The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-23 00:00:00

THE QUEEN S VISIT TO OSTEND.
OSTEND, AUG. 21.—1 n my communication of yes-
terday, I mentioned that King Leopold was expected
to arrive here from Brutsels by special train in the
course of the evening, and that the inhabitants were
beginning to show some symptoms of animation in
the near prospect of his arrival.. His Majesty arrived
at the station at about eleven o'clock in the evening,
accompanied by his aide-de-camp, Major the Count
de Moerkerke, and General the Count Goblet. Three
carriages were in waiting to convey the King and his
suite to his house in the Long-street. The reception
given to his Majesty by his faithful subjects of Ostend
was rather a singular one, and calculated to surprise
there who have been accustomed to the warm enthu-
siasm with which the English Sovereign is received
when she appears in public. As I mentioned in Toy
last, no official intimation of the King's arrival was
given, but the fact of his coming was known on all
hands, and even the hour at which the special train
might be expected was generally understood. But not •
withstanding this, the phlegmatic citizens were not to
be put out uf their ordinary course. So far as the erec-
tion of triumphal arches went, or the hanging out of
flags, they were perfectly willing to incur the trouble;
but to proceed to the railway station, to welcome
among them their Sovereign, was an entirely different
affair, and one c f which they could not see the utility.
Accordingly, when his Alajysty arrive d, at about
eleven o'clock, there were not more than fifty or
sixty people assembled in float of the railway-sta-
tion around the royal carriages. When King Leopold
appeared, one solitary voice did certainly raise the
cry of " Vive le Red," but it met with no response
whatever. Scarcely even a hat was taken off, and
the King stepped into his. carriage and drove off,
amidst the respectful demeanour, certainly, but with-
out one loyal demonstration from his assembled sub-
jects. So it was on his progress through the streets.
There was no more crowd—not so much, indeed—at
the door of the King's house than there had ken at
the railway station ; and as he proceeded up the
silent and deserted streets, on his way to the house, a
head might be seen peeping out here and there from
the windows, which was as instantly drawn in as the
carriages passed. No reception of Royalty could
have been quieter than that which greeted the
entrance of King Leopold into this his ancient
town of Ostend. It must not be inferred from this
reception, however cool it may appear in the eyes of
an Englishman, that there is any want of loyalty
among the inhabitants. On talking to some of them
about the quiet manner in which they had received a
Soverign who had not appeared among them for some
years before, I was told that it was well known that
the personal feelings of his Majesty are averse to all
noisy acclamations or ostentatious display, and, there-
fore, that his subjects thought they showed their at-
tachment to his person and government by consult-
ing his wishes in this respect as much as if they had
rent the air with viral:.
That this quiet mode of reception is not disagree..
able to his Majesty was still further proved by the
free and fearless way in which he mixed among his
sul-jects this morning. Tne Prince de Joinville and
the Princess Clementine, with the children of the
latter, took their departure to-day by the steamer for
Ramsgate, after a visit which they have been paying
to their sister, the Queen of the Belgians, who, it
appears is at present in delicate health, and who will
not, therefore, be at Ostend to meet the Queen.
King Leopold accompanied his relatives to the
steamer, and on this occasion the carriages were •
not even put in requisition. Their luggage having
been sent on before, the whole party walked
down to the steamer, the Chemin de Fer, which was
then about to embark. The royal group partook se
much of the appearance of an ordinary party pro-
ceeding through the streets, that it was some time
before they were recognised. At last one or two of
the inhabitants turned round to look at them as they
passed—others, becoming a little more bold, followed
in their course, till by the time they reached the
steamer some twenty or thirty persons bad surrounded
them, keeping, however, at a respectful distance, and
dividing their attention between their own sovereign
and the children of the exiled French Monarch.
His Majesty proceeded directly on board witE
his brother and sister-in-law, and remained on
deck, conversing familiarly with those about .
him, and particularly with the children,
till it was time for the steamer to start on her
voyage. He then bade his friends farewell, and left
the steamer, accompanied only by his aide-de-camp.
By this time the crowd bad increased to a con-
siderable number, but there was the same sombre
and quiet air throughout, nor even when the steamer
hauled away was there a single cheer raised;
o:,ly when his Majesty came ashore room was re-
spectfully !Lade for his passage, and every hat was
raised as he passed—a compliment which he cour-
teously returned. Instead uf returning home his
Majesty proceeded along the quay, and walked to
the end of the jetty, Count Muerkerke accompany-
ing him.

