The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-09 00:00:00

Racing Fixtur

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NE.

DER MAJESTY'S DRAWING ROOM.

(Prom the TiMcs.)
Yesterday, with the most economical typo2raphy,
our printers only just compressed into tires co-
lumns the names of those who hid the honour of
attending her Majesty's Drawing-reoin on Satur-
day. One of these columns save toe names of the
favoured few who were admitted to the Diplomatic
and General Circles, and had the privilege of a spe-
cial entree ; the second contained in close print, the
list of pre entations ; and the third an almost ille-
gible mass of noblty and gentry, yet by no means
the whole of the company attracted by the occasion.
We believe there were near two thousand altoge-
ther. With the greater part it was no matter of
choice, but of etiquct e, that is, of mrial necessity,'
b attend; and the attendance was therefore
as much to be reckoned upon and prepared
for as -the attendance of the Commons at a
call of the house. Of these several hundreds
had to be presented to her Majesty, and the
rest had to pass b: fore her with some degree of
solemnity, not very much agitated or distressed,
and, if possible, with their olothes-on;in the short
hours.space of two ours. No doubt, this Was a task •
which, if not absolutely difficult, yet might be
done well or ill. It might not be quite so-serious
an affair as taking 50,000 men out of Hydcpark,
yet it was certainly
.more of an opei-ation than
any ordinary review on that bloodless battle-
field. We shall not hear move " the previous
question" why so much should be huddled into
one day, why there should now be only three
or four Drawing-rooms in the season, and why not
one every week, or as often as necessary. No doubt
the English like a crowd ; they like to do things
when everybody else is doing them ; and, as they
thus move by precisely the same ltw, they natu-
rally find themselves attempting to occupy the
same space and time, and having to fight for them.
What we do ask is this, and we humbly put it to
those whom it may happen to concern :—When
two thousandladies and gentlemen in Drawing-room
dresses are quite certain to pre'sen't themselves
for the honour and the right of admission to her
Majesty's presence within the space of two hours;
when they must be admitted, and when all the con-
ditions of the problem are known to every official
of the Court, from the Gold Stick near the Throne
to the policeman in St. James's-street, Why are not
preparations made accordingly, and why three
times every year .have we a repetition of the con-
fusion, the surmises, and all but the calamities that

fell to'the lot of our army in the Crimea?

