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32X

PEEST

THE

PEINCE OF WALES IN CAMDA AND THE
UNITED STATES.

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THE

PRINCE OF WALES

CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES.

N. A. WOODS,

"The Times" Special Correspoudeut, Author of "ThePast Camnaign," otc, etc.

LONDON:
BRADBUEY & EYANS, 11, BOUYEBIE STBEET.

18G1.

[TJic i^ght f.f Translailon is r€S€i'ved!\

HIS (

LONIiON :
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WH1TEFUIARS.

Royal I
United
of respi
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with a
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the lat(
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under o
ance to
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g^Htati0n.

HIS GEACE TEE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, K.G.,

ETC., ETC.

My Lord Duke,

This humble record of the memorable tour of His
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales through Canada and the
United States I dedicate to your Grace with deep sentiments
of respect and admiration. To no one could this volume
be more appropriately offered than to one who was charged
with all the responsibility, and who now so deservedly
enjoys the honours due to the successful management of
the late most remarkable progress. Frequently during the
hurry of events in i'le West I was compelled to lay myself
under obligations to yoiu* Grace for information and assist-
ance to enable me, through the columns of " The Times," to
discharge faithfully my duties to the English public. For
the cordial and ready aid I always received on these occa-
sions I cannot too often express my thanks. To these

^ 'I

DEDICATION.

favours your Grace has added another, by your kind
acceptance of the dedication of this book — an acceptance
which I feel to be a most distinguished compliment to the
general accuracy and impartiality of my narrative.

I have the honour to remain,

Your Grace's very obedient servant,

NICHOLAS AUGUSTUS WOODS.

Grove Hili,

January 2, 1861.

PREFACE.

A VERY few words will suffice to introduce this
volume to the reader. It is founded almost entirely
upon the letters which, as Special Correspondent of
" The Times," I forwarded to that journal, narrating
the long progress of the Prince of Wales through
Canada and the United States. Some portions — such
as the description of the Saguenaj'', Niagara, and the
visit to Washington's Tomb — have been reproduced
almost verbatim. But during a tour of such extent, "
and conducted with such rapiditj'-, it of course hap-
pened that, in spite of the kind assistance at all times
extended towards me by members o^ the royal suite
and Canadian government, many events of interest
both to the English and Canadians were overlooked,
and either left unnoticed or merely mentioned en
passant. On the other hand, details and facts con-
nected with our cfreat North American colonies were

I'.

It-

If?

viU

PREFACE.

constantly arising, but for which, unfortunately, I
could find no place in my record of the state re-
ceptions in Canada, which every day, and almost
every hour in the day, awaited the Trince of Wales.
These omissions I have endeavoured to rectify in the
present volume.

The amount of additions and corrections thus neces-
sary has swelled its bulk far beyond the dimensions I
anticipated. The comparative absence of state and
formality during the progress through the United
States, gave me better opportunities of observing
the resources and peculiar features of the country
than any I enjoyed in Canada. But even the hurried
sketch I am enabled to give of that gigantic colony
will not be without its use, if it only succeeds in
directing inquiry into the almost boundless and little
kiiorr'n resources of our great North American depen-
dencies. Kg ■■^ne em feel more keenly than I do how
small is the stock JWi^vi^^?i<.,?) here contributed
to this important subject; but, ;• "av- v,>v>;"'-^^^

"What is writ is writ :
Would it were worthier."

PKEFACE

The time, however, is fast appronching when the
wealth, magnitude, and importance of the British
possessions in North America will force their notice on
England and its people, who will then learn with as
much pleasure as surprise, that their colony, known
under the general name of Canada, is an empire of the
West, inferior only to that of the United States.

N. A. WOODS.

Grovb Hill,

January 2, 1861.

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foundla
the To
cession
— lUun
Departv

Bay of Fun
Fertilit
Ball— 1

Route from
Departi
Borealii

The "Hero
sion— Jl

CHAPTER II.

NEW BRUNSWICK.

Bay of Fundy — Arrival at St. John — Reception — Illuminations —
Fertility of the Province — Arrival at Fredericton — A Grand
Ball— Visit to Carleton 41

CHAPTER III.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

Route from Windsor — Destruction of Timber — Loyalty of Truro —
Departure from Hctou— Ball at Charlotte Town — The Aurora
Borealis — The "Hero" aground

%,,..

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

PAGE

Canada — Embarkation of the Prince and Suite — Vc-^e to New-
foundland — Reception — Departure for Halifax — P ^arations in
the Town — Excitement in Halifax — Arrival — Indians — Pro-
cession through the Town — The Weather — Festivities : The Ball
— Illuminations — Regatta — Visit to aa Indian Encampment —
Departure — ^Visit to Windsor

' ''.■ ''U 1 I

2 ■■■■■'rf
* ■ ;" •• * 41

*'■ ■■'ill
o

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CHAPTER IV.
thjB saguenay river.

The "Hero" .igroiir.d again — Scenery of the R.iver — A little Excur-
sion — Mountain Echoes — Arrival at Quebec . . . .

;-v.1

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.

QUKBEC.

PAGE

The Prince on Board — Aspect of the City— Sectarian Squabbles—
Illumiuations— The Chaudidre Falls— The Speakers of the Upper
and Lower Houses Knighted— Falls of Montmorenci — The
Natural Steps— Ball at Quebec— Falls of Lorette— The Indians-
Roman Catholics of Laval— The Heights of Abraham— Departure
from Quebec gg

CHAPTER YI.

MONTREAL.

Situation of Montreal— The Volunteers— Address from the Corpora-
tion and the Prince's Reply— The Industrial Exhibition— The
Victoria Bridge— Indian Games— Ball at Montreal— Rapids of
the St. Lawrence— Tlie Thousand Islands— The Lachine Rapids
—"The People's Ball"— Eccentricities of Dress— Unfavourable
Weather . ^0

CHAPTER VII.

OTTAWA.

St. Anne's River— Arrival at Ottawa— Canoe Procession of Lumberers
—Aspect of Ottawa— Its want of fitness for a Capital— Laying
Foundation Stone of Parliament Buildings— The Lumber Arch
— Down a Timber Shoot — Commencement of the Orange
Difficulties . . 14g

CHAPTER VIII.

KIXGSTOX.

Scenery of the Upper Ottawa— The Chats Portage— Through the
Woods— Brockville— Kingston— The Orange Procession— The
Prince declines to land — Belleville — Cobourg . . . .170

CHAPTER IX.

TOUONTO.

Reaction in Orange feeling— Peterborou sh— Port Hope— Whitby-
Orange Arch at Toronto— Duplicity of the Mayor— Correspondence
—The Mayor's Apology— Reception at Osgoode Hall— Fatiguing
Character of the Progress— Excursion to Collingwood—" Indian
Summer"— Addresses from Kingston and Belleville— The Prince's
Reply— Leaves Toronto . . 197

Welcome at ]
castlb's
in Cana(
Proceed;

Temporary Q
Falls 111
pool — F

Laying corn(
the Prii
and Lo\
Prince—
— ATu:
bitiou i
Departu

American Ra
Fertility
Settlemf
— AmeA
the Prai

Arrival at C
Prosper!
.1. Dwelli

CONTENTS,
CHAPTFF . ■

LONDOr.

XUl

PAQB

Welcome at London— Close of Orange Correspondence— Duke of New-
castle's Reply— Parallel between London in England and London
in Canada West— Indians of Sarnia— Distribution of Medals—
Proceeds to Niagara 226

197

CHAPTER XI.

THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.

Temporary Quiet -Aspect of the Falls— How to see Niagara— The
Falls Illuminated— Performances of Blondin— Visit to the Whirl-
pool— Fatal Accidents 285

CHAPTER XII.

HAMILTON.

Laying comer-stone of Monument to Sir I. Brock— Address, and
the Prince's Reply— St. Catharine's— Contrast between Upper
and Lower Canada— Situation of Hamilton — Reception of the
Prince— Levee at the Royal Hotel— Ball at the Anglo-American
— A Turbulent Dutchman— Inauguration of Agricultural Exhi-
bition and Farewell Address— Excellence of Arrangements-
Departure from Hamilton 253

CHAPTER XIII.

THE UNITED STATES.

American Railroads— Appearance of the Country— Its extraordinary
Fertility— Land Speculations— Forest Scenery— Fugitive Slave
Settlement at Chatham- Arrival at Detroit— Enormous Crowds
— Amefican Curiosity— From Detroit to Chicago— A Glimpse at
the Prairie 271

CHAPTER XIV.

CIIICAOO.

Arrival at Chicago — Procession of "Wide-awakes"— Growth and
Prosperity of the City — Its importance as a Corn DepOt— Moving
a Dwelling-liouse — On a Shooting Excursion .... 285

1,1

■p^'

XVI

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XV.

THE TRAIRIES NEAR DWIGIIT.

PAGE

Sketch of Dwiglit— Difficulties as to Houseroora— Sport on the Prairies
—Irish Visitors— View of the Grand Prairie— Danger of Straying
— Peiil by Fire— A Prairie Conflagration— Value of Prairie Land
—Method of Cultivation— Wolves and Reptiles— Coal— The
Prince leaves Dwight ^^^

CHAPTER XVI.

ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI.

Mr. Lincoln's House at Springfield— Alton-Banks of the Jlississippi
—Arrival at St. Louis— Visit to Agricultural Show— Character
of the country passed through— Reaches Cincinnati— An American
Hotel— Pigs in the City— Its situation— Rail at the Opera House
— Leaves Cincinnati for Pittsburg— Mistaken politeness of the
Mayor— Across the Alleghany range— The Cambria Ironworks-
Mountain scenery— Harrisburg, through Baltimore, to Wash-
ington . . • '

314

CHAPTER XVII.

WASHINGTON.

The Prince's Reception— Meets the President— Lev6e— Unfinished
Character of Washington City-The Capitol— Hall of Representa-
tives—The Senate Chamber— The White House— Visit to Mount
Vernon — Its neglected condition— Washington's Tomb— The
Prince plants a chesuut ^3'

CHAPTER XVIII.

BICIIMOND, BALTIMORE, AND PHILADELPniA.

Departure from Washington -A "Strap Road"— Fredericksburg-
Arrival at Richmond— Visit to the Capitol, and alleged Rudeness
of the Crowd— Denials of the Richmond Committee— The North
and the South— The Prince visits Baltimore — The Washington
Memorial -Philadelphia— Ovation at the Opera House

CHAPTER XIX.

NEW YORK.

Enthusiasm in Favour of the Prince — Its orij,'In — Protest of the
"Iiish-boni Citizens"- The New Yorkers lectured by a certai|

356

Jounial-
Arrival :
—The ]
Attentio
Ball-rooi
City— Gi
prayed i

The Prince le
Point—'
ception ,

Welcome at ]
Grand I
—Visit

Reception at

Voyage ;
England

PAGE

293,

314

CONTENTS.

FA»B

Journal — Impressive Character of the Prince's Welcome — His
Arrival and Reception — Down the Broadway — American Hotels
—The Prison System— The "Tombs"— The Pirate Hicks-
Attention paid to the Prisoners— Grand Ball — Accident to the
Ball-room Floor — A Carpenter buried alive — Drive round the
City— Grand Torchlight Procession— The English Royal Family
prayed for at Trinity Church 369

CHAPTER XX.

WEST POINT AND ALBANY.

The Prince leaves New York— Voyage up the Hudson— Arrival at West
Point— The Military School— Voyage resumed— Enthusiastic Re-
ception ... ••....,. 404

CHAPTER XXI.

BOSTON AND PORTLAND.

Welcome at Boston — The Prince's Entry— Inspection of the Militia-
Grand Musical Festival— New Version of ** God Save the Queen"
— Visit to Harvard University 411

«n;

tS'l

337

CHAPTER XXII.

THE VOYAGE HOME.

Reception at Portland— Embarkation for the Voyage Home— A Winter
Voyage across the Atlantic— Stormy Weather— Delay in reaching
England — Home at Last — Conclusion 422

356

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UTHO. BY JAMES WYLD , CEOCRAPH

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LiTHo. er JAMES ivno. ceochapher to the queen. 4^7 strand. London

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MA? OF THE ROFTE OF

H.RH IHE PREVCE op^WM^ES

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TEE PEINCE OF WALES IN CANADA
AND THE UNITED STATES. '

CHAPTER I.

NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

!, oada — Embarkation of the Prince and Suite — Voyage to Newfoundland
— Reception — Departure for Halifax — Preparations in tiie Town —
Excitement in Halifax — Arrival — Indians — Procession thi'ough the
Town — The Weather — Festivities : The Ball — Illuminations — Regatta
— Visit to an Indian Encampment — Depaiiure — Visit to Windsor.

The tour of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales

tlrough Canada and the United States was the first

gi'eat progress ever made in the West by any member

ol* the English Royal family. If in future times for

the next century to come one should be undertaken by

-■ery succeeding heir apparent to the British Crown,

me is ever likely to meet with a more remarkable

jception than that accorded to Albert Edward, in

360. History, I believe, affords no record of any

)yal progress extending over such a vast territory,

ad continued through so long a period of time where

ie reception was, from first to last, on such a lavish

saiC of splendour and hospituliiy, and distiriguished

X III

NBWFOUKP^ ^"ND kUD NOVA SCOTIA.

by such bomnUeBs entV ^iasm of loyalty. Yet this
remarkable prv>gresB, destii.ed I believe to be produc-
tive of the most important results— arising not more
from the p . ' ' 'led knowledge win- h the English public
has gained oi the magnitude and lesourc-s of their
great Canadian em^^ir^ . than from witnessing the kind
and hearty feeling of friendship evinced towards their
country bv all classes of Americans, at the outset,
excited but little notice in England. The general public
only knew that His Royal Highness was departing on
a kind of state tour to the British North American
provinces and Canada— colonies about which, as a rule,
they knew still less. Some curiosity was felt as to
Avhether he would pass through the States; and of
course an interest evinced as to the kind of reception
\e would get there. But beyond this there seemed at
lirst ry little feeling in the matter. The Prince of
Wah s had been through Italy, Germany, France, and
Spain without attracting any extraordinary amount of
attention at home or abroad. In England the public
seemed to imagine that the visit to Canada, though of
course of a more important and festive kind, would
nevertheless, very much resemble his previous travels
on the continent, almost overlooking the fact that His
Highness was '^oing to visit, and for a time reside
among a people as truly and as sterlingly English as
any yeoman from T.and's End to John o' Groats. Thus
at the time the whole length and breadth of Canada and
the North American provinces were steeped in festive
preparations and making ready for grand displays of
every sort and oia ^^ery scale of magnitude, it was not
even known at hci. = v.o where the tour of His Eoyal
Highness would re;u; eiten;!. While the native tribes
were mustering or I .?> i ^ron to r".. honour to the son
of "their Great Mother; ' while the back-woods' tracks

'"'"mm

EMBARKATION OF THE PRINCE. 3

round Ottawa were being mado or repaired for him to
pass along on his winding rout* to all the chi f towns
in Tipper Canada, almost the most that had transpired
in E;igland was, that he was certainly going lu Quebec
— that he would open the great Victoria Bridge fit
Montreal — probably visit the President, and not im-
probably go to New York ; the whole visit lasting
about a month. In fart, the English public knew very
little about the matter nt all ; and, if I am not mis-
taken, the first intimation they received of the real
extent and importance of the great visit was from the
programme of what was to be done in Canada, for-
warded to the Times from Quebec.

Some little stir was made by the embarkation of His
Royal Highness at Plymouth, and a kindly farewell
address was presented to him by the mayor and cor-
poration of that town; but this was almost the only
public formality that marked the departure of the
Prince of Wales on one of the longest, grandest, and
most important tours which royalty has ever under-
taken.

The vessels chosen to accompany the Prince and
form the royal squadron, were the Hero, 91 guns.
Captain Seymour; the Ariadne, 26, Captain Vansittart ;
and the Flying Fish, 6, Commander Hope. The two
first named are the finest and fastest ships in the navy
— probably of their class the two finest and fastest
'ips in t'.-'e world. The last, though a most beautiful
bleam sloop to look at, is like all of the same sort, by
no means a good one to go, but on the contrary, so
slow, that it was necessary to give her a week's start of
the other vessels to enable her to arrive at St. John's
in time. On board the " Hero " were the Prince, the
Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of the Colonies, and
state adviser on this tour to His Royal Highness ; Earl

B 2

' ■

1' 1
!

HEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

St Germains, Lord Steward of Her Majesty s house-
hold and Mjor-General the Hon. B. Bruce governor
to tlie Pr no . Dr. Acldand, Eegius Professor of
Medtine at Oxford, attended as the Prince's phys.c.an
Heutenaut-Colonel Grey and ^^3- J^^^^^^ „*
eauerries to His Koyal Highness ; and Mr. G. D. tngle
Wt Te Duke of Newcastle's private score ary, were
,tnf the party on board the "Hero."- The poop
ahiu n theCer deck, furnished in the very pla>nes
stvle and with an ordinary ship's cot sw.ng.ng m the
cln :r of the sleeping cabin, was for the use of H^
Boyal Highness. The Duke of Newcastle and M
St Germains divided the ward room. The othei
2^ZZ of the royal party had temporary cabrns bujH
fo Xm along the main deck, the greater part of the
In in eachtf which was of course --P^^sed by a
long «2-pounder. A college fnend of ^^^ P"°^^; *^
Hon C EUice, a son of Lord Howard De A\alden,
went'in'the Ari;dne; Yiscount Hinchinbrooke and the
Hon G Elliot (son of the Earl St. Germams), a so
^::ds^ofl Prince, and who Joined a-dj—
with the royal party in Amenca, preceded th. dep=.
ture of the squadron, and went to New \ork m
ordinary mail steamer 0.r the — g ofjuj;;^^^
lOth the vessels steamed out oi nym^
the vovaae to America commenced,
tne vo}a^e ^ ^^ ^ the

On tills crmse out tneie was Mta-y ^^ ^^

i„f;;he broad Atlantic. The flag-ship then s.gnalied

VOYAGE TO NEWFOUNDLAND. 6

a farewell, again the whole fleet poured forth its
thundering homage to the royal standard, and tacking
down Channel, were soon out of sight below the
horizon.

They were lost sight of with almost a feeling of
regret, for somehow or other they were generally sup-
posed to have taken the fine weather with them. Cer-
tainly, if the fleet had not some other vessels had, for
most assuredly none remained with the royal squadron.
From that time out there was nothing but bad weather.
It was not downright heavy weather of the violent kind,
which forces one to take an interest in the barometer,
and make furtive inquiries as to the ship being strong
and a good sea-boat — the kind of weather which makes
all food but biscuit or sea-pie impossible to be got.
Fortunately it was not of this sort (though if it had
been it would not have mattered much to His Royal
Highness, who is as good a sailor as his brother Alfred),
but still the vagaries of a line-of-battle ship in a gale
in the Atlantic are rather alarming to witness for the
first time. It was merely then unfavourable weather,
and, short of a hurricane, nothing worse for discomfort
is to be met at sea than what is encountered under
this mild general term. There was drizzle and rain on
deck, damp and discomfort below, with just sufficient
head sea to impede progress, but, apparently, by no
means enough to justify the breakage that was exter-
minating crockery on all sides. Fortunately, not only
His Royal Highness but all the suite were exempt from
that nauseous leveller, sea-sickness, so in spite of all
the time was passed tolerably well, sometimes in specu-
lations as to when there was likely to be a fair wind, or
else in making "chaffing" signals to the "Ariadne."
Then, cabin number 7 invited cabins number 5 and 3
to a quiet cipar, when cabins 4 and C were sure to dr'^ji

(

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6 NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

in, and at a later hour cabins 1, 2, and 9, and the
« festivities were prolonged to an advanced hour." On
the seventh day out the breeze became more prononce
and there was every prospect of a longer cruise, and of
the good citizens of the British provinces being kept
waitincr for the arrival of their long expected visitor
till their arches were faded and their enthusiasm down
to zero. It blew hard, with a heavy swell, and the suite
were speculating on a rough night, when the attention
of all was arrested by that most startling of all sounds
at sea, the cry of a " man overboard." In almost as
Httle time as it takes to tell it, both life-buoys were let
go and the "Hero" rounded to. The poor fellow, who
had jumped into the water in a fit of temporary insanity
as it was supposed, could be seen astern struggling amid
the surges. With some risk and difficulty a boat was
manned and lowered, and pulled away with desperate
strokes, to save the wretched man. So quick was ail
that could be done accomplished that it seemed almost
certain the poor fellow would be saved, when suddenly,
as the boat was almost alongside him, he disappeared
and was seen no more. This most painful incident-
the only incident of the voyage-by no means made
the cruise more cheerful, and the dull, wet, unfavour-
able weather seemed duller and more gloomy than
ever. There was nothing, in fact, to enliven it but
hazy conjectures as to when they would arrive, with
now and then a small discussion as to whether or not
the "Ariadne" would part company in the next fog.
But of this latter there was little fear, for wind, ram,
fog, or storm, the splendid consort of the " Hero" never
parted once from her stern but for a few short hours,
when in a thicker fog than ever off the coast of New-
foundland, Thus day by day was passed, and the
Prince's barometrical ill luck, which followed him

almost thr
evident wr
denser fog,
was not a
22nd of J
shores of !N
the squadr
breakfast (
the wide, s
Newfour
small color
ance and <
name and j
world. Tl
same size
haps Anstr
are so litth
almost not
supposed, (
to be full
covered wil
population
which, of c
are drawn
sistence.
110,000 be
directly or
the fisherie
very little ;
of the isla
rumour bu
having no f
first effort ■
merely to c
conneetiou

^*'«

ARKIVAL AT ST. JOHN's. 7

almost throughout the tour, became more and more
evident with each foul wind, dead calm, head sea, or
denser fog. With such weather, therefore, every one
was not a little pleased to hear on the night of the
22nd of July that the " Hero " was close upon the
shores of Newfoundland. The following morning found
the squadron off the harbour of St. John's, and before
breakfast each vessel was quietly moored abreast of
the wide, straggling, quaint colonial capital.

Newfoundland, though in appearance a poor and
small colony, is not without its own peculiar import-
ance and one certainly which is as widely known by
name and fame as any British possession in the whole
world. There is, however, no tract of country of the
same size belonging to the English crown, except per-
haps Australia, the internal natural resources of which
are so little explored. Of the interior of Newfoundland
almost nothing has been discovered beyond that it is
supposed, on general rumour, to contain many lakes,
to be full of swamps and bogs, with isolated hills thinly
covered with trees of small growth. In fact, the whole
population of the island live in sight of the sea, from
which, of course, they seldom move, as from its waves
are drawn their only means for commerce and sub-
sistence. Out of a population numbering more than
110,000 beings, there are scarcely 3000 who are not
directly or indirectly connected with, or dependant on,
the fisheries. Among a people so employed, of course
very little attention is ever bestowed upon the interior
of the island, which to them appears, not only by
rumour but from a commercial point of view and as
having no fisheries, to be a mere waste. Almost the very
first effort which was undertaken, not to explore, but
merely to cross Newfoundland, was to survey a route in
connection with the Atiautio Telegraph. The result

4^'

"II

NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

of this attempt, which was successful, though during
it very maiiy of the Indians who accompanied Mr.
Gisborne died of privation and fatigue, showed that
for once the wild and sterile nature of an almost
unknown interior had not been exaggerated. The
island beyond the actual coast line was found to be
a mere swamp— cold, raw, utterly wild, and almost
destitute of either animals or trees.

On such an island there was, of course, very little for
the royal party to see, except in the actual town of
St. John's, which had made an amount of preparations
in the way of arches and evergreens, such as no one
had expected. This festive exhibition would no doubt
have been worth seeing, but for the rain, which, as
throughout the voyage, accompanied His Koyal High-
ness to this his first landing-place, and poured in such
torrents that for some hours the disembarkation had
to be postponed. Of what took place at this visit to St.
John's there is really so little to record that, but as a
link in the narrative of the progress, it might almost be
omitted entirely. A few things, however, are worthy
of mention, one being that the cod fish caught at New-
foundland, when fresh, is as tasteless as water and as
unpalatable as cotton wool. It is only when salted
(the only condition in which it is exported) that it
becomes even tolerably good ; and, fortunately for the
value of the fisheries, the cod of Newfoundland bears
salting later than any other species known. Another
fact discovered during the royal visit demands especial
notice, as it v/as subsequently much commented on, and
formed, if anything could form, a sort of foundation for
the monstrous superstructure of false reports whicli
were designedly circulated among the Orangemen of
Upper Canada. The Protestants and Eoman Catho-
lics of Newfoundland are pretty equal in number, and

RECEPTION.

to their credit be it said, the ministers of both creeds
live on terms of the most perfect amity and friendship
without interferences or jealousies of any kind. So
perfect is this concord that when, after the landing,
each body presented an address to His Royal High-
ness, both at once consented to be included in a joint-
reply — perhaps the first instance of the kind on record.
This reply the Prince delivered to them as follows : —

" I receive with deep gratification the Address which you
have presented to me.

" The anxiety which has ever been manifested by the Queen
for the promotion of all that concerns the religious, moral, and
social condition of her people is well known to you. She will,
therefore, rejoice to hear that your labours in this island have
been crowned with so large a measure of success, and that good
order and obedience to the laws characterise the population
among whom, by the Divine will, , ^ur lot has been cast.

*' That the inhabitants of this colony may long live in the
possession of an earnest faith, and, at the same time, in
religious peace and harmony, shall be my constant prayer.

" Personally, I thank you for your congratulations upon my
safe arrival, and for your good wishes."

After this and many other addresses, from various
corporations and societies,* His Royal Highness, having
nothing else either to do or see, made a private visit to
inspect the really fine interior of the Protestant cathe-
dral. On quitting this building he was requested to

* There were upwards of 380 addresses presented to His Royal Highness
during the whole tour, and more than 100 of these were honoured with
replies. The whole, if printed, would form a thicker volume than that
now before the reader, and even the principal ones, which have since been
reprinted by the Colonial Office, make a very fair-sized book. Of course,
under such circumstances, it would be mere waste of the reader's time
and patience to give even the Prince's answers, except in those cases
where subsequent events connected with the tour showed them to have
more than a local importance. Such was the address to the united clergy
of Newfoundland.

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NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

confer the same favour on the cathedral belonging to
the Roman Catholics. To this, of course, His Royal
Highness at once consented, and having looked into the
interior of the chapel, which in its style of adornments
much resembled an over-decorated music hall, for a
few minutes, the party came away. Short as was this
visit, it was taken as a compliment, and was, I am
told, a deep source of pleasure to the Roman Cathohcs.
Short as it was, also, it afterwards sufficed, with other
causes, to answer a political purpose, and to get up
the Orange cry in Canada against what was called the
Duke of Newcastle's popish leanings.

This was the only Roman Catholic place of worship
the Prince entered during the whole tour from begin-
ning to end.

After these visits and the drive round the town, the
Prince proceeded to the residence of Sir Alexander
Bannerman, held a short levee, and afterwards, at a
banquet, met some of the most distinguished citizens
of St. John's. Later in the evening there was a ball,
which began the Prince's long series of triumphs at
these fetes, for his grace, affabihty, and kind good
nature won the hearts of all.

It was intended to amuse the populace with fireworks
on this evening, but the rain had been so incessant
that very few attended to witness the display. This
was fortunate, as, few as were the people present, there
were fewer still of the pyrotechnics that could be got to
light by any means, so that on the whole the intended
exhibition was rather a decided failure than otherwise.
On the morning following the ball and projected out-
door entertainment, the inhabitants of Newfoundland
presented the Prince with one of the largest and
noblest looking specimens of the breed of dogs for
which the island is famed all over the world. This

magnificent
as large as i
foundland d
presented a
enriched wil
the arms o
short but £
The dog ha<
first colony
more, in 16'
the animal
Newfoundla
brute soon I
The size, c
Cabot, of c
among the (

It was so(
for the wate
likely to te
watched wt
he was let
astonishmei
of the sea, 1
down into "
lowered to
occasion, wl
overpowere(
overboard :
enjoying hii
delight as ii

One or t\
kind proved
be at large '
waves the i
plunge amo:

CABOT.

magnificent brute, though still very young, was quite
as large as an ordinary donkey, and, like all pure New-
foundland dogs, a deep jet black. With him also was
presented a superb, silver collar and chain, the former
enriched with elaborate chasings, and having between
the arms of the colony and the Prince of Wales, a
short but appropriate inscription to His Highness.
The dog had received the name of " Avalon," after the
first colony established in the island by Lord Balti-
more, in 1623. The Prince, however, proposed calling
the animal by the name of the great discoverer of
Newfoundland, Cabot, and this new title the splendid
brute soon became accustomed to on board the "Hero."
The size, courage, strength, and perfect docility of
Cabot, of course made him an universal favourite
among the officers of the ship.

It was soon found, however, that his daring and love
for the water was of such an absorbing nature as was
likely to terminate his career abruptly, unless closely
watched while on board the flagship. The first day
he was let loose for a run on the main deck, to the
astonishment of every one, the instant he caught sight
of the sea, he made one bound clear through a port,
down into the water, and of course a boat had to be
lowered to pick Master Cabot up again. On a second
occasion, when let loose, his love of swimming again
overpowered all fear of consequences, and Cabot was
overboard in the twinkling of an eye, frisking and
enjoying himself among the heavy waves with as much
delight as if he was born there.

One or two other little escapades of the same daring
kind proved beyond a doubt that Cabot was not " fit to
be at large" when in sight of the sea. The higher the
waves the more anxious and determined he seemed to
plunge among them. In sight or out of sight of land

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NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

II'H

made no manner of difference to him, and it was there-
fore feared he would go overhoard some day when the
sea might he so wild that it would be dangerous to
lower a boat for his rescue and recapture. Therefore
Cabot was kept chained up while at sea, rambling
about a dog's housp large enough to accommodate a

small family.

On the Saturday following the ball the royal squad-
ron quitted Newfoundland and proceeded under easy
steam for Halifax. For such a cruise there was plenty
of time and to spare, before the hour fixed for the
arrival at the capital of Nova Scotia. On Sunday
afternoon, therefore, the ships turned aside into the
harbour of Sydney, the chief town of Cape Breton
Island. Here His Koyal Highness landed quietly,
and took a short drive round the small though very
clean and pretty streets of the capital. It is almost
needless to say what was the delight of the inhabitants,
who were not the less excited by the honour from the
fact of its being totally unexpected. A very thick fog
set in soon after the royal party re-embarked from this
small province, but the weather was then of small
account, for the ships were close to Halifax, where the
real state progress through the provinces and Canada
was to commence. The squadron accordingly lay to
for the night, off the entrance of the harbour, so a- to
be ready to steam into Halifax at once with the return

of daylight.

I had arrived at Halifax some two days or so before
the time when His Royal Highness was expected to
land at that ancient colony. A telegram had just been
received from St. John's, announcing that the Prince
of Wales had arrived safely at Newfoundland on the
night of the 23rd. But beyond this very meagre
amount of information, little if anything was known for

certainty, so
of excitemen
population s
they talkei.
dreamt of nc
receive him.
"Great Eas
when His R<
and employe!
as much as
my astonishi
Halifax to L
tions for the
to find a daih
the name oi
anecdotes of
glory which
whose name
in Canada or
reverence am
glad and pi
appeared witl
arrival to ri^
His name
associated b}'
ladies' dress(
from a water]
could not sit
dimly from 1
plate. It wa
umbrellas, P
whole colony
and feathers,
paration and

uv *'

EXCITEMENT IN HALIFAX.

certainty, so that all Nova Scotia was in quite a fever
of excitement and delightful expectation. The entire
population seemed to think of nothing — certainly
they talkeu <* nothing, and one might almost fancy
dreamt of nothing but the Prince, and how best to
receive him. I had arrived at New York in the
" Great Eastern," nearly six weeks before the time
when His Royal Highness was expected in the west,
and employed the interval in travelling over Canada,
as much as I could in so short a period. To
my astonishment I found that the whole land from
Halifax to Lake Huron resounded only with prepara-
tions for the approaching royal visit. It was difficult
to find a daily paper which was not full of acrostics on
the name of Albert Edward, verses in his praise,
anecdotes of his childhood, and predictions of a future
glory which should equal that of his royal mother,
whose name it must be said is never men+ioned either
in Canada or the United States, but in such terms of
reverence and admiration as every Englishman feels
glad and proud to hear. No advertisement ever
appeared without some adroit allusion to his expected
arrival to rivet the attention of readers to the puff.
His name and titles were somehow mysteriously
associated by advertisers with cheap pork, old patents,
ladies' dresses, sales of timber — everything in fact
from a waterproof coat to a barrel of mild cider. You
could not sit down to dinner but his portrait loomed
dimly from beneath the gravy in the centre of the
plate. It was Prince's hats. Prince's boots, Prince's
umbrellas. Prince's coats, Prince's cigars, and the
whole colony nodded, in fact, with Prince's coronets
and feathers. Into all this brilliant turmoil of pre-
paration and display, Halifax appeared to enter with
the keenest interest.

I'*

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NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

The town of Halifax by no means impresses the
visitor on his first entrance. As is generally the case,
the road from the station passes through some of the
poorest thoroughfares and meanest houses. The latter
seem ill built and tumbling to their decay, with their
doors and windows mostly crowded with seedy looking,
squalid inhabitants, who lounge about as if they had
very little to do, and were too idle to do even that.
Here and there this monotony of seediness is relieved
by the presence of one or two brightly dressed Indiixn
squaws, with their flat Tartar features half hidden
under a fell of long, coarse, unkempt hair ; their great
splay feet covered over with blanket mocassins, tramp-
ing along with their little papooses tied down hand and
foot to a flat piece of board, and looking for all the
world like some curious preparation of an infant being
dried in the sun. Further up, towards what may be
called the more fashionable quarter of the town, the
streets are better and wider, though always as hilly,
as dusty, and as stony as all towns in the provinces
seem bound to be. Still the whole place has an air of
antiquated sleepiness about it, a kind of wooden imita-
tion of the dulness of old cathedral towns in England,
where each ricketty house seems as if it only nudged
its neighbour to keep still. The churches and public
buildings, however, are large and handsome ; and if the
traveller has not first visited the flourishing town of
St. John's, New Brunswick — the Liverpool of the
British North American Provinces — he is apt on the
whole to be very well satisfied with the capital of Nova
Scotia. To the lovers of beautifully wild and romantic
scenery, all the country round the town offers charms
which may really be said to be inexhaustible ; and the
constant presence of a numerous garrison, with the
importance of the place as a naval station, secures to

HALIFAX.

the inhabitftnts of Halifax more of what is termed
" good society" than can be found in any other of the
provinces.

The visit of His Eoyal Highness to St. John's,
Newfoundland, of course excited little interest ex-
cept among the inhabitants of that remote fishing
station, as it was at Halifax that the royal progress
was understood to commence. Tliither, accordingly,
visitors flocked from all parts of Canada, and even
from many parts of the United States, till Halifax
looked not only crowded, but almost busy. The hotels
of the town have deservedly always stood extremely
low in the estimation of even the least fastidious
torn (Rts. The fact of their being then crowded with
about four times the number of visitors they ever
pretended to accommodate, certainly did very little
towards diminishing their evil repute. Beds com-
manded fancy prices. As a general rule, travelling
with beds in one's luggage should be avoided ; but here
was an exception, and the trouble and expense of
dragging one down even to such an "ultima thiiW as
Halifax, would have amply compensated any gentleman
at all particular on the score of comfort, and one might
almost say cleanliness. All visitors who arrived late
found themselves suddenly called upon to solve an
impossible problem, as to finding beds, while, to add
to the general harmony and peace of mind, every one
appeared to have got some one else's luggage, and the
wildest confusion prevailed.

The inhabitants of Halifax, however, were very little
affected by these contretemps. Their minds were all
concentrated on one darling purpose, that of giving
the Prince a grand and hearty welcome. For, no
matter how much behind St. John's and other towns
of our great Canadian colonies in material wealth or

I '

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NEWFOUNDLAISD AND NOVA SCOTIA.

commercial future, Nova Sciotia is inferior to no colony
England has ever owned in warm and generous loyalty to
the British throne. Only one impulse therefore seemed
to actuate tlie whole population ; all the ordinary duties
of life or business seemed to have been laid aside, that
the people might devote themselves heart and soul to
•welcoming their future king with fitting warmth and
splendour. Nothing was thought too good for the
occasion ; and as not only the town, but every street
and almost every house worked to the same end, the
result may be anticipated, though even those who have
seen it cannot easily do it full justice. The Prince's
l^rogress all through Canada was one grand state pro-
cession from Halifax to Hamilton ; but beautiful and
impressive as were all his receptions, His Highness
saw very little which surpassed his first welcome at
Halifax. Very few indeed were the places which even
recalled to mind the exquisite street decorations which
for the time being transformed the dull old dusty town
into a perfect bower. Even a week before the Prince's
arrival, scarcely a house but was preparing its illumi-
nations and transparencies, not a street so small as to
be without its triumphal arch. In some there were
constantly as many as four or five, in others more
than ten : a perfect vista of flags and evergreens.
All the houses, even to the smallest, were almost
covered over with boughs of spruce fir, Avhich filled the
air with its rich sweet smell, while the eye was charmed
by resting on its deep, rich, mellow-looking green.
While on this subject, I must not omit to mention the
most gratifying fact connected with this really beautiful
display — a display which would have done credit to
the largest and most loyal town in England. Nearly
the whole of the expenses of these multitudinous
arches and illumiuations were defrayed by private sub-

scriptions a

within the i

arches were

all these t

expense of

the governn

all; but th

for imi)rove

The rath

been duly t(

in a constai

should be g

even bear c(

There was, .

Saturday be

the town wa

triumphal a

flags, and be

to be seen,

tinsel, wreat

street was m

of never en

always expe

seaport capil

were not got

ing and sawi

were driven

course, rema

was rigidly

hammering )

and redouble

all who lived

monstrous h

thouglit from

required a te

GKAND PREPARATIONS.

scriptions among the inlmbitunts. It is speakin ^uite
within the mark when I say that at least fifty beautiful
arches were finished before the Prince arrived ; and of
all these the provincial government only bore the
expense of two. Of course, if it iuul been necessary
the government would cheerfully have met the cost of
all; but the loyalty of the Haligonians left no room
lor improvement in this respect.

The rather meagre doings at Newfoundland had
been duly telegraphed to Halifax, and kept the people
m a constant state of nervous anxiety lest anything
should be shown at the fishing colony which might
even bear comparison with what they were preparing.
Ihere was, however, but little fear of this, for, by the
Saturday before the arrival of His Royal Highness
the town was perfectly concealed under such a mass of
triumphal arches, illuminations, decorations, arcades
flags, and banners, that Halifax proper was no longer
to be seen, but in its stead was a town of colours
tinsel, wreaths, lamps, flowers, and evergreens, till each
street was more like those " bowers of bliss and realms
of never ending felicity" in which pantomimes are
always expected to terminate, than a part of the dull
seaport capital of Nova Scotia. All these preparations
were not got through without a terrific din of hammer-
ing and sawing ; and, though apparently nails enough
were driven to have built a city, yet something, of
course, remained to do at the last moment. So Sunday
was rigidly observed till twelve o'clock, when the
hammering was renewed with conscientious accuracy
and redoubled vigour, and a lively night was the result to
all who lived within hearing (as who did not ?} of some
monstrous hollow drumming arch. One would have
thought from the sound, that each leaf on the structure
required a tenpenny nail to secure it.

I 'If

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NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

t
I

•I .

Popular belief varied as to the time when the
Prince would arrive at Halifax, and any hour between
3 A.M. and noon in turn became the favourite, as the
squadron was now rumoured to be in the bay, and the
next moment all but missing. Before five o'clock in
the morning every one was astir in the town : not that
even the most inveterate of sightseers found or
expected much to interest him then, but because it
was evident that there was no sleeping with the Prince
so near at hand. So people turned out, and gossipped
and speculated on the great event, till rumours, hopes,
and fears got wilder and more vague each moment.
The general uncertainty was not diminished when from
the flagstaff on the citadel the signal was run up that
two steamers were in sight. This at once made it
evident to the meanest capacity that these ships could
not belong to the royal squadron, when their approach
was announced in such an off-hand manner, without
any greater marks of reverence or formality than
precede the arrival of an ordinary mail. Nevertheless
the royal squadron it proved to be, though still so far
off that they only seemed at the entrance of the noble
harbour of Halifax like dots upon the edge of the
horizon.

The discovery made as great a sensation as if it was
the most unexpected thing in the world, and not what
all Nova Scotia had been waiting and looking forward
to for the previous six months. The good news
spread from mouth to mouth, and on the instant
steamers, yachts, cutters, and row-boats, started out
to meet the fleet, though still some nine or ten miles
distant. Everybody, however, cc".ld not go this way;
and those who were left behind consoled themselves
for their disappointment by hoisting up still more
flags, banners, and lamps, for, though only six in the

morning,

seemed

damped,

three sic

citadel w]

been firec

as to the

slight res

again en

the tempc

attention

masses of

hills and

and threa

day wore .

At eigh

firing of t]

proclaimec

effect in ^

were to me

Halifax m

too used t(

sufficiently

sion. For

off, and mi

roughly.

fleet, the "

the perfed

came slowl

forts, fron

Point Pleas

royal salute

roar, which

among the

under the h

r 1 ■

ARRIVAL.

morning, popular enthusiasm ran as high as ever and
seemed to be rising every minute. It was a little
damped, however, by the sudden recollection that the
three signal guns which were to be fired from the
citadel when the royal squadron, was in sight, had not
been fired at all. For want of the proper information
as to the cause of this, public enthusiasm underwent a
slight reaction, and Halifax gradually went in-doors
again en masse. A fresh topic for anxiety deepened
the temporary despondency very much, as the delicate
attention of a sou'-west wind brought up some heavy
masses of black clouds, which gradually shrouded the
hills and citadel, raining a little now and a little then
and threatening to become entirely obnoxious as the'
day wore on.

At eight o'clock it poured so hard that even the
firing of the three long-looked-for guns which officially
proclaimed that the Prince had come at last, had no
effect in getting the people out. All the boats which
were to meet the squadron, had long gone ; and to do
Halifax mere justice, its inhabitants appeared much
too used to seeing heavy rain to find anything in it
sufficiently attractive to bring them out on that occa-
sion. Fortunately there were intervals when it held
off, and made believe as if it meant to clear up tho-
roughly. During one of these, the ships of the royal
fleet, the "Hero" leading statelily, but all eclipsed by
the perfect form and noble lines of the " Ariadne "
came slowly up the bay. Then from the citadel and
forts from Fort Redoubt, from George's Island,
i oint Pleasant, and the batteries along the shore the
royal salute began to thunder out in one long solemn
roar, which went on multiplying as it reverberated
among the hills till the very air seemed to tremble
under the heavy sound. Another minute and all the

'li

NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

town of Halifax was in the streets, cheering, hurrying,
pushing; every one on the move, though none seeming
to know where to go, crowding out of houses, where
they could see very well, into little alleys where they
couldn't see at all, and otherwise conducting them-
selves in a wild manner, like a loyal and enthusiastic
people. The wharves and the windows, the hills, and
even the roofs of the houses were crowded — the only
points of vantage which were at all respected during
the general rush being the tops of the triumphal arches
themselves. The dockyard was the great centre of
attraction, for there, not only the public were admitted,
but there the Prince was to land, and there the chief
officers and gentry of the province were to receive
His Highness, with Earl Mulgrave the Lieutenant-
Governor, Admiral Milne, the Members of the Legis-
lative Assembly, the Mayor and Corporation, &c.

Precisely at ten o'clock the " Hero," half hidden by
the smoke of guns, came opposite the town, when the
" Nile," the " Cossack," and the " Valorous," each
fired a royal salute and manned yards to the very
mast-head — the men as neat as pins in their white
shirts and trousers, and looking somewhat like pins, too,
as they stood up in close rows, like a fringe to the yards.

The " Hero " kept on till abreast of the dockyard,
when she passed under the stern of the " Nile," and
rounding to almost in twice her own length, came
at once to her moorings. The " Ariadne " with a
majestic sweep that was beautiful, though which at one
time seemed as if about to send her ashore on the

other side of tlie bay, followed the " Hero;" while the
little " Flying Fish," the smartest looking vessel of
her class afloat, seemed, as she rose and fell to the
undulations of the water, to be skipping lightly after
her huge sisters.

Of CO

Prince, i

glimpse

sailor be

side, up

taken foi

tors the

seemed 1

man, sta

with an

his fair c

hat as till

the ships

royal vis

expected.

moorings,

of various

the "Her

of the M

especially

Tlieir lig]

in them a

Not so di(

frock coat

Mongol fe

almost cor

about twi(

way ofrec(

the cuffs a

rough bea(

whole dreg

civilisation

men them

or two ins

INDIANS.

Of course, as all eyes were strained to see the
Prince, it need scarcely be told how every one that a
glimpse was caught of on board the "Hero," from a
sailor boy standing in a conspicuous position on the
side, up to the officer of marines, was in turn mis-
taken for him, and in turn elicited from the specta-
tors the warmest expressions of admiration. Few
seemed to know that the slight, quiet-looking young
man, standing with three or four others on the poop,
with an unmistakeably sunburnt tinge of brown over
his fair complexion, and who was the first to raise his
hat as the strains of the national anthem came from
the ships of war, was really the Prince of Wales— the
royal visitor so long prepared for and so anxiously
expected. Immediately that the vessels came to their
moorings, a train of some ten or twelve Indian canoes,
of various sizes, paddled rapidly up under the stern of
the "Hero." The Indians in them were of the tribe
of the Micmacs, who had come in from the woods
especially to do honour to the arrival of His Highness.
Their light birch-bark canoes had little sprigs of fern
in them at the bows, and looked characteristic enough.
Not so did their occupants, who were dressed in blue
frock coats and trousers, and had their swarthy, broad,
Mongol features, and long, coarse, straight, black hair'
almost concealed under common English beaver hats,'
about twice too large f-en for their wide heads. By
way of reconciling them to this most un-Indian costume,
the cuffs and collars of the coats were ornamented with
rough beadwork, making such a curious melange of the
whole dress, that it was hard to say of the two whether
civilisation or barbarism was most travestied. The
men themselves, though carefully selected from the

s-r\zav \JL

f the tribe, and in most cases tall, and in one
or two instances athletic -looking, were on the whole

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212

NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

immeasurably inferior in physical development to the
average of ordinary white men. Their arms were long,
weak-looking, and nerveless; each man stooped so
much as to appear almost deformed, walking, when,
on shore, with a shambling, flat-footed gait, and gazing
about the streets with such a vacuous expression of
countenance as at once showed them weak alike in
mind and body, a fast degenerating race of men. On
Lake Huron real Indians — Indians -vyho would not
know what to do with all the trousers in Bond Street
if they were given them to wear for nothing — after-
wards met the Prince, and those tall, lithe, swarthy
savages were worth seeing. But alas for what the
Micmacs could offer to interest ! In their long blue
coats and ornamented cuffs and collars, they looked
like '.hG mummies of an antiquated beadledom — the
parochial scourings of some long bygone Indian vil-
lage. Their chief was a fine-looking man, but he was
an Englishman, who had " taken up " among the
Indians as a "medicine-man," and to whose unskilful
min;:^tering3, by the way, the very dilapidated appear-
ance of his new associates may be, perhaps, ascribed.

Lord Mulgrave with Admiral Milne went on board
the " Hero," and had an interview with the Prince,
who expressed his intention of landing at 12 o'clock.
A few minutes before that hour the ships of war manned
yards, and precisely as 12 o'clock struck there ivas a
little stir on board the " Hero," and shaking hands
as he left with all the officers of the ship, the Prince
of Wales came down the side, followed by tiie Duke of
Newcastle, Earl St. Germains, Major-General Bruce,
and Lue other officers of his suite, and took his seat
in the handsome royal barge. As it pushed from the
sjde, the Prince Royal Standard — the arms of England
quartered, according to the heraldic bearings of the

LANDING.

heir apparent — was hoisted amid the thundering roar
of guns from forts and fleet.

The Prince landed at the dockyard steps near a
triumphal arch, which, to typify the nautical character
of the locale, was moored by two small anchors at
either side, with a canoe on the top with the Prince
of Wales's feathers springing out of the middle like
three little masts. Under this the Prince stepped
ashore, wearing the uniform of a colonel in the army,
with the broad blue riband of the Garter across his
breast. Here he stood for some seconds motionless,
for he had kindly complied with a request of the city
that a photograph might be taken of him as he first
landed on Nova Scotian soil. It was rather a trying
position for any young man, even though a Prince,
to stand motionless, close to the eager, scrutinizing,
admiring gaze of thousands, for nearly half a minute
without varjdng a feature or a muscle, and amid such
a silence that almost the breathing of the great crowd
was audible. But, with his hat raised, and a kind
smile on his face which reminded every one irresistibly
of his Royal mother, the Prince bore the ordeal grace-
fully and well — so well that a tremendous cheer, with
applause from the ladies, and cries of " How kind of
him!" "How condescending!" "How aiFable!" re-
warded him most amply for his slight delay. Before
he had well done acknowledging the salutes of the
governor, the legislature, and the judges, His Royal
Highness was if possible m.ore popular at Halifax than
he had even been at St. John's.

After a few formal presentations and a few still more
formal addresses he mounted his horse and, accom-
panied by Lord Mulgrave, the Lieutenant-Governor,
and all liis suite, issued forth from the dockyard into
the main street leading up toward the town. Here

'^ , If

1 1

«4

NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

indeed all Halifax was out, shouting, cheering, waving
handkerchiefs and clapping hands, as if/ they were
demented. For the first part of the way the street
was kept by the fire companies, then by corps of volun-
teers ; among them was a strong company of negroes,
and then came the regulars. But through all these
barriers save the last the crowd went plunging on,
quite irresistible, not only at times overwhelming the
line of sentries, but sometimes even carrying them
away with them with a headlong rush that no obstacle
could check, till they were abreast of the Prince, when
they stopped, and with scrupulous reverence forbore
to crowd on him, though they made up for this reserve
by cheering, shouting, and throwing tlieir caps into the
ail' like madmen. The great street was soon entered
— one long vista of flags, arches, flowers, and wreaths,
with the roadway densely crowded, and all the windows,
roofs, and balconies thronged with hundreds of ladies
waving handkerchiefs and throwing down bouquets till
the whole place seemed fluttering in the wind. The
scene was one of the most enthusiastic delight, the
contagious spirit of which spread even to the coldest,
till the people seemed actually as if they were taking
leave of their senses. I have had a good deal of expe-
rience in these royal progresses, but, except on the
occasion of the Princess Royal's departure from Graves-
end after her marriage, never saw anything to surpass
the reception of the Prince of Wales at Halifax. His
Royal Highness's horse was young and fiery, and
pranced as if quite used to carrying blood royal. He
betrayed his inexperience, however, by starting now
and then at the cheers, but, as the Prince sits a horse
beautifully, the fretfulness of the steed only showed off
the rider to the best advantage * and the expressions
of fervent admiration which were heard now and then

from the ]

to them, i

were enou

Christend

Under j

Scotch, ea

sive of w

royal mot

always su

beings, tu

came in 1

louder ev(

out of th

wound up

scene pres

had been

thing like

held near];

the citizen

at a dista:

huge flow€

and evergr

picture, j

in his hor

Queen" wi

little voice

well that

second wa

music at o

acknowled*

boys begai

shouted, cl

and handle

Their little

PROCESSION.

from the ladies in the balconies as he rode by bowing
to them, in spite of his unruly horse, with easy grace,
were enough to turn the head of any crown prince in
Christendom.

Under arches erected to him by English, Irish, and
Scotch, each bearing some well-turned motto expres-
sive of welcome to himself and admiration for his
royal mother, the Prince passed slowly on, the crowd
always surging after him like a great sea of human
beings, tumbling over each other and whateyer else
came in their way, but always shouting louder and
louder every minute. At last the procession turned
out of the street leading from the dockyard, and
wound up the hill to the Parade, where a beautiful
scene preseiiied itself. Over the whole Parade-ground
had been erected an immense bench of seats, some-
thing like the orchestra of the Crystal Palace, which
held nearly 3000 children— the sons and daughters of
the citizens. All were very nicely dressed, and looked
at a distance, in the gay confusion of colours, like a
huge flower-bed, framed in by the arches, and flags,
and evergreens in the background, in a bright striking
picture. At the foot of the gallery the Prince reined
in his horse while the children sang " God save the
Queen" with all the strength and harmony of their
little voices. The first verse was very well given — so
well that the Prince made them a low bow as the
second was proceeding, and this put en end to the
music at once, for, carried away by enthusiasm at this
acknowledgment, two or three rosy little girls and
boys began to cheer, and in a second they all rose and
shouted, clapped their hands, and waved bonnets, caps,
and handkerchiefs in such a vivid and spontaneous
burst Oi juvenile enthusiasm as was truly touching.
Their little voices echoed through the square alone for

,>■.'-;

NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

a moment, for even the great crowd seemed to love to
watch them, till they, too, were carried away, and one
great heartfelt cheer from everybody present rent the
very air. From this point to the door of Government
House it was one long continued ovation of eager
loyalty and respect.

At Lord Mulgrave's the Prince alighted, and pro-
ceeded at once to visit the Countess and Lady Milne.
Here Lady Mulgrave gave him a present which had
been left at the house for him by a young Indian
squaw that morning. It was a cigar-case, beautifully
worked in slips of different coloured woods, and further
adorned with the little coloured bead ornaments in
making which the Indians excel. With the case was
a small basket, similar in its make and decorations,
which the girl begged the Prince would take to the
Queen. Both were made by herself, she said, and a
daughter of the Micmacs would be proud if the Prince
would accept her gift, and present the basket to his
Royal mother. Of course, the Prince accepted his
own present, and took charge of that for the Queen.

For the romance of this incident I am sorry to be
obliged to add that the squaw called afterwards for the
present in return, and plainly intimated that no ac-
knowledgment would be so acceptable as one tendered
in the lawful coin of the province.

After a short interval of rest His Royal Highness
received a deputation from the members of the Govern-
ment and Legislative Assembly, who presented him
with another very long address, which, among other
subjects, alluded with pride to the Nova Scotians who
served and fell in the Crimea, and to whose memory a
handsome monument had been erected on the hill
fronting the Government residence.

On tliat evening a grand banquet was given at

Governme

town with

the Prince

as marked

it continue

visit throu

had been

threats wil

against hi

Prince lai

time out i

in shower

downpour :

to public 1

Under su(

as great s

seemed to

the damp

had but lil

fleet had 1

couhter-on

if the sam€

town. Th

of course \

Transpare]

well enoug

streets to

best displa

nothing wl

tried to set

them out a

which they

tered, blinl

like an inl

and then w

FAILURE OP ILLUMINATIONS.

Government House, an;i i was intended to amuse the
town with fireworks and a general illumination. But
the Prince's ill fortune in the matter of weather was
as marked at Halifax as it had been at St. John's — as
it continued in fact almost throughout the whole of his
visit through Lower and Upper Canada. All the day
had been threatening' and occasionally fulfilling its
threats with showers of heavy rain. Still people hoped
against hope, till at twelve o'clock, exactly as the
Prince landed, a steady drizzle began. From that
time out it continued to increase with every hour, not
in showers, but with a continued, massive, steady
downpour : the kind of rain in fact which is so peculiar
to public holydays and out-door festivities in England.
Under such a waterfall, of course, the fireworks were
as great a failure at Halifax as at St. John's. They
seemed to sputter and hiss at their own failures, and
the damp dreary mob which came to witness them
had but little to console them for their wetting. The
fleet had been ordered to illuminate, but, of course,
couhter-orders were sent, and it would have been well
if the same thing could have been done throughout the
town. That, however, was not tried, and as a matter
of course the attempt to light up was an utter failure.
Transparencies and variegated lamps inside houses did
well enough, save that there wore but few in the splashy
streets to admire them ; but with the arches and the
best displays of lamps, which were of course outside,
nothing whatever could be done. If they had even
tried to set the arches on fire the rain would have put
them out at once, and the only tokens of illumination
which they bore was where some red lamp, partly shel-
tered, blinked feebly for a few minutes here and there,
like an inflamed eye winking through the darkness,
and then went out for ever.

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NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

The following day (Tuesday, July 31st) was, like the
previous one, observed as a general holiday, shops and
stores were closed, the telegraph was impervious to
messages, and even the mail vid St. John's to Boston
did not go. In fact, as it was popularly expressed,
Halifax was in a "general bust," and nothing but
holidays and fetes were thought of. The printers, it
was said, availed themselves of the opportunity to
strike work, and this brought the journals of Halifax
to a dead stop, a fact of no particular moment, inasmuch
as the weak little press bantlings of that town are, at
the best of times, only published semi-occasionally.
Even the special gazette, containing the addresses and
replies delivered the previous day, was only brought
out with great difficulty. It would never have been
brought out at all but for the energy displayed by a
most genial and courteous member of the Government,
who resuming his practice of a long disused vocation,
managed, with the assistance of a captured apprentice,
to set up sufficient of the type in time. That day
the Prince went to the common, near the citadel, and
reviewed two regiments of the garrison, with all the
various corps of rifle volunteers. There was scarcely
the same crowd on this occasion as on the landing, for
in truth on the previous evening all Halifax had kept
it up rather late, and in spite of the disappointment
caused by the weather— perhaps in consequence of it—
the festivities in doors were " prolonged to an advanced
hour." However, notwithstanding this, there was still
a great muster on the common, where the Prince was
received with a royal salute, and, what was more to the
purpose, with the utmost enthusiasm by the people.
The regulars, consisting of the 62nd and 63rd regiments,
with some artillery, were, with the volunteers, inspected
together, and then marched past at slow and quick

time, after

reviewed b(

should say

of voluntee

were divide

entirely of

truth that ^

The othe

men as om

their discij

and equipn

looking cor

to that of t

more comp

drill be det

week's extri

Lord Mulg

these corps

has been fc

provinces,

numerous b

some time t

that can ari

Without ]

compels me

are, as a bo

provinces, (

Very many

companies (

Halifax jus

soldier-like

interest is n

esprit du coi

selves, the

likely to be

REVIEW OP VOLUNTEERS.

time, after which the volunteers were drilled and
reviewed before the Prince separately. In number I
should say there were not less than 1100, all composed
of volunteers belonging to the town of Halifax. They
were divided into different companies, whereof one was
entirely of Negroes— the only one it must be said in
truth that was at all careless and slovenly in its drill.

The others were, without exception, as fine a body of
men as one would wish to see— careful and steady in
their discipline, neat and handsome in their uniform
and equipments, and altogether fine and serviceable-
looking corps. Their marching past was quite equal
to that of the regulars, and only in one or two of the
more complicated evolutions could any difference in
drill be detected, and even this was so slight that a
week's extra drill would be sufficient to remove it. To
Lord Mulgrave is due the credit of having formed
these corps in Nova Scotia, and the example thus set
has been followed more or less throughout the other
provinces, who have provided themselves with a
numerous and well-trained militia, which is likely for
some time to come to be equal to all the emergencies
that can arise in their local governments.

Without making invidious comparisons, mere justice
compels me to add, that the volunteer mihtia of Halifax
are, as a body, infinitely superior to those of the other
provinces, or even of many parts of Upper Canada.
Very many of them indeed are equal to the picked
companies of the best volunteer regiments in London.
Hahfax justly prided itself on their efficiency and
soldier-like appearance on this occasion, and while this
interest is manifested by the inhabitants and the same
esprit du corps maintained among the volunteers them-
selves, the superiority of the Nova Scotian militia is
likely to be lasting.

(', .

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I li

■ft?

NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

• P

mill

After the review the Prince visited the citadel, wliich,
ns usual, is perched on the peak of a hill, dominating
the town and country for miles around. I was told it
was a very stronj? place, and, as a patriotic Englishman,
am willing to helieve that all English citadels must be
strong places. It seemed to me, however, that as a
rule, the calibre of its ordnance was very much lighter
than it should be to keep pace with the recent advances
made in the use of heavy guns. It is curious to con-
trast how the Admiralty arm our vessels of war with
the heaviest ordnance (often too heavy for the men to
handle), while in very many of our forts and citadels
the guns are, for the age, ridiculously light. This is
the more strange when we remember that great weight
of metal is often a serious drawback in a ship ; it can
be none in a fortress.

After this visit, in the afternoon military games, races

in sacks, climbing the greasy polo, and other sports

for the people, took place on the common; but at

these His Royal Highness was not present, and he only

left Government House at ten o'clock, with all his suite

and staff, to honour the grand ball with his presence.

This ball was intended to be one of the chief features

in the Halifax entertainment, and it certainly was

beyond all doubt a most successful and brilliant affair.

At first the arrangements respecting the fote gave rise

to considerable dissensions and animosities, which for

a day or two before the great event came off, seemed

likely to materially interfere with the success of the

whole affair. As the expenses of the ball were defrayed

by the province, and as there was certain to be a deficit

of some SOOZ., it was determined to make everybodv

pay their ten dollars — everybody, that is, excepting the

Prince and his suite, the naval and military officers,

and '• the persons of distinction," who were to be pre-

sented witli

fair one thr

tainment ^

Ilaligoniau

been expec

themselves

the commi

The little p

with letters

Peep," " A^

having, wit!

nianagemen

offend, at oi

The anger

the former 1

However, as

the wisdom

by the com

seeming, at

The fete ^

members oi

Parliament,

places and

Stephen's.

roomy one,

ments, for tl

of council, ^

persons cou]

of Commoni

to refreshm

strangers' g£

and evergree

to the tables

a large wood

pose, and an

PETE IN THE PROVINCE HOUSE.

sented with iiivitati(ins. This course— the only really
fair one tlmt the committee could take with an enter-
tainment given at the expense of all— opened the
llaligonian temple of Janus at once, for as might have
heen expected, a great many more people thought
themselves " persons of distinction " than could get
the committee to agree with them in that opinion.
The little press of Halifax had its columns enlivened
with letters from " Observer," " Nemo," " Little Bo
Teep," " Avenger," &c., denouncing the committee for
having, with the fatal tact which always attaches to the
management of such local celebrations, contrived to
offend, at one fell swoop, both the ladies and the militia.
The anger of the latter might be defied, but that of
the former threatened them, of course, with social ruin.
However, rs the time for the fete drew near, not only
the wisdom but the actual necessity of the course taken
by the committee became apparent, and to outward
seeming, at least, all was amicably arranged.

The fete was given in the Province House, where the
members of the Nova Scotian Legislature ^-Ul their
Parliament, and debate, and intrigue, ; struggle for
places and power with as much V( hemence as at St.
Stephen's. This building, however, though a large and
roomy one, was far too much broken up into apart-
ments, for the Cabinet, for the House, for the President
of council, ."tc.,to afford any space in vdiich some 1200
persons could promenade, dance, and flirt. Tlie House
of Commons' room, therefore, was given up bodily
to refi-eshments, and the little speaker's chair and
strangers' gallery were half concealed among the roses
and evergreens which formed an ornamental background
to the tables of confectionery. The supper was laid in
a large wooden 'building, specially erected for the pur-
pose, and another to correspond was built for the ball-

fHm..

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I VI

NEWJ'DUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

room. All the passages between these were handsomely
decorated with mirrors, evergreens, banks of flowers,
groups of weapons, and gas stars and chandeliers
innumerable. The temporary ball and supper rooms
were draped in the style of tents, canopied with pink
and white, and, on the whole, the entire aspect of all the
rooms was tasteful and striking in the extreme. The
Prince was expected to arrive at the hall at ten o'clock,
and of course, therefore, long before that hour the room
was well filled with the chief ladies and gentlemen of
the province, and a strong muster of the officers of the
fleet and garrison. On the whole, it was really a
brilliant assemblage, and one which would have done
honour to any ball-room in Europe.

The Prince arrived exactly at ten o'clock, and was
welcomed with tremendous cheers by the crowd outside
— by the visitors in the ball-room with bows and cour-
tesies. As His Royal Highness was in high spirits,
and seemed anxious that no time should be lost, the
ball commenced at once, the Prince opening it in a
quadrille with Lady Mulgrave. He next danced with
Lady Milne, which duties discharged to the two chief
ladies present, he sought partners for himself in every
succeeding dance, and led out some one or other of the
distinguished young belles of Halifax. It need hardly
be said how popular was this mode, even among the
young officers and dandies, whose " engagements " he
must have broken through in the most ruthless manner,
and whose fair partners he bore away in triumph. At
half-past twelve o'clock the royal party went to supper,
which was laid out in the temporary building with
great taste and splendour. Here at the conclusion of
the repast, the Mayor of Halifax gave " the Health of
Her Majesty, the Prince Consort, and the Prince of
Wales," toasts which were, of course, received with

immense

ing expe

citizens (

company

ness, hov

making i

toasts ha

ledgment

the ball-r

Contra

for royal-

the Prin(

after the

and still

not till r

one in tl:

departure

visitors, ^

shouts of

riage dro^

On thi

their higi

advantage

the town.

the whole

festivity o

On the

plain clotl

Duke of ]

merly the

Governor

heir, Mr.

out from J

was almos

formerly (

VISIT TO MR. GORE.

immense enthusiasm, and there was evidently a linger-
ing expectation in the minds of some of the good
citizens of Halifax that the Prince would favour the
company with a speech in reply to each. His High-
ness, however, had more taste than to prefer speech-
making to dancing, and, accordingly, as soon as the
toasts had been duly honoured he bowed his acknow-
ledgments, and returned at once to the amusements of
the ball-room.

Contrary to general opinion that it was etiquette
for royalty to retire from such entertainments early,
the Prince showed not the least disposition to leave
after the supper. One, two, and three o'clock passed,
and still found him dancing indefatigably. It was
not till nearly four o'clock, and the last dance but
one in the programme was reached, that he took his
departure, followed to his carriage by nearly all the
visitors, who added their cheers to the enthusiastic
shouts of the crowd still round the building as the car-
riage drove off.

On this night the fetes of Halifax culminated to
their highest point, for the inhabitants had taken
advantage of a pause in the rain to really illuminate
the town. The fleet followeu the example, so that on
the whole, Halifax made rather a long and brilliant
festivity of it.

