The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-31 00:00:00

in the case of the marriage of the Princess Royal of
his day—the daughter of George 11., the lady from
whose name Sir Cornewall Lewis began the line of
precedents which inaugurated his Annuity Bill.
Lord Hervey, we say, notices with much humour
the difficulties and awkwardness of St. James's as
the scene of such a ceremonial—awkwarcluesses
which were increased on the occasion of her present
Majesty's marriage, when so much more national
interest was excited, and when the numbers whose
loyalty wished to be accommodated with a sight of
the ceremonial was so much greater. The Chapel
Royal cannot, in fact, hold much more than 200
persons properly, though we are told that the
temporary gallery is to hold 200, minus the hoops
of the ladie•., which are to be left behind, in con-
sideration of the appalling squeeze prepared for
them. With the exception, then, of the Royal
personages themselves and their suites, and the
foreign guests, literally nobody will see the actual
ceremony of the marriage. We might know this
by measurement, even if we had not been told by
authority that the Chapel Royal will be almost
filled by the suites of the Queen, the Princess
Royal, and the bridegroom, and the royal guests
that have been invited to this great gathering."
The Chapel will not, indeed, hold nearly all even of
the Royal guests, who, we are infomed, are to fill
three hotels in t. James's-street ; and as for Eng-
lish faces, what rocm there will be for them is easily
inferred. So much for the actual ceremony of the
marriage, which it would appear no Englishman who
is not in a suite is to see. But, besides the cere-
mony of the marriage, we are to have " three dis-
tinct processions—" that of the Queen as Sovereign
—that of the Bride, and that of the Royal Bride-
groom." How and by whom are these processions
to be seen ? The narrow intricacies of St. James's
are fatal to the effect of processions ; they will be
cut into fragments, one part will be lost in one cor-
ner while the other is emerging from another. And
even thus spoiled, how many will see them ? We
are told that seats will be erected in the area where
the band plays to accommodate five or six hundred
persons ; that a gallery will be erected on the stair-
case in the area leading to the front of the Chapel
to hold two hundred persons ; that seats will be
provided near the corridor where her Majvsty will
alight; and that in all some fifteen hundred per-
sons will be able to see the processions. Fifteen
Hundred What a riumk3r ! And that only to see
the bare externals of the scene ! Fifteen hundred

to be all that are even to have outside places ! Fif-
teen hundred out of all England ! A f,)r the in-
side and kernel of the ceremouial—that, as we have
said, not a single Englishman who is not in one of
the suites will see.

Now pomps and processions may, as we say, be
great nuisances to those who compose them ; it
may be true that in this 19th century persons
have no great taste for walking solemnly in full
costume in the presence of thous-inds of spectators
riveting all eyes—it may be true that the Eng-
lish taste especially is not at all for this sort of

thing—i. e., for composing a ceremonial : still the
world of spectators is to be regarded, we thinly, on
these occasions as well as the great world, that is
looked at and that constitutes the rageant. The
world at large still likes a pageant, and in the
capacity of lookers-on we have by no means lost our
taste for these exhibitions. Why not, then, show
a little more liberality and indulgence to the
natural wish of the public for a sight of the cere-
monial connected with this Royal marriage ? Why
cram the ceremonial of the marriage itself into a
chapel which does not properly hold more than
200, though by a portentous squeeze, and at the
cost of treasures of millinery, you may fill it up to
the extent of another hundred or more ? Why
select for the processions that knot of small courts,
corners, and angles which composes St. James's
Palace, which is about the most unsuitable and
uncongenial scene for a procession that could be
found in London ? Why conduct these cere-
monials as if we were ashamed of them, as if awe
wanted nobody to see us." The marriage of the
Princess Royal of England is a national event,;
why should it not be celebrated as such, and the
two.hands be joined together, as far as can be, in
the sight of the country ? Why not celebrate it in
that edifice which is so associated with the history
of English Royalty, which witnesses the crowning
of our Kings and Queens, and which it spires such
deep national recollections and displaya such me-
morials of English glory—in Westminster Abl ey ?
In that interior thousands, instead of hundreds,
could see the actual ceremony of the marriage.
That would be a great improvement. But, besides
the thousands which could be accommodated in the
Abbey, tens of thcusands would line the road
,-which would conduct the processions from the
Palace to the Abbey. That would indeed be a
national scene. As it ia, it looks as if the whole
ceremonial were shut up in a box. The very
journal which authoritatively gives us the pro-
gramme is driven- to that melancholy --test of
grandeur and sublimity which consists in
the number of disappointments, the quantity of
persons who might naturally have expected places
t the ceremonial bUt who will not get them.
Our contemporary enlarges with some gusto
upon this huge, dark mass of disappointment, upon
the deep, hoarse murmurs, of an excluded crowd,
as if the black shadow threw by contrast an addi-
tional glory and brightness upon the rich scene
itself. We are told that " never was Lord Cham-
berlain or Chief CommisNioner of Works made so
much of as at the present time," and that "as much
interest is made for seats, especially by ladies, as
would under ordinary circumstances procure capital
official appointments." Our contemporary dwells
almost with fondness upon " the deaf ear to the
voice of the charmers" of the Lord Chamberlain,
who upon this occasion sustains such a siege as was
never kno•wn before in the annals of pageantry, and
who from all accounts ought to be a very Brutus
and a perfect hero of moral courage to get through
his difficulties and sustain the assaults upon his con-
science. All this may give immense importance to
the occasion, still it is not an agreeable mode of
giving importance to it. It would be better that,
as far as pract!cable, the sense of the grandeur of
the scene should arise from seeing it than from not
seeing it, and that a Royal marriage should to
associated with pleasure lather than disappoint
meat.

CHRISTMAS WEATHER IN THE NORTH.—The weather
on the north-east coast during the Christmas holidays
haibeen the most remarkable ever remembered by the
oldest inhabitants. Old seamen and fishermen who have
spent their lives on the North Se 4 have no recollection
of such a long "spell" of open sunny weather at a
Christnias as we have experienced this year. The furze
blvhes are out in bloom on the bents upon the Nor-
thumberland coast, and daisies, primroses, and other
krimg flowers may be seen peeping from the ground.
. 9hristraas-day numerous parties were observed bath-
ing In the sea near Culleroats and Tynemouth; and to
no
tic') IL,person walking with a top coat on was some-
thing remarkable-on that day. The mild weather and
the general depression of trade are very much affecting
the coal trade. Above 200 vessels generally employed
in the London coal trade are laid oy in the Tyne.