The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-07-27 00:00:00

out that crimping
and roguery were nowhere practised
on a more extensive scale than in Liverpool, and that the
most unseaworthy vessels are employed. Yet it is noto-
rious--and proved by thefact that Liverpool is the greatest
emigration port in the kingdom—that thevessels employed
hero are of the very first class, and the best officered in
the world. The community, or at least that portion of
it which reads the Liverpool Times, has been a little
amused by an article quoted, innocently no doubt, by
that paper, from Dickens's Household Words, which is
the greatest libel upon the emigration trade that we ever
perused, though happily innocuous from its absurdities.
The article is headed " The Jeremy Diddler 'tween
Decks:" and purports to be the report of some "friend of
humanity," who has, apparently, accompanied an emigrant
vessel a short distance on her voyage, and most probably
been sea-sick from the time of leaving the " Puddle

Dock," at which he embarked on his adventurous effort
at penny-a-lining. The writer, evidently a Cockney,

commences :

" I made my way to the main-hatch, and began to
descend the ladder. On deck there !' cried a voice be-
low, that seemed to come up from the farthest corner of a
very deep cask. Ay, ay !' growled the sailor addressed,
who was busily engaged in some mysterious operation
with the long-boat. ' 'Where have you stowed your pa-
tent ventilators ?' inquired the voice from the cask,
we're choking down here.' Oh,' rejoined the tar, as
he winked at the cook's mate, Neptune will bring them
there a-board when he visits us at the Line I' The com-
plaint was, indeed, well founded, as I felt on descending
to the regions below, where I found the man with the
casky voice. The complainant was a middle-aged person,
a tailor or shoemaker, perhaps disguised as a naval cha-
racter according to the most approved fashion at the
Surrey Theatre. It took me some minutes before I could
distinguish the lights and shades of the living panorama
moving in that long, half-obscure vault of a place. How
changed since I saw it in the docks ! The uproar, the
crowd, the handing about of packages and clothing, the
dim indistinct light from the far distant fore-hatch, gave
it the appearance of Rae Fair held in the Thames Tun-
nel for novelty's sake. There was small room for walk-
ing about. I had to clamber over all sorts of sharp-
cornered, hard-edged packages. Children were crying,
women were chattering, men were grumbling and swear-
ing, and calling down the ugliest maledictions upon the
heads of all the captains, chief-mates, brokers, and ship-
owners in the known world. On the whole, it was con-
fusing to a new corner, and not much plainer, apparently,
to those who had been on board during the last twenty-
four hours. Had the captain poured the entire contents
of the London Dock warehouse down an enormous fun-
nel into that particular 'tween decks, the chaos could
scarcely have been aggravated. The staggering motion
of the vessel set all landsmen's attempts to labour at com-
plete defiance. As for the women, they were content to
seat themselves on anything that was nearest their cabins,
and there contemplate the encompassing wilderness of
property."

• The " staggering motion of the vessel" must have con-
fused our poor Cockney's intellects, or he might have
remembered that there is a government officer in every
port, who takes especial care that ventilation is attended
to in every emigrant vessel ; and if he may have been
struck by the number of " sharp-cornered, hard-edged
packages," which he met with in the course of his
survey, it is in all probability owing to the circumstance
that, in his own fittings from one " three pair back" to
another, he has seldom been encumbered with anything
more " sharp cornered" or " hard-edged" than his own
two or three shirts tied up in a cotton handkerchief.

Our scribe proceeds in the imaginative vein :
" Passing forward to near the fore-hatchway, I came
upon a scene of open war. One of the ship's officers was
endeavouring to read a sort of impromptu riot-act to a
party of cockney warriors who were doing all sorts of
violent deeds in a dark smothered-up cabin, which was
evidently in a state of determined siege. The lookers-on
cried, " Shame ! turn them out !—where's the captain?"
mingled with rather warm benedictions on the ship's
broker, and the secretary of some emigration committee.
The officer would have interfered, but the bystanders
opposed him, and it ended in his disappearing on deck,
and the siege of the darkened little cabin being raised.
I learnt afterwards, when quiet was partly restored, that
the fracas arose from the brokers having shipped more
passengers than could be accommodated ; a dozen persons
had been, two days before, removed from the ship by the
emigration officers ; but in their place at least a score
more had been sent on board, and where they were to
find room was now the question. The captain had been
trying to place two men in some single berths."