On the day following the ball the Prince rode out in
plain clothes, to visit an estate near Halifax called the
Duke of Kent's Lodge. This pretty estate was for-
merly the property of Sir John Wentworth, Lieutenant-
Governor of Nova Scotia, but now belonging to his
heir, Mr. Wentworth Gore, who had specially come
out from England to receive the Prince in the visit it
was almost certain he would make to the mansion
formerly occupied by his grandfather. The grlve-

i 'I

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NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

stone of the Duke of Kent's favourite charger, in the
picturesque pleasure-grounds of the now ruined lodge,
was an especial object of interest to His Royal High-
ness. After this His Royal Highness and suite pro-
ceeded to the " Hero" to witness a grand regatta, in
■which row boats, sailing cutters, and Indian canoes
were engaged. The day, for once, was beautiful, and
as some hundred small craft of all kinds were entered
for the contests, it made a most animated scene.
There was such an uninterrupted succession of races,
that the whole bay was covered with boats of all kinds,
rowing wildly from point to point, winners and losers
being cheered alike, and so tremendously, that the
general impression left upon the mind of the spectator
was that everybody had won something. "

The speed with which some of the boats from the
squadron (especially the "Ariadne's") and the Halifax
boats were pulled, was, considering the weight and
shape of their craft, almost astonishing. The most
interesting ^ace of the day, however, was between the
canoes, manned— or I had better say paddled — by
Indian squaws. To watch the way these women
paddled, beating the water into foam behind them,
their wild, uncouth, swarthy features kindled into an
expression of savage excitement, as they forced their
light bark canoes along, shouting to each other in a
high, squalling, almost unintelligible tone, embodying
such taunts and sneers at their antagonists as even
Indian women know how to inflict with cutting accu-
racy, was an extraordinary sight to witness. The
gravity which has been so much talked of among the
Indians is certainly not an attribute of their squaws,
for apparently a more loquacious set of women, whether
white or brown, never ventured on the water. Which
canoe won the race it was difficult to say; but the

general ]

to termii

ration, v

less forci

The fa

Canada i

ginal poj

It is sel(

blooded '.

who still

of that g

the romai

their stre]

the "bra>

puted swi

more esp(

wares, the

dangerous

settlers in

very anna]

white mer

number of

to the sett

craft and £

and kill e^

more than

nist. In t]

half-caste

great now i

a kind of ^

seen — so se

— so helple:

even in thei

skill made

INDIAN DEGENERACY. 35

general result must have been of interest, for it seemed
to terminate in one loud chorus of gesture and vitupe-
ration, ^ich to the spectators appeared not a whit
less forcible from their not understanding a word of it.
The faint traces that still remain throughout Lower
Canada and the provinces of the once powerful abori-
ginal population, are daily getting fewer and fewer.
I IS seldom one sees east of Lake Huron a pure-
blooded Indian and even the members of the tribes
^-lio still enjoy their hunting-grounds round the shores
of that great inland sea, fail almost entirely to realise
the romantic notions which are formed as to their skill
their strength, their dignity, and their courage. That
the "braves" of the six nations who once hdd undis-
puted sway over the whole of North America, and
more especially the 1 • n of the Mohawks, the Dela-
wares, the Iroquois, -u . ihe Hurons, were fierce and
dangerous enemies, the bloody annals of the first eariy
settlers m America sufficiently prove. But even these
veiy annals show that in the open field a band of fifty
white men was more than a match for five times that
number of redskins. Their real strength and danger
to the settler lay in their skill as huntsmen, for the
craft and subtlety which enabled an Indian to surprise
and kill even the most wary kind of deer, was always
more than sufficient to enable him to "stalk" a colo-
nist. In the matter of hunting, even among the few
half-caste natives that yet remain, their skill is as
great now as it was then. In all else one feels almost
a kmd of wonder that the natives, as they are now
seen---so sensitive to cold-so racked with rheumatism
-so helpless, idle, beggarly, and drunken-could ever
even m their best a.ys, have been a people with whom'
-reatifis were made, and whose courage and wariike
skill made it necessary to conciliate them with offers

s 2

( '

I ;i

'. !

('■tt

NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

of friendship and money. A race really possessed of
the wild virtues so liberally attributed to them by
romancists would never have died out in the rapid
and extraordinary manner in which the millions of
North American Indians have disappeared. The few
half-caste descendant.! that still remain are now in
Canada what the gypsies are in England — a race
mostly of beggars and poachers, with the only differ-
ence that the Indians are seldom thieves. It is gra-
dually becoming the custom to give an Indian money
— not because he deserves it, but because he is an
Indian — a kind of charity which will, I should think,
if anything can, tend much to stop the extinction of
the race. i

On the opposite side of the bay, facing the town of
Halifax, and while the Prince was on his visit, a real
Indian encampment was fixed. The wigwams of birch
bark, stretched over pine poles, would be to a back-
woodsman or a lumberer warm and comfortable enough.
When I visited it the women were cooking, fetching
wood, making little ornaments for sale, or minding the
papooses. Some of the men were down at the water's
edge fishing, while others were engaged building a
canoe. It was interesting to watch the skill and ra-
pidity with which tlie latter work went on, though one
could not but feel that it was less skill than a kind of
instinct. They were making a canoe as their fore-
fathers had made it two or three hundred years before,
without improvement or alteration — its form, its sub-
stance, and its size, a mere type of all tlie other canoes
that ever floated upon American waters. Within
half-a-mile of them tlie magnificent form and bulk of
the " Hero," screw line-of-battle ship, rose like a for-
tress from the water. The contrast was suggestive ; I
do not mean to say that I ever expected to und the

Indians

scene is

means oJ

cling to :

comjDetit

men the

America!

with the

The E

and paid

what wit]

and firin

fleet was

"Valoroi

Highness

harbour

natural h

face of th

ten miles

rocks, wit

at its nar:

shut in 1

which, el

summits,

and solem

that the w

gives but

harbour.

of Liverp

and with j

are so st(

expense ^

impregnal

and naviei

The pla

THE BEDFORD BASIN.

Indians building a screw line-of-battle ship. The
scene is only Avorth mentioning as perhaps one of the
means of accounting for the extinction of a people who
cling to forms and types, for form's sake, even in their
competition with one of the most progressive races of
men the world has yet seen. As it is with the North
American Indians, so in another century will it be
with the Chinese and Japanese.

The Regatta, over the Prince quitted the " Hero,"
and paid visits to all the vessels of the squadron ; and
what with the cheering of the people, manning yards,
and firing salutes, the royal progress through the
fleet was a most attractive feature of the day. The
** Valorous " had got up steam, and in this frigate His
Highness proceeded through the Narrows above the
harbour into the celebrated Bedford basin, or inner
natural harbour of Halifax, the finest probably on the
face of the earth. This noble sheet of water is about
ten miles long, by seven broad, free from almost any
rocks, with a great depth of water all over it. Except
at its narrow entrance, it is completely landlocked and
shut in by the picturesque semi-mountainous hills,
which, clad with red and white pine to their very
summits, make the whole scenery of the lake as rich
and solemn-looking as can well be imagined. To say
that the whole navy of Britain could ride here in safety
gives but a poor idea of the immense capacity of this
harbour. Not only the royal navy, but all the shipping
of Liverpool, could be accommodated in it with ease,
and with room to spare. The heights around it, too,
are so steep and rugged that a very little trouble or
expense would convert them into such a series of
impregnable fortresses as might defy all the armies
and navies of the world to assail.

The place is recognised as an important naval depot

' ij

^n;

NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

I .

■I !!

to a certain extent ; but the few ships that are scat-
tered there now and then only serve' to prove that the
undeveloped resources of the basin for the accommo-
dation of fleets are almost boundless. Halifax must
eventually become one of the greatest and most impor-
tant naval stations in the possession of Great Britain,
and the only matter for surprise is that it is not so
already. After steaming round the basin the Prince
returned to the Governor's house, where there was a
levee in the afternoon, at which nearly everybody was
presented, and where the crush to get in was as severe
in its way as it used to be in St. James's. All seemed
so bent on "making way," as it is termed, and keeping
the passage clear, that it at one time seemed more
than probable that no one would get in at all. Even-
tually, however, the stream took an onward course,
and after a lapse of some three hours, about 1000 gen-
tlemen were presented, bowed, and hurried out again
as fast as possible, to make room for others. In the
evening Lady Mulgrave gave a ball, which coming so
close after the fete of the previous night was, of course,
by comparison, rather a tame affair, and one which
terminated early. Not so, however, with the festivities
in the town of Halifax, which was again illuminated,
and where in the houses and in the streets the people
indulged in such a whirl of rejoicings and other festi-
vities that the whole place seemed to have lost its
senses. Certainly the stimulus which the Prince's
visit gave appeared to have utterly exhausted and
overcome a considerable portion of the inhabitants, for
I have seldom seen so many stupified people as were
about the streets that night.

Yet, notwithstanding this extensive dissipation, no
one seemed the worse for it, and the streets were as
iUii by Six o clock on the morning of the 2d of August

as they

time fix

was eigh

ing to tl]

to bid a

almost t

Then

the air a

after he

ringing

back fro

like shac

Halifax,

domini*^ r

which foi

better or

The ri

Prince wi

where ro

possessio

and grouj

drooped i

dead wor]

seen thro

at long ii

civilisatio

ness, thro

to the pr

train arri>

and then

passant.

The to
western s
class of to
and Ameri

t >

ARRIVAL AT WINDSOR.

as they were on tlie day of the Prince's arrival. The
time fixed for the departure of His Royal Highness
was eight o'clock ; but long before this, the road lead-
ing to the station was thronged with thousands anxious
to bid a kind farewell to the young visitor who had
almost turned their heads and quite won their hearts.

The most enthusiastic cheers and acclamations rent
the air as the Prince drove along to the train, and even
alter he had started the kind farewells could be heard
ringing out among the solitary hills, and springing
back from rock to rock in vague unmeaning echoes
like shadows of a sound. Thus the Prince quitted
Halifax, and I do not think that in all the broad
domini. ns to which he is heir, there is a town or a city
which for its size and means could have given him a
better or more heartstirring welcome.

The rail from Halifax to Windsor, near where the
Prince was to embark, lay through a rugged country,
where rocks seemed striving with scanty pines for the
possession of the soil, and where huge limestone cliffs
and groups of moss-grown withered trees, long fallen,
drooped about in dreary confusion, like the ruins of a
dead world. Now and then a wretched log-hut was
seen through the forest, empty and half-unroofed, and
at long intervals came a shanty station, with its half
civilisation on the very borders of a half-tamed wilder-
ness, through which a rusty telegraph wire ran— a clue
to the progress making far beyond the wilds. The
train arrived at Windsor after a run of some two hours,
and then the Prince alighted for a short visit en
passant.

The town or rather village of Windsor, on the
western side of Nova Scotia, belongs to that small
class of townships which are known throughout Canada
and America as ** one-horse places."

) .1

' r

■ I

■i

NEWFOUNDLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA.

'SI ' I

•t

Nevertheless, small as it was, it managed to get up
a most beautiful display of arches and decorations, and
an assemblage not less noteworthy of kindly and loyal
people. All these His Eoyal Highness had time to
study in their minutest details, while an address of the
most inordinate length was slowly read to him. This
long and very solemn ceremonial over (the incessant
repetition of which at every place must have taxed the
patience of the heir apparent to the utmost) the Prince
and suite, with a large party of invited guests, went to
lunch. Every one seemed hungry enough, but the
lunch took less time than the address which t^receded
it, after which all the party proceeded to the little
village of Hansport, where H.M.S. "Styx," under
the command of Captain Vesey, was in waiting to
convey them across the celebrated basin of Minas to
St. John, the commercial capital of the province of
New Brunswick.

Bay of Fundj
of the I
Carleton,

The CI
this most
is by stej
the Bay (
ness and
and at i.
exodus of
fax, bent
ceremonies
The boats
Brunswick
speed, and
dating pas
American
travelling
of comfort
very deserv
Thus the ]
quick and
less than te
and comfor

":'"'l'

CHAPTER II.

NEW BRUNSWICK.

Bay of Fundy-Arrival at St. John-Reception-Illuminations-Fertility
of the Province-Arrival at Fredericton-A Grand Uall-ViBit to
Carleton.

The only route by which the traveller can reach
this most flourishing and beautiful colony from Halifax
is by steamer across the basin of Minas, and down
the Bay of Fundy to St. John. His Royal High-
ness and suite went in the war steamer " Styx,"
and at the same time there was a very general
exodus of all the chief officials and gentry of Hali-
fax, bent on following the Royal visitor through the
ceremonies and festivities of the adjoining province.
The boats that ply between Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick are admirably formed, very fast in their
speed, and most ample in their means for accommo-
dating passengers. In short, they are boats on the
American plan ; floating hotels, of the comforts of
travelling in which we English are as ignorant as
of comfort in our fixed hotels, and which I fear are
very deservedly the dread of tourists all over the world.
Thus the passage from Nova Scotia to St. John is
quick and pleasant enough, averaging, on the whole,
less than ten hours. But were it ten times less rapid
and comfortable than it really is no traveller should

i ]

■ \ I

NEW BRUNSWICK.

neglect to make this voyage, and, above all, to arrange
it so as to make it in the day, when he may perhaps be
able to enjoy the magnificent scenery of the Basin of
Minas. But, in spite of every care as to time and tide
of starting, it is quite possible that one might cross it
a dozen times and yet see nothing of the shores on
either side, so dense and so frequent are the fogs. It
is on tlie shores of this basin that Longfellow lays the
scene of his "Evangeline," and the little village of
Grandprt' can be seen, nestled down in a beautiful
valley, behind the bold lofty headland <^f Blomidon.
Foggy as is the locale in general, no fogs ever cling
over tliis picturesque French settlement, but wrap in
huge dense masses the rugged crest of Blomidon, which
nearly always looks like a mountain whose summit is
lost in tlie clouds. As the steamer crosses from the
basin into the Bay of Fundy, passing between Split
Cape and the picturesque village of Parksborough, the
scenery is most beautiful. Split Cape is something
like our Needles at Southampton, but of limestone
rock, much loftier, and clothed up the sides with brush-
wood, and crowned with clumps of that proudest and
most solemn looking of all trees, the true Canadian
pine. The village of Parksborough, too, with its white
houses, reposing quietly at the bottom of a deep valley,
like a nest of eggs, and surrounded by lofty hills and
forests, is one of the most exquisite little bits of land-
scape which it is possible to imagine. Once out of
this noble gateway, if it may be so called, the charm of
the voyage rapidly diminishes, for you pass from the
basin of Minas into the Bay of Fundy, than which no
transition can possibly be more disagreeable.

Humboldt goes into extacies about the natural phe-
nomena of the Bay of Fundy— its huge waves, its rapid
currents, and the immense rise and fail of the tide,

greater bj

world. TJ

often, in t

thirds of ;

swell, wil]

Most of m

not only u

any kind

time had t

and a pain

boat reele

Before she

all within 1;

save when

Canadian, ■

proclaimed

was some c

tions were

not improb

legislative,

most thrivii

American p

Highness y

Washington

from the w

landing dof

ially lent bj

in a well si

rich amphit

In the cent

John divides

is on one b;

The streets

steep, are wi

all finely bu

' I

BAT OF FUNDY.

greater by many feet than in any other part of the
world. The impressions of those who cross it, as I did
often, in a fog, a heavily laden boat, and during two-
thirds of a southerly gale, sending in a tremendous
swell, will not, however, be quite so enthusiastic.
Most of my fellow passengers on this occasion seemed
not only unused to the Bay of Fundy, but to bays of
any kind whatever. Conversation, which up to this
time had been so flowing and so genial, lulled at once,
and a painful silence fell upon the passengers as the
boat reeled and splashed through the huge seas.
Before she had been ten minutes at this drunken work
all within her was as silent as the "Flying Dutchman,"
save when the stillness was broken by some unhappy
Canadian, who, in an exaggerated attitude of despair,
proclaimed his intention of perishing on the spot. It
was some comfort that none of these dismal anticipa-
tions were realised, though at one time they seemed
not improbable. St. John, the real, though not the
legislative, capital of New Brunswick, is one of the
most thriving and beautiful towns of all in the North
American provinces. Like nearly all which His Boyal
Highness visited on the Western Continent (except
Washington and Kingston), it looks very fine indeed
from the water, but, unlike a great many of these,
landing does not destroy the enchantment proverb-
ially lent by distance to the view. The town stands
in a well sheltered nook of the Bay of Fundy, in a
rich amphitheatre of high though gently rising hills.
In the centre of the semicircle the noble river St.
John divides it, so that the city of St. John proper
is on one bank and the suburb of Carleton facing it.
The streets of St. John, though in some places very
steep, are wide and scrupulously clean ; the houses are
aii linely built, lofty and regular, and an air of active

NEW BRUNSWICK.

businesH and prosperity pervades the whole place, very
different indeed from the utter languor which ordinarily
appears to weigh down Halifax iu the dust. There are
large and spacious docks, well-built stone-faced quays,
saw-mills, employing many thousands of men, and the
banks of the river are covered in with building yards,
fillsd with frames of ships on the stocks, in every
stage of forw, .ilness. The public buildings are hand-
some and spacious ; the churches are large and beau-
tiful; and a suspension bridge, built at the cost of the
town, over tlie river St. John, is as handsome as that
at Nnngara, and more than one-third longer in its span.
With sucii evidence of permanent and long-established
prosperity before him, the traveller finds it difficult to
believe tliat sixty-five years have scarcely elapsed since
the site of the town was covered with a dense untrodden
forest. Such, however, is the fact, and some of the
first settlers are still living at St. John who can well
recollect the time when a log hut on the site of the
present docks was a luxury, — when they had to pacify
the Indians with rum and blankets, and band together
during the long winter nights to save and keep their
cattle from the wolves.

St. John, with its enterprising population, its fast
rising importance, and for a colonial city its large trade
and great wealth, could easily have given the Prince a
reception which would have eclipsed even that of
Halifax, but of which it must be told in truth it cer-
tainly fell short. For this, however, the officials gave
a very reasonable explanation, in the fact that His
Royal Highness did not unfortunately visit the city
for four complete days, as at the capital of Nova Scotia,
but merely passed through it, resting one night
while en route to Fredericton. Another, though
rather u doubtful excuse was, that the preparations

had inadvc

causes tlia

landing th

French pn

this applie

play at St.

the matter

but niakin

would othe

arches tlic

decorated

better of i

But at Hf

arches, anc

seen throu<

it must be

at St. John

and well p!

their glory.

The P]-ir

of the 2nd,

of landing j

was to be r

tiers of seal

speculation

The charg

evident tha

high, as the

array of en

general anc

contretemps,

almost aero

the captain

the position

witnessing 1

ARRIVAL AT ST. JOHN.

had inadvertently been so much dehiyed from various
causes tliat even up to tlie moment of the Prince's
landing they wore scarcely finished. There is an old
French proverb which says " qui h excuse s accuse," and
this applies in all its f<irce to the apology for the dis-
play at St. John. Had nothing at all been said about
the matter every one v/ould have thought it admirable,
but making excuses only courts criticism for what
would otherwise be passed unnoticed. The triumphal
arches fliougli few in number were all lofty, well
decorated structures, and each one singly infinitely
better of its kind than any single arch p+ Halifax.
But at Halifax every street was a perfect bo..er of
arches, and every house between them yat only I'imly
seen through its wreaths and evergreens, 'i'here ^/ere,
it must be admitted, very few such private ei.orts made
at St. John, so that the arches, though very hands-:ome
and well placed on lofty hills, stood almost alone in
their glory.

The Prince arrived off St. John at ten on the night
of the 2nd, and early on the 3rd signified his intention
of landing at ten in the morning. The place where he
was to be received was enclosed on three sides by liigh
tiers of seats. But these were the venture of a private
speculation where all the places had to be paid for.
The charge for admission was a dollar and it was
evident that the figure must have been thought too
high, as there was at the last moment rather an ugly
array of empty benches, which took largely from the
general and not too brilliant effect. To add to the
contretemps, too, an American steamer was moored
almost across the entrance to the landing-place, and
the captain obstinately declined to budge an inch, as
the position his vessel occupied was the very best for
witnessing the spectacle, and he, like a smart captain,

i l>

•I

NEW BRITKSWICK.

had taken early advantage of this post and let his ship
to visitors, greatly to. the detriment of the benches
before-mentioned. The steps up to the top of the
wharf, also, were not complete when the Prince was
ready to land, so that the carpenters were actually
driving nails at one end of the stage at the very mo-
ment when his Highness began the ascent at the other.
The terra " ascent " is meant in all its force, for, pre-
carious as the gradual ascents of Eoyalty have often
been, I doubt if any ever had a more difficult path to
tread than that by which the Prince and his suite
scaled the wharf which landed them at the city of St.
John. It was a very broad staging of planks, placed
at a very steep incline, scored across, at rather distant
intervals, with rough strips of wood, apparently in-
tended to trip up the whole cortege — Prince, Duke,
Admirals, Generals, and all — in reality, placed there
under a vague general idea that they would be of some
assistance in the escalade. It was an exciting moment
when the '* Styx " began to man yards and the royal
barge pushed off from her side, and still the unfor-
tunate landing-stage was not comi^leted. The good
mayor and sheriffs hurried about hither and thither;
provincial dignitaries, seizing on tools, began to
hammer wildly, dragging a' smooth carpet over the
inequalities of the woodwork, as if the whole machine
was not slippery and dangerous enough already. Nearer
and nearer came the barge and louder and louder grew
the hammering. Everybody said it would be finished
though everybody thought it wouldn't, until at last, as
the Prince disembarked, the professional carpenters
were driven away, wliile the amateurs threw down their
tools and stood with a bland smile to receive His

Highness, as if evervtiimcf had been readv. and tbpv
— _ _ , ,_. - ,, -• — ./

in waiting for his landing sir^e midnight.

The Li(

Manners *

come His

cheers wei

the educat

been sadl

looking at

rather fail

the landin,

that the Pj

of process

which His

time of le

stopped at

had been fi

was scarce]

lined the

apparently,

seldom vei

Prince seei

than with

an opportu

rows of me]

who, in tl

rated engir

both sides

Companies

parison wit!

at Halifax.

dence a la

dressed in

sing "God

specially inl

on whnsp nt

i--

were also ti

RECEPTION.

The Lieutenant-Governor of the province, the Hon.
Manners Sutton, and staff, were in attendance to wel-
come His Eoyal Highness, for whom at once three
cheers were ordered. But in the matter of cheering,
the education of the New Brunswickers seemed to have
been sadly neglected, for every one was so busy in
looking at the Prince that the cheers on the whole were
rather failures than otherwise. No stay was made at
the landing-place and no addresses were presented, so
that the Prince went at once to his carriage, and a kind
of procession was formed of the private chariots in
which His Highness and suite were seated. From the
time of leaving the landing-stage till the procession
stopped at the house of the late Judge Chapman, which
had been fitted up for the stay of His Highness, there
was scarcely any cheering whatever. The people, who
lined the streets in dense crowds, gazed eagerly and,
apparently, almost awe-struck on the Prince, and
seldom ventured on a sound or movement. But the
Prince seemed much more pleased with this decorum
than with any amount of acclamation, as it gave him
an opportunity to observe the town and tlie splendid
rows of men composing the Volunteer Fire Companies,
who, in their handsome uniforms and their deco-
rated engines, drawn up in lines, kept the streets on '
both sides clear. There were many Volunteer Rifle
Companies out also, but their appearance bore no com-
parison with the fine corps which the Prince reviewed
at Halifax. On the lawn in front of the Prince's resi-
dence a large number of beautiful Httle children, all
dressed in white with blue sashes, were collected to
smg '* God save the Queen," with some new verses
specially introduced in honour of His Eoyal Highness,
-ose pa. J, as lie advanced towards the house, they
were also to strew the bouquets of flowers with which

■M

; :-ii

•t, '■ I

NEW BRUNSWICK.

ill

fii

they were amply provided for that purpose. These
little innocents, however, like their fathers and brothers
ouiside the gates, seemed to forget everything but
clapping their hands and gazing on His Highness, and
in their loyal confusion gave the National Anthem with
most surprising variations as to time and tune. From
the same cause the Prince received quite a shower-
bath of flowers, which were flung at him, round him,
and over him by dozens, and eager was the scramble
when he had passed to get any one of the little bou-
quets on which he had chanced to tread.

The house fitted up for his reception, though very
small, had been very well decorated and furnished with
everything new, save the table, easy chair, and a few
articles of furniture which had been used by his grand-
father, the Duke of Kent, when staying on a visit there,
and which, though very many years had since elapsed, had
always been carefully preserved as relics. It required,
however, a very strong belief in the force of traditions
and associations to reconcile one to their appearance in
the apartments. At two o'clock in the afternoon the
Prince held a levee at the Court-house, the interior of
which had been most handsomely gilt and decorated
specially for the occasion. Here addresses, as well as
individuals, were presented. It would be hard to say
exactly how many gentlemen were presented, but, to
judge from the crowd and the time it occupied, a very
large per-centage of the male inhabitants of St. John
must have had that honour In the evening the whole
town was illuminated, and though it would of course
be easy to mention illuminations which were infinitely
better, still it must be said that one more general or
mere effective the Prince did not often witness in all
his long and magnificent progress.

Verv few dpsicriis wprp affompfo/^l Ti-> 4T>/^i\. r.4-^^4

every ho

of Chine

and ther(

where wa

colours 1

prettily-lj

town, wl

gleamed

colour. ]

were in S

was to be

It was th

many of t

uncommoi

the night j

footway in

oblivion to

phraseolog

for the arri

transported

health and

everything.

row occurre

On the mor

for Frederii

to a little

about that d

bekasis rivei

party embai

went by wat(

of the prov

weather, unf

thick and dul

The wild and

this occasion

ILLUMINATIONS. ^g

o'fThit^T? '™'^ '''" ""^ -™-'' -«h hundreds

l?hr ntStrnd xr"- '^'"^^' -^-^ '•-

where w»« ♦), v P"=t"«sque confusion. No-

ct rJ t r'n tTtf "r ^ "^^'^^ ^^ ""^'^
prettiIy.)aid-o«t kL « '"^™""'§' """' '» ^e

town, wh relL^ ^/ """"'' '" ""^ "^"^^^ "^ *te
m, wnere the lanterns swung in rnvriad.! „nA

ct„T%Tt:r'ir --y --ivaSr;:rn; n1

were L St tT '"..*'''' '°""' ^^■°"" «''*''' visitors

waTto\!"f ° "" *'* "'^''*' '"" "o -commodation
was to be got for money, and certainly not for love

Lv"„f t^ ™"' "' ^''^"^'- -J-ttlessf which ed so
many of the masses to fortify themselves in .„T

uncommon degree against the'iU e'^^soVslepn,^
the mght a.r, and snbseqnently to recline on road !nd
footway m attitudes indicative of th. V ,
oblivion to personal comfort and safet if ""'"""t
phraseology, St. John was very 'S" ttatT""'
for the arrival of Hk R„,. i J- ,,^ ' evening,

to a lT«i » ^ "'"''' ™''^ •''•o™ in carriages

to a httle village called the Nine-mile qt„f ?

about that distance from the city. Xe on he7 ""
bekasis river, a noble branch of the St John h""','
party embarked on board the " For st Sue n ' '!,
went bv watpr im f« t? j • . SJueen, and

of the province » l"'^'"'''"' '^' '^gi«l»'ive capital
" province, a distance of eighty miles Tl,.

The wild and beautifully romantic sce„„.„ l!! Z
tais occasion almost hidden, and it was nottfflTh: r";.'

:fj

i
''" ; !•■ . iff,

i
:-. 1

■'ifl'lf ■ ill

NEW BRUNSWICK.

III,

turn voyage back to St. John that the superb character
of the shores of the river could be fully appreciated.
At every little shanty village — and there were many
along the whole route — the people turned out as the
steamer passed, waving flags, ringing bells, and firing
muskets, with as much enthusiasm and delight as if
the royal visit had been made to them e&pecially, and
the Prince was coming to stay among them for a month
at least.

Every one on board seemed much impressed by the
rich luxuriance of the soil, and every one asked the
question, which no one could answer, " Why were not
emigrants brought there ? " The three provinces of
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward
Island comprise in all an extent of country capable of
supporting some 10,000,000 people. The united popu-
lation of all three is much short of 500,000.

Abounding in the most magnificent harbours and
rivers, with fisheries second only in value to those of
Newfoundland ; with almost boundless mineral re-
sources in coal, iron, copper, and plumbago ; with land
of the richest description to be had almost for asking,
and with a demand for labour which is almost greater
than in any other part of the world ; it seemed almost
a mystery how it was that there were not more colonists.
The great tide of emigration always sets towards the
prairie land of the far west. It would be absurd
attempting to deny the inducements which these prairies
really do ofi'er to poor settlers ; but it would be equally
vain to conceal that in the reckless indiscriminate raid
made to all parts of the states, emigrants often commit
the most ruinous mistakes. If small agriculturists in
England were only made aware of the advantages held
out to settlers in New Brunswick, Prince Edward
Island, and Upper Canada, there wculd be a chance for

these C(

ful as t]

But th<

unknow

English

Caspian

provinc(

Labradc

during

last thi

who hav

20,000, ^

labour i

number

Princ

New Bri

for aboui

small sui

a small j

Brunswi(

into the 1

them do^

return, tl

may be g

are apt tc

the thin

a precaric

between b

there is

labourers

virgin soi

work hard

ments as 1

those who

150Z., of (

f« .u

FERTILITY OP THE PEOVINCE. 51

these colonies becoming as great, wealthy, and power-
ful as the new states of America even in our own time
But the British North American Provinces are as
unknown, not only to emigrants, but to the mass of
Enghshmen as Mesopotamia, or the shores of the
Caspian Sea. The popular impression regarding the
provinces seems to be that they are much akin to
Labrador— half barren rocks, surrounded with icebergs
durmg three-fourths of the year. Thus, during the
last thirteen years, the total number of emigrants

r^nnr\'i''^'^ "* ^'^ Brunswick has been short of
20,000, while to keep pace with the urgent demand for
labour in all parts of the province, scarcely that
number yearly would be sufficient.

Prince Edward Island is even more fertile than
New Brunswick. In both places land may be bought
for about is. U. an acre, and the payment of even this
small sum spread over a long term of years. Yet only
a small proportion of the persons who settle in New
Brunswick ever take to farming. They generally go
into the lumber trade; for felling the pines and floating
them down the stream on rafts yields the quickest
return, though nothing like the profit that, it is said
may be gamed by steady farming. Many in England
are apt to associate a soil covered with pine trees with
the thin stony hills from which the Scotch fir wrings
a precarious existence. But there ic as much difference
between a luxuriant Canadian pine and a Scotch fir as
there is between a myrtle and an oak. For farm
labourers sufficiently intelligent to understand how a
virgin soil should be treated, and who are willing to
work hard for a few years, few places offer such induce-
ments as New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. If
those who go there have a IJf.flA ^or.Uoi .„„ mn? „
150Z., of course, so much the better ; but even those

I'l!'

si;

If!

512

NEW BRUNSWICK.

who only bring their labour are certain of getting a
good living, and, by th^ exertion of that industry and
frugality which are necessary all over the world, may
well look forward in the course of time to competence.
Nature, in fact, seems to Lave done everything for the
country — man nothing; and for want of settlers to
clear the land and fell the trees, even the capital of the
province, the pretty little town of Fredericton, is
hemmed in by a forest so primitive and wild, as still to
harbour bears, deer, and wolves on the very confiBeB of
the city.

The provinces will, indeed, have reason to bless
the visit of the Prince, if it only sufficiently directs
attention to these coloiiJjs to f^ain them thtit of which
above all other things tliey st? nd so much in need —
some hardy young immigrant' ,wiiether men or women.
For Irish settlers, New Brunswick Is, above all others,
the place ; for nearly three -fourths of the entire popu-
lation in St. John are from the sister island, and all
seem to be doing rtmarkably well.

Frevi?ricton, though the capital of the province and
the seat of the Government, is not, by any means, a
large place. It only numbers about 4500 inhabitants,
and in spite of the large handsome church, which is
called the cathedral, there are many villages in England
of tivice its size, twice its population, and more than
twice its trade. Still, it is a most charmingly clean
and pretty town. The streets are wide, regular, and
well planted at the edges of the footpaths with luxu-
riant trees. The houses are high and well built, and
the three churches are all striking and spacious build-
ings, so that from the water the town, locked in I>y a
noble ridge of purple hills, has a rural beauty which
at once impresses the visitor in its favour. On the
iiummii of a conspicuous gentr 'ope in the Ccutre of

the tow
of the i
few Euj
liberal

bijilt \\\

Frederi
dth. V
weather
scene,
with cr<
were de(
crowned
even a ]
apparent
The I
by the y
the Volu
with mos
ening for
riage, wh
and the c
equipage,
of the tc
Prince, w
echoed a
detachme:
was draw-
House, a
same entL
The Gc
pied by M
handsome;
grounds ]
kept, and 1
prospect c

ARRIVAL AT FREDERICTON". 53

the town is a fine collegiate school: for to the honour
of the inhabitants of Fredericton, be it said, there are
few English colonies where the advantages of a sound
liberal education are more keenly appreciated. The
ouat With His Eoyal Highness and suite arrived off
J^redcr^ton at seven on the evening of Saturday the
4di. With Its arrival, of course, came rain and thick
weadier. The landing was, nevertheless, a very pretty
scene. The banks of the beautiful river were lined
with crowds. The church bells rang. The houses
were decorated with flags and evergreens ; the streets
crowned with handsome arches, and every point where
even a passmg glimpse could be gained of the heir
apparent, was thronged with well-dressed occupants.

Ihe Prince disembarked under a royal salute, fired
by the Volunteer artillery; a guard of honour, also of
the Volunteers, presented arms and lowered colours
with most creditable precision. The cheers were deaf-
enmg for a moment until the Prince got into his car-
riage, when loyalty overpowered every other sentiment
and the crowd rushing rather tumultuously round the
equipage, scattered the aldermen and other dignitaries
of the town before them till they got sight of the
Prince, when they stood still aud cheered till the hills
echoed again. Escorted by a fine and well-drilled
detachment of Yeomanry cavalry, the Prince's carriage
was drawn slowly through the town to Government
House, and everywhere His Highness received the
same enthusiastic marks of devotion and respect

^ The Government House at Fredericton, now occu-
pied by Mr. Manners Sutton, is one of the largest and
handsomest of the kind in all the provinces. The
grounds round it towards the river are beautifully
kept, and the Prince's rooms commanded a morYn^fln..,^
prospect over the river St. John, and up onVoflta

r^H

I- ' ')!

I4i

NEW BRUNSWICK.

*
a

1 {

many most picturesque Indian tributaries, the Nash.
Waak.

In the evening there was a torchlight procession, in
honour of His Royal Highness, round the Govern-
ment House. It was a very brilliant and well managed
affair; after which — for a very little gaiety amuses.
I'redericton — the people really went soberly to bed.

Sunday, the 5th, was, of course, observed as a day
of rest — a day of rest which, even early as it was in
the tour, began to be rather eagerly looked forward to
by some, rather weary of the perpetual feting.

But on Monday, the 6th, the town resumed its
rejoicings with redoubled vigour, and the state labours
of the Prince commenced again. The first proceeding
was to formally open a cleared meadow of some thirty
acres, the germ of a future park which Fredeiicton had
added to its other luxuries. There never was a place
less in want of a park, considering that the hills and
woods are within a stone's throw of any part of it, and
there never yet was a spot which answers less to the
name of " park " than that which the Prince opened
there, inasmuch as the whole meadow is as level as
a bowling-green, and every tree is carefully uprooted.
Nevertheless, the people liked it, and were proportion-
ately pleased at the Prince opening it. After this, of
course, there was another levee, at which every one was
presented ; and the local papers explained the niceties
of evening dress, and were at pains to point out at
length what it meant, and that a dress coat should not
be a frock coat, or of any colour but black, with other
valuable and important information with regard to
neckerchiefs and waistcoats. Even these slight rules of
etiquette were not without their use, and had the effect
of keeping the applicants for the honour of presenta-
tion within tolerably moderate bounds. There was no

|i|

limit to
there Wi
coats ii
down.

Inth

vincial ]

in spite

time th

small pi

quairels

great a

building

had to b

ones, wl]

one, to t

had give

evergree

arranger

Prince w

others, c

as the

him, eve;

himself

which he

which h(

in the i

partners.

conversal

imagine,

agitated <

that it mi

recollect,

what he

of the be

the Prjnc

A GRAND BALL.

limit to the number of those who wished to attend, but
there was a most decided limit to the number of dress
coats in the province, and the levies were thus kept
down.

^ In the evening there was a grand ball at the Pro-
vincial House of Assembly, which passed off very well,
in spite of the arrangements, which here, too, at one
time threatened its success. Fredericton, though a
small place, is by no means so small as not to have its
quairels and divided parties. Thus there had been so
great a difference of opinion as to the propriety of
building one large temporary ball-room, that the matter
had to be compromised by building two or three little
ones, which were all decorated on different plans, except
one, to the adornment of which a great legal functionary
had given up his mind, and which was bedizened with
evergreens on no plan at all. The result of such an
arrangement was obvious. The room in which the ^
Prince was dancing was desperately crowded, and the
others, of course, nearly empty. However, as long
as the Prince was dancing and people could see
him, everybody was pleased, and His Royal Highness
himself won golden opinions by the assiduity with
which he danced all night, and the good taste with
which he selected some of the prettiest young ladies
in the room — of whom there were plenty — for his
partners. What they thought of his liveliness and
conversational powers afterwards it is not difficult to
imagine, but some of them appeared so nervous and so
agitated during the whole time they were his partners
that it may be more than doubtful if they were able to
recollect, when the dance was over, a single word of
what he had said to them during it. In consequence
of the before-mentioned arrangement of little rooms
the Prince and suite supped alone, while the general

f ii

' ■' ** '.

IK j g ^

NEW BRUNSWICK.

1*1

visitory went into the court-house and ranged them-
selves, like prisoners at the bar, at a table sprtad in
front of the judge's seat.

Though His Royal Highness had arranged to return
to St. John by the " Forest Quet . ' .-,> lext morning,
yet, as at Halifax and Newi.imdiana, it was near four
o'clock before he qiritted tho ball-room at Fredericton ;
consequently it was past eight o'clock in the morning
ere he commenced his voyage down the river again.
The day, for once, was magnificent, and t.li^ uooie
scenery was thus seen to its fullest advantage. At
times it was exceedingly wild, grand, and rugged, almost
like that of the Hv Ison at West Point. Its general
character, however, was rich luxuriant beauty, like the
valleys in Devoi bLire on a large scale. The Prince's
boat lauded him ut Indian Town— a suburb of St.
John which he had not previously seen, and where
some beautiful decorations were prepared in honour of
his arrival. All the people were out, too, in their
gayest— the old Welsh settlers, the Irish and Scotch,
with a thin sprinkling here and there of Iiuiians,
stalking in abnormal dignity and sullen raggedness.
the remnants of a broken, expiring race. It was one
grand ovation all along the streets, for the people
seemed suddenly to have recovered their v ices and
made the houses ring again w'h their chc^xd. Tho
Prince's carriage did not enter the city of St. John at
all, but turning off short across the beautiful suspen-
sion-bridge went straight towards Carleton on the
opposite side, where he was to embark from tlu ferry
and return on board the " Styx."

While crossing this bridge His High^ -ss ot the
best view of the magnificent river of bt Joim — a
river which is inferior only to the St. Lawrence in
British North Ameriuu. The mouth of it, iust under

the bridg

when the

a cascade

contrary,

out of th(

crossed b

fine navij^

150 miles

Kennebel<

unlike Be

its shores

Carleto;

good opii

Prince wa

the day oi

ness, at oi

itself at o

streets, pr.

very prettj

escort His

Tw ' ^ o'c

tweWe o'cl

the people

did not CO

His Highr

com'^limen

mem of th

whejj the

wab really j

in ^ ords ag

attril uted t

wit!: hoiste

mourning a

of course, :

intended, ai

^ ..

VISIT TO CARLETON.

the bridge, has a sunken ridge of rocks, ov« r which,
when the immense tide of the Bay of Fuudy is rising,'
a cascade pours into the river. When the tide, on the*
contrary, is falling, the cascade flows the other way—
out of the river. Only at high tide can this bar be
crossed by shipping. Above the bar, however, there is
fine nav.^able water to Woodstock, a distance of some
150 miles from St. John. The fine branch called the
Kennebekasis is a sort of small inland lake, not at all
unlike Bedford basin, though even more picturesque in
its shores.

Carleton, like all suburbs of a town, has rather a
good opinion of itself and its atuactions, and the
Prince was accordin.<rly invited to pass through it on
the day of his arrival ; and he, with the utmost kind-
ness, at once consented io do so. Carleton shrouded
Itself at once in evergreens and arches, swept up its
streets, proclaimed a general holyday, and arranged a
very pretty procession of its firemen and volunteers to
escort His Eov«l Hi-hn.ss and keep the streets clear.
Twci - o'clock was th. liour fixed for his arrival; but
twelve o'clock c- ae, and one, and two, and three, and
the people wai^ d and dte^ and waited, but still he
did not come. At last m ssa^o came to state that
His Highness would not be able to pay the intended
com-hment ' > Carleton. The grief and disappoint-
meni of the people was something ovei ^helming ; and
whejj the Prince left St. John next morning, and he
wab really gone, and Carleton still unvisJ. d, their fury
in jrds against some local author ies to whom they
attril ited the slii,^ht, knew no bouuds ; CarL ton forth-
wit hoisteu its flags half-mast high, in token of its
mourning and desolation, lae news of this afflicliov
of course, reached the Prince, and as lo slirrht wa
intended, an ' the good people who h -d me su. h pre-

^ I

NEW BRUNSWICK.

paration had on the whole been treated rather hardly,
he at once signified his intention of paying Carleton a
visit on his return from Fredericton, and embarking
from it. At this news the Carleton flags went up again
to the tops of the poles, and the whole place beamed
once more with smiles. The reception which they gave
His Royal Highness was extraordinary, from its deep
wann enthusiasm and delight. Mowers were strowed
in his path by hundreds of children dressed in white ;
every moment the excitement of enthusiasm grt-w more
and more unbounded, till at last the people made a
rush at the carriage. Lad the horses out in a twinkling,
and drew it themselves in triumph to the shore. The
kind leave-taking, from the thousands gathered on the
beach, was something touching. The sun was setting
over the Bay of Fundy, the ships of war and forts were
all saluting; the harbour was covered with multi-
tudes of boats and steamers, the occupants of which
were all cheering and waving handkerchiefs. Never
have regrets for the departure of any prince appeared
more general and sincere, than those which followed
the Prince of Wales from New Brunswick. As the
barge moved off from the shore the cheering was
changed for cries of " Good bye, God bless you,
and farewell ! " till tlie boat had got beyond hearing,
when the crowds stood mute and looking almost mourn-
ful, till the echoes of the last guns had died away, and
the " Styx " itself was a mere black speck upon the
waters of the Bay of Fundy.

Route from 'V
ture froE
The "H

The roi

this most 1

circuitous

him to sei

possible.

John to ]

thence by :

to Pictou ]

Town, the

Island. T

was wonde:

ing it rain

landed at

the middle

round the

Windsor, a

This litt

a most tast

occasion ol

place, and (

en route, it

CHAPTER III.

princp: edwakd island.

Route from Windsor— Destruction of Timber— Loyalty of Truro— Depar-
ture from Pictou— Ball at Charlotte Town— The Aurora Borealis—
The "Hero" aground.

The route which His Eoyal Highness took to reach

this most fertile of all the provinces, was as long and

circuitous as could well be contrived, in order to enable

him to see as much of the country of Nova Scotia as

possible. The arrangement was to return from St.

John to Hansport, thence by carriage to Windsor,

thence by rail to Truro, and thence by carriage again

to Pictou Bay, and so on in the "Hero " to Charlotte

Town, the capital of the province of Prince Edward

Island. Tho mght the Prince embarked from St. John

was wonderiuUy htill and calm, though towards niorn-

ing it rained heavily ; and, as usual, when the Prince

landed at Hansport at six in the morning, it was in

the middle of a tremendous shower. A beautiful drive

round the head of the inlet brought the party to

Windsor, at a little before eight in the morning.

This little village had, as I have already told, made
a most tasteful display of arches and garlr is on the
occasion of the Prince's first visit ; though as a small
place, and one through which His Highness only passed
en route, it might well have excused itself this expense.

'.I

'fl

1 '

h'h

^^^1

^^^^^1

1 "'

] '', IsmI^^^I

.1
*

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

fc
.1

Yet its good inhabitants seemed to think that even this
was not enough, and that the honour of a second call
demanded fresh acknowledgments : so more flags and
more evergreens were put, till the whole place seemed
like a big garden, and the air was scented with the
sweet smell of the spruce firs.

A king's ransom would scarcely have got a bed in
Windsor on the previous evening, though why people
had hired them it was impossible to say, for assuredly
no one went to sleep, but remained promenading
between the thinly-scattered houses all through the
hot, still night. As the Prince was not to arrive before
eight o'clock, of course everybody, in spite of the rain,
was in their place on his line of route by five a.m., and
seemed to derive a mysterious sort of satisfaction from
looking eagerly up the road along which he was ex-
pected to come. At last he did come, and the good
people of Windsor cheered with such vigour and effect
as would have led any one only listening to believe it
was a populous place, or one at least which, on the
whole, was rather flush of inhabitants than otherwise.

His Royal Highness and suite took breakfast at the
Clifton House, and, this important prelude to a long
and difficult journey having been duly performed, the
royal train arrived, and, amid cheers and waving of
handkerchiefs, the Prince took his departure from
Windsor. With him also went the hearts of half the
young ladies of the province of Nova Scotia, who
were wild about him, and who seemed not likely to
recover their sober senses for months. A popular
sonnet was once written on a pathetic — very pathetic-
incident at New Orleans, On this an affecting ballad,
entitled, " Let mo kiss liim for his mother," was com-
posed. These words had, however, been quite divested
of their melancholy associations by the young ladies of

Nova Scoti

him for hii

ball at Ha!

among all t

Part of 1

almost prir

provinces ai

wild, more

silent granc

would go f<

where as }

where the m

ash, spruce

a luxuriant

of North A]

saw amid tl

which had t

if fearing 1

crash of its :

of his more

a route wer

location of i

forest again

girdled roun

amid the g

white as sr

and more S(

lested for 2

piled high

heapSj so gri

are glad to S(

and wild ras

their ruins i

many, but n

most powerf

ROUTE FROM WINDSOR. 61

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and « Let me kiss
him for his mother," first said archly enough at the
ball at Halifax, had gradually passed into a motto
among all the belles of the provinces.

Part of the route from Windsor lay through the
almost primeval forests, which cover so much of the
provinces and of Canada, and than which nothing more
wild, more beautiful, and more impressive in their
silent grandeur can be imagined. Sometimes the rail
would go for miles through deep impenetrable woods,
where as yet apparently no man had trodden, and
where the never-ending pines towered above the s4amp
ash, spruce maple, and white poplar, which give such
a luxuriant aspect to the otherwise formal vegetation
of North American scenery. Every now and then you
saw amid the thick mass of boughs a gigantic pine
which had tottered, but not found room to fall, and, as
if fearing to disturb the tremendous silence' by the
crash of its ruin, reclined high in air amid the branches
of his more sturdy fellows. Miles upon miles of such
a route were passed, until it began to approach the
location of some new settler, when the aspect of the
forest again changed, for the great trees had been
girdled round to kill them, and stood up like skeletons
amid the general life around, blanched, dead, and
white as snow. It is always a solemn scene' this
and more so when the trees which have stood unmo'
lested for 200 years at last begin to fall, and lie
piled high over one another in the , most fantastic
heaps, so gray, so lifeless, and so overthrown, that you
are glad to see the bright green leaves of the sycamore
and wild raspberry creeping over them, as if to hide
their ruins from the light. Then came places where
many, but not all, had fnllpn TooTri«« *u„ z-n.„ ,

most powerful withering alone, straight and bare aa

111.

?>llf

I i

■f

i^ .in

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

iron pillars, like a series of the most colossal hop-
poles, or else, broken off some fifty feet above the
earth, they seemed, like Flaxman's ruined column, to
be Nature's tombstones, monuments to the memory of
departed forest life and grandeur.

Now and then the wild solitude is broken by a rude
fence of piles of little trees enclosing a few acres of
half-cleared land, where, amid tall, ragged, half-burnt
stumps and twisted roots, a thick coarse grass strag-
gles up, and is eagerly devoured by cows or sheep
almost as wild as deer. The next patch is oats, pota-
toes, or sometimes Indian corn, rich, green, and wavy-
looking like fountains of leaves, and then comes the
settler's hut. It is only a poor log shanty, hot and
dusty in summer, cold and draughty in winter, without
a tree to shade it from the sun and wind, for it is gene-
rally put in the centre of the clearing. A lot of chil-
dren with bare, sunburnt arms and legs are sure to be
scampering about among the pigs and poultry, looking
as brown, as vigorous, and as sturdy in their way as
the very pines they have so lately dispossessed. Pass
by this hut in ten years hence, and you will find the
shanty used not as a dwelling, but a barn, and the
settler already on his way to comfort and indepen-
dence, if not fortune, building himself a rough, com-
modious, homely mansion, at the door of which the
tax-gatherer never knocks, and where there is always
work and welcome for the labourer for a year, and a
spare cow and horse at the end of that time, when he
too takes his axe in hand and starts to clear the wil-
derness like the rest.

The wanton destruction of timber that is now so fast
going on in the provinces and Canada must be looked
upon by all that regard more than the gratification of
tueir own immeuiate v.ants, a., least with regret, if nut

with alar

natural ei

time it is.

his hut t

often to s

dun mass

the horizc

But at ni

a sea of :

bright flai

some tall

play and j

is one gr

fiercely.

tree, the {

destroyed,

trunk, wh]

and then li

depressing

You go fo

the sound i

of any livir

The dry, si

feet, and t

which cra(

ashes, are

solitude. '

a great fin

nowhere d(

awful as Q\

thus destrc

menon had

late for ev(

the year bei

fur even in

f^lfeWi-..

DESTRUCTION OF TIMBER. 68

with alarm. The settler looks upon a tree as his
natural enemy, as, indeed, within certain limits, for thb
time It IS. His first act is to fell enough timber round
his hut to save that from burning; his next is very
often to set fire to the woods. In the day the huge
dun mass of smoke from these forest fires lingers over
the horizon for miles and covers the hills hke a cloud
But at night it lights them with a dull red efi"ulgence
a sea of fire, fanned for a moment into a sheet of
bright flame as the wind rises and bears it up round
some tall pme, in the branches of which it seems to
play and jump a" out from limb to limb, till the whole
IS one great pyramid of fire, crackling and blazing
fiercely. A few minutes and it burns out, and a great
tree, the growth of some eighty or hundred years, is
destroyed, all save the first forty or fifty feet of its lofty
trunk, which keep hissing and sparkling feebly now
and then like the case of an exploded firework. It is
depressing to see the devastation caused by these fires.
You go for miles through a black dead country— not
the sound of v. bird, not the sign of a leaf, nor a vesii -
of any living thing to break iis awful silent monotony.
The dry, sultry ashes of the forest crumple under your
ieet, and this and the occasional falling of a trunk,
which crackles lightly down in a cloud of charcoal
ashes, are the only sounds which disturb the painful
solitude. The aspect of ravage and desolation which
a great fire causes is bad enough in all places, but
nowhere does the destruction seem so complete and
aw%l as on the spot where a great forest has been
thus destroyed. It seems as if some natural pheno-
menon had smitten the woods black, silent, and deso-
late for ever. In cases wliere the fires have occurred
the year before, however, the scene is uct so desolate,
ior even in such a sbort space the inexhaustible fer-

' m

hi V

1 -ji

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

i
If I!

tility of the soil has done much to repair the mischief,
and thickets of young shrubs are seen to be fast
springing up, while perfect bushes of wild geraniums,
fire flowers, wood lilies, and foxgloves, crowd around
the charred stumps, making such colour contrasts, as
their scarlet blossoms push up between the charcoal,
as give a strange, peculiar beauty to the scene.

It is an extraordinary fact, but one which is strictly
true, that when a forest is burnt, trees of a.i utterly
diflferent kind to those which formerly grew there,
spring up again in their place. Thus, if a forest of
soft woods, such as pi^es and swamp ash are burnt
down, oak and beech trees instantly spring, though
such trees may never have been seen in the district
before. The reverse of this takes place when woods of
oak and beech are destroyed by fire : it is then the
pines which replace the hard woods.

How do natural philosophers and botanists account
for this apparent phenomenon ? The result of the
wholesale destruction of timber which has been going
on for years shows most disadvantageously in the lands
which have besn long settled. They are almost like
prairies— an unbroken expanse of land— a sea of grass,
and without a single tree or shrub worth the name for
miles. In the longer settled parts of the Canadas the
want of wood is already beginning to be felt, and of
course, as time goes on it must be felt still more,
especially when to the want of wood is added that
which is certain to follow it— the want of water. In
the wilder portions of the cor* ry— nearly nine-tenths
of its whole extent at the present day— timber of all
kinds is still a nuisance, and though a war of extermi-
nation is levied on it in all its forms by axe and fire,
and miles upon miles are burnt down in a single day.

it still covers the COUrtiv in a Aa-naa Tr»qp+lo ^f

pines,

small q
Thro
passed,
cheer, a
pleased
Eoyal E
Betweer
was nea
put an e
temps it :
made at
had occii
terruptec
course,
from the
many of
decoratec
would ha
All the pi
rounding
streets, d:
the roval
signal for
applause,
well aime
Prince.

An imj
formed, w]
decoration
green, wht
address,
trophy ov(
erected ar

CTlIIiBOIl Oil

■ LOYALTY OP TliURO. (55

fe-dng shelter to thousands of deer and moose and no
small quantity of bears and wolves as well

Through such a country as this the royal train
passed, every little shanty turning out its in^nates to
cheer and everybody seemingly in the highest degree
pleased at catching a flying gliu,p,e, not indeed of His
Eoyal Highness, but of His Eoyal Highness's carriage.
Between he junction from Windsor to Truro the tvL
was nearly taking fire, but a few buckets of wato
put an end to the danger, and without further contre-

rr: T^' '^™™ ^°°"'*''"- "• ^he preparations
made at Truro were really beautiful. Triumphal arches

t'™" ''" """f *"^ ''^°'"'-^=^ - ^'^^ - "in-
terrupted succession that one took them as thin-^s of

Z:L ^""n "^Truro, however, wrung admrrtLn
h om the most blase m such matters. There were verv
many of them their forms were beautiful, and all wer'e
decora ed with a good taste and effectiveness which
wou d have done honour to any to™ in Great Britain.
All the people, not only of the town, but of the sur-
rounding country for mUes and miles, lined the little
streets, dressed i„ the most festive of costumes, and
the royal salute fired by Volunteer Artillery was the
signal for ,„ uproarious outburst of enthusiasm and
npplause, mingled with a little shower of bouquets
well^aimed at the carriage at least, if not at the'

An imprcmptu procession of vehicles was soon
formed, wh:ch crossed the little town under no end of
decorations, and debouched upon a kind of village
green, where the Prince was to reecive and repiv to an
address. I„ the centre of th:, ,..«en a very I'uidsome
trophy over an extemp, ranc ,,, fountair. had been
erected and hung with garlands and draned with
vnmsoa curtains; it really looked one of the best efforts

! :->''fii <

; "

J fSJffi&ahkEj

r r'

TRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

of the kind the Prince had met. Under this, a loyal
address was read, and a royal reply delivered, about
which nothing more need be said than that both were
appropriate, and the former very long. The party then
retired to lunch, after which, at twelve o'clock, the
whole cortege entered carriages and began their journey
across country to Pictou, a distance of forty-six miles.
Kelays of horses had been arranged along the road,
and it was well that this precautionary measure was
taken, for along the wild and desert track which led to
Pictou there was as little chance of finding a horse as
finding a man. The road, the only one across the
province, was really a good one, and His lloyal High-
ness and suite managed to travel along this at the rate
of some eight miles an hour — not bad speed when
horses, roads, and carriages were considered together.
So surely as any place was reached which had two nr
three houses, so surely was there an arch of some kind
or another ; sometimes a simple one of sweet spruce
fir, sometimes a more ambitious effort, in which half
the wild ilowers of the woods were woven in rich con-
fusion. At the entrance to the county of Pictou there
was a most beautiful arch and a numerous assemblage
of people, though where ^hey all came from it was hard
to imagine. From this point to the town, a distanct^
of some eighteen or twenty miles, arches and wreaths
occurred frequently, till, at six in the evening, His
Royal Highness came in sight of the wide harbour of
Pictou, with the red, quaint little town forming a small
belt of houses on its edge. Every street here wore a
decoration, and the people had assembled from all
parts of the country. But except for the gratification
of their own feelings of loyalty, it was scarcely wortli
while, for the Prince only drove through the town, and

h_ 1 _,„! 1.. J ::., !.:„ i ._ _i i. i.„i' i.i,„ .1.^ „i'
IIU CmUiUI^CU iil iiiS UiligC UiUiUBl WViUiC WIC GillUlve Oi

the gun
at Pict(

gress, t]

of prepi

route fc

knew th

honour (

It wa

barked, <

of the o

coal mil

Breton '.

America.

found thi

world.

known, o:

from thir

From .

obliged t

which Cc

entirely a

as bright

Prince at

Prince alv

of the royi

checks of :

His sta^

but short;

pretty sloe

bay, where

miles off t]

At six A.M.

August, t]

stemmed a

Town, the

DEPARTURE FROM PICTOU. 67

the guns for the royal saUite had cleared away. But
at lictou, as was the case throughout the whole pro-
gress, the people were amply satisfied for all then- toil
of preparations, and all their patient waiting on the
route far hours, if tliey only saw His Highness and
knew that he saw the decorations they had erected in
honour of his coming.

It was almost geUing dark when the Prince em-
barked, or I believe he intended to have availed himself
oi he opportunity of visiting some of the celebrated
coal mines of Pictou. Only at Pictou and at Capo
Breton Island does coal exist in all British North
America. At the former town, however, the seams are
found thicker than probably in any other mines in the
world. One seam, the extent of which is not yet
known or only known vaguely to be very large, varies
fiom thirty to thirty-six feet in tliickness.

From Pictou, however, His lioyal Highness was
obliged to go at once on board the « Flying Fish "
which Commander Hope an<! his officers had, almok
entirely at their own expense, rovamted and decorated
as bright and shining as a little yacht. Here the
1 nnce ahd suite were at once at home, as in fact tlie
1 rmce always was when once he got on boa-^u' i vessel
ot the royal squadron, and could throw off the si^t. and
checks of royalty.

His stay on board the " Flying Fish," however, was
but short; and after an interval of some two hours, the
13retty sloop got under weigh, and steamed to the outer
ba^ where the " Ariadne " and '' Hero " lay about ten
miles ofi the shore, owing to the shoalness of the water
At SIX A.M on the morning of Thursday, the 9th of
August the squadron got under weigh again, and
stemmed across Northumberland strait for Charlotte
1 own, the cupicai of l-^rince Edward Island.

I't^'p'v' ::;

I
I *]

■

Is 1.1;

I it*

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

This province is considered tlie most fertile of all the
English North American possessions, and is one of the
dozen claimants that insist on being called the garden
of Canada, though the only portion that has any
really justifiable pretensions to that high title is the
magnificent tract of land that extends over the whole
country lying between Toronto and Hamilton in Upper
Canada. Still Prince Edward Island is the most
fertile of the provinces, though immeasurably behind
St. John in everything but the value of its soil for
agricultural produce. The whole island is, in fact, a
large dairy farm, only wanting emigrants to turn its
rich resources to account. The great fertility of the
soil is in a great measure due to the abundance of
streams that cross it in all directions, while the island
itself is so deeply indented by bays and inlets, that
it is said no part of it is more than eight miles distant
from the ebb and flow of the sea tide.

Charlotte Town itself, if such a little group of houses
can be called a city, stands on the junction of the Hills-
borough, York, and Elliott rivers. Beyond it all the
country seems like a gigantic park, so richly is it
wooded, so fertile are its wida extent of meadows and
soft grassy uplands. The whole population of the
place, however, is very small, scarcely more than 90,000,
very far less than that of any of ihe Metropolitan
boroughs. Yet I'rince Edward Island has not only
its members, but its Upper and Lower Houses of
Assembly — a House of Lords and Commons for 90,000
widely-scattered agriculturists! It seems like putting
paddle-engint into a canoe. But, poor and small as
Prwce Edward Tslar is, compared to other provinces,
far more v^as done for the Prince in the way of state
preparation than could have possibly been expected.

as i.iiv X iiiiuc luuucu, uxiu Cull-

tinued t

night.

were of

but, on

fresher i

to the p(

consider

indeed.

of the li

teers, w

relating

colony.

made up

if all I h(

forward

Christma

gay affaii

where th(

for transa

ever othei

not large.

many cou

like beinj

is not the

Charlotte

individual

in the ma;

door. Th

as much c

Dundas, t]

and equal

whole fete

tivities pn

Saturda

Prince onl

."K^iliixi

BALL AT CHAllLOTTE TOWN. 69

tinued to pour in torrents all the rest of the day and
night. Fortunately, the arches and other decorations
were of too solid a character to be easily washed out,
but, on the contrary, looked all the better and the
fresher for their wetting. The sam ;emark may apply
to the people, who appeared to have been " wetting "
considerably, and who consequently were very "fresh"
indeed. Before the ball, which took place on the night
of the 10th, His Royal Highness reviewed the Volun-
teers, who, though far from numerous, were, in all
relating to equipment and discipline, a credit to the
colony. After this small military display, every one
made up their minds for ihefke of the evening, which,
if all I heard was true, must have been anxiously looked
forward to all over the island since the previous
Christmas. The ball, therefore, was in its way a very
gay aflfair. As at Halifax it took place in the rooms
where the Legislative Assembly meet semi-occasionally
for transacting the affairs of the island. Certainly, what-
ever other advantages these rooms possessed, they were
not large. So the ball-room was very crowded, and not
many could get in, or, being in, get out. But people
like being crowded at a ball, especially when dancing
IS not their forte, and thus even the most critical at
Charlotte Town could not detect whether the bewildered
individuals, pushing here and there, were really involved
in the mazes of a quadrille or only trying to gain the
door. The Prince was there, too, laughing and dancin.cr
as much as any, and the Duke of Newcastle and Mn
Dundas, the Lieutenant-Governor, were equally amused
and equally complicated among the crowd. So the
whole fete was voted a decided success, and "the fes-
tivities prolonged to an advanced hour."

Saturday, the 11th, was a quiet day— that is, the
Prince only received visitors and embarked in state on

•( ,

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

board the " Hero," vhich, with the "Ariadne/' "Cos-
sack," and "Flying J^'ish," and a French 12-gun frigate,
" Poraone," were all dressed m colours, had yards
manned, and saluted. This made a good spectacle of
the departure, and tiie crowds of people lining the
shores finished the effect, and made the whole ceremony
one of considerable state and eclat, in spite of the rain,
which had, of course, been dropping all the morning,
and Avhich the thunder of the guns brou!:^ht down at
last with drenching vehemence. At two p.m. the signal
was made to weigh anchor, and m half an hour after-
wards the squadron was steaming quickly down the
straits, with light winds, thick, rainy weather, a little
cross sea, and a decided prospect of each and all getting
worse as the night drew on. The course was down
the Gut of Cansou, across some dangerous shoals be-
tween Prince Edward Island and the mainland, where
the channel for large ships is narrow and intricate, and
where, on that night at least, there was but little pro-
spect of getting sight if oMy bearings by which the
squadron could judge o? it''^ whereabouts. Fortunately
the rain kept down the vind, as, indeed, it seemed
capable of keeping down anything; but it was a
wretched night, and by ten o'clock the vessels were
slowly creeping on, sounding their way with the lead-
lines as they advanced, and hoisting groups of lights
at the mainyard whenever any was fortunate enough to
find some water deeper than the rest. Thus moving,
stopping, sounding, and signaling, the squadron crept
slowly past the Escumenar light and Miriraichi Bay,
till daylight broke, when the open sea was gained at
last. Sunday, the 10th, was at first as bad as Satur-
day, in point of weather, till the evening, when the
breeze fell, and the rain c ased as the ships steamed in
towards Gasp^ Point. To see the bold magnificence

of this (

stood ii

Island 8

red san

mountai

rents an

that was

an insu]

name of

rents an

mass, ai

shov/ing

blood-. ;o

to enable

at i". '3 b^

for (isisp

It w as

ami a t

darkness

spring in

across ev

ciple of i

over its n

vanish wi

blown ou

sky in th

in Rudder

whole lit

appear a,

reached (

the night

Head" s

Governor

our minis

the Canad

THE AUKORA UOREALIS.

ofthis cmst to the best advantage, all the squadron
stood into the narrow ch i lel b( tween Bonnventure
Island and Capf3 Gasp^, where the ^c cliffs of steep
red sandstone, lit up by V setting? sun, seemed like
mountains of fir , in which the dark shadows caused by
rents and chasms stood .ut with a black distinctness
that was almost terrible. Just beyond Cape Ciasp^ is
an insula ed mass of fiery sandstone, known by tue
name of the Perco Kock. It is caverned into a heap of
rents and hol'-^, some of which penetrate its en^'r*
uiass, and allow a faint daylight to peer througl
showing like spots oi lirt - chalk upon its stni
blood-coloured sides. The "Hero "ran close to 3
to enable His Royal Highness to see its rough grandeur
at tl e b-^i, and passing across Mai Bay stood straight
for i »,!spe Harbour.

It was night again, l>owpver, before thi^ was gained,
and a the last rays of the sun were ovei powered bv
darkness the Aurora Bore.ilis seemed suddenly to
spring into light and life in the sky, and kept playing
across every part of the heavens, as if the active prin-
ciple of the light which had just departed was rejoicing
over its release from work. Sometimes it would entirely
vanish with a sudden blink, as if the illumination was
blown out, and then come faintly streaming down the
sky in thin, lambent, pencilled veins, whid' spr* d out
in sudden shoots, now brightening, now fadin^ . till the
whole lit up in one rich vivid blaze, and dir out to re-
appear again in another direction. The squadron
reached Gaspe Bay so n after dark, and anchored for
the night alongside the "Victoria" and the "Lady
Head" steamers, which had come down with the
Governor of Canada, Sir Edmund Head, Lord Lyons,
our minister at Washington, and the chief members of
the Canadian government, including Mr. Cartier, Mr.

t -fc

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-S)

1.0

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1.25

m '^ lllli
AO 12.0

12.2

1.8

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Photographic

Sdences

Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. M5B0

(716) 872-4503

i-V

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6"^

f/j

1%'

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

Macdonald, Mr. Vankougnet, Mr. Kose, &c., to meet
His Royal Highness.

Early in the morning of the 13th, after a visit had
been duly paid to the "Hero" by the Executive officials,
the squadron was signalled to get under way and follow
the commodore into the inner harbour of Gasp^. The^
whole coast line of the North American provinces
abounds with natural and almost landlocked harbours,
many of which are superior in size and security and
depth of water to the most vaunted harbours of Great
Britain. Milford Haven, Quecnstown, Bantry Bay, or
Plymouth, are almost below any standard of compa-
rison with these magnificent refuges; and Gaspe,
though far from one of the best, is still immeasurably
better than many of the best of ours. A long chain of
richly wooded undulating hills encloses it on three
sides, and its broad capacious mouth, some five miles
wide, has a natural breakwater across half its extent
in the shape of a sandbank, which, stretching out in a
sharp curve, stops the angry water from passing into
the inner harbour. The "Hero," followed by the
"Ariadne," "Flying-Fish," "Victoria," and "Lady
Head," steamed up this basin till the little town of
Gaspe, with its stiJff-looking white-washed houses, its
cleared fields, and regular sharp outlines of small trees,
for all the world like the villages children build with a
box of Dutch toys, came close in view. There was
still the inner harbour of all to enter, and up this the
"Hero" was, of course, to lead.