The public—that is the Duchesses, Marchionesses,
Countesses' &c.—appeir by this time to assume it
for granted that her Majesty can only be taken by
storm. A large portion give it up altogether,
partly because they feel themselves physically un-
equal to it, and partly because they do not like to
give fifty guineas for a dress for the honour of ap-
pearing before the Queen in the tattered remains.
The stronger and more adventurous get up early,
dress early, and, under the direction of the police,
fall intothe rank in Bond-street, or even in Oxford
street, about noon, the Drawing-room beginning
at 2, and there being no hope of achieving the great
act of the day till between 3 and 4. When they
eventually arrive at St. James's, and are at last
put down, then begins a process often described,
and not very unlike some of the more disastrous
passages of the Crimean story. It is an affair of
barricade-s and "pens,". and, narrative of the
suffefers as well as the philanthropic suggestions
that pour in upon us remind one of the arrange-
ments made for preventing accidents in the crowd
at an execu•ion. Indeed, we have seen overnight
in the Old Bailey precisely the same combination
of pos's and rails, openings and gangways as are
found necessary against the rush of the British
aristocracy at St. James's. The unitiated
people of England, who hear of the "Drawing-
room," of noble Wits in nisgnifitent dresses',
of which they can obtain the minutest de-
scriptious, and of her Majesty's Throne, sur-
rounded by Ministers of State, Officers of
the Hou-ehold, and all sorts of grand people,
might naturally conclude that the company can
move about and see one another with ease and
composure. The fact is they are passed up to the
Palace by the police, crowd° 1 into a " pen," and
made to go through a series of rapid evolutions,
till they find themselves once more in the same
sort of durance, and have the pleasure of hearing
their carriage called, often without the power of
quitting the spot on which they stand, unless they
can either fly over the heads of the reeking crowd
or creep under their feet. Fortunate indeed are
they if they escape with no further damage than
the loss of a few yards of lace, a satin shoe, a
flounce, or a handkerchief. " Fortunate," we say,
because some lose their temper also ; and not a few
are several days recovering from the heat, pressure,
and even violence of the strugg'e.
Now, it is not our place to say what ought to
be done, particularly when the sufferers are just
the class that can take care of theaaselveß, if they
only choose to do 5). Indeed, it would be rather
ridiculous that we should be supposed capable of
instructing Marchionesses and Countesses how to
take care of themselves. But we have an interest in
the affair, if only because the scene is disgraceful
to the national character ; all the more so, because
it is too like some other demonstrations of the na-
tional character. For the sake of that character,
therefore, and f ot the sake of the manyless important
personages who mutt go to drawing-rooms, and
cannot do much to mend matters, we beg to offer
a word or two for the consideration of her Majesty's
advisers and the Officers of the Household. The
nation has recently spent a very large sum in adding
private apartments and reception-roorbs of various
kinds to Buckingham-palace, in increasing the open
space about the Palace, and improving the ap-
proaches: It is quite out of the Question that
they who have so readily granted the money
for these inaprovevements should have some return
for it in the use of the Palace for such occa-
sions as that of last Saturday three or four
times a-year. Unless we bear any real objec-
tions, we must suppose it only a matter of feeling,
and hardly worth the enormous inconvenience of
the present practice. But if there be some valid
though unknown reason for keeping the thing at
St. James's, it surely would not cost very much to
provide standing room for a few hundred more
ladies and gentlemen, and preventing the necessity
of' treating them like sheep, or other loss savoury
animals, in a cattle-market. We have only .to look
to the Houses of Pathan:lent, or even to the works
now in progress in St. James's Park, for the proof
of what we have often asserted—that the English
public are always very ready with their money for
a real and defensible purpose. Government has
only to say that a new room, a new suite of rooms,
or a rearrangement is wanted, and they will have
the money without one word of complaint. But if
they are not now prepared with any plan, at an
events there is Buckingham Palace, which to all
appearance is large enough, and has certainly cost
'money enough, for this purpose, and might be used
for it till a better arrangement, if necessary, could
be made.

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WOREft—An adjourned
meeting of the Board was held yesterday. The board
resumed the consideration of the different clauses of the
bill for the formation of a park for Finsbury. The clauses
of the bill were agreed to.
THE CASE OF THOMAS FULLER BACON.—As the
trial of Bacon for the wilful murder of his mother, at
Stamford, will take place in London, the trial will not
take place until after the judges return from circuit,
probably not until the August session, when a special
day will be appointed. •
TRINITY MONDAY.—Yesterday being Trinity Monday
a special general court was held at the Trinity House on
Tower-hill, at which his Royal Highness Prince Al-
bert was unanimously re•eleeted master, and Captain
John Shepherd deputy master of that ancient corpora-
tion for the ensuing year. The court then proceeded to
the parish church of St. ()lave, Hart•stieet, where Divine
service was performed, and an excellent and appropriate
sermon preached by the Rev. Lord. W. Russell.
DEFALCATIONS OF OFFICERS OF SAVINGS-BANICS.—A
return published yesterday gives full particulars of de-
falcations discovered to have taken place in savings-
banks, since the lst of July, 1851, with all the cor-
respondence thereto relating. Defalcations have taken
place in the following bank—viz, in the Ongar branch
of the Rumford savings bank, the Dunmow bank, the
Ne sport (Isle of Wight) bank, the Runcorn bank, the
Bradford (Wilts) bank, the Southport bank, the Yoxall
and Barton bank, the Rugby bank, the West Lon-
don bank, the Bromleybank, and the Leicester bank.
THE HARVEST.—The provincial papers speak most
favourable of the forthcoming crops.
The specie from New York yesterday by the Asia is
305,7501., of which a portion is bel►eved to be on French
account. The Kent, from Australia, has been an-
nounced with 62,221 ounces of gold, valued at 249,0001.