This is, of course, sheer invention ; or at all events no
such scenes occur in Liverpool, if they do in the emigrant
ships sailing from London. Captain Patsy and his
officers take especial good care that passengers have no
" dark smothered-up cabins," and that no two men have
occasion to quarrel, because they are attempted to be
forced into single berths. The writer goes on:—

" A great number of them had paid for their passages
doom "lOr fsga in Artlerk WigSFne Yhyik Daft ..seferew
however, at the twelfth hour, these poor people were told
that the brokers had demanded two pounds a-head more
from the society, owing, it was stated, to the rise in sailors'
wages ; and they accordingly found themselves called upon
to make good the amount from their scanty purses."
Such proceedings might, we repeat, take place in Lon-
don, though we doubt it ; but they certainly are unknown
in Liverpool. What emigration society it can be which
perpetrated an audacity so improbable as that described
we are at a loss to conceive. Shortly after noticing the
above, the writer states that the fore-hatch was put
down, which " enclosed us all in utter darkness," and
proceeds:—
" The close, stifled atmosphere of the 'tween decks,
breathed as it was by several hundred persons, soon
became insupportable, and there was a general attack
made upon the hatch, which, however, was too well
secured above to allow of any success. The tide of indig-
nation vented itself upon the main-hatch, through which
a party of a dozen passed to the captain with expostula-
tion as to the want of fresh air. After some delay, the
fore-hatch was partially removed, and an old tat-
tered windsail was let down as a substitute for the
patent ventilators. In spite of this relief,. the impurity
and suffocating heat of the cabins became as insupport-
able as the exhalations from some Indian jungle-swamp ;
and I could but picture to myself the sufferings of those
people when approaching the equator."
Whether the extracts we have given be correct or not,
we are unable to decide, and leave the question to be
decided between Mr. Dickens and the emigration officers
in the port of London. Probably he will furnish them
with the real name of the vessel of which " Jeremy
Diddler" is the soubriquet. But that intending emigrants
to Australia have no such atrocities to fear on the voyage
from Liverpool, we shall show, by describing the arrange-
ments made for their comfort in a few of the vessels now
loading here. But first we wust noticeanother paragraph,
which we quote from the Globe, Evening Paper :

" EMIGRATION SHIPS' DIETARY SCALES.—A young
emigrant, in a letter. dated off Deal, says,—' Our first
meal at sea for eleven was at least half bone, and as hard
to cut as a cable. It was not only hard and dreadfully
salt, but very bad. One of the passengers told me he
saw the casks carefully covered over directly the inspector
came on board at Gravesend. I myself saw some salt
beef or horse quite green and stinking. A party of six
has been served to-day to a pound-and-a-half of bone with
one pound of sinew on it. The best of the dinner was
potatoes and biscuit. It— could eat nothing else. This
party are now talking to the captain, and I have no doubt
if this is goes on we shall have some desperate work.
There are enough mutinous fellows on board who will not
quietly submit to this filthy offal for food, after they have
paid their full price for passage-money. It is a piteous
sight to see the poor children, who throw this stuff out of
their plates.; and their wretched mothers unable to give
them anything else except hard biscuit, which their little
teeth are uncjiltk rnacatio.ta "

If such practices prevail in London, we most strongly
advise emigrants to make Liverpool their port of shipment.
On the East side of Canning Dock a splendid ship, the
Covenanter, owned by Mr. Duncan Gibb, is being fitted
up for a voyage to Australia ; and a visit to her would
well repay the trouble, and show the liberality of the
arrangements for passengers made in Liverpool. The
Covenanter is about 2,200 tons burthen, has lofty between
decks, running uninterruptedly from stem to stern, 160
feet in length. Her beam is 34 feet inside measurement;
and she will carry 450 passengers. She has a house on
deck 50 feet long, and for 40 feet on each side of this an
aperture 14 inches wide has been made, properly protected
from the weather, by which abundance of air is intro-
duced into the passenger deck below. She has also ven-
tilating shafts. The rooms for the passengers are all
enclosed, so that each family, or party, can be separately
provided for. They will also be classified on the govern-
ment system. Nothing can exceed the excellent accom-
modations on board the Covenanter.

