The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-06-21 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S STATE BALL.

On Wednesday the Queen gave, at Buckingham Palace
a State Ball, which was very numerously and brilliantly
attended ; the invitations amounting to 1,900, and nom-
prising the Royal family and Royal visitors, the whole of
the diplomatic corps and foreigners of distinction staying
in this country, the Cabinet Ministers, the Chief Judges
of the Courts of Common Law and Equity, and a very
large party of the nobility and gentry.
Their Royal Highnesses the Hereditary Grand Duke
and Grand Duchess of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz, and the
Duchess Caroline of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz were attended
by Lady Caroline Cust, Baroness Wenchsteiu, and Baron

Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Saxe
Coburg Gotha joined Her Majesty and her august circle
in the Yellow Drawing-room.
The Queen wore a dress of pink silk, covered with pink
tulle, ornamented with pink satin ribands and bunches of
pink roses and diamonds. Her Majesty's head-dress was
formed of a wreath of pink roses and diamonds.
The Duchess of Kent wore a dress of sky blue, brocaded
with silver arid trimmed with point lace. Her Royal
Highness's head-dress was formed of crimson velvet,
point lace, feathers, and diamonds.
The Duchess of Cambridge's dress was black net, over
black silk, trimmed with black bugles, the stomacher
adorned with pearls and diamonds. Her Royal Highness
wore a splendid tiara of large pearls and diamonds.
The Princess Mary wore a dress of blue tulle, em-
broidered and trimmed with silver ; the stomacher of
diamonds. The Princess had a wreath of flowers round
her head, diamond earrings, and a pearl necklace.
The Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz
wore a dress of pink satin covered with tulle, and trimmed
with silver, the stomacher adorned with pearls and dia-
monds. The head-dress was composed of flowers, pearls,
and diamonds.

The Duchess of Saxe Coburg Go!ha's dress was of gold
moire antique, trimmed with gold lace, and having the
stomacher of diamonds. Her Royal Highness's head-
dress was formed of lilies, green and gold leaves, and
diamonds.

The Duchess Caroline of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz wore a
dress of pink satin covered with tulle, having two deep
flounces of white lace ; the front was ornamented with
white roses and green leaves, diamonds being inserted in
the middle of the roses. The stomacher was adorned
with diamonds, and the head-dress composed of white
roses and diamonds.

The Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe wore a white dress
trimmed with blush roses and silver ribands. The Prin-
cess wore round her head a wreath of blush roses.
Her Majesty opened the ball with his Royal Highness
the Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz, in
a quadrille•

ARRIVAL OF THE KING AND QUEEN OF

HANOVER,

Their Majesties the King and Queen of Hanover, ac-
companied by the youthful Crown Prince and the Prin-
cesses of the Royal Family, arrived off the Royal dock-
yard at Woolwich on Thursday, from Ostend. The Duke
of Cambridge went to Woolwich to meet His Majesty,
and, with the Hanoverian ambassador. assisted him up the
landing steps.

The— King and Queen, with the youthful Princess
Maria, and the Duke of Cambridge, entered the first
carriage, an open phaeton, drawn by four horses, and
left the dockyard, aaiid the reiterated cheers of the
spectators.

The Crown Prince and the Princess Frederica, and the
ladies and gentlemen in the suite of the King and Queen,
folThelowed in six carriages.
Royal party, while passing through Greenwich,
was met by the Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess
Mary, and the Hereditary Grand Duke and Grand
Duchess of Mecklenburgh.Strelitz, who had intended to
be present to receive the King and Queen at 'Woolwich.
Their Royal Highnesses returned with the King and
Queen, and they proceeded to the residence of the Hano-
verian Legation, where the Royal partyarrived at 7 o'clock.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester and the
Duchess Caroline of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz were in at-
tendance at the Legation to receive their Majesties.
The King and Queen only retired for a few moments,
and presently left in a carriage and four to pay a visit to
Her Majesty and the Prince Consort at Buckingham
Palace. Upon the road their Majesties were met by the
Queen and the Prince Consort hastening to pay a visit of
congratulation to their illustrious relatives. The horses'
heads were turned, and in a few moments the Queen and
the Prince Consort met the King and Queen in the ball
of the Hanoverian Legation. The interview between the
Queen and her Royal cousins was most affecting. The
Majesty remained for nearly half-an-hour with her illus-
trious relatives.

