The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-02 00:00:00

fHiff, SUN,

INA UG UR A TION OF CALTHORPE PARK,

BIRMI N 11 AM.

VISIT OF THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE.
Yesterday Calthorpe Park, presented condition-
ally by Lord Calthorpe as a place of public recrea-
t on to the a-tizans of Birmingham, was formally
inaugurated by 11. R. H. the Duke of Cambridge,
the mayor of the borough (J. Ratcliff, Esq.), Lord
Calthorpe, and other influential noblemen and
gentlemen connected with the town and neighbour-
hood. The day was unusually fine, and observed
as a general holiday in the manufactories, for whose
inmates the grounds are intended as a place of out-
door pleasure and amusement.
" Calthorpe Park," as it has been designated by
the corporation, consists of five meadow fields
thrown into one piece of about 30 acres, intersected
with gravel walks, and planted, in addition to the
old trees, with a variety of choice if not highly va-
luable shrubs. The surface of the ground is some-
what flat, but the neighbouring hills of Edgbaston
and Moseley, by which it is surrounded, give
the seene a picturesque effect. It is situated on the
Pershore-road, about a mile and a-half from the
centre of the town, and is in all respects admirably
suited fur the objects to which it has Leen this day
dedicated.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge ar-
rived at the Great Western Railway station, Snow
Hill, at about half-past 12, and after a short stay
accompanied the mayor to the Town-hall. Here a
large company awaited his attendance. The streets
on the line from Snow-hill to Paradise-street were
handsomely decorated with banners, and the recep-
tion of the Duke most enthusiastic.
On their arrival at the Town-hall, his royal high-
ness was entertained to a sumptuous luncheon, at
which were present amongst others, the Earl of
Shaftesbury, Lord Calthorpe, Lord Leigh, the
Bishop of Worcester, Earl Talbot, Lord Ingestre,
the Earl of Lichfield, Lord Hatherton, and other
parties of local importance.
The entertainment being concluded the Comman-
der-in-Chief proceeded from the ante-room into the
hall, and received addresses from the Corporation,
the Committee of Small Arms, the Proprietary
School, and the Society of Arts. That from the
Corporation, as a matter of course, took precedence.
The following was read by the town clerk :
" TO 'HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE GEORGE FREDERICK
WILLIAM CHARLES DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, KNIGHT OF
THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF 7HE GARTER, THE GENERAL
COMMANDING-IN-CHIEF HER MAJESTY'S FORCES.
" May it please your Royal Highness—We, the mayor,
aldermen, and buriesses of the borough of Birming-
ham, in the county of Warwick, in council assem-
bled, approach your royal highness on this auspicious
occasion with feelings of the most sincere and earnest
attachment not only to your royal person, but to
your august and beloved cousin, our sovereign lady
Queen Victoria. During the recent campaign in the
Crimea, we contemplated, with the deepest interest,
the devoted manner in which your royal highness
emulated the noble Examples of your gallant ances-
tors, and we acknowleage the high and just posi-
tion with which the Queen has been pleased to reward
and honour your distinguished services with the utmost
pride and satisfaction. We regard with high apprecia-
tion the improvements commenced by your royal high-
ness in the administration of the army, which, in our
opinion, are calculated alike to •indicate the condition
of the soldier and increase the efficiency of the army in
the field, and we look to your royal highness for such
progressive improvements as will not only secure under
Providence the honour of our arms, but gain for your
royal highness, as it did for a noble relative now de-
ceased, the honourable appellation of the soldier's friend.
The ready condeseension with which your royal highness
accepted the invitation of his worship the mayor for the
present occasion assures us that the benevolence of your
royal highness is not confined to the army, but it is ex-
tended to the wide circle of her Majesty's subjects ; and
we hail with delight your presence among us this day,
to do an act which cannot fail to reflect honour on your
name, concerning as it does so intimately the advance-
ment and improvement of the moral and physical con-
dition of the industrious classes of the kingdom. In
common with the inhabitants of the metropolis and other
large towns of the empire, we are conscious of a grow-
ing and absolute necessity that the toil-worn artisans of
our teeming population ehoul I have convenient oppor-
tunities for recreation in the fresh air; and, by the libe-
rality and philanthropic spirit of a generous nobleman,
we have now the satisfaction of inviting your royal high-
ness to inaugurate Calthorpe Park for the healthful re
creation of the inhabitants of the borough, to whose us•
no doubt the presence of your royal highness will contri-
bute much to induce the noble donor to secure it, if the
inhabitants show a due appreciation of the value of the
gift. That it may please the Divine Ruler, who pro-
tected and spared your royal highness amid the per is of
the Crimea, lmg to preserve your valuable life among a
contented people, blessed by a protracted peace, is our
devout and bumble prayer. Given under our corporate
common seal this first day of June, in the year of our
Lord, 1857."

