The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-06 00:00:00

QUEEN'S VISIT TO SCOTLAND.
THE VICTORIA HALL.

During the time her Majesty was visiting Dalkeith
Castle, the foundation stone of the Victoria Hall, and
the buildings erecting for the accommodation of the
General Assembly, was laid by Lord Frederick Fitz-
clarence, G.C.H., Grand Master Mason of Scotland.
The other officials present were—the Earl of Buchan,
Acting-Depute--P. M. Stewart, Esq., M.P., Acting-
Substitute—J. W. Melville, Esq., Senior Warden—
Sir D. Kinloch, Bart., Acting Junior—W. A. Laurie,
Esq., Grand Secretary—John Maitland, Esq., Grand
Clerk—Thomas Graham Dundas, Esq., jun., Grand
Deacon—Wm. Baillie, Esq., younger of Polkem-
met, jun., Grand Deacon—the Rev. Alex. Stewart,
minister of Douglas, Grand Chaplain—Wm. Cun-
ningham, Esq., Grand Jeweller—James Gillespie
Graham, Esq., of Orchil, the architect of the
buildings, Acting Grand Architect, &c. &c. His
Lordship, besides the Grand Lodge, was accompa-
nied by about three hundred of the Brethren, com-
posed of many deputations from Lodges in the
provinces. The Sovereign, as she passed to and from
the Castle, noticed, in an especial manner, the Grand
Master, by repeatedly bowing to him, and waving her
hand. The ceremony within the great tower of the
Hall, though short, was most solemn, and the
addresses of the Grand Master and the Grand
Chaplain. were couched in terms at once ele-
gant and impressive, in the course of which allusion
was made to the auspicious occasion of her most
gracious Majesty's visit. The Grand Master, on
returning to the Hall of the High School, returned
thanks for the support he had received from the as-'
sembled brethren, in a speech replete with good feeling
and good taste. A gallery was fitted up for the
accommodation of the fair sex, among whom we noticed
the Countess of Glasgow, Lady Augusta Fitzclarence,
and a numerous assemblage of beauty and fashion.
The following is the inscription of the plate deposited
in the stone :—" To the glory of God, in honour of
the Queen, on the 3d day of September, in the year
of our Lord MDCCCXLII. The day of our Most
Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria visiting the
City of Edinburgh, the Right Hon. Sir James
Forrest of Camiston, Bart., Lord Provest, the
Rev. David Welsh, D.D., Moderator of the
Assembly. The foundation stone of this superb
structure to be called Victoria Hall, for the use of the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, was
laid by the Right Hon. Lord Frederick Fitzclarence,
G.C.H., &c., Grand Master Mason of Scotland, in
presence of the Grand Lodge and other Masonic Lodges.
James Gillespie Graham, Esq., of Orchil, Architect.
John Lind, master builder of the Hall. Length of
building from east to west, 141 feet. Height of spire
over the entrance, 241 feet. There were also depo-
sited in the cavity of the stone, inclosed in a glass jar,
an Edinburgh Almanack, the newspapers of the
day, a plan of the city, and a beautiful engraving
of the building, with coins of the present
reign. The occasion of performing this ceremony
was most judiciously chosen, and great praise is due
to the craft for the manner in which it was executed.
The urbanity and grace of the Most Worshipful
Grand Master will long be remembered by the
Brethren, and will form one of their most pleasing
recollections associated with the Royal visit.
PREPARATIONS ON THE ROAD TO
DUPPLLN CASTLE.
North of Queensferry, on the road through which
the Royal cortege will pass to Dupplin Castle, active
preparations are in progress for a loyal welcome. All
seem to hasten the happy day to behold Scotland's
Queen and her illustrious Consort, and the warmth of
joyous feeling now excited by this auspicious event is
evident to all who pass along. Nothing is talked of but
the Queen's coming. Triumphal arches are erect-
ing at the east and west end of the Royal burgh of
Inverkeithing—at the entrance to Duloch, the country
seat of Lord Cuninghame—at Fordel, the residence of
Sir Philip Durham—at Kinross—and the Bridge of
Earn, which will be liberally and tastefully orna-
mented with flowers, surmounted with crowns. Scaf-
foldings are also making their appearance in various
places along the road, to enable the inhabitants of the
several districts and surrounding country to obtain a
sight of, and greet, their beloved Sovereign as she
passes into the Highlands. This evening a detachment
of the Enniskillen Dragoons arrived here from Edin-
burgh, and another party are expected early on Mon-
day, which indicate to the inhabitants the near ap-
proach of her Ma:esty and suite.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
GLOBE.—In order to give a plausible colour
to the assertion that the insufficient participation
of political power is the cause why the working
people, or, we should rather say, the malcontent
portion of them, band themselves in menacing
array apart from the rest of society, it ought to
be shown that there is anything political in the
origin of those combinations which deserve the
