The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-31 00:00:00

LON LON, THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1856,

Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen VICTORIA
again appeared before her troops resplendently
apparelled—yesterday, the 30th of July, being
Wednesday—and in the presence of Field-Mar-
shal the Prince ALeene and of General the Duke
of CAMBRIDGE, reviewed upwards of 20,000 men
upon the plains of Aldershot. Yet—Her Most
Gracious Majesty the Queen VICTORIA found it
altogether out of the questior, twenty-four hours
earlier—namely, on the 29th of July, being
Tuesday—to prorogue in person the assembled
Lords and Commons of her Imperial Parliament.
A rather curious contrast this, by the way, all
things considered. Loyal old Farmer Birm, yon-
der, with your hands deep in your breeches
pockets, fumbling for a few odd millions, not by
any means there, but recently fleeced from you
in the name of a doubled Income Tax upon the
plea of carrying out a war of principle, vigorously-.
—honest old Farmer BULL, over there, purple in
the face with everlastingly toasting at all public
dinners, as a matter of course, "The QUEEN—GOD
Mess her !" and hoarse with recent shootings of
Welcome after the bronzed and bearded veterans
justcomehome again from the War—loyal, honest,
pig-headed, hard-handed, soft-hearted old Farmer
BULL, leave off fumbling in your pockets, and
puckering your brows, and pursing your lips, and
answer for once to the purpose, bluntly,
" Yes" or " No." Is it not ? Is it not
a rather curious contrast—the one we have
here but just now particularised ? Her
Most Gracious Majesty the QUEEN in person
presiding over a grand review of the troops on
Wednesday, the 30th of July, at Aldershot !
And Her Most Gracious Majesty the QUEEN not
deeming it at all worth her MAJESTY'S while to
attend in person at the annual ceremony of the
prorogation of Parliament in their legislative palace
at Westminster. Voting the latter, no doubt, " a
bore"—and the former very probably " a treat."
Delighted with the gimcracks, and kickshaws, and
gewgaws, and all that sort of thing, inseparable
from the blending upon some gala day (like yes-
terday) of courtly and military magnificence.
Sick to death, on the othef hand, of the old lum-
bering glass coach, of the old waddling beef-eaters,
of the old twaddling Speech from the Throne, and
all that sort of thing, , inseparable (no less) from
the grand Parliamentary gathering day of the
Opening, and from the grand Parliamentary scat-
tering day of the Prorogation of the co-ordinate
branches of the Imperial Legislature. It is the
session when the War was concluded—it is the
year of the Pacification. No matter ! A fig for
all the patience and long suffering of the
People—a straw for all their ready disbursements
of millions upon millions with a view to the
honour of the nation and the glory of the Crown
—a snap of the fingers for all the cherished and
dissipated hopes for all the dead and buried sol-
diers sent three thousand miles away to starve
and fight for no purpose whatever ! The thing
is done. The War is over. The Peace is con-
cluded. The doubled Income Tax is secured for
another year or two. " Let the dead past bury
its dead"—as LONGFELLOW sings—and there is
an end of it. The idea—after all this—of Her
Most Gracious Majesty the QUEEN fatiguing her-
self in this excessively hot weather by rolling
down to Barry's Folly in a coach and eight,
for the mere idle form of proroguing Parliament !
No—better than wearying herself thus, on Tues-
day, the 29th of July, Her Most Gracious MA-
J&STY reserves all her energies for the much more
important duty of reviewing her troop on Wed-
nesday, the 30th of July, at Aldershot. Let
Parliament prorogue itself, as it best may, by
ay)
means of a Royal Commission. So that upon
the very dip after the SOVEREIGN may enjoy the
sport of playing at soldier; aided by Field-Mar-
- shal the Prince Consort and General the Duke of
CAMBRIDGE, upon the already c,a-stc
.and historic
ground occupied by the camp at Aldershot. And
so--4loyal old Farmer BULL yonder—so actually it