The Rip Van Winkle, a fine United States frigate-built
ship, goes out of the same dock this day ; and her accom-
modations, which we have already described, are of the
very highest order. She is under the care of Mr. M`Henry
and Messrs. Campbell and Rudd.
Mr. J. S. De Woolf, and Mr. J. M. Walthew, have a
very excellent conveyance, the Glenberris, now loading
in the same dock, and to sail this week. She has good
height between decks ; and her accommodations, both for
cabin and steerage, are excellent.
At the north end of the dock a remarkably fine ship,
the Eldorado, one of the line of Messrs. James Baines
and Co., challenges attention. She is a new vessel of 841
tons register, and about 1,500 tons burthen, with a cabin
and house on dock. Her height between decks is 8 feet,
and she is ventilated with side ports, which give both air
and light. Her fittings are divided into separate rooms
for families, or for married people ; and in every respect
the accommodations are good, and the bertl43 ToomY. Bho

not say a vord in praise. Surely the cockney traveller of
the "Household Words" could not find anything to

say derogatory to these noble steamers. The sailing
vessels in Messrs. Gibbs, Bright and Company's Eagle
line have accommodations and qualities which cannot be

surpassed

We need not enumerate more particularly ; but may
state confidently that the ships of Messrs. Henry Fox,
John Johnson and Co. (the White Cross line), 'Messrs.
Cotesworth, Wynne, and Lyne, Millers and Thompson,
(the Golden Line), John S. Price, Barton and Browne, and
other respectable houses, are of the first and best class.
In none of them can any of the scenes occur so romanti-
cally described in Mr. Dickens's publication. In every
case they must be ventilated and provisioned under the
searching eye of the government inspector; and in no

case is a ship passed by him in which the space set apart
for passengers is not perfectly clear and unimpeded, In
fact, not a package of merchandise is allowed to be stowed
anywhere between decks ; and most of the ships take only
coals, or other ballast freight.

CORRESPONDENCE.

Letters addressed to the Editor should be accompanied by the
real name and address of the writer, not for publication, but
as a guarantee of good faith ; this is indispensably requisite
in any statement of facts.
The Editor wishes it to he understood that he does not bold
himself responsible for the opinions or stateneents of his
correspondents.

" WHAT IS THE COUNTRY'S VERDICT ?"

To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Stn.,—ln an editorial article in your paper of the 20th I
instant, bearing the above title, I find the following para-
graphs :—" Protection to agriculture, in the shape of a
duty on foreign grain, will not be attempted." "If any
alleviation, therefore, of the admitted distress which pre-
vails amongst the agricultural community is to be brought
about, it must be by means of a reduction of the burthens
which peculiarly press upon them ; and these consist
chiefly of the local taxes, poor rates, highway rates,
county rates, &c."
Differing as I do from you in opinion, I would now
proceed to show why a protective duty might, ought, and
eventually will be, re-imposed upon corn. 1 hold that
upon the principle of instice there should be a duty im-
posed upon corn, to protect the home grower against the
foreign producer; for, in the first place, our climate is
variable and uncertain, and the farmer after ploughing his
land and sowing his seed may, through blight, or mildew,
or rust (calamities to which the rival producers of more
genial climes are not exposed), see. in a single week, his
prospects of the coming harvest blasted. He, therefore,
requires protection from this cause. Again, he pays
a much higher price for labour. Do the free traders wish
to reduce our agricultural labourers to the same level, and
the same scale of remuneration for their labour, as that of
the serfs of Russia and Poland ? from this cause, also, the
farmer requires protection. Again, the amount of taxation
which grinds him down, a portion of which you have
pointed out, but to which may be added the malt tax and
tithes, renders him unable to compete with the, in many
instances, more lightly taxed foreigner;-and for this cause,
also, he requires protection.
Again, he is forced to consume home-manufactured
goods, the cheaper productions of the foreign manufacturer
being prohibited from entering into consumption in this
country by the protective duties which are imposed upon
them. For this cause also the farmer requires protection.
Now, upon the principle of self-preservation, if the
English farmer labours under these disadvantages, how
can he be expected to compete with the foreigner, and
ought he not to be accorded some amount of protection to
enable him to do so ? If he is not to be allowed this pro-
tection, then, upon the principle of justice, should he not
be placed in the best possible position to bear up against
the gross injustice which has been inflicted upon him ?
And as clothing, and implements, and stock, form large
and important items in his out-goings, as well as rent,
and if protection is to be taken off from all descriptions of
agricultural produce—corn, cheese, bacon, and butter—
and if he (the farmer) is to be compelled to feed the ma-
nufacturers' operatives with his home-raised produce
upon the same or lower terms than the foreign producer,
has he not a right to demand, upon the principle of justice,
that he should be placed in the best possible position to
sa 1, pyr;cl t; 1••• W etin
tninl nhnlitinn of alb' duties upon foreign-manufactured
cotton, linen, woollen, silks, leather, hats, iron, &c., so
that he may clothe himself, his family, and servants, and
replace worn-out stock and implements upon the same
terms that the manufacturer feeds his people, namely—
.