On a high, commanding spit of land a heavy battery
commenced firing a royal salute as the vessel ap-
proached, and the echoes went reverberating among the
hills in a deep, sustained roar, as if the mountains were
shouting to each other in tones of thunder. All thip.
time the " Hero," with the royal standard flying, seemed

unaccor

uproar

fainter,

shadow

tinned c

of little

pennant

could w

went up

and it

"Hero'

harbour

shoal, ai

minutes

round t

frigate e

backed i

manceuv

vain, for

much w£

shoal wi

got out ]

Commoc

and in a

was brou

skill and

the dista

nicety tb

have brc

words C<

in a ver^

out, taki

stern poi

as this is

THE "hero" aground.

unaccountably still. The last gun was fired, and the
uproar which it called into being waxed fainter and
fainter, till it ceased gently in a hoarse murmur, the
shadow of its former self, and still the " Hero " con-
tinued quiet and motionless as a rock. At last a crowd
of little signals were hoisted with the "Ariadne's"
pennants, and went down again before a landsman
could well count their number. But, quick as they
went up and down, they had been read by the squadron,
and it was "Hands up —stream cables!" for the
" Hero " was hard ashore. In trying to enter the inner
harbour she had taken the ground on a low spit of
shoal, and there she remained hard and fast. In a few
minutes the "Ariadne" went ahead, and, skimming
round the bay with a speed which no ocean-going
frigate ever surpassed, turned in her own length and
backed in, stern foremost, to assist the flag-ship. The
manoeuvre was beautifully executed, though quite in
vain, for where the", Hero" gets aground there is not
much water for the " Ariadne." She, too, touched the
shoal with her stern, but of course went off again, and
got out her boats at once with hawsers to tow. The
Commodore then signalled the "Flying Fish " to close,
and in a minute or so afterwards that pretty little sloop
was brought under the stern of the " Hero " with such
skill and ease that, though the vessels actually touched,
the distance was callulated with such minute care and
nicety that, as sailors say, the two ships would scarcely
have broken an egg between them. In a very few
words Commodore Seymour gave his instructions, and
in a very few minutes Commander Hope carried them
out, taking the " Hero's " stream cable through the
stern port, and dropping it with a bower anchor in the
very spot wxiere it was necessary to haul on. Simply
as this is said in words, it was on the whole a difficult

m.M

Mil

i )i

i/! J

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

: II

thing to do properly ; but the " Flying Fish " did it,
and did it well, too. Hading upon this, and steaming
full power astern till the water was in a foam, the
" Hero " made a desperate effort to clear herself, but
all in vain. Nothing moved her, and there seemed at
one time a strong probability that she would have to
run her guns aft, if not to lower them into the " Flying
Fish " entirely, before she floated. During this interval
of time a number of gaily-dressed boats had come out
from Gaspe town, and quite unaware of the untoward
circumstances of the case, collected in a crowd under
the " Hero's " bows, their crews cheering and waving
handkerchiefs as if His Koyal Highness had purposely
gone ashore to receive their ovations at his ease. At
his ease, indeed, the Prince certainly seemed to be,
" sky-larking " about the quarter-deck of the " Hero "
with the younger officers with as much good-humour
and sang-froid as if he visited Gaspe every day in the
year, and was rather in the habit than otherwise of
getting ashore in a line-of-battle ship. At last, after
an hour or more had been spent in useless attempts to
move the "Hero" off, the "Ariadne" passed two
hawsers out astern, and, taking the flag-ship ia tow,
pulled her out of her difficulties bodily and set her
afloat once more in deep water.

i ''

1 .

i ■ . : -

CHAPTER IV.

THE SAGUENAT RIVER.

The " Hero" aground again— Scenery of the River— A little Excursion-
Mountain Echoes — Arrival at Quebec.

After the narrow escape of the " Hero," which if
she had gone ashore a little harder would have been
placed in a very awkward position, and might have
remained in it for a week, no furth^ • attempt was
made by any of the squadron to enter the inner har-
bour of Gaspe. As soon therefore as the flagship had
recovered herself, recalled her boats, and in a manner
resettled her plumage, the signal was hoisted, "Prepare
to weigh." In ten minutes afterwards the squadron
was steaming down the bay as fast as they could run,
for a huge Atlantic fog-bank, dense as a shoal, came
pouring in, and, safe as the harbour is at all times, it
was not thought quite advisable to keep large ships
tacking about in it in fog which was quite of the colour
and almost of the consistency of butter. All, there-
fore, made haste to get out at once, the "Hero" leading
round Cape Gasp6— a tremendous headland of lime-
stone rock, gray and solemn-looking, with its massive
brow furrowed into deep chasms, like wrinkles, by the
action of the elements upon it for ages past. The
" Flying Fish" was afforded rather a close opportunity
of studying this awful rock, for in the fog the "Ariadne,"

M ■ i \l

P' fl

I !i

V 1'

THE SAGUENAY RIVER.

suddenly made lier appearance close astern, compel-
Img the " Flying Fish " to turn almost into the rock
to avoid a still more dangerous collision. Outside the
harbour the fog was, if possible, even more dense,
and in half an hour the ships were anywhere but
together, and there seemed not the least chance of
their coming together unless they ran into one another
in the fog. To avoid the risk of this and warn her
consorts, the " Hero " fired guns at short intervals
but to make the confusion worse the lighthouse on
Cape Gaspe began firing, while a couple of guns some-
where ashore fired also. Of course when the "Ariadne "
and « Flying Fish " replied to these, guns were going
off on all sides through the thickest fog, none knowing
why or wherefore, and the wildest bewilderment pre-
vailed.

On the 14th it cleared a little, and the ships went
ahead fast— so fast, indeed, that the "Flying Fish" was
soon making a long stern chase of it, and though her
heavy guns were brought aft, and all other nautical
devices adopted to increase her speed, she continued
dropping astern till she would have been left behind
altogether had not the commodore signalled the
Ariadne " to take her in tow. To a frigate of such
speed and power as the "Ariadne" it made very little
difference whether she had a line -of- battle ship in tow
or only a sloop like the "Flying Fish;" but on this
occasion unfortunately her attempts to tow were not
successful, for hardly had she got the " Flying Fish "
well under weigh ere part of her engine broke down
and the gallant " Ariadne " came to a dead stand-still!
Ihere was nothing for it therefore, but to leave her to
beat up under sail till she could repair the accident

ae __ero an effort which took her the whole night

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THE "HERO AGROUND /.GAIN.

to accomplish, and which she never would have accom-
plished at all if the flag-ship had not slackened speed
as she neared the mouth of that most awful-looking of
all rivers, the Saguenay, up which it was intended the
squadron should steam. The Saguenay is only some
120 miles distant from Quebec ; but, as the river is of
its kind the most extraordinary in the whole world, it
had been arranged that the Prince should spend at
least two days in fishing and boating between the tre-
mendous cliffs which hem it in on every side. While
the "Hero" was preparing to enter this river the
" Ariadne " rejoined the squadron. She had repaired
the damages to her engines by nine on the previous
night, and had steamed up a distance of 122 knots in
eleven hours.

All the vessels were preparing to enter the mouth of
the river when the " Hero " got ashore again on a very
little shoal, but one on which she nevertheless managed
to get aground, and pretty firmly too. The wat'^r
round ihe entrance to the Saguenay is deep enough foi
any line-of-battle ship that ever floated, except in one
small place called the Four-fathom Patch, the only
spot in the whole bay where she could take the ground,
and on this the pilot contrived to run her rather hard.
The buoys which indicated the presence of this danger
had shifted considerably— so considerably, in fact, that
it was said the pilot should have seen at once by their
bearings that they were not where they ought to have
been. As the tide was falling fast there seemed to be
very little probability of her being got off for some
hours. The " Ariadne " was preparing to pull her off
again if she would come, or pull her in half if she
wouldn't, and the "Hero" was beginning to get her
guns aft, when suddenly, to the astonishment of all,

she luovcu a little

and then bumped a little, then

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I'.' I

:■

THE SAGUENAY RIVEK.

»■ , '

moved a little more as the sweep of the tide pushed
her, and at last, as she went full power astern with her
screw, gradually worked clear of the shoal, and was
once more quietly afloat. This made an end at once of
the chance of the squadron going up the Saguenay, so
the Prince and his suite disembarked and went on
board the Governor's steamer, which had followed them
from Gaspe, and tlms the first day's "tour was made up
tlie wildest and gloomiest river in the world. The day
Avas about as wretched and unfavourable as could
possibly liave chanced for any other trip.

For a voyage up the Saguenay, however, every one
thought it the most appropriate weather that could have
happened, and the wonder was that as this was the case
the day was not fine. The wind was high and rushing
in fierce sharp squalls which drove the rain like small
shot in your face. Gloomy black clouds rested on the
mountains, and seemed to double their height, pouring
over the ragged clifis in a stream of mist, till, lifting
suddenly with the hoarse gusts of wind, they allowed
short glimpses into what may almost be called the
terrors of the Saguenay scenery. It is on such a day,
above all other-,, that the savage wildness and gloom of
this extraordinary river is seen to the greatest advan-
tage. Sunlight and clear skies are out of place over its
black waters. Anything which recals the life and smile
of nature is not in unison with the huge naked cliffs,
raw, cold, and silent as tombs. An Italian spring could
effect no change in its deadly rugged aspect, nor does
winter add an iota to its mournful desolation. It is a
river which one should see if only to know what dread-
ful aspects Nature can assume in her wild moods.
Once seen, however, few will care to visit it again, for
it is with a sense of relief that the tourist emerges from
its sullen gloom, and looks back upon it as a kind of

SCENERY OP THE RIVER.

vault, — Nature's sarcophagus, where life or sound seems
never to have entered. Compared to it the Dead Sea
is blooming, and the wildest ravines look cosy and
smiling. It is wild without the least variety, and grand
apparently in spite of itself, while so utter is the soli-
tude, so dreary and monotonous the frown of its great
black walls of rock, that the tourist is sure to get
impatient with its sullen dead reserve till I feels
almost an antipathy to its very name. Some six miles
above is the little town, or, as in England we should
call it, village of Tadousiac. It is more than 300 years
since Jacques Cartier, the discoverer of Canada, the
bold adventurer who, through his misinterpretation of
the Indian word "welcome," gave the present name to
the country, landed here. It was almost his first real
resting-place, and the first mention which we have of
the Saguenay is one which now well befits its savage
aspect, for Cartier sent a boat and crew to explore its
rocky chasm which were never more heard of. From
that day to this the river has had a name which, allow-
ing for the difference of times and creeds, only the
Styx can equal. At the mouth of the Saguenay the
water varies in depth from ten to sixteen fathoms, but
once between the walls of the river and the depth from
end to end is never less than 100 fathoms, generally
150. On either side, at a distance of about a mile
apart, the cliffs rise up thin, white, and straight, vary-
ing in perpendicular height from 1,200 to 1,600 feet,
and this is Jie character of the river Saguenay from
its mouth to its source. On the right bank the cliffs
are poorly mantled here and there with stunted pines,
but on the left there is scarcely a sign of life or verdure,
and the limestone rocks stick up white and bleached in
the gloomy air like the bones of an old world.

At two places, St. Marguerite and between Capes

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THE SAGUENAY RIVER.

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Trinity and Eternity, where smaller tributaries pour
their contributions into the deep, black stream, a breach
occurs in the wall of rocks, as if some giant hand had
torn them forcibly back, and left them strewn and
baffled of their power in uncouth lumps over the valleys
beyond. But these are the only openings, the only
means of escape, if they may be so called, from the
silent gloom of this dead river. The Saguenay seems
to want painting, wants blowing up, or draining; any-
thing, in short, to alter its morose, eternal, quiet awe.
Talk of Lethe or the Styx, they must have been purling
brooks compared with this savage river, and a picnic
on the banks of either would be preferable to one on
the Saguenay ! On the occasion of the Prince's first
visit, on the 15th, the mist and rain hid half its gloom,
but more than enough was seen to send the party back
to the " Hero" at about five o'clock wet and dull. There
was rather a state dinner on board the flagship that
evening, and the Prince, having to be up early the next
morning, retired at twelve. Before turning in he made
a bet with one of the officers of the ship that he would
be up before four o'clock next morning— a bet, too,
which he won, though much tired with the fatigues of
the previous day— he overslept himself so far that he
had barely time to make his appearance on the quarter-
deck of the " Hero" in a hurried and very imperfect
toilette before eight bells (four o'clock) was sounded.
Before six a.m. he was again on board the Governor's
steamer, and away up the Saguenay to fish. Before he
left, Captain Hope, of the " Flying Fish," had received
orders to get up steam and take all the officers of the
squadron on an excursion up the river. Of course,
everybody wished to go, and, as the day was bright
and glorious, everybody that could come came. The
"Flying Fish" thus had the honour of being the first

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A LITTLE EXCURSION.

man-of-war that ever passed up the Saguenay, and if
the whole navy of England is sent, I am sure a merrier
party will never enter its waters than steamed up on
that occasion. Even the Saguenay could not depress
their spirits, and if that was not a proof of the zest
with which all entered into the day's enjoyment it would
be hard to say what was. From St. Marguerite the
smart little sloop steamed on to where the wild scenery
of the river culminates at a little inlet on the right
bank between Capes Trinity and Eternity. Than
these two dreadful headlands nothing can be imagined
more grand or more impressive. For one brief moment
the rugged character of the river is partly softened,
and, looking back into the deep valley between the
capes, the land has an aspect of life and wild luxuriance
which, though not rich, at least seems so in comparison
with the previous awful barrenness. Cape Trinity on
the side towards the landward opening is pretty thickly
clothed with fir and birch mingled together in a colour
contrast which is beautiful enough, especially when the
rocks show out among them, with their little cascades
and waterfalls like strips of silver shining in the sun.
But Cape Eternity well becomes its name, and is the
very reverse of all this. It seems to frown in gloomy
indignation on its brother cape for the weakness it
betrays in allowing anything like life or verdure to
shield its wild, uncouth defr i-ity of strength. Cape
Eternity certainly shows no sign of relaxing in this
respect from its deep savage grandeur. It is one tre-
mendous cliff of limestone, more than 1500 feet high,
and inclining forward nearly 200 feet, brow-beating all
beneath it, and making as if at any moment it would
fall and overwhelm the deep black stream which flows
down so cold, so deep and motionless below. High up
on its rough cray brows a few stunted pines show like

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THE SAGUENAY RIVER.

bristles their scathed whito arms, glvirjj an awful
weird aspect to the mass, blanched here and there by
the tempests of ages, stained and discoloured by little
waterfalls, in blotchy and decaying spots, but all speak-
ing mutely of a long-gone time when the Saguenay
was old, silent, and gloomy, before England was known,
or the name of Christianity understood. Unlike Nia-
gara, and all other of God's great works in nature, one
does not wish for silence or solitude here. Companion-
ship becomes doubly necessary in an awful solitude
like this, and, though you involuntarily talk in subdued
tones, still talk you must, if only to relieve your mind
of the feeling of loneliness and desolation which seems
to weigh on all who venture up this stern grim watery
chasm.

The " Flying Fish " passed under this cape slowly
with her yards almost touching the rock, though with
more than 1000 feet of water under her. Even the
Middies and youngsters from the squadron were awed
by the scene into a temporary quietness. The solemn
and almost forbidding silence at last became too much.
The party said they had not come out to be overawed,
chilled, and subdued by rocks, however tremendous, so
it was carried nem. con. that, dead and ston)-- as they
were, they must at least have echoes, and the time was
come to wake them. In a minute after, and Captain
Hope having good-naturedly given his consent, one of
the largest 68-pounders was cast loose and trained aft
to face the cliff. From under its overhanging mass
the *' Flying Fish" was moved with care lest any loose
crag should be sufficiently disturbed by the concussion
to come down bodily upon her decks. A safe distance
thus gained, the gun was fired. None who were in the
"Flying Fish" that day will ever forget its sound.
"PoY the space of a half a minute or so after the dis-

MOUNTAIN ECHCT3S.

charge there ma a dead silence, and then, as if the

report and concussion were hurled back upon the

decks, the echoes down came on crash on crash. It

seemed as if the rocks and crags had all sprung into

life under the tremendous din, and as if each was firing

C8-pounders full upon us, in sharp crushing volleys,

till at last they grew hoarser and hoarser in their

anger, and retreated, bellowing slowly, carrying the

tale of invaded solitude from hill to hill, till all the

distant mountains seemed to roar and groiui at the

intrusion. It was the first time these hideous clifi's

had ever been made to speak, and when they did break

silence they did it to some purpose.

A few miles further on, the " Flying Fish" passed
under Statue Point, where, at about 1000 feet above
the water a huge rough Gothic arch gives entrance to
a cave in which, as yet, the foot of man has never
trodden. Before the entrance to this black aperture a
gigantic rock, like the statue of some dead Titan, once
stood. A few years ago, during the winter, it gave
way, and the monstrous figure came crashing down
through the ice of the Saguenay, and left bare to view
the entrance to the cavern it had guarded perhaps for
ages. Beyond this, again, was the Tableau Eock, a
sheet of dark-coloured limestone, some GOO feet high
by 300 wide, as straight and almost as smooth as a
mirror.

After passing this the interest in the scenery de-
clined, so the " Flying Fish" turned about and made
the best of her way down the river at full speed. Pass-
ing St. Marguerite the Prince was still busy with his
fishing, and a royal salute was fired, the echoes of which,
I believe, are still wandering in search of rest to this
very hour. '

His Eoyal Highness returned to the "Hero" at

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THE SAGUENAT EIVEB.

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about nine o'clock. His sport, owing to the fineness
of the day, had not been very great, as a few small
trout were all the whole party had to boast of. Mr.
Price hooked a large salmon, and gave it to the Prince
to land, but his attempt was not successful. The
Prince had not had sufficent practice in salmon fishing
to enable him to accomplish that most difficult of all
feats to a beginner — that of landing a very large fish
with a very small line. It was not for the want of
advice, however ; there was plenty of that. Every one
called out what to do, and, as a matter of course, every
one suggested a different mode from every body else,
sc that His Highness was bewildered, and the salmon
proved the truth of the old proverb, that " in a multi-
tude of counsellors there is safety ; " and, breaking the
line, got clear away.

Fishing, however, was not the only sport enjoyed.
A. party of Indians waited at St. Marguerite with their
canoes ; and in these the Prince, with the Duke of
Newcastle, Major- General Bruce, and other members
of the suite, embarked, and ventured down the rapids,
which pour from that beautiful tributary into the main
stream. I had always been of opinion that sitting in a
Turkish caique was the most uncomfortable means of
conveyance ever resorted to on water ; but sitting in a
canoe I found was a trifle more difficult still. Nobody
but an Indian ever liked a canoe, or felt at ease in it.
Its bark is so thin, that the very ripple of the water may
almost be felt through it as through a blanket, while
in appearance the effervescence of a bottle of Allsopp
would be more than enough to overset it. In reality,
however, they are safe enough as long as one keeps
perfectly still ; and in order to enable them to do this,
the seacs on which the traveller sits are slunsf so that
the body moves with every motion of the frail little

i^ ^ i

ARRIVAL AT QUEBEC.

skiff. In one of these canoes the Prince (who seemed
to know as little of fear as any man that ever lived)
came down the rather angry and boiling rapids of St.
Marguerite. They were not, of course, equal to those
of the St. Lawrence ; but even down these I believe
His Eoyal Highness would have ventured, had he only
had a good Oxford crew on whom he could depend to
back him.

It was long past daylight ere this pleasant quiet
party on the Saguenay gave up their amusement and,
re-entering the precincts of the gloomy river, ran
quickly down its black channel to the St. Lawrence.

As he came alongside the " Hero," the ship burnt
blue lights, and in an instan' as if in rivalry of their
pale bright fires, the aurora uorealis sprang up into
the sky, playing such fantastic tricks of light and vivid
colour as shamed all terrestrial illuminations into
nothing. The squadron anchored for the night off the
mouth of the Saguenay, and at 6 a.m. on the 17th
got under weigh for Quebec. There was rather a
fresh breeze and strong tide down the St. Lawrence,
so that quick progress was not possible, and at seven
o'clock in the evening the vessels anchored at Isle
d'Orleans, twenty miles below Quebec, the first, the
oldest, and the strongest of all the cities of Canada.

' (

t
I

til

III

if*

ii'.itji

CHAPTER V.

r
1

11!

QUEBEC.

The Prince on Board — Aspect of the City — Sectarian Squabbles — Illumina-
tions — The Chaudieie Falls— The Speakers of the Upper and Lower
Houses Knighted — Falls of Montmorenci — The Natural Steps — Ball
at Quebec — Falls of Lorette — Roman Catholics of Laval — The Heights
of Abraham — Departure from Quebec.

The Royal squadron remained at Isle d' Orleans
till nearly two o'clock on the 18th. Long before it
started, therefore, a whole fleet of river steamers had
come down from Quebec all dressed with colours, and
covered with festive evergreens from stem to stern.
These, however, were the only demonstrations ven-
tured on, for of cheering, or, indeed, any but decorative
enthusiasm, there were none. It might have been
that the weather exercised an adverse influence in this
respect, for it was cold, rainy, and very wet ; but, what-
ever the reason, there was at least no doubt of the
fact, and no cheering was attempted at any time in
the whole passage from Isle d'Orleans to Quebec. It
was not for the want of a better example either that
their rather cold decorum was observed, for the Prince,
before starting, paid a long private visit to the " Ari-
adne," and in leaving that magnificent frigate the crew
rushed into the rigging and gave such cheers as only
500 blue jackets really can give. All the Quebec
steamers tlien followed alongside the Prince as he
returned in his barge to the " Hero; " but nevertheless
the silence remained unbroken, and, as at St. John

THE PRINCE ON BOARD.

the people in thei- :irning anxiety to have a good look
at him, seemed : •:; to think of the usual tokens of
welcome and loyal recognition.

The Prince had celebrated his last night on board
the " Hero " by inviting all the young officers of the
ships to dine with him before parting. The smoking
time after dinner was prolonged for an hour — a pri-
vilege! of which His Royal Highness availed himself
to the last minute, though he was the first to set the
example of throwing his cigar away when the time
expired. In conformity to the rules of the ship, both
as to lights and smoking, he was always most strict :
neither breaking them himself nor countenancing some
of his particular friends among the younger officers in
doing so.

The result was, of course, that he was not only liked
but respected by all the officers on board, though liked
is perhaps much too weak a term to express the feel-
ings entertained towards him. His popularity was not
at all the effect of his exalted rank. Every one who
knows anything of a line-of-battle ship, ward-room
and gun-room, knows how little mere rank, however
high, counts there, if unaccompanied by more sterling
attributes. On board the " Hero," and indeed in all
the ships of the royal squadron, he will not alone be
remembered as the Prince of Wales, but better still as
the most good-natured, courteous, fun -loving, kind-
hearted gentleman that ever entered a ship.

At two o'clock the squadron got under weigh. The
"Hero" led, followed by the "Ariadne" and the
" Flying Fish." With the flagship, of course, went
the fleet of river steamers, and as the wind was up the
river, each was enabled to follow His Royal High-
ness's vessel with such a rlpnsp i!YiT%ov>ofvoVj« ^^..^ ^.c
smoke as was never seen m the St. Lawrence before.

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QUEBEC.

Viewed from the deck of the " Flying Fish," which, as
the last ship, was just clear of the sooty atmosphere,
the fleet ahead seemed as though they were in some
tremendous naval engagement, and as much of the
scene as could be distinguished had thus rather a fine
eflfect. Whether those on board the " Hero," only
the very top of the mainmast of which was visible,
thought as well of the display was not doubtful, for
nearly every one there regarded it somehow as a most
intolerable nuisance. All the little houses, churches,
and villages on the banks of the river were decked
with flags (nearly always the French tricolour), and
the sputtering, irregular fire of guns and small arms
never ceased along the route for an instant, so that
with the smoke of the guns, steamers, and squadron,
the St. Lawrence seemed on fire from one end to the
other.

But the weather almost spoiled everything. The
great and naturally picturesque features of the recep-
tion at Quebec were fortunately such as no amount
of rain could utterly destroy; and though certainly
the deluge which fell on the day of the landing did no
good, it certainly did less harm than might have been
expected. Just before three o'clock the squadron came
in sight of Point Levi, and then slowly on the other
side of the broad river, the steep rugged heights of
/ibraham and lofty outlines of Quebec — the Gibraltar
of North America — rose gradually into view.

The appearance of this quaint old city from the bay
is always grand and imposing. Its old historical asso-
ciations are well borne out by the rough gray tiers of
houses rising one above the other with their bright tin
gable roofs contrasting with the antique fashion of the
buildings themselves, amid whi^ . in huge heavy out-
lines the walls of the fortress wind up and down with

"""^mi

ASPECT OP THE CITY.

all the engineering eccentricities of salient and re-
entering angles. But on shore it is such a combina-
tion of the old and the new, of a peaceful, prosperous
town built in and out of a tremendous citadel — a
mdange of modern "stores," guns, bastions, crene-
lated walls, suburban residences, and houses of tin
and pine wood — as makes it resemble no other place
under the sun. Take a large part of Malta, mix it up
with St Peter's at Guernsey, add a few of the old
houses at Abbeville, strew it here and there with log
houses, roof it all over with tin, pave roads dnd paths
with wooden logs, put an immense citadel at the top,
cover the streets rather profusely with dirt, and stick
the whole on one of the hills over Milford Haven, with
an English Government and a French population, and
there you have Quebec. Everything there seems in
an anomalous state — the footpaths are ladders and the
roads are slides. There is a Parlis'nent building,
which is not to be used. There are good squares,
which are always empty, and narrow, difficult flights of
streets, which are always full. With the English the
name of Quebec is indissolubly associated with the
name of Wolfe. Among the Quebecians Montcalm is
revered. In a strategical point of view one would say
the shops of Quebec were the keys of the position, for
batteries loom over the roofs of chemists and haber-
dashers, and you can walk in few places without find-
ing your movements inspected by huge open-mouthed
guns, which lurk in ambush at every corner, behind
trees, in gardens, or half concealed by roofs and stacks
of chimneys. Of its kind Quebec must be unique,
and I am glad to think it is, for it seems to have got
old without becoming venerable, and prosperous with-
out much activity or cleanliness. But from the water,
before the Prince landed, it looked grand, as all lofty

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QUEBEC.

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places from the water somehow or other do. The
chief buildings were decorated with flaj?s, the houses,
wharfs, and terraces were thronged with thousands,
and up the steep streets the points of triumphal arches
could be seen with their bright decorations still flaunt-
ing, though rather dulled of their splendour by the
ram and wind. As the "Hero" came up opposite
the town the forts began to salute from the citadel,
the terrace, and the batteries near Wolfe's Cove
where the rugged path up which the ardent young
General struggled with his men is still to be seen.
Ihe effect of this repeated cannonade, as the great
masses of smoke wreathed over the whole of the lofty
town, through which the tin steeples and spires dimly
shone, was very fine indeed, and seemed to bring out
the old character of the place for war and glory more
strongly than ever.

His Royal Highness landed from the "Hero" at
four o'clock under a tremendous cannonade from all
the forts and vessels of war in the harbour-the latter
having yards manned, and giving three grand cheers
as the royal barge swept past to the shore.

Great decorative preparations had been made for
the reception at Quebec. All the streets were beauti-
fully decorated, trees were set in the ground at the
edge of all the footpaths, houses were screened in
with deep ornamental balconies of evergreens and
transparencies, and lofty arches crowded all the
main thoroughfares. Nothing was really more
astonislimg, when the short time of the Prince's stay
m each place was considered, than the lavish expen-
diture which had everywhere been incurred to give
him a fitting and splendid reception. It was only
after the landing, when one drove about Quebec,
and found ia remote corners handsome arches which

SECTARIAN SQUABBLES.

it was never once expected he would pass under, or
even see, that the real nature and universality of the
welcome given to him could be properly appreciated.
Except on one or two remarkable occasions, I had
never seen anything like it at royal progresses in
England, and in Canada each city seemed to strive
to surpass whatever had been done before.

In arranging the procession that was to meet His
Eoyal Highness, symptoms were shown of that reli-
gious discord which was afterwards worked upon with
such effect by some unscrupulous politicians as to
nearly put an end to the whole tour in Upper Canada.
Three-fourths or more of the population of Quebec
are Roman Catholics, and this was alleged as the
reason, or rather excuse, for assigning to the Roman
Catholic Bishop precedence over the Protestant Bishop
Mountain, in the order of the cortege. The Protestant
Bishop very properly refused to submit to this implied
inferiority. The Roman Catholic Bishop, it was said,
would not for a time give way, and the dispute at once
gave rise to a good deal of religious bitterness and
feeling in the town. Eventually, however, the Roman
Catholic Bishop was made to see that his claim for
precedence was utterly untenable, and indeed could
not be listened to for a moment, when he at length
yielded. But the dispute, of course, left an ill feel-
ing. Among the English the attempt was viewed as
another instance of the encroaching arrogance of the
Church of Rome; among the French Roman Catholics
as a slight to the religion of the great mass of
the people, in fact, the religion of Lower Canada.*
From the visit to Quebec, or rather from the wan-

* A large and important meeting was held in Toronto last month to
denounce the conduct of those membeis of the Canadian op'^-osition. who
for the sake of political capital, had originated, or at least aggravated, the

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QUEBEC.

ton and utterly unjustifiable manner in which a
few disappointed politicians misrepresented its every
act and deed to the Orange party, arose all the sub-
sequent troubles at Kingston, and Belleville, and
Toronto. But to resume. At the spot selected for
the disembarkation of His Royal Highness, a very
beautiful pavilioned canopy had been erected, under
which stood all the officers of State and chief dig-
nitaries of the city in full uniform. In the background
a spacious balcony of seats had been raised for the
accommodation of non-official visitors, and as this was
amply crowded, the whole scene was rich and striking
enough to impress the Prince, and all who saw it from
the river, most favourably. Under the canopy the
Mayor read an address, to which the Prince replied
appropriately, with his royal mother's clear distinct-
ness and proper emphasis that made every word as
audible as though he spoke in a room to half-a-dozen
listeners.

Tliis ceremony over three cheers were called for,
and, to a certain extent, given. For it must in truth be
admitted that cheering is not the forte of the Lower
Canadians. All the streets, in spite of the incessant
rain, and the deepest, blackest, and most tenacious
kind of mud, were thronged with people from every
part of the country, many of whom had come from
long distances. The Prince and all the suite seemed

Orange disturbances in Kingston. In referring to the question of prece-
dence between the Bishops at Quebec, Mr. J. A. Macdonald, one of the
chiefs of the Canadian government, himself an Orangeman, and member
for Kingston, said, that, in claiming precedence, the Roman Catholic
Bishops only claimed a legal right which was guaranteed to them under
the treaties by which Canada was ceded to England. On finding the
strong feeling of opposition that was raised to their claim, they themselves
withdrew It on the understanding that by bo doing th.>ir rights were not
to be prejudiced on any future occasion. But still th.> disput" left tb-
feelings I have alluded to at Quebec on both sides ' ^

ILLUMINATIONS.

much surprised at such a concourse in such weather,
and were especially struck with the extent and beauty
of some of the chief arches which, as at St. John, were
better than those at Halifax, though not nearly so
numerous.

His Eoyal Highness passed through the city for the
greater part of its entire length, issuing out under the
St. Louis gate, on his way to Cataraqui, the residence
of Sir Edmund Head, the Governor-General of
Canada. In the evening Quebec illuminated, and a
more effective display of this kind is not often seen.
It was not quite as general as that at St. John, but it
was almost as good, and the effect, owing to the
natural advantages of the city, was infinitely greater.
To see Point Levi on one side of the St. Lawrence,
and Quebec on the other, from the water that night
was really a charming spectacle. Every house had
Hghts in its windows, all the chief buildings were lit
up, and the tiers of streets, rising one above another
in rich gradations of light and colour, all of which
were vividly reflected back by the river, made a kind
of quadruple display which is neitlier easily described
nor forgotten. All night, as a matter of course, the
streets were crowded, and the light-fingered professors,
who were there from New York in considerable num-
bers, made a splendid harvest, if all the complaints
were true. Their presence, however, would have been
less annoying if they had made the streets the only
places for the exercise of their skilful vocation. Unfor-
tunately, they penetrated the hotels with a spirit and
enterprise that was bitterly felt by many.

On Sunday, the 19th, the Prince rested, and
attended divine service in the cathedral. Even there,
however, the same gang of daring thieves were present,
and money and watches to the value of more than

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QUEBEC.

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600Z. were stolen from various members of the congre-
gation, who, of course, attended on this occasion in
most pious and considerable numbers.

On the night of Sunday the rain, which for a time
had lulled, set in again with vindictive impetuosity.
Thus it continued during all i^'"onday, pouring down
with a steady, dull monotony of water, as if it meant to
wash away Quebec, winding up in the night with a
terrific thunderstorm, which left the air rather thicker
than it was before, and certainly no drier. By this
storm the decorations of some of the arches were
decomposed into the dimmest and most extraordinary
outlines of their former selves, the balconies were
limp and frowzy, and people groped their devious ways
through the streets under the branches of small wet
fir trees, that rendered an umbrella doubly necessary
at the time they utterly prevented its use. In fact,
these festive evergreens seemed only to answer the
purpose of wetting the benighted struggling passen-
gers, save in the night where the wind had overturned
them across the footway in dark corners, where they
all at once fulfilled another and still more unpleasant
duty for those who did not cautiously look where they
were treading. The streets and little by-ways of
Quebec (the latter always the majority) were trodden
into swamps, neither mud nor water, though par^
taking largely of the most unpleasant attributes of
both, and in these crowds of Canadians squattered
and splashed, for many had come into town that day
to see the fireworks which were appropriately fixed for
the evening, as afibrding some variety after the rather
liberal allowance of the other element. On such a
day, and in such weather, of course, all jumped to the
conclusion that nothing would be done by His Royal
aess, and the idea was encouraged by every

THE CHAUDIERE FALLS.

rational and sober-minded person in the town. But
royalty has it duties, &c., and as it had been arranged
that the Prince was to make a private and unosten-
tatious visit to the I'ulls of the Chaudi^re on this day,
to the Falls he went accordingly.

During the rest of the time he was in America, he
never again passed through so much water to see so
little. Mark Tapley himself would have succumbed
to the damp influences of such a day, and had the trip
been arranged for any but royalty, it would have been
thought sheer lunacy to have adhered to it. But the
programme of what the Prince was to see and do was
clung to everywhere with a desperate tenacity, which
made the laws of the Medes and Persians mere by-
rules in comparison.

So the Prince and his suite pushed their way
through the dense rain as they best could, and saw the
tumbling, smoking Falls of the Chaudiere, which, as
their name implies, seethe away in spray as if their
waiers were boiling hot and fell steaming among the
rocks. Their effect, however, must have been rather
lessened in royal estimation by the weather of the
morning, for such a waterfall as they had passed through
to reach them was almost enough to make anything
short of Niagara seem tame and dull.

Tuesday, the 21st, was fixed for the return of the
Prince from Cataraqui, where he had been staying at
the Governor-General's, to his palace at Quebec, in°the
old Parliamentary Buildings, which, although he was
only to occupy them for two nights, had been all
re-decorated and furnished throughout in the most
costly style. Fortunately, on the occasion of this
return, just as he entered the city, the weather
changed, and cleared up fine and warm— too warm,
perhaps, for though it failed to dry the streets

)

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QUEBEC.

ir f

(wl vt #«»ii(| ?) it convrrted their slushy mud into a
pa«tt "^ , tenacioui. as bird lime, and by no means so
elfcau.

Immediiately after his arrival, the Prince held a
lev6e in the chamber of the LTppc r House, which had
been richly dec. 'ated for the occasion, and which,
with its handsome thruiae, its wall draped with
heavy folds of crimson cloth, and overhung with a fine
series of paintings, had a regal and most imposing
aspect.

The ministers of the Canadian Government were in
uniform, and there was a very large and brilliant staff
of naval and military officers, and all previous levies
were therefore quite eclipsed by this. The speakers
of the Upper and Lower House had the honour of
receiving knighthood from His Royal Highness—the
first time that the Prince had ever conferred that dis-
tinction on any cne. Sir Narcisse Belleau was the
first created. There was some doubt whether the
speaker of the Lower House was to be so honoured,
but it was soon removed, when the Prince again took
the sword of the Duke of Newcastle, desired Mr.
Smith to kneel, and, laying it lightly twice across
his shoulders, plain Mr. Smith rose up Sir Henry.
Before these honorary rewards had been bestowed, two
addresses — one from each branch of the legislature —
h'ul been read, first in English and then in French,
and duly presented and responded to by His Royal
Higlmess. Another address was also preseutcu iroiu
Bishop Mountain and the members of the ViiH:? i
Church of Quebec, to which the Prince likewise made
a graceful and appropriate reply, that gave great satis-
facti ». to the clergy. After this there was a state
dSjeun, ^':. ai the hot crush of which the Prince was

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soon

PALLS OF MONTMORENCI. 97

Montmorenci, situated bctwe n the picturesque hills
which form the left bank of liie St. Lawrence, some
eight miles be] w Quebec.

The road to these Falls is pretty enough ; not much
m Its way, though sufficiently undulating to prove that
It must at one time have been richly picturesque,
before all the trees were utterly uprooted and destroyed.
Now it is fine, well-cultivated land, cleared of even the
semblance of a shrub, and closely dotted here and
there with white wooden houses, all of which are
tenanted by French Canadians, who preserve their
Gallic type, Gallic language, and, in some cases, Gallic
antipathies, to this very day. Like all such conserva-
tive settlers, in whatever land, they are quiet, frugal,
and industrious, but unprogressive, seldom meddling
much in the political concerns of the colony, though,
when they do so, invariably siding with their com-
patriots on all subjects.

The Falls of Montmorenci are said to be, after those
of Yo Hamite, in California, the highest in North
America. The river, rather a deep one, though only
some 150 feet across, comes brawling down a series of
rocky chasms to the edge of a tremendous cliff which
opens on the St. Lawrence, and over which the stream
rushes in one grand heavy mass down a sheer
unbroken depth of nearly 300 feet. The character of
this beautiful Fall is generally thin and foamy-at a
distance like a huge avalanche of snow reposing softly
amoiig the gaunt black rocks. Its appearance of majes-
tic repose, however, soon gets broken as the visitor
advances towards it, and the roar gets louder and
fiercer till you come out upon a little point which
overlooks its edge, and gaze upon a huge sheet of water
sprmgmg madly over, white, boilincr, and angry, its long
shoots of spray plunging further and further down, tiU

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the whole is lost in piles of mist below, soft, white, and
irregular as a summer cloud. When the Prince saw it
it was at its grandest. Unlike that lofty monarch of
cascades, Niagara, to the might and rush of which the
melting of the winter snows or the longest summer
drought neither adds nor detracts, Montmorenci, and,
indeed, all other falls, are visibly increased by much
wet weather.

After the very heavy and uninterrupted rain of the
three previous days, therefore, the Fall was swollen
to its utmost, and came down the rapids bellowing
with a noise like thunder as its great final plunge,
which was to shut it out for ever from the light of
day, grew more imminent. It was really a grand
sight, and one which is regarded almost with a re-
gretful awe as the river, in all its fiercest energy of
life and power, make its last leap, and, all torn and
dishevelled, with not a trace of the stately grandeur
with which it left the cliffs above, but a mere crowd
of hurrying, broken water, enters the unfathomable
hole at its base, and is never seen again. Strange
as it may seem, of this tremendous body of water,
which pours down within a few feet or so of the
St. Lawrence, not a drop is known to enter the river
which it apparently rushes to meet. A little narrow
semicircular ledge of rock, a couple of feet high,
surrounds the foot of the fall, separating it from the
tidal mark of the great river. Over this ledge,
which marks the rim of a yawning funnel-shaped hole,
the batiied waters of the Montmorenci never pass, but
sink at once without a sign, and rush on no one
knows whither. The hole has never been fathomed,
its course has never been traced, and things that pass
over Montmorenci are never more seen. The almost
mournful impression this creates is rather heightened

THE NATURAL STEPS.

by the gloomy luxuriance of the scenery around.
Ihe black, dead-looking rocks and lofty seared pine
trees the white gravestone-looking towers of granite,
which till two or three years back supported a sus-
pension bridge over the Falls, when it suddenly gave
way hurrying those upon it to an instant and dreadful
death, all add to the sad eflfect. At the foot of these
Falls, too General Wolfe made his most desperate
and most disastrous attempt upon Quebec. Here he
suffered a severe defeat from Montcalm-a defeat
which he so signally avenged within two months
afterwards by his capture of the Heights of Abraham,
and Quebec itself. Montmorenci roars and plunoes
now without a change as fiercely as it did on that
disastrous day, yet the very name of the battle is
almost forgotten, or degenerated into a local tradition
and the mounds of the redoubt which Wolfe reared
to cover his retreat and embarkation are mere shape-
less ridges, which even the eyes of the curious can
but faintly trace. From Montmorenci the Prince
proceeded some three miles up the rocky banks of
the stream to a place called the Natural Steps-a
httie gem of Canadian scenery which, for its size
and peculiar character, is not to be surpassed in any
part of America. It is a wild, lonely place, where a
series of rocks, as regular as colossal steps, jut out
on either side into the deep, narrow rapids of the
Montmorenci. Their geological formation, I have no
doubt, IS curious, and some learned theories have been
broached as to the cause of their being there at all
though few will care to think or read of these when
m that rich, wild, quiet glen where the river, not yet
bravvhng angrily with upstart rocks, flows on with
qiuck. silent dignity, as if it knew the massive steps
as Iriends since all creation, and recognised their

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100

QUEBEC.

solemn limestone masses as characteristic ornaments
of its own brown, decayed looking waters. Higher
up, the steps, still old, worn, and imposing, break
into a kind of mournful irregularity, and loom about
in great gray pinnacles like the ruins of an old castle,
with gaps and rents in the tremendous walls between,
speaking rather of their strength than weakness.
Everything tells of age and quiet here, and the
woods, which almost close in the glen at the top, give
a dull, solemn repose to the whole, as if the dark
apertures between their trunks were vaults, and the
very leaves rustled gently of the mysteries of nature.
It is a pity that these exquisite scenes of Canadian
beauty are seldom painted, photographed, or printed,
— are in short, almost unknown by name to the world
in general. If the Falls of Montmorenci and their
Natural Steps were in the United States, there would
be pictures of them everywhere, a fine hotel in their
immediate neighbourhood, and thousands going to
visit them annually. As it is, not 10 per cent.^ of
those who drive to Montmorenci even see or hear of
the Natural Steps at all. On the evening after this
excursion, the Prince entertained a large party at a
banquet; at the conclusion of which, all went to
the Grand Ball given by the Mayor and citizens of
Quebec to His Royal Highness. This fete was given
in the Music Hall — a large and very lofty building,
sometimes used for concerts, sometimes as a theatre,
and once, after the fire which destroyed the Parliament
House, as a place of meeting for the Canadian legis-
lature. Yet in spite of these vicissitudes of fortune,
it still remains a noble and well-decorated saloon;
and on the occasion of the ball, it had, at great ex-
pense, been entirely rehabilitated in fresh paint and
gilding in such a beautiful and costly style, that the

BALL AT QUEBEC.

101

recollections of the hall at Halifax were then, for the
first time, quite eclipsed by comparison. About 1600
guests were present in all. Among them was a very
large muster of naval and military officers ; and, as
usual when the sister services meet on these occasions,
the military generally go to the wall. There is an
impetuosity about the gallantry of naval officers which
carries all before it with the fair sex, and against
which the conventional beau of a garrison town stands
no chance. Thus the commanders and lieutenants
whirled off the prettiest belles in triumph, while
ensigns and subalterns could scarcely find partners
at all.

The Prince with the Duke of Newcastle and suite
arrived at ten o'clock, and His Highness immediately
betook himself to the festivities of the evening with
that gallantry and keen relish of the scene which
always distinguished the heir apparent on these
occasions. He danced every dance that was danced
between ten that night and four next morning! Great
numbers were at the same time dancing, or rather
trying to dance, and knocking against each with an
energy and determination that was worthy of a better
cause. None could well avoid collision when limited
to a spot little larger than an ordinary table-cloth,
and the Prince and his fair partners had to run the
gauntlet of polkas and waltzes like the rest. During
one of these terpsichorean struggles, the Prince
caught his spurs in a lady's dress— tripped and fell.
He was up again in an instant, laughing heartily, and
dancing away more vigorously than ever.

In its vulgar way the New York Herald did its best
to make the Prince appear ridiculous from this little
contretemps. Five minutes after the occurrence it
was telegraphed to that Journal. Probably in half-

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QUEBEC.

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an-hour it was known in Texas, while the Herald
drew attention to the fact in an alarming series of
" headings," of which the following are only a few : —

"THE CANADIAN COMMOTION.

"Splendid Splurge of the Quebeckera.

" The Prince at the Grand Ball given by the City.

" He danced Twenty -two Times, tripped and fell, his

Beautiful Partner rolling over him.

" Honi soit qui mal y pense.

" The Prince immediately picked himself and Partner up and

continued the Dance.

" Tenible Flutter of Crinoline."

Certainly to judge from the accounts in this vera-
cious Journal, the fall must have been an extraordi-
nary one, inasmuch as it was detailed how it occurred
in no less than three different ways, and with four
different partners. Princes fall very much like other
people, and even if they did not. His Koyal Highness
would Imve found it most difficult to have touched
the floor in the way indicated by the Herald, accord-
ing to which he " cut his eye " while coming *' heavily
on the back of his head."

The supper preparations at this fete were for a time
involved in a state of the most perilous uncertainty,
for when the hour came for that banquet to be laid,
it was found with dismay that none of the waiters
were in a condition to be safely entrusted with any-
thing that could be broken by dropping.

Eventually by all sorts of aids and contrivance in
the way of amateur assistants, this formidable diffi-
culty, which had been clearly foreseen and calmly
expected by many, was overcome ; and the curtain of
the pretty little theatre, at the end of the hall, rose
at last on the supper. Like most theatrical suppers,
however, it had a bright, unreal character, for the
tables would not accommodate a tithe of the guests,

'rp

PALLS OF LORETTE.

103

and a very numerous majority, therefore, could only
feast their eyes — the most unsatisfactory medium
possible through which to enjoy a banquet, We will
let the curtain fall again, therefore, over this delusive
portion of the entertainment, and return to the hall,
where dancing was kept up by almost undiminished
numbers, and certainly with undiminished spirit, till
the lights began to "pale their ineifectual fires " before
the rising sun.

On Wednesday, the 22d, it had been arranged that
his Highness should drive out to the Falls of Lorette
and visit the Indian village near. The former is a
beautiful cataract ; the latter, like everything else
connected with the Indians, was a delusion and a
snare. The Falls pour down a very rocky glen,
tumbling over a sloping mass of cliff, which beats the
black waters jf the Lorette into the nearest approach
to a white foam they can ever be forced to assume.
From this cliff the whole mass of water rushes down
a chasm in the rock some 300 feet deep, and about
six feet wide, at an inclination of nearly sixty feet in a
hundred. The velocity of the torrent at this part is
therefore, perhaps, not to be equalled by any other fall
in the world. So great is it that at the termination of
its mad rush it is hurled up out of the chasm so as to
form a perfect arch of water, like the letter S, thus O).
The visitor to the Indian village naturally makes up
his mind for wigwams, tomahawks, war-paint, and
stalking chiefs wrapped in abnormal dignity and ragged
blankets. He at least expects a war-whoop on enterintt,
and summons up all his courtesy not to be annoyed if
the chiefs take his visit in dudgeon, and receive him
with sullen, dignified silence. Preparing himself,
therefore, to endure anything rather than not visit the
wild children of the soil, he commences a search among

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104

QUEBEC.

neat cottages and pretty little churches for some tokens
of the huts of the Red Men. I wandered there for an
hour in vain, and was at last driven to accost a young
man whose features I thought showed unmistakeably
that he was of Indian origin. In reply to my inquiry
if there really was an Indian village anywhere near, he
replied, with a bow that was almost Parisian, " Mais
oui, Monsieur; c'est ici." It was a fact, and I had
really driven out some twelve miles on a hot day to see
an Indian village about as characteristic of the Hurons
as Kew or Brentford. My informant further added
that the marriage festival of the chiefs daughter was
then being celebrated at his house, and kindly oifered
to conduct me there. The house was something like a
small English parsonage, and in which one would as
soon have thought of intruding as in any private resi-
dence in England, but that my guide begged me in
excellent French to enter. The chief who welcomed
me was dressed in a plain substantial broadcloth suit,
in all respects like an ordinary English farmer, save
that, as a mark of his dignity, he wore something like
a beadwork toastrack on his head. Encouraged by the
appearance of this peculiar head-dress, and with a faint
hope that at the marriage of the chief's daughter I
must see something characteristic of the race, I entered
the room, where the chiefs, with their wives, daughters,
and " young men of the tribe," were enjoying them-
selves. I found in a clean, large room, just like any
other room at a substantial farm, a party of some twenty-
five or thirty, the " chiefs " in unexceptionable morning
dress, the " squaws " in white muslin dresses, hats and
feathers, scarfs and gloves. They were dancing the
Lancers to the music of an excellent pianoforte ! This
was enough for me. I had seen quite sufficient of
savage life.

7^^S^-_

ROMAN CATHOLICS OP LAVAL.

105

The Prince did not visit Lorette. He had doubt-
less been informed what these Indians really were
like. His not visiting them, however, was a matter
of small importance, for I was told that some of the
gentlemen who attended the levee were " chiefs of the
tribe."

Instead of driving out to Lorette His Royal High-
ness and suite paid a visit to the great Roman
Catholic University of Laval, where he received an
address from the bishops of that Church. In his
reply the Prince did not address them by any title,
such as My Lords, but commenced at once by saying,
" I accept with the greatest satisfaction the welcome
you offer," &c., &c.

At this omission of what tliey claimed as their legal
title, the Roman Catholic hierarchy took deep offence,
and through Mr. Cartier, the Canadian prime minister,
asked explanations of the Duke of Newcastle for what
they said they would otherwise consider as an inten-
tional affront. His grace at once replied that it was
ridiculous to suppose that an "intentional affront"
could have been meant in a courteous reply to an
address of welcome and congratulation. The duke
further stated that in the replies addressed unitedly to
the Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy of St.
John's, Newfoundland, no style or title had been used,
and that the same rule would be adhered to in replying
to the addresses of the clergy, of whatever denomina-
tion, throughout the province. This explanation the
Roman Catholic bishops said they would at once accept
if the duke would give a promise that he would not in
future allow any titles to be used in replies to the
addresses from religious bodies. To this as a matter
of course his grace said he would give no promise, and
that if they had not sufficient confidence in his impar-

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QUEBEC.

tiality and wish to avoid giving cause of offence to any
religious body, he was sorry for it, and could not help
them; but give a promise he certainly would not.
With this answer the bishops were obliged to be
content, though they submitted with a doubtful grace,
and the idea of an " intentional affront " appeared to
rankle in some minds. It is necessary to mention this
matter in detail, for on this visit to the University of
Laval and the alleged preference it showed to the
Roman Catholics, the Orangemen insisted on found-
ing their grievances and their rights to an Orange
demonstration. Thus, while the Orangemen regarded
this visit as a marked favour to the Roman Catholics,
and as an instance of the Duke of Newcastle's
Popish leanings, the Roman Catholics looked on it
as an "intentional affront," and as a proof of the
duke's bigoted Protestant antipathies. Truly, in a
country where religious animosities run so high as
in Canada, it was hard to please everybody, and the
duke by being rigidly impartial between all at first
pleased nobody.

From Laval the Prince went to the convent of the
Ursulines. This convent, which was founded in 1639,
holds a high position in the estimation of the Roman
Catholics of Quebec. It always has a superior, fifty
nuns, and six novices who give instruction and teach
needlework to poor children. The rule of this convont
is that no male person can ever be admitted within the
wall which encloses it, save only one of the royal
family or the sovereign's representative. This reser-
vation was made in favour of the Bourbons, when
Canada was still a proud appanage of tlie French
Crown. After the capture of Quebec by Wolfe, in
1759, the privilege of entering the convent was by the
then superior and nuns transferred to the English

III'

THE HEIGHTS OP ABRAHAM.

107

royal family or their direct representative, including all
whom they might bring with them in their suite.
Thus for the last century a new Governor- General of
Canada in taking office always claims and exercises
his privilege, as the representative of the sovereign, of
paying a semi-state visit to the Convent of the Ursu-
lines, and on these occasions the public are admitted
with him. Beyond such visits made once in every
seven years, no male person passes the outer walls, and
this bigoted exclusion extends even to the relatives of
the nuns. An instance was mentioned to me of a
French gentleman who had a relative in this convent
with whom he was most deeply anxious to have a
personal interview, if only of a few minutes. To all
his entreaties, however, a deaf ear was turned, and he
had to wait for five years till the occasion of the
Governor- General's visit, when he claimed and was
allowed the right of entering with his excellency, and
thus saw his relative.

The Prince of Wales exercised his right of royalty
of entering this convent, and many of the public
entered it with him. The nuns presented him with
an address praying for blessings ori his future career;
and one of them, robed in white, sung a kind of hymn
for his happiness, in a voice of such exquisite sweet-
ness ;^,nd melody as few present ever heard surpassed.
In the afternoon His Koyal Highness went to the
almost impregnable citadel of Quebec, and thence
drove to the Heights of Abraham, and saw the plain
column which is erected on the spot where Wolfe
fell, with the simple inscription, " Here Wolfe died
victorious." The small redoubt which the troops
threw up on that eventful day may still be faintly
traced— slight mounds of earth which gave England
the possession of this gigantic empire. It is a pity

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QUEBEC.

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III :l

110 care is taken to preserve the remains of this little
work. Wolfe might well do without a column, for
to no man that ever lived does the motto over Wren
so well apply, when you stand on the Heights of
Abraham and look round on the magnificent panorama
beneath of rivers, plains, and mountains which his
skill and daring conquered at a blow. From the
monument a winding road is cut down through the
rock to Wolfe's Cove, where he landed from the
opposite bank of the river and scaled hills to which
those of Inkeraiann were mere molehills, either for
height or steepness. The road that leads from this
spot into Quebec is like the alleys of Shadwell in
point of squalor, and the huts like the tenemei/.s
that hang loosely together in that villanous quprter
of Constantinople that extends between Galata and
8t. Stephanie. It is the most curious melange of dirt,
ruinous houses, and historic rocks, perhaps, in all
America.

On this evening there was another grand banquet
at Parliament House, and the long deferred fireworks
for the people came off at last. The pyrotechnics
were very fine, but the display was marred in the
midst by an alarming accident. A large stage had
been erected for the accommodation of visitors, of
such slight materials that many refused to venture
on it. Enough, however, essayed to bring it all to
the ground, injuring many most seriously, and some
fatally, in its fall. There was of course an inquiry,
but it is perhaps right to add, that for the most
culpable negligence employed in the erection of this
stage nobody was found to be in the least degree
responsible.

At an early hour on the following morning (23rd
August), the Prince quitted Quebec in the " Kingston "

DEPARTURE FROM QUEBEC.

lot

steamer, and at once every one began to fly the town
for Montreal as fast as possible. In a few hours
Quebec was dull and empty, its faded decorations
looking stained, mournful, and slatternly, like old
Vauxhall in the day time.

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CPIAPTER VI.

— « —

MONTREAL.

Situation of Montreal— The Volunteers— Address from the Corporation, and
the Prince's Reply— The Industrial Exhibition— The Victoria Bridge-
Indian Games— Ball at Montreal— Rapids of the St. Lawrence—The
Tiiousand Islands— The Lachine Rapids— The People's Ball— Eccen-
tricities of Dress— Unfavouiable Weather.

The Prince left Quebec in the steamer " Kingston,"
which had been specially hired by the Canadian govern-
ment, and beautifully fitted up for the accommodation
of His Boyal Highness and all the suite. Witli the
•'Kingston" went the "Flying Fish," "Valorous,"
and " Styx." The two latter did not belong to, or
form part of the royal squadron, and were only sent as
a state escort in consequence of tliere not being suf-
ficient depth of water to enable such large vessels as
the " Hero " and " Ariadne " to follow the Prince in
his visit to the fine capital of Canada. Midway between
Quebec and Montreal, at a small town called the
Three Rivers, the ships anchored for the night. The
chief inhabitants came ofi' to present an address, which
was duly acknowledged by His Royal Highness, and
then the town of the Three Rivers illuminated in
honour of the occasion ; and, certainly, as it was seen
from the water, it appeared to be a most beautiful dis-
play. Both from its extent and duration the whole

SITUATION OP MONTREAL. HI

affair must have cost the inhabitants (by no means
numerous or rich) a very con8id3 , le sum. Yet there,
as all through Caruida, cost was never allowed to enter
into the consideration of these fetes. The only ques-
tion seemed to be wliat would best do honour to the
occasion, and when this point had once been decided,
it was carried out at any price. On the following
morning, soon after daybreak, the squadron resumed
its slow journey up the rapid current of the St. Law-
rence to Montreal.

Montreal is in wealth, in population, in intelligence,
and in refinement, in fact in all the great social and
commercial qualities which go to form a capital— </ie
capital of Canada. A recent decision of the home
government has declared that the legislature, and as far
as possible the actual capital of Canada, is to be in
future at Ottawa, and accordingly an attempt is now
behig made to build up such houses round about that
pretty little township as may do away with the
straggling village look of the place, and render it more
worthy of the name of capital. Into the political
reasons which led to this decision it is of course
needless to enter, except to remark that almost each
Governor-General of Canada has, when it was wished
to remove the legislative capital from Montreal, chosen
a different site, and thus Toronto, Quebec, and
Kmgston, have all in turn been tried as capitals and
failed. Each fresh failure has demonstrated the im-
possibility of ever depriving Montreal of its leading
place m the estimation of the Canadians. In fact
between Montreal and any of the other towns or cities
of Canada, there is no comparison whatever. No other
city has the same commanding situation for commerce,
and, to compare great things with small, it would be
about as ieasibie attempting now to found the capital

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112

MONTREAL.

of England at Malvern, as seek to dispossess Montreal
of its hold upon the minds and feelings of the Cana-
dians in favour of Ottawa.

Viewed from the opposite bank of the St. Lawrence,
or from the commanding summit of Mont Koyale, from
which the place is named, the appearance of the whole
city is not to be surpassed by many in all North
America, The churches and public buildings are
massive and noble looking stone structures. The
houses are all lofty and handsomely built ; the streets
wide, clean, and most admirably paved. About the
whole place too there is an air of business and wealth
which speaks at once of active long established pro-
sperity. On the river side almost the whole extent of
the city is fronted in with massive stone quays and
docks which are the admiration of Americ .s, for no
city in the States has anything to equal them. Unlike
the levees on the Mississippi and Ohio, those at
Montreal are not disfigured by huge unsightly ware-
houses, but are separated from the city by a broad
massive terrace of limestone along their whole extent.
At such a capital, and among a people so celebrated,
colonially speaking, for their wealth, taste, and refine-
ment, it may readily be guessed that the preparations
for doing honour to the heir apparent were made on a
scale of unusual grandeur and magnificence. The
streets were not looped in by arches nor shrouded by
evergreens, as at Halifax: wood was far too scarce
round Montreal to permit that. So the sweet spruce
fir was for once absent; and in its place were the built
decorated wooden arches, which are usually erected on
the same occasions in England, and the great object in
the design of which is generally to make them as
granite-looking as possible, and deprive them, in fact,
of all appearances which could show what they really

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THE T0LOTTEER3. nj

were-decorations specially erected in honour of the
Pnnce Some of these, however, meant only for
mspection by day, were very good, though the constant
ram had by no means hnproved them ; others, meant for
.Uummation and filled in with transparencies, showed
but poorly xn the day, and had a rough, half-finishTd
scene.pa.nted look, which was not agrlahle. But by
night those same arches carried off all the honours for
when ht from the inside, as they were from base to
summit, they had a wonderfully beautiful effect, s
they spanned the streets in long undulating line of
coloured hghts. For the rest, all the strfets were
draped w.th flags, English fashion; and as not a housi
m any of the chief thoroughfares was without some
large transparency or illumination more or less appro-
prmte the city of Montreal, even by the sombre 1 ght
of a clouded sky was wonderfully gay and brilliant.
A detachment of the Boston Fusiliers, consisting of
several fine companies of well-dressed and well-drUled
volunteers, had come up from Boston especially to do
honour to the Pnnce's arrival. This was a marked

flattered by the attention. In addition to these, the
Montreal Volunteer Cavalry turned out, and better
troops It would be diflicult to see, either for discipline
or so dier-hke bearmg. There were also some Volun-
teer Artillery, wearing the old grenadier cap of the time
of Marlborough, and otherwise looking like an " armv"
of supers, escaped from some minor theatre

Friday, the 24th August, was the day originally
fixed for the Prince's landing; and at Montreafasll
all other places in the Canadian tour, the day was
ushered in by a regular deluge of rain. It was such a

periect storm nf WQ for *i^"* ^^ •

- , , ,."'^'^^» ''"""""J^^ing iiKe an out-door

display became literaUy impossible. A grand proces-

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114

MONTREAL.

sion had been arranged to meet the Prince, and, ill
fact, this was intended to be a great feature of the
programme ; but in such weather a procession of
anything but canoes was out of the question. This
was a bitter disappointment to Montreal — A disap-
pointment which could only be allayed bj* the civic
dignitaries going on board the "Kingston," and re-
questing, in the name of the city, that His Royal
Highness would kindly defer his landing till the
following day, in the hope of better weather. To this
the Prince, who was waiting in uniform, and ready to
land, at once consented ; and the grief of Montreal was
allayed on learning, from " authority," that the pro-
cession would certainly take place next day, weather
permitting.

Fortunately for the peace of mind of the city, the
morning of the 25th was not ushered in by heavy rain,
and the thick black clouds at last began to break,
though with extreme reluctance, and as if they had
not quite made up their minds about giving way so
soon. The Prince disembarked at nine o'clock in the
morning, under a superb pavilion. With him also
landed the suite, then immensely augmented by the
Governor- General, the Commander-in-Chief (Sir
Fenwick "Williams), and Admu'al Milne, all with their
suites of aide -de-camps, or secretaries. All the chief
dignitaries of Canada were in attendance to welcome
His Highness to Montreal. Here also, was the
Mayor, Mr. Eodier, in gorgeous robes of state, with the
members of the common council, the consuls in uni-
form, the magistrates, bishops, chaplains, moderators,
judges, and heads of societies, all more or less embla-
zoned and adorned. The Prince accepted the address
presented to him with a kind smile, and replied as
follows ;—

THE PRINC ,'S REPLY.

115

_ GentIemen,_The addra«s you have ju,t pre.enied to me,

ment Jo the B„t«h Cro™, demand, my warmest aclnowledg-

"The impression made upon me by the kind and cordial
receptaon wh.oh has been accorded to me on this first visit to
Canada can never fade from my mind , and deeply .Ul the
Queen be ^ahfied by the proof which it affords that the interes
which she takes m the welfare of thi, portion of her emp"
and wh.eh she has been anrious to mark by my presence among
you, IS met on their part bv feeling. Af .ff. *■ > j 'among
hex^elf and her family. ^ affectionate devotion to

"For myself I rejoice at the opportunity which has been
afforded me of visitint^ tliJo /.if., „ ^ .

of r™,d, r I «ty— agreat emporium of the trade

e^mpl of what may be effected by energy and enterprise ufder
the influence of free institutions.

"That this prosperity may be still further enlarged is my
earnest hope and there can be little doubt that by the comple^
tion of that stupendous monument of engineering skiU and
labour which I have come in the name'of the' Qui to
inaugurate new sources of wealth will be opened to your
citizens, and to the country new elements of power develope"
and new Imk. forged to bind together in peaceful co-operS
th^jxe^^^^ of a wide-spread and rapidly increasing popu-

After this, everybody fell into the- gentle state of
liurry and confusion peculiar to "making way" for the
procession, which was reaUy a very long and a very
grand one indeed, and one which, on the whole, it was
worth waiting for a fair day to see carried out in all its
projected pomp. Headingit, though notincluded in the
programme was a small party of the Cawknawaaga
Indians who lived near Lachine, on the rapids whence
tjbeir rather inharmonious title is immediately derived,
-eyare one of the iew remaining branches of the
iroquois-of the six great nations which once held

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MONTKEAL.

all North America as their hunting ground. No
travestie on modern civilisation was attempted here,
nor did they wear frockcoats decked with a backwoods'
millinery of beads and feathers. The Cawknawaagas
were all attired in full dress after the fashion of their
nation; that is to say, with loose bead-embroidered
woollen tunics, mocassins, head-dresses of beadwork
and feathers, and their featm-es disfigured or adorned,
as the spectator chose to think, under a profuse
layer of many-coloured paints. Thus equipped, they
were certainly not prepossessing objects; and, though
they looked characteristic enough, I must own I pre-
ferred the Indian " pure and simple " as I saw him at
Lorette to those with such pigmentary eccentricities of
colour on their features as these Cawknawaagians
displayed. For the rest, they were persons of every
size and age, though when you saw one you saw all —
there was not the least appearance of individuality or
character about any which would enable you, even after
careful scrutiny, to distinguish him from the rest.
They had the same flat, broad, Tartar features—
thick-lipped and wide-mouthed, with sallow, tawny
faces, long, coarse, wiry hair ; white, sharp, irregular
teeth ; and small, quick, black eyes. The latter were
keenly suggestive of either a genius for petty traffic, or
the acquisition of small-ware generally by any means.

The most intense feeling of enthusiasm and loyalty
seemed to animate the populace when the Prince
landed. They shouted with deafening vehemence, and
all the many steeples in the city rang out tremendous
peals in a confused grand clamour, that filled the air
with a rich embroidery of soifnd, adding to the whiil
and excitement of the whole display.

In such state His Royal Highness was escorted to
his residence, formerly the mansion of Mi. Eose, Chief

i ;i'

THE INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION. II7

Commissioner of Public Works in Canada, which had
been placed at his disposal during his visit. Only a
very short halt was made there, for a great deal of
ceremonial and high state had to be got through this
day, with but little time for breathing between each
event ; so, after a short pause, just sufficient to enable
the crowds that had witnessed the procession to flock
to the Exhibition, His Royal Highness again com-
menced a progress through the streets to formally open
and inaugurate the Industrial Exhibition of Montreal
and Province of Canada.

