The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-27 00:00:00

'l HE KING OF IHE BELGIANS AND 7HE
ENGLISH VOLUNTEERS.

BRUSSELS, Wednesday, Sept. 25.
To-day a very interesting public ceremonial took
place in this city in connexion with the late inter-
change of visits between the Belgian military bodies
and the English Volunteers. This was the presen-
tation to the King, on behalf of the Volunteers of

Manchester and Salford, of a handsome full-length
portrait of himself, for the painting of which his
Majesty has honoured the painter, Mr. Charles
Mercier, with several sittings during the last few

weeks at the Brussels Palace.
The news that there was to he this ceremonial
had early spread through the city, for the King

and Queen had returned for the occasion front
Ostend, and the warmest interest was manifested
by the people. The city was en fete from an early
hour, and the streets were enlivened all through the
morning by troops marching from the various bar-

racks to the Palace, and to the place where the
ceremonial was appointed to be held, the Tir Na-
tional building, in the Chaus63 Louvain. In the

immense square in front of the picturesque building
where the national shooting competitions are carried

on for the encouragement of rifle shooting among all
classes of the people, military and civil, large bodies

of the military were drawn up, and with them was
a company of the last organisation formed on Bel-
gian soil, a result of the international visits between

England and Belgium—namely, the authorised
Volunteers of the country. The dress of this body

is exceedingly neat, useful, and picturesque, and is
an improvement in some particulars upon that of
which it is a copy—the uniform of the British
Volunteers. The organisation is similar to that

of the English Volunteers. The members giving
unpaid services to the country, and paying for
their own outfits. The Belgian Volunteers,

though at present a small body, having only

just been sanctioned, are well commanded and drilled,
and appear to be a very smart body of citizen

soldiers.

There was an immense multitude sur-

rounding the square, and all the streets from the
Palace to the Tir were thronged with people anxious
to testify their loyalty to their Sovereign. The Tir
building was filled with ladies and gentlemen, and

officers of all grades;and there were gathered there
some 20 English Volunteers who had arrived in
Brussels to take part in the rifle contests to which
they had been specially invited. The portrait was
covered, and was erected on a stand in the centre
of the building, and between the pictures and the
grand dais the English Volunteers formed a line of
honour under Captain Dighton, of the London Rifle
Brigade, with whom there were Lieutenant Vansco-
lina and Ensign While, of the Finsbury Rifle Corps,
and among the other Volunteers present were re-
presentatives of the South and West Middlesex,
the 2d and 3d London, and the 3d Middlesex Artil-

lery, forming in all a picturesque group ; but some
officers, whose names have not been mentioned, and
some privates, were in undress uniform, and pre.
sented a somewhat slovenly appearance by the side of
their etiquette-regarding brethren. The people waited
very patiently and in a very orderly manner until
the strains of the " Brabangonne" and a salvo of can-
non announced the Royal approach, when a loud
cheer from those in the open air burst forth, and,