with the untaxed productions of the foreign manufacturer?
Here a principle of justice is involved, which is not to be
staved off with any miserable expedient of equalisation of
taxation, and it is for the principle of even-handed justice
between class and class, and interest and interest, that
the issue between the manufacturers and the farmers—
which is now being tried—must and will be maintained..
Now we have either too much. or too little of free trade; if
it is sound in principle and beneficial to the interests of
the country in practice, then it must be fully and fairly
carried• out, and be applied to manufactures as well as to
agriculture; and if such is the case, can any one doubt for
a moment what the result will be ? Increased competition
will lower prices and annihilate profits, a larger amount of
more perfect machinery must be brought into competition
with manual labour; lack of employment, and reduced
remuneration for increased labour must follow' and misery
and ruin be the inevitable result. Look at the state of
the agricultural districts since the repeal of the corn-
laws, and say whether such has not been the case there,
and such will be the case in the manufacturing districts
also, if not averted by a return to a national system of
protection to all classes of British producers, agricultural
as well as manufacturing.
A return to protection, or the extension of the principles
of free trade to manufactures, is now only a question of
time, and one which it will not be long before it is solved,
and the free traders will find to their cost, that in the agita-
tion which they have excited throughout the country, and
the attention which they have drawn towards the subject,
that they have called up a spirit which they will not be
able to control, one which will rule in place of being ruled,
and which appears likely to involve their interests, together
with all others, in one common and universal ruin.

PAVING, &c., KIRKDALE.

To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

wish, through your columns, to draw the
attention of the Health Committee of this borough to the
disgraceful state which the foot-walk of King-street,
Kirkdale, is now in. It is exceedingly dangerous for
persons to walk along it, either by day or night, in con-
sequence of the number of holes which are in it, and the
curb-stones worn away. At night it is with difficulty
individuals find their way home, there not being a gas-
lamp in the street, although the inhabitants have to pay
the lighting rate.
The Health Committee are expending all the money
they can drain from the pockets of the rate-payers on the
new road at the north docks, so that I know not when
the time will come for us to have a few necessary repairs.
The ratepayers are much worse off now they pay a Is. 9d.
rate, than they were formerly with a 10d. rate.

Hoping you will insert these few lines in your consistent
journal, I remain, Sir, most respectfully.
Kirkdale, July 26, 1852. A SUBSCRIBER.

QUICK PASSACLE OF T'v Maw, Pny r,—Wo aro glad
to learn that the tine ship Marco Polo, belonging to the
Black Ball Line of Messrs. James Baines and ow
on her passage to Australia with 930 passengers on Co.,board,
was spoken on the 7th of July, in let. 45.11 north, lon.
12.40, by the French ship Leontine Marie, De La
Prudelle, from Guadaloupe, arrived at Bordeaux. This
shows her to have been 750 miles from Liverpool when
spoken ; and as the Marco Polo left on Sunday, the 4th
of July, she had made 250 miles a-day. This is tremen-
dous going, particularly out of the channel, and promises a
short run to her place of destination.
Mn. FEENY'S ICES.—Ever studious of the comforts
of his friends, the enterprising restaurateur of the Mer-
chants' Dining-rooms has added to his previous achieve-
ments the production of most delicious ices. All Mr.
Feeney's warm friends ought to pay him a visit.