The permanent building which had been erected for
this exhibition stands in a commanding situation on
the northern side of the city, just where the slopes of
Mont Eoyale begin a slow rise. The building itself in
outer form and general internal arrangement, is very
like one of the end transepts of the Crystal Palace at
Norvvood only on a much smaller scale, and built with
brick walls, roofed in with an arched wooden ceiling
For the rest, the columns, girders, and tie-rods of
the interior are much the same in principle as in the
English Exhibition. The outside, however, is hand-
somely adorned with light ornamental woodwork and
painting, which give it a clean and pleasing effect.
The time for opening this exhibition, as was originally
intended, should have been at least ten days or a fort-
night later than the 25th of August. But advantage
was taken of the presence of His Highness to inaugu-
rate the exhibition with the utmost state and ^cllt •
and this compelled the committee to open the building
before much more than half its contents had arrived
and when even of that half not more than one-third of
the articles were unpacked from their cases. Thus the
galleries set nnnrf f/^v +1... Tr.,,.:^„„ .^... 1 . /. -

^ ■■• "^^^«ii^^3 proiiucisof Uanadian

growth or manufacture were almost empty, a fact on

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MONTREAL.

which Mr. Chamberlain, the indefatigable secretary,
congratulated himself not a little when he found how
pressed he was for space to accommodate spectators.
The Prince arrived at the exhibition at eleven o'clock,
and, passing through a marquee set aside for the dis-
play of a fine collection of hothouse plants, waited a
short time in a handsome reception room till a suffi-
cient number of naval, military, and civic dignitaries
had arrived to constitute something between a " bril-
liant staff" and a small procession. This formed. His
Eoyal Highness at once entered the building, and
passed to the dais, amidst the warmest acclamations of
enthusiasm and flutterings of handkerchiefs that ever
any heir-apparent was greeted with. " God save the
Queen" was sung splendidly by the chorus, after
which the Governor- General read another address-
nothing ever was done without reading a long address-
to which, as usual, the Prince responded, and these for-
malities being over, a complete tour was made of the
building. There was not a great deal in it to delay this
part of the ceremony. There were some rich specimens
of iron and copper ores, in both of which minerals all
Canada abounds, though as yet these sources of colonial
wealth have been most imperfectly developed. The cop-
per ore is badly and expensively worked, though, in spite
of all waste, the mines yield an enormous profit, and
would yield ten times more if better managed. Iron ore
of the richest kind is'abundant everywhere, especially in
Western Canada, where, at a place called Croxly, it
yields from 60 to 70 per cent, of pure metal. Some
very fine specimens of this ore were shown to the
Prince. A conspicuous object in the centre of the
building was a column of coal cut from one seam, and
thirty-seven feet high. In Canada there is no coal
formation whatever — a serious check on the profitable

THE VICTORIA BRIDGE. 1]9

working of the iron ores. Only at Pictoii and Cape
Breton is coal found, and from the mines at the former
place this noble column was cut entire. The Prince
inspected these and some fine specimens of native
mai'bles. Among other objects in this department was
a small grmdstone sent as a present to His Royal
Highness, on which, in gUt letters, was inscribed the
rather premature inscription, " To our hopeful King."
On the upper galleries of the building was a splendid
display of furs and skins in every stage of preparation,
and a gallery of Canadian pictures, in which, among
others of a much lower order of merit, were several
really fane works.

The circuit of the building made, the Exhibition was
declared to be formally opened, and almost instantly
after came a general and rapid rush for carriages and
vehicles of every kind, for the opening of the Victoria
Bridge was to take place in about an hour afterwards,
and the two points of interest were just sufficiently
wide apart to make it extremely doubtful whether
those who left the Exhibition last would be able to
reach the bridge in time. The drivers of hired car-
nages of course " improved the occasion " under these
circumstances, and dictated their own terms. These
were hard enougli, for twelve dollars, about 21 Us.
sterling, was always asked and often given for taking a
fare a distance of some two miles and a half.

The formal opening and inauguration of the Victoria
Bridge was, in colonial importance, the chief featur. in
tlie royal visit to Montreal, and the completion of this
noble structure deserved to be celebrated with all the
state and pomp which the presence of His Eoyal
Highness could bestow. As an engineering triumph
over natural difficulties of the most stupendous kind,
it IS not only without its equal in the world, but the

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MONTREAL.

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world offers nothing which may fairly be put in com-
parison with it— nothing which can be pointed to as
evidencing more determined perseverance in the face
of almost hopeless obstacles— more genius, or more
consummate skill. The Menai Bridge is a noble
structure, yet after all only the germ of the great idea
here developed to its fullest. Brunei's great bridge at
Saltash is remarkable for the wonderful skill with
whicli it overcomes obstacles which were, in fact,
almost created that that gifted engineer might have
the pleasure and merit of vanquishing them. Eoeb-
ling's suspension-bridge over the Eapids of Niagara—
the most ingenious, and, perhaps, even the most beau-
tiful bridge of its kind in the world, is only designed
for a special and peculiar .^orge, and, apart from this,
no fair comparison can be drawn between the Niagara
and the Victoria, when the former is only eight hun-
dred feet long, and the latter more than nine thousand !
To appreciate the Victoria Bridge— to do justice to its
grand conception, and, what seems the almost super-
human energy and skill necessary to carry out the idea
in all its present grand perfection, one must see it.
One must not only see it, for a merely indefinite
length gives no real idea of the immensity of the
undertaking. The tourist should look at the St. Law-
rence in winter, when millions of tons of floating ice
come crashing down it, and in summer, when even at
its lowest ebb the current flows like a sluice, at the
rate of eight miles an hour. He must remember that
the whole of its bed is a mere quicksand, strewed over
the bottom with gigantic boulders, weighing twenty-five
and thirty tons, that the depth of water is seldom less
than twenty-five feet, and that the stream at this point
is two miles wide. When any one takes the trouble to
think quietly over the nature of these obstacles, and

THE VICTORIA BRIDGE. 12 1

then looks up at the lofty rib of iron which stretches
liigh m a r from shore to shore, he must be more or
less than human if he does not regard it as the grand-
est and most successful engineering work which at
least, has yet been accomplished.

It is by no means an imposing, or even tolerably
well-lookmg structure. Its height from the water and
Its mnnense length gave it more the appearance of a
gigantic girder than a bridge. Viewed at sunset, when
Its aull tmts are,brightened into red, and with Mon-
treal as a background, with all its tin roofs and steeples
glistenmg like silver in the sun, it looks well enough
though never much more than an iron footpath to the
picturesque city beyond. Few can believe at the first
glance that it is really more than five times longer and
bigger than the longest bridge ever yet constructed.
_ Its total length is very nearly two miles (9500 feet ) •
Its height from the water little over 100 feet. It is
composed of twenty-five tubes joined in lengths of two
lubes, each about 270 feet, with a centre one of 330 at
the highest part above the river. In weight of iron it
IS actually very little over a ton per foot in' length (the
hghtes bridge of its kind ever made with the same
strength), and the contraction and expansion of the
whole make a difference in its length between summer
and winter of more than ten feet. This is of course
properly allowed for in its construction. The piers'

^000 onir ''T/'^''^', '^' --^^b--' -d contain some'
3,000,000 cubic feet of masonry, were formed by forcing
down coffer-dams of wood in the exact places where
the foundations were to be laid, then driving rows of
piles round these, and filling in between the two with
wads of clay, forced down till they were water-tight.

ine water insidft f.bp noffpr-z^iai^ ...^~ ^k- ,

- "liti-viam uuh wien pumped out

by steam pumps, and the work of clearing out the

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MONTREAL.

gravel and mud, and laying the masonry down on the
very rock commenced. Quicksands let in the water to
such an extent that no pumps could keep the cotFer-
dams empty, and tiers upon tiers of piles had to be driven
all round them till the subterranean communication
was cut oj0f at last. At other times huge boulders were
in the way, and divers had to be employed for months
in the bed of the river, securing chains to these rough
masses before they could be hooked up and taken
away. When all was clear and progressing well the
mere force of the swift current would sometimes destroy
the dams, and masses of floating ice in ohe short win-
ter's day laid waste the labour of a whole summer. It
may give the reader some idea of the varied and over-
whelming nature of the obstacles contended against,
when it is stated that some piers were destroyed by ice
and quicksands as often as six or seven times year after
year, and that on the average of the whole twenty-four
piers the works of each one were actually destroyed
thrice. Only the genius of Stephenson and Ross, and
only the unconquerable nerve and readiness of Mr.
Hodges, to whom the entire work of the building was
entrusted, could have overcome such obstacles, and
persevered in the face of such apparently hopeless
reverses. At last the piers got above water, and were
faced towards the set of the current with a long massive
wedge of granite masonry, strong and sharp enough to
divide even the icefields of the St. Lawrence. Gradu-
ally, and only working in the summer, they were built
to the required height, and then the labour of con-
structing the tubes commenced. The dangerous
rapidity of the stream made it impossible that the
tubes could be built on shore, floated out on rafts, and
then raised to their positions in one piece, as was the
case with the bridge at Menai. So the whole tube was

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THE VICTORIA BRIDGE.

123

first actually built in England, and sent out piecemeal,
with every plate, bar, and angle-iron numbered with
such minute exactness that, as far as the mere putting
together was concerned, there was no more difficulty
than with a child's toy. Thus, with the assistance of
a temporary scaffolding stretched between ihe piers,
tube after tube was slowly built across to the centre,
where the great span of 380 feet comes. As may be
imagined, the work of building this across with no
supports from below presented a series of engineering
difficulties such as have never yet been encountered in
any piece of ironwork that was ever put together.
Mr. Hodges, however, persevered and triumphed here,
as he had done elsewhere, and at length at the close of
1859, five years after the commencement of the w Drk,
the first stone and iron bridge over the St. Lawrence
was completed. It was tested with a strain more than
ten times greater than any which the ordinary exigen-
cies of traffic could ever bring upon it ; and nothing
exemphfied more strongly the confidence felt by Mr.
Hodges in the strength of his work than the test to
which he exposed it. A train was sent through it so
heavily loaded that two of the most powerful engines
were unable to move it. A third epgine was obtained,
and even then the three were barely able to force the
weight to the centre tube.

Speaking of this tremendous test, Mr. Legge, C.E.,*
says he well remembers the « peculiar feelings"' he ex-
perienced when standing at the marking-post assigned
him, surrounded by an Egyptian darkness, dense
enough to be felt, arising from the condensed steam
and the smoke of the engine, and totally obscuring the
Hght of a glass lamp two feet distant. To thus stand

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The Victoria Bridge, and the Men who Built it."

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closely pressed up against the side of the tube, with eyes
and lamp brought within a few inches of the datum-
line intently watching its movements, and leaving but
sufficient room for the slipping, groaning, but invisible
engines and their heavily -loaded cars to pass, with but
a quarter of an inch of boiler-plate between time and
eternity; or when mentally reasoned back to safety
and security, and while listening, during the stoppage
of the train, to the surging, crashing ice far below, as
it swept past, to have those feelings of personal security
dissipated in a moment by the thought of an overloaded
car breaking down and burying the deflection-observer
beneath its weight, was surely reason enough for the
existence of the " peculiar feelings" alluded to. The
deflection under this severe test was very little more
than an inch, and the tubes recovered their original
level the instant the load was removed.

In a strategical point of view it seems rather a mis-
take to cross the St. Lawrence at this spot, and thence
continue the railway to Quebec along what may be
called the American side of the St. Lawrence. In case
of any " difticulty" with our western cousins a corpc
ral's guard would suffice to capture the wliole 180
miles of line which stretch from Montreal to Quebec.
Had it been taken along tht northern bank the broad
rushing stream of the St. Lawrence would have been
almost a complete safeguard, perhaps not from injury,
but certainly from capture. A railway bridge over the
St. Lawrence was, of course, necessary for communica-
tion with the States, but taking such an important
length of hue as that mentioned along the American
side of the stream seems not only unnecessary, but
imprudent in a military point of view. The Canadians,
of course, think very highly of the Grand Trunk Kail-
way, ixiid Well they may, for, however little the line has

THE VICTOKU BBIDGE.

125

done fo. Its sharohoWers, it h„3 unquestionably <lone
cvcrythmg or Canada. Before t!,e line was flnisl.ed
It used to take .« winter fr„„, a week to ten or fourteen
days to journey from Montreal eity to Quebee ; and
hundreds are st.ll hving „,,o can remember wl enTt
took from three to four months to send goods in boats
pohng up the stream from Quebec to Toronto it
journey from Quebec to Montreal is now done in six
hours, and from Quebec to Toronto in sixteen.

The mere ceremony of opening a bridge is .erv
much the same at all places. All the visitors to this
rather meagre ceremonial were conveyed in special
trams to Point St. Charles, at the entrance io^l
bridge on the Montreal side. Deeply cut over he
stone aperture at this side were the inscriptions :

EKECTBD, i.D. MCCCOLK.

KOBERT STEPHESSON AND ilEXANDEE M. EOSS,

ENGINEEBS.

While on the lintels was carved :

BUILT BY JOHN HODGES,

'■■vu

SIR SAMUEL uuBTON PETO, BART
THOMAS BRAS^Er, AND EDWARD LADd' BETTS,
CONTRACTORS.

There was the usual platform covered with scarlet
cloth, and a little scaffolding, from which hun. a
ponderous slab of granite, the last stone required to
complete the masonry of the marvellous undertaHng
The men a the windlass above-the real layers of the
stone, Ike humble, but necessary scenesliifters, were

suite and officials came at two o'clock in a beautifully-
constructed open railway car m,..;,ll„ i,,.;,. ... ?
occasion. Of course, he was received with deafening

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MONTREAL.

outbursts of enthusiasm, and a number of fair standard-
bearers who held little silver flags on which his coronet
was worked, waved them with most astonishing energy.
Laying the last stone was soon accomplished. The
Prince patted and touched the bed of mortar, and the
mass of granite was slowly lowered into its place.
There was no cheering, so it was a solemn affair, and
seemed like laying a tombstone over the grave of
15,000,000L The Prince then entered his car again,
and proceeded through the bridge, the hot air from the
iron tube giving, on the whole, rather an unpleasant
sensation. The bridge bellowed and rumbled like
thunder as the train progressed, and the opening by
which it had entered grew smaller and smaller till it
only shone faintly in the distance like a pale blue star.
At last a dim twilight appeared ahead, and the engine
gradually stopped. It was in the centre of the bridge
where the Prince was to drive the last rivet, so there
was a general scramble out, and all the party stood
listening with a feeling almost of awe as the hoarse
sustained rumble of the engine moving away went
echoing up and down the dark tdbe, which seemed to
sway and vibrate as the noise went rolling on back-
wards and forwards, striving for escape from its hollow
iron prison.

His Eoyal Highness went outside to one of the
openings in the masonry of the centre tower, and gazed
down on the St. Lawrence rushing past in one grand
bluish-looking stream far below, sweeping under the
bridge in eddies and whirlpools, or bursting into little
spirts of angry foam as they touched the sliarp edges
of the granite masonry. None could glance below on
this great river, and then look along the sides of the
iron tube, which tapered away at each end in the dis-
tance till it seemed a mere reed of metal, without feehng

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THE yiCTORIA BRIDGE.

127

astounded not only liow such a design was carried
out, but how it could ever have been conceived as
practicable.

The formaUty of completing the bridge was here
gone through. Four rivets had been left unfinished,
and these were closed with iron bolts by two workmen!
The last, a silver rivet, was clinched' by the Prince
himself. The ceremony is nothing to describe, though
it would have made a grand picture. The two work-
men wielding their tremendous hammers with a din
that was awful, the rich uniforms of the Prince and
suite, half hidden in the gloom, and softened down by
the wreaths of thick wood-smoke which curled from
the funnel of the engine in the background— the little
ghmpse through the opening into the bright sunlight—
the St. Lawrence far beneath— the flaunting decora-
tions and shining roofs of Montreal beyond the river
—all made a striking subject for a picture.

The Prince turned a look of humorous inquiry on the

Duke of Newcastle as he saw the process of riveting

going forward, which said, as plainly as look could

speak, "I shall never be able to use those hammers

that way." His turn soon came. The last iron rivets

were fixed, and the last of all, a silver one, was

mserted. The Prince took the hammer, and, heavy

as it was, prepared to wield it stoutly— of course, with

the wrong or big end foremost, which any one but a

professional smith would surely think was the right one

to use. He laughed, and rectified the mistake when

pointed out. Then Mr. Hodges adjusted the silver

knob, and with some stout, sounding blows, the Prince

finished the last rivet in the Victoria-bridge. There

was no cheering over it— the company was too select

for that; and the wood-smoke from the engine had

long ceased to be a pictorial accessory, and become a

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MONTREAL.

Stifling nuisance. So every one stumbled back in the
dark to the car, which went on through the tunnel to
the other side of the river, where a magnificent view of
Montreal could be gained. Here the party remained
for a few minutes, and Mr. Blackwell, in the name of
the Grand Trunk Eailway Company, presented the
Prmce with some beautiful gold medals executed by
Wyon, commemorative of the occasion. The suite
were presented with similar ones, but in silver.

The Royal car then returned through the bridge to
one of the large workshops of the company, where a
splendid lunch had been prepared, and which, as the
guests were not only hungry but numerous, was soon
disposed of. At its conclusion the Prince passed
through the workshops, where all the machines were
going at full speed, with their lathe-bands decorated
with rosettes, and every part of the machinery covered
with little plumes and bunches of flowers, which kept
whirling round like silent fireworks. Only a short
stay was made here, for the day had been a long one
and the Prince, though not looking tired, must have
felt so. The party, therefore, returned at once to
their house, and in the evening Montreal illuminated.
It was one of the best illuminations which the
Prince had seen. Every one of the streets was a
perfect blaze of light, and fireworks were going oft' in
all directions. The Prince intended to come in and
walk about town incog., and only attended by two or
three of his suite. A dark, quiet spot was arranged
for his carriage to draw up at the corner of Craig-
street, where Mr. Rose was waiting to escort the party
round the main streets of the city. This Haroun-al-
Raschid plan, which, though likely to be devoid of
incident, was certain to be productive of much amuse-
ment, and which the Prince looked forward to with a

INDIAN GAMES.

129

keen anticipation of fun, unfortunately fell to the
ground. General Williams was with His Royal High-
ness in the carriage, and, in order to preserve his incoff.
to the fullest, he wore a Staff cap with gold band, and
of course was known at once. When he was seen the
Prince was soon discovered, in spite of his slouched
hat- drawn c ose over his face. The crowd set up
tremendous cheers; there was no stopping at Craig
street, and His Eoyal Higliness had to drive through

hundiX " '' ""' """'■ ''^"""^'^ "y ^'-"'4

Sunday to the great relief of all, was a day of rest •
but with the Monday the rush of fetes, shows, displays
and rejoicings commenced afresh, and as usual the
ram commenced afresh too. The first thing done on
this day was to witness some Indian games by the
Cawkn -gas. After the specimens of "Indians"
which nad oeen seen at Lorette, there was a rather gene-
ral suspicion among the suite that these games would
mm out to be chess, draughts, or at most cricket.
It was not so bad as this, however. The Indians
were mostly those who had figured in the procession
on the Saturday previous, whose general appearance
has ahready been described. The first exhibition they
mdulged in was a very popular game called La Crosse,
a species of hurley, except that to the end of the stick
IS at ached a small purse net, in which the ball may be
caught, and so carried through the goal. In this game
the Cawknawaagas showed a surprising amount of
activity, and completely outrun and outleapt the party
of young Canadians who had been pitted against them.
The next exhibition was not so interesting. It was a
war ance, but one so ridiculously absurd, that even
the squaws could not keep from shouts of laughter as
the braves grimaced and rolled their eyes, and

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MONTREAL.

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counterfeited lunacy in the most absurd manner. No
one was sorry that the drenching rain brought this
stupid mummery to a sudden close, though not- so
sudden but that the ladies and gentlemen present were
wet through before it was half over. Then followed a
levee which was immensely crowded, and at which, as
at Quebec, a great number of the Roman Catholic
bishops and cures attended to pay their respects, and
were of course presented. This concluded the state
labours of the day, for the creme de la crhne of the
festivities, the grand ball of Montreal, was to take
place that night, and for this magnificent fete all held
themselves and their gaiety in reserve. So exceptional
was this entertainment to all others in its splendour
and good taste, that it demands notice at greater length
than any others which followed or preceded it. Long
as His Royal Highness may live, and many ao are the
fetes of tlie kind he is likely to honour with his pre-
sence, he will not witness many more brilliant, better
arranged, and better carried out than that which was
given to him by the citizens of the capital of Canada.
When it was understood that the Prince preferred balls
to any other kind of entertainment that could be offered
to him, the citizens of Montreal met in conclave and
determined to give him one on a scale which not only
could not be equalled in Canada, but which should
leave even New York itself no chance of successful
competition. The latter was the great object of their
ambition, and they succeeded, for their fete was one of
which any capital in Europe might be proud, and
which none could give without bestowing the same
cai-e, money, and attention to the whole affair which
all Montreal did from first to last. T'le Hon. John
Young was appointed president of the Ball Committee,
and he, with his colleagues, rt once determined that

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BALL AT MOITTEEAL. 13^

not only a ball-room, but extensive surroundings i„
he way of pleasure-grounds, fountains, groves and
bowers, an hghted up like a second Vauxllnhould
be specially constructed for tbe occasion. Co tly Id
ahnost ex ravagant as such a>. idea may now appear to
many for tbe sake of a single nighfs entertainme." it
was welc^ned with acclamations by the citizens wL
mstcad of a^v economical curtailments, leant enZeh
m tl.e other du-ectxon, and even enlarged upon the t
and proposed decorations of the first nkn tT !

chosen for the i„te„dededifice-for:dlfi:inl^r
permanent sense of the word, it may be fa rly calird-1

™son the north side of Montreal, almost at t^ ftt

meadows. Only five weeks before the date fixed for
the ball the cattle were grazing over the ground Ih ch
on Monday n.ght, the 37th August, looked like a f i y
and. Less than five weeks previously, as I was toW
the woodwork of the building was in the form of We
pine logs ! The design for the whole construction w!s
intrusted to Mr. Toft, who hit upon the ha w Tdea
forming the interior of the ball-room in one L.nlse
circle, with an orchestra in the centre, beneath h
0%-peaked roof, which gradually sloped down towa d
the outer walls so as to resemble in the desi<.n ».
circular pavilion tent-though, of course of coSsal
dimensions, as the diameter of the bill rJT
nearly ZOO yards from side to side "" ,1;^

pou.d to the roof of the building. The design of
this centre ornament, if it may be so called, was ligh
and exceedingly beautiful, and its trellis of open
olumns was a most entirely concealed under garlands
of flowers. Three circles of columns, similal deco
rated, supported the roof in the space between tZ

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MONTREAL.

orchestra and outer wall. The latter was ahout twenty-
five feet high, and on this, raised some twelve feet from
the ground, was a deep halconyj or rather gallery, of
sloping seats, extending round the whole circumference
of the building, and in which those who preferred the
brilliant scene beneath to dancing or flirting might
survey it at their ease. Beneath this balcony, on one
side, was a raised dais and Eoyal alcove for the .Prince.
Bound all the rest of the circle, except at the doors of
the entrance, the supper was to be served by unseen
waiters, for whose hands there was just sufficient room
left between the tiers of refreshments to enable them
to minister perfectly to the wants of the guests with-
out entering the ball-room.

Every part of the room was decorated with such
consummate taste and knowledge of effect that no
portion could be selected for particular admiration.
The prevailing tone of the whole was pink, but of such
a soft tint, that it was only when one saw it in imme-
diate contact with the white and gold that its actual
colour could easily be distinguished. Even the floor
of the ball-room was stained of the same light, rosy
hue. The roof of the pavilion was painted, not alone
for mere night efi'ect, but with a care and minute
attention that is rarely seen in such ball-room adorn-
ments, especially when only wanted for one evening.
So also with the front of the raised gallery and the walls
beneath it. Every column was wreathed w^ith garlands
and three immense circles of lamps — one on the outer
diameter, one over the centre, and one round the orches-
tra — nearly two thousand in all, lighted up every part of
the circle beneath with the most perfect brilUancy. The
interior, of course, was made the feature in the design,
and when such a perfect success had been achieved,
and only a night's entertainment was intended, the

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BALL AT MONTREAL.

133

exterior might very reasonably have been passed over
with small care. This, however, was not so The
committee determined to do the whole thing thoroughly
from beginning to end, and set to work to make the
outside almost as good in its way as the grand ball-
room Itself. Four handsome entrances were accord-
ingly made into the building, flanked with battlemented
towers with low walls and turrets connecting them,
while the apex of the pavilion was surrounded by
a cupola and open lantern, not only to finish the effect,
but to secure to the utmost a perfect ventilation. I do
not know how many acres of ground round the buildine
were set apart for th« bowers, promenades, &c., but
there must have been very many-apparently not less
m all than fif^ or sixty at the least. Every path over
the whole of this extent was planted with small trees
and every branch was decorated with coloured lanterns.'
Near the building a little lake was actually formed
with a bridge across it hung with coloured lamps, fo^
oy this His Eoyal Highness was to enter the building.
The whole surface of the lake, too, was covered with
imitation water-lilies, w^nch were lighted up in the
mght, and shone over the smooth surface like little
stars m the water.

The Ball, in fact, was the grand feature of the
reception. All Montreal looked forward to it; all who
had heard of its intended splendours were to a certain
extent prepared for something good in a colonial way,
though quite convinced in their own minds that it
would be nothing after all at which travellers would
need be excessively astonished. Those connected with
the fete maintained a decorous reserve; those not
connected with it were incredulous ; and those indif-
ferent or opposed to it (of which latter there were
certamly some) rather hinted at the prospect of a

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MONTREAL.

crush, hot rooms, dust, drunken waiters, and general
failure.

For the garden portion of the fete— one of the chief
attractions— there were no hopes, even among the com-
mittee ; for the weather, which had caused His Eoyal
Highness to be called "the reigning Prince," set in
again, as has been told, on Monday with all the in-
clemency of an English summer. It was not so much
downright heavy rain, which, within certain limits, a
man can excuse — for heavy showers always seem as if
they had something to do and did it. It was thick,
"muggy," wretched weather, damp and slippery in the
streets, close and depressing within doors, with a slow,
stupid, idle sort of rain, that neither came down nor
stayed up, but dropped with a sullen, weak saunter
through the air. This put an end to all hopes for the
gardens round the hall, and all the chances of moonht
walks and small flirtations which might have been
based thereon.

With the ball itself, however, nothing in the way of
rain could interfere, so that, on the whole, it perhaps
only deepened the interest in that great centre of
attraction. His Royal Highness always arrived at ten
o'clock, and, as it was not etiquette to come later, some
4000 or "^000 people seemed suddenly smitten with
a desire to be on the spot at half-past nine precisely.
This desire (which sufferers believed was fostered and
goaded to the utmost by the carriage owners) of course
had only one result — that of raising the hire of vehicles
to prices little short of the legitimate value of the
entire teams. For once carriages were really not to
be got at almost any price, and the Montreal hotel
busses, (having very much the appearance, with three
times the length, of an ordinary English hearse,) were
at last called into requisitioi? to transport whole crowds

BALL AT MONTREAL.

135

of city belles to their great scene of action. Dank,
dismal, and uncomfortable as the evening was, it could
not rob the gardens round the ball-room of all their
bright effect, and the little lake, with its illuminated
bridge and shining water-lilies, the rows of trees covered
withvarigated lamps in all directions, seemed the more
festive in comparison with the weather, and, like for-
bidden fruit, became most tempting in appearance
when most out of reach. Perhaps, if one could have
walked among the trees and bowers of this extemporised
Eden, much of its illusions would have disappeared •
but as It was, it was all couleur dc rose from a distance'
and the lake, under the dim wood-covered eminence of
Mont Royale, looked like a lake, and the little trees
threw their arms abroad with all the dignity of nature
and made believe as if they grew there and the lamps
were their natural fruit.

The inside of the building presented an exquisitely
brilliant sight. Its soft pink tone, its brightness, its
rows of lights, the fresh green leaves and flowers
twimng up the columns, its crowds of officers of every
service intermingled with ladies in all the glories of
Parisian toilettes, long ordered, long arranged, and at
last displayed, made one rich sudden picture of luxu-
riant gaiety, which, though few who saw it can iova^t
none who saw it can describe. It left a vague impression
of music, flowers, rich uniforms, and splendid dresses •
quiet, and yet festivity; a sort of reserved enthusiasm
of display which, seen under the spacious dome of that
pavi ion, made it one of the most impressive, yet one
of the least describable scenes which I ever witnessed.
Ihe eye could rest on nothing of itself remarkable
beyond the general eflect. Everything harmonised so
well, from the bright yet soft tones of the ceilino- over
the pillars of flowers, and round the spacious gallery

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where laced uniforms and rustling silks seemed natural
accompaniments, down to the quiet pink floor, prome-
naded by hundreds and hundreds of the great of
Canada, all as natural too as if they had lived there
all their lives. In fact, tliis ball stands alone of its
kind, and marks an era in the history and general
management of such entertainments, which those who
wish to thrive in similar affairs must copy entirely or
fail to equal. New Yorkers — men especially deputed
to invite the Prince to similar displays— were there in
plenty, and owned at onoo with frank dismay that the
Empire City could do nothing to welcome His Royal
Highness in a way that would at all bear comparison
with the fete of Montreal.

His Royal Highness arrived at ten o'clock, and was
welcomed with the most profound salutation as he
passed the dais, and in a few minutes afterwards tlie
ball was opened, with some thirty or forty sets of
quadrilles, for all of which tlierewas room and to spare
in the spacious pavilion. This first set was of course
ushered in by an air which may be regarded as almost
the national song of Canada, as the maple leaf is its
emblem. Its real name is "a la Claire Fontaine,"
thougli it is only known in Canada by the burden of
its refrain, " Jamais je ne t'oublierai." It is a sweet,
sparkling, little melody, which appropriately enough
was always played in honour of the Prince.

Apparently the keen, endless scrutiny to which His
Highness was exposed from the throng made but small
impression on him, for he danced and laughed away the
time with perfect enjoyment and unconcern. That he
enjoyed the ball may be judged from the fact that he
danced every dance in the programme, except the last
of all. Before the rather lively hilarity of " Sir Roger

rip r^nVOvlotr" Tin vnVfi^nA V.,-.f «^ Xi- ...^^ 1-- H.

— ■^^•-j "V, i\,iiicv^, (JUL a.-j iL wua liciii'iV u

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RAPIDS OF TUB ST. LAWRENCE. 137

ere he quitted the saloon, it could not bo said that he
made any considerable sacrifice on the score of leaving
too soon. °

On Tuesday, the 28th, His Boyal Highness was up
again early, tliough he could scarcely have had more
than two hours' sleep, and prepared to start for his
trip down tlie Rapids of the St. Lawrence

These great Rapids, wliich are formed by a series of
declivities m the bed of the river between Lake Ontario
and Montreal, and down which the stream rushes with
a volocitjM^ying from seventeen to nearly twenty-four
miles an hour, are among the things which tourists who
visit Canada never fail " to do." Until within the last
few years they were considered as too dangerous for any
vessel, and it was n<.t without great misgivings that a
steamer at ast attempted to run them, the immediate
and mevitable destruction of ship and all on board
being, of course, foretold by everybody as a certainty.
Contrary to this general expectation, and not a little,
perhaps, to the actiiul disappointment of those who
rehed upon the invincibility of tLe far-famed Rapids
and felt it as a positive indignity that they could be
traversed in any vessel with safety, the steamer arrived
at Montreal, all well. Since that date they have run
regularly down the stream every day, returning back to
the head of Lake Ontario by means of a magnificent
cana with almost innumerable lock-gates to prevent
that becoming a rapid as well as the rest. Every one
who goes to Niagara comes down the Rapids to Mont-
real, and there are not a few who mak( a great noise
about It afterwards, as if the feat was something very
pern ms and wonderful. One might as well attempt to
stem the Rapids themselves as assure tlie majority of
tourists through Canada that there is reallv nothin-
very tremendous in them after all. You are sure to be

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MONTREAL.

met on every side with the questions, " Suppose the
steamer broke down, sprang a dangerous leak, or
struck full upon a rock, where would the passengers be
then? "—queries which, if they have any weiglit at all,
apply with equal force to a trip across the Atlantic,
which now, at least, is not thought such a wonderful
achievement as it used to be. The fact is that the
terror of these liapids exists far more in appearance
than in reality, for the channel they have worn is so
deep that the steamer could not get out of it if it tried.
To be sure, if the vessel went full tilt against a rock,
turned over, and threw all the passengers into the tor-
rent, few, if any, would be saved; but, even taking this
extreme view of the case, there would not be much
difference in result between an upset on Lhe St. Law-
rence and on any other of the large, wild, and rapid
streams of North America. How many are saved when
a Mississippi boat gets "snagged" in the night and
goes down in the centre of that yellow, turgid, desolate
stream ? So, all who go down the Rapids are told they
have accompHshed a tremendous feat, and as none are
like to be incredulous of their own heroism the delusion
is passed on from tourist to tourist, and the ravening
ferocity of the waters of the St. Lawrence maintained
in as much dignity as if crowds of rafts, barges, and
steamers did not come down them every day, without
trouble or danger. I am quite aware that if any one
fell into the Rapids it would be a thousand chances to
one against his being saved, but it is equally sure that
there would be nearly the same chance of meeting the
same fate in every other of the broad rapid rivers of
America I have seen.

This language is dreadful guide-book heresy of
course, but the worst is yet to come. Canadians tell
you that if there is anything better worth seeing than

THE THOUSAND ISLANDS.

139

the llapids it is the Thousand Islands which dot the
surface of the St. Lawrence just where Lake Ontario
ends and the river commences. Here, you are told
the rich grandeur of the Hudson, the luxuriance of the
Bosphorus, the wild stern magnificence of the Sa
guenay, and, for auglit you hear to the contrary, the
flowery beauty of the Euphrates in spring, may all be
met with.

It is a trying thing to have to contend against such
notions, but, if an individual opinion is worth anything,
I must unhesitatingly give mine that these Tliousand
Islands are in their way a ^ h^sion and a snare, and
will as much bear comparson mtr the Hudson or the
Saguenay, or the Bosph(ru^, us :)ie Thames below
Blackwall. Take slips of th^^ I>Jr of Dogs of all sizes,
from an island as large as a footstool up to ten or
twelve acres, plant the large ones with stunted firs,
strew the little ones over with broken stones as if they
were about to be macadamized, put them near the sur-
face of the water in a mechanical disarray, giving con-
fusion without picturesqueness and number without
variety,— imagine these choking the highway of a
broad, noble river, and you can fancy yourself on the
St. Lawrence and in the middle of the far-famed Thou-
sand Islands.

The Prince went by rail to a place called Dickenson's
Landmg, where he had an opportunity of seeing some
though only a few, of these mipicturesque obstructions^
-obstructions which, even seen at their best, look like
cast-away boulders. Tho disappointment of runninff
through the Thousand Islands was reserved for the
4th of September. At Dickenson's Landing a steamer
was in waiting for the Royal party to take them down
the Rapids, which are four in number-the Lnn«
Sault, Cascades, Cedars, and Lachine. Long Sauh

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the first of all, is certainly the best. The current runs
there at some eighteen or twenty miles an hour, and,
as the water is very deep and the river makes a sharp
bend, the first glance of these tumbling waves as they
fill the river with a foam-like snow is really very fine.
The sight is finer still as you near them, and you see
the whole river ploughed up by a series of wild dan-
gerous breakers, which plunge and start up in a broken
sea nearly twenty feet into the air. These waves are
all quite fierce and dangerous enough to destroy any
small boat in a mmute, and even give the steamer some
heavy blows, which cover her decks with foam and
spray. But the current is so strong that, before you
can well appreciate their turbulence, the Rapid is
passed, for the Long Sault is scarcely more than a
quarter of a mile in length. The Cascades and Cedars
are both fine Rapids, and certainly worth seeing,
especially the latter, which foams and ruslies down
with tremendous velocity for some four or five miles.
I am told that in three miles of its course the river here
falls fifty feet, and can well believe it, for the boat flies
past the banks like an express train. But of danger,
as I have said before, there is actually very little. At
the last of all, Lachine, where some dangerous rocks
obstruct a very narrow passage, some five or six miles
above Victoria Bridge, there very likely may have been
great danger to the boats at first; but the pilots are
now so thoroughly used to the channel that they smile
at the idea of visk, and run their craft through with
apparent indifi'erence.

Through this fierce torrent the " Kingston," with
His Royal Highness and suite on board, quickly ran,
so as to bring them to Montreal a little before dusk.
The Montreal Oratorio Society performed that evening
before the Prince a grand cantata specially composed

THE LACHINE RAPIDS.

141

by Mr. Sabatier in commemoration of the Royal visit.
This fete was almost as grand as the ball. Every one
was prepared to judge leniently of music composed for
the occasion, and hardly expected in the efforts of a
till then almost unknown composer the exquisite melo-
dies and choruses with which the whole piece abounds
So all were delighted and impressed with the sweetness
and origmality of the music, and none more so appa-
rently than the Prince, who asked for Mr. Sabatier's
score to read, and was loud and frequent m his expres-
sions of applause.

At an early hour the following morning there was a
long and brilliant review, after which all the party
went again above Lachine to an island in the centre of
the St. Lawrence, the residence of Sir George Simpson
the then Governor- General of the Hudson's Bay
Company, and the head-quarters of that great trading
corporation. From this island, at the commencement
of every spring, large bodies of trained voyageurs set
out in canoes with goods and packages for the various
posts in the wilderness. On the waters here, above
the Lachine Rapids, a number of large and splendid
canoes were provided, manned by boatmen in the
employ of the company, all dressed in scarlet uniforms,
and many wearing the medal given for Arctic services!
In these canoes His Royal Highness and the members
of his suite skimmed up and down the rapid current,
the boatmen sending their light birch-bai'k skiffs over
the water with the speed of arrows. It was thought at
one time in Montreal that the Prince had ventured
down Lachine itself in one of these quick, dancing
httle craft, in which you require to sit with as much
care and quietness as in the caiques of the Bosphorus.
If the Hudson's Bay boPimen, who in their vcyagcs
through the various wilds of North America shoot

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Eapids almost more dangerous than Lachine, saw that
they could have taken the Prince down safely, they
would have done it ; but the river was much swollen
after the heavy rains of late, and the aspect of Lachine
some two miles below, with its deluge of waters pouring
down with irresistible velocity and force, was not
inviting, and very prudently, therefore, no attempt to
run them was made by any of the party. So the
Prince and his suite had lunch, and amused them-
selves on the water, and had for once a pleasant and a
strictly private day. Its recollections, however, were
saddened two days afterwards by the arrival of news
at Ottawa that Sir George Simpson, the kind and
genial host of His Royal Highness on this occasion,
had been stricken with apoplexy and was dead.

On the evening following this day's quiet enjoyment,
there was a firemen's procession in Montreal, each man
carrying torches and Roman candles, and ringing bells,
so that a very lively night was the result. It must be
added, however, that I saw less symptom^ of general
inebriety at Montreal than in any of the towns the
Prince had yet visited. This could hardly be due to
the presence of a large French population, as there are
at least as many, if not more, French at Quebec than
in Montreal. Yet, on the whole, Quebec managed to
maintain as high an average of festive intoxication as
any place of its size, always saving and excepting
Charlotte Town, the capital of Prince Edward Island.
Sailors, as > class, possess a secret of intoxication
peculiar to themselves, and someliow manage to get
drunk when no one else can get any liquor ; so that it
has been said if you locked up twenty of them in an
empty room, and visited them an hour or so after, you
would find them all intoxicated. The Prince Edward
Islanders appear also to enjoy this attribute of mys-

llll, %

THE people's ball.

143

terious inebriety, for though nearly all their hotels are
conducted on temperance principles, and sell neither
wmes nor spirits, yet somehow during the Prince's
v,s,t intoxication seemed to be the normal condition of
half the lower class inhabitants.

On Thursday, the 30th, the Prince had to make a
ong excursion to St. Hyacintli and Sherhrook, the
former a purely French, the latter an almost entirely
English township. Botli towns were exquisitely deco^
rated and both, of course, presented long addresses.
At the latter town to the great delight of the inhabi-
tants. His Eoyal Highness restored Lieutenant Felton
his command in the royal navy, from which he had
been arbitrarily dismissed by a sentence of court
nearly twenty years before.

On the night of his return from this trip, the Prince
with aU his suite, went to " the people's ball." This
entertainment was given in the grand hall-ro-- The
tickets were only a dollar each, and it was a..:.,anced
everywhere that there were " no restrictions as to dress "
Up to that time, in all tlie state ceremonies, the Prince
had seen very little of the masses of the French
Canadians, except in so far as he saw them throngino
the streets on his arrival. Nothing, therefore, could
possibly have had a better effect than this spontaneous
visit to "the people's ball," though very few, when
the intention was first rumoured about, could brin..
themselves to believe that it was not a mse of the
committee, or that His Highness would condescend
be present at all. Almost for the first time durin"
his visit, the night was mild and splendid; with a full
clear moon, and soft, warm air. It was also the night
diosen for the grand display of fireworks at the foot of

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ta». „a« been undertaken, were splendid, and thousands

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MONTREAL.

of persons of all classes assembled to witness them.
The Prince of Wales's plumes in coloured rockets, and
the royal arms and motto in fires of every hue, were,
of course, among the greatest attractions of such a
night; and, though the illuminations of the arches
were continued, as they had been ever since the Prince
entered the city, they on that evening, for the first
time, " failed to draw." Every one went to the fire-
works, and, once there, waited for another and another,
and then " only one more," before they went to the
ball ; so that as the time drew nigh when His Koyal
Highness was expected, there were only some 2,000
present— a mere handful in a building of such size and
space of floor. It was built to accommodate 8,000
people dancing, and 2,000, therefore, made but a scanty
morsel on its wide expanse. Of those present, too,
such a considerable majority had collected round the
royal dais, and near the entrance where the Prince
would enter, that at the first glance it seemed as if the
room was almost empty. By-and-by, however, they
began to drop in faster, and before ten o'clock some
8,000 or 3,500 were assembled. The announcement
of " no restrictions as to dress" was taken advantage of
on the most liberal scale, and the few who ventured
into the arena in real evening dress became as much
objects of curiosity and interest as they would have
been at an ordinary assembly in a suit of chain mail.
White ties became unpleasantly conspicuous objects,
and were, on the whole, rather tolerated than other-
wise. The " no restrictions as to dress " was popularly
interpreted to mean corduroys, brown or gray shoot-
ing-jacket, yellow vest, and scarlet necktie, without
gloves, or with thick leather ones, as the case might
be ; and those who attended in evening costume were
regarded with disfavour, and as having taken advan-

ECCENTRICITIES OF DRSSS. I45

tage of the committee's leniency in point of toilet to a
rather unwarrantable extent. The toilets of the ladies
of course, are never alluded to except in terms of
praise but it may be said that I could praise them
more if there had not been rather a sameness in the
matter of bonnets and shawls. There were "no
restrictions as to dress," certainly, but the dollar
ticket necessitated a very stern restriction as to the
supply of refreshments, and this might account for the
fact that every one seemed at first bent on eating
sandwiches before the Prince arrived, while one or two
appeared to have "refreshed" themselves to an extent
that appeared likely to last them throughout the even-
mg. In truth, however, it must be stated that of these
latcer there were only one or two, and that, with few
exceptions, there was nothing in the actual demeanour
of those present which would have enabled any chance
spectator to distinguish between them and the aristo-
cratic assembly of tlie previous Monday night.
^ Before the Prince came. Mayor Bhodier, still robed
m gorgeous municipal splendours, made an attempt to
open the ball with a quadrille. It was not successful
however, as no one followed the example save four
young men, who danced, with a strange independence
of time or tune, among themselves, and whose eccentric
movements unfortunately rivetted the attention of the
band to such an extent, that when they stopped the
music stopped, and the Mayor's party-a little oasis
of festivity in the great desert of floor-were left unsup-
ported in the midst of their figure, and slunk back
agam with a disconcerted air, though trying to " make
beheve " tliat it was quite en r'egle, and that they rather
liked the band stopping suddenly than otherwise.
Ihings in general were getting very flat, when,
tortunately, the Prince came with his suite, in evening

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dress, and entered a box in the gallery overlooking the
circl'^. He was welcomed, of course, with tremendous
chc ring, but was not tempted thereby to descend and
join the dancers. He remained little more than an
hour, though he would, most probably, have stayed
longer had not people preferred standing rounl him in
a dense crov/d to dancing. This was, of course, dull
work, and hastened his departure. As he lelt, the
news that he had really come (which up ^o the last
moment was disbelievftd as too good to be true) was
spreading abroad, aiid numbers began to flock in. It
was too late, however, for the Pnoce liad gone, and the
festivities had aii to be maintained amonif the "people,"
who ''v »omed dancing with tremendous energy.

The Vi3it, ?'owever, had a very good effect, and a
more gei/. rally appreciated compliment could not have
been paid to the " People's Ball." It made him per-
sonally popular among a class which till then had only
seen him. at a distance, en route to Stat*^^; ceremonies
from which they were excluded.

On the following morning His Koyal Highness and
suite, and all the rank and fashion of Canada who had
come to or resided in the capital, took their departure
in a rush, that lasted all through the day, for Ottawa.

Notwitlistanding the earliness of the hour there
would have been a grand demonstration, but it rained.
It was taken quite as a matter of course that the rain
was to attend at nearly all the ceremonies incident to
the arrival, departure, and entertainment of His Royal
Highness. Processions under umbrellas, and Court
suits and uniforms swathed in mackintoshes, had been
the normal state of things throughout. So the mani-
festation of popular feeling was rather d r;iU>ed out on
the morning of the departure from Mor real, for with

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UNPATOUEABLJI WEATHER. I47

while the Prince remained at a town, it made no
mistake at all about the matter when it heralded his
arrival or departure. On those occasions it was always
to be rehed upon for such raw, violent intensity, as
the oldest inhabitant" repeatedly declared, in the
colonial papers, he had never seen before.

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CHAPTER VIT.

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OTTAWA.

St. Anne's River— Arrival at Ottawa — Procession of Lumberers — Aspect
of Ottawa - Its want of fitness for a Capital — Laying Foundation Stone
of Parliament Buildings — The Lumber Arch — Down a Timber Shoot-
Commencement of the Orange Difficulties.

The route tlie Prince took to this wild, picturesque,
most modern, and most muddy capital of Canada,
was a sort of compound progress by rail and boat,
alternately and specially arranged to aiford him the
best view of the country through which he passed.
After once leaving Montreal, with its quaint, tall,
handsome streets, and massive limestone houses,
there is very little to see before St. Anne's, and
over this part of the journey he accordingly went by
special train. The outlying country around Mon-
treal is not at all impressive. The land has all been
cleared, and has a close, well-shaven aspect, the dull
green uniformity of which is only broken at rare inter-
vals by rough timber hedges or log huts, both of which
seem about equally well calculated for purposes
of shelter. Now and then a larger farmhouse than
the rest was announced by the hoarse screaming of
the whistle, to drive the cows off the line, or else a
station wns passed which might witli propriety have
been used as a cowhouse, if by any process known to

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ST. anne's river. 249

carpenters it could only have been made moderately
weather-tight. But beyond such poor stimulants to
curiosity there was nothing worth seeing, or at all
calculated to interrupt the dreary monotony of railway
travelling whether in Canada or the States.

At St. Anne's the royal party aliglited to proceed on
board the steamer for Carillon, and at, this point there
was a prospect worthy of attention, even for those who
had seen Halifax and St. John's, the Saguenay and
the St. Lawrence. The St. Anne's river is one of the
most picturesque (at least at this poirt) of all the
noble tributaries of the great Canadian father of
waters. The stream is wide, dark, and rapid,, hedged
m by steep, lofty, richly-wooded banks, and forcing a
swift and devious way through little aits and islor>ds
all clothed with trees and verdure down to the water's
edge. A railway bridge of singular beauty spans the
stream, where two steep headlands confine it to its
narrowest limits, and from this point the finest pros-
pect can be gained. You look down far beneath you
on the quick black sheet of water, closed in by hills
and cliffs, and studded over all its surface with
beautiful little islands, while higher up as on a slope
IS the summit of the stream, marked by a dim, rough
tumbhng line of foam, where the rapids of St Anne's'
which Moore has so immortalised in his Canadian
boat-song, begin their rush and whirl. As compared
with the rapids of the St. Lawrence, the great
breakers of the Long Sault, or the mighty rush of the
cascades, those of St. Anne's, of course, are nothing
But there is something wild, yet quiet in its rich
scenery, something in the equal solemn flow of the
rapids, which befits the plaintive music in which
Moore has sung them, and which makes the whole
scene seem not strange, but a beautiful prospect, with

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150

OTTAWA.

which you were long familiar and had long been parted
from.

From this quiet little gem of Canadian scenery,
His Royal Highness went by steamer to Carillon.
Here he again took tli^ railway across a wild, WQody
country, wl^'^^- ,, * " Liie great forests of pine, the
leaves of tiie maple, already assuming their scarlet
livery, told of the Indian summer being near at hand,
and of the woods arraying themselves in all the
gorgeous colours of American ;,(;.:; -^ry in the fall. It
was very early in the season then to see among the
forests that rich confusion of bright colours of every
hue with which the almost Arctic winter of Canada
heralds its formidable approach. But the cold rains
had hastened matters a few weeks, and the deep green
of the forests was fast breaking into groups of reds
and yellows, and the flaunting fire weeds, wild gera-
niums, and wood lilies were nearly all withered and
gone.

After a run of 14 miles by rail the party again
embarked on board the " Phoenix," and steamed away to
Ottawa. The whole day had been a sort of exaggera-
tion of April weather, with wind, hot snr-, and showers
of heavy rain. But as the steamer neared the new
and very upstart township, row called the capital of
Canada, of cor ^e th sky b ame bl ck and overcast,
and the rain came down with the drenching vehemence
familiar to all roval landings on the tour.

Just as this set in, the procession of lumberers
in their canoes, paddling dov ■ the Ottawa to mee:
the steamer, came in sigl'^ A more striking or more
characteristic procession hf Prince had iiut seen.
At first it seemed like a aim crowd of red 'olour on
the water, but as it drew nearer and nearer - quick

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PROCESSION OP I-T^MBERERS. 151

heard, and the long, sharp outl. .s of the canoes were
seen, with their quaint oriiainenttid prows, just turning
up ahove the surface of the water, over which they
came gliding like arrows, without noise or ripple.
All these little nkiffs were of light birch bark, beauti^
fully painted, and each carried from six to fifteen men,
in the scarlet tunics which on state occasions is the
lumberers grandest uniform. Their song had nothing
in it of the long melodious air which in England is
popularly supposed to be peculiar to these Canadian
voyageurs. The half-caste Canadians only sing in
their canoes when beating the light, thin, rickety
cradles in which they journey for thousands of miles
up against a stream, or r ming full speed down it
througli rocks and over rapids which would make a man
giddy to look at. Their song, therefore, is only meant
to a* company the quick beat of their paddles— a
strange rhyme, which the man in the bows gives out,
and to which the rest of the crew respond with one or
two short vords of hoarse chorus, as they strike their
paddles .straight down over the sides into the current.
Bn^ dl music soimds well on the water, and the quick,'
r. igh sti "ns .f this song, came modulated by the
distance o perl' ct melody, and the effect of the
whole— the J.., 8 of scarlet canoes dancing lightly
down the river, the bold, picturesque headlands on
which Ottawa is intended to be built, the grand heavy
falls of the river in the background boiling u^ mto
cloud of smoky spray as ^i the river was on fire, ;;ii.
made togetlier one of the rangest, wildest, and most
beautiful scenes tha ii is possible to imagine.

Lumberers care little fVv rain, or frc t,"or snow,
or, indeed, any other form m which nature may sh< v
her inclemency, so the dc<wnpour of the night made no
mannti- of difference to ti em as ihey i died down to

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the Prince's steamer, shouting and waving their paddlea
with half-frantic gestures. They seemed delighted, not
only at the honour of heing chosen to receive the
Prince's steamer, but at the opportunity it gave them
of showing their strength and skill as they whirled
round their canoes in the water, and, breaking out
again into their wild quick song, kept pace with the
"Phoenix" witli , much ease as if she had been a sand
barge. It would be difficult in any counliyto have
seen a finer, more athletic, and, T may add, a browner
body of young men than these same i;iOO lumberers.
Their ; )ats seemed to shoot along without an effort.
Among some 120 a collision seemed inevitable, but just
as one heavy canoe, impelled by 14 powerful brawny
fellows, seemed on the point of running down another,
a quick turn of a long paddle in the stern altered its
course in an instant, and, without stopping their
hurried song, they all kept gliding on together, so
light, so quick, so easy in thi ir movements, that it
more resembled flying in its gentle rapidity than any
other motion. Why do none of our London rowing
clubs try a canoe on the Thames, the water of winch
above bridge is better suited to such light craft than
many rivers in Canada, where they are much used ?
To see a man carry down a canoe weighing some 501b.
to the water's edge, launch it, let half-a-dozen people
into it, and then force it over the water at the rate of
10 knots an hour, would be a "caution" to some of
our outrigger amateurs. In large canoes, capable of
containing 25, or even 30 men, the Indians thnik
nothing of venturing on lake Huron in a gale, though
the sea there is sometimes as broken and almost more
dangerous in its way than in the Atlantic.

The lumberers, who in Ottawa welcomed the Prince
m tneir procession of eanocs, arc a race of men pecu-

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A Lt7Mi:f.RER's CAREEn. I53

ii«r to Canada, aiul who make tl.is intended eapltal, the
centre of the lumber trade, their liead-qnarters As
their name implies, tl,ey are the working men for
carrymg on the great timber trade in which nearly
half of all Canada and the provinces are engaged.
In the depth of the winter their work in the back-
woods begms. Then they start forth to fell the
hnge wlnte and red pines, which are drawn out of
he snow by oxen, and piled near the frozen rivers
t.ll the return of spring gives them an opportunity of
floating them down i„ immense rafts and masses,
winch fill aU the surface of the streams, in May, for
miles and miles. Of course, in these expeditions,
which last for months together, the men lead a
hardy, backwoods sort of life, which so nearly
approaches that of the Indian that, except in the
drunkenness and physical infirmity of the latter, there
IS but little diflFerence as to the mode of life between
the two. Their adventures up in the mountains with
bears and wolves, or, worse still, in struggling with
hunger and with cold, would fill whole volumes ; but in

ILV y r "' "'^ """' ' '""'™ of -cki;ssness
about It which seems to be perfectly fascinating, and

vhich leads the spirited young labourers of Canada
to jom It, as, with us, all the scapegraces and dare-
devils of a poor family are sure to go into the navy
By hurling the pine logs over cMs and dragging them
down ravines, the lumberers, before the thlw sets T
manage to collect along the banks of the various
tr. utaries of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence s Z
millions of cubic feet of timber, and when the ice-
bound streams a.e free once „., re, their more arduoiL
and dangerous labour recommences. Loosely joined

uncouth rafts, the logs are set

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oars to

154

OTTAWA.

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guide them, the lumberer goes in charge down cur-
rents and rapids of deep rivers, swollen and flowing
fiercely with the waters from the melting snow. It is
all very well as long as these rafts hold together, but
hurried and tumbled over rapids they often break up,
and woe betide the unhappy lumberers who are on
them when the great logs come rolling in fierce con-
fusion one over the other, and go smashing down the
rapids from rock to rock till they are all cast adrift in
splinters. When such accidents occur, as tiiey do
frequently, it sometimes happens that the logs get so
wedged and bound together on the brow of some stony
rapid that tliey remain immoveable, and all the miles
of rafts which are following behind are stopped at
once. It then becomes necessary to cut the obstruct-
ing logs away with axes. Only the bravest, coolest,
and most experienced of the lumberers can attempt
this most dangerous of all their tasks, for when once
the logs which bar the passage are half cut through,
the weight of the press behind breaks them like straws,
and some 10,000 trunks of trees come plunging down
with a rush and confusion that but too often renders
all the activity of the lumberers who are trying to
escape the avalanche of no avail. In such wild expe-
ditions and dangerous feats these lumberers pass
their early lives, gaining sufficient, if they are prudent
or saving, after a few years' labour, to commence
trading on their own account from Ottawa — the great
centre of the lumber trade of Canada.

Not many of the lumberers are English. Tliroe-
fonrths are French Canadians, or what are styled as
such, thougli having a certain proportion of Ir If-caste
Indians among them, whose flat features, coarse hair,
and white skins at once betray their hybrid origin.
It is singular that the hali-uaste Indian girls are ulLeii

' V fPrssg

ASPECT OF OTTAWA.

155

remarkable for their beauty, while with the men the
mixture of the white blood seems only to result in
additional and more inveterate ugliness.

The Prince landed at Ottawa a little before dusk.
There was a royal salute, and there would have been
a procession but for the rain, which, as has been
told, was heavy enough to have almost cleaned the
streets of the Jo-called city, than which task ^'t would
be difficult to imagine harder work for water, no
matter how profusely applied. His Koyal Highness
and suite were lodged at the Victoria Hotel, "v> Inch
and the Roman Catholic Cathedral at present form
the only two buildings worthy of the name in Ottawa.
All other and less distinguished visitors shifted as
well as they could, which was rll enough. Most of
the hotels of Ottawa had a strong reformatory element
runnmg through them, which manifested itself by
rules to have doors bolted and lights out by 11 pm
which required every one to be up by half-past seven
o'clock, or go without his breakfast, and which other-
wise suggested the rigours of prison discipline with all
the discomforts of a bad hotel. Matters in these
respects were not much mended by the arrival, late in
the evening, of an immense train from Montreal laden
solely with colonial dignitaries and others of sufficient
mfluence and station to be expected to follow the
Prince, and all of whom were disembarked in the mud,
and fell easy victims to swamps and morasses in their
search after carriages and lodgings. There was a
general debacle among the luggage that night, and only
those who, quite irrespective of ownership, were wise
enough to take whatever trunks came first to hand
got anything at all. , People were sanguine enough to
believe that at some remote ])eriod (probablv whpn
Ottawa IS built) the trunks which had been 'lost in

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the tour would turn up somewhere. I tried that kind
of consoLition on several of my own friends, who
were thus bereaved by the railways, and left to face
a three months' journey with only an odd pair of
gloves and a pocket-handkerchief. As a rule, how-
ever, such sympathy had become very common, and
had lost the little charm it possessed in the earlier
stages of the progress.

Only a few days before arriving at Ottawa, I heard
that a gentleman prepared with a sumptuous wardrobe
for following the Prince throughout, received a notice
that some of his trunks had been sent per mail to
England — a rather annoying intimation, though
softened down by a courteous assurance that they
would be returned at the first opportunity. The fact
was, that the American system of checking baggage
through to destinations, did. not answer for the un-
usual emergencies of a royal progress. Only a certain
number of brass checks seemed to be allowed to each
station, and when the proper ones were exhausted the
luggage was checked wildly all over the States and
Canada, and at last didn't get checked at all ; when,
of course, it was left behind, or taken too far, or
something or other done with it in the long interval
which elapsed before one saw it again, if ever you did
so at all. By the merest accident I discovered, when
coming up from Quebec, that one of my trunks was
" checked " through to Chicago and another for Port-
land, both being intended for Montreal.

The morning of Saturday, the 1st of S^^ptember,
was really bright and beautiful, a fact which is worth
recording, considering that the day was fixed for
ceremonial and rejoicing in honour of the Prince.
Witli colonial promptitude the people got up in what
Brummel wo Id call the middle of the ni'i'ht and at

UNFITNESS FOR A CAPITAL. 157

8 A.M. the one or two good thoroughfares of Ottawa
were as thronged as they could well b^, considering
that the capital " only boasted some 12,000 inhabit
tants-very little if at all more than now belongs to
Sydenham or Norwood.

Ottawa, as the capital of Canada, seems such a
monstrous absurdity, that, like all who have pene-
trated to It, I can never treat its metropoUtan future
as anytlnng more than a bad practical joke, in which
no one ever saw any meaning, but which, now that
«ie Prmce has solemnly laid the foundation stone of
^-tended Parliament buildings, is considered as
h.,mg gone rather too far, and is awakening a feel-
mg of almost indignation throughout Canada The
site whicli has been chosen for the capital is one
of the most picturesque I ever saw for any city in
my life, save that on which Constantinople has been
founded But a merely picturesque situation is no
reason for building a capital when all other requisites
are deficient, or, if so, the Chaudiere Falls or those
of Montmorenci would certainly have been preferable
Ottawa must always be the centre of the lumber
trade ; with a few thousand pounds' outlay it may be
made an impregnable fortress ; but a great city, much
less a capital, it is not likely to become. The geogra-
phical features of the country are against it. It is sur-
rounded by wide shallow rapids, over which great Muffs
of chff and headlands lean in beautiful disarray. The
nver itself, for commercial purposes, is entirely useless.
It IS too shallow for any but such steamers as ply
on the Ihames between Mortlake and Eichmond,
w iile all the means of access to the stream above the
city are cut o& by the steep Falls of the Ottawa, which
pour over the cHffs of limestone just above the timber-
-iioot«. h utiuvva were a fortified town like Quebec ;

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OTTAWA.

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if it were not close on the frontier of the United
States ; if it were solely inhabited by English settlers,
or were now, or ever had in future times a fair chance
of becoming, a great city, tliere might possibly have
been some reason for the extreme step of changing
the seat of government from Montreal. But in pII
and eveiy of these points of view, either commercially,
strategically, or legislatively, the choice of Ottawa
seems to have been a grand mistake ; and, if per-
severed in, will, at no distant date, give rise to ill
feeling in Canada. Throughout the whole province
there is dissatisfaction with the choice, and the ex-
pression of this each day grows stronger and more
strong. As well might Ventnor or Malvern be
selected as the seat of the government of England ;
and the change from the city of Montreal to the
township of Ottawa, it must be remembered, was
the act of the English Government, and almost thrust
upon the Canadians. Judging from the state of feel-
ing among all classes of Canadians, it woulJ seem
almost impossible to carry out the plan. The mere
fact of Parliament buildings having been begun there,
is really of no weight at all in the consideration of
this question. Parliament buildings have in a manner
been scattered broadcast throughout the province.
Those building at Ottawa will be admirably suited
for lunatic asylums, whenever the town is sufficiently
prosperous to re ^v-rc them for that purpose. Until
then as some £400,000 is required to complete them,
the works need only be continued with tiiat slow
dignity which pertains exclusively to Parliament buil-
dings both in England and Canada.

For the rest the appearance of Ottawa as it is at
present, is very like the harbour of Sevastopol, and if
the ..^.der has seen that stronghold and can fan(;y its

THE PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS. 15 9

heights clad down to the water's edge with thick pine-
trees, and a huge cascade pouring over a high reef
of rocks at the head of the harbour, then he sees
Ottawa. Thus much for this intended city.

On Saturday the Prince proceeded to lay the corner-
stone of the Parliament buildings, which, if their plan
IS carried out according to the present design, will
prove the finest Gothic buildings in all America.
They err, perhaps, like all the earlier Gothic struc
tures, on the side of heaviness; but, this fault
excepted, they will be grand, regal, and ancient-
looking enough.

The ceremony of laying a foundation stone is of
course, like opening a bridge (which has been traversed
for months), or inaugurating waterworks, or any other
meagre and unsatisfactory State ceremonial which
Royalty is ocjasionally compelled to endure in defer-
ence to public feeling. At this the splendid silver
trowel was, of course, an object of interest second only
to the Prince himself, and people who couldn't see
either one or the other concentrated their attention on
the stone-a great block of white marble, with an
mscription to the effect that " This stone of the build-
mgs intended to receive the Parliament of Canada
was laid," &c. The delightful ambiguity about the
won ''intended" was a source of unalloyed satisfaction
to everybody present. The scaffolding over the stone
was m the form of a handsome Gothic arch. The
seats were ranged in tiers around it. There was a
dais near the stone, with three seats and a fulMen^rth
portrait of the Queen in the centre of the enclosure
and which, in order that the spectators might iud-e
oi the artist's work from a disinterested point of 'view
was pL„.ed on iU head. AVhen these facts are re-
..., a-iu ,v ..^ ii^iciici ^.tuicu liidi the day wa^ iiot.

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and clear, all that is required to be said about the
preparations for laying the foundation stone of the
" intended " Parliament buildings has been told. One
feature, however, connected with the fete, which,
though not prepared, was especially prominent,
deserves conspicuous mention, and that was the mud.
Mud was apparently the only thing which had been
completed and brought to perfection in the city of
Ottawa, and there, indeed, on this occasion, it lay
about the streets in quagmires which Saurians might
revel in.

The Prince came out on the dais at eleven o'clock,
and in five minutes after the stone v;as declared oy
him to be " well and truly laid," and the ceremony
was over. Before this the portrait of Her Majesty
had been restored to the position originally intended
by the painter, and was placed at the back of the
Prince's chair. This, as the ceremony concluded,
was slipped aside, disclosing a private way out, and
while those in the outskirts of the crov/d were won-
dering when the stone was to be laid, the Prince was
quietly walking back to his hotel. So everybody
gradually made a move towards the dais, and half
Ottawa waited pnd took turns to sit down in tho
chair of State, in which the IVinte had never sat
at all.

After the Parliament buildings came a levee, which
was soon over, when the Prince drove round the town.
The few conveyances that were in Ottawa let at once
at five dollars an hour, and at this rather heavy figure
were taken up eagerly, so that befi)re the Prince had
gone 100 yards he v/as followed by a long train of
vehicles of every kind, all splashing through the mud
in wikl confusion. The little town was soon traversed
almost from end to end. and almost everv street

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TALLS OF THE OTTAWA.

101

elicited from the Eoyai party now expressions of
approbation at the singular architectural beauty and
grace of its triumphal arclies. Whatever else it seemed
to want, Ottawa was not deficient in genuine good
taste for both in form and decoration, though not in
number, its arches were far finer than those of any
town the Prince had visited. They were, indeed, so
good, and so purely Gothic, as to excite a very general
suspicion that some one or other connected with the
intended Parliamentary buildings had designed
them. After this drive there was a dejeuner in rather
a more costly style than usual, from which His Royal
Highness retired early, for he had still to visit the
Falls of the Ottawa, the Lumber-arch, and the timber-
shoots This he did at five o'clock in the afternoon,
all Ottawa and as many inhabitants as could be
spared from the surrounding wilderness being on
the road to cheer him, and follow him in all he did
and to all he saw. '

He drove from the Victoria Hotel to the suspension
bndge over the J.!-, of the Ottawa, where the whole
mass of the river comes tumbhng down a series of
hage difts of a laminated kind cf limestone, much
hke the Natural Steps of Morfmorenci, with a cata-
ract commg over tliem. Thes. 1 ,,'(s are wonderfully
picturesque more so for their „ec,ayed masses of
rock than for their rusli of water. They somehow
look as if they were out of repair and falling to decay
-as if a river had been turned over the ruins of some
g.gant.c building, and left to fret and fume itself away
anud Its shattered walls, great porticoes, and broken
cohnnns. Such a ruined aspect as nature here puis
on IS seen at no other cataract in America; and
beneath the mass of dark brown water the eye can
-cc out such a regularity of disarray, such cliambers,

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OTTAWA.

such nooks, such passages and pillars as scarcely
seem the freak of nature, but more resemble the
stately vestiges of the old rock-hewn temples of
Egypt. At one corner of the Falls, and removed from
the turbulent mass of foam and mist in the centre, is
a stream called the "Lost River," where a part of the
Ottawa drops down over the columns of rocks and
disappears in a deep, unfathomable hole, at the base.
Tiie Prince and his suite stayed for a long tiir ^ in-
specting these ruins of cataracts, and then returned
under the Lumber-arch.