being taken up by those under cover, resounded
again and again through the building. The great
doors of the 'fir behind the dais were then thrown
open, and the King entered, attended by M. Van-
denpeereboona, the Minister of the Interior ; Lieu-
tenant-General Prison, aide-de-camp of the King ;
Count d'Hanins de Moerkerke, Grand Ecuyer ;
Baron the Major Brise, adjutant of the Palace ; and
Captain de Breurver, Officer of Ordnance. The Royal
party was received by the council of the Tir Na-
tional, among whom were M. Daily, the Presi-
dent; Major De L'Eau, M. Dubois, Major Stoefs,
Count Renesse Breidbach, Captain Periguon, Count
Leon de Robiano, and M. Boulart, the secretary.
With those who thus received the King was Colonel
Thompson, who wore the uniform of a deputy-
lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets county. He imme-
diately introduced the Manchester deputation,
which was composed of Captain Hardy, Dr. Peter
Doyle, Lieutenant Furniss, and Mr. Burns.
Colonel THomrsoN, in introducing the deputa-
tion, explained to his Majesty that the gentlemen
composing it came from Manchester and Salford,
and desired to offer for his Majesty's acceptance the
portrait, as a souvenir of the recent visit of the Bel-
gians to England. That visit, he begged to assure
his Majesty, had given the liveliest satisfaction to
the English nation, and particularly so to the Eng-
lish Volunteers, inasmuch as it afforded them the
opportunity of returning, in some small degree, the
splendid reception and hospitality given to the
English Volunteers on their visit to Brussels last
year. The magnificence of that reception and hos-
pitality would never fade from their memories. His
Majesty would permit him to say that the gentle-
men before him were citizens of the united borough
of Manchester and Salford, and to those places was
solely due the honour which must arise from his
Majesty's acceptance of the painting. Manchester
and Salford, as his Majesty might know, were
places foremost in the useful manufactures.
Before retiring he would beg permission to
mention the name of Captain Charles Mercier,
who had painted the portrait, and who, by his zeal,
intelligence, and talent, had succeeded, as the com-
mittee believed, in the work he had undertaken,
and that his skill in this production would
secure for him that future fame which he so
well merited. Colonel Thompson then, turning
to the Garde Civique, who formed a guard of
honour, addressed them as follows :—Messieurs
de la Garde Civique,—Avec la permission du Roi,
je veux vous expliquer que les messieurs quo j'ai eu
l'honneur de presenter it Sa Majesty vont lui offrir
ce portrait, qui peiut si bien les nobles traits de votre
noble Roi, comme souvenir de votre visite en
Angleterre. Je suis sur que ceux d'entre vous qui
ont 6t6 en Angleterre pourraient bien temoigner que
nulle part mieux que chez nous on sait crier " Vive
la Belgique !" " Vive le Roi des Beiges."
This was very loudly cheered again and again.
His MAJESTY said—l beg to thank you, Colonel
Thompson, for the kind terms in which you have
expressed yourself, and to assure you, what indeed
you know already, that I am always very happy
to see you. I avail myself of this opportunity to
thank you for your exertions as a member of the
executive of the Belgian Reception Committee, and
to tell you how much I am pleased with the reception
given to the Belgians who visited England. I again
assure you that I am always happy to see both you
and the English Volunteers in Brussels.
Dr. P. ROYLE, on behalf of the deputation, then
addressed the King as follows :—May it please your
Majesty, we have the honour to approach your Ma-
jesty on behalf of the Belgian Reception Committee
of the city of Manchester and the borough of Sal-
ford, and in accordance with a respectful address
which was humbly presented to your Majesty in the
month of July last by a deputation consisting of Dr.
Pettinger, Capt. Butler, Surgeon T. N. Dean, and
Mr. Burne, the honorary secretary, the prayer of
which memorial your Majesty was graciously pleased
to grant, by permitting Captain Charles Mercier to
paint your Majesty's portrait, as a special token of
the esteem with which the inhabitants of those
places regard your Majesty and your Majesty's be-
loved people. The committee having pleasure in
stating that from the gracious condescension of
your Majesty in granting numerous sittings to Capt.
Mercier, who has the honour to be among the num-
ber of the citizen soldiers of England, they are able
to present this portrait of yourself for your most gra-
cious acceptance, and they earnestly hope that not
only as a truthful likeness, but as a work of art, it
may be preserved as a lasting memorial in com-
memoration of the kindly interchange of good feel-
ings which exist between the people of Belgium and
of England—of respect and esteem for the personal
character of your Majesty, the son of so distinguished
a father, and one so nearly related to and venerated
by our beloved Queen. In the name and on behalf
of the Belgian Reception Committee of the city of
Manchester and borough of Salford, we present this
portrait for your Majesty's gracious acceptance.
On the last words being spoken, the picture was
suddenly undraped by Capt. Robyt, one of the Tir
National Commission, and displayed to public view.
There was a hushed explanation of surprise and