ABOLITION OF FEES ON CIRCUIT.—By the. Nisi Prius
Officers Act it is declared, " that the fees heretofore re-
caived on the circuit by the marshal's man and the judge's
bailiff respectively shall be and are hereby abolished, and
no fee, gratuity, or reward whatsoever shall be demanded
or accepted by any one exercising, or claiming to:exercise,
either of the said offices, or other person attending the
circuit in any subordinate office or employment."
CURIOUS CASE.—The anniversary dinner and pro-
cession of the Modern Druids took place in Southport,
on Monday last. The proceedings were of a very satis-
factory character until near the termination, when a man,
known by the cognomen of " Blacking Jack, " got
engaged in a quarrel with some others and fell, but
whether from a blow or not was not, at the time of our
writing, precisely ascertained ; however, he unfortunately
dislocated his neck, and though Mr. Docker, surgeon,
was shortly in attendance, it was too late, for life had
fled. One or two parties implicated in the transaction are
now in custody awaiting an inquest over the body. The
occurrence took place in the lodge-room at the Scads-
brick Arms Hotel.—Preston Guardian.
DON'T LIKE Ins Looics.—A sheriff's officer was sent
to execute a writ against a Quaker. On arriving at the
house he saw the Quaker's wife, who in reply to the
Inquiry, whether her husband was at home, answered in
the affirmative, at the same time requesting him to be
seated, and her husband would speedily see him. The
officer waited patiently some time, but the fair Quakeress
coming into the room, he reminded her of her promise
that ho should see her husband. "Nay, friend. I pro-
mised that he would see thee. He has seen thee ! He
did not like thy looks; therefore he avoided thee, and has
left the tattsa by mother path."—Dundee Peer.

The occurrences on this occasion took place about six
o'clock in the evening, when, during an awfully tremen-
dous peal of thunder, the electric fluid struck a stack of
chimnies, No. 7, Port-street, Walworth-common, a vast
portion of which fell into the yard belonging to Mr. Clif-
ford, of Port-place. The latter observed the lightning,
resembling a large luminous ball, strike the building,
which, it appeared, then passed down the chimney to
the upper room, and after tearing away the mantle-
piece, partially destroying the stove, and injuring
various articles of furniture, struck the bed upon
which lay Mrs. Bacon, who is about sixty years
of age, and has been bed-ridden for six years.
Fortunately it was a feather bed, and feathers
being non-conducting, the poor woman received no other
injury than being thrown violently to the floor, by which,
however, she was rather severely bruised. From thence
the fluid passed into the lower room, and was equally
destructive to the walls, pictures, furniture, stove, &c.,
while the clock was stopped, and the floor strewed pro-
fusely with the debris. Each of the rooms appeared filled
with blue flames and smoke, which gave rise to the sup-
position that the premises were in flames, and resulted in
the arrival of the parish and other fire-engines.
About the same period a similar accident occurred to
two adjoining houses situate at the corner of Peter and
'Waterloo-streets, also at Walworth-common.
These houses are in the occupation of Mr. Herds and
Mr. Green, a greengrocer. At Mr. Herds' the lightning,
after materially damaging the chimney-stack,pasaed down
the flue, damaging the upper rooms; and on descending
to the parlour, after injuring the ironwork of the
stove, &c., traversed the walls in all directions, playing
around with awfully grand brilliancy, and carrying de-
struction in its rapid and violent course, the whole
force of which was at length centred in the clock, the
internal works of which were broken, and the wheels
partially fused, the dial plate crawled, and the glass
covering partially molten; from thence it passed down
the weights and brass chain, vohich. was annealed,
and much distorted, and, after tearing away the skirt-
ing, was buried in the earth. Mrs. Herds, who, with
her husband and family, was sitting in the room, was
struck violently in the face, and for several minutes was
deprived of sight, and rendered wholly unconscious. On
partially recovering, she found that she was entirely
bereft of hearing by the right ear, and felt an acute
tingling and vibration in her head, and from the general
effects of the shock she remains seriously affected.
The house of Mr. Green, adjoining, was also subjected
to a precisely similar shock, with equally destructive
effects as regards the damage to the building and furni-
ture. There, also, the chain of the clock, which was cut
in three pieces, formed the conducting medium by which
the electric fluid escaped to the earth, but not until it had
inflicted some injury on Mrs. Green and one of her chil-
dren, a girl about six years of age, who was affected with
blindness for several minutes. Both, however, are'in a
fair way of recovery. Several chimneys, buildings, and
large trees, in the neighbourhood of Norwood, Sydenham,
Dulwich, and Camberwell, have been more or less injured
by the lightning ; while the cellars of many licensed
victuallers in Lambeth. and other portions of the south
hank of the Thames, have been inundated by the over-
flowing of the drains, &c. At present, no information
has been received of any death having been occasioned by
the storm within the district, but many persons have been
more or less injured.