This arch was the most extraordinary the Prince
had seen, or is likely to see again. It w^as erected by
the lumber-men. In form a broad and lofty structure,
like the Marble Arch of Hyde Park, but built entirely
of planks of raw deal laid transversely one over the
other, without a nail or fastening of any kind from
first to last. Light as it seemed, there were nearly
200,000 lineal feet of plank used in its construction.
The Prince, as, indeed, every one who saw it, was
astonished, for its effect, though rot easy to describe,
was really wonderful to look at. It was the arch of all
the arches the Prince had had erected to his honour :
and it was almost a pity that a monument so strong,
so beautiful, and so characteristic of the country
should be removed.

From this arch the Prince went down the banks of
the river to the head of one of the longest timber
shoots, where a raft had been prepared for him to run
down these artificial but most rapid of all rapids in
this part of America. A few words will suffice to
exp lin to the reader what a timber shoot is. When
the great mass of lumber is brought down to the
Falls of the Ottawa, a special contrivance is of course
necessary t- get it below tliem, as the result of letting

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A TIMBEK SHOOT. 153

it over the Falls themselves would be simply to
des roy the logs. Fov this purpose, then, a ceLin
portion of the nver is dammed off, and turned into a
broad wide channel of timber, which is taken at a
sharp incline cut it,, the bank of the river, and
down which, of course, the waters of the Ottawa rush

" " '!""'• ^''"' ^"^^ of «"3 shoot is placed
some 300 or 400 yards above the Falls, and IZi-
nates, after a run of about three quarters of a mile,
in the still waters of the river belo« their base. Bui
a raft on such a steep incline, and hurried along by
such a rush of ,™ter, would attain a speed wliich
>vould destroy itself and all upon it; the fall of the
shoo IS broken at intervals by straight runs, along
which It glides at a comparatively reduced sp^ed, tiU
It again drops over the next incline, and commences
another headlong rush. Some of these runs a"o ter-
minate with a perpendicular drop of three or four
eet, over which the raft goes smash, and wallows in
the boilmg water beneath, till the current again gets
the mastery, and forces it on faster and more furi-
ousy than before. More than 30,000,000 cubic feet
of timber come down the shoots of the Ottawa in

of fiom fifteen to twenty trees, with two transverse

ones to secure them at each end, and a kind of raised

bridge lor the lumberers to stand on, who without such

aid would be almost washed off it, as the mass drops

rem shoot to shoot down the Eapids and seems to

isappear some few feet under water with each plunge

Ihe same risk attends these shoots as attends the

afts on natural rapids. If not carefully secured «

mass of timber may break up, wlien all on it would

have but a poor chance of escape : or -1=- it " „

get ••stubbed"-that is. twist aid jam itt:^f '1:1

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16:1.

OTTAWA.

to come to a dead stop, when the men are hurled
heudlong off it, as if thrown from an express train.
With well-made rafts and careful raftsmen, however,
these accidents arc unknown, and for uH practical
purposes runninfj a timber-shoot on a aft ■=? safe
enough, or with only just sufficient apprehension of
danger to give zest to the feat.

Of course every possible precaution w;,s taken to
insure strength and careful guides for the raft on
which the Prince was to rush down the shoot. Only the
immediate members of the suite and a few gei/lemen,
in all about twenty, were allowed to be on it. When
these were fairly settled down, the Prince sitting on a
raised plank, between the Duke of Newcastle and the
Governor-General, the rope which held the mass of
timber against the current was cut, and instantly the
raft began to move. At first it went with a slow,
stately motion, but gradually as it entered the nur
rower parts of the shoot, where the incline began, the
speed qiack'ined, and every one held fast as the first
jump &M.i\ steep descent drew nearer. Before you
could well say it was coming the mass tipped up, and
slid over iLe edge with an uneasy kind of gliding leap,
like a huge porpoise tumbling, and went rushing down
faster and faster till there was another jump, and then
a straight run which plunged the beams under water,
wetting some of t}\e royal party to the knees. Quicker
and quicker the banks flew by, all thronged with
people cheering and waving handkerchiefs, and faster
and faster the raft plunged down, groaning and
creaking, now half hidden by the boiling water, into
whicli it dashed at the end of each shoot, gliding
rapidly along the logs of the straight runs with jerks
and thumps, as if it was being forced over rocks, till it
came to another jump and anuther steep incline,

A TIMBER SHOOT.

taking each one faster than the others in .ne rm,nd
lieadlong sort . f flying whirl which gav. , „ „f

irresistible fore , and i -de each passenger „ ^ it
were, a conip. -.ent part of raft and rapids 1 ,th' To
go down tlie rapids , f tl,e St. Lawrence is nothing
But to go down tlie rapids of a timber shoot, to keep
pace with tlie flying waters, and s.o them Idssing nnd
rushing up over the raft bei.cuth your f. at, is the most
exhilarating adventure in all the repertoir, of American
travel. It is something which partakes of f vin" and
Bwimmin^'; the immense speed of th ,^ mass—

the rush " the water, the successi "shoots"

stretching out tar down beneath you li sloping steps
of stau-s, tho delight of flying over these with the easy
skim of . bird-the rough, long straights in which the
raft seems -In-e and founder, letting the water up
beneath a over it behind till it is again urged
forward, and there comes another incline of water
which you whirl madly down as if you wer. lu a swing.
To steady yourself on the narrow plank amidships,
and hold on with might and main as the timber snaps
and works hke a bundle of reeds, getting a momentary
rest with each quick incline, and again thumping over
the straights with sharp, uneasy struggles, is to expe-
rience such a heap of new sensations as neither
balloons nor diving bells afford, si. a a whirl as only
tliree-quarters of a mile down the great timber shoots
of the Ottawa can ever give. VU on the raft with
the Prince, to whom the sensation was as novel as it
seemed beautiful and terrible, were delighted, and
the on^y regret which His Royal Highness expressed
when the raft at last did condescend to slop in the
centre of the river, below the Falls, was that the shoot
was not at least a mile longer.
From off this raft His Eoyal Highness went in ,

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33 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, NY. 14580

(716) 872-4503

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OTTAWA.

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canoe to witness canoe races, which were exciting, and
closely contested, and in which everybody, if they did
not win, at least said and thought they did, which was
much the same. Six Indians of the AUejonquin tribe,
however, distanced the best crews and canoes of the
lumbermen beyond all chance of doubt.

These sports were still at their highest when His
Koyal Highness left, as the sun was setting over the
picturesque headlands of Ottawa in such a flood of
purple grandeur as impressed into admiration of the
scene even the rough natures of the lumbermen. On
that night there was a banquet at the Victoria House,
and the township of Ottawa lit all its candles and
stuck them in the windows in honour of the occasion.
There were fireworks too, and an attempt at a torch-
light procession, the only very bad one which the
Prince saw.

Before leaving Montreal the rumours of the dis-
union caused in several of the towns of Upper Canada
by the avowed intentions of the Orangemen to receive
the Prince with Orange processions, had reached the
ears of the Canadian Ministry, Sir Edmund Head, and
the Duke of Newcastle. It is not necessary in this
portion of the narrative to enter into the causes which
led certain members of the Canadian opposition to
foster and encourage this unfortunate outbreak of
party feeling. It is sufficient to say, that the Orange-
men of Kingston, Toronto, Belleville, Cobourg, and
other places which His Royal Highness was to visit
in his tour through Upper Canada, had already nearly
completed their Orange arches, and arranged the
programme of the Orange processions with which
the Prince was to be received. In all these towns
the Roman Catholics were in a considerable minority ;
but they at once called public meetings, and

ORANGE DIFFICULTIES.

167

passed resolutions protesting against Orange pro-
cessions being allowed to receive the Prince, and
calling upon their co-religionists throughout the
provmce to abstain from joining in any processions
if the Orangemen were thus officially encouraged on
the occasion. A very few days sufficed to fan all the
slumbering animosities of the two parties into a
regular flame, which might possibly have resulted in
furious outbreaks in Upper and Lower Canada if the
movement was not checked instanter. The Duke of
Newcastle was aware that these disputes were com-
mencing when at Montreal, but before the resolutions
or memorials of either Orangemen or Eoman Catholics
reached him, he at once wrote to Sir Edmund Head
the Governor-General, hoping that by a timely ex-
pression of the course he should advise His Eoyal
Highness to pursue in case Orange demonstrations
were persisted in, the whole affair might be stopped at
the outset. His Grace's letter was as follows :—

"My dear Sir Edmund,-! am informed that it is the in-
tention of the Orangemen of Toronto to erect an arch on the
line of route which it is desired by the citizens that the Prince
of Wales shall take on Friday next, and to decorate it with the
msigma of their association. I am also told that they mean to
appear m the procession similarly decorated ;vith party badges

« It IS obvious that a display of this nature on such an o'cca-
sion 18 hkely to lead to religious feud and breach of the peace
and It zs my duty to prevent, as far as I am able, the exposure
ot the Piince to supposed participation in a scene so much to
be deprecated, and so ahen to the spirit in which he visits
Canada.

" I trust you may be able to persuade those who are con-
cerned m these preparations to abandon their intentions ; but
tha„ there may be no mistake, I hope you will inform them
tiiat, m the event of any such arch bein^ rreoted T .h<^\] ^a.,:.^
tUe txmce to refuse to pass under it, and enter the town by

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OTTAWA.

another street ; and further, if any Orange demonstration, or
any other demonstration of a pai-ty character is persisted in,
I shall advise the Prince to abandon his visit to the town
altogether.

" I have heard, but with less certainty, that a similar demon-
stration is contemplated at Kingston. I need not say that my
remarks apply equally to that or any other town.

" I am, &c. ,

" Newcastle.

♦* To the Right Hon. Sir E. Head."

A copy of this explicit statement was at once for-
warded by Sir Edmund to the Mayor of Toronto, with
one equally plain and decisive of his own, which is

well worth perusal : —

"Ottawa, Aug. 31.

" Sir, — I have the honour to enclose a copy of a letter
addressed to me by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, now
in attendance on His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

" In explanation of this letter, I desire to call your atten-
tion to the fact, that according to an advertisement which has
appeared in a Toronto paper, it is the intention of the Orange
body in that city to display, in the procession which is to take
place on the reception of His Royal Highness, and in the streets
through which he is to pass, certain emblems and decorations
belonging especially to their own society.

" I may state in the most explicit terms, that any such
display, or any attempt to connect with His Royal Highness's
reception the public and open reception of the Orangemen,
or any party association, would be viewed with extreme dis-
satisfaction.

** You will bear in mind, sir, that His Royal Highness visits
this colony on the special invitation of the whole people, as
conveyed by both branches of the Legislature, without dis-
tinction of creed or party ; and it would be inconsistent with
the spirit and object of such an invitation, and such a visit,
to thrust on him the exhibition of banners or other badges of
distinction which are known to be offensive to any portion of
iler Majesty's subjects.

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OEANGE DIFFICULTIES. Ifig

"I feel satisfied that hia Grace's reasons for expressing these
views wul, on consideration, be deemed satisfactory ; and I
have to request you, as ch,Vf magistrate of the city of Toronto.
wUl take care that no such cause of complaint may exist, either
in the procession itself or in the decoration of the streets
through which His Royal Highness will pass.

" I have further to request that you will, by letter, addressed
to me at Kingston, inform me explicitly as to whether any
doubt exists as to a compliance with the wishes expressed by
the Duke of Newcastle in this matter, as the course likely to
be pursued at Toronto may materially affect the route to be
taken by His Royal Highness in his future progress through
the province. °

" I have the honour to be, (fee,

«TT. TTT , *•' Edmund Head.

"His Worship the Mayor, Toronto."

Kingston, though thus merely alluded to ,i passant
was the hrst place at which His Royal Highness was
to land, and there, therefore, it was tacitly understood
that the question whether the Prince or the Orange,
men would give way was to le tried. Up to this time
It was believed that the whole aflfair would blow over
Very few were aware that many of the Orangemen of
Kmgston had been so misled and exasperated by false
statements, as to make them feel that an assertion of
Orange and Protestant principles had become a con-
scientious duty on their part.

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CHAPTER VIII.

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KINGSTON.

Scenery of the Upper Ottawa — The Chats Portage — Through the Woods—
Brockville — Kingston — The Orange Procession — The Prince declines
to land — Belleville — Cobourg.

The route taken by the Prince from Ottawa to
Kingston was about as circuitous as could by any
possibility be contrived. It was much of the same
kind as would be taken by a bewildered pedestrian,
who, starting from London Bridge, should try to reach
Charing Cross vid Peckham and Battersea. The
course, however, was admirably chosen for showing the
Royal party the magnificent scenery of the Upper
Ottawa, and though in a mild and agreeable form,
the difficulties incident to Canadian travel in the
wilder parts of the country. The journey had been
looked forward to by the Prince with pleasant antici-
pations, which were certainly realised to their fullest ;
for, excepting the unavoidable inconvenience of heat
and dust (component and necessary parts of a rough
day's travel anywhere), it was ore of the most agreeable
and diversified the party had in Canada. If anything,
it was, perhaps, a little too long and a little too
fatiguing. The whole party left Ottawa before eight
in the morning of the 3rd, and some two hours after a
lovalj natitnt and much-eudurinf* crowd had been

'iniiMir''

THE UPPER OTTAWA.

171

standing in the mud round his hotel to give the Prince
one farewell cheer. The first stage was by carriage to
Aylmer, a little village on the edge of the Upper
Ottawa, and about ten miles from the town. There
was no peculiarity about this drive, save that it was
very rapid and very hot-for the day for once was fine,
and the fierce rays of the sun even at that early hour
gave promise of one of those scorching days which at
that time of the year occasionally glare down on
Canada with all the heat of a West Indian summer.
If there had been no arches over the road, which
wound along the lovely shores of the Ottawa, the fact
would be worthy of especial mention ; but as it was
I can only say, what has been so often said before, that
arches seemed to spring up everywhere the Prince
would, could, or might pass. At little hamlets where
only three or four log cabins were in view, and where
the whole population— to the number of some thirty-
five or thirty-six— turned out en masse in a group
which might be covered with a tablecloth, there was
sure to be an arch of some shape or other. It might
only be, as it very often was, a mere bent screen of
spruce firs, decked here and there with huge bouquets
of wild flowers, or twisted round with garlands of
water-lilies and wild geraniums. But, whatever the
effect, it was a kind, spontaneous effort to do honour
to the Prince ; and the little knot of settlers who
reared it were always close beneath, bareheaded and
dressed in their best, and each with something like a
flag in his hands, content and happy if His Eoyal
Highness only for one brief second drove under an
arch which it had taxed their slender means and taken
them hours of labour to erect. On lakes and rivers
in wild and unknown spots, the evidences of strong
and almost duvotiouai loyalty with which the Prince

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KINGSTON.

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was welcomed were really touching. Even in byray
clearings in the forest, when the Eoyal train shot past
at full speed, glimpses might be caught amid the trees
of rough log shanties all covered over with fir branches
and flowers, and with a family of settlers gathered
round the charred stumps in front, having waited,
perhaps, all day merely to shout and cheer as it flew
by. The journey from Ottawa to Brockville was one
long-continued repetition of such incidents, except
when at Brockville itself, where the people gave him
a reception which, for enthusiasm and general beauty
of efi'ect, was better than any he had had in Canada,
Lower or Upper.

At Aylmer, a pretty little village above Ottawa, the
whole place was checkered with arches of every sort.
What they wanted in high art eflfect was more than
compensated by their number, and, speaking at random,
there must have been an arch erected or garland hung
across the road for every ten people in the place.
Here the party embarked on board a steamer which
was to convey them higher up the Ottawa to Les Chiits
Portage, where the canoes were waiting. The scenery
during the journey up was of exquisite beauty. The
weather was that hot, dead, sultry calm when lake
scenery, as that part of the river might be called, is
always seen to the best advantage— when the water
seems to languish under the sun in a lazy calm, as if
oppressed by heat, and the mountains have a dim
cool blue about them, with all the rich, soft, glowing
indistinctness of one of Turner's landscapes. It is
such a lake as this the Prince went up, with a great,
fertile, but utterly wild country stretching round— a
huge extent of rich uncultivated land, supporting a wolf
or a bear to such a number of square miles as, under
happier auspices, would give food and labour for all the

THE UPPER OTTAWA.

173

population of Lancashire. It is a painful, even a
shameful truth~but I am sure it is a truth-that
more IS known in England of tlie Terai, or the mouth
of the Peiho, than of the whole of Canada or the
Provinces put together-ay, and even among pubHc
men and great colonial oracles. Twenty years -o
Macaulay told how well-educated Englishmen were not
ashamed to confess their utter ignorance of the history
of Hindostan-how they could not even tell the differ-
ence between a Hindoo and a Mussulman, nor name
the country over which Holkar once ruled. How many
well-educated Englishmen are there at this day who if
told that Nova Scotia was an island, and, like Labra-
dor, half rock, half glacier, would disbelieve it ? What
are the popular notions of New Brunswick— the Liver
pool of our North American Provinces-the finest and
mo§t flourishing of all our small American colonies ?
I am sorry to think that the ignorance on all connected
with these colonies can arise only from the most utter
indifference either to where they are or what they are
But, to return to the Prince on the Upper Ottawa Qess
known by far than Lake Ngami), the boat continued
steaming quickly on its way for some miles. The cap-
tarn of the vessel and one or two others connected with
the canoe expedition could tell the best deer runs of
the shores around, and how from ten to twelve might
easily be killed in a day ; but beyond this they knew
nothmg, for nothing whatever is tnown. Once a lum-
ber-boat came out to salute with muskets, and once or
twice a shrill halloo of welcome came from a few who
on the chffs had been watching for the Prince's boat
since daybreak, but beyond these two incidents there
was nothing to tell of human beings, or that these great
wilds had ever been trodden by the foot of man. When
Will die government send out some Livingstone to

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174

KINGSTON.

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explore and explain the resources of Upper Canada ?
There are maps of it, as there are maps of Japan, but
of both countries any single State in the Union knows
more than nearly all England put together. A sudden
bend in the wide lake-like river brought the Koyal
steamer in front of the Chdts Portage, one of the finest
pieces of rock and river scenery on the Ottawa, if not
on any river in North America. It is a huge semicircle
of rocks, nearly three miles wide, and over which the river
pours in no less than twenty-four distinct huge waterfalls,
some of them about fifty or sixty feet high, but all with
a broad impetuous rush of water which gives to the
whole portage a wild, rough, animated grandeur, the
effect of which from the river below is striking beyond
all description. Seen, as the Prince saw it, with the
hot sun lighting up each cataract with rainbows, the
gay little canoes dancing about among the Rapids
below them : the intense, deep stillness of the pine
forests sleeping in the sun : the air of still, solemn,
wild repose which reigned over everything, mountain
and rock, lake and wood, with only the great drowsy
roar of the cataracts to fill the ear with a dim, sleepy
hum ! — these made altogether one of those scenes of
soft impressive grandeur which can never be forgotten.
The fussy little steamer which bore the Prince seemed
an intrusion on this great scene of nature's repose, and
when the pace was slowed as the cataracts were neared,
it seemed as if the very boat felt the influence of the
scene, and was moving quietly lest it should break the
solemn stillness.

Slowly as the boat approached the portage the canoes,
manned by lumbermen, Indians, and squaws, tossed
their paddles into the air and gave one long cheering
whoop, which went echoing away among the hills with

ovit uUxx ^cutxc nuiac ua luv tiuuiiu uieu out. in

THE CHATS POBTAQE.

175

another mmute the canoes were alongside the steamer.
The Royal party had been reduced to its smallest limits •
only the Duke of Newcastle, the two equerries, Com-
modore Seymour, Mr. Engleheart, Mr. Kose, Dr. Ac
land, M. Cartier, the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr.
Elliott, and the Marquis and Marchioness of Chandos
who were then travelling for amusement, with the
Governor-General and his Aide-de-camp, Captain Re-
tallach, were present. The Prince, with the Duke and
he Governor-General, went in one very large canoe;
for the rest one canoe was placed at the disposal of
every two members of the party. Before definitively
arrangmg themselves, however, the canoes were carried
over the rocky portage, and launched at the other side
m the comparatively smooth water above the Falls-
and here the whole party embarked and started away
ovev the wa er to the half-mile portage, another rocky
rapid some four miles up the river, where the canoes
were agam to be landed and carried through the woods
to the smooth water as before. The Prince's canoe
was manned by twelve strapping Scotch lumberers
who sent It along like an arrow, so'tliat it soon became'
a race among the rest, all paddling and splashing through
the water as if rowing for their lives, and all the crews
occasionally refreshing themselves with a long shrU
whoop that was deafening to hea,, M. Cartifr gave
out the old Canadian song, "II y a longtemps que™
taime, jamais je ne foublierai," which was cauglt up
in an mstant by the boatmen, and its sweet quick
melody rather agreeably replaced the discordant wl^ ^

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176

KINGSTON.

would break them, and straining every nerve under a
sun which, on the still water, was almost tropical in its
heat. But fast as the canoes paddled there was oi' -^
which kept its place with ease, and this was an Indian
canoe, of which half the crew were squaws, clad after
the festive and highly decorated custom of their nation,
but mounting English hats and feathers as a delicate
compliment, doubtless, to the Royal visitor. In the
centre of this canoe was a young squaw, with her little
papoose swaddled down upon a flat strip of board, which
she held aloft something after the fashion of a sail, and
seemed so desirous to attract the Prince's attention
with it, that I began to think she would end by offering
it to him as a present at the next landing.

There were some quick rapids at the foot of the
portage which it required no ordinary exertions on the
part of the lumberers to overcome, but at last they
passed them, and ran the canoes under shelter of the
land into a picturesque little nook among the rocks
and trees, where everybody scrambled out as they best
could. In another minute the lumberers and Indians
had dragged their light bark skiffs from the water, had
them upon their shoulders, and were trudging away
through the vroods to the next point of embarkation.
This was said to be half a mile distant, but seemed to
everybody the longest half mile they ever walked in
their lives, — not that it was an uninteresting one, far
from it. It was impossible not to be amused at the
helter-skelter ramble of the whole party through the
thick forest, with the rude procession of canoes and
flags intermixed among them. After this quick, hot
scramble of some half hour, the path through the forest
emerged at last upon an immense sheet of water, like
a large inland lake, though only the uppermost conti-
nuation of the Ottawa, and on this the party again

■ ,vi ■

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THROUGH THE WOODS.

177

embarked in tlie canoes and stood across the water
some six miles to Arnprior. At this beautiful little
village there had been some handsome arches erected,
and here of course in the middle of a great crowd an
address of welcome was read. This ceremony over,
His Royal Highness proceeded to the picturesque house
of Mr. M'Loughlin, where the party partook of a
luncheon which would have done credit to the Trois
Freres for its style and elegance. From this point
carnages were provided for a long drive through the
forest road to a place called Almonte, a distance of
twenty miles. The track was partly through the forest,
over what was called a corduroy road, a colonial syno-*
nym for no road at all; a kind of track where the
natural inequalities of the ground are aggravated to
their utmost by a profuse intermixture of pine logs.
The route at this part lay across a perfectly wild
country. Only a log cabin broke the monotony of the
forest here and there, with a group of ragged brown
girls and boys clustered on pine logs to cheer the
Prince. The despotism of fashion, however, had pene-
trated into the remotest recesses of these back wjods •
for, however ragged might be the female members of a
settler's family, I never saw any who did not wear the
most monstrous wooden hoops under their petticoats
After a few miles of such a track the road turned out
on a better country, where the travelling was good
but so dusty that nearly all the suite were suffocated,'
and their dress and features became alike of one dim
tawny hue.

At the village of Pakenham a great many arches had
been built up ; but no pause was made there, as there
were still some seventy miles to go by road and rail,
and the day was waning fast. The pretty little village

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KINGSTON.

the usual amount of evergreens) was reached a little
^efore six o'clock, and by that time, with the exception
of the Prince, not one single member of the party was
distinguishable under their hideous masks of dust.
In all my travels I have never seen any small party of
gentlemen so utterly begrimed and filthy. Fortunately
there was plenty of sherry and Seltzer water in the
royal car, and I have not the least doubt but that many
members of the suite were driven to ablutions in the
latter beverage. Though miserably uncomfortable it
was nevertheless not a little funny to look at the black
masks of dust which all wore ; and for a long time the
laughter in the royal car, as each one looked at the
other, was continuous. After a brief pause to allow
the multitude time to see and cheer the Prince, and
then all haste was made for Brockville. Half way,
however. His Koyal Highness had again to alight and
show himself to the people at Smith's Falls. They
had been waiting outside the station in thousands all
day round a small raised square platform covered with
scarlet cloth, and otherwise very much resembling the
old pictures of the scaffold on Tower Hill. On this
the Prince mounted and showed himself to the people,
in company with the Duke of Newcastle and suite, and
the Mayor of the place. The latter functionary, not
being aware of the precise costume in which it was
befitting that the Mayor of Smith's Falls should appear
before royalty, had attired himself inja gorgeous green
and gold jerkin, with tight nether hose of the same
material, and looked altogether a very beau ideal of
the fancy portraits of Robin Hood.

It was quite dark when Brockville was reached, and
some 25,000 people had been waiting there also since
three o'clock in the afternoon. The Prince alighted
under a rich pavilion, amid the tremendous cheers of

ARRIVAL AT BROCKVILLE. I79

the loyal settlers who had come in from all parts of the
country. Some said an address was read, and some
one else informed me that the Prince replied to it but
all I know of my own knowledge is that there was an
immense crowd, and a very severe crush ; that carriages
were provided for all the suite, into which, after lo'Lg
strugghng, they scrambled somehow, and the proces-
sion through BrockviUe to the steamer "Kingston"
commenced. The firemen, to the number of some
1200, formed a double line on each side of the car-
nages, each having a Roman candle in his liand which
shot out their brilliant sparks of light from both sides
of the street, meeting in the centre above the carriages
m a perfect arcade of coloured fire .arly a quarter of
a mile long. The little town was in a blaze of light
Every house from the roof to the basement was iUu-
mmated inside and out, and aU the long groves of trees
along the roads were covered with variegated lamps on
every branch. From the windows of the houses the
people held Eoman candles; from the roofs they were
lettmg off flights of rockets and bomb-shells and
coloured fire ; every bell in the place was ringing
madly, and the whole was such a confused brilliant
whirl of lamps, fireworks, and illumination, of people
shouting, tossing their caps into the air, and almost
embracing the very horses of the royal carriage, that
the scene is scarcely describable. Even when His
Royal Highness was on board the steamer " Kingston"
It did not end. There were fireworks on the water,
bonfires on the Thousand Islands, flights of rockets
from all parts of the town, serenades from all sorts of
bands ; everything, in fact, which the most intense
enthusiasm and loyalty could devise was done, and
clone admirably well.

As a matter of course, there was very little sleep to

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KINGSTON.

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be got in Brockville that night, and the rumours of
what was going on at Kingston made me anxious to
reach it at once. So I left Brockville still in a blaze
of light and festivity, and went on by train. As the
road is only fifty miles, and as the train was a special
express, it only took three hours to traverse the dis-
tance, and I found myself at last in the wide, straggling,
and uncomfortable streets of Kingston at about three
o'clock in the morning of the 4th. I had been writing
and travelling nearly fifty hours without sleep or
change of clothes, and was not fastidious about
accommodation, and was delighted to be received at
one of the dirty lodging-houses which in Kingston are
called hotels. Here my narrative of enthusiastic re-
ceptions and displays receives a sudden check, for
Kingston, which with a few other towns of Upper
Canada boasts of having exclusive possession of the
feeling of loyal devotion to the throne, set such an in-
disputable example of disregard of their duty to their
royal guest's wishes as prevented the Prince from land-
ing at all.

Much of the angry feeling which the Orange display
of Kingston and its consequences at one time caused
has now happily passed away, and the few desperate
politicians of the opposition who raised the cry among
the people with a view of embarrassing and eventually
overthrowing the Canadian Ministry, have, by this act,
lost their last faint hold on the public mind of Canada.

In LowCi. Canada, that is in the country immediately
round Montreal, and from Montreal the entire province
down to New Brunswick, more than nine-tenths of the
whole population are either French or Irish Roman
Catholics. In a few towns of Upper Canada the Pro-
testants and Roman Catholics are pretty equal in
uuiuber, Avliile in very many of tiie chief towns, such as

M^J

THE OPiNGE PARTY.

181

Toronto, Hamilton, K .gston, Coburg, Whitby, Port
Hope and Belleville, they are only as one to ten, or even
less of the number of Protestants. Generally speaking
Lower Canada is supposed to be Roman Catholic
and Upper Canada to be Protestant, though in the
latter province there is such an admixture of Eoman
Cathohcs as gives on the whole a large majority of the
whole population of Canada, Upper and Lower, to the
Romamsts. Many of the new towns of Upper Canada
have withm a comparatively recent period become
great centres of Orange organisation, which as a matter
of course have given rise to feuds of the most bitter
and intemperate kind between the Orangemen and the
Roman Cathohcs. Temperate and sensible gentlemen
who had at one time been Orangemen told me, that
they had soon become painfully aware that peace and
good-wiU fled the towns in which amid a population
lollowmg different religions Orange organisations had
been estabhshed, and Orange celebrations and pro-
cessions attempted to be carried out. Some of the
most serious riots and disturbances which have taken
place in Canada and the Provinces have been owing
to Orange processions, and celebrations of the 12th
of July, when the Romanists have suddenly preached
tolerance for all creeds, and enforced their argu-
ments by a free fight with the Orangemen. There
had been a lull in these most wretched quarrels for a
considerable time, when it unfortunately occurred to
the parhamentary leaders of the Canadian opposition
that an immense fund of political capital for the coming
session might be gained by embroiling the Orange
party of Upper Canada with the Prince, in such a
manner as would seriously compromise the present
- --^ — ''"^^^ aamimstrauou with the Upper
Canadians. In regarding the causes, therefore, which

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KINGSTON.

led to these ill-timed attempts, no greater mistake can
be committed than to view them as at all connected
except by name with religious differences. All Orange
organisations are more or less political. In Upper
Canada they are entirely so, and an Orangeman there
is only another name for an ultra-Tory. There is just
a sufficient taint of religious or rather sectarian animus
to give zest and earnestness to the subordinates on
both sides, whose fanatical zeal is worked upon by
abler heads, who simply adopt Orangeism as a stepping
stone to political power.

Accordingly those leaders who secretly pulled the
strings, fostered to the utmost, among the Orangemen,
the belief that a grand Orange demonstration was
necessary, to counteract the baleful influence which
would otherwise be exercised by the example of the
Prince's Romanist backslidings in Canada. That these
backslidings could not have been of a very encouraging
character to the Roman Catholics, is sufficiently shown
by the simple fact, that the whole of the Roman
Catholic hierarchy at Quebec felt deeply offended at
what they called His Royal Highness's Protestant
antipathies in not styling them by their title of My
Lords, in his reply to their address. But the tide of
animosity must be at very low ebb indeed, when it is
impossible to find or make an excuse to justify a fore-
gone conclusion. The political leaders first determined
on an Orange demonstration, and then proceeded to
make reasons for it. So, reports and statements were
industriously circulated among the Orangemen of
Kingston and Toronto, that the Host had been carried
in procession before the Prince at Quebec, that in
many public ceremonials he hul been attended by
100 or more Romish priests in their vestments, that
he had constantly visited all the Roman Catholic

ORANGE FALSEHOODS.

183

cathedrals and churches, neglecting those of his own
rehgion, and that partly in deference to the Popish
leanings of the Duke of Newcastle, the Romish bishops
had been allowed precedence over all in the procession
which received His Royal Highness at Quebec.

It is scarcely necessary to tell the reader, that for all
these monstrous charges there was not an atom of
foundation. In the chapter on Newfoundland I have
already stated that in that colony the Protestants and
Roman Catholic clergy live in most creditable harmony
with each other, and that with the consent of both
parties, His Royal Highness gave to their separate
addresses a joint reply. After it he drove privately to
visit the Protestant cathedral, and afterwards to see
the interior of that of the Roman Catholics. This was
the only Roman Catholic church the Prince* ever en-
tared during the whole tour from first to la&u With
regard to the question of precedence at Quebec, that
matter has been sufficiently explained already, in the
narrative of the proceedings at that city. These fabri-
cations, however, were believed by the Orangemen of
Kingston at least, if not by those of Toronto. The
Kingston men at once determined that the civic pro-
cessions which had been arranged to meet the Prince,
should be further adorned and increased by the pro-
cession of the Orange lodges, with all their banners and
msignia. The mayor of the town, Mr. Strange, it was
known was in feeling entirely with the Orangemen
and his brother, one of the masters of a lodge, was'
most active in supporting the notion of a procession.
With him was a Mr. Flannigan, a butcher of Kingston,
and a Tom Robinson, whom I was told was a plumber
and painter in a small way of business.

Such were the men who proposed to dictate to a
whole province, and such were the men whom the angry

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KINGSTON.

zeal of party politics for a time elevated to a position
which enabled them to insult tlieir Prince and guest
with impunity, and almost mar the effect of one of
the grandest and most enthusiastic progresses which
royalty was ever welcomed with. Tlie Orange ques-
tion at Toronto for a moment fell into the background,
and the whole interest of the movement centered in
the little town of Kingston. A copy of the letters
sent by the Duke of Newcastle from Montreal, and
Sir Edmund Head from Ottawa, were duly trans-
mitted to Mr. Strange, the Mayor of Kingston, and by
him communicated to the Town Council. On this
there was a momentary appearance of hesitation. Each
party, for and against the movement, wrote little articles
to the daily papers; third parties interfered in other
journals, and fourth parties enunciated opinions in
peculiar organs, to compromise matters, and of course
made them worse than ever. The hesitation, however,
was only momentary, and the resolution of the Orange-
men was soon come to. As tliey never for one moment
believed that the Duke would continue firm, they
determined that Orange arches should be erected, and
the Prince should be received with an Orange pro-
cession in attendance on the Corporation, and with
none other. This resolution, I was assured, was
privately encouraged to the very utmost by telegrams
from the chief Orange leaders of Toronto, exhorting
Kingston to stand firm and insist on an Orange
demonstration, and that 15,000 Orangemen would do
the same at Toronto. Yet tliese very leaders were
afterwards, it was said, the first to back out of the
whole affair, when they found that the public feeling
of Canada was against them, and one, the most con-
spicuous of all, was foremost in congratulating the
Duke on the firm stand he had made ai^aiiist the dicta,-

3rs were

THE ORANGE ARCH.

185

tion of the lodges. Thus stimulated by Toronto, and
further urged forward by Mr. Flannigan, and the
Mayor's brother, the thing of course went forward at
Kingston, accompanied, as is usual in such cases, by
the strongest protestations of loyalty and respect, and
the constant assertion, that what was being done was
entirely for the Prince's own good. Two Orange
arches were accordingly erected in the chief thorough-
fares of Kingston, through which the Prince would pass.
Except as sources of keen ill-feeling, these would have
been totally unworthy of note, so poor and paltry were
they both in design and execution. The first one, and
the best, was merely papered with orange paper and
with rather a handsome model of the Ark of the
Covenant at the top. The sides were filled in with the
Orange societies' insignia, with portraits of Garibaldi
and the Prince, the latter with the motto of " The
faith of my forefathers and mine," a portrait of
"William III., of glorious, pious, and immortal
memory;" little banners containing the names of
Baker, Walker, and Murray, of Londonderry fame,
with scrolls of " No Surrender," and other mottoes
equally inappropriate to the occasion. Whether public
attention was so" much engrossed in the erection of this
trophy, which after the Prince's wishes on the subject
could only be regarded as insulting, or whether they
wished to render it more conspicuous by not erecting
others, I cannot say; but it is certain that scarcely any
other attempts were made at decorating the town, and
that the few arches that -.vere put up were worse
than any he had seen on his way through the woods
from Arnprior to Almonte. Of course the Koyal suite
soon heard of this wanton discourtesy, and a private
intimation was conveyed to Kingston that the Orange
procession must be given up, or the Prince would not

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KINGSTON.

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land. The Mayor accordingly issued an order that
there would be no municipal procession whatever, upon
which some of the Orangemen met, and, encouraged
by Mr. Flannigan and Toronto telegrams, decided with
a good deal of hot-headed talk about giving His Koyal
Highness a lesson, that they would receive him with
an Orange procession, and with such a display onlj-,
and tliat if the Prince did not like it he might leave it
and not land at all.

The " Kingston" steamer, with the Royal party, was
expected to arrive about noon ; but with a view of
allowing the people of Kingston time to change their
minds, the arrival of the boat was much delayed.
This delay was made entirely in the hope that tlie
Orangemen would have better taste and more loyalty
than to insist on insulting their young Prince and
guest, but it was made in vain, for by ten o'clock in the
day the obnoxious procession began to muster in all
sorts of tawdry finery, marching along to the tunes of
the "Boyne Water," and "Croppies lie down." When
they really had formed up in a long line to the number
of some 800 or 1,000, it seemed difficult to believe that
a set so worthless, and apparently so little entitled to
the least consideration, could really force their pro-
cession on the town and begin a movement of dictation
to the Prince which, for aught is known, may yet lead
to unpleasant consequences in Upper Canada. They,
of course, were all Irish, and all belonging to the
working classes. None were without orange ribands
and cockades, many had the crimson cloaks of the
Royal Scarlet Society, as it is termed, and all these
faded S3^mptoms of display were more or less stained
with the unmistakeable traces of tavern wassail, wliich,
in Kingston at least, forms a most important feature

Every third man carried

ill Orange organisation

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THE ORANGE PROCESSION.

187

a banner with " No Surrender " mottoes, or painted
likenesses of King William, and a large minority had
drawn swords, with which they flourished and vapoured
and marshalled the others, as if about to lead them
into action direct. There were plenty of men who
acted as chaplains to the lodges, and who were dressed
as much like clergymen as their dirty surplices could
make them, with orange bows and orange ribands over
all. Their chief leader, Mr. Kobinson, in a medley
costume, like a broken down circus rider, went about
with others on horseback, haranguing each Lodge,
exhorting them to stand by their colours, and die by
their colours rather than give way. In making such
arrangements the morning passed. The weak remon-
strances and lukewarm entreaties of the authorities of
the town were of course of no avail ; the Orangemen
replied that either the Prince or the Orangemen must
give way, and it should not be the Orangemen if they
stood there for a month.

The spot chosen for the landing of the Prince was
near the battery, a small work commanding the ap-
proach to the town from Lake Ontario, and surrounded
by high stone walls, which prevented its being seen into
from the adjoining street. Here the chief authorities
of the town were in waiting, and here Captain Flannigan
brought down his troop of Volunteer Cavalry, all
wearing the Orange riband and insignia on their uni-
forms, the gallant Captain himself being so covered
with such tawdry decorations as to look at a distance
like a General officer. This innovation in uniform
was at once noticed, and Captain Flannigan was re-
quested by the Commandant to take them oflf himself
and desire his men to do the same. This, in my
presence, he at once promised to do, and removed his
decorations, but when the Commandant turned his

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188

KINGSTON.

back he again put them on, and went out and told his
men he had promised to take off his decorations, and
had done so, but as he had said nothing about when
they were to be put on again, he had chosen to put
them on immediately. The men cheered at this evasion,
which somehow appeared to excite general admiration
and applause. At last the " Kingston " steamer came in
sight, was received with a Royal salute, and great was
the excitement as she came alongside the wharf, for
everyone made sure that the Prince was about to land
forthwith, and the Orangemen cheered, not so much in
welcome to the Prince, but almost solely and entirely
for what they rather prematurely considered was their
own undoubted victory over their young guest. But
an hour passed, and yet another, and still he did not
land. At first it was said he was putting on his uniform,
next that he was receiving addresses, then that he would
land privately. At last the truth came out in the form
of an official verbal intimation from the I;Tayor to the
Orangemen that His Royal Highness woiild not land
to join any partisan procession of the kind ; that His
Royal Highness would remain t:ll nine o'clock the next
morninf? to allow them time to think over it, and if the
demonstration were then persisted in he would leave
Kingston altogether. The chiefs of the movement,
upon this, held another short council, at which it was
determined nem. con. that His Royal Highness might
quit Kingston if he chose, but that land he should not
without the Orange procession to accompany him.
With this resolution the procession at last broke up
at five in the afternoon, and horsemen went flying
through the town all night, warning the members of
the Lodges that the Prince might try and land privately
at eight a.m. next morning, and that, therefore, it
behoved them to be out and stii.ing with their pro-

H f ! ■

THE PRmCE DECLINES TO LAND. 189

cession early. Thero was a masquerading procession
through the town that night, and the houses refused
to illuminate, and there was an unusual amount of
drunkenness among the common people, and a great
deal of vapouring stupid talk about their resistance
to the Prince's wishes being supported by their Orange
brothers across the water; that the Orangemen in Ire-
land could shake him on his throne, &c., with other
nonsense of the same kind, which angry ignorant men
;vill talk, but which one hardly expected to hear from
those who claimed to be the only loyal subjects in
Canada.

At eight o'clock on the morning following, the
Orangemen were again at their posts in procession
round the battery, and so hour after hour passed till
mid-day, and the thing began to wear a ridiculous and
undignified aspect. There were the Prince and his
party quietly in the steamer off the battery, and there
were Orangemen outside standing obstinately in the
road, as they had done all the previous day, showing
however, unmistakeable signs of their having kept it
up rather late the night before, and from the effect of
which debauch a rather large number appeared to have
not entirely recovered. At last Lord Lyons came
ashore to inform the authorities that the Prince would
leave in an hour, and to convey to an American com-
pany of volunteers His Koyal Highness's regrets that
he would not be able to have the pleasure of seeinc.
them at Kingston. \Vith this intimation came an
invitation from the Duke of Newcastle to the Mode-
rator and Synod of the Presbyterian Church, and to
the Mayor and Corporation of the town of Kingston
to present their addresses to the Prince on board the
steamer before he left. This the members of the
xresbjtenaii Church at once did. The Mayor and

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KINGSTON.

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Corpor ;u ' ( pfused to present theirs unless the Prince
IftlHUd, ana ^hus the antliorities became in n manner
accessories aft*'r the fact to thu insult offered by the
Oranp;omen. I^y their apologists their refusal was
«xcubetl on the grui nd that they feared molestation
feoin the Orangemen, if they hud consented to such a
step. J'i.vs, however, was not o, and their refusal
arose from no other cause than tliat of strong sym-
pathy with the Orange processionists. Before leaving
the Duke addressed the following letter to the Mayor
of Kingston : —

" Oflf Kiugtson, Sept. 6.

** Sir, — It is with the utmost regret that I now find myself
compelled to take the extreme course contemplated as possible
in my letter to Sir Edmund Head of the 30th of August, which
was immediately communicated to you by His Excellency, and
to advise the Prince of Wales to proceed on his way without
landing in the city of Kingston.

"When we arrived yesterday we found an arch covered
with Orange decorations, and an organised body of many hun-
dreds wearing all the insignia of their order, with numerous
flags, a band, and every accompaniment which characterises
such processions. I could hardly bring myself to believe that
after seeing you and the other gentlemen who accompanied you
on board the steamboat, and fully explaining to you the
motives which actuated my .advice to the Prince, the objections
I tool-: to these party displays on such an occasion, and the
necessary consequences which must ensue, the Orangemen
would b*^ 80 misguided in their own conduct, and j,ct ao
oflfensLvely to the whole of their fellow citizens — Protestra t 'v '
Komau Catholic — as to persevere in their intention of ^if \ ,ic-
ing the Prince from accepting the hospitality of your city.

* * I have been disappointed. The Prince has consented to
wait twto ' 7-four hours to give the Orangemen time to recon-
eider th'ii \o-. j. They adhere to it, and it is my duty,
therefore, i"> /if-'' Vati Prince to pursue his journey.

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LETTER TO THE MAYOR OF KIKOSTOX. 191

Merely to «b.tam from displaying io the . r«eioo of ayou.^
Prmce of nmo la™ year, „f ago, Iho heir lo a .oeftro Ihicf
rule, over ™,ll.o„, of ev.ry form of Chr„t,u„ity, ymbol, of
rehgiou, and pol.feal „rgam».tion »l:ich are , ,torio„,ly
ofteo8.v. lo th, member, of another cre„u, a,,,! whieh iu Je
por .on of the empire have repeatedly produced, „„t only dis-
cord and heartburmug, but riot and bloodshed

" I never doubted the loyalty of the person, composing iho
Orange body. I based my appeal to them on the grouud of
that byalty a.,d o ,,I.e,r good fooling. I did not aak them to
«„6ce . pnnopk, but to f,n-l a flag and ab.tai„ from an
arfclo of dr,.,. I wished the Prince to see the^, but not to
pve countenance to a society which has been disapproved in
Ue. .other country by the Sovereign and legislalure'^of Great
Bnlain. I am told that they represent thU act of mine as
a shght to the Protestant reUgion. Until they can prove that
the ^ea mass of Englishmen who are not Orangemen are al^
no Protestants, it is ,mte unnecessary for mel repult^^
unfounded and absurd a charge.

"I am well aware that such party processions are not illegal
m tbs country as they are in Ireland. This is a conclusfve
answer. ,f 1 asked you, as Mayor, to e.ercise your authority •
but .t IS no answer to my remonstrance. I made it, not a
Secretary for the Colonies, called upon to enforce a la^, but a
a Mmister of the Queen attending the Prnce of Wales bv
command of Her Majesty, in an official visit to this'otny al
he inv,Ut,on of rts Legislature ; and I ask you in what pol
^on wou^d the Pnnce be placed by my sanction if he were now
to pass through such a scene as was prepared for him (whrcl
happens not to be forbidden by tl« Colonial Legislature and
next ye.„ v.»,t the north of Ireland, where he cLd not b^a

Ct^V " ''"''"'™ ""'"" ™""-S "'"I-™ of ti»

"His Koyal Highness will continue the route which had
been prepared for him. but in any place where similar"

,J11 ?fT'. """"'"'^ '"» '""^^ w'«">»t an expression of
■e^.^. ^a; MO corporation did not accept the oflbr which I

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192

KINGSTON.

made them, through you, to present their address on board the
steamer — an offer readily accepted by the Moderator and Synod
of the Presbyterian Church in connexion with the Church of
Scotland.

"It is impossible to believe that the members of the Corpo-
ration were influenced by sympathy with the conduct of the
Orangemen, but I fear such a construction is too likely to be
put upon their decision.

"I am. Sir, yjour very obedient servant,

" Newcastle.
" The Worshipful the Mayor of Kingston."

The announcement that the Prince was about to
leave was only considered by the Orangemen as a weak
ruse to get them out of the way, so they closed up their
(by this time) rather disorderly ranks firmer than ever.
At last the Royal steamer moved away from the battery,
and the Orangemen called out 'that he was going to
land privately some two miles below the town. If
such a step had been likely it would, one would have
thought, have been a sufficient humiliation for the
Prince to satisfy even the hot-headed zealots of King-
ston. But this was not so, and off they started at a
run to get their procession to the landing before him.
They had only the exercise, however, for their pains,
for the steamer stood westward up the lake, and in a
few minutes was out of sight.

When he was really gone the people were, of course,
bitterly angry, though they affected to consider the whole
thing a victory and decided triumph for the Orange
party. A mass meeting was instantly held, at which
some very violent language was used against both the
Prince and the Duke, and it was decided privately that
all the Orangemen of Kingston that could follow to the
places where the Prince was likely to land should at
once do so, and meet him at the various landing-towns
with their flags and banners, and try everywhere to

WCASTLE.

ORANGE DESCENT UPON BELLEVILLE. 193

compel him to accept tlieir procession, or not land at
all. riiis was done accordingly, and a large party
started at once for Belleville, the next town at which the
Irnice was to disembark. To Tom Robinson was
given the charge of this detachment, and of course
under the management of that ranting demagogue the
party succeeded m offering another inhospitable insult
to their invited guest. They travelled over-night with
their bnriners, band, and other insignia, and arrived in
tune to form something like a procession at Belleville
If anything was wanted to show the animus of the
miserable persecution it was this step. The Orange
men of Kingston had, according to their notions,' a
light to do^ what they liked in their own town, and, of
course, having that place completely under their con-
trol, could dictate whatever offensive ceremonies they
pleased, as to the manner in which their guest was to
be received. But when they had insisted on their own
petty affront, and carried it to an extent that drove the
Prince away, they might surely have remained content
wi h their most inhospitable and disloyal victory, and
left other towns to decide for themselves whether they
would allow their royal guest to land, or keep him
wandering in a steamboat rejected from the very cities
to which he had been invited. But there was an
avariciousness of insult about the Kingston dema-
gogues that was not to be satiated with merely expel-
ling the Prince from that township. It was not
every day that men like Mr. Flannigan or Mr. Robin-
son had opportunities of compelling royaltv to bow
before their opposition, and turn back from iheir own
town to avoid their insults. As it was not likely that
hey would soon again have an opportunity of insult-

ing another Pnnce of W-la- +i, j T,

.,- , , - ^- ^'^ >'"ie.-,, they made the most of

the chance they had.

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194

KINGSTON.

With regard to Belleville it is only doing the people
of that pretty town mere justice to say that they had
abandoned all idea of forcing an Orange procession on
the Prince, and the Orange arches which had been
erected had been denuded of their partisan symbols.
The chief authorities implored the Orangemen not to
assemble as Orangemen ; and the ladies signed a peti-
tion to the County and Grand Masters of the Lodges
to the same eifect, praying that the Prince miglit be
allowed to land. The Belleville Orangemen did relent,
and no procession would have been formed but for the
arrival of the men from Kingston. The importation of
these firebrands soon decided the matter, and their
vulgar declamation about giving the Prince a lesson
was, unfortunately, listened to by many of the Belleville
deputy masters. The result was that an Orange pro-
cession was improvised on the very spot where the
Prince was to land, though I was assured that more
than nine-tenths of it was entirely composed of King-
ston men and supplied with Kingston banners. The
Prince's steamer came ; His Royal Highness saw the
old "No Surrender" and other Orange flags, and,
without making any stay at all, the vessel turned round
at once and went avvay to Cobourg. For all any at
Belleville knew, the royal party might have been short
of provisions on board, and, in fact, this would actually
have been the case but for the care of Mr. Bose, who
privately sent a quantity on board before the vessel
quitted Kingston. I, however, quite believe that the
party might have been half starved ere Messrs. Flan-
nigan and Robinson would have furled a single banner
or abated one item of their persevering annoyance.

At the little town of Cobourg, which was the next in
the route from Belleville, no procession was attempted,
though it was not the fault of the Kingston men that

cession on

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RECEPTION AT COBOITEGt. I95

one was not insisted on. Mr. Fiannigan, and Mr
Strange the M:,vor of Kingston's brotbe';. LvW en:
rusted the Belleville insult to Eohinson, took charge of
Cobourg themselves, and with a number of OrL»e
flags and banners hurried up by train f.om Kingstol
Their commg and their purpose was at once tele-
graphed o the authorities, and by a .curious eoinci-
dence it h..ppened that the train stopped so long at
various stations, that it soon got half-an-hour, then an
hour, then an hour and a half, and then two hours
behind time, to the boundless annoyance and wrath of
Messrs^ Flanmgan and Co. The result of this une^-
VecUd delay was, that the Prince had been received at
Cobourg before the train arrived, and the cliance of a
further affront to the royal guest was lost. In fact a
reaction of feeling was beginning. The Orange Lodges
of Cobourg said they preferred deciding for them-
selves, without the aid or coercion of tlie Kingston
men ; and decide they did at once, in favour of the
Princes wislies, and gracefully and wiUiugly. No
Orange procession was thouglit of. The town gave the
Pnnce a brilliant reception, and a very well-arranged
bal, at winch His Eoyal Highness danced till near
daylight on the 7th.

From this fete he of course came out completely vie-

torious Gentlemen were there from Peterborough

and ^Vhitby, and even Toronto. Whatever Orange

scliemes they might have entertained while His Eoyal

Highness was at a distance disappeared fur ever from

leir minds that night, and the idea of forcing any-

thing on a young guest, whose good-humoure.l courtesy

won all hearts, became out of the question. With

such favourable impressions, too. was mingled a vague

bu strong Idea that he had been in the right after all

and had maintained the dignity of his own liigh posi-

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KINGSTON.

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tion with firmness and with moderation. Before the
P 'ince was ready to start next morning, telegrams of
entreaty that he would visit them, and promises that
no Orange display of any kind or sort would be per-
mitted, came in from Peterborough, Port Hope, Whitby,
and even from the head-quarters of Orangeism — the
splendid capital of Upper Canada — Toronto itself.

CHAPTER IX.

-♦-

TORONTO.

of the Progress-Excursion to Colling wood-- IndiL S«'"

On the morning following the reception at Cobour^
It was evident that the Orange difficulty was fast
coming to an end. Even the fiercest partisans no
longer spoke of anything but submission-suUenly and
with reluctance at first, it is true; but still it was sub-
mission, and one at which three-fourths of the lodge
members rejoiced exceedingly. The quiet determina-
tionoftheDuke of Newcastle at the commencement
of the movement at Kingston, the certahity that the
same firmness would be shown throughout, the feeling
ot indignation that was aroused through the province
at the Idea of its royal guest being afi^ronted and
excluded from the places to which he had come on
invitation; and, above all, the violent language, and still
more unjustifiable conduct, of the Kingston Lodge
gradually brouglit about a reaction, which put a decided
check on the whole affair.

The whole ebullition had.

as I have said, b(

^.- 1 , " ^"■"■- "^ i »ave said, been

entirely due to political causes. Properly managed,

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TORONTO.

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an amount of political capital might have heen made
out of it sufficient to have driven the present Cartier and
Macdonald ministry from power. But the Kingston men
who were chosen to fight the battle, and whose reputation
for fanatical obstinacy justly stood so high in the pro-
vince, that it was thought if any men could do it they
could, fell into a very common mistake in such matters,
and overdid their parts. The result was, that they
alienated and disgusted many of their best lodges ; by
their own violence they, at the very outset, checked a
movement which might have given most serious cause of
trouble ; they did not upset the ministry, or even much
shake it; and the opposition of Canada was and is still
out of office. It was a grievous want of tact on the part
of those who secretly pulled the strings, to entrust the
execution of a scheme so delicate and so fraught with
danger to hot-headed men of the Flannigan and
Robinson stamp. If the Kingston people had been
content with showing their own most mistaken and
inhospitable feeling of independence, I believe that it
was more than probable one or two other towns would
have been silly enough to follow their example. But
when Messrs. Flannigan and Co. went beyond this,
and determined, as at Belleville, to follow the Prince
through to other places, and, by the exhibition of
their banners, oppose his landing, it wore a very
diiferent aspect. The mass of the Protestants, who, of
course, were not Orangemen, were indignant at the
determined annoyance with which their Prince was
threatened, while the gentlemen connected with the
Orange societies found their standing and position in
the order overborne by the outcry of a handful of
vulgar subordinates. The grief and indignation of the
people of Belleville, who had decorated their town
with exquisite care, and who saw the Prince turned

REACTION".

199

away from it by the Kingston fanatics, also had its
effect. Above all, every woman in the province, no
matter of what rank or age, of course, took the part of
the Piince with such determined energy, that popular
feeling underwent a reaction ; all the stronger for its
being so sudden. It began to be told how Kingston,
that had made no preparation or decoration beyond its
offensive Orange arch, could well afford to keep the
Prince from seeing the nakedness of the little place.
But all the other towns, from Peterborough to Sarnia
had determined to give him a brilliant royal welcome'
and almost choked at the idea that their trouble and
expense might be rendered of no avail by the act of a
few demagogues from another town, who, having
achieved the disgrace of expelling the Prince, and
feehng rather doubtful of the triumph, could only hope
to mitigate their humiliation by getting others to share
It by following their disloyal example. The idea, too, of
a few zealots, like Flannigan, or a bar-room orator
of the Tom Robinson sort, suddenly determining to
give laws to the whole province, and exclude the Prince
irom his mother's own dominions, became rather too
much for the other societies ; so Kingston was voted to
have committed a stupid insult, and the Flannigan
chque little better than a public nuisance.

So the Prince went to Peterborough by rail, crossing
en route the little inland sheet of water called Lake
Rice, on the shores of which he was met by a party of
Indians, who fired a royal salute from muskets, and
who, with a small band of native musicians, welcomed
him with " God save the Queen," played with extreme
slowness and careful pauses, as if the orchestra was
rather doubtful of its powers in quick movements. At
Peterborough there were some beautiful decorations,
and long addresses and replies, and, above all, there

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200

TO^:ONTO.

were tremendous cheers of welcome, compared to
which, in the eyes of the Kingston emissaries, gall and
v.ormwood would have been luxuries. From Peter-
borough the royal j^arty returned by rail to Port Hope,
a very pretty little town on the northern shore of Lake
Ontario, and a centre of Orange organisation, reported
to be not inferior in determination to any in Upper
Canada. Tliere it was very likely an Orange pro-
cession would hivve been formed, but for the conduct
of the Kingston men, whose overbearing interference
again turned all against them. Nevertheless, some
among the crowd called out the Orange watchword,
" No surrender ! " as the Prince stepped ashore, while
several shouted that for no man living save the
Prince of Wales would they have given in — a statement
which admitted of no doubt whatever. On the whole,
however, the efforts of the turbulent few at Port Hope
were entirely discouraged by the chiefs of the party,
who would have enforced greater rigour but that they
feared losing their influence altogether, and giving the
lead to the most violent members, who were already
clamouring for it. At Whitby there was a great con-
course of people, who received His Royal Highness
with unalloyed manifestations of delight and loyalty ;
and there, addresses having been duly received and
acknowledged, the Prince again embarked on board
the steamer " Kingston" for Toronto, only a few miles
distant.

There had been at first great doubts whether the
Prince would be able to land at 'J'oronto at all ; for
Kingston men had been very busy, and not without
success, among the lowest ranks of the Orange asso-
ciation. Mr. Hilyard Cameron, a solicitor of great
eminence, and the grand master of the Lodges of Upper
Canada, had, it was alletfed bv his friends, dono liis

• >

THK ORANGEMEN YIELD. £01

Utmost to prevent a demonstration, and in this he had
been szncere y backe.l by all the respectable members
of the soeiety, and, of course, by Protestants of every

Tor a gentleman possessing such influence as Mr
Cameron was known to possess among the Orangemen'
his mterference seemed, for some unaccountable reason
or other, to be of very little avail. I'here was a rooted
belief among the Ora„gen.en, that what little he did
pubhcly to cheek them was merely to keep up appear
ances, ,,„d that n, his heart he wished the n,aL. [o go
lorw,, , the utmost. Certain it is, that the Orange-
men at Jungston openly related that they were encou-
raged to hold out by teleg,.au,s from Mr. Cameron; and
though I tUd not see any of these alleged me,sa,^es I
was told of the fact of their arrival b/gentleme"! who
sa d bey had seen them, and had read their contel s!
Of tl e e facts however, I cannot speak of my own
knowledge and merely repeat them as they were open!
and pubhcly spoken of at the time. It was stro, 2
w.shed to form an Orange procession in Toronto • to
m th,s matter Mr. Cameron appears to have x rted
himself energetcally, and supported as he was by
nea y all the inhabitants, who were determined to risk
anything rather than that the Prince should be dr ven
away, the Orangemen reluctantly yielded. So a so
compromise was effected, and it was agreed that the
Oi mge demonstration should take place at two o'clock

Icl ff P ™ ^'■''"°' "•='' '" "'^ ""'i" ^"'^et, under
will he Prince would have to pass on bis wav tLrou^l^

It was i^ot coloured orange, being' intended

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202

TORONTO.

to represent the gate of Londonderry; but it had several
Ornnge insignia on it, with a transparency of King
William III. crossing the Boyne, witli the figures
"1G88" and the motto, " Tlie glorious, pious, and
immortal memory of King William III." These trans-
parencies were placed on both sides of the arch, while
the top was surmounted with tlie usual Orange emblem
of a Bible and Crown, and its accompanying motto,
"These we maintain."

Except for the unfortunate misunderstandings and
ill-feeling to which this arch gave rise, it would scarcely
be worth mentioning; for even the Orangemen admitted
with a smile that, as an arch, it was the ugliest obstruc-
tion the Prince had seen.

Of course, the Governor- General and the Duke of
Newcastle heard of this arch, and Mr. Wilson, the
Mayor of Toronto, was at once written to and informed
that the Prince would pass under no party memo-
rials of the kind. The Mayor replied that tlxe Orange
insignia would be removed, and that the Orange-
men had consented to take down the transparencies
of King William with their party mottoes, substituting
a portrait of the Prince of Wales. The change in
the portraits was to be made accordingly on the night
the Prince was at Cobourg. But the Kingston men
were in Toronto when this pacific alteration was pro-
posed, and during the night worked upon the feelings
of the violent members of the Irish party to such an
extent, that on the morning the Prince was to land
they came to a determination that King William should
remain where he was. Mr. Gamble, the city solicitor,
took a letter to the duke from the IMayor stating that
the intended change had been effected, though it had,
not; and Mr. Gamble himself made no mention of the
fact that the Oranjje arch was as much an Orange arcli

% ^

ston men

BEAUTY OP DECORATIONS. 203

as ever, and tlmt it was iiiteruled to represent tlie rrate
of Deny. Relying, however, upon tlie assurance of
the Mayor, the duke at once came on.

With the single exception of this areli, all the deco-
rations of loronto were exquisitely heautiful. At the
landing-place a pavilion had been erected, surrounded
with a wi.le amphitheatre of seats, with a magnificent
lofty arch in the centre, which cost upwards of 3000
dollars. I he main street, too, was a perfect arcade of
arches, having in the centre, where four streets met a
trophy which deserves especial mention. It was in
shape hke the old Market Cross at Salisbury, or the
peculiar vaulted arch which supports the spire of Salis-
bury Cathedral. It was composed entirely of pine
covered with rough pine bark. Where the four ribs of
the arch met in the centre, over King Street, was a
magnificent crown, almost large enough to accommo-
date a dinner party inside it. All the ribs of the arch
were covered with sheaves of ripe corn. At the corners
whence the arches sprang were tall waving plants of
Indian corn, wdth large open-work baskets filled full of
melons, apples, peaches, and grapes, with other fruit
and vegetable products of the colony, which just then
were in full season. Altogether, the whole idea, as a
kind of autumnal harvest-home welcome, was admirable
and the beautiful lines of the arch enabled the effect tj
be carried out to the best and most poetical advantage.
Before the Prince arrived the Orange procession
marched through the town in great state ; and cer-
tainly, both in the appearance of the members, in
richness of dress, and in banners, it differed as widely
from the display made by the Kingston people as
light from darkness. It was intended that this parade
should not occupy more than an hour, but at four «nd
live clock the men were still abroad, and people

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TORONTO.

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began to fear that the Prince wouhl not come. Tho
precursor of royalty throughout this tour — the dull,
heavy rain — which soon set in, made them easy on this
score, for it seemed evident, from the way it lowered
and fell in heavy drops, that the Prince was really
going to land. It was strange that, throughout all the
tour, only at Kingston and Uelleville had the Piince
had a clnmce of disembarking with fair weather and
clear skits, and at both those places he was not allowed
to put bis foot ashore.

It Wiis getting dark on the evening of the 7th as the
royal steamer was seen winding round the long spit of
land which stretches out before Toronto, and forms for
its commerce one of the most perfect natural harbours
in the world. Among those who knew that the Orange
arch was intended to represent the gate of Londonderry,
and that the lodges had refused to remove the trans-
parency of King William crossing the Boyne, the
announcement of the arrival created a great sensation,
for it was scarcely hoped that the Prince would pass
under it along the route arranged for the corterje. Very
few were aware that in these matters the Mayor had
deceived the Duke of Newcastle, and that the Iloval
party relied entirely on the reiterated assurance given
that no party emblems had been erected. So the Prince
came to the landing-place-. All the amphitheatre was
filled with ladies and gentlemen, the lower seats being
occupied by nearly 3,000 children dressed in white.
As the Prince stepped on shore all these infant voices
broke out with the National Anthem, and the effect of
the whole scene — the dark, gloomy sunset over Lake
Ontario — the cheering of the crowd outside, just heard
over the strong, solemn chorus of the children — the
flags of tlie arches, and the dim illuminations of the
city in the distance, along the streets of which the

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THE onANOB AltCII.

eos

crowds wore runnn.g «,Hl, a groat rn-'. '.,- tl.ousands
a 1 n.,„lo ,t one of thos« pictorial an.I poetical ,li„pl„ys
wlnoli no dosonption, however vivid, can recall The™
was a sense of relief, too, mingled with the f..,.li„„ of
.■ejo>c,n.,„h,chledtl,e crowds gradnallv to join with
the amhen,, wh.ch went pealing out over the water in a
grand v,dnn,e of sonnd, enongh ahnost to be henrd on
the shores o( the United States beyond. An address
was I'«'«ented by the civic authorities, whicd, there was
consnlemble d.ftcnlty in reading, even with the aid of
lights, ior the n,ght had now fallen and was dark and
mndy At the conclusion of this the procession was
formed an,l, followed by h,„,dreds of people eheerin-r
he 00,./,^,. wonnd tln-ough the „rincip„l streets to the'
old r Mdence of the (iovernor of the IVovince, which,
hke all the other resting places of His Royal Ili.diness
had been carefully prepa.,,, fo,. his aeeounnodationlr;
«.e most sp end.d s^yle. The Chief Counnissiouer of
Pubhc Works, tl,e Hon. John Hose, had ch„rge of al
t le arrangen,ents for the I'dnce's tour throughout, and
a every single place, whether among the wilds of the
Upper Ottawa, across the woods f.'om Arnprior to
^monte, or at the little towns like liro<:kville or
Sherbrook, they were perfect to a degree that elicited
not a,hmrat.on only, but almost the astonishment of
he royal party. While on his way to the Governu.en
.OS dence, however, the Prince passed under the Orange
arc h. Its character was not seen by the ])uke of New-
castle, who was sitting with his back to tlio horses, until

hunahs ! Iroui Orangemen, and cries of '• No sur-
Tl „ "' *'" ""'""ge "ent beneath it, hut this

n<lS iUl.