description of a " menacing" and " separate"
array, or that there would be anything in the
possession of political power, which could serve
as a substitute fur that array—unless, in-
deed, by imparting to the Imperial Legisla-
ture the character of the Trades' Unions !
Chartism, engrafted on Trades-combination, gave
its general character (so far as it had one) to the
late movement. The Trades, it was discovered,
had carried the Reform Bill?] and would carry
the Charter. The spirit of rades-combination,
however, gave the affair its character, such as it
was. Now what, in its origin, is that spirit? Po-
litical? No; they had always disclaimed politics.
Instituted to include all whom the franchise
excluded ? No; not a bit of it. The original spi-
rit of the Trades' Unions was simply that of com-
bination to keep up wages, and keep out " un-
qualified" competition in particular trades. The
way in which politics became engrafted on those
objects in the late movement was simply by
the promise political revolution was supposed to
hold out of doing the work of the Trades' Unions
on a grand scale, and by forms of law. Law was
to do for them what their strikes had proved im-
potent to do for themselves—to fix, namely, a
minimum of wages, and (possibly) a maximum of
work. Nothing but a Chartist Parliament, they
were assured, would fix their wages at the desired
rate. And, certainly, they were so far right, that
none but a Chartist Parliament would attempt
this! These, however, were the sort of objects for
which they desired a Chartist Parliament. A
Corn-law Parliament legislates for prices; why
not a Chartist Parliament for wages? Thence
the agitation was not against Landlords'. Trades-
laws, but for Trades-laws of their own.
SAND.A RD.—Of the ulterior purpose-of Lord
Ellenborough's order absolutely nothing can be
known ; but of this the present generation must
be aware, that a retreat does not necessarily im-
ply an abandonment of a• military enterprise.
The Duke of Wellington retreated to Torres
Vedras in /810, and the Morning Chronicle of
that day charged his Grace with meditating
the abandonment of the Peninsula to the vengance
of Napoleon. But what followed ? From his
mountain asylum, the great Captain saw the
finest army that France ever sent into the field—
commanded, too, by him who was called
the "spoiled child of good fortune"—waste
under his eye without active exertion on
his part, and without the loss of a
single British life—and in a few months
the same army, once cooped up at Torres Vedras,
carried the red cross over the Pyrenees, and
planted it above the capital of France. As to
the dismantling of Kelat-i-Ghilzie, from which
an inference is attempted to be drawn as
to a purpose of final abandonment, the
ust inference is precisely the reverse. The
state of the fortresses in a country never
again to be revisited must be a matter of
indifference to a retreating General ; and
therefore the dismantling of a stronghold
is a proof that a return is in contemplation.
Upon such weak grounds does the charge of an
intended dishonourable termination of the Aff-
ghanistan war rest. These grounds, however,
receive some support from the extracts which the
accuser makes from a Conservative Contem-
porary, if, indeed, these extracts are not gar-
bled and distorted, as we suspect they are.
The country has the solemn pledge of Sir Ro-
bert Peel, that the war shall have none other but
an honourable termination, and an honour-
able termination it cannot have upon any
other hypothesis than that Great Britain shall be
in a condition to dictate the terms of the with-
drawal of her troops. We suppose no one
is mad enough to require that Caubul shall
be permanently occupied ; and, therefore, a
withdrawal of the army, sooner or latter,
must be looked for. But we have the word
of the Premier for it that finally withdrawn
the army will not be, until the honour of
the empire shall have been fully vindicated.
The question of the prisoners is a difficult one;
sut tile difficulty arises not from the compara-
tive strength of the parties engaged in it, but
from the character of this miserable savage war
in which the Whig
Government has involved the
country.

SCOTCH PRIDE.—A di-y-Tar two before the Queen's
arrival in Edinburgh, a poor old woman, who makes
her livelihood by selling fruit in the streets from a
basket, was complaining sadly to a lady—" Eh, M2m,
d'ye ken that we re no to be allowed to carry our bas-
kets a' the time the Queen's here." The lady explained
to her that perhaps the reason for this cruel prohibi-
tion might be, that the Magistrates wished to hide every
symptom of our Scotch poverty from the prying eyes of
our rich English visitors. " Eh, rnena," said the old
Scotch woman—her eye lighting briskly up, her sharp,
thin, primped Scotch features pursing up with Scotch
nride, and her whole tone and manner changed in the
moment--" D'ye think that's it ? Aweel, if I thocht it
was for that, I would rather live on bread and cauld
water for a week to come than put a han' to my basket."
—Aberdeen Banner.