was the usual hour for the promenade of the
bathers, and great numbers were returning from their
baths at the Digue ; but there was so little in the ap-
pearance of Leopold to mark out the monarch, in his
white hat, his brown frock coat, and hii light grey
trowsers, that many passed without recognising him,
and the attention of others was only directed by ob-
serving the crowd that still continued to follow big
movements. It was curious to mark the military'
men, of whom the town is now becoming full, as they
sauntered carelessly along, suddenly finding them-
selves confronted with their Slvereign, and almost
suffering him to pass before they offered him the
military salute. Meantime his Majesty, entirely un-
attended except by his aide-de-camp, pursued his way
along the jetty to the end, and returning back, cour-
teously saluting all that met him on his way, pro-
ceeded along the sea wall, tracing the fortifications of
the town, and thence home to his house in the Long-
street.
It has now been ascertained that Queen Victoria is
not to be here till to- morrow. A message to that
effect, which had been forwarded to Dover, was
brought over this morning by the Dover steamer. It
is understood that her Majesty will embark at Os-
borne to-night, and be here by eleven o'clock to-mor-
row forenoon. Whether she will land or not is again
uncertain, but the general impression still is that she
will disembark in the harbour and dine with his Ma-
jesty in the town. Under any circumstances, it is
said she will return to England the same evening.
Some speculation has been excited by the departure
of the Prince de Joinville so immediately upon the
eve of her Majesty's arrival, but it is probable that
the Prince felt his stay might have imparted a poli-
tical complexion to the meeting in the eyes of his sen-
sitive countrymen, while his presence would be a re-
straint upon the intercourse between the Queen and
her royal uncle.
The town is again gay with flags and streamers,
and triumphal arches are erecting at each end of the
Grand Place ; and across the Long-street lines are
run from one house to another, from which are hung
crowns and floral wreaths, gut up in an exceedingly
tasteful manner. Soldiers, also meet you at every
turn in the street, as, in addition to the 7th Regiment
of the Line, two companies of the Corps d'Elite (the
Belgian Guards) have arrived from Brussels, with
the celebrated band of the Guides, and a squadron of
that corps, together with a detachment of the Artil-
lery. The vessels in the harbour are all dressed with
flags, and the ensigns of all nations are waving from
their masts, among which the new German flag is
displayed by one solitary vessel from Altona. The
freshness of the preparations has, however, been con-
siderably taken off by a violent shower of rain which
has fallen in the course of the day, with every pro-
spect of a continuance of wet weather.
Among the vessels which are expected to accom-
pany her Majesty to Ostend to-morrow, are the Vivid
steamer, in which it is supposed she will land, as the
Vivid draws much less water than the Victoria and
Albert. The Blenheim, 50 gun ship, is also ex-
pected; but it is not supposed she can come much
within two or three miles of this flat coast and shallow
sea.— Chronicle.

COURT CIRCULAR.
OSBORNE, AUG. 22.
Her Mejesty and his Royal Highness the Prince
Albert, with his Royal Highness the Prince of
\Vales, Prince Alfred,..the Princess Royal, and Prin.-
cess Alice, embarked shortly after five P.M. on board
the Victoria and Albert for Ostend. The royal suite
consisted of the Right Hon. Sir Francis Baring,
First Lord of the Admiralty, the Lady in Waiting,
Viscount Canning, the Hon. Flora Macdonald, Maid
of Honour, and Miss Hillyard, Major-Gen. Wemyss'
Colonel Bouverie, the Hon. Charles B. Phipps, Mr.
Birch, and Sir James Clark.
Colonel Berkeley Drummond remains at Osborne
until the return of the Court.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has left the seat
of the Right Hon. Fox n►ule, liirnam, Dunkeld,
Perthshire, for ArdverikP, Kinuusse.

E XTRAORDINARY DthcovEnT.—During yesterday
numbers of persons were collected at the top of the Old
Bailey, it having been currently rumoured that a quantity
of human bones had been dug up at that spot,and.a leg
bone with a felon's leg-iron attached. Uponinciu3eY
it
appeared that when the men employed in laying, down the
pipes for thew City of London Gas Consumers' Company
had dug do‘M about six feet, opposite St. Sepulchre's Chinch,
one of them turned up a number of human bones, chiefly
rib bones, and ono leg, with an iron which was formerly put
on felon's legs, but which has long since been disused except
in extraordinary cases. In the course of the afternoon more
bones were found near the same spot, together with another
shackle. The place is the junction of the four roads, the
Old Bailey, Snow-hill, Newgate-street, and Giltspur-street,
and it is rumoured that many years ago persons who com-
mitted f 10-de-se were buried here under the old barbarous
custom, when stakes were driven through their bodies, and
that the irons probaby had been buried in this way on the
body of some felon who had coMmitted suicide in Newgate.
As yet no skull.bone has been discovered nor any arm bones.
,Those found are not in a very deio-Mtieied state.
Why are the " Parliamentary Trains" so called 1.--
From the extreme slowness with vhich'everpthing moves
.upon them.—Punch.