Even at that hour, had there been time to have turned
.Jc horses and gone .by another route, the duke would

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206

TORONTO.

have done so ; but it was too late, and, ere it was fairly
seen, the Prince had passed it. For the rest, all the
houses were gaily illuminated, and thousands were
in the streets, a great many wearing Orange ribands;
but the popular feeling being strong in favour of
giving the Prince a welcome, independent of partisan
feeling of any kind, the St. George's Temperance
Society, with one or two other associations of the same
kind, joined the procession with their flags and banners,
in which it was said, amid the darkness and hurry, a
iew of the Orange flags were mixed. But of this fact
I cannot speak of my own knowledge, for it was much
too dark, notwithstanding the illuminations, to dis-
tinguish anything with accuracy, and all the Orangemen
seemed quite content with their victory in haviv^ j got
His Royal Highness to pass under their arch without
just then venturing anything further. The greatest
blaze of light which was shed on the procession was at
the Eossin House, the principal hotel in Canada, where
many of the royal suite were to stay, and which was
illuminated from top to bottom as if it was on fire, and
viewing the cortege from that point I certainly could
not distinguish any Orange banners in it.

When His Royal Higliness arrived at the Govern-
ment House the Duke of Newcastle at once had an
interview with the Mayor, and in the strongest terras
complained of the deceit which had been practised on
the Prince, and of the manner in which, relying upon
the Mayor's promise that all party emblems had been re-
moved, His Highness had been entrapped into passing
under the Orange arch. The Duke of Newcastle also
stated that, if some apology or explanation were not
given for such an afifront, he would feel it his duty to
advise the Prince either to leave the city, or to mark
his sense of the deceit practised upon him by deciiuiug

DUPLICITY or THE MAYOR.

207

to receive the Mayor or any other members of the
corporation who had been parties to it at his lev^e on
the following day. His worship requested time to
convene the Common Council, in order that a formal
answer might be returned on the following morning;
and to this, of course, the duke at once consented.

Saturday, the 8th of September, was fixed for a
grand review of the volunteers ; but the weather, as
usual, was in the highest degree unfavourable ; and as
at Newfoundland, as at Halifax, as at Prince Edward
Island, at Quebec, at Montreal, at Ottawa, at all the
resting-places along the route, the rain came down in
torrents. The review, of course, became out of the
question. The rain would have been too heavy even
for an inspection of Canadian lumberers, so it was
early announced that only the levee would take place.
The Duke of Newcastle waited long in the expectation
of receiving some reply from the Mayor of Toronto in
the matter of the Orange arch. None came, however,
and accordingly his grace sent the following letter to
Mr. Wilson : —

" Government House, Toronto, Sept. 8.

" Sir,— I deeply regret that you have not thought fit to send
any explanation of the occurrence of which I ma<le complaint
to you last evening.

" I would not willingly revert to any cause of ofi"ence after
the most magnificent and warm-hearted reception which the
Prince of Wales met with in this city yesterday ; but there are
matters which cannot be overlooked without loss of honour and
position. You distinctly informed me that the transparency
of William HI. was removed, and one of the Prince of Wales
was substituted. I reUed upon your word, and the consequence
was that the Prince was thereby led into doing what I had
distinctly informed you he would not do. As the levee is
announced to be hold at this house, no alteration will be made;

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208

TOE ONTO.

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I'M-- 3

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but I hope you will see the propriety of not attending it so long
as this matter is unexplained and no reparation offered.

" I am, sir, &c.,

" Newcastle.
" P.S. — I reopen my letter to say that yours has been this
moment (eleven o'clock) received. I trust the result of the
meeting may be satisfactory ; but I am sure you must feel that
the reparation must precede any further communication.
" The Worshipful the Mayor of Toronto."

Just before this letter was despatched, a note from
the Mayor was forwarded to Government House. It
was to this document that the P.S. of the Duke of
Newcastle referred. By this time it had become more
generally known that the arch was built to represent
the gate of Londonderry; but, as a matter of course,
such information was not forwarded to the duke ; and
among strangers it was thought, on the whole, to be
rather a concession on the part of the Orangemen that
they had not adopted their party tinge to paint theu-
arch, but had, on the contrary, used common stone
colour. The letter of the Mayor, to which the post-
script of the duke referred, was as follows : —

*' Mayor's Office, Toronto, Sept. 8.
"My Lord Duke, — In consequence of the very painful
interview your grace did me the honour of holding with me
last evening respecting the portrait of King William III.,
which has been placed on the arch erected by the Orangemen
of this city, and which was to have been dispensed with, and
one of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales adopted for it ;
and respecting also the communication specifying the proposed
change which I htid the honour of addressing to his Excellency
the Governoi -General a few days since, and which was permitted
to remain uncontradicted, either by the later communication to
his Excellency, or by any personal statement, I have convened
the council for this morning at half-past nine o'clock, when I
trust to be enabled to make .an exD'ana^^'rin and nn<^lnfT\r+A vr.nr

■f: ■ SI !■'

"■ V,

THE mayor's APOi^OGY. 209

" I *™''» have held this meeting last night, but I could
find neither clerks nor messengers, and I was told I should have
had stdl ^eater difficulty in finding the members.
" I have the honour to be, my Lord Duke,

" Your Grace's most obedient humble servant,
" AiAM WiLSOH, Mayor.
" To his Grace the Duke of Newcastle."

The levee took place at the time announced in the
programme. It was of the usual dull routine style of
all the others which preceded it, though certainly not
nearly so numerously attended as those at Quebec or
Montreal Of course, after the intimation conveyed in
the duke s letter, neither the Mayor nor any members
of the common council presented themselves- and it
was soon noised abroad that they had attended the
levee and been refused the honour of a presentation to
His Eoyal Highness because they were Orangemen.
The mob never stopped to consider (as what mob
does?), that had the rule of excluding Orangemen as
Orangemen been laid down and enforced, very few
would have been presented at all. So the rumour
spread that an insult had been offered to the city in
the person of its municipality, and all the old Orancre
animus was revived among the lower orders of society
with greater force than ever. The Kingston emissaries
who till then had found their occupation gone, at one
perceived thcr chance, and improved upon it. While
these worthies were expatiating on the wrong done so
unjustly to the city, the Mayor and common council
had met, and the Mayor had written and sent his letter
of apology to the duke, an apology which admitted the
<l>:c..upracnsea-whichin fact stated that it was the first

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time his worship had ever been guilty of such an act, and
which promised, if the offence was overlooked, that he
would never be guilty of it again. It was as follows : —

" Mayor's OflSce, Toronto, Sept. 8.

" My Lord Duke, — Adverting to the interview which your
Grace did me the honour of holding with me last evening on
the subject of the transparency of King William III. on the
Orangemen's arch, in this city, and the letter which I had the
honour of addressing to his Excellency the Governor-General,
stating that such a decoration was not to have been placed
there, I am now desirous of acknowledging to your Grace that
1 ought most undoubtedly to have stated the change which was
subsequently proposed to be made, and which was afterwards,
in fact, made. And although the Roman Catholics were quite
willing to acquiesce, and did acquiesce, in the alteration, it was,
nevertheless, only due to your Grace and to his Excellency
that such a deviation from the understood arrangement should
have been promptly transmitted ; and, looking back to what I
have done from the present view of matters, it may appear that
it was presumptuous on my part to judge whether your Grace
or his Excellency would or would not have esteemed this devia-
tion as of that consequence which it has now assumed.

" There has been much difficulty in arranging satisfactorily
the late threatening and serious state of affairs here, and I trust
I have not been wanting in my efforts to bring about this
pleasing result. It is painful to me, therefore, to feel that I
have even unintentionally failed in dischaiging my duty in this
particular, but it is infinitely more painful to me to think that
your Grace should think that I have omitted to communicate
this information from any unworthy motive, or for the purpose
of compromising His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, your
Grace, or his Excellency the Governor-General ; or even for
the sake of complaisance towards any portion of my fellow-
citizens.

*• I can safely appeal to any one who knows me, and who
I am sure will satisfy your Grace that I would not, unless 1

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Ni I

THE duke's reply. ^U

manner to which your Grace alluded last evening; but I admit
again that much does appear in what has occurred to have
induced your Grace to form the strong opinion which your Grace
gave expression to on the occasion in question

"I have now only to implore your Grace that, whatever
omission or offence I may be chargeable with, it may not be
visited m any manner upon this most loyal city, for as towards
your Grace and his Excellency I am alone to blame.
" I have the honour to be, my Lord Duke,

" Your Grace's most obedient, humble servant,
" Adam Wilson, Mayor.
« His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, &c.»

To the almost abject apology of the Mayor the Duke
of Newcastle replied in the foUowing letter, which ter-
minated the affair : —

"Government House, Toronto, Sept. 8.
" Su-,—! am so sincerely anxious that all the painful events
of the last few days should be at once and for ever buried in
obhvion, and nothing remembered but the heart-stirring scene
which last night proclaimed to the world the unanimous and
enthusiastic loyalty of the city of Toronto, that it is a real
relief to my mind to feel that I can, without any sacrifice of
duty to the Prince of Wales, accept the apology which is offered
by your letter just received. In this spirit I will not continue
a discussion which must have been so painful to you, and has
certamly been no less so to me, but I must point out to you
that It was your letters which really gave an obnoxious character
to the transparency of William III. Nobody can object to a
representation (in itself) of one of the most mustrious of our
kmgs, but when you informed me that the transparency was to
be removed by the Orangemen as an acknowledged party symbol
It at once assumed the objectionable feature of the display which
I had advised the Prince not to countenance, and its restoration
made it impossible for the Prince to pass under the arch with-
out violatmg the terms of my letter to thfl Gnvprn...ne"--"'
I can only hope that from this moment aU differences may as

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completely vanish from the minds of others as they will from
that of

" Sir, yours very obediently,

" Newcastle.
" The Worshipful the Mayor of Toronto."

This closed the correspondence on the subject
between his worship and the duke, and it was inti-
mated to the Mayor and members of the council that,
the matter being forgiven and forgotten, they would
all have the honour of being presented to His Boyal
Highness before the visit to Toronto terminated, which
they were accordingly.

On the evening of the 8th, after the banquet at the
Government House, His Eoyal Highness held a grand
reception at Osgoode Hall. This hall, which, like all
the other public buildings at Toronto, is a really mag-
nificent structure, is at once both the Middle Temple
and Westminster Hall of Upper Canada. The ex-
ternal features of the architecture much resemble, on a
smaller scale, the noble entrance to the British Museum,
while the entrance hall inside is built with a double row
of Gothic columns, and a corridor round it, after the plan
of the hall of Bridgewater House. All the interior is
of massive cut stone, with inlaid tesselated pavement
of the most exquisite designs. The mode of lighting
is from behind coloured glass screens in the ceiling
of each chamber, and the effect of the soft rich Hght
which is thus diffused over the whole is exceedingly
chaste and beautiful. In different parts of the building
the various courts of law are situated, all loftier, more
commodiouH, and better ventilated than those of West-
minster Hall. One side of the hall is entirely occupied
by a splendid library, and in this, as the largest apart-
ment, a raised dais was placed for the Prince. His

DECEPTION AT OSQOODE HALL. 213

and was received by the visitors who had been invited to
meet him at the hall with a great outburst of enthusiasm.
Mr. Hilyard Cameron, the Treasurer of the Law Society
with all the judges and members of the Canadian bar,'
met His Highness in the lower hall, and presented him
with a long and eloquent address, to which the Prince
replied; and this and walking through the courts
formed the only ceremonial part of the business, and
dancing was at once commenced in the library with
some eight or ten sets of quadrilles. Spacious as this
apartment was, however, it was too limited to accom-
modate all who wished to dance ; so, as there were
plenty of bands, auxiliary polkas and waltzes were soon
formed in all the learned nooks and corners of the
buildmg and Courts of Common Pleas and solemn
Halls of Convocation resounded with galops, music
laughter, and the little whisperings of half-concealed
flirtations. The Prince, as usual, danced every dance
till nearly twelve o'clock, and the duke, who never did
dance, was sufficiently occupied in receiving the con-
gi-atulations of the chief members of the Orange Lodges
for the firm stand he had made against violent dicta-
tion. Before twelve o'clock the Prince left, and, as it
was then nearly Sunday morning, every one followed
Ins example, and soon after midnight the spacious
building was silent and deserted.

On Sunday the Prince and suite attended divine
service at St. James's, the beautiful cathedral church
of Toronto, which was situated almost alongside of the
Orange arch. By driving round another way, however
His Royal Highness avoided passing under it, and the
groups of Orangemen who had collected near it were
savagely angry and violent at what they were pleased
to call a shght to their memorial. They soon bpnn^.
more exasperated, and their groans and cries of " No

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surrender!" with yellings at the name of Newcastle,
began almost to disturb the quiet service of the cathe-
dral, round which the mob gathered. Amid cheers
and shouts a large number of Orange banners were
brought down and hung all over the arch, while some
five or six, carried by the most violent of the crowd,
were held near the cathedral door, so that they might
be the first objects seen when the Prince issued from
church. At the conclusion of the service the Prince
and his party passed out through the vestry into the
churchyard to avoid the crowd. In this, however, they
were not quite successful, as they were seen crossing
the inclosure, and there were great groans and hootiugs
at the Duke of Newcastle. None, however, alluded to
the Prince, save when he stepped into his carriage,
when there was a cry raised to cut the traces and drag
the carriage perforce under the Orange arch.

There were, however, too many police on the spot
to make it easy to carry out such a daring affront,
and, as had been remarked, the Orangemen yielded
when their violence was likely to be repelled in kind.
The Prince, therefore, drove away unmolested, and did
not pass under the Orange arch after all, though when
he was seen to turn in another direction the mob
yelled and hooted at " Newcastle " with redoubled
energy. As a Sabbath recreation the whole scene was
certainly not calculated to impress one with the notion
that, in a religious point of view, Orangemen were
a bit more scrupulous or moral than other Pro-
testants.

Tlie Prince did not go out again that day, but the
Duke of Newcastle, with Sir Edmund Head, General
Bruce, and Mr. Engleheart took a short walk through
the city. They were recognised in the principal street,
and soon followed by a little mob hooting and yelling

FATIGUE OF THE PROGRESS.

21&

at the Duke ancl the Governor-General. Two or three
policemen, howe /er, kept the crowd back, and threatened
to make some arrests. But even without this inter-
ference his grace would have run no risk of any per-
sonal violence. Later in the afternoon, by the order
of the various Grand Masters, the Orange banners
were quietly taken down from the arch and returned
to the lodges, and the temporary excitement soon
died out.

Sunday over, and the tour was resumed again with
redoubled vigour.

It has been my lot to attend a great many royal
progresses, visits, and tours for The Times newspaper,
and I therefore know from sad experience, how much
is expected from the illustrious personages on those
occasions ; but I must admit that I have never heard
of any during which the pace of incidents and celebra-
tions was so dreadfully fast as during the Canadian
progress. For instance, on the Monday following
the Orange insult at Toronto, the Prince started early
in the morning and flew up by the Northern Railway
to Collingwood, on Lake Huron, visiting en route
Newmarket, Bradford, and Barrie, receiving and reply-
ing to addresses at each place, and being cheered,
arched, and be-welcomed at all. On the next day,
amid the pouring rein, there was a regatta at eleven
o'clock, at which His Royal Highness was of course
present; at half-past eleven there was a visit to Trinity
College, at twelve there was an inauguration of a park,
at half-past twelve an inspection of Volunteers, at one
a visit to the Toronto University, at two a reception of
Kingston and Belleville deputations, an inauguration
of Horticultural Societies' grounds at three, a visit of
inspection to Knox's College and Normal School at
ibur, and a grand ball in the evening at nine, at which,

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TORONTO.

as usual, the Prince danced every dance till four in tlie
morning. Tlie suite began to think that if the pro-
gramme was to be followed out in that manner, His
Royal Highness was certain to come back a sadder and
a wiser man, for the mere personal fatigue involved in
such continued journeys, balls, addresses, and recep-
tions, was enough almost to affect a constitution of iron.
But the inexhaustible fund of good-humour and good-
nature which' His Royal Highness possessed seemed
enough to carry him through anything, though at this
time I almost feared that arrangements would have to
be made for relieving the suite, who, though of course
not wanting in the amiable characteristics which dis-
tinguished His Royal Highness, did not possess that
charm against all excitement and all fatigue which
belongs alone to youth.

The adventures of Rasselas, as a warning to royal
travellers, were nothing compared to the experience of
the Prince of Wales ; and when it was recollected that
he had to go round through the States by way of
Chicago to Portland, the question which occurred to
every one was, how was he to do it all ? Why wasn't
there a proxy Prince of Wales to go ahead with the
courier, do battle with the Orangemen, collect the
addresses in hampers, and take the rough edge off city
festivities, ere His Highness himself arrived ? Grand
landings, or state balls, might have been reserved for
the real Dauphin of Great Britain, but for the perpetual
opening of parks and halls, which had bee a opened
and in use for years, the long journeys there and back
again, the excursions to see places where nothing was
to be seen, — these might all, with a great saving of time
and inconvenience, have been turned over to a royal
deputy.

As for the mere journalists, who had to go every-

EXCURSION TO COLLINQWOOD. 217

where, see everything— travel all day and write all
night-rel^.ys of them should have been ordered in
advance along the route like post-horses. I must own
that after that dreadful Tuesday at Toronto, I almost
succumbed. Following the Prince from regatta to
review, from review to universities, deputations, inaugu-
rations, parks, pleasure-grounds, colleges, and schools,
and all through such mud and such rain as there was
at Toronto, was enough to fatigue even a " special cor-
respondent," whose forte is popularly supposed to be
an aptitude for doing without meals or sleep, travelling
and sight-seeing twenty-three hours a day, and writing
a long and cheerful history of the whole during the
twenty-fourth.

The excursion to CoUingwood on Monday was, how-
ever, a pleasant affair ; and inasmuch as the trip only
necessitated a journey of 200 miles, with a state visit
to three towns, it was, on the whole, rather a quiet
day tlian otherwise. The firs^, tract of country which
stretches between Toronto city and Lake Huron is of
the quiet, undulating character which distinguishes the
scenery of Lower Canada, where the land has been
partly cleared in some places, and where a general
demolition of the forest growth is Jictively going on at
all. There was no medium in the scenery here. Where
cleared, the land was as level and monotonous as a
vast meadow; and where the clearings ceased, the
eternal mass of pine forests began. The late and
always continuous rains had hastened the advance of
autumn. Already the evenings were very chill; and a
hght frost rested on the ground at night, leaving a
trace in glowing colours on the forests, which deepened
day by day. The full rich green of Canadian wood-
land was altering hourly, the maple had donned its
brightest scarlet, and the swamp ash seemed wreathed

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TORONTO.

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with gold. Every leaf and siirub was changing, a mass
of the richest colours spread out on all the hills, and
the trees seemed to revel in glorio'is tints before the
tremendous frost of the Canadian winter hid them in
ice and snow for a long six months. What in England
is called autumn is in Canada called the " fall," and
the terms are characteristic. There is no "fall "in
England, only a long decay of summer, when the sun
shines with a cold sickly gleam, and the withered leaves,
all brown and shrivelled, rustle down day by day, as
the winter winds rise. It is, in fact, rather a period of
the year which we call autumn because it is only not
winter by courtesy, when the nights are long, damp,
and foggy, the mornings crisp with a misty frost, and
the sun only comes, at long intervals to apologise foi-
the general absence of daylight. In North America
there is nothing of all this. The summer there never
tries to struggle through long wintry days, perishing
leaf by leaf. Like the black swan, that is said only to
sing before it dies, the woods and fields are most glorious
when most near decay, and ripen into such masses of
scarlet and gold, such pinks and soft rich browns,
streaked here and there, amid the deep green lofty
pines, that the forests become j>ictures of unutterable
beauty, and you feel as you gaze upon the scene that
Providence has in its goodness, and as if in compensa-
tion, made the gradiinl approach of a tremendous
winter more lovely than even the most glowing spring.
For two or three short weeks the woods and mountains
remain thus in piles of gorgeous colour like sunset
clouds. During this, the "Indian summer" as it is
called, the air is mild, calm, and still, with a solemnity
of quiet as if Nature knew the impending change, and
the very woods listen in every leaf for the coming of
their great foe. At last it comes, in one keen, angry

i-l

; i

ANOTHER ORANGE ARCH.

219

night of froezing cold, stopping great riv-rs and fierce

riipids as tliough it struck tliein dead, and covering iJi3

hills and valleys with that ghastly shroud of snow under

which all North America lies torpid for half the year

Then comes "the fall." In four-and-twenty hours

after the leaves of thousands of miles of forest are on

the ground in patches of reds and yellows, which the

snow makes haste to cover in massive drifts, as if it

rejoiced in its long-disputed victory, and tyrannised

over the woods it had at last subdued. The ♦' fall "

had not then come, but it was fast approaching, and one

could see at a glance by the aspect of the woods which

lay between Toronto and Lake Huron that the first

assaults of winter were visible in the rich glowing

colours of the trees and leaves.

At all the stations His Royal Highness passed on
the hne some attempt at decoration had been made';
some httle muster of the backwoods' population wcjs
sure to be in waiting to see the train rush by, and c ' r
and wave their hats and hands in a general way to
everybody in it. At most of tho ^^le villages there
were arches ; at Aurora then were three erected right
across the line. One was simple and pretty ; another
was Masonic and unintelligible ; the third wu . Orange.
There was no mistake about the character of this last.
It was pure Orange, with all its insignia— the portrait
of the " glorious, nious, and immortal Monarch," and
the letters and number of the lodge by which it was
stuck up. It was right across the line, too, so there
was no help for it or time to help it, and the roynl train
with the Prince, per force, passed under the Orange
arch. No one in it could forbear a smile at the obsti-
nate pertinacity displayed by the Orangemen, and the
ingenious manner in which they had compelled His
itoyai Highness to pass under their party emblem, all

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220

TORONTO.

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III

bedizened as it was with the most obnoxious of their
banners. The whole thing was, of course, a trap laid
by the lodge, and sh'^wed such a determination to over-
come their royal guest which would have done credit
even to the Kingston men. At the little town of
Aurora the Prince stopped for a minute while an
address was read, to which he briefly replied. From
this the train passed on through Newmarket, Bradford,
and Barrie to Collingwood, at all of which places there
were crowds and arches, but no Orange symbol or flaw
of any kind. At Barrie there was a very beautiful
agricultural arch covered in with sheaves of corn, with
gourds and pumpkins, grapes, and melons.

Barrie is very picturesquely situated on Kempenfelt
Bay, a long inland branch of Lake Simcoe, v/ith a small
population three-fourths of which were originally com-
posed of retired naval officers, and where the inhabit-
ants are consequently both poor and proud, much given
to ancestry, and an avoidance of labour. From Barrie
the train went at once to Collingwood, a little town
situated on a low sandy shore at the head of Georgian
Bay, on Lake Huron. Travellers who have not seen
these great lakes of North America are apt to imagine
that they must be wonderfully beautiful, and because
Windermere and Killarney are little gems, therefore
larger lakes must be proportionately finer. Let any
of my readers who want to see Lake Huron, go down
to the little sandy hills of Pakefield, near Lowestoft,
and standing up to the ankles in the sand look out
upon the German Ocean, and there he will see all he
sees on the shores of Lake Huron. Collingwood is a
small straggling town, tolerable, and only worth seeing
from the fact that last autumn it only attained its fifth
year. Six years ago not a stick was cut in the wilder-
ness on which Collingwood now stands, and it promises

INCESSANT RAIN.

221

to extend itself in a few years more to the dignity of a
city of Upper Canada. At this place, after the usual
ovation, the royal party embarked on board a small
steamer, and made a short excursion on to the lake
and to Nottawasaga Island, not remarkable for any-
thmg but Its being an island, which was somehow or
other in this case turned into a claim of surpassing
mterest. From CoUingwood His Eoyal Highness
returned over the same road to Toronto, where he was
received by an immense crowd with a hearty and loyal
welcome ; and, contrary to the expectation of the alarm-
ists, no rudeness was oflfered to the Prince ; even the
duke escaped scatheless, and instead of being groaned
at, was loudly cheered.

I have already alluded to Tuesday the llth as being
a day wliich was set apart for a most inordinate number
of festivities. Several of these had been fixed for other
days, but the incessant rain had necessitated their post-
ponement to this Tuesday, and lo, on this day it rained
harder than ever ! and nothing but bedraggled and
bemired processions, all dank and dripping, were to be
seen about the streets in all directions.

The first festive effort was a regatta, at which, as
usual, without the slightest preconcerted signal a
crowd of little yachts stood out into Lake Ontario Ld
disappeared ia the rain ; and this interesting ceremony
over, the crowd left them to their own devices, and all
roofed m by umbrellas went splashing and squattering
through the mud to another grand celebration-the
inspection of the Volunteers. On this latter event
however, I must be allowed to drop the veil. An « in-
spection" is not an exhilarating ceremony; and when
to Its natural drawbacks must be added the facts that

4-«^~s~

the "troops" on the ground wm-P «linrf ^f «
legimental company-that the spectators under para

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222

TOEONTO.

pluies looked as muddy and damp as a group of fungi

that the ground was little better than a dilapidated
watercourse, and every one was in a hurry to get home
and change his clothes, I think I have told enough.
Waving handkerchiefs to the Prince that had occasion-
ally to be wrung dry, had not a cheering effect ; and the
aspect of crowds of country people, come in for a great
holiday, standing up to their ankles in slush, cheerless,
dripping, and weary, had, on the whole, rather a de-
pressing influence than otherwise. So with the open-
ing of the park (which it would have been an act of
humanity to shut on such a day). The rain was heavy
and incessant, driving in eccentric rushes under um-
brellas, and bouncing off the ground with such violence
that it seemed to be coming up as well as down. Here
His Koyal Highness laid the foundation-stone of a
statue of the Queen, the ceremony connected with
which was of the usual meagre character. The stone
having been duly lowered and plumbed, the inevitable
address was read, and a magnificent silver trowel, with
which the Prince tapped the mortar, was duly presented
to him, and the "Queen's Park" declared to be form-
ally Oldened.

After this the deputations from Belleville and Kings-
ton were received at Government House. The address
from the people at Belleville and Kingston deplored in
the most earnest manner the unfortunate occurrences
which had prevented His Royal Highness from landing,
and besought him to believe that the great mass of the
people of the town entirely disclaimed any share in the
party processions, which were as offensive to them as to
the Prince. It concluded with a warm request that His
Poyal Highness might even then honour them with a
visit, thus restoring them to the right to feel that they
were in the opinion of the world, but more especially

DEPUTATIONS AND REPLY. 223

in the sight of the Queen and His Royal Highness
lovers of peace and order, and loyal British subjects.

To this kindly and apologetic address His Boyal
Highness made the following reply :

"Gentlemen,— rt gives me the most sincere pleasure to
receive this numerous and influential deputation from BelleviUe
and to hear from your lips the assurances and explanations con^
tamed in your address.

"All painful feelings occasioned by the proceedings in your
town on a recent occasion, which I knew wfere heartily dis-
approved by the great majority of the inhabitants, are now
entirely removed ; and the only regret that I experience is that
I am unable to comply with the strongly-expressed wish of
your citizens, and those of Kingston, that I would go back and
pay them that visit which was so unhappily prevented last week
My engagements to other places will not admit of such a change
as a return so ..aatward would necessarily entail, and I

cannot break fdt . ..ith those who have so kindly made pre-
parations to receive me. It causes me real sorrow to leave
Kingston and Belleville behind me unvisited ; but I will not
faU to inform the Queen of your protestations of loyalty and
devotion, nor to add my own conviction of their entire
sincerity."

The deputation at an end, and a hurried lunch over
the Prince had to start again to visit the University'
which, like the other public buildings in Toronto, is 1
spacious and handsome structure, and one which would
do honour to either of the Universities in England
Here he was received by the heads of tlie University
and the various professors, and conducted through the
fine building, signing his name in the students' book
and, as he had not then graduated, receiving an ad
emdem sta ,m instead of an ad eundem gradwm.
^^ From the University the Prince di'ove to inaugurate
lue iIoi'Licuiturai Societies' grounds. It was not'a day

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224

TORONTO.

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for inaugurating anything but ponds, fountains, aque-
ducts, and waterworks, but the Prince went to this,
nevertheless. There was a magnificent display of fruit
and flowers under the tents, and a wonderful collection
of garden-stuff in the way of mangolds and swedes,
cucumbe. 1, carrots, squashes, and pumpkins, with
other vegetable eccentricities of grotesque forms, look-
ing like lobsters grown upon vines. These the Prince
inspected with his suite, and then proceeded to inau-
gurate the grounds by planting a meek-looking vege-
table called a young maple-tree. This was done in
the usual stone-laying style. His Koyal Highness dis-
tributing the earth, then very like mortar, with a silver
spade, which, of course, was presented to him when he
had finished the state gardening. Everybody seemed
to wonder when these gold medals, silver trowels and
spades, would come to an end. His Royal Highness
had still to open the Agricultural Exhibition of Upper
Canada, at Hamilton ; and it was almost thought that
this would result in a silver plough with ebony handles,
or a steam threshing-machine with a Calliope attached
to play *' God save the Queen," or an oat-bruiser beau-
tifully embroidered with the royal arms, like the chair
of state which Miss Wilder had sent on the previous
day to Government House, being presented to him.
From the Horticultural inauguration the Prince went
to Knox's College, thence to the Normal Schools, and
thence, after a state dinner, to the grand ball given by
the citizens of Toronto. This was a very beautiful
fete — better than that at Quebec, but of course far
inferior to that of Montreal. It was given in the
Crystal Palace Exhibition building of Toronto (Exhi-
bition buildings are as common in Canada as Govern-
ment or Parliament houses), and this was as admirably

Annrifpn f.n flip niirnnco aa onTr l»o11 .ri^r\»v» nn^ e.-n'^/»inll"

-meamm0limm<!!;-

itains, aque-
ent to this,
play of fruit
111 collection
a,nd swedes,
pkins, with
forms, look-
) the Prince
ed to inau-
>oking vege-
as done in
ighness dis-
vith a silver
im when he
lody seemed
trowels and
d Highness
n of Upper
lought that
>ny handles,
pe attached
miser beau-
ke the chair
he previous
ted to him.
Prince went
chools, and
all given bj-
:y beautiful
course far
yen in the
►nto (Exhi-
as Govern-
s admirably

DEPARTURE FOR LONDON. 225

built for the occasion ever could be. It was sufficiently
crowded to show the anxiety of the people to be pre
sent, ana sufficiently spacious to accommodate all
without inconvenience. The Prince of course danced
Ml four in the morning. AVithin six hours after the
conclusion of this entertainment the whole party were
agam en route for their next lialting-place at London

I i!' I

CHAPTEK X.

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LONDON.

Welcome at London — Close of Orange Correspondence — Duke of Newcastle's
Reply — Parallel between London in England and London in Canada
West — Indians of Sarnia — Distribution of Medals ~ Proceeds to
Niagara.

Had His Royal Highness been really making his
first state visit into the colonial metropolis after which
this town of Canada West is named, he could not have
received a more hearty or a more kindly welcome. In
no part of Upper Canada had I seen a greater con-
course than was assembled to meet him at the station,
and in very few cities had His Royal Highness seen
streets better or more tastefully decorated than those
of London. Not content with shouting till the people
were almost black in the face, the whole dense mass
surged after the royal cortege to the hotel where the
party were to stay. In front of this they remained the
whole day, cheering with such unyielding vigour that
the Prince had to come to the windows again and again
to bow his acknowledgments of a reception that was
really astonishing from its intense fervour. When His
Royal Highness had done this so often that even the
crowd felt they could not in courtesy ask him to appear
again, there arose an equally loud demand for the
Duke of Newcastle, which, as the good citizens of

THE ORANGE CORRESPONDENCE. 227

London are many of them Orangemen and all strict
Protestants, evidenced pretty clearly that his grace's
conduct durmg the party disputes at Kingston and
Toronto had gained for him the admiration and good-
will of all sensible classes of the community, and of a
large majority of the Orangemen themselves. The
duke was for a long time reluctant to notice the
demand made by the people, but after some time
finding that nothing else would content them, he too
had to make his appearance in the balcony, when he
was greeted with such demonstrations of applause as
were scarceb^ if at all, inferior to those bestowed on the
Pnnce himself. After this it is almost unnecessary to
add that there were no symptoms of Orangeism at
London, and in fact it was shown most conclusively
that the Orangemen as a body were foremost in con'
demning the outrageous conduct of those at Kin<.ston
and the few who had attempted to follow their example
at Toronto. While on the subject I may inform the
reader that the Orange correspondence was closed
m this city by the receipt of an inordinately long letter
addressed by the Mayor of Kingston to his grace, in
which the reasons for the demonstration at that town
were coolly attempted to be justified, and the blame on
the whole rather thrown on the duke than otherwise
The style of this document, which again renewed the
falsehood that the Prince had always been attended by
Romish priests and bishops at Quebec, in their robes
and msignia, may be judged from the fact that, when
pubhshed, one sentence wound through forty -four lines
ot closely printed type.

To this long epistle the duke at once despatched the
lollowing brief reply : —

"London, Canada Wrst, Sept. 13,
"Sir,— I have the honour to acknowledge the letter of the

Q 2

III

P''ffi:|

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■ Mr

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228

LONDON.

11th inst., \vhich reached me this afternoon. It would be easy
to refute the arguments, and contradict the statements advanced
by you on behalf of the Council of the city of Kingston, but I
have neither time nor inclination for the task, I have only,
therefore, to express my hope that it is your intention to publish
your letter without delay. If you do not, I shall feel it my
duty to do so, in order that it may receive an answer from the
good sense of the Canadian people.

" lam, Sir, &c.,

" Newcastle."

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P ill

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With this quiet rejoinder the Orange correspond-
ence ended for the rest of the tour.

The city of London, in the county of Middlesex
in Canada West, is as a matter of course very firmly
believed in by all the inhabitants, who hold it as an
article of faith that the only difference between their
young town and the metropolis of Britain is one of
a purely geographical nature, allowing for which
and the natural superiority of climate enjoyed by
the Canadian London, both cities are much on a
par. The Marseillais have a saying that Paris only
wants a Rue Cannebiere to be a little Marseilles,
and I think the Londoners of Canada have a notion
that the Bi'tish Middlesex only requires to be half
covered with wild pine wood to bring it up to the
standard of its namesake in Canada West. In order
still further to carry out this illusion of the strong
resemblance, there is one rough wide street, with a few
trees and a few houses and a wooden footvva}', which is
called Oxford-street, and another wilder and more
remote, with a carriage traffic about equal to that of
Burlington -arcade, which is known as Cheapside.
There is a Bond-street, which has only one side partly
finished, the other abutting immediately upon the

A CONTRAST.

229

BWCASTLE.

Street, but without the one side. There is a little
mer which one might almost jump across called
the Thames, as unhke it in size as in the purity
of Its clear wholesome water. Across this there is
a temporary wooden structure, which tourists are
requested to recognise as Westminster Bridge and
which certainly the traveller finds no manner of
difficuUy in believing is as unsafe and obstructive
as Its English namesake, till that great adorner of the
Thames, Mr. Page, took it down. There is a St. Paul's
and a Cheapside, which, like the

^vl,^ r.^ " '■"^ ™°"* modestly called Paradise,
Which Eve might quit without much sacrifice,"

have about as much resemblance to the places they
are called after, as Wellington -street has to the Iron
Duke. There is a park and a Pall Mall, too, and
a Covent Garden Market, a fine, well-built place
smaller, certainly, but one almost as well supplied
with fruits, flowers, and vegetables as our own in
England. But, as I have told the reader, in this
colomal backwoods parody of the great metropolis
the mhabitants have an unshaken faith, for they
have carried their English feelings and Englisli recol-
lections with them into the far west, and look round
on the little London of their own making with a
feeling of pride and affection which, naturally enough
if not greater is at least as great as that they feel
so evidently towards the mother country. In that
town a real Londoner may safely intimate that the
city does not much remind him of that which he has
left behind, though woe betide any Lower Canadian or
American who should do the same, or draw any com-
parisons disparaging to the London of Canada W^st.
1? or the rest, the streets are very wide, and scrupulously

"(!i

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230

LONDON.

ll li

clean, the house' lofty and substantial stone structures,
the few public buildings are large and handsome, and
infinitely above the average of what would be found in
towns of the same size in England ; and the Londoners
themselves are, like all the townspeople of Upper
Canada, known well and widely for their progressive
spirit and warm and kindly hospitality. Great, how-
ever, as may be the resources of this miniature metro-
polis in other respects, it did not afford a pri-vate
residence large enough to accommodate His Royal
Highness. The Prince, therefore, with all his suite,
was lodged in the chief hotel of the town — a huge
building like a barrack, called tho " Tecumseh House,"
after a fierce and celebrated Indian warrior; though
why an hotel should be called after a savage Chippewa
any more than a maternity charity or a foundUng
hospital it is hard to imagine.

Nothing in the way of State, beyond the intermin-
able addresses, was done at London on the day of the
Prince's arrival, so the people had to content them-
selves with standing all day in crowds to look at the
exterior of the Tecumseh House, which they did
accordingly with a perseverance that was astonishing.
In the evening the town illuminated, of course, and
though the display in this matter was not very great,
it was greater than could have been anticipated from
the means at the disposal of the city, and, on the
whole, made a pretty show. Early in the morning of
the 13th the Prince started by the Great Western
Railway for Sarnia, the extreme western terminus of
the Grand Trunk, where its long line of 1100 miles of
rail ends at last upon the wilds of Lake Huron. Sarnia
is a quiet, pretty little town, of the Collingwood class,
though infinitely more picturesque in its surroundings,
while the country which stretches between ii and

1 u

INDIANS AT SARNIA. 231

London is about the best cultivated and most fertile of
all the lauds of Upper Canada. At Sarnia there was a
deputation of some 150 Indians from the tribe of the
Chippewas in waiting to receive His Koyal Highness.
Unlike those at Lorette, these were real Indians, both
m their dress, which was wild and picturesque, abound-
ing as usual, in unpleasant paint and motley feathers
and in their bearing, which was reserved and dignified.'
Ihey mdulged in no efforts to counterfeit lunacy in the
shape of war dances, nor made any display of school-
boy ^g^lity and strength in attempts to perform the
so-called Indian games," such as were made in the pre-
sence of His Royal Highness at Montreal. They had
a wild, keen, and really savage look, which, however
retained all the sullen hauteur and studied apathy said
tc be peculiar to the North American Indians in the
day. when their voice was law to the early settlers, and
^^iz:^ ruled the hunting-grounds from New York Island
to beyond Lake Michigan. Their chief advanced as
the Prince drew near, followed by ^he tall, lithe,
swarthy forms of his braves in a kind of semicircle
round him. When within a few steps of His Royal
Highness the band stopped, and the chief, in a doep
harsh, guttural voice, which he accompanied now and
then with a quick expressive movement of his hand
addressed the Prince in the Indian language. Whai
the actual words of the speech were, of course, I cannot
say, but It was a kind of general welcome from the
tribe of the Chippewas, mixed with protestations of
devoted loyalty to the Prince and his Royai mother
His Royal Highness replied in English, stating the
satisfaction which it gave him to see them, and thank-
ing them on the part of the Sovereign and himself for
their expressions of loyalty and good will. This speech
was transiated by an interpreter, andat the end of each

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sentence a deep "ugh" of satisfaction went round
among the red skins, who gave a shrill wild whoop at
the termination of the address. His Koyal Highness
gave each of the chiefs a magnificent silver medal to
commemorate his visit, and smaller ones of the same
kind to the suhordinate members of the tribe. These
tlipy received with iinmistakeable symptoms of satis-
faction, though so carefully concealed under a studied
reserve that it was only by the quick flashing eye and
proud curl of their hard, cruel-looking lips that the
spectators could detect it. The medals given on this
occasion were unusually large and handsome : nearly
four inches in diameter and very massive. I was told
that they had been struck at the close of the la^t cen-
tury for distribution among the chiefs of the tribes
who had most distinguished themselves in the war
against the Americans. From some cause or another
they were never given, but remained " in store " till
the arrival of His Royal Highness, when the matter
was recollected by some one or other, and they were
once more brought out, furbished up, and re-chased
with tlie coronet of the Prince of Wales. Thus the
medals intended by George III. as rewards for bloody
service rendered against the then revolted Americans,
were more than fifty years afterwards distributed by
his great grandson, while en route to visit the Presi-
dent and Washington's tomb, to the last surviving re-
mains of a totally different ti-ibe. As a rule the Indians
prize their medals beyond anything, and I saw several
who cherished as priceless heir-looms the medals their
forefathers had earned in the War of Independence.
No money will induce the Indians to part with these,
but the tourist had better be careful how he trades in
the matter of tomahawks, of which he is sure to see
plenty v/liich the whole tribe will sweai- and ailirm uie

! W

INDIAN CUNNINO.

233

the old originals used in many a bloody fray with the
French and Americans. I was shown an old Indian
who invariably refused at first to take twenty-five dollars
for such a weapon, but who was always glad after a
Uttle bargaining to take ten or fifteen. I use the
word ahvays in its fullest sense, as " The cunning little
Beaver" or '« The Hawk terrible in War," for the chief
rejoiced in private life in some such astonishing title,
had sold " ever so many " of those veritable tomahawks
to eager travellers, and the instant one was gone he
made another precisely like it. On the return of the
royal party to London a levee w.^ ], Id, attended as
usual by all the town disguised ^jr the jonce in bois-
terous stocks which they could -^c. celv ,ee over, and
other raw colonial produce intc I ;,! to personify
evening dress.

In the evening there was a very grand ball in a long
wooden ball-room, specially built and most extensively
decorated for the occasion. At this, of course, the
Pnnce danced all night, and, as elsewhere, speedily
became the very idol of the assembly from the cordial
good humour and courtesy with which he not only
enjoyed it himself but made every one else enjoy
it also.

Early on the following morning (14th September)

travelling was again resumed, and the party started for

Woodstock to receive addresses and return replies

From thence His Iloyal Highness went by train to

Pans, another backwoods town having as strong aresem-

blance to the French capital as the London of Canada

bears to the English metropolis. From Paris, through

a country^of the most surpassing richness and beauty

It is possible to conceive, the Prince went on to Brent-

ford, where more addresses were presented bv afannlvnf

mue Indians, and where the Royaiparty stopped to lunch.

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There was but short time for this meal, however, as a
long route still lay before them ; so all haste was made
from Brentford to Fort Erie by rail, thence by steamer
to Chippewa, and thence again by rail to the Falls of
Niagara.

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CHAPTEE XL

THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.
Temporary Quiet— Aspect of the Falls-How to see Niagara-The Falls
Illuminated— Performances of Blondin— Visit to the Whirlpool-
Fatal accidents.

Here for a few short days— too few by far— there
was a temporary lull in the whirlwind of addresses,
reviews, processions, state balls, and noisy Orangemen!
The Prince lived privately at the pretty cottage of
the late Mr. Zimmerman, and several of the suite were
accommodated in the rows of little cottages which fill
the beautiful gardens of the Clifton House Hotel.
The Prince for once in Canada was in private. State
and pomp were scattered to the winds, and he rode
out and walked out without a mob at his heels, and
could sit and watch unobserved for hours the tre-
mendous majesty of the scenes around him. It was
on the whole quite as well that royalty was incog.
before Niagara. The shout of a mob, or the tinsel
of a procession, would have showed poorly by the
side of that great Altar of Nature, where a misty
incense is always rising to heaven, and the eternity
of water speaks only of One. Amid that scene
prmces, powers, and denominations are all forgotten,
as you stand before the Falls of Niagara, which nonr
down with such a majesty of power that you caa only

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236

THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.

! • : IV

gaze with solemn awe upon the grandest and most ter-
rible of all God's works in nature. It is a scene which
poets and authors have tried for years, but always
failed to tell. Artists have studied there, poets have
drawn their inspirations from its huge green billows,
and some of the ablest writers of the Old World
have told us less what they saw, perhaps, than what
they tliought of these mighty cataracts. But Niagara
is still and must always be unpainted and unsung.
You miss in all the best attempts its might, its ever-
changing play of colour, its hideous rush, its restless-
ness, its roar. Words, in fact, are powerless before the
stupendous force and terror of this cataract, and all
the wealth of language would be exhausted before
one could tell how the great hill of waters which
drops from the monstrous cliff so smooth, so green,
so deep, changes ere one can mark its fall into
millions of columns of spray which, darting out like
white fireworks, shoot down and down till lost in the
clouds of mist which always wrap the base of the
Falls in dim and grand obscurity.

Along a patli where many so immeasurably abler
than myself have striven, but striven in vain, to pass,
I will not attempt to follow. Like the men here who,
clad in waterproof, venture behind the cliff of waters
with visitors, I must content myself with the humbler
office of guide, and try and explain how it is that so
many people affect to be disappointed with their first
view of Niagara. Every one expects so much from
these cataracts, and is so eager to see them, that,
fired with the notion of a second deluge, they strain
their eyes in all directions as they advance and catch
stray glimpses of the Falls here and there, now
hidden by trees, now lost in spray, till, when they
do really stand befure them, they are apt at last to

)t at last to

HOW TO SEE NIAGARA. £37

experience a feeling which, if not disappointment is
at least one of less surprise. Let the visitor fortify
himself against indulging in these hurried glances If
anything can possibly lessen one's appreciation, or
rather awe, of these tremendous cataracts, it is this
If he comes to the Canadian side, as most visitors do*
he must pass over the beautiful suspension-bridge'
which, like a web of iron, thin and delicate as a net'
spans a tremendous ravine between the cliffs which
on either side hem the rapids in some two miles below
the Falls. Let him from this look down the stream
There is quite enough to occupy attention as the
mass of deep blue water rushes madly through the
gorge far down below him, checked here and there
for a moment by a sunken rock, over which they
storm and rave and seem to turn upon their hidden
enemies in a circle of dreadful whirlpools, the ring
of angry froth in which shows the vortex where be^
and trees, and logs of timber are dragged beneath a^u
hurried down for miles and miles till they emerge at
last in the quiet, solemn-looking waters of Lake
Ontario. Who that has ever gazed down here from
this bridge can wonder at the belief of the Indians
that an evil spiri. resided beneath these dreadful
waters ? for ever and anon out of its least angry
spots a huge green wave will suddenly upheave and
seem to choke and struggle with the rest. For an
instant it spreads dark and terrible from cliff to cliff
as though It strove for room ; then, with a fierce roar'
tumbhng headlong forward in a cloud of spray is
carried off with a rush like the sweep of destiny To
watch these rapids as, stayed for a moment by rocks
too solid even for their dash, they go pouring down
wave on wave for ever will occupy the traveller suffi-
ciently tiii his carriage crosses the bridge. Then

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238

THE FALLS OP NIAGARA.

let him by a winding road drive far above the Falls
on the American side, and beyond where the swiftest
and most awful of all rapids, those which are pouring
towards the cataract, begin to show their force. Before
him he will see a noble river, more than three times
the width of the Thames at London, without a ripple
on its deep blue surface, and flowing quickly on,
though still so smooth, so treacherously quiet in its
might, that one might almost think of swimming in
it but that the branches of trees and little bits of
timber which hurry down so fast give such a warnintr
of the power beneath the water as even a fish would
not care to disregard. A mile or so lower down, and
the river begins to throw off all disguise, and hurries
swiftly on, keeping the roots and plants that fringe
its edge flickering and waving tremulously out, or
pouring against the points of rocks and islands with
a force tliat makes it recoil back in a feather of spray,
as from the bows of a steamboat, till you can almost
fancy that the very islands have got adrift and are
struggling fiercely up against the stream. By-and-by
foam appears on the water, then whirlpools, which
spin till your head reels to look at them, then more
foam, then lines of deep sunken gullies, wliere the
blue water drops heavily down and seems to choke
and rave till it become a livid, frothy white, freaing
its waves at last in sullen heaves and throes, and
rushing on again, torn, jagged, and roaring, wilder
and more dangerous than ever. As you gaze upon
the rush you feel a horrid yearning in your heart to
plunge in and join the mad whirl and see the mystery
out. Yet even with this thought at its strongest you
shrink instinctively from the dreadful brink, where
the very waters themselves seem hurrying to destruc-
tion. Fttbter and faster, and wilder and wilder, it

GOAT ISLAND.

289

pours with every minute throbbing over the rocks
and stones in mounds of spray, like loosely driven
snow, bent into crooked channels between the islands,
but always rushing on as if the river was mad. Trees,
tumbled over and over, toss their wet branches out
of water as if th6y strove for help against their enemy,
and cling for one brief instant to the banks to be
whirled down the next more rapidly than ever.
Gradually Goat Island comes in sight, its massive
piles of rocks and dense quiet foliage contrasting so
strongly against the wild terrible uproar and rush
of waters, writhing and dashing madly past its base.
You are nearing the cataracts, and soon a dreadful
line of foaming breakers begin to show white in their
restless anger, and looking from their massive deep
slow plunges like a sea of half-thawed snow as they
rave and hiss and cast their flakes high into the air.
Every minute the race increases till the bubble and
rush from the seething waters fill your ear and pre-
pare the mind for that great scene below, where their
majesty of terrors culminates. Yet there seem no
rocks among these breakers, and you notice with
surprise that all their heaving struggles are back
against the stream, as if the very waves themselves
were conscious of the tremendous abyss into which
they were being hurried, and strove against their fate.
But all in vain do the surges rise ; each second adds
perceptibly to their m:-;ht and dash, till round Goat
Island, where the great rapids commence, and where
the waves

* * headlong plunge and writhe in agony "

—a perfect hell of waters— the Charybdis of the western
world. None can stand on the frail bridge which
spans the Rapids here without a feeling of almost
alarm as he looks beneath and sees those surges,

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THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.

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terribly beautiful, -within fifty yards of their great
leap, ^mashing over everything with a force that
makes the very banks quiver with the vibration,
plunging and whirling down from rock to rock wiili
a headlong delirious fury that is at once dreadtal and
sublime. One minute and they overwhelm lao; rocks
in a crowd of wwes, then receding with a great con-
vulsive leap and roar, leave the stones bare, smooth,
and polished for a single instant, till drowned and
hidden by another surge that, thuiuiering and rushing
on, bounds from stone to stone,

"Crashing on cj'fs which, downward worn and rert
Wit.'i :tB fierce footsteps, yield in chasms a d.'-t;adsui vent."

It is here .lat ihc resistless might of the great Falls can
be best apjn'eciat'. d as you note the tumbling waters
gathering 9,'.vt,igth for that great avalanche of waves
where, racing and struggling over the cliff, they fall
at last, and a mighty river is dashed into beads of
foam. Let the visitor not turn aside from the route
I have attempted to describe to look at the American
Falls. Elsewhere, perhaps, they would be grand
and beautiful. Here, close to the great Horseshoe
Cataract, on the Canadian side of Goat Island, they
seem almost nothing — a mere picturesque accident of
the situatiuii. The traveller should pass at once
across Goat Island, and at its furthest extremity is a
frail wooden bridge, which, stretching from rock to
rock on the very verge of the great Fall, leads to
Terrapin Tower. And here my humble duty as guide
ends, for, —

*' Lo ! where it comes, like an et* rnity,
As if to sweep down all things iu its track,
Charming the eye with dread "

-Niacfn.ra. Tbi' idol of all the wofsIf' '" "^ ^f nature

APFEABANCE OP THE PALLS. 341

-the goal and object of western travel-the cataract
of all the cataracts in the world is before you, and you
pause with devotional sadness as "deep calleth unto
deep with tliundering roar, and the great aniphi-
fieatre of green waters pouring down in silent majesty

; •"''Zr' '"^'« "'""''^ °f 'Pm which rise so dense
, .neath them. Here words are powerless, guides are
usel ss and he who wishes to see and feel Niagara must
«tch It for himself. He must study it, he musflive near
it, he must hear its solemn roar, and fill his mind
with Its every hue and aspect. He must rise at dawn
aa<l see the sun break through the pine woods, till its
rays fall on the cataract, and wake its colours into
life and play, lighting it up in tlie distance like a
gigantic glacier. He must watch it hour by hour as
the deep green mass always keeps nearing the edge, and
no longer struggling now in waves yields to its fate, and
iiowing smooth as oil nearer and nearer, come slowly
and solemnly over the cliff like a green curtain, and
™th one stately massive plunge pours down and down,
ti 1 the eye loses its rush, and the bright emerald hill
of water shades into dazzling white, as broken at last
mis long fall it parts into spray and disappears in the
mist. He must watoli its feathery edges darting over
I.ke cascades of snow upon the rocks beneath, rushing
mto the great basin at the foot of the cataracts, where
he waters hiss and seethe in foam, yet lie all motion-
less now, as if stunned and crushed by their deep
overthrow. Niagara has flowed from all time as it thun-
.lers now, yet even those who have lived there longest
see in its mighty rush fresh beauties every hour
though Its eternity of waters never alter in their bulk '

IT'T T "" '"'""'^ °f "'^ g"-^"' Canadian
snows. Sometimes a sudden gust of wind will ris^

and, cieanug up tiie mist in broken masses Uke a torn

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THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.

cloud, show the base of the Falls, a Phlegethon of
waters, where they seem to writlie, and creep, and boil
in endless torture. To see this is grand ; but to
watch them in the evening and tlie night from the Cana-
dian side is the finest and most solemn scene of all.
As the sun goes behind the liills, the mist rises higher
and higher, in a gauze-like cloud, which spreads from
shore to shore, wrapping Goat Island in its grey
sombre tinge, and making its very rocks and pine
woods look watery and unsubstantial as a vision.
When the silence of night settles down at last upon
the scene, the roar of the cataract seems louder and
more grand, and through the darkness its great out-
line of foam and livid water can be dimly seen, vague,
terrible, and ill-defined as is the ocean in a storm, yet
making its impression of eternal force and grandeur
not less distinct upon the memory, never to be for-
gotten. As often happens to those who watch these
cataracts on a summer's night you may see the light-
ning playing down among the angry waters, and then
the scene is one of unutterable terror and lurid
grandeur.

There are three notable ways of seeing the Falls, whicli
are always shown to such visitors as have the courage
to attempt them. The first is under the hollow cliff on
the Canadian side, where a winding staircase in a wooden
tower, leaning against the face of the rock, leads down
to the level of the water. From this point out of the
reach of the fall of waters, though dreadfully accessible
to their massive spray, a scrambling, narrow ridge of
loose stone leads down. Clad in a waterproof suit like
the dress of a diver, you venture out upon this path,
You need all your coolness and vigilance here, as the
clouds of water keep eddying out from the cataract ou
your left almost dense enough to drov,'n, and quite thick

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HOW TO SEE NIAGARA. 243

enough to blind. One false step and all the world
could not prolong your life a single instant. As you
advance upon tiie path and dimly see the little
stony track before you the stoutest heart beats quicker
High over head a cave-like mass of black limestone
projects in a rough arch for more thai, 50 feet, and
beneath this a vista opens up which might pa^^s for the
entrance to the pit of Acheron. Yet a little further
and the spray meets you in a suffocating mass, till
half drowned with the water and stunned with the
hideous roar, you gasp for breath as the cold strikes a
chill through your frame and drives you to seel- a
moment's shelter with your face close pressed against
the wet rocks ere you dare it further. A minute or
two for breath and you creep on again, shielding your
eyes from the water and looking down cautiously upon
the smooth shppery path, now and then turning sharp
round to avoid the whirlwinds of spray which dash and
eddy up in fierce clouds as though they meant to tear
you from the chfi-. At the end of the path you pause,
and during the brief intervals between the drowning
showers you try to survey the scene. You are some
40 or 50 yards under the edge of the Great Horseshoe
Falls, and in the thick and greenish twilight can see
the huge curtain of water falling from the cliff 200 feet
aboN'^ you like a sheet of rough ground glass, and shoot-
ing mto streams and columns, as it falls lower and
lower down on the pointed rocks before you, which
steam and seethe, and send the great mass hissing off
as though they were red hot. It is a tremendous and
an awful sight, neither beautiful nor picturesque, but
without Its equal in the wide world for grand and
solemn nn.jesty of force. Yet truly speaking its
terrors smk away to nothing in comparison with th.
view disclosed as you turn and look straight ahead

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THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.

beneath the Falls. Some yards before you, thouwli

only dimly seen, stands a tall soitary strip of rock

thin, sharp, and even as the edge of a knife, and round
the base of wliich no human foot has evt r passed. Let
those who visit N'..-;-. .., ,.nd dare thi-^ utmost passage,
press close tt *ts ti<iry^ ,nd wait for a clnmce to look
beyond. Now and then with a hoarse roar, heard even
above the din of waters, the clouds of spray are hurled
upward like a steam explosion, and you can see dimly
into the green darkness beyon'l. '-^;!-: ,i; beneath, where
the great fall comes over like a deluge, and wljere, for
one brief instant as the misty curtain lifts, you half
descrr where something like a cavern yawns, blacker
and gloomier than all. It is only for an instant that
th.;se glimpses may be had, and one may wait a chanc ;
for hours ere it will please Niagara to afford even such
a scanty gaze into the mysteries which these dreadful
waters have hidden from all eternity.

Another way of seeing them close is to go up in tie
little steamer the "Maid of the Mist" to the foot of
the cataract itself, and the third is to master the
details of the American Falls by creeping behind them
to visit the Cave of the Winds. The last ^ these feat;^
is the most difticult, and even the most dangerous.
It should only be attempted in fine weather, as creep-
ing right behinc he 1 alls an v. comin., out upon the
rocks at their base necessitates rather a long immer-
sion in cold water, and indeed, ^he whole f*eat requires
courage of no ordinary kind to undertake it at all. But
all the risk and all the drenching i -, more than repnid by
the unequalled magnificenc vhen the rocks at the i( ot
are gamed at last. The fr ^ v which th Prince
got of the cataracts was on the evening of h\^ arrival,
when he saw them as no man had ever seen them

before, and as they will prob

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CtJLTX T *^

• ILLUMINATION OP THE T ^LS. 245

he saw the Fulls of Niagara iUurainaUn ! At the first
idea it seems about as feasible to liglit up the Atlantic
as those great outpourings of Lake Erie, and Mr
Blackwell, when he started the idea, was looked on as
well meaning and all that, but chimerical, to use the
mildest term. Mr. Blackwell, liowever, persevered
Hud had some 200 Bengal lights made of the very
largest size which it was possible to manufacture.
About no or GO of these were placed in a row under
the cliffs, beneath Clifton House, and facin^r the
American Fall; 50 or GO more were placed under
Table Eock, and 50 or GO behind the sheet of water
itself, the entrance to which, irom the Canadian side I
have already described to the rea.^r. At ten o'clock
atiiiglit they were all lit, and their effect was some-
thing grand, magi, al, brilliant, and wonderful beyond
all power of words to pourtray. In an instant the
wholo mass of water, glowing vivid, and as if incande-
scent m the intense light, seemed turned to molten
silver, i- rom ^ "b ad the Fall the light shone with such
dazzlmg bnllia..;v that the waters immediately before
it looked Ue a sheet of crystal glass, a cascade of
diamonc, , ever^ heac and stream in which leapt and
sparkled and sp^. ,d 'he glare over the whole scene
like a river of lighted pi.osphorus. The boiling rapids
undeii .^ath dimly reflected back the pale livid gleam
as from a mirror, lighting up t trees and rocks anr
all the wild torn chasm throun> vvhich the rapids
pour, and showing out the old ^rey ruins of Table
liock like the remains of a huge dilapidated tower.
Ihe smoke, too, rose in thick dense i uisses, sprc ling
upwards over the cataracts in . n.aiinous clpud that
It seemed as if Niarara was in a blaze fron. base to
summit. But all this grandeui and beauty -re as
nothii^g to the effect pruduc d hen the lights were

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THE PALLS OP NIAGARA.

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chanffed from white to red. Niagara seemed turned to
blood in colour, but so bright, so lurid in ita deep
effulgrnce that a river of seething, roaring, hellish fire
appeared to have taken the place in an instant of the
cold, stern, eternal Falls. None could look upon this
scene, the huge, fiery, blood-red mass, dark-looking
and clotted in tho centre, without a feeling of awe.
You could not speak, so sublime were its terrors, nor
move your gaze from the blazing caldron underneath
the Falls, where the river seemed in its frothy red foam
like boiling blood.

His liuyal Highness walked quietly out on Table
Eock and saw the whole of this grand scene to the
best advantage, and afterwards walked round past the
Clifton to his own house, quite unknown to the dense
crowd.

On the following day His Royal Highness saw M.

Blondin execut(^ his most terrific feat — that of crossing

the Rapids on a tight rope with a man on his back.

To leiyve the study of these eternal cataracts to witness

the feats of any rope-dancer, however skilful, is very

much like shutting your prayer-book to go and witness

a pantomime. Nevertheless, among the Americans

Blondin is a great favourite, and many of them actually

carry their adniirntion of his feats so far as to say that

unless you see " Blondin walk" you don't see Niagara.

Without being too analytical in searching after motives,

I verily believe that at least one-half of the crowds that

go to see Blondin go in the firm expectation that

he must fall off and be lost some day or other, they

may have the good fortune to be there when he does

60 miss his footing, and witness the whole catastrophe

from the best point of view. One thing, however, is

certain, that if you do go to see Blondin, when he once

begins liis feats you can never take your eyes off him

blondin's PEKT'ORMANCES.

247

(unless 3'ou sliut tliem from a very sickness of terror),
till lie is safe back ngain on land. The place where
his rope was stretched was about a quarter of a mile
below the Suspension Bridge, over the lower Rapids,
ftnd about two below the Falls. To do Blondin justice,
hi^ kill is so great that he would as soon stretch his
rope along the edge of the Falls themselves as not, but
at this place there is no point on either side to which
he could secure it. All the waters of Niagara, how-
ever, could not make his fate more certain and inevit-
able than it would be if he fell from the place where
his rope was then fixed.

It was stretched between two of the steepest cliflfs
over the Rapids, about 230 feet from where the waters
boil and roar and plunge on in massive waves at the
rate of some twenty miles an hour. To see him venture
out on this thin cord and turn summersaults in the
centre, standing on his head, or sitting down holding
by his hands, revolving backwards over the rope like a
Catherine wheel, is bad enough for nervous people; but
on this Saturday, after keeping every one's hair on end
thus for twenty minutes, he prepared to carry a man
across on his back. The more physical exertion of
carrying any one nearly a distance of half a mile is no
slight feat, but when that space has to be traversed on a
half-tightrope higher than the Monument, from flie sea
of boiling rapids underneath, where onefalst movement,
the tremour of a single nerve, a momenta gust of wind,
or temporary faintness, would hurry both to an instant
and dreadful death, the attempt is so full of sickening
terror that not many can bring themselves to witness
it, and those who do, remain cold, i -mbling, and silent
till the dreadful venture is safely passed. Blondin
took the whole matter coolly enough. His Royal High-
ness was urgent with liim not to attempt it, but he

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THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.

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replied that there was far less real danger in the feat
than appeared to lookers-on, that he was quite used to
it and felt quite at ease, and that as he had everywhere
announced his intention of performing it before relin-
quishing his attempts for the season, he felt bound to
go on. He accordingly divested himself of his Indian
chiefs head-dress and bead-work coat, and jjut two
strong straps crosswise over his broad muscular
shoulders, each strap fitted with a flat wide iron hook,
to rest on his hips, for in those his adventurous
companion was to place his legs. Mr. Calcourt was
the man to be carried, and this person, in addition
to his own coolness and confidence in Blondin, had
himself a sufficient knowledge of rope-walking to enable
him to stand on it alone whenever Blondin himself
wanted rest. The preparations were soon made.
Blondin took a very long and rather heavy balance
jiole. Calcourt divested himself of his boots, and pnt
on a pair of ordinar}^ slippers, the soles of which were
well chalked. Blondin then stood steadil}^ and Cal-
court, grasping him round the neck, gently and slowly
hoisted first one leg into the hook and then the otlier,
and allowing his limbs to swing as relaxed as possible,
the venture commenced. Of course, with a rope
nearly half-a-mile long, no power could draw it
straight across such a giilf. It therefore sloped rapidly
down at both sides from the edges of the clifl's on wdiich
it was secured. This made the attempt look doubly
fearful, for it seemed impossible, as Blondin went down
the steep incline of cord with slow, cautious, trembling
feet, with body carefully thrown back to keep his
balance as he almost felt his way, that he could avoid
slipping, and being dashed to fragments on the rocks far
down beneath. At last, however, he pasred it, though
very slowly, and in about five minutes more gained

THE FOOT OF THE FALLS.

249

the centre of the rope and stopped, wlien Calcourt,
gently raising his legs from the hooks, slid down and
stood upon the cord wljile Blondin rested. Getting
upon his back again was a terrible business. Twice
Calcourt missed raising his legs to the hooks, and
Blondin oscillated violently under the efforts made on
his back. This unintentional awkwardness, which no
doubt arose from nervousness, I was afterwards
informed, led to a fierce altercation between the
vovageurs, and Blondin swore, ii' Calcourt was not
more careful, he would leave him on the rope to get
back as he best could. Awed by <:his threat, Calcourt
was more careful, or more fortunate in his third
attempt, and the dreadful walk was resumed. Three
more such stoppages for rest were made. During one,
when almost in the centre of the rope, there was a
violent gust of wind, which fluttered Calcourt's coat
tails about as if it would blow them away, and made
loth men sway on the little cord till the spectators
were almost sick with fear and anxiety. The whole
passage occupied about a quarter of an hour.

Blondin then performed the still more dangerous
task of returning along the rope on stilts about three
feet high, and this he did quickly and with apparent
ease.

His Eoyal Higlmess went afterwards to the foot of
the Falls in the '^ Maid of the Mist." Let the reader
imagine three sides of a square larger than Lincoln's-
Inn-Fields, formed of rocks 1.70 feet high, and a body
of water 100 times as great as that of the Thames at
London Bridge, rushing over them each minute, and
then he will have some faint idea of what these Falls are
when the little steamer gets into the hollow square of
water, just before she is forced back by the tremendous
rush from them down the stream aaain.

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THE FALLS OP NIAGARA.

