity of
the torrent at this part is therefore, perhaps, not to
be equalled by any other Fall in the world. So great
is it that at the termination of its mad rush it is
hurled up out of the chasm so as to form a perfect
arch of water, like the letter S, thus caa . The visi-
tor to the Indian village naturally makes up his
mind for wigwams, tomahawks, war paint, and
stalking chiefs wrapped in abnormal dignity and
coloured blankets. He at least expects a war-whoop
on entering, and summons up all his courtesy not
to be annoyed if the chiefs take his visit in dud-
geon, and receive him with sullen dignified
silence. Preparing himself, therefore, to en-
dure anything rather than not visit the wild
children of the soil, he commences a search among
neat cottages and pretty little churches for some
tokens of the huts of the Red Men. I wandered
there for an hour in vain, and was at last driven to
accost a young man whose features I thought showed
unmistakably that he was of Indian origin. In
reply to my inquiry if there really was any Indian
village anywhere near, he replied, with a bow that
was almost Parisian, " /this oui, Monsieur ; c'est
id." It was a fact, and I had really driven out
some 12 miles on a hot day to see an Indian village
about as characteristic of the Hurons as Kew or
Brentford. My informant further added that the
marriage festival of the chief's daughter was then
being celebrated at his house, and kindly offered to
conduct me there. The house was something like
a small English parsonage, and one in which I
should as soon have thought of intruding as in
any private residence in England but that my
guide begged me in excellent French to enter.
The chief who welcomed me was dressed in a
plain substantial broadcloth suit, in all respects
like an ordinary English farmer, save that, as a
mark of his dignity, he wore something like a bead
Work toastrack on his head. Encouraged by the
appearance of this peculiar headdress, and with a
faint hope that at the marriage of the chief's daugh-
ter I must see something characteristic of the race,
I entered the room, where the chiefs, with their
wives, daughters, and "young men of the tribe,"
were enjoying themselves. I found in a clean,
large room, just like any other room at a sub.
stantial farm, a party of some 25 or 30, the
" chiefs " in unexceptionable morning dress, the
"squaws" in white muslin dresses, hats and feathers,
scarfs and gloves. They were dancing the Lancers
to the music of an excellent pianoforte! This was
enough for me. I had seen quite enough of savage
life. A. morning is set apart at Montreal for the
exhibition of Indian games before the Prince.
I shouldn't be in the least surprised now if I
find that these Indian games consist of cricket,
chess, or skittles. Perhaps, his Royal Highness
had heard what these " Indians" were really like :
perhaps, he was too much fatigued after the ball of
the previous night ; at all events, he did not visit
the " Hurons ;" a matter of small importance, as I
am informed that many of the gentlemen whom' I
Saw in evening dress at the levEe were chiefs of the
tribe. He paid a visit instead to the Roman Catho-
lic University of Laval, when he received and an-
sWered an address from the bishops of the Roman
Catholic hierarchy. His reply addressed them by
no title, such as "Right Reverends," or my
Lords," but began at once, " I accept with' plea-
sure," &c. At this the Roman Catholic Bishops
have taken deep offence and demanded an
explanation of the Canadian Premier and the
Duke of Newcastle. I suppose it will blow over,
but as yet the matter has not been settled.
From Laval the Prince proceeded to the
Convent of the Ursulines, where the nuns also pre-
sented him with an address, and one of them, robed
in white, and accompanying herself on a harp, sang
a kind of hymn for blessings on his Royal High-
ness in a voice of such exquisite sweetness and
melody as few present ever heard surpassed. In the
afternoon he went to the Citadel, which, of course
is s':"l7 strong place. Asa patriotic Englishman I
thou believe all English forts must be strong places,
heavieg hr
it would be as well if they were armed with
ordnance From the Citadel his Highness
drove to the Plains of Abraham, and saw the plain
column which is
fell, with the erected on the spot where Wolfe
simple inscription, " Here Wolfe died
victorious." The remains of the small redoubt which
the troops threw up en that eventful day may still be
faintly traced—slight
mounds of earth which gave
England the possession of this gigantic empire. It
is a pity no care is taken
of this redoubt. Wolf© to
hto preserve the remains
rili well do without a
column for to no man that ever lived does the
,
motto over Wren so well
apply, when you stand
on the heights of Abraham and
beneath of •
look round on the
magnificent panorama rivers, plains, and
mountains which his skill and darina
a conquered at
one blow. From the road is
monument a
cut down through the road to W.
he landed from the opposite °lfe's cove, where
bank of the river and
scaled hills to which those of Inkerman were mere
molehills, either for height or
Quebec is like
ht or steepness._ The road
that leads from this spot the
alleys of Shadwell in
point of squalor, and the huts
like the tenements that hang
loosely together in
that villanous quarter of Constantinople that ea_
tends between Galata and St. Stephanie' It is the
most curious welange of dirt, ruinous houses, and
rocks, perhaps, in all America.
In the evening there was another banquet at Par-
liament House, and a grand display of fireworks I,s for
the People. The pyrotechnics were very fine, but,
unfortunately, in the midst of the display an alarm-
ing accident took place. A large stage had been
erected for the accommodation of visitors of such
slight materials that many refused to venture
it. Enough, however, essayed to bring it all
to the ground, injuring many most seriously, and
i
some, tisto be feared, fatally in its fall. It is but
..ustice to add that for the most culpable negligence
displayed in the erection of this stage nobody is in
the least degree responsible.
This morning (Thursday, the 23d) the Prince left
-(kluebeo, and embarked on board the Kingston for
lontreal, Every one is flying this town as fast as
Possible, which now, with its faded decorations and
empty streets, resembles old Vauxhall in the day
Buie,
MONTREAL, AUG. 24.
The Prince is expected to land here at 3 o'clock,