His ROYAL HIGHNESS replied in the following
terms :—" Mr. Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses
of the Borough of Birmingham,—l acknowledge
with the deepest gratitude the very flattering ad-
dress you have pres. riled to me, and I am extremely
sensible of the reception I have met with in this
important and most interesting borough. The
expressions of goodwill towards myself as head or
the army are the highest compliment that, as a sol-
die-, could be paid to me, and it will ever be my
earnest endeavour to do justice to the confidence
reposed in me by a gracious Sovereign, and thus to
merit the good opinion of yourselves and of the
country. (Cheers.) But I appear among you to-
day more in my social position in civil life, anxious
by my presence to do honour to a great work judi-
ciously designed, and, thanks to the liberality of a
generous nobleman, sufficiently completed to be
inaugurated on the present
.occasion. (Cheers.)
Undertakings of this description must tend to the
improvement and general advancement of all
classes of the community ; and it is a gi eat plea-
sure and happiness to see so many joining in
their various ways towards furthering so useful and
excellent a design. (Cheers.) May its objet sbe
fitly and completely attained, and may they con-
duee to the happiness of thousands of our fellow-
countrymen who inhabit the important borough in
which we ate now assemb!ed. (Cheers.) The public
are indebted to all of you, gentlemen, who have
H33i,thd iu this go ;d work, and I am happy to be
permitted to congratulate you on the success of
such au occasion. Again I thank you for the honour
you have done me in asking m > to become your
guess, and for th,t loyalty of the sentiments ex-
pressed in your address towarls her Majesty and
her family, and for the warmth of your reception
to myself. (Great cheering )
The following address was next read from the
Small Alms Committee ; and at the present time
after the recent debates in Parliament upon the
subject of the Ordnance estimates, it is somewhat
inter% sting :
TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE GEORGE FREDERICK
WILLIAM CHARLES, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, KNIGHT OF
THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER, THE GENERAL
COMMANDING IN CHIEF HER MAJESTY'S FORCES.
" May it please your Royal Highness—On behalf of
the military arms trade of Birmingham, I tender to your
Royal Highness the expression of our lively sense of the
distinguished honour conferred on the town by your
auspicious visit, in which we gratefully recognise a
kindly interest in the progress and well-being of the
manufacturing community of this midland metropolis.
In the name al-o of our workmen we desire to express
our thanks. We feel peculiar gratification in knowing
that the coming amongst us of your Royrl Highness
has for :its object the moral elevation and physical
improvement of our working men—those men on whose
productive industry depends in so large a degree the
prosperity of our town. It is our earnest desire as
employers we may profit by the encouraging example
Waned before us by your Royal Highness in thus re.
cognising the liberality of the noble lord to whom
this town is already so much indebted. Among
the manufacturers of this district few can boast of
more connection with the locality than our own.
From the time of Wildarn 111., the gunmakers of Bir-
mingham have very largely contributed by their labours
to the efficiency of the army and navy of England, and
it has been a source of gratifying pride to nal° have
been permitted to render material aid during the pro-
gress of the late war. We rejoice in the present oppor-
tunity of expressing to your royal highness our warm at-
tachment to our beloved Queen, and it also affords us
unusual gratification to be able to render this expression
of our loyalty to a prince so eminent for the noble qua-
lities which have ever characterised the Royal family of
England, and who, as Commander-in-Chief of her Ma-
jesty's forces, has so heartily and ably devoted hinaelf
to the service of our country and our Queen.—Signed by
the authority and on behalf of the Birmingham Small.
Arms Manufacturers.

(Signed) " J. D. GOODMAN, Chaltman.
" Birmingham, Juue 1, 1857."

When these presentations were concluded, the
duke descended from the dais and proceeded to the
mayor's carriage, provided to convey him, his host,
and the town-clerk to the park he was appointed to
inaugurate.

One of the most pleasing features of the proceed-
ings within the hall was the admirable manner in
which the children (charity and Sunday school),
600 in number, gave the National Anthem, under
the direction of Mr. E. Heely, and accompanied by
Mr. Stempson, the organist of the Town-Hall.
On leaving the hall the procesion, which reached
to the length of the new street, made its way amidst
the enthusiastic cheers of the populace to the New
Park. The appearance of the Duke, Lord Cal-
thorpe, and the " Liberal Mayor," elicited the
most euthwiastic cheering. Every street upon the
whole line was decorated with banners, and densely
crowded with the working classes of the town. The
cortege, which. in point of numbers and general
as well as popular effect, has never
in Birmingham, went from the Town
arrangements,becnexeelled
Hall, along New-street, the Bull-ring, Digbeth,
Smithfield, Bromsgrove-street, the Bristol-road,
ind Speedwell-road, to the Park, where the cere-
mony of inauguration was performed, as announced,
by the Duke of Cambridge. It is calculated that
not fewer than 100,000 'perms could have been