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Sunday was, of course, a flay of rest, but on Monday
the Prince again went driving round to the magnificent
scenery in the neighbourhood of the Falls. It is,
perhaps, the best proof which can be given of the
attractiveness of these stupendous cataracts that very
few people trouble themselves with the neighbouring
scenery at all, though, if the Falls were not there, the
exquisite combination of rock and woodland all
around would alone suffice to draw visitors from all
parts of North America. Of course the Prince, with
the chief members of his suite, paid a long visit to the
great whirlpool which the Rapids form some three
miles below the Falls. This whirlpool, after the
cataracts themselves, is the finest and most magni-
ficent of all the grand features of Niagara scenery. As
a mere whirlpool it is not much to sec, the great
vortex, which devours all things coming over the
Falls, being far beneath the surface of the water, and
only indicating its presence now and then, and at
rare intervals, by allowing some beam or tree to
escape its hidden grasp, and dart wildly up to the
surface, where it flounders about like a huge alligator
till again dragged under and kept whirlmg round for
months and months together. It is here that the
bodies of those who are lost over the centre of the
great Horseshoe Fall are nearly always found; and,
singularly enough, are always found uninjured, and
nearly always naked. Little trace or vestige is ever
found of those who are hurled over the shallow edges
of the cataract at either side. The weight of the
water crushes them into the crevices of the pointed
rocks below, and there they remain, or only emerge
in such mutilated fragments as escape recognition.
An excejjtion to this rule was in the case of a (jcrman,
who committed iuicide by jumping oif the edge of the

FATAL ACCIDENTS.

251

Fall on the Canadian side last autumn. Two or three
hours afterwards one of his legs was found in the
whirlpool, but no other trace of the wretchod being
was ever discovered. His was almost a solitary
instance of suicide committed over the Falls, and I
do not wonder that so few have ever attempted it, for
in no place in all creation is man so solemnly
reminded of that Being who holds the waters in the
hollow of His hand.

There are, on the average, from three to four
fatal accidents each year at the Falls, either from
incautiout. or foolhardy persons falling into the
Rapids One such most melancholy accident had
occurred only two or three weeks before the arrival of
the Prince, to the nephew of Mr. Street, the owner
of the islands, on the very edge of the Horseshoe Fall.
Between these islands Mr. Street has had small
bridges thrown across, and on the largest and most
picturesque of the group, near the very edge of the
cataract, and in the centre of the fiercest of the rapids,
he has erected a lofty wooden tower, from the summit
of which the prospect is one of unsurpassed grandeur.
While walking here with his nephew one Sunday, the
young man's hat blew into the Rapids. It stayed for
one second under the lee of the land, during which the
unfortunate young gentleman attempted to seize it, lost
his balance and fell into the water. In another instant
he was whiiled over the centre of the Horseshoe Fall,
and no trace of him was ever after found, though the
whirlpool was searched for days and days in vain.

The whirlpool is a part of the Rapids below the Falls,
where the perpendicular cliffs are some 300 or 400 feet
high, and where a huge circular basin is formed, from
which apparently the waters have no outlet, but go
whirhng round and round, in vain endeavouring to

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252

THE FALLS OF NIAGAEA.

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escape. It is not till j'ou have descended apparently
interminable flights of steps (a second Niagara of
ladders along the face of the cliif), and, scrambling over
rocks and brushwood, reach the water's edge, that you
discover on the right a narrow steep rift between the
cliffs through which all the waters of Niagara pour and
rush with such velocity and might, that it seems at
first as if cliffs and rocks, ay, and the very land itself,
would yield to their irresistible rush. Standing near
this outlet, and looking back on the whirlpool, you
notice with astonishment that the whole of the immense
body of wa' jr in the latter rises in a globular shape, at
least from three to four feet higher than the level of
the water at the outlet. In fact it rushes in much
faster than it escapes, and it is only by the immense
pressure from behind forcing the flood through with
tremendous velocity, that the rising of the waters
in the whirlpool is kept down at all. To sit on the
rocks here and watch the terrific outpour of water
occasionally leaping up in huge green waves or masses
of snowy foam, is a sight only inferior in force and
grandeur to the Horseshoe Fall itself. The Iloyal party
remained there a considerable time, and a glorious
sunset seemed turning the cliffs and rocks into moun-
tains of gold before they left the whirlpool, and drove
back over the Suspension Bridge into Canada.

k iJ

CHAPTER XII.

HAMILTON,

Laying corner-stone of Monument to Sir L Brock-Aadress, and tlie
Prince's Reply-St. Catharine'a-Contraat between (Jpper and Lower
Canada—Situation of Hamilton— Reception of the Prince— Levee at
tlie Royal Hotel -Ball at the Anglo-American— A Turbulent Dutch-
man—Inauguration of Agricultural Exhibition and Farewell Address
—Excellence of Arrangements— Departure from Hamilton.

On the morning of the 18th His Royal Highness
quitted Niagara for Hamilton and, en route, proceeded
to lay the corner-stone of the monument erected to Sir
Isaac Brock, " the hero of Upper Canada/' as he is
still affectionately called, and who, like Wolfe, fell vic-
torious on Queenstown Heights, after totally defeating
and making prisoner the American army, in the war of
1832. A fine monument was erected to this great and
gallant man soon after the war, hut an Irish renegade
carried hr.tred of the mother country to such an" ex-
tent, as to cross the frontier in 1840, and hlow it up
completely with gunpowder. A new monument, cost-
ing £-2000, was erected hy subscription in Canada, and
inaugurated with great state and pomp in the presence
of an immense assemblage in 1850. The pinnacle of
it, however, was left u/icompleted that His Royal High-
ness might have the h- iiour of perfecting the work.
Many of the old veterans of the desperate war of 181^

Mil

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254

HAMILTON.

were assembled round this venerated spot,— men witli
their children and grandchiklren, who, more tlian half
a century ago, had left their homes as volunteers to
meet the enemy upon the border. Not a few had been
present at the celebrated battle of York, — men who
had witnessed the blowing up of the powder magazine
which gave the signal for the retreat that resulted in
the capture of Toronto, — and nearly all had assisted at
tlie victory of Queenstown Heights, and charged up the
hill to the shout of " Revenge the General." Among
those present who fought on that day as volunteers
were such names as Sir J. B. liobinson, his Lord-
ship the Bishop of Toronto, Judge McLean, Sir E. P.
Tache, Sir Allen McNab, Mr. Robert Stanton, Hon.
Mr. Gordon, Mr. G. Ryerson, Hon. Mr. Merritt,
Col. Kingsmill, Hon. Mr. Dickson, Col. McDougal,
Col. Kirby, Col. Thornton, Mr. J. C. Ball, Mr. E.
Woodruff, Col. Clarke, Col. Street, Col. Lenison, Rev.
Mr. Richardson, &c. The Prince came upon the
ground soon after eleven, when the volunteeis, headed
by the venerable Chief Justice, Sir J. B. Robinson,
presented an address, which deserves to be recorded
liere : —

"May it Please Your Royal Highness, —

" Some of the few survivors of the militia volunteers, who
assisted in defending Canada against the invading enemy during
the last American war, have assembleil from ditferent parts of
the provinces, in the hope that they may be graciously permitted
to offer to yoiu- Royal Highness the expression of their loyal
welcome, upon your arrival iu this portion of Her Majesty's
dominions.

«' In the long period that has elapsed very many have gone to
their rest, who, having served in higher ranks than ourselves,
took a more conspicuous part in that glorious contest.

"They would have delighted in the opportunity we now

i 1

ADDRESS AND llEPLY.

255

eujoy, of beholding in th^ir country a f'.escendant of the just
and pious Sovereign in whose cause they and their fellows fought,
and whom they were from infancy taught to revere, for his
many public and private virtues.

'* We feel deeply grateful to Her Majesty, whose condescen-
sion to the wishes of her Canadian subjects has conferred upon
us the honour of a visit from your Royal Highness ; and we
rejoice in the thought that what your Royal Highness has seen,
and will see, of this properous atid happy land will enable you
to judge how valuable a possession was saved to the British
crown by the successful resistance made in the trying contest in
which it was our fortune to bear a part, — and your Royal High-
ness will then be able, also, to judge how large a debt the
Empire owed to the lamented hero Brock, whose gallant and
generous heart shrunk not in the darkest hour of the conflict
from the most discouraging odds, and whose example inspired
the few with the ability and spirit to do the work of many.

" We pray that God may bless your Royal Highness with
many years of health and happiness, and may lead you by His
providence to walk in the paths of our revered and beloved
Queen, to whom the world looks up as an illustrious example
of all the virtues that can dignify the highest rank, support
worthily the responsibilitirs of the most anxious station, and
promote the peace, securiby, ivj happiness of private life."

To which the Prince replied, —

"Gentlemen, — I accept with mingled *'.;,:^iiig3 of pride and
pain the address which you have presenteu tr. . \e on this spot,
— pride in the gallant deeds of my country,'!* a, but pain for
the reflection that so many of the noble band that you once
belonged to have passed away from the scenes of the bravery of
their youth, and from the peaceful avocations of their riper
years. I have willingly consented to lay the foundation stone
of this monument, Eveiy nation may without offence to its
neighbours commemorate its heroic deeds — their deeds of arms
— their noble deaths. This is no taunting boast of victoi'y, no
revival of long passed animosities — but an honourabh tribute
i.0 a syiuivi's fame ; the moru hououiuble because wo readily

25C

HAMILTON.

'' I

acknowledge the bravery and chivalry of that people by whose
act he fell. I trust that Canada will never want such volun-
teera as those who fought in the last war — nor volunteers
without such leaders. But no less the more fervently I pray
that your sons and your grandsons may never be called upon to
add other laurels to those you have so gallantly won. In the
Queen's name accept from me thanks for your expressions of
devoted loyalty."

The stone on the splendid obeKsk was then solemnly
laid. It was a singular coincidence that the Prince at
New York visited General Scott on the 13th of October,
the very anniversary of the day when, forty-eight years
before, he, as Lieut.-Col. Scott, had, with the entire
American army, been taken prisoner at the battle of
Queenstown Heights. The rather meagre ceremony
over, the Prince and Eoyal party had time to admire
the superb and unequalled panorama which was to be
gained from the heights over the surrounding country.
The rich gently-undulating well-cultivated hills, the
soft blue expanse of Lake Ontario, and the deep bhick
ravine down which Nisigara thundered in the distance,
with its roar faintly heard like a dying wind, and its
course only marked by a soft ridge of haze, the aspect
of quiet cultivation which reigned over all, from tlie
broad gieen meadows in the horizon to the white
wooden farm buiUiings in the foreground, with their
orchards filled with clumps of peach trees, ruddy and
heavy with their massive growth of fruit, ail made it a
landscape which, for diversity and richness, would bear
comparison with any in North America. From Queens-
town Heights the Iloyal party drove to the edge of the
liver, where they embarked on board the steamer and
.stood d( wn the stream for the little and veiy pretty
town of Niiigara. Here were very many handsome
arches, one of which bore the inscription, " Edward

ST. Catharine's. ^57

Duke of Kent, August 22, 1792," tlie date when the
Prince of Wales's grandfather landed at Niagara, which
then, only seventy years ago, was actually the capital
and chief town of Upper Canada ! Perhaps seventy
years hence the grandson of the Prince of Wales will
visit Canada and gaze with H;:,al surprise at the neg-
lected and half-deserted remains of Ottawa, and wonder
as the Prince did when he saw Niagara, how such a
place could ever have been meant as the capital of an
immense colonial empire.

From Niagara the steamer went at once to St.
Catharine s, a very pretty town on the shore of Lake
Ontario, in which, though the Prince was only to pass
through on his way to the train, more preparations and
decorations had been made than were attempted in the
whole town of Kingston. Among other characteristic
arches erected there was one entirely composed of flour
barrels, and which in spite of its rather unstable ap-
pearance was, apart from its singularity, a handsome
and well-proportioned structure. The route from St
Catharine's on to Hamilton was, like all the country of
Upper Canada, fertile, rich, and picturesque, as undu-
ating and as well cultivated as the finest parts of
Devon. Indeed, there are very few parts even of
Devon which would not rather suffer by comparison
with the scenery of Upper Canad., such as that round
Pans, Dundas, London, Sarnia, and Hamilton. No-
thing more puzzles a traveller than the total and utter
difference which exists both in country and people
between the Upper and Lower Canadas. Li fact.
Upper Canada is Canada, so far as the prosperity,
intelligence, and energy of the people go. The first
entrance into the North American provinces vid Kali-
fax, that quaint, ricketty little village, less like a town
itsea than the debris of an old one for sale, with its

fill

258

HAMILTON.

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dusty narrow streets — stagnant and lotliargic without
being quiet — noisy without being busy — gives a rather
unfavourable impression to the visitor. But before
his mind becomes so saturated with its idle, unpro-
gressive aspect, as to receive no other impre^ don, he
arrives hi the handsome, thriving town of Jr .;. Ji ' n,
New Brunswick, the appearance of which at once a* ts
as an antidote to the sleepy feeling which the bight of
Halifax engenders in the mind.

From Prince Edward Island to Quebec and from
Quebec almost to Montreal, throughout the whole ot
Lower Canada — though the longest settled and «st
cleared of any land in the provinces — there is such an
absence of energy, or life, or enterprise among the people
that their great indolence almost weighs upon the spirits.
From Montreal and all through Upper Canada the
scene changes as if by magic — as if one entered at once
among a people of a different race (as in fact is the
case) — among a people who were governed by better
and more liberal laws, and who, besides the advantages
of long seitlf'inent, enjoyed the buU greater ones of
better so-*^: hnd better climate. Yet, except in the
matter oi iJ,- hiws, which of course are the same for
both Upper and Lower Canada, the reverse of all this
is really the case. Scarcely fifty years have elapsed
since the sites of the great towns of Toronto, Hamilton,
London, Kingston, and Brockville were mere wilder-
nesses, or at most only frequented by a few venturesome
settlers or regular hunters of the forest. In regard to
the luxuriance of the soil, Upper Canada has no doubt
an advantage over Lower, though more than this is
required to account for the immensely rapid growth of
the settlements and the almost marvellous manner in
which its resources have been developed in so short a

xie r-2ai cause oi the diiiercucc iics m the pcpu- sg-

ONE LEO/SLA, ^L ASSEMBLY. 259

lation tUemselves-that, of Lower Canada being almost
enfrey composed of the descendants of tlf. "
Jrench agricultural ttler. -men wl,o are ecu,
farm then- land, as thoir anc ,rs did a hundred , .-s
»go, and who, thou h realising «,nall independencies
from the .u ture of their farn.s. have not the enterprise
to extend their operations even by the addition of a
dozen acres, though certain ultimately of the most
complete success. Upper Canada ,s occupied entirely
by British, ],ush, and Scotch settlers, and the ener^
getic vigour of their operations is visible at o> •,■ ■ v.
immense exten, of well-cleared cultivated la the

|.me forests supj,. nted by orchards, in their em of
lailways, canals, good roads, and fine, well-b. 'wide
streeted towns.

<■ the Governments of Upper and Lower Canada,
.1 h the provinc ,f Nova Scotia, New Brunswick
«ndlr,„ceEdw. , fsland, were all „„ited under one
^ad and into one general Legislative Assembly -neh
good would be certain to result, even if it were only
lom the introduction of a powerful English element
from the provinces, which would more than counteract
lie J rench influence in Lower Canada. Such a scheme
however. IS snre to be opposed by the Home Govern-'
ment, and by all the detached provinces, which, instead
of two Houses, would then, perhaps, hav. only two
-mbers. The Imperial Government ap,. ars to hav:

on Canada, ,vh.ch only means, in otl words that if
united m one Parliament the whole of Canadi'an and
provincial North .' merica would be too strong for und e
meddling with, ^ ^

of tlie most thriving and picturesque of all th. .,>^.,
pper Canada. It is situated at the western

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extremity of Lake Ontario, under the shelter of a steep
and rather lofty chain of heights, and with railway
communication not only with Canada but the States,
and the great corn mart prairie cities of the Far West.
The streets — in this respect, indeed, like all the towns
of the upper province — are as wide as the very widest
thoroughfares in London. The houses are lofty and com-
modious, and the hotels such as one meets nowhere in
Canadabut at Montreal, London, and Toronto. The public
buildings are solid and very handsome structures ; there
are whole streets of spacious and well-furnished shops,
and the market would do credit to any town in Europe.
On the whole, I saw few places which impressed me
more favourably than Hamilton, not only for its scru-
pulous cleanliness and good arrangement, if I may so
term it, for a city, but for its thoroughly business and
thriving aspect, shown not more in its streets and houses
than in the unmistakeable well-to-do-air of energy and
independence in all its industrious population. Though
Hamilton runs not to fashions and such frivolities, it
can, nevertheless, put on a very gay appearance when
it likes, and even among the very lower orders of the
working people I did not see one during the three days
of the Prince's stay there who was not cleanly and
comfortably clad. As a corporation the city is poor
just now, as it is paying off debts honourably incurred
in carrying out a thorough system of water supply for
the town and other local improvements which have, no
doubt, done so much to make the town appear as it
does. The poverty of the corporation, however, is
merely nominal, and as far as one could judge in so
short a time, I should certainly be of opinion that
Hamilton, for its population, was better off than any
other place of its size in Upper Canada. Perhaps
London^ of the new cities, comes the nearest to it,

l\/l«i/VfOU wv **;

AERITAL OP THB PEINCE. JJ^

.nd, indeed in many respects, much resembles it
except xn picturesqneness ; but of the two Hamlhon
certamly appears the best. namuton

His Royal Highness, of course, got a very aood

ir;rtr:s '%r - '- "--"'

.eenet, ^-rJ-'XlsTd^rf
wh.ch looped up the windows of the houses til one
could hardly see out of them or into them, and there
we e arches and columns and fountains ani pavil ols
n>a kmg the whole town as if some one had tri dto
bu, d a cuy in the middle of Cremome. lean' say

Pnnce was to amye were so faultless, inasmuch as the
Hamil Oman police seemed to have the wildest notions
of performing their duty, and wouldn't let anybodv
.n, and wouldn't let anybody out. and would/t tt
anybody stay there. vvouiaut let

However, the PAce came at last, and was duly
addressed wxth rather long and loyal effusions aft»
which a procession was formed. The elements of pro

Hamilton, for the corUge had to be eked out with the
Temperance Brethren and Sistren, two and two w^
very long intervals between each. There walalso a

o':hifl,2T' "'"r ''"^' '"''^"^ "^Sroes so. fond
ot white hats ? came along grinning with all the dental
ahandan peculiar to their race. At tte side of the Roya

n '"^:'t-''" '"''""-'' ™""""e Indian wth a
ring through h.s nose as big as a child's hoop and

possible kind, inasmuch as a few streaks of red naint

and a couple of feathers constituted neaW-'he .-. u

It. For the rest, there was an immense rush, of

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262

HAMILTON.

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people thronging on each other in a solid mass, cheering
and shouting in a way far more suggestive of an enthu-
siastic welcome than any mere ceremonial could ever
be. His Eoyal Highness and suite drove at once to a
private residence prepared for the reception of some of
its members, the surplus being accommodated at the
Royal Hotel.

There was a philharmonic concert that night, which
the Prince attended, and where of course when once he
entered the music became a sham and a delusion, and
the Prince of Wales was singer, orchestra, and every-
thing. Certainly no one appeared to pay the least
attention to anything else.

Early on the following morning His Royal Highness
paid a short visit to the public schools of this city, and
returned to the Royal Hotel to hold a levee.

As this was the last which his Royal Highness held
in Canada it was well— that is to say, very numerously
— attended. In fact so many were waiting to pay their
respects that it was at one time thought extremely
probable that the stairs would give way under the loyal
influx, and to avert such an unpleasant contretemps it
was necessary to clear them. The same feehng of
eagerness may perhaps also account for some trifling
irregularities which were perceptible with regard to
costume, and which varied the formal conventionalities
of evening dress in a manner which was surprising at
least, if not agreeable. In like manner were the cards,
with two of which each candidate for presentation was
always supposed to be prepared, one for the indefatig-
able aide-de-camp at the door, and the other to be given
on presentation. As a matter of course during all these
levies it had often happened that some startling form
of pasteboard and mode of superscription had been
thus tendered. During this last levee I saw one as

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AGBICULTURAL EXHIBITION.

263

krge as a proclamation (the bearer of which, however
was ot allowed to enter), within the engraved border
of which the following was printed in all kinds of
capitals : —

" Try Horning's Mills, where you will find a varied assort-
ment of diy goods and groceries selected expressly for this
market, by Mr. Blank Blank, sole agent."

Of course this commercial circular was not presented.
I have rather a curious collection of such cards, all
more or less outr^, though this was certainly by far the
Wors^ that turned up in Canada.

After the levee the Prince went to a private view of
the great Agricultural Exhibition of Upper Canada,
which was so excessively private, and so unusually
select, that there was scarcely any moving about the
building, in consequence of the immense crowds ad-
mitted. No amount of crowding, however, could ta] e
from the real merit of the display, which was really
one equal to the best of the best agricultural counties
at home. The breed of cattle is most '^arefully attended
to in the country round Hamilton, especially that of
the horses, and the animals sent in for exhibition,
though mostly all for farming purposes, were unex-
ceptionable of their kind. Among the farming produce
were ears of Indian corn as big as moderate bolsters,
with huge specimens of beet and carrets ; for the root
crops of the country round, and indeed all Upper
Canada, are proverbial for their exceeding fineness.

In the evening there was a very grand ball, which
was a very great success, though like most of these
fetes in Canada there were not a few difficulties to
overcome when the preparations commenced. It was
given at the Anglo-American Hotel, a building about
twice as spacious and well fitted as the Great Westerp

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Hotel of London, and with a much finer exterior. At
the back of this a temporary ball-room was being built
when it was suddenly found that the wooden house of
a Dutch settler was much in the way. It was proposed
to him to have it moved back some twenty feet, to be
moved forward again when the lete was over. As
one not acquainted with the peculiar mode of moving;
houses adopted in Upper Canada and America, I
admit I was not a little astonished to hear that such a
wild proposition was ever thought of by the committee
as possible. The Dutchman, however, unless heavily
compensated, refused to move his dwelling a single
inch, and the committee threatened to remove it by
force. But to this extreme measure of violently
collaring a dwelling-house and making it " move on"
the authorities fortunately did not proceed, but com-
promised matters by building the orchestra at the end
of the ball-room right over his roof. The Dutchman,
whose onlv aim in the matter was, it was said, to extort
an exorbitant amount of compensation from the city,
was enraged at this manoeuvre, and as his chimneys led
right, up under the orchestra, he threatened to light his
fires and smoke the whole ball-room out.

As it was not only quite easy to carry out this
amiable intention, but very likely that the Dutchman
would try it, the engines were kept in waiting the whole
right of the ball, with the hose so placed as to send a
flood of water down the chimneys on the first token of
combustion below appearing therefrom. Fortunately
for himself. Mynheer did not attempt to carry his
threats as far as this, so the ball psi^sed off without
any necessity arising of calling in the engines to its
aid. Certainly, from what I afterwards saw of the
process of house-moving as practised in America, it
was scarcely worth the Dutchman's while to make so

PAREWELL ADDRESS.

^65

great a fuss about so small a matter. But of course,
like every obstructive, he contended that he was only
turbulent and annoying on principle.

On the following morning the Prince was to leave
Canada, and, crossing the frontier to Detroit, com-
mence his journey through the United States, and
sink from Prince of Wales to plain Baron Renfrew.
Before leaving Hamilton he formally inaugurated the
Agricultural Exhibition he had visited so "privately"
the day before. This was the last of his state labours
in Canada, and, at its conclusion, he delivered the
following farewell address : —

Tiftil

« I

• Gentlemen,—! return you my warm acknowledgments for
the address which you have just presented upon the occasion
of the opening of the fifteenth exhibition of the Agricultural
Society of Upper Canada, and I take this opportunity of
thanking the agricultural citizens and manufacturers who are
now assembled from distant parts in this city of Hamilton for
the more than kind and enthusiastic reception which they gave
me yesterday, and have repeated to-day. Blessed with a soil
of very remarkable fertility, and a hardy race of industrious
and enterprising men, this district must rapidly assume a most
important position in the markets of the world, and I rejoice
to learn that the improvements in agriculture which skill,
labour, and science have of late years developed in the mother
country are fast increasing the capabilities of this young soil,
and enable you to compete successfully with the energetic
people whose stock and other products are now ranged in
friendly rivalry with your own within this vast enclosure.

" The Almighty has this year granted you that greatest boon
to a people— an abundant harvest. I trust it will make glad
many a home of those I see around me, and brmg increased
m ilth and prosperity to this magnificent province.

"My duties as representative of the Queen, deputed by her
to visit British North America, cease this day: but in a private
capacity I am about to visit, before my return home, that

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remarkable land which claims with us a common ancestry, aud
in whose extraordinary progress every Englishman feels a
common interest. Before, however, I quit British soil, let me
once more address, through you, the inhabitants of United
Canada, and bid them an affectionate farewell. May God
pour down His choicest blessing upon this great and loyal
people !"

I need not say how this was listened to, as His Eoyal
Highness, with that soft, clear, dignified utterance,
which he inherits from his royal mother, read the
address aloud, concluding with a solemn earnestness
that moved the whole audience, till their feelings
seemed too deep for utterance.

Two hours after this ceremony, and His Royal
Highness had quitted Hamilton, the last of the
Canadian cities he visited on his long and splendid
tour. He may— as in what country could he not?—
have seen some shortcomings which could be remedied,
some openings for improvement and public develop-
ment of the resources of that great colony, some places
where only an active population was required to make
the little villages which he had seen as great and as
thriving towns as any which hereafter he will rule over.
He may have seen where a faulty and hurriedly devised
legislative system worked badly, and where trading and
mercantile restrictions exist which should never have
been allowed a place in the commercial code of the
greatest colony of the greatest commercial empne m
the world. AH this both he and his able advisers
might have seen and noted, and it is not to be doubted
that they did, and that the result of their observations
will bear good fruit hereafter. The Prince had beeu
from city to town, and from town to village, through
all the most flourishing portions of the gigantic depen-
dency, the lakes in which aru almost bigger than aU

EXCELLENCE OP ARRANGEMENTS. 267

England, and where the rivers are mighty tributaries
of tlie Atlantic. The impressions which he brought
away from such a country could not be otherwise than
good ; and it is almost difficult to find terras to express
the opinion which he must have formed of the warm-
hearted, devoted loyalty of the people. With the one
base exception of Kingston, he met in every town, on
3very lake, and at every village, such a spontaneous
outpouring of loyal enthusiasm as never yet greeted
even the most powerful monarchs, and as no living
monarch, save the Queen, could hope to see excelled.
From the highest dignitaries of the land to the poorest
and last-settled of the backwoodsmen, all welcomed his
coming with joy and festivity, and all felt proud and
happy at having done something towards the eclat of
his reception. Whether it was the erection of a mag-
nificent and costly arch in some great town, or only
weaving a garland of wild flowers together between the
trees of half-cleared land, the same feeling was mani-
fested everywhere from Nova Scotia to Lake Huron,
from the Saguenay to Niagara. Taken for all in all
modern history has no parallel to this tour through
Canada, especially when it is remembered that the
honours paid to the son were in no small degree
intended to evince the respect, veneration, and intense
affection with which his royal mother is regarded on
that side of the Atlantic.

Having said thus much of the Canadian tour, it
would be unjust to omit recording with praise the
names of those officials on whom was devolved the
task of carrying it out from the beginning to the end.
Before leaving Hamilton the Prince had interviews
with the chief members of this staff, and expressed to
them personally his deep sense of their laborious but
most successful services. To all the most prominen.t

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HAMILTON.

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he gave personally, and to the subordinates he sent
with a kind message, valuable and appropriate presents
as souvenirs of the royal tour through Canada.

To the Hon. John Rose, the Chief Commissioner
of Public Works in Canada, was intrusted the task of
organising, arranging, and perfecting every single
detail connected with the progress. This scarcely
sounds very much, but when the reader recollects that
the royal party, with their suite and attendants, with
guard s of honour, police, and couriers averaged from
250 to 300 persons — that either by rail, by horses,
steamers, carriages, or canoes, they travelled on the
average more than 100 miles a day, through a new and
often a wild country — that every single stage was kept
to the very hour, and that even the most trifling
contretemps did not occur on the whole route; — this
result — considering that all the matMel for the royal
guest and household, such as plate, linen, and glass,
had to be forwarded always in advance from day to
day, that it was always ready, even at the most remote
points, and that throughout not one single article was
lost or mislaid— speaks well for Mr. Rose's arrange-
ments. In fact, they were perfect everywhere. A
very fair share of this success must also be attributed
to Major- General Bruce, whose intimate knowledge of
the country and the people, and whose suave mode of
overcoming any little difficulties that arose were not
less important because not generally seen or known.
Mr. Rose's own efforts were well seconded by a most
able staff, who with him worked night und day to secure
everything which might conduce, even in the slightest
degree, to the comfort and convenience of the royal
party. Foremost among these was Mr. H. Bernard,
chief secretary, with his able assistants, Mr. Pemberton
and Mr. Nash. Colonel Wily, commanding the new

EXCELLENCE OP ARRANGEMENTS. 269

Prince of Wales Canadian Rifle Regiment of Volun-
teers, organised the transport corps most effectually
all through ; Mr. Saunderson, of the New York Hotel,
acquitted himself of the chiefrstewardship in a way
that elicited the highest praise from the royal party ;
Mr. Begley acted as paymaster-general (a laborious
and ever-needed office); Mr. Battle looked after all the
commissariat stores for royal dinners and luncheons ;
Mr. Ingram was made responsible for all the baggage
(not an article of which, out of many hundreds of
packages, was missing); and Mr. Ford, with Mr.
M'Laughlin, had charge of the detective police. With
the untiring exertions of this staff, every member of
which Mr. Rose superintended and looked after him-
self each morning and each night, and aided by the
kindness and ready help of General Bruce, the whole
tour through Canada had been made. Where has
there ever been one more enthusiastic, even more
triumphant, or better organised in all its branches—
from stationing carriages in back woods to relays of
canoes up rapids, from relays of horses to the banks of
lakes, and from the banks of lakes to railways, and so
on to towns ? And at every single town, village, or
shanty station. His Royal Highness had been enabled
to arrive with as much punctuality as if he had not
travelled some 6000 miles to keep his appointment,
and with as little apparent hurry and cor;.;iion as if
he had only one such appointment, and not twenty to
keep each day. The more one saw of the country and
of the difficulties of travelling through it by the late
royal route, the more astonishing did it appear that
Mr. Rose, even with all his able staff, should have
managed so well, and been able to keep the royal word
as strictly with little wayside villages as with the
largest cities which gave His Royal Highness so grand

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and so hearty a reception. Even the ohstinate inhos-
pitality of the Kingston men made no alteration, and
the royal programme through Upper and Lower Canada
was kept almost to the very minute.

When the Prince quitted Hamilton it rained hard,

and nobody regretted it (I mean the rain), for only

during heavy rain, which keeps down the dust, is

the jolting, noisy discomfort of a Western railway

endurable at all. There was the usual crowd to see

him depart ; the dank umbrellas and dripping cloaks ;

the wet handkerchiefs which flapped and draggled

heavily when attempted to be waved, the mud, the

dirt, and drizzle which had more or less accompanied

the royal arrivals and departures through all the

route. Nothing would have enlivened the scene but

the warm heart-stirring cheers of affectionate loyalty

which the crowds raised again and again as the train

prepared to depart, and there were many shouts of

" Come soon again," and " Why did you not stop

longer ? " as the Prince stepped into his car. There

was great shaking of hands as His Royal Highness,

the Duke of Newcastle, and all the suite took a kindly

leave of Mr. Eose, whose arduous labours terminated

with the last State visit to the last Canadian city. It

was with a feeling of deep regret that the Royal party

bade adieu to one who had so ably and so successfully

ministered to the comfort of their tour throughout.

Mr. Cartier and Mr. J. A. Macdonald, the two chiefs
of the Canadian ministry, with the Governor-General,
Mr. Vankougnet, Mr. Sidney Smith, and other Canadian
dignitaries, came on with the train to Detroit to see
His Royal Highness across the borders of Canada at
AVindsor.

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CHAPTER XIII.

— 4 —

THE UNITED STATES.

American Railroads-Appearance of the Country- Its extraordinary fer-
tdity-Land Speculations -Forest Scenery-Fugitive Slave Settle-
ment a Chatbam-Amval at Detroit-Enormous Crowds-American
Curiosity-From Detroit to Chicago-A Glimpse at the Prairie.

The distance from Hamilton to Detroit, the first
resting-place on the long journey, is about 200 miles
a matter of some four hours to a royal train in
England, but which in Canada, with all speed used
occupied rather over seven. From the roughness with
which most Canadian and nearly all American lines are
laid down, great speed is unattainable; and with
American railroads, unless the States are prepared to
incur at least half the expenditure they have already
sunk, and m most cases lost, in forming their lines I
should say great profits are unattainable also With
scarcely an exception, throughout the United States
there are only single lines of rails, and this is a fatal
objection to a great increase of traffic. The time will
come and soon, when it will pay, and pay well, for
double rails to be laid down on some few lines; and
when that day arrives, which many look to even now
there IS certain to be a railway mania in America, to
which^that of England in '47 and '48 will be a ioke
Let iinglishmen, if they are wise, keep from this

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coming vortex. Great and prosperous as America is
now, and must be still more in the future, the time
is yet distant when the present huge network of single
lines will pay a profit worth investing for. Some of
the best lines in the States — those which have been
entirely carried out by English capital — do not pay their
working expenses. The Grand Trunk, in a financial
point of view, has up to the present time been a failure.
But its prospects, even at this day, are good compared
with many of the American railways, through good parts
of the country too.

The country between Hamilton and Detroit is for
a long time, like all the land of Upper Canada, rich
and well cultivated, even where the black gnarled
stumps of burnt pines stick up like tombstones
of the forest, looming dark and mournfully upon
the upstart growth of Indian corn beneath. Some-
times it was meado^/ land, with the ragged zigzag
fences of lopped trees strewn loosely between the
fields ; sometimes a long tract of corn was passed, with
the massive sheaves stacked together like straw tents,
and the ground covered with briglit orange pumpkins
and gourds, which the inexhaustible fertility of the
land had nurtured between the ridges of maize. Then
came acres and acres of orchards, with trees heavy and
overborne with their rich burden, drooping down like
willows to the ground, and their red and yellow fruit
sparkling softly in the evening sun. All the barn-doors
of the clean, white farm-houses stood wide open,
showing heaps of corn piled high within, and across
the clearings oxen came slowly along, with mounds of
other sheaves in rough wooden carts, dragging a
bounteous plenty for which the farmer had no room in
the timber outbuildings which ordinarily accommodated
the harvest. On every side were such signs of rich

FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. 273

abundance, there was such a calm in those wild, clean
fruitful homesteads, there were such signs of pro«icss
and of energy, even in the forests hacked aside to
make room for cultivation, that one could not but gaze
with Imgering astonishment upon ;he scene of rising
prosperity, and think of that vast class at home whom
Bumble denominates "able-bodied paupers," going
supperless to bed for want of work. Why here are
milhons of acres of such fertile land us English farmers
never think of getting without draining, manures, top-
dressmgs, and all the scientific agricultural slang which
marKs the presence of poor land. Here are millions of
acres still clad in all the savage grandeur of the wilder-
ness, and seeming to call, in their rich matted growth
of timber and luxuriant underwood, for so- one to
clear an overburdened soil, and let the natural fertility
of the earth have scope to show its proper might and
usefulness. AVhere the lumberers fell timber on the
Upper Ottawa, they scatter handfuls of Indian corn
ainong the rugged stumps, and lo ! in some six weeks'
time, a harvest for a few in number, though enough in
quantity to keep an English parish, let men break
stones in England for 8cl a day, and cost the country
10.Z more while doing it, and farmers here cry out
for labour, and get it for a few short months, till their
servants have saved enough to better themselves and
buy land Then at once the law of Canada steps in
with restrictions which drive them in hundreds and
thousands yearly to the prairie of the far west of
America. It is not to be supposed that the active folly
which drove the States into manly insurrection and
independence will ever be repeated by the Home
Government; but one sees occasionally such slimy

traces of red tape Rarnn.-lps -r^- n„„„j_ . t • "^
^cu V. • , « ^"'^ -^"niiuii, such signs

of Its bemg left to the mischiefs of shortsighted legisla-

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THE UNITED STATES.

tion, such checks upon its growth as no young colony,
however naturally vigorous, withstands for long. There
is a mighty future for Upper Canada if emigration to
its fertile soil is only fairly encouraged and developed
hy the government at home ; if they will only hold out
such real inducements as American agents often hold
out falsely, and who manage to persuade people, even
when half-settled in British dominions, to make another
and a final move for prairie land. In truth and honour,
and as one responsible for every written word, I cannot
help saying that, land for land, the prairie is much
better than evfen tlie picturesque valleys of Upper
Canada ; but there is not at all that difference between
the two which would lead a farmer to prefer 100 acres
out West to 200 or even 150 in Upper Canada. Enable
emigrants to buy three acres in Canada for what they
would only get two in Michigan, Illinois, or Wisconsin;
let a man buy ten acres or 1000 if he pleases, or as
his means permit, and there would be no want of
settlers in Canada. Occasionally, however, once in
every eight or ten years, a dim and premature conscious-
ness of what must in time be their prosperity overtakes
the Canadians of the Upper Province, and, infected
with the trading mania of their near American neigh-
bours, they rush into land speculations more wild and
more improvidently hopeless than some of the bubble
schemes which the annals of Capel Court can show.
Such spendthrift aberrations throw the colony back for
years ; for during the rage of these land fevers — fevers
which no past experience of loss and almost bankruptcy
of provinces seems to mitigate — a tract of forest into
which almost no one has penetrated, will sometimes
sell for nearly twice the present price of land in
Cheapside, The value of uncleared land in Upper
^'«uRvit« Tariv« irom tWO doiiErs to xour donars sn acre;

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FOREST SCENERY.

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m"too/'ll T™'^""^ "' '""^'^ ^"-"'"t- epi-
demics, 600/. sterling per ao-f .,s been offered and

refused and as „,nch as 130- , per foot of frontage
tendered in vam for bystreets in towns ^

Towards dnsk the royal train quitted the cleared
farm lands^ and entered upon a track which th "^
mendons Canadian forests hemmed in close castinra
pecuhar sombre gloom, unknown to autnmn eveSs
over the httle hne of rails between. There i~

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the traveller in a new aspect eacM^ h t X--
.rfiich awakes ideas of melancholy admiratio" ^h ^M
nsh I could describe, though I cannot for»et In
Upper Canada the endless masses of pines gWe tay a"

beeches tall hemlocks, and ash, with maples birch
an wild sycamore, the underwood of these gr 'at lei?;
lulls. M,le after mile and hour after hour of su ht
route was passed-a deep black solitude, with here and
there a vista opening up, showing the massive trunk.

^ tense' ts' heinV3l ''''-' "" ^^^'^^
The winter was closing fn fft upon tl7' f "T" '
of the forests, and thfy stotd Tsu ''g L^t: ^
such deep rich srnr]pfa „.. v xi, , blowing tints,
in 1.7 / scarlets, as if the leaves were steer^P/l

admiration as hill after hill opened'outTn lets of
urmng colon,-, like the last grand shower of Na uU

rrsi:r:«;ix'i;-:d^i~-

-y paint an American autumrhlt I'o l^d^S

T 2

276

THE UNITED STATES.

it ? Look at the monstrous pine, that was barked last
year, and which, all dead and Avliite, seems to spread
its lean shrivelled arms abroad like fleshless bones,
trying to stay its fall. Over the trunk a creeper comes,
which, turned to pink, to purple, gold, and scarlet by
a few nights' frost, droops in festoons of colour like
ragged, brilliant drapery ; but so, bright, so wild, and
graceful in its quiet curves, that it seems at once both
more and less than natural — the work of a decorator
in its arrangement, in tints, such as only Nature's
colours ever yield. In the foreground stands a clump
of trees, clustering round in piles of gold, intermixed
with wild sycamores of light quick green, red, purple,
crimson, and almost black. Behind are trees of ever}^
shade of autumn glory, from faded gold to almost blue,
while above towers the massive deep green pine, un-
changeable in its solemn features as Canada itself, with a
host of umbrageous deserters round it in wrinkled brown
and faded leaves of all hues, rustling to the wind with a
sharp dry crackle as the "iall" comes nearer and nearer
on them. Let any reader who can from such poor des-
cription imagine miles upon miles of this forest scenery
bathed in all the tints of a stormy sunset, with hill and
vale, mountain and river bank deep swathed in gorgeous
robes of hues like these, and he can then form a faint
— hough but a faint — idea of what North American
scenery is during the Indian summer, that bright, quiet,
treacherous forerunner of the severest winter in the
world. Now and then a little clearing was passed in
the twilight, with the log hut wreathed in evergreens
and flowers, with the settler's family standing at the
door anxiously watching that the train might pass,
and the Prince see their little decoration before night
closed in. Windsor, the last town in the Canadian
frontier, and facing Detroit on the o^^josite bank of

FUOITIVB SLAVE SETTLEMENT. 277

the river St. Cldr, was reached at nine o'clock. Near
Windsor « the village of Chatham, notorious for its
populafaon be.„g almost entirely composed of fugitive
slaves. All plantation hands near the frontier, who ca^
manage to escape make at once for this village, and
each year therefore, witnesses an increase of some
considerable number to its inhabitants. Describing
the woes and sufferings of these fugitives would, of
course, make an admirable anti-slavery chapter, q^ite
aspo.gnant™,ts griefs, and almost as unreal i'n it
facts, as • Uncle Tom's Cabin." But in this matter I
am unfortunately withheld by the necessity of adhering
to facts. Truth, therefore, compels me to state thaf
the runaways to Chatham are by no means welcomed
with open arms by the neighbourhood around it.
Am,ab e and kmdly English gentlemen-men who
hated the very name of slavery-told me that these
men were a perfect curse to the place, incorrigibl
Idlers, whom nothing but actual hunger would induce to
work and who when their own immediate wants were
satisfied, left their wives and children to get their living
by any means they could devise, fair or foul The
majority of them were, in fact, looked upon as public
nuisances, and even the most strenuous and uncom-
promising Abolitionists round Chatham learn with
very doubtful satisfaction that another idle vagrant
has been added to the number already in the village
Let not the reader mistake this for any, even the
fain es apology for slavery. Its real horrors as it
exists down South " in Mississippi or Alabama can
never be exaggerated-probably will never be truly
Imown. For these " chattels," however, there is no
escape but death. It is only from the States towards
the North that any ever fly, and in these States there
IS such a strong anti-slavery feeling, that, as a general

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278

THE UNITED STATES.

rule, the negroes are well and kindly treated. There-
fore is it that nine-tenths of those that run away are
merely those who dislike work in any form whatever,
and whose only notion of liberty is the right of doing
as little as will keep soul and body together, and
whether this little can be come at honestly or other-
wise, I was told often made little difference.

Facing Windsor, divided by the river St. Clair,
a fine broad channel which forms the communication
between Lakes Huron and Erie, is the frontier of the
United States with the city of Detroit, exactly oppo-
site the old Canadian town. There were an immense
amount of preparations and illuminations made at
Windsor, though the Prince did not halt a minute, but
at once went on board the little steamer which was to
take him across the river to the United States. All
the craft in the stream were illuminated, bells rang,
guns fired, and rockets shot into the air from every
point. But as the boat approached the landing-place
at Detroit it became almost a q.uestion whether the
Prince would be able to land at all. As there were no
police the firemen had turned out with their torches to
endeavour to keep open the line of route between the
landing-place and the Russell-house Hotel, where the
Prince was to stay. As long as there was no occasion
for it this route was kept pretty well, and the dense
crowd of more than 30,000 people on either side of the
narrow little strip of fire remained in tolerable order.
But with the arrival of the Prince's boat it became im-
jDossible to restrain their eager curiosity, and, after
swaying heavily and uneasily backwards and forwards
for a few minutes, the weight of the masses overbore all
resistance, and the whole crowd collected in one dense,
solid throng, round where the Prince intended to land.
The uremen kept partly together in one spot, but

LANDING AT DETROIT.

279

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their eflForts were useless, save in so far as their
torches cast a red gleam over the sea of upturned faces
and showed at a glance the utter impossibility of dis-
embarking till some way was cleared. The carriages
though not a yard from the boat, could not be reached'
and even if reached, the crowd had jammed them in in
such a manner that moving them was out of the ques-
tion. In vain the authorities tried to force a passage
and in vain the firemen strove to collect together and
keep round the carriages ; a regiment of cavalry could
not have forced its way through the dense unmanage-
able throng which, with hoarse shouts, and the At-
tempts of some to advance and of others to extricate
themselves from the intolerable crush, heaved back-
wards and forwards in waves of human beings. The
crowd, in fact, was powerless from its own numbers
and density, and the efforts of those who strove to
restore order only made matters worse. At last, some
more resolute or free to move than others seized
the horses of one of the nearest carriages and backed
them, aU kicking and plunging, through the crowd,
till alongside the steamer. This cleared a little pas-
^ sage, which the firemen improved upon so as to form
a short, narrow opening, keeping the people back only
by desperate eflForts and thrusting their torches against
those who encroached the most. Those in front, how-
ever, were as anxious to keep order as the firemen
themselves ; it was those far behind who pushed on to
see what they thought must be the gorgeous spectacle
gomg forward, and whose mere weight made it impos-
sible for those in front to resist them. Taking advan-
tage of the little opening made by backing the carriage
the Pnnce, with the Duke of Newcastle, the Governor-
General, and Earl St. Germaius at once entered the
vehicle, which soon forced a passage through the

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crowd — the sooner, perhaps, because not a soul knew
that the Prince was in it. No one seemed for a
moment to suspect that the quiet, handsome, fair,
young man, dressed in the plainest of travelling suits,
was really the Prince of Wales. Perhaps, as travelling
in a private capacity, the crowd at Detroit did not
expect to see him in his coronet and feathers, hut they
certainly looked forward to his being in uniform and
attended by a train of gorgeous courtiers bowing to
the dust before His Eoyal Highness, and otherwise
conducting themselves in a manner popularly supposed
in the Western States to be peculiar to our effete and
woni-out aristocracy. After two or three carriages
had departed, and it was thought that the Prince
must then really be coming at last, a great rush was
made by the crowd, which overwhelmed firemen and
everything, and surged heavily up to the water's edge.
Mr. Pennefather, the Governor- General's secretary,
with one of the firemen and a sailor, were forced over
the edge of the wharf into the river, and were near
being drowned before, in the confusion that prevailed,
they could be rescued. Mr. Pennefather had so narrow
an escape from the wheels of the boat which had just
started that one actually grazed his shoulder, and took
the skin off. When the crowd found that the Prince
had really gone, there was a pell-mell rush back to
the hotel, round which thousands crowded till nearly
midnight, and all the passages, doors, ante-rooms, and
staii'cases of w^hich were quite as crowded as the streets.
People seemed to have an idea that every one who
asked to see His Royal Highness would be admitted
at once, and it was not until some hundreds had been
informed that this was quite an erroneous impression,
that they very reluctantly consented to go away, and
icave liirn to the repose he so much needed.

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281

On the following j .oming the Prince drove round
the town. Detroit, though an old French settlement
IS a very new American city-a city of some twenty'
five years' growth, with its wide streets and huge stone
and red brick houses intermingled with wooden build-
ings, which tell of its modern date and sudden rise
Situated on the River St. Clair, which affords splendid
water communication with Lakes Huron and Erie and
even with Lakes Michigan and Superior, its position
for commerce is unrivalled, and for a long time it has
been the central mart and dep6t for the immense corn
trade coming from the prairie lands. It is not so
flourishing now, however, but is apparently rather on
the decline, being neither as prosperous nor as populous
as it was five years ago. It is not uncommon in
America to see cities suddenly spring into wealth and
grandeur in the midst of the prairies, and, after a few
brief years of marvellous prosperity and progress,
decline as new favourites further out west absorb the
tide of immigration. Such is the case with Detroit
the commercial capital of Michigan. Such, in a few
years, may be Chicago, that most marvellously sudden
of all the sudden cities here. The corn dep6t on the
vharfs of Detroit is an immense wooden building
m summer crammed up with sacks of maize and
wheat, in winter sometimes full to the very roof with
thousands upon thousands of carcases of frozen hoos
waiting for transport to Canada. In the centre of the
dep6t IS a very pretty fountain, which struck me as
rather an unusual feature, for " We air a practical
people here," and seldom run to anything like poetical
adornment for adornment's sake. I was told that it
had been erected for the use of emigrants, who arrive
here by thousands in the spring and who sleep about
tiie depot lor days till hired

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purchase of prairie land far up in the interior is com-
pleted. Most of these emigrants are Germans and
Norwegians. Very few Irishmen comparatively go
there now, and I wonder how any go there at all ; for
your true American looks down upon the Irish with
immeasureable scorn, regarding them as necessary evils
for rough menial work — a sort of free nigger, who at
Lest is only tolerated on account of a certain menial
iiseiulness. Australia, or New Brunswick, is the place
for Irishmen, in America their lot is at first but that
of bitter servitude — of servitude that gains neither the
afiection nor esteem of those who may for the time be
called their masters. As a great central corn mart
the railways have injured Detroit almost beyond re-
demption, but its situation for commerce is too favour-
able to allow it long to remain in its present compara-
tive depression.

The route from Detroit to Chicago was a long and
tedious affair, a dull monotonous railway journey of
more than ten hours, thougli a mere trifle to what was
encountered afterwards between St. Louis, Cincinnati,
and Pittsburg. Tlie Michigan Central Eailway is con-
sidered one of the best on the whole continent, and if
this is true. Heaven sliield men from going on any of
the bad ones, for a worse line I never travelled over.
At some parts the car rolled and jerked like a boat in
a rough sea ; and if that was a specimen of a good line,
how a really bad one could be " navigable " at all it is
hard to imagine. The arrangements at the railway
station were not good, and the crowd of boys and
loafers who swarmed up over the royal car, pulling
down the windows and thrusting in their heads, was so
great that it was almost hidden by their numbers. A
very little ordinary care and consideration on the part
of tlic managers ui the station might have saved liis

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Tloyal Highness this annoyance, for however good-
tempered he was under such inflictions, it coukl not be
otherwise than annoying to r ay gentleman to be hailed
thus, like a wild beast, by a mob of dirty boys and
rowdies. Ihe road from Detroit for the first 140
imles was of much the same character as that of
Upper Canada-huge peach trees, however, taking tlie
p ace of orchards of apples and pears. The American
pan of letting their peach trees grow wild and free
like ordinary trees, instead of naihng them flat against
a wall as we do, seems to answer beyond what could
have been supposed possible, and even the smallest of
American trees bear more fruit in this manner than
tiie finest and largest trees in England nailed flat. At
one of the villages where the train stopped to take in
wood and water, there was a repetition of the same
annoying curiosity on the part of men and boys, who
crowded all over the royal car. This was repeated to
a less extent at another small village, and after that
there was no further trouble. There were crowds
always, but their behaviour was quiet and decorous,
and their natural eagerness to see the Prince never
passed the bounds of marked respectfulness. As the
train neared Michigan city the country assumed a
wild, deserted aspect, huge barren sand " dounes "
rising on every side, much of the same wild and deso-
late kmd which one meets with in crossing Anglesey to
Holyhead, or on the shore near Ostend. Sudd°enly the
sand hills opened out, and along a bleak level coast,
wet-look-ig and desolate as that at Southport, stretched
Lake Michigan, in a huge deep blue expanse, like a
colossal mirror. I never saw a shore more desolate and
sterile-looking, the very lake itself seemed dead and
cold, without a single ripple to quicken its dull, blue
waters into life. From this point out to Chicago the

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train passed over prairie land. The prairies are to
my notion ^rarKl and impressive at all times; and
above all, u^y we espi- iully so on a clear night.
Thet*' U ^..rae hing inexpr-^sibly grand in their
huge, boundless c.vtent, their gently waving mounds
and thick, long grass, which make the dl fant horizon
Wttvj and indistinct as ilmt of the ocean itself. Yet
the itfjprossion is at first almost weakened as mile
after mile lb iiriiversed, and still no ;hange from the
wild, tremendous uniformity of grass plains, always
stretching away on every side, till the land and sky
seem to meet, with not a bush or tree to break the
dead level of the view. Sometimes, and only rarely,
a little swampy patch comes in, half grass, half water,
choked with weeds, and its margin fringed by a few-
stunted trees, which, weak and sickly, seem to have
been poisoned by the malaria of the pools which
here give off such malignant fevers and hot agues
of dislocating violence. Such swamps, however, are
•are, and you lose sight of them in an instant amid
the long, rich, waving verdure, over which the wind
sweeps with the violence of a strong sea breeze, keep-
ing the grass undulating for miles and miles in gentle
billows, as if the whole prairie was in motion. At
these times, with the cold light of the moon showing
the scene in gloomy indistinctness, the prairies look
grand and mysterious beyond description.

F" 1 '

CHAPTER XIV.

CHICAGO.

Arrival at Chioago-rrocesRion of «' Wide-awakes "-Growth and Pro-
sperity of the City_U3 import,ance as a Com depOt-Movin- a
Dwelhng-hr.,.., -On a Shootbg Excursion.

The train arrived at Chicago soon after eight o'clock
at night, crossing a long viaduct over the edge of Lake
Michigan, and in the centre of the water. The town
itself was all astir, and its long lines of houses, with
lights in all their windows, made it at a distance look
not unlike the first appearance of Venice. There was
an immense concourse of people in the station, but
theu: conduct, though enthusiastic enough, was quiet
and orderly, and, in this respect, contrasted most
favourably with the crowd^ at Detroit. His Eoyal
Pligbness went at once to his hotel, the Richmond
House, where every preparation had been made for his
reception by the indefatigable courier and general pro-
vider for the Royal party on tlio American tour, Mr
B^chmeyer. The nuthorities placed police all round
house rj prevent unnecessary crowding and intru-
sion, and a band of Volunteers serenaded His Royal
Highness during the night. On the whole, if the
reception at Chicago was to be taken as a sample of
what His Royal Highness would meet with throughout

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the States, the Eoyal party felt that it would leave
nothing to be desired either on the score of its hearty
welcome, or utter absence of everything like intrusion
or annoyance. Both the late candidates for the Pre-
sidency — Mr. Douglas, democrat (of the pro-slavery
party), and Mr. Lincoln, republican (anti- slavery), had
been nominated from the state of Illinois, so that
at the time of the Prince's arrival party feeling ran
rather high. On that night there was a torch-light
''demonstration" made in favour of Lincoln by the
" WJde-awakes." These men mustered in great num-
bers, and with their torches assembled in front of the
Tremont House Hotel, from the balcony of which they
were addressed by many speakers until nearly ten
o'clock. The speeches were long and temperate, and
sometimes almost funny. But, whether temperate or
intemperate, funny or dull, the "Wide-awakes" gave
no sign of animation. They listened, or appeared to
listen, with great attention, but there was no cheer-
ing, no laughter, no amusing running commentary of
embarrassing remarks, such as one hears on similar
occasions from an English crowd. All was orderly iu
the extreme, but to outward seeming at least dull and
apathetic. Certainly a better conducted, or a more
perfectly quiet popular assemblage I never saw in my
life. But that the meeting had a sensible and prac-
tical purpose in view, but that they were earnest about
it, in spite of all their quietness, and but that tliere
were no frantic denunciations of everybody but them-
selves, one might almost have thought they were
attending a gathering in Exeter Hall.

On the following evening tliere was another proces-
sion in favour of Douglas, and then, to my surprise, I
found that a large number of the men who had turned
out before for Lincoln, now came to swell the ranks of

GROWTH OP THE CITY.

287

his opponent. This seemed so utterly unaccountable,
that I made inquiries concerning it at once. Then I
learnt that each of the torch-bearers was paid for
his attendance, so much per night— a piece of
information which at once solved the mystery of their
total indifference to the speeches. In fact they were
paid to listen to the supporters of each candidate
quietly, and enthusiasm for either one or the other
could form no part of such a bargain. The knowledge
of this little transaction, however, afterwards tended
much to weaken my admiration for the steady and
good order of the demonstrations. On the morning of
Saturday, the 22nd of September, the Prince, with the
Duke of Newcastle, and most of the suite, took a drive
round Chicago, the foremost of that large class of
prairie cities which promise before long, from their
importance, wealth, and quiet, orderly energy of their
population, to effect radical changes in the present
political struggles of the United States. <iFor sudden
growth and immense prosperity, Chicago probably
siHuds unequalled even in the history of Western
enterprise and progress. San Francisco and St.
Paul's in the extreme West are the only two cities
which afford any parallel to its rise. In 1831 and
1832 Chicago was only an Indian trading post; in
1841 and 1842 it was a small wooden prairie town of
5000 inhabitants. It is now an immense city with
rows of stately streets, noble public buildings, fine
squares and avenues, the centre of an immense trade,
with a rich and thriving population of 100,000 people'
to which the tide of emigration alone adds many thou-
sands every year. In fact, when one looks on its great
Imes of streets and warehouses, its huge depots for grain
and produce of all kinds, its banks, hotels, churches
Hospitals, and public buUdings, it is all but impossible

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to believe that this has been the growth of less than
thirty years — that hale and, comparatively speaking,
young men, the owners of immense fortunes, who were
among the first to settle on the present site of the city,
can recollect when it was only prairie land on which
the Indians hunted buffalo and deer. Yet there is
something in the very aspect of the town which bears
out the assertion of its modern growth. The city, in
fact, is still building on every side. You can go down
none of the principal streets without finding one or
more gigantic blocks of warehouses, some of iron, some
of massive stone, some even of white marble, beiuo'
built upon the sites of little wooden shanties, from tlie
trade carried on in which was realised the fortune that
now pays for the erection of these palatial warehouses.
If any reader can imagine how Manchester would look
with its blocks of factories built of white stone, marble,
or red brick, and highly decorated; with between eacli
two or three blocks a little pile of wooden huts like
travelling caravans taken off their wheels, hotels erected
to resemble palaces scattered all among the rows of
buildings, with very wide streets and wooden side-
walks, with rough stumps of pine-trees set along the
roads in all directions to carry telegraphic wires— if ho
can imagine these things, with all the aids of glowing
colours and active, commercial, bustling city life, pic-
turing, too, the whole city on the banks of an inland sea,
like Lake Michigan, with bridges, canals, and wharfs,
and crowds of shipping, he can then form a fair idea of
what Chicago is. And all this in little more than twenty
years! It is still nevertheless the most grotesque
and whimsical city that I ever saw. It is such an
extraordinary melange of the Broadway of New York
and little shanties— of Parisian buildings mixed up in
some way witli backwoods life. If the best shops of

ASPECT OP THE CITY.

289

Kegent Street, witli the best houses and terraces of
Bayswater, were profusely intermixed with wooden
shanties, and occupied by some 160,000 busy people
and a whole army of bricklayers put all round such a
city to try to build it in with suburbs of stately stores
and streets, larger than any yet attempted, it would be
hke Chicago. It is like something that one has seen
everywhere, yet, as a city, it is like nothing else but
Itself under the sun. You pass through streets of
houses bigger and handsomer than the Great Western
Hotel, and next door to them is a group of little
mushroom wooden tenements, the dwellings of the
first settlers, which one might jump over, and which
are regarded as among the antiquities of Chicacro
though scarcely, even for slight wooden buildings old
even now. '

But as the tourist sees almost miles of warehouses
buildmg in all directions, he is apt to ask himself the
question, is not Chicago, like all the precocious west-
ern cities, overhuilding itself? The inhabitants say not
m spite of the admitted fact, that if building at Chicago'
goes on for the next four or five years at the rate it hts
been going on for the last two or three, the city will be
almost bigger than New York. It is very difficult for
a visitor to find out anything as to the real state of
prosperity of an American city while in the city itself
None of the inhabitants will ever admit that it is not
one of the chief cities in the Union, while, on the
other hand, the people of a rival town give a most
gloomy picture of the future of all towns but their own
Ihis was the case at Chicago. According to the
inhabitants its riches and prosperity were boundless
and mexhaustible. According to the opinions of neigh-
bourmg towns, it was merely what is poeticallv called,
tne giideu index to far-reaching ruin,"-a bankrupt.

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CHICAGO.

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overbuilt town, two-thirds of which was mortgaged to
its full value to the money-lenders of New York and
Boston. In truth there is no real ground for any
of these extreme statements. Chicago has overbuilt
itself, and is suffering just now for its fault. It is a
fault, however, which two or three years will rectify,
when the prosperity of the place must become greater
than ever. Overbuilding cannot have the same effect
at Chicago which it has produced at Detroit, for the
simple reason that the State of Illinois, of which
Chicago is the commercial capital, is one of the new
agricultural states, comprising within its boundaries a
tract of prairie land of almost precisely the same size
as England and Wales, and which, for fertility of the
soil, is not to be equalled by any other state in the
Union, save perhaps Wisconsin and Minnesota. The
two latter, however, are as yet but poorly settled,
though their natural advantages are said to be equal
to those enjoyed by the settlers of Illinois. The State
of Illinois grows cotton, tobacco, maize, and wheat of
the finest kinds. The whole State, in fact, is prairie—
that is, level meadow-land, covered with rich long
prairie grass, with a deep, fine, soft, black loamy soil,
which lies over the gravel in depths of from five to six
or ten feet. All that the settler therefore has to do is,
to confine his cattle till they eat down the long grass,
then plough at once, and sow his corn year after year,
without manuring, or often even resting tlie land iu
any way. The fable of "Jack and the Bean-stalk" is
almost realised there in the gigantic crops of Indian
corn, where the plant in a few weeks attains a height of
more than ten feet, and where the ear of corn is as
massive and heavy as a rolling-pin. I was shown
some of only a few weeks' growth, which were more

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IMPORTANCE AS A COKN DEPOT. ggx

ing and for dairy and cattle-rearing purposes, the
prame land is said to be the best in the world

•J* ''^^'Z'"""''"''' ^^^'^ "^^^^ it almost impos-
^ble that Chicago, which is the centre of the trade of
the whole State, can ever overbuild itself to any ruinous
extent. It is probably the largest corn depot in the
world not even excepting Odessa or Alexandria. The
corn lifts, as they are termed, are among the "sights"
of Chicago By these lifts, corn to the amount of
milhons of bushels is stored in the floors of lofty Avare-
houses the depositor receiving a printed acknowledg-
ment ike a cheque, that so many hundred or thousand
bushels of a certain quality are in store on his account
Un these corn-cheques money is advanced by the
merchants of the town, and they circulate through the
State hke an ordinary bank-note, though of course for
large sums.

While driving round the streets of Chicago the
Prince saw a wooden dwelling-house being moved. To
the English reader moving a house will sound like'a
rather alarmmg operation. In America and Upper
Canada nothing is more common. Any one who has
built a wooden house too near a stream or too far from
It, or as he clears his land and wants his farm-house
more m the centre of his crops, at once moves his
house. The foundations to wooden houses are of
course very primitive afi"airs ; therefore it is not diffi-
cult to hoist the whole establishment by levers on to
huge wooden rollers, formed of trunks of trees. It is
then slowly moved, either by horse-power or levers in
whatever direction it is wished. It is not uncommon
lor houses to be thus moved three or four times in the
course of a couple of years. After driving round Chi-
cago, the Prince returned to his hotel at the Eichmond
iiuuse. Kound this line building an immense con-

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CHICAGO.

course had collected, and in acknowledgment of their
repeated cheers, His Royal Highness had to show
himself often in the balcony. At two o'clock the Prince,
with the Duke of Newcastle, General Bruce, Lord
Lyons, Colonel Grey, Major Teesdale, Dr. Ackland,
Viscount Hinchinbrooke, and the Hon. Mr. Elliott,
started for their little shooting-boxes, near Dwight, on
the Grand Prairie. The arrangements for this wild
excursion, to which all the royal party looked forward
with eagerness, had been entrusted to Captain Eetal-
lack, aide-de-camp to the Governor-General. As it
was rather late in the season, and the prairie hens were
beginning to pack, it was feared the sport would not
be what was anticipated. Fortunately these dismal
apprehensions were not realised, and the whole excur-
sion proved to be one of the most successful and plea-
sant which was met with in the entire tour.

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CHAPTER XV.

THE PRAIRIES NEAR DWIGHT.
Sketch of Dwight-Difficnlties as to Houseroom-Sport on the Prairi.«

jDwiGHT is a prairie village, just five years old,
and about ninety miles from Chicago. Five years
ago and the spot where the little wooden town now
stands was a huge wilderness of prairie land with
not a trace of human habitation on it for miles and
miles. IVIr Morgan and Mr. Dwight, who knew the
inexhaustible fertility of the land, determined to form
a settlement there, so a small station-house was soon
built on the hne of the Chicago and St. Louis Eail-
way, which crosses the prairie, and the first wooden
huts erected about four or four and a half years ago
Now several thousand acres of the prairie have been
brought under cultivation ; a pretty, though very little
church has been built, with a very large school-house.
Ihe town musters one small wooden hotel (still in a
most uncultivated and prairie condition), with about
100 other houses and 500 inhabitants. Each year
however, the population nparlv rl^nl.ino co +v,«^ ;^ ■> ^^^
Dwight will figure largely on the maps and guidebooks

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as a young, though rising prairir: town, with good hotels,
a large corn-market, and a busy thriving population of
some 15,000 or 20,000 people. Its glories, however,
are still all in the future, and the visit of His Royal
Highness and party very much taxed the slender accom-
modation of the'little village to the utmost. Mr. Spen-
cer's house was given up to the Prince, the Duke of
Newcastle, General Bruce, and Dr. Acland. This was
the utmost number it could be got to accommodate
even with crowding. The Prince's bedroom was very
little larger than an ordinary bed, and its ceiling was
certainly not high enough to have accommodated witli
comfort either the Duke of Newcastle or General Bruce.
Close by in a neat, though an uncommonly small cottage,
in make and material very like those wonderful little
money-boxes into which children drop their hoarded
pennies through the roof. Colonel Grey and Major
Teesdale were "fixed." Lord Lyons, with Captain
Retallack and Mr. John Spencer, stopped at Mr. Mor-
gan's farm, and Lord Hinchinbrooke and the Hon.
Mr. Elliott slept in a railway car on a siding off the
line, with Mr. Price, the manager of the railway.
Mr. Spencer, Mr. Wilson, the superintendent of the
telegraph, and others were, I presume, not supposed
to sleep at all, for the places of their repose, if any,
were shrouded in the deepest mystery. With a party
so scattered, and all things in the rough, one would
almost fancy that Dwight would have failed ft make
an agreeable impression on the royal party. Yet I am
certain that long as their progress was, and varied as
were its attractions everywhere, there is no visit which
is so kindly and so pleasantly remembered by His
lloyal Highness and all the party as that which they
made to Dwight and its prairies.