THE PRINCE PRESIDENT'S PROGRESS TO

STRAS BURG.

The Prince President left Paris for Strasburg on Satur-
day morning week. The President on proceeding from
the Elysee was received at the terminus of the railway by
all the ministers except M. Cassabianca, who had been
dispatched upon a mission in the neighbourhood of Stras-
burg. The President then got into the " wagon d'hon-
neur," and was followed by St. Arnaud, Turgot, and
Lefebyre-Durufle. The signal was given and the train
moved off gradually accelerating its speed up to 27 miles
an hour. The reception of the President on the whole
of the line is described as having been in the highest
degree enthusiastic.
At Meaux the train stopped, and all the civil and mili-
tary authorities were in waiting to receive the Prince
President. A handsome tent was erected close to the
railway station, very tastefully ornamented. The Presi-
dent was received with loud acclamations, the Prefect of
the Seine-et-Marne presenting an address. The Bishop
of Meaux, who had arrived from Rome the evening before,
also made a short address to the President..
At Chalons loud shouts were raised when the Prince
took the arm of Bishop (an old officer of the Imperial
Guard), and proceeded towards the spot where stood the
horse which was in readiness for him to mount in order
to review the troops. At Toul, a young girl made a speech
to the President, in which she alluded to Joan of Arc
having sought Divine inspiration in that town.
At the closing point of the first day's journey, namely
Nancy, where the President arrived at forty minutes past
seven in the evening, a salvo of 101 guns announced his
entry into the railway station. He was there received
by the mayor, the deputy mayor, end municipal council.
Immediately on arriving, the President eroceeded to the
r reitaaure in en open carriage drawn by eight horses. As
night approached, the official houses and public monu-
ments were illuminated.

As soon as the President reached the Prefecture, the
official receptions commenced. After the receptions the
President dined at the Prefecture. At ten o'clock the
President went to the Hotel de Ville, where a ball took
place. About 3,000 persons were present ; and the Prince
opened the ball with Madome de Sivry, the wife of the
Prefect, as his partner. He remained at the ball until 12
o'clock ; and, on leaving the Hotel de Ville, as on pro-
ceeding to it, he was saluted with.repeated cries of " Vive
Napoleon !"
The President resumed his journey on Sunday, and
reached Strasburg at half-past 12, after having passed
through the whole valley of the Vosges under heavy rain,
which accompanied him all the way from- Nancy to the
limits of the Bas-lain. The Prince had been greeted on
his journey with acclamations as loud and warm as on the
previous day, _ _

