The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-05-17 00:00:00

THE OPENING OF THE PALACE,

There was no similarity between the weather which
was enjoyed in Dublin on Thursday and that which the
people of Liverpool experienced at the dawn of the week.
One who got up on Monday morning to find the banks of
the Mersey wreathed in snow, could hardly imagine that
in the same week, and within a twelve hours' journey,
one might bask in the beams of a sunny sky, dispensing
warmth and gladness over the earth, and imparting to the
verdant lawn and the effulgent flowers a sweet summer
beauty. Thursday, the 12th of May, was, from earliest
dawn till its close, a day of promise. In the early morn-
ing, as we passed the streets of the fine old capital, the
blue sky was clear and unclouded, and flags already
hoisted on the house-tops were gently floating on the
breeze, which merely attempered the warmth of the sun,
amid the bustle and roar which soon awoke the city.
There was an air of gladness in every street, and dwelling,
and countenance. The citizens and the pilgrims from
afar mingled smilingly in the crowded thoroughfares.
Every one seemed to say, with the genial Slingsby, this
is truly a glorious day for us, this 12th of May—as glorious
as any that the pen of history has recorded—as bard or
annalist has sung or fabled. This is a day of jubilation
and of pride—for Ireland invites in peaceful convocation
to her metropolis a nobler assemblage than ever met in
her ancient balls of kings, and she has raised a structure for
their reception more august than that Teagh Mor, which,
in the days gone by, stood on the Hill of Taragh. Already
our streets and thoroughfares are thronged with strangers,
denizens of lands with whom our intercommunication is
ordinarily limited and fortuitous—already the procession
moves forward which conducts the representative of our
Queen to inaugurate our Great Industrial Hall, as two
years since that Queen did herself, in person, open the
first Great World-Mart in her city of London. And now,
while with trumpet and banner, and the acclaims of con-
gregated thousands, the pageantry of martial attire and
the gorgeousness of civic robes, the gleam of the warrior's
cuirass and the flash of his now idle falchion, mingling
amongst the banners of the sons of peaceful toil, and
science and learning—now while with all these the tide of
human life surges, and swells, and pours along towards
the halls which have risen as it were at the touch of the
enchanter's wand, a profound emotion agitates the heart
—an emotion jubilant, yet solemnizing ; an emotion in
which humble thankfulness should mingle with justifiable
pride.

Considered as a spectacle alone, the ceremonial of the
inauguration was one which for grandeur and magnifi-
cence, and for its effect upon the imagination, might almost
bear comparison with the opening ceremonial of the
Great Exhibition of 1851. It was not alone the presence
of the representative of our beloved Queen, and that of
his amiable and excellent Countess, lending the aid of
their influential position to that solemn consecration of
industry ; it was not alone the concourse of visitors
from all parts of the empire, nor the magnificent display
of every conceivable article of utility or luxury invented
by the ingenuity of man, or the gay and brilliant appear-
ance of the exterior of the Exhibition Building itself,
glittering in the rays of a lovely May morning, nor the
still more brilliant interior, realising to the hard matter-
of-fact men of the present day the gorgeous descriptions of
fairy palaces, born in the luxuriant imaginations of the
eastern storytellers—nor the reflection that forced itself
upon all minds, how truly great and full of good augury
for all humanity such exhibitions might become hereafter
—it was not any one of these facts, but a combination of
them all, and of a thousand other circumstances, equally
significant and pleasing, that made the scene within and
without the Exhibition on Thursday morning, the most
affecting and cheering, as well as the most memorable
event in the history of Ireland.

The metropolis was crowded with English, Scottish,
and Continential visitors, from an early hour in the morn-
ing; and on the night previous, it was with difficulty that
parties arriving in Dublin could be accommodated with
sleeping apartments at the various hotels, the owners of
which have reaped a rich harvest on the occasion.
By ten o'clock, the hour fixed for opening the doors of
the Exhibition, streams of carriages and cars, filled with
gaily-attired occupants—came pouring in from all parts of
the city and suburbs, while large masses of pedestrians
moved in countless numbers towards the scene of attrac-
tion. For more than an hour before the opening of the
doors, an immenre crowd assembled in front of the Exhi-
bition Building, anxiously awaiting the time for their ad-
mission. The police experienced but little difficulty in
preserving order, whilst they interfered as little as possible
with the pleasurable enjoyment and free movements of
the multitude—so fully did all appear animated with one
desire to signalise this truly popular ceremonial with
generous and kindly feeling, and a respect for the rights
and duties of one another.

At half-past 11 o'clock, the carriages of the Knights
and Officers of the Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick
had assembled in the Upper Castle-yard, to await the
arrival of his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant, from the
Viceregal Lodge. At ten o'clock the Right Hon. the Lord
Mayor, together with the Alderman and Town Councillors
of the Corporation, assembled in their robes, and with their
equipages, at the Mansion House, Dawson-street, and
thence proceeded, shortly Wore 1J o'cleck, through NA3-