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, her Serene
Highness the Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe, and their
Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Saxe Coburg
Gotha visited their Majesties during the evening.

THE MILITARY ENCAMPMENT AT

CHOBHANI.

The camp at Chobharn-common bivouacked on Tuesday
for the first time, amidst a storm of thunder, hail, and
rain, as if the very elements had combined with the
Commander-in-chief to test the capabilities of the sol-
diery in contending with them. The force now assembled
upon Chobham-common is from eight to ten thousand
strong. It comprises four regiments of cavalry, three
battalions of guards, two brigades of infantry, each com-
prising three regiments ' • one troop of Royal Horse Artil-
lery, three batteries of Horse Artillery, a company of
Sappers, and a Pontoon train. The cavalry is composed
of the Ist Life Guards, the 6th Dragoon Guards, the
13th Light Dragoons, and the 17th Lancers, commanded
by his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge. Colonel
Henry Bentinck commands the battalions of the Grena-
dier, Coldstream, and Scots Fusilier Guards. Sir Do
Lacy Evans commands the first infantry brigade, which
consists of the 38th, the 93d, and the second battalion of
the Rifle Brigade. Major-General Fane commands the
-12 d, the 50th, and the 95th, forming the second infantry
brigade. Lieut.-Colonel Bloomfield commands the Royal
Artillery, Lieut.-Colonel Vicars the Sappers and Miners,
and Colonel H. D. Jones the Pontoon train. The entire
division is under the command of Lord Seaton, Lieut.-
Colonel B. Wood being Assistant Adjutant-General, and
Colonel Torrens Assistant Quartermaster-General. Con-
structing kitchens was one of the chief works of Tuesday,
and it must not be supposed that the culinary art, as
practised in the midst of war's alarms, is an uninteresting
object of study. Anything more rude and accordant with
campaigning it is hardly possible to conceive. A trench
is due, with a short mud chimney at one end ; a fire is
lighted at the other, and the top of the trench being
covered over with turf, pots are stuck down into holes
made for them in this covering to boil ; this is the Sap-
pers' mode. The earth kitchen approved of by the ex-
isting regulations is a still rougher contrivance, and one's
thoughts, in looking at either, naturally revert with
satisfaction to sea-coal fires, ranges, ovens, hot-plates,
and all the other appliances of modern gastronomy. The I
Artillery, like the Sappers, are obliged to be able to turn
their hands to any sort of work more than the men of the
line, and they gave excellent evidence of their expertness,
by the quickness with which they took up their position.
Chobham-common, which has been selected for the
encampment, is a wild, extensive, heath-clad tract of
land, about three miles from Chertsey. The lower parts
of it are marshy, the high grounds covered with a scrubby
dry turf. Its extent, its freedom from enclosures or wood,
and other considerations, on the whole, well adapt it for
the use to which it is now put. A succession of swelling
heights formed into a crescent-shaped ridge runs through
the centre of the common, and upon its concave edge the
encampment rests, with a northern aspect. The tents,
therefore, looked at from the north, form graceful and
re,ular hollow lines, advanced at each end and receding
in the centre, along the verge of the horizon. The cara'ry,
with their spacious canvas stables, occupy the extreme
right ; then the three battalions of the Guards ; then the
42d Highlanders, the 95th, the 50th, the 38th, the 93d,
and the 23d. The Artillery and Rifles occupy the ex-
treme left of the position. Each regiment keeps its
boundaries distinct from the rest, and the arrangement
of tents is in regular order by companies, the men in their
bell-tents, fifteen to each tent, in front ; the officers in
the rear. Behind them, again, the mess-room, the hos.
pita!, the canteen, the kitchen, the stables, and the
women's huts. Of course the appearance of the encamp-
ment varies with the arm of the service which occupies it.
The cavalry stables, and those of the artillery, give either !
wing a rather booth-like effect, but the ridge, dotted !
regularly with the symmetrical tents of the infantry, is
exceedingly striking, and the swarms of red and white
coats moving about like ants add immensely to the anima-
tion of the scene, It was an interesting and pretty sight
to sae each regiment come in upon the ground allotted to
it, the band playing at its head, and then, after a short
pause, et the worJ of comm4cd, 511 the ten;;; raised at