On his arrival at the Strasburg terminus the President
was received by the assembled multitude. which was
everywhere gathered under tents, or in reserved spaces,
at the windows or on the roofs, with an immense shout
of " Vive Napoleon !' A salute of 101 guns was fired
as the train entered the terminus, and. all the bells in
the city immediately poured forth a welcome. All the
authorities of the place were assembled to receive the
Prince in a magnificent pavilion erected for his accommo-
dation. The preparations for the ceremony of inau-
gurating the railway were upon the most extensive scale.
At the extremity of the rails, within the terminus, a long
platform was raised, on which an altar was erected, and
along the sides of the line tribunes were to be seen, ca-
pable of containing between three and four thousand per-
sons. Near the altar were to be read the following in-
scriptions on streamers of silk:—" All nations are giving
each other the hand"—" Distance is destrosed"—" The
Danube and the Rhine are united to the Atlantic." In
front of the altar was placed a colossal statue of the
genius of railways, with the left hand placed on a loco-
motive, and the right pointing towards Germany. The
pavilion just spoken of was constructed at one side of the
railway, and contained a most elegant saloon for the use
of the Prince and his suite. The President. on alighting
from the state carriage, was complimented by the mayor
and municipal authorities on his arrival,and was presented
by them with the keys of the town, which he was pleased
to return into their hands. The keys were placed on a
cushion of purple velvet, which itself rested on a large
gold salver of ancient workmanship. The keys of the
fortifications were also presented by the commandant.
The religious ceremony—that of blessing the locomo-
tives then commenced. On this occasion were brought
out three ancient banners of immense size belonging, to
the Cathedral, each carried by three men, and which are
never exposed to the public gaze except on the most
solemn ceremonies. The President took his place in a
tribune on the right of the altar, with his suite and a num-
ber of the principal visitors from Paris, whilst the civil
and military authorities occupied another tribune at the
left side of it. As soon as the Prince had taken his place,
the bishop, accompanied by a numerous body of clergy
came forward and celebrated mass ; after which ha blessed

the locomotives, pronouncing an appropriate address.
After alluding to the deeds of Alexander the Great and of
the Romans, he terminated by saying :—" Pour a blessing,
0 God, on the magnanimous Prince who presides over
this great ceremony of inaugurating the Strasburg Rail-
way ; and who, after having saved France from anarchy,
now only thinks of giving her peace and the benefits of
religion."
When the ceremony had concluded the President with-
drew fcr a short time to the pavilion, where he received a
number of delegations from the adjoining towns and
villages. The Prince then mounted on horseback, and
accompanied by a brilliant staff proceeded to the hotel of
the Prefecture, passing in the midst of the greatest en-
thusiasm. Immediately after the Prince's arrival at the
Prefecture, he received the authorities and the principal
inhabitants of the town. At about half-past five o'clock
the cortege of peasants filed off before the President. It
consisted of 120 cars filled with young girls, and 1,200
horsemen all dressed in the costume of the country. On
passing before the President the girls threw bouquets at
his feet, uttering at the same time the cry of " Vive
Napoleon l" which was taken up by the horsemen, and
re-echoed by the spectators. Among the persona of dis-
tinction who were present with the President were the
Grand Duchess Stephanie of Baden, who had arrived in
the course of the day and alighted at the Prefecture;
Field-Marshal Count de Paur, deputed by the Emperor of
Austria to compliment the President on his safe arrival ;
Count de Lassolave, general in the Baden army, and
several Austrian officers from the garrison of the federal
fortress of Radstadt, all having arrived during the day.
In the evening the President entertained at his table
the Envoys of Prussia, Austria, Bavaria, Wurtemberg,
Hesse Darmstadt. and Swiss Bale, all the Generals pre-
sent at Strasburg, and all the high functionaries. After
dinner a display of fireworks took place, and a grand illu-
mination of the Cathedral,
Next morning the President, mounted on horseback,
and proceeded accompanied by the Envoys and a numerous
and brilliant staff, to a grand review and manoeuvres on
the Rhine. The troops filed off before the Prince, who
bestowed decorations upon several soldiers: Then the
engineers threw some bridges over the little arm of the
Rhine, and later a bridge of pontoons was thrown across
the main stream. Immense crowds of spectators were
assembed on the banks, A handsome tent was erected for
the President, the Prince then crossed over to Baden,
where he was received with all honours, At Kehi he
reviewed the Baden garrison. He then returned, escorted
by the envoys and his staff, to the Prefecture at Strasburg,
which he reached shortly after noon. The spectacle the
city prescuted was most imposing i the whole of the housed