Everything was so novel and so attractive. The

tractive, llie

SPORT ON THE PRAIRIES. 095

r'*^ *l5f ^'^''''' """' "'^ ' ""^^ *^^^ g^"^^ abundant
The boundless expanse of grass -covered land was alone

a sight worth travelling to see, and, above all, the roval
party were secure from prying and intrusion, and could
enjoy themselves as best suited their humour, free from
observation of any kind. The people of the village,
who knew their wish for privacy, were so careful not to
intrude upon it that they scarcely even regarded any
of the royal party when they saw them, and Mr. Spencer
and Mr. Moi-gan, with such tact, such kind, attentive
and delicate hospitality as I never saw elsewhere were
sohcitous night and morning for whatever could conduce
to the comfort and convenience of the august visitor to
their little town. In short, the royal party for once
enjoyed themselves in unrestrained comfort and pri
vacy, starting at early dawn to shoot the praivie hens
stopping m the middle of the huge waste to eat their
simple lunch, and coming back at night tired and
hungry to their plain dinner at Mr. Spencer's lodge
when the game was counted and exulted over and
after quiet cigars every one retired early. Such was
the hfe of the Prince on the prairies. The party arrived
on the evening of Saturday the 22nd. His Royal High-
ness gave a minute or two to inspecting his plain
shooting-box and immediately after was out with his
gun among the lofty plants of Indian corn that sur-
rounded the house, and which formed a little belt of
culture, an oasis of civilisation in the boundless extent
of undulating rich wild prairie land.

But dusk was closing in fast as the Prince went out
into the towering stubble, and shooting was not to be
expected that night-at least, so one of the enormous
white owls of the prairie seemed to think, for he flew
too near His Royal Highness, who, all dusk as it was
made a splendid long shot and brought the sage bird

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down at once. This, however, was the only sport
attempted on Saturday, and on Sunday, of course,
nothmg was done, and, after attending Divine Service
in tlie little Presbyterian church, the party remained
all quiet and alone in their country farmhouse, in the
middle of the Grand Prairie. Not quite alone, how-
ever, for towards the end of the day two Irishmen,
mounted on rough, barebacked mules, came riding
across the prairie towards the house, and met the
Prince walking in the long grass outside. The fore-
most instantly introduced himself by saying, " Sir, I
was a subject of your mother, sure, long ago, and I
hear you're the Prince of Wales. How do you do, sir?"
With which brief announcement he got off his mule
and shook His Eoyal Highness by the hand very
heartily. Having acquitted himself of this neat Httle
speech with the utmost eagerness, he bethought himself
of his companion, whose general appearance and cos-
tume were a trifle more dilapidated than his own.
This sunburnt individual, who remained on his mule,
shifting uneasily to and fro, as if the presence of the
heir of Britain rather embarrassed him than other^vise,
he at once introduced in a general way by saying,
"This is my friend, Sir, and, as there's no church
near where we're fixed, I hope you'll excuse his dress."
The Prince smiled, and said he would, and there cer-
tainly was very little to excuse, inasmuch as a ragged
shirt and trousers constituted the chief portion of the
dress in question. The conversation then came to a
sudden pause, while the first and only spokesman
seemed tc be endeavouring with all his might to recol-
lect some previously-arranged topic of interest to com-
municate. At last he hit it, and broke out with, "We've
ridden more than a long twenty miles across the prairie
to see you, Sir," and then there was another pause

PRAIRIE SCENERY.

297

while he seemed to wonder whether any more civilities
were necessary or not. Apparently he came to the
conclusion that on the whole a sufficient homage had
been rendered, for without a word he mounted his mule
agam, and with a " Good bye, Sir," both rode off
When about a quarter of a mile away the speaker
turned and riding a short way buck, called out
hoarsely that if any of the party wanted mules they
had beautiful ones to sell, where he was " fixed " some
twenty miles east of Dwight, and having relieved his
mnid of this information, away both visitors rode
keepmg their mules across the prairie straight as J
crow would fly, tiU they were lost to view in the
immense expanse.

It is comparatively easy for any of my readers to
imagme a prairie-it is next to impossible to describe
one. Leave Dwight behind you, and walk out to the
east till all sight and sound of the little village is lost
in the distance, and then look round you. There is a
huge, undulating ocean of long, rich grass and flowers,
which the warm, soft wind keeps in a gentle ripple.
There is not a sound but the shrill cliirping of millions
of crickets, not a shrub or bush to break the dead level
of the distant horizon— nothing to vary the wide-spread
sea of verdure but its own masses of bright wild-flowers
over which gorgeous butterflies keep always skimming
on noiseless wings. This is the prairie. About a mile
or so a-head is a slight, but very perceptible rise in the
ground, and you push on for this to get a good look
about you. There is, of course, no track, and your
way lies through the prairie grass, in autumn little
more than breast high, but in the spring almost over
your head ; you stride through clumps of resin and
compass weeds, through patches of blue, yellow, and
purple iiowers, through thyme and long ricn grass with

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THE PRAIRTES NEAR DWIOHT.

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tall, tufted; reedy plants in the midst, which attract
your notice at once. It is the rattlesnake weed, always
most plentiful where this deadly reptile abounds,- and
the root of which, Avith immense doses of corn whisky,
is said, under certain favourable contingencies, to liave
averted fatal results from the bites of small reptiles of
this species. Where the snake-weed is plentiful, beware
and look out well for the snakes too. You can't walk
far through the prairie on a hot morning without hear-
ing the dry sharp hissing rattle of one of these deadly
serpents, as with his tail so quickly vibrating that you
can scarcely distinguish its end, and with the lean,
hungry-looking head erect, it moves sluggishly away
in search of a place where it may repose and bask
undisturbed. Such dangerous occupants of the grass
are very common in the prairies, and may with prairie
wolves and sometimes deer be seen within a stone's
throw of the houses of Dwight itself. But all this
while you are plodding through the grass, turning aside
for one minute to look at the little prairie crabs which
burrow down their holes some fifteen feet to the level
of the water below the gravel, and into which they drop
at once on the slightest sound of alarm, or else you
watch the coveys of prairie hens as they rise witli a
whirr riglit and left, and go skimming along like grouse
a little a-head of you. At last you gain the summit of
the gentle rise, and can look around you for miles on
miles in all directions, yet you are almost disappointed
to find that you have gained nothing by your walk-
that tlie same tremendous extent of wild meadow laud,
clothed with a rich luxuriance of grass and flowers,
stretches away on every side till deep green fades into
brown in the distance, and a line of blackish-blue on
the ocean, far, far out, marks where the horizon meets
the sky. Yet the land is not all level. It has a series

THE GRAND PRAIRIE.

209

of {gentle nndulations— of low, loucr sloping ridges, as
if nn inland sea, when slowly moving with a quiet
regular swell, had on the instant been chan«? ' +o rich
and fertile land. The prairie of which I write this is
known as the Grand Prairie, from the extraordinary
fertility of its land— for its length is only 150 miles by
CO. But in a south-easterly din ction from Dwight one
may journey for more than .')00 miles and nevex- once
quit their long, shallow ridges— never see anything but
the external expanse of deep green grass, perfumed
with the gum droppings of the resin weed. The southern
prairies are broken here and there by water-courses,
by clumps of cotton-wood and groves of locust trees!
Occasionally, though at rare intervals, a little line of
locust trees, looking like rocks in the great ocean of
grass, mark where pools of water may be found. These
varieties, however, are but few, and after a journey in
the great wilderness a tree almost startles you as some-
thing out of place in the huge soft green meadow-sea,
where the long coarse silky-looking grass bears nothing
stronger than a resin weed among it, and where a bref.th
of wind ripples its whole surface into breakers of ver-
dure, which even in the calmest days gives such an
.aspect of life and animation to these silent and deserted
lands. One might write for days and days on prairie
laud and prairie life, and yet give but a faint idea of
either to those who have not seen them. It is the wild
the overflowing abundance of animal and vegetable life
which fills these great reservoirs of nature, the know-
ledge that the thousands of square miles of soil over
which you travel is the richest and most luxuriant in
the world, and yet, in spite of this, the utter desolation
and absence of the trace of any human being which
surprises you, one time with gratitude that there is
such land to spare, and the next moment with regret

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THE PRAIRIES NEAR DWIGHT.

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that its great riches should be so neglected and forlorn.
Travel on for miles and miles, for days and nights,
pass from Illinois across the broad turbid waters of the
Mississippi, into the slave State of Missouri — ^journey
for hundreds and hundreds of leagues, as you may do
then, yet not quit for a single day those monstrous
grassy wastes, those perpetual land calms, in which a
silence as great as that upon the sea seems always to
remain unbroken.

The inexperienced person, however, must be very
careful how he ventures on these luxuriant steppes
alone. Let him but lose sight of his faint landmarks,
and make one or two incautious turns, and he will
instantly find himself engaged in a game of blindman's
buff on a most extensive and unpleasant scale, and
must catch what way he can back again. In vain you
search for the track you have made through the long
grass. A breath of wind is sufiicient to conceal it from
your inexperienced eyes, though a week afterwards an
Indian runner could follow it up with as much ease as
if it were a paved road. You push forward in what you
think a straight course, but it is ten to one that you
only make huge circles round the place from which
you started, and it is then that the eternal solemn
silence of the great plains becomes not only impres-
sive but almost alarming, when every fresh effort to
strike a track increases your weariness, and you feel
yourself a helpless prisoner in these huge, bright
smiling sohtudes. Fortunately, none go on the prairie
for the first time without being shown, in case of such
mishaps, the groups of compass weed, which abound all
over the plains, and the broad flat leaves of which point
due north and south with an accuracy as unvarying as
that of the ma«ynetiG needle itself. And thus with the
aid of these useful little weeds and the sun's course,

«5iiawwSiS£"; .■;♦«;

PERIL BY FIRE.

301

you may make tracks across the broadest prairie with
the most imerring certainty.

The great danger to which travellers on the largest
prairies are exposed is fire. Scorched during one or
two months of summer by an almost tropical heat, the
grass . hrivels up into a coarse brown-looking hay, and
while in this state is constantly lit accidentally by the
carelessness of travellers or hunters, or by flashes from
the terrific lightning storms which are always sweepin^r
over the plains. With a brisk night wind in the
lieight of summer a prairie fire spreads over the whole
plains with awful rapidity, and, unless well mounted,
woe betide the unlucky travellers, who, roused by the
smoky heat from their slumbers, see the great horizon
of orange-coloured flame in the distance, like a vast
semicircle of fire bearing down rapidly towards them.
On the small prairies instant flight is the only chance
of safety. On the gi-eat and wilder prairies flight is
useless, and the only expedient that off'ers any hope of
safety is riding madly with the wind some ten miles in
advance of the fire and lighting the prairie before you at
two or three points. As the wind bears the flame
rapidly a-head, the travellers, after a short interval, are
enabled to follow along the scorched track comparatively
out of reach of the flames coming up behind, which of
course stop on the mnrpin of the burnt ground for
want of fuel. But even this dangerous expedient will
fail if the fires take place in June when the grass is
very high. So much scorched embers then remain
behind, that no horse can venture in, and no rider
could live in the dense stubble smoke. In such des-
perate straits the only chance is to slay and disembowel
the horse, and literally creep into the raw cavity till

, i-.n^oea, ana as iliere are instances of

this resource having sometimes saved the Hves of

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THE PRAIRIES NEAR DWIGHT.

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Indians and hunters it is perhaps not too much to con-
clude that it has often been tried with less successful
results. In fact this is the last resource, and must be
prompted by the same desperate clinging to life which
induces a sailor to hold on to a plank when shipwrecked
in the middle of the Atlantic. What chance is there of
escape for the man who survives suffocation from the
passing flame and emerges alone and on foot in the
middle of a vast burnt prairie ? On the first Monday of
the Prince's visit he was so fortunate as to see one of
these tremendous prairie conflagrations. The day had
been very hot and sultry, and the royal guest was still
out shooting with the Duke of Newcastle, Captain
Ketallack, and Mr. Spencer. The rest of the suite had
taken different directions widely apart, and were still
absent on the prairie as night fell. With the darkness
came an almost deeper gloom as huge masses of dense
thunder clouds rose up into the angry sky. Before
any of the parties could reach Dwight a dreadful storm
raged, and the wind, after moaning and roaring about
the plain like a hurricane at sea, would suddenly cease,
and a portentous silent darkness reign over the whole
scene — a silence so intense that the vivid flashes of
lightning, noiseless as they were, seemed almost to
break as the great livid streaks darted down and went
flickering over the plains in all directions. While
watching the dreadful solemnity of this storm in such
a wild, I could not help noticing three dull red, copper-
coloured banks of clouds at different parts of the
horizon, and asked my kind host Mr. Morgan to explain
what they meant or were. The explanation was given
in five words, for the instant his quick eye caught the
distant tinge, he exclaimed, *' The prairie is on fire."
And so indeed it proved to be. Whether it had caught
from some smouldering gun wadding, or, as was thought

A CONFLAGRATION-. "03

far more probable, had been ignited by the incessant
flashes of hghtning during the storm, it was hard to
say. Only one thing admitted of no doubt whatever
and that was that the grass had caught in three distinct
jjlaces.

At first it seemed probable that a short, quick flood
of ram which fell after the storm, and which for two or
three mmutes was heavy enough almost to extinguish
anything would check its progress, as for a time in
fact It did. But the fire had obtained too firm a hold
and as the rain ceased the wind rose, and the smoulder-
nig red patches on the verge of the horizon grew
brighter and brighter, spreading along with an angry
rapidity that brought each separate conflagration closer
and closer every minute. The wind was away from the
village of Dwight and its rich belt of corn fields and
turnmg the flames westward, over the mass of pra'irie •
and as these fires, especially at that season of the year'
do the land much good, the progress of the conflagration
was watched with perfect indifference. Soon the sky
from reflecting a narrow strip of red, lit up with an
angry glare as the mass of fire spread beneath it~the
little patches of flame began to crest the undulations
and ragged columns of dense fiery smoke streamed
away m lurid masses as if it would carry the flame and
heat up mto the clouds themselves. An hour more
and the three fires had apparently joined, or, at least
^jre so close together that they formed one huge belt
of flame that covered the earth and lit up the sky for
miles and miles. The fire was at least eight or nine
miles distant from Dwight, and from there it looked
comparatively a small space in the immense horizon of
land around, and only by the bright orange flame in
the distance, and the mass of fiery skv above, nonld nne
judge adequately of the real area occupied by the burn-

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THE PRAIRIES NEAR DWIGHT.

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ing plains. Not so, however, as after a long ride you

approached them from the windward side. For a mile

and more before you reached the edge of the fire you

were in its bright orange light, which made everything

as visible as if it were noon day, and the sun was shining

fiercely through a blood-coloured haze. You could

hear the sharp barking howl of the prairie wolves as

they rushed away for the darkness, and see the prairie

bens fluttering and fluttering from place to place,

turning in their wild terror full into the smoke, when

they fall and perish instantly. At last you gain a little

rise and look beyond into such a scene as nothing but

a prairie fire can show. It spreads out a sea of red

smouldering ashes, glowing for miles in all directions,

while the deep white ridge of flames a- head mount the

slopes with awful rapidity, and flap their heavy tongues

up into the air with a hoarse roaring noise that fills

you with astonishment and almost terror. Hour after

hour you may stand, fascinated with the terrible beauties

of the scene, as the mass of red sultry ruins grows

and grows each minute, till your eyes are pained and

heated with its angry glare and you almost dread the

gi-and, fierce sheet of fire, which has swept all trace of

vegetation from the surface of the prairie. On Monday

night, when near twelve o'clock, the wind changed a

little and turned the flames nearly back upon the

ground they had already devastated, and this at once

checked their progress. On the next day, however

they sprang up afresh and raged faster and faster than

before, and the whole extent of prairie east of Dwight

was hidden under such a dense cloud of yellow smoke

as I never saw before. And on the last night the glare

was tremendous— as if the world itself was burning.

The first day's sport of the Prince was far more
successful than was anticipated. The prairie hens

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A GOOD day's sport. 395-

resemble English grouse (except that they are larger
-almost the size of cock Dheasants), and the sport
of sliooting them is followea in the same manner with
pomters. There was a bet as to which of the three
parties would return with the heaviest bag The
Prince with the Duke went east. General Bruce
with Colonel Grey, Major Teesdale, and Mr. Wilkins'
went west ; and Viscount Hinchinbrooke and the
Hon. Mr. Elliott steered due south. Dr. Ackland went
out with a gun in his hand and a pencil in his thoughts
and, as usual, after one or two shots fell to making
beautiful sketches of the prairies. In the evening
when the three parties returned, there was, considering
the lateness of the season and the wildness of the birds
rather a good bag. More than fifty brace of prairie
hens, exclusive of such other game as plover and quail
was the result of the united day's sport. Of this num-
ber eleven and a half brace had fallen to the Prince's
gun-eclipsing the Duke of Newcastle's sport by three
birds. The dollar bet therefore was won by His Royal
Highness, who in this as during other days' sporting
showed himself to be a crack shot, and the best of the
party.

On the following morning the whole party started at
six clock to a place called Stuart's Grove, on the
edge of the prairie some thirty miles from Dwight, and
one of the most celebrated covers for quail in the
country. Here there was a regular battue from about
eight in the morning till twelve in the day, when the
heat became great, so a halt was called in a shady little
nook between the brushwood, and the Prince and the
Duke rested themselves and had lunch, and afterwards
slept for a couple of hours till nearly four o'clock,
bhooting was then renewed with redouhl^d vi,ro„r ard
the united bag of the whole party amounted to ninety-

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THE PRAIIIIES NEAR DWIQIIT.

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five and a half brace of game, twenty-eight of whicli,
with some rabbits and plovers and a brace of prairie
hens, were brought down by the Prince. Again there-
fore he had the honour of beating all the party by
several birds. The skill and rapidity with which he
knocked over the quail perfectly astonished the prairie
sportsmen who were with him.

He was certainly most fortunate in his visit, for,
for the time of the year, he had most unusual
sport; he saw a prairie thunderstorm, a prairie fire
of immense extent, and, above all, a prairie sunset.
The latter took place in all its supernatural glory- a
glory which can never be described or understood
by those who have not seen it— while the party
were shooting the quail the night before their de-
parture. As the sun neared the rich green horizon,
it turned the whole ocean of meadow into a sheet of
gold which seemed to blend with the great firmament
of reds and pinks, pale rosy orange hues, and solemn
an(*ry-looking crimson clouds above till not only the
sky but all the land around was steeped in piles of
colour as if the heavens were reflected from below, or
as if the sinking sun shone through the very earth liive
mist, and turned it to a rainbow. The immensity of
stillness which lay in the prairie then — a stillness as
profound and vast as the green solitude itself, while
not a breath stirred over the whole horizon as the
great transmutation went slowly on, and the colours
over the land turned from rosy to pink, from pink to
orange, orange to red and crimson — darkening and
darkening always as the tints ebbed out like a celestial
tide leaving fragments of scarlet clouds over the heavens
— the embers of the fire which had lit the prairie in a
flame of glory. There was such a qniet unspeakable
richness in this grand farewell of day— such a terrible

VALUE OP PRAIRIE LAND.

307

redness about the sky at last that one could almost
fancy some supernatural phenomenon had occurred
that the sun had gone for ever, and left a deep and
gory wound across the darkening sky. Night was a
relief compared to this dread, lurid fire in heaven— a
fire which the clouds seemed to close in upon, and stifle
out with difficulty-a fire which, like the paintings of
the sunset before the Deluge, left always an ominous
anger in the heavens, even when the night was far
advanced, and the prairie clothed in a blue mist that
rose over it, like water. It was such a sunset as moved
even the rural inhabitants of Dwight; such a sunset as
even the "oldest inhabitant," who had been there some
five years, had never seen before.

On this night, after the return home to Mr. Spencer's
lodge, the Prince and the Duke each selected pairs of
the game sliot, which were sent away to be stufi'ed and
forwarded to England as mementoes of their prairie
tour.

A few words here upon the value of prairie land in
an agricultural point of view may not be altogether out
of place, or without interest for the reader. The
remarks made on one prairie in tins respect apply
almost equally .to all the others in Nortli America
There are, of course, many places where prairie land is*
of less value than in others, but this depreciation is
solely due to such local causes as the want of railway
communication and the like, for the prairies tliemselves
have the same high average of fertility throughout
The land round the station at Dwight was bought some
five years ago for 90 cents (about l\s. U.) per acre.
The price now in the village itself is a little over 100
dollars, or 21Z. Three miles from the village the best
prame land for farms is worth about 6 dollars, or ms.
an acre. Six or eight miles out a hundred acres may

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308

THE PRAIRIES NEAR DWIGHT.

Btill be purchased for 100 dollars. The land thus

obtainable is pure prairie ; that is to say, covered with

long, rich, coarse grass, the very finest food in the

world for cattle, and which, when cut and left to dry,

gives ample fodder for the winter. The soil is so

peculiarly light, dry, and fine— more resembling snuff

than anything else I can compare it to— that the blade

of the ploughshare has to be formed unusually deep

and wide, so as to turn the earth back to a considerable

distance to form the furrow at all. In such a soil the

labour of ploughing would be merely nominal but for

the all-abounding weed at the root of the grass, known

as the ** Devil's Shoestrings." In spite of its formidable

name, the plant itself, as it appears above ground, is as

meek-looking a little vegetable as ever varied the rich

monotony of long high grass. Beneath the soil, however,

its roots spread far and wide, and are ulh even to their

minutest fibre, strong and tough as good thick catgut.

To cut these the ploughshare has to be kept almost

as sharp as a razor, and its edge to be carefully filed

up afresh at the completion of each furrow. Once,

however, that the furrow is complete and the corn

sown, the settler has no further trouble till called to

gather in or sell his bounteous crops. " Tickle the

land with a hoe, and it laughs with a harvest," is true

of the prairie, for though I was told that no land in

the world so well repays manuring, still, no land in the

world does so well without it. Thus all around Dwight

on lands without manure the yield of Indian corn last

year was, in some cases, as high as seventy bushels an

acre, averaging fitty bushels all round. The wheat

was far less successful, owing to the drought, though

nowhere less than twenty-two bushels, and varying

generally from twenty-six to thirty per acre, and in a

tew instances much higher. The settlement is still

PRAIRIE FARMING. 309

too young to have tried the effects of manure steadily
but Mr. Morgan, who has one of the best farms in the
place, stated from the sr all experiments he had already
tried, that an average amount of manuring may be
reckoned to yield at least double the ordinary produce
of the soil. For what are termed root crops prairie
land IS considered the /ery finest ; and melons, pump-
kms, gourds, and squashes sown between the ridges of
Indian corn are so enormously productive as to be of
little more than no^niual value at Dwight or indeed
any town, or villages which border these magnificent
expanses of rich uncultivated pasture. One curious
circumstance connected with prairie farming is per-
haps wortii notice, and that is, that the instant the
land is ploughed a weed called "Pussley'' makes its
appearance. It is never seen until the land is fur-
rowed, and then it spreads over the earth in a few
weeks. It is a peculiar looking vegetable, something
like a house-leek, with long round succulent branches
about as thick as a man's finger, and which lie flat
along the ground. This, when boiled, is a most deli-
cious and wholesome vegetable, the leaves being like
spinach, and the branches in taste resembling sea-kale.
In prairie settlements Pussley is always a standing
dish, though it grows in such profuse abundance tha^t
it could never be kept down if its consumption was
confined to the settlers alone. Fortunately, therefore
it is equally wholesome for cattle in its raw state, and
they have such an especial fondness for it as to go
through any fences to get at it. So when the Pusslev
weed becomes too abundant over the new turned land
the settler has only to let in the sheep and cows, who
browse away whole acres of it in a few days and
fatten upon it immensely. There is another curious
plant which grows wild in the prairies, called the

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THE TRAIRIES NEAR DWIQIIT.

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" Tumble weed." It is a very thin light furzy looking
plant, which dries up into a large ball in autumn,
when the least breath of wind uproots it and at once
it goes tunibhng along over the prairie grass for miles
and miles. On a breezy day hundreds and thousands
of these large rolling weeds may be seen in all direc-
tions tumbling swiftly across the huge expanse of land.
Winter on the prairies is, as a rule, mild. There is verj'
little snow, though occasionally a good deal of frost,
and on these days the fresh bracing breeze that sweeps
across the land is said to be very sharp and keen On
days like these the inhabitants collect for wolf hunts.
The programme of these battues is generally arran^^ed
a week or so beforehand. All the settlers from the
surrounding districts assemble at dawn on horseback,
at different points, so as to form an immense circle
about twenty miles distant from the common centre
in which they all gradually emerge.

Of course, in a circle of forty miles' diameter, an im-
mense extent of ground is enclosed, and it is not till
this is gradually reduced to one or two or three miles
that the animals driven in begin to take alarm. But
by that time the circle of hunters, which at first was
very thin, has almost joined, and the medley catch of
wild animals of all kinds are forced to the centre. No
attempt is made to kill any of the large number of deer
that are sure to be thus driven in, but the wolves, of
course, get no mercy. No fire-arms are ever allowed
to be used, a precaution which the wild excitement of
the chase renders necessary for the safety of all en-
gaged. The wolves, as the circle contracts, try and
break through it, when they are beaten down by the
horsemen, nmied with long clubs, and at once slain.
Many manage somehow or other to get through then-
pursuers, though not without such injuries as enable

WOLVES AND REPTILES.

811

the iiunters to overtake and dispatch them before they
have gone a quarter of a mile. A full grown prairie
wolf is quite as large as the formidable grey wolf of
Canada, but, of course, not half as dangerous. Their
principal prey round Dwight was poultry and young
lambs, and the depredations of this kind committed
on the settlers were neither few nor unimportant. On
wolf hunts, also, the horsemen frequently come on nests
of rattlesnakes ; where a great many lie coiled together,
hybernating during the winter. As a matter of course^
these deadly reptiles meet with as little compassion as
the wolves. The result of the most careful inquiries I
could make among hunters and settlers proved to me
beyond a doubt that the- bite of this dreadful snake,
hitherto supposed to be incurable, is not so. I heard of
several well-authenticated instances where fatal effects
were averted, by immediate and inordinate doses of
corn whisky, and the application of the bruised root of
the rattlesnake weed not only to the wound, but all
round the limb. My informants, however, added that
recovery was only to be expected when the bite was
inflicted by small reptiles, and through the clothes.
When bitten by large old snakes on the bare flesh, or
when a small snake bit on two limbs, there was little or
no hope that death would not take place within a few
houis. In August, September, and October, when the
rattlesnake is casting its skin, and is then quite blind,
the bite of even the smallest of them is certain death.
During these times also the snake is very sluggish
and seldom rattles its tail, which, of course, infinitely
increases the risk of their being inadvertently trodden
on. Cattle seem to have an instinctive knowledge of
the fatal power of this snake, and at once rush from
the spot whence its dry hissing rattle is heard in the
grass. During the months when it is casting its skin

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THE PRAIllIRS NEAR DWIOIIT.

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and seldom rattles they frequently get bitten, when, hb
if conscious of their fate, they return back to the farm-
yard, and in the course of a couple of hours, durinjj
which they swell immensely, fall and die apparently
with great suffering. A snake called the " Copper
Head" is also found in the prairie, though by no means
so numerous as the rattlesnakes, which in parts abouml
in the rank, thick, high grass. The bite of tlie copper
head is as certainly deadly as the wound intiicted by
a cobra, a pull" adder, the Morocco snake of Northern
Africa, or the water viper which haunts the swamps of
the Southern Mississipi. A whole gallon of corn
whisky would be of no effect against its fearful wound.
A reptile called the " bull snake" is also to be met
with in most prairies. It is not venomous, though
almost formidable from its size, strength, and fierce-
ness. It grows from ten to twelve or fourteen feet
long, is of great thickness, and vindictively angry
when its solitude is incautiously intruded on.

The corn whisky, of which I have spoken so often,
is a coarse powerful spirit, made at almost nominal
cost from Indian corn. The price is only about thirty
cents a gallon, little more than threepence a quart.
It is, of course, almost pure alcohol, and in taste
resembles the methylated spirits of wine used in the
varnish trade in England. Very little of it is ever
drunk in the prairies, where the people are all most
abstemious; and it is fortunate they are so, for corn
whisky, as they say them < Ives, will " kill at forty

rods."

Coal is everywhere abundant throughout the State
of Illinois— so abundant as that, even with the great
demand for labour, it can be mined, brought to
Chicago by canal, and sold wholesale at ds. a ton,
throughout the state, retail at from lis. to Us.,

I ■' 1

COPPER DOULDERS. 3] 3

According to the season. It is, perhaps, also worth
mentioning as a singular geohjgical circumstance, that
it is not very unrr)mnion to find in the prairie (?rass
sn:ooth round copper bouklers, weighing a hundred-
weight, or more ; solid pieces of pure, soft virgin
coppei. How they come there it is impossible even
to conjecture, for though stray large stone boulders
are met with here and there, there is, of course,
notlimg like rock in the whole district, either above or
below the soil. Some fourteen or fifteen feet below
aU the prairie, there is one vast bed of the best kind
of gravel, in which, of course, there is an inexhaust-
ible supply of the purest water. From these and
other tokens, there would seem to be no doubt that
these immense prairies were, at one time or other, the
beds of huge inland fresh-water lakes, like Lakes
Superior, Michigan, or Huron.

With such few words on the general appearance
and productiveness of prairie land, I must revert to
the movements of His Koyal Highness and party
With his stay at Dwight it may be truly said that the
Prince was more pleased than with almost any visit he
made in the American continent, and it was with
regret that the party quitted the grand ureezv expanse
of soft rich meadows, and the kind hospitable gentle-
men, Mr. Spencer and Mr. Morgan, who had done so
much to make their stay as ha)>py and as agreeable as
could be desired. Captain l.otallack too, who had
organised ind arranged the whole visit, took leave of
His Koyal Highness on the day of his departure from
Dmght, and returned to his duties with the Governor-
General in Lower Canada.

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CHAPTER XVI.

ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI.

Mr. Lincoln's House at Springfield— Alton -Banks of the Mississippi-
Arrival at St. Louis— Visit to Agricultural Show— Character of the
Country passed through— Reaches Cincinnati— An American Hotel-
Pigs in the City— Its situation— Ball at the Opera House— Leaves
Cincinnati for Pittsburg —Mistaken Politeness of the Mayor— Across
the Alleghany range— The Cambria Ironworks— Mountain Scenery-
Harrisburg, through Baltimore, to Washington.

The Prince left the prairies at eight o'clock in the
morning. Some ten or twelve people — quite a demon-
stration for the place — came on to the platform to see
him start ; for prairie-stations are places where nobody
gets on the train, and where it would be little short of
madness for anybody to get off. For a long distance
the line laid all through prairie land, where the road was
so straight that on a dark night with bright lights
shining the train may be seen coming for more than an
hour before it arrives. Springfield, where lives " honest
Abe Lincoln," the then republican candidate for the
Presidency, and now the President of the United
States, was passed at noon. Mr. Lincoln's house was
a very small and plain one — such as would be occupied
by a gentleman farmer in England, with an income of
about QOOl. or SOOl. a year. Mr. Lincoln himself

v..

began his career in life as a splitter of railrs, and
his own, almost unaided, industry, ability, and per-

ALTON.

315

severance, raised himself to the great position which
he now occupies, probably the higliest position to
which any man can be elected on the face of the earth
From Springfield, little huts and white wooden cottages
made up nearly the whole of the rest of the panorama
—huts which had been thrown up in a few days wher-
ever the settler chose to stop, and which the inhabi-
tants were quite prepared to move at an hour's notice
or so, whenever the occasion demanded. At last the
train slowly emerged at Alton, on the bank of a wide,
foggy-looking, shallow river. The side on which it
halted was gray, rough, and desolate, with slimy,
muddy banks, falling into rifts and chasms arid un-
seemly gaps, where rain and forest drainings had
oozed down for years. Here and there, scattered upon
the slippery soil, were miserable wooden cabins, damp,
comfortless, and dilapidated, with their windows thinly
mended with stained sheets of paper or clumps of
dirty rags, with poor and sallow occupants, all women,
busily engaged inside, while rough, stalwart, sunburnt
men, witli bronzed muscular throats, laid bare, with
frouzy dark moustache and grimy beards of a week's
growth, lounged about outside, or sat on logs and spat
around with a lethargic dulness. Tangled, unsightly
weeds abounded amid the stumps of forest kings, long
dead and gone, and a thin, irregular growth of dwarfish
cotton-wood completed the aspect which this bank
wore of nature misused and falling into decay. Below
a level, greasy-looking shore, spread out, half mud,
hail sand, with ponderous white skeletons of trees,
carcases which the stream had torn awny from distant
banks to leave them stranded here, half-buried in the
slime, with their gaunt bones striking up in ragged
points and splinters, all draped with sticky, lank,
offensive weeds, the garbage and offscourings of a

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316

ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI.

ii:' t*

mighty river. Carrion crows were busy here, and men
as muddy as the banks themselves were groping list-
lessly about, preparing stacks of rough-hewn logs of
timber for the steamers which ply up and down and
move this sluggish water into muddy foam. The
stream itself was not very wide (about twice as wide as
the Thames above Putney Bridge), and on the opposite
bank, much like the Middlesex shore of our English
stream at the same place. It was rich without being
picturesque, rank and overgrown with heavy timber
and a thick underwood of weeds, giving off a faint and
not unpleasant odour as of faded flowers, which spoke
of fever in every breath of the thick, warm air. Above,
the stream continued its straight course, hemmed in
with the same wild, dank ruins of vegetation, and
crossed from point to point with smooth, round, level
bars of sand, with now and then bare, scrubby, sickly
little trees upon their edges, all worn and faded in
their foliage, less, as it seemed, with the coming winter
than their own inherent slow decay. Below, the banks
spread out in greater width, dotted here and there
between with swampy aits and spits of. land, witli
sandbanks rising everywhere, forcing the muddy water
aside in devious channels, some so shallow as scarcely
enough to ripple over the oozy margin, some deep,
where the j^ellow current flowed swiftly and curled
back with a kind of stagnant velocity from sharp,
black-looking stumps and snags, the real monsters of
the deep of this great river, which, dark and silent,
seem always waiting for their prey, that surely comes
at last. On every side, seen in the cold gray mornin;,',
there was a dim forlornness in the stream, a lonely,
fast-decaying savageness of nature, a faded, ragged,
wild, unwholesome aspect, which was almost mournful,
.which spoke of the sickness and long toil spent

BANKS OF THE MIS3ISSIPI.

317

to bring even the half civilisation around into the
centre of this half-tamed wilderness. Wan sluggish-
ness was on the trees, filled the warm air, and see'lned
to rest upon the crazy wooden houses, to spread abroad
over the slimy shores, and dwell upon the soft, flat
banks of sand. The very river, in its yellow,' dull
ripple, and smooth, deep current, seemed to speak of
it, as, crouched between its narrow banks, it crept
lazily along, shorn of its energy and might, a mere
river tliat had outlived the character of force and bulk
of which all had heard so much—for this was the
Mississippi. This was that great father of waters that
drains a quarter of the world, creeping slowly along
between banks a world too wide-a dull, dilapidated
poor, half-shrunken, muddy stream. A few lean cows'
were wandering near its brink, as if they contemplated
suicide ; there was a dead horse in the foreground,
that had perhaps aln . i committed it. More cattle'
struggling and splasa.' , in and out of the rifts and
weedy hollows of the banks, with here and there in the
green distance a patch of Indian corn ; but beyond
such traces all was wild, was desolate, unhealthy, and
abandoned. Such was the great Mississippi at Alton,
such was the lonely aspect this mighty river bore when
the Prince first saw it. Such at all times is the Mis-
sissippi in its wild state, where hardy, poor, unknowing
settlers first strive to battle with its rank vegetation
and hand to hand not only fight the wilderness but the
deadly fevers which lurk around the banks, which are
borne in tlie warm, thick air over the marshy land, and
nestle close, like serpents, in little vales and nooks
that, clothed with a wild luxuriance of prairie flowers!
seem so charming to the eye.

Still, wretclied and pestUential as was its aspect
there was much tliat was suggestive in the weedy

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318

ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI.

■ J

desert banks, even in the yellow waters of the stream
itself, and a moment's thought enabled one to feel that
even the Mississippi at Alton was the great Missis-
sippi still. Alton is some 1200 miles from the mouth
of this tremendous river, a river which is yet navigable
for great steamboats for 800 miles above Alton. What
more need be said of a stream than that great boats
can traverse its waters for a length of more than
20Q0 miles — that you can pass in your steamer from
the levees of New Orleans through the great cities of
Western America up to the falls of St. Anthony, the
wildest of all the American outposts of civilisation?
Let the eye in imagination follow the course of this
huge artery of commerce, passing through such cities
as St. Louis, Memphis, Natchez, Vicksburgh, and a
host of smaller though great and opulent towns,
bearing from each their harvest wealth and manufac-
turing products, till the weary length of stream
expands at last above New Orleans, and from a group
of wide and sedgy mouths pours its vast tribute of
waters to the sea. Some few miles below Alton is the
junction of the great stream of the Missouri with the
Mississippi, where the river widens out into a grand
delta, and, forcing its way through those ever-shifting
banks of sand which choke its mouth, the huge volume
of the Missouri comes tumbling down. So constantly
are these banks shifting,, and so dangerous do they
render the navigation, that few pilots know them well,
and those who do are in such great request, that they
can earn from 8000 dollars to 10,000 dollars per
annum. It is in consequence of these sandbanks, too,
that the Mississippi steamers are built to float in such
a trifling depth of water, that it is said they can go
anywhere where there is a heavy dew. The railway
from Alton to St. Louis wound through a wild and

"i ^ T

ARRIVAL AT ST. LOUIS.

319

rather marshy, though most fertile land, here and
there overgrown with weeds and massive forests, and
now and then luxuriant patches of Indian corn bending
under the weight of their great golden ears, each
stalk a lyric of plenty. The train stops on the eastern
bank of the Mississippi, in a wild, rough station, not
good enough for a goods shed in England, though
doing duty here as an important passenger depot.
Like all else in America, especially in these western
states, everything is constructed to meet an immediate
pressing want, and this met in any way, however rough,
there is no attempt to go beyond it for the time!
There is a want of labour throughout the continent
and a want of time to carry out its own gigantic
business, and thus everywhere you see a minimum of
means applied to bring about a maximum of results,
save in the case of an election for President, when
this rule is exactly reversed. In all else one sees
these small means expected to achieve great ends
excepting always in the matter of hotels, which are as
much the admiration of travellers as the English ones
are their terror.

St. Louis — at which the Prince arrived in the even-
ing—is a fine and, for the western world, rather an
odd-looking city ; that is to say, there are houses, and
even whole streets, which have evidently been standincr
for the last forty years. Viewed from the eastern
bank of the Mississippi, with its long stone quay or
houses, crowded at every part with those quaint
summer-house-looking, frail, dangerous, high-pressure
river steamboats, and its irregular rows of lofty red
warehouses, it bears a strong though ratlier dirty
hkeness to Montreal from the St. Lawrence. This
impression, however, is not a lasting one, for the
streets are very unclean, and the inhabitants, though

iv^#l

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320

ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI.

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well-to-do enough, seem as a body to delight in
dressing themselves as shabbily as possible ; and if it
is true, as I certainly believe it, that the worst hats in
the world are worn in America, it is equally beyond a
doubt that the worst hats in America are worn in
St. Louis. Dingy, wretched negroes, too, form a con-
siderable part of the population of the city, or, I had
better say, part of its live stock, for Missouri is a slave
state, and though now fast becoming republican, yet
is the old leaven still strong in many places. Slaves,
liowever, are fast decreasing there, for the climate is
not " favourable to the cultivation of the black." Ac-
cordingly, they are being traded off pretty fast, and
hardly a steamer leaves St. Louis for the south without
conveying some ten or fifteen of these helpless crea-
tures, who have previously been publicly sold at the
Court-house — sold from the very tribunal erected to
mete out justice between man and man. A few yeafs
more and Missouri will scarcely have a slave left in it,
while politically it must shortly be declared a free
state. In the south, on the contrary, the number of
slaves increases yearly ; there are already over 6,000,000,
and the number in the course of some ten years more
will probably be upwards of 7,500,000. It is not so
much the increase of slaves as the deterioration of the
whites from the intermixture of the races that is to be
dreaded in the future. Already there are thousands
and thousands of quadroons with much of the ability
of their white masters, and all the fire and ardent
temperament of their tropical Qrigin, yet as much
slaves and chattels as the darkest Ethiopians. These
are the slaves who will become dangerous men here-
after, who are certain to be able and willing instruments
for future John Browns.

When the Prince landed at St. Louis tljere was a

'2S»-^.-

,! I

>nis there waa a

VISIT TO THE AGRICULTUllAL SHOW. 321

mob of apparently the poorest of the population, who
thrust their heads into the carriage, and hung upon it
like bees, so that it was not without considerable diffi-
culty that it could be got through the crowd to the
Barnum House, one of the finest hotels now in St
Louis. In the evening there were rival serenades
from really good bands of music and from some exe-
crable performances on drums and fifes. Though very
loudly called for, however. His Royal Highness declined
to show himself, and lost nothing by his reserve, except
the opportunity of seeing more shabby hats at one
tune than he is ever likely to have the chance of
seemg again. With the Americans the Prince had
become very popular. They seemed not to have been
prepared for his being so utterly unassuming, and for
the grataful kindly courtesy with which he acknow-
ledged the least mark of attention. On the day after
his arrival at St. Louis he visited the great cattle and
agricultural show of the town. The interest the
Pnnce, with the Duke of Newcastle, and the all-
popular Earl of St. Germains, took in the fine display
of cattle and produce pleased everybody; especially
when His Highness and the Duke showed the sincerity
of their admiration by each purchasing a fast-trotting
horse. Ihere were between 30,000 and 40,000 people
m the grounds where this show was held, who received
the Prince with the utmost enthusiasm, and whose
preconceived notions of the haughty tyranny of
British aristocracy were sadly upset by observing the
stoct kmd politeness with which he took off his hat
and bowed m reply to those who bowed to him. This
was an amount of condescension which the majority
of the Americans never thought he would be guilty of
and His Royal Highness's courtesy won the good
reeiiug of the crowd in a few minutes. After the fair

t I

323

ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI.

i:ll i

the royal party drove round the city, visiting even tlie
old French quartier, where with customary gregarious-
ness the descendants of the early French settlers still
dwell by themselves. Though the general character of
the country round St. Louis is flat and tame, still u
good view may he obtained from here over the city,
with the broad and now deep and quick stream of the
Mississippi flowing grandly past till lost in the blue

distance.

St. Louis is another instance of the rapid and
gigantic growth of the western cities of America. It
was only settled as a trading station for the trappers
of the far west in 1764, at which time the surrounding
wilderness so swarmed with wild animals, such as
bears,deer, buffaloes, otters,and beavers, that for fifteen
years upwards of 200,000 dollars' worth of skins
used to be annually collected at St. Louis. In the first
five years nearly 6000 bears alone were killed. Up to
1820 the number of inhabitants did not exceed 5000,
and half of these were nearly always absent as voyageurs
and trappers. In fact the history of St. Louis as a
town does not commence till after 1830, when emigrants
just began to settle there, though still in such small
numbers that even in that year there were only 6694
inhabitants. In 1840 they amounted to 16,000; in
1850 to 78,000 ; in 1852 the population was upwards
of 100,000 ; and at the present day it is probably
between 160,000 and 200,000. In spite, however, of the
almost unexampled rise and prosperity, there was very
little to see at St. Louis ; so the Prince quitted it early
in the morning of the 28th September, and resumed
his route towards Cincinnati, the chief city of Ohio.

St. Louis was the most westerly point of the long
American tour, and not a few secretly rejoiced that the
course at last turned eastward. It was no use crying

-f !■

■'■*J»i,

vas no use ci'ymg

CHAllACTER OF THE COUNTRY. 323

till they were out of the wood, and everybody knew
that the route whi(A lay between St. Louis and Port-
land was checkered by many visits to manv towns and
that the Scylla of Washington had to be undergone
before plunging headlong into the Charybdis of New
York festivities. After St. Louis, visits to factories
inspections of colleges, torchlight processions, and
CIVIC balls, intermingled with long days of dusty travel,
had still to be surmounted; but, notwithstanding'
from St. Louis the route was eastward, and the nadir
of the long, wild land-travelling progress was passed
at last. The distance from St. Louis to Cincinnati is
rather over 300 miles-a twelve hours' journey,which it
was arranged the Royal party should get through by
starting at nine in the morning, so as to reach their
destination in time for a late dinner or early supper
as they might choose. The road from St. Louis at first
winds through thick underwood and the massive growth
of trees that fringe the banks of the Mississippi— a
wild, tangled, marshy jungle, impressive even from its
silent slimy ruins of vegetation. Sometimes it crosses
httle brooks and muddy streams, trickling down with
mournful slowness to the great Father of Waters,
though scarce seeming of themselves to have life
enough even to reflect the light of day, which smears
over their current with a greasy brightness that is far
irom pleasant in its general effect. Once the line
crossed a marsh on a wooden viaduct, and such a
miserable looking swamp as this was never seen. The
ground was dull, thick, and watery, with hardly con-
sistency enough to support the huge trees which leaned
about in massive disarray—sear, yellow, and weird
looking, with ruined limbs peering starkly through thin
fohage, and long, dishevelled tressps of fm^] rxr^^^Ac +v.-,*
had crawled there to rot and die drooping round in

Y 2

IIM

324

ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI.

rags. Here nature seemed sick, squalid, and forlorn ;
there was a faded poverty on trees, on^bush, on the
land and slimy wate: which seemed to speak of the
diseased and wasted forests that the swamp was slowly
killing. Now and then a little knoll rose up drier than
the rest, on which a few small bushes grew, and seemed
to strive to keep their branches from the contaminating
garbage gathering rdund, but these were rare, and took
nothing from the general aspect of the flat, deadly
monotony of this wild, rank spot. It was a comfort
when this was past and the train sped on to the prairie,
with its fresh, clear breeze always blowing, and its rich
grass rippling gently to the wind, and seeming to laugh
and play in the clear, bright sun. Upwards of a hun-
dred miles of this prairie was crossed, and then the
train came to a dead stop, for a goods train had taken
advantage of the opportunity to get off the line some
little distance a-head, and there was nothing for it but
to wait till it could be got on again. The delay was
annoying, but the Royal party took it very quietly, and,
as the car in which they travelled had been amply pro-
visioned in case of such a stop, they were, on the
whole, not so badly off. It, however, made a consider-
able difference in the time of their arrival at Cincinnati,
which happened at nearly two a.m., on the morning of
the 29th, instead of at nine o'clock the previous evening.
Thfe Burnet House, where His Eoyal Highness
stayed, is a fine specimen of an American hotel— that
is to say, a handsomer, larger, and more imposing
building externally than our National Gallery, and
capable of accommodating four times as many people
as that obscure structure can conceal pictures. Here
the Prince had a set of apartments reserved for him-
self and suite, and remained as private as he could
under the circumstances.

SLEEPLESS JilSBRy. 305

It w^ reMij a coiiilurt to be rid of the state recep-
tions of r-anatU, where one was obliged to sleep nightly
in loyal hotels which illuminated every pane of glass in
the house, and where, as a matter of course, the bedrooms
were a perfect blaze of light from 80 or 100 sconces, or
variegated lamps, and you might consider yourself for-
tunate if there was not a huge transparency and gas star
as well. Oh, those bedrooms, and the sleepless misery
that one endured, looking at the rows of blinking,
twinkling lights, where of course there were no curtains
to the window, and one had to intrigue with caution into
bed, to avoid attracting too much notice from the noisy,
gaping crowd outside -where one woke each minute
as the lamps or candles went slowly out, each one more
offensively than the other, and where, in the intervals
of fitful dozing, you were tormented with nightmares
of Vauxhall, and of having been overcome and gone
to sleep i.) some brilliant grotto of "the Koyal pro-
perty ! " Oace the woodwork of my windows actually
caught lighl, from the heat of these fervent displays.
At London, Upper Canada, after a month of such
brilliant annoyance, when, like a burnt child I had
begun to shudder at the very sight of a candle, I had
a bed made up for me at the post-office. It was a very
fine building, though never meant to do duty as a sleep-
ing apartment, inasmuch as the bed was fixed in the
corner of a liall not very much smaller than that at St.
Martin's-le-Grand, witli a little hedge of screen and
raailbags round it to prevent my wandering from the
place in the dark and losing myself utterly. It was
not in human nature, I believe,— certainly not in mine,
to endure the blaze of light which the huge bedroom
presented that evening, for as a Government estabUsh-

ment it was. r>f nnni-op in " — ^,-l-,_ -a... V • I -1

out. The first glimpse of the flood of coloured lights

I
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326

ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI.

which it poured down the streets satisfied me of my
chances of sleeping there, so I had nothing for it but
to walk about for hours, till the conflagration had toned
down sufficiently to make repose a possibility. Witli
such experiences, it may easily be conceived how great
was my reUef to find that the American hotels did not
illuminate when the Prince stayed at them, and that
one could consequently luxuriate in an utter darkness
of bedr .m whenever so inclined. There was an im-
mense crowd under the fine portico of the Burnet
House ()n the following morning to see the Prince
enter his carriage for a drive round the city, and in
point of struggling, crushing disorder there was almost
an unpleasant repetition of what had occurred at the
Detroit landing. As soon, however, as the carriage
cleared the crowd it went on at a pace which made fi
lowing it a matter of impossibility, so that His Eoyal
Highness and party were enabled to take then-
view of the city comparatively undisturbed, if rather

hastily.

The visitor entering Cincinnati for the first time

requires at least twenty-four hours to free his mind

from the greasy images produced by the swinish element

in its population which meet one at every turn, in every

form, size, age, oi- colour in which pigs are capable of

walking, rolling, or lying about the streets. Cincinnati

will always be in my mind what it is in the minds of

most Americans— a synonym for pigs— a synonym

which makes the Queen City of the West far more

Generally known by the derisive nickname of Porkopolis

than its lordly Roman title. Pigs are to Cincinnati,

in fact, what negroes are to Mobile, Charleston, or

New Orleans. They pervade the whole place— the

very cutters are conerested with them, and a sort of

dull monotony of pigs is visible everywhere. They

riOS AT rORKOPOLIS.

327

come against you wherever you turn, from huge, black,
muddy, unsightly monsters, down to little sucklings
not much bigger tlmn kittens, on which you inad-
vertently tread and stumble, amid shrill squeakings
almost enough to blow you off your legs, and quite
enough to alarm the ncighbourliood, if it had not long
ago got used to every possible variation of noise in
which swine can convey their thrilling protests of
resentment or alarm. They come down in muddy
droves, skipping in uncouth merriment, relieving their
minds and giving vent to their gaiety in the most
dismal outpourings and interchange of shriekings, as
if they were the swine " possessed " of old. Even the
quietest grope about with hideous gY\ric\u^'3, as if
something weighed upon their heartSj and will only
consent to seek repose for their perturl'e<" feelin ^s by
lying full length across the footways of the K'.h^d hilly
streets, which somehow irresistibly remind one of spare-
ribs set on end and built upon. You don't object to tjiese
last ordinary specimens of the Cincinnati staple, though
rather in the way, to be sure — it is the tusky, fat,
unwieldly monsters who complicate themselves with
passing carts, and get entangled amid the wheels of
drays, and who, as the retribution of cartwhips over-
takes them, make the very heavens echo with their
shrill-sustained lamentings. With the first sound de-
noting swinish tribulation and mishap, whole troops
of other pigs come running round the corners, adding
their piercing mite to the general tocsin of alarm, till
a stranger, unacquainted with the uproarious character
pecuHar to the Cincinnati pig, and his rapid transition
from aggression to loud repentance, might imagine
that the city had been taken by storm and an universal
massacre was going forward. Nor are these failinffs.
1 regi-et to say, the only ones which render Cincinnati

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pigs an objectionable institution there. Their natu-
rally aggressive habits have been developed to the
utmost by the turmoils and annoya'ices of a great city,
and at the first start the visitor is apt to imagine that
the bigger pigs are supported almost entirely on the
ears of the little ones. The appalling outbreak of
screams that ensues when a big pig lunches in tliis
wise might be heard over half the town. When to these
facts I add that the slaughter-houses are in the suburbs,
and that some hundreds of pigs are daily killed there
amid that terrific outcry with which a pig always
meets his fate, I have pretty well given the elements of
the state of things in Cincinnati.

Apart from these drawbacks the city itself is one of the
finest, if not the very finest, which was seen in the West.
It is situate on a ridge of the most picturesque hills
on the banks of the Ohio. The streets are wide and
very hilly, which keeps them pretty clean in spite of
the pigs. The houses are nearly all of red brick, and
are fine and spacious structures, though nothing ap-
proaching in size to the gigantic blocks which have
been built and are still building on every side at
Chicago. It is not all gold that glitters, however, and
Cincinnati is infinitely richer and more thriving
than the newly risen commercial capital of Illinois.
There are no symptoms of this overbuilding in Cin-
cinnati, which, on the contrary, has an air of quiet
industry and solid wealth which is uamistakeable, and
which, but that it is newer, infinitely handsomer, and
has rather less smoke, reminds one much of such
towns as Leeds, where there is great wealth and busi-
ness with but sm«ll display.

The private and exclusively quiet programme of

■.tIoJ+o r»».|..>nrtQ/-l for' Wia T7r>-«rol T-Tirflinf>as dp'''ii'>'^ llis OUG

day's stay at Cincinnati would, of course, have required

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SITUATION OP CmCINNATI.

329

rather more than a week to perform, so, as may be
expected, it was not adhered to strictly. The Prince,
therefore, contented himself with driving over the hills
amid the suburban scenery of Cincinnati, and such
scenery for rich, quiet, cultivated beauty, is not to be
surpassed. The hills are all isolated, steep, rounded
eminences, scattered on either bank of the Ohio in soft
green knolls and undulations, so varied in their forms,
yet so much alilie in their rich fertile beauty, that every
mile of the road, like a grand panorama, presents fresh
scenes for admiration, and every turn opens upon new
claimants for the silent love with which one always
lingers over nature's beauties. Sometimes you saw
between a rift of woodland into a little plain below,
where the white buildings of a village clustered together
lilie eggs at the bottom of a nest. At other times you
seemed shut in by smooth green headlands dotted with
lawns and handsome villas, with their belts of autumn-
coloured trees, and clumps of flower-garden scattered
over the slopes in such a rich disarray of beauty, that
the eye could only wander up and down without finding
time to rest on any of the brilliant features of this
wonderful scene. The Prince went to the villa of Mr.
Bowler, as exquisite a country residence as any on
the continent of America, and remained there to lunch,
and afterwards walked for more than an hour in the
grounds round the mansion, getting some fresh pros-
pect from every hill and valley. The royal party then
passed along the beautiful— the exquisitely beautiful,
cemetery of Cincinnati, where the hills are laid out
in gardens, shrubberies, and ornamental lakes, where
a living poetry of nature has been cultivated over graves
and tombs —

•* WhloL speaks of those who cannot share,
The gladness of the scene ;

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ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI.

Uii

Whose part in all the joy that fills,
The circuit of the summer hills,
Is that their graves are green."

In the evening tliere was a ball given in honour
of His Koyal Highness at the opera house— a build-
ing which for height, space, and richness of deco-
ration, equals some of the finest English theatres.
In saying this, however, I have said nearly all that
can be said in praise. There was a huge mob
outside the theatre, while inside there was scarcely
anybody. The building accommodates an audience of
some 2500 people. There were not more than about
400 at the ball, including the Royal suite, officials,
committee-men, and everybody, and of this number
nearly 100 men in the boxes looking down into the
parterre where the ball took place. As, however, the
100 or so thus placed wore their hats, and were iii
every variety of lounging costume, just as they had
dropped in, perhaps, from neighbouring hotels, their
absence from the salon de danse was, on the whole,
taken rather in good part thai otherwise. Even of
those who stood up in the sets many were in morning
dress, and of the whole number actually present not
more than a hundred were in a costume which would
admit them to the nniphitheatre stalls of Covent-garden.
After the brilliant and well-managed f^tes of Canada
this, the first of American balls, was rather more than
a failure. Beyond these Western drawbacks, however,
and the unaccountable absence of the elite of Cincin-
nati, the fete passca off very well, for at a ball the
Prince is invincible. He danced most of the dances
till 12 o'clock, when (it then being Sunday) the Iloyal
party retired amid unmistakeable expressions of en-
thusiasm from all present.

On Sunday of course there was nothing except to

PITTSBURG.

331

otliing except to

attend Divine service at St. John's. None of the party
quitted the hotel. They indeed required a day of rest,
for on the following morning the travels again com-
menced—travels which began to average twelve hours
a day in railway carriages, and which for fatigue, noise,
hurry, dust, and confusion, were enough to knock up
all the royal party excepting the Prince himself, whom
nothing seemed to tire or annoy. This day's journey
to Pittsburg was rather above the average, the distance
being 380 miles, and requiring upwards of fifteen
hours to accomplish.

It was a pity that the route was not so curtailed in
the space of ground required to be covered in a given
time, as would have allowed the Prince an opportunity
of making such a stay at the great towns hurried through
as might have afforded him some better insight into
the institutions and people of th^ country. As it was
he was all day in his railway carriage— all night in his
own private rooms in the hotel, a mode of progression
which even the most hurried of voyageurs would scarcely
call travel, save in its fatigue.

The journey through from Cincinnati to Pittsburg
was a long and rather an uninteresting one, for the
day was dull, wet, and cold. The country gradually
changed its aspect from the fertile slopes of Cincinnati
on which the grapes are grown in immense quantities
for the American champagne Catawba. The scenery
was very much like that in North Staffordshire, and
like it also in bearing under its rugged hills inex-
haustible stores of coal and iron.

Pittsburg was reached late in the night. There was
an immense crowd waiting to see the Prince as a matter
of course, and who escorted him rather uproariously
up to the handsome and comfortable hotel where he
was to stay for the night, and which took its name

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ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI.

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from the banks of the river on which Pittsburg is built,
the Monongahela House. This was as much inferior
to the Burnet House at Cincinnati in external appear-
ance, as it was equal to it in real comfort, which is
saying a great deal in a few words. From daybreak
next morning there was an immense crowd round the
hotel, which for a time prevented all vehicles coming
to the door. At last, however, the Prince got into his
carriage, and would have driven round the town, but
for the mistaken politeness of the Mayor, who turned
out some fine companies of the militia to precede the
cortege with their bands at a slow march, an arrange-
ment to which, as a kind of State reception, His Eoyal
Highness was disinclined, and which as affording all
Pittsburg an opportunity of keeping pace side by side
with His Royal Highness, must have been in the highest
degree uncomfortable and embarassing. As with every-
thing else, however, the Prince bore this slow, trying
ordeal, with hundreds staring close into his face for
more than an hour and a half with a modest, good-
humoured courtesy, which won the hearts of ail-
certainly. I had never seen his frank, dignified kind-
ness appear to greater advantage than it did on this
occasion. In Pittsburg itself, of course, there was
nothing to see beyond a populous thriving " coal and
iron town," where the air and buildings are blacker,
though with iar less cause, than those of Sheffield, and
where the sooty mind is paramount in all the streets.
At one o'clock the royal train started from Pittsburg,
the band of the fine company of militia playing " Jamais
je ne t'oublierai," that beautiful Canadian air with
which all the British towns in North America tc']:
leave of their royal guest.

The next day's journey of 280 miles, was by tlie
Pennsylvania Central llailway, not only through Penn-

THE CAMBRIA IRONWORKS.

833

sylvania, but actually up and across the Alleghany
Mountains ; probably the most difficult route for a
railway that ever was attempted, and certainly one the
scenery of which is not to be equalled from any rail-
way in the whole world.

For a few miles the land through which the line
passed was neither very rich looking, nor very pictu-
resque, being merely fields dotted with autumn foliaged
trees, and here and there a huge black smoky mound
which marked the shafts of coal-pits. After passing
the great Cambria Ironworks, however, it soon changed,
and the track lay for miles between mountains, and
up a gorge, clothed from base to summit with the
densest foliage. At any time of the year, such a ravine
would be grand and beautiful, but at that time, when
the coming winter had roused the forest into a quick
warm life of colour, and robed the mountains in
celestial tints like rainbows, there was a solemn gor-
geousness about the pass, that is utterly indescrib-
able. The eye ranged over mountain and valley till
the mind was saturated with their burning richness
and you turned for relief from the great sheen of
tint=! to look upon the soft unfathomable blue of the
distant ranges, or w^atched the stripes of fleecy mists
gathering with the fall of night, draping the hills into
silvery streaks, like the haze over Turner's gorgeous
paintings. This was the entrance which began
the ascent of the Alleghany Mountains, up which
and amid such scenes the train began to wind. For
long, long miles it puffed, and toiled, and struggled
painfully upwards, but always shut in between the
masses of coloured hills, stretching above on each side
hive feathery tapestry. At last, the train emerged from
the gorgeous defile near Kitanninj^ Mountain, half-
way up the summit of the AUeghanies, and nearly

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ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI.

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1800 feet above the level of the line at Pittsburg.
What a view was got from here ! It was like looking
down through- .. prism upon the landscape from the
summit of the Bigi Kulm. Distance had softened off
the warm, deep, bright glow of tho changing trees into
a rich maze of gentle colour, so varied, yet so equal
in its variations, that it jieemed like one graiu
arabesque of nature, a vast parterre, which covere :•
the very mountains, and shone up through the soft
blue mists that gathered in the valleys in gleams of
colour like jewels under water. The svvn had set,
but its train of rainbow light was still brilliant in tbo
west, shedding a farewell fervour over the hills, and
gUdinf^ down the valleys in silent yellow beams, bill-
ing them with a i fttmospliere of gold. On one side iii
the distance all was lr.;M and life, and gorgeous rays;
while up in the eaivt remorseless night came crov-rling
on, stifling out the brilliant woodland with a dull gi-ay
haze, and making the mountains loom heavily throt'gh
the darkness from the heavens like the clouds of a
coming storm. Close and sheer above the train rose
a precipice, worried and riven into sucii fantastic ruin-;
as only the decay of mountains show — stained with
raw blotches, where watercourses trickled on to old
gray pinnacles, draped with a silent moss, and here
and there h ng creepers dropping softly down from
stone to stone in rills of vegetation, rustling and
waving gently with the night wind. Above the rockhke
sunset clouds, the forest rose in all its glory, with fes-
toons of brilUant weeds, like old torn banners, hanging
in melancholy grandeur from their boughs, Avith
clumps of undeiwood and sweet wild flowers still alive
with bloom, with humble timid willows bending in low
obeisance before those severe lords of the wood ; ti.j
dark, tall, sombre, ncvrr changing pine. Mapk' '.'id

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335

ne. MapitJ: uiid

sumachs, swamp ash and hemlocks, oaks, sycamores,
larches, chestnuts, and aspens, all crowded together in
every form and hue of leaf, in every shape of branch,
huddling their tinted leaves together like a huge
pavilion, as if to screen in and shroud from view the
deep, long, silent vistas, that wandered into darkness,
between their massive stems. There was such a life
of colcrir, such a death of sound upon the scene,
that eveii the rush of the river below came up hushed
like a fading breeze, and it seemed as if all nature,
with the coming darkness, had sunk to shimber.
There were no stars in the heavens, but little dots of
light shone out like spangles over the plain below,
muking where cottages stood, with here and there a
Httle constellation, showing where a rising village
struggled loosely round in picturesque confusion.

The Prince saw the whole of this grand panorama
to the very best advantage, for at the commencement of
the ascent he left his comfortable carriage and pro-
ceeded to the engine, on which he rode till the whole of
the Alleghanies had been crossed. The descent from
the summit is twelve miles in length, always at so steep
an incline that, even with the breaks on, the train
slides down at almost full speed. Round Kitanning
Point there is one incline with two awfully sudden
curves, where in little more than a mile, the way
descends ninety-six feet. This path, winding round
the edge of a terrific precipice, is one of the most
awful railway passages I ever saw or heard of. Some
idea may be formed of th(i sharp nature of the curve
when two trains travel for miles in the same direction,
though one is going west and the other east.

At the pretty Httle village of Altona, where there
is one of the best railway hotels in the state, the party
were to have stopped for dinner. This intention.

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ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI.

however, was abandoned, for it was nightfall, and
Harrishurg was still some 150 miles distant, so the
train was pushed on through the wild mountain road
called " Jack's Narrows," amidst much the same ricli
magnificence of scenery as on the Hudson at West
Point. From this it traversed along the Juniata
river, and thence by the broad, shallow, magnificent
stream of Susquehanna, filled with its thousands of
little marshy islands, and shut in by noble hills. At
eleven the train reached Harrisburg— the Legislative
Capital of Pennsylvania, and like most legislative
capitals in America, small, quiet, and rather faded-
looking. Only a short stoppage, merely to get a night's
rest, was made by the royal party ; as the next day
was to see them at Washington. Before leaving
Harrisburg however, the Prince drove through the
city to the house of Governor Packer, who received
His Highness with the kindly warmth, and sincere
cordiality, that might have been expected from an
old friend. But a brief stay only was made at the
Governor's, and the interview over, another rush was
made per rail through Baltimore to Washington.

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CHAPTER XVII.

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WASHINGTON.

The Prince's Reception— Meets the President-Lev6e— Unfinished Cha-
racter of Washington City -The Capitol-Hall of j Representatives—
The Senate Chamber-The White House-Visit to Mount Vernon-
Its neglected condition — Washingtoa's Tomb— The Prince plants
a chesnut.

The Prince had now reached this strange peculiar
city where ugly streets of ill -built houses connect the
most noble public buildings, and where he had to
admire the city as a city always in the future tense.
Washington must in after history be one of the greatest
capitals of the world ; but at present it seems to want
a deal of building alteration and improvement before
it will be a worthy legislative centre of the great
American empire.

There were very few incidents to note connected
with the Prince's reception there. That there was a
gi-eat crowd at the station may of course be taken for
granted, but it was well railed off, and no hustling, as
with the crowds of Detroit and St. Louis, was allowed
at any time. General Cass, Secretary of State, with
Mr. James Buchanan, and James Buchanan Henry,
nephews of the President, were on the platform, and
received His Royal Highness as he alighted from the
train. There was a very brief pause while General

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WASHINGTON.

Cass, on the part of the chief magistrate of the United
States, cordially welcomed the royal visitor to Washing.
ton, and a few introductions took place, but there was
no 'ceremony or delay of any kind, and tiie party ut
once entered the President's carriages and drove to the
White House. They arrivcl av Uie executive mansion
soon after four o'clock TL- President, as regal and
as venerable in his appoarance as any king who ever
wore a crown, stood just inside the portal of the White
House, and as the Prince alighted stepped forward and
shook him by the hand with a cordiality o^^ welcome
that was unmistakeable. It wa,s more a metUng
between private friends and gentlemen than an almost
historic; reception given by the chief of the greatest
republic to the heir of the greatest monarchy in the

world.

The President led his guest at once to the Blue
Drawing-room, where he introduced Miss Lane, his
niece, and Mrs. Ellis, niece of the late Vice-President
King. But beyond these few facts th-re is nothing to
say, except that all the guests at the White House
stayed there without formality, and as any other party
of distinguished travellers whom it might please tlie
President to entertain. Only one exception was made
to the general rule of atfairs at the executive mansion,
and that was that while the Prince stnved there it was
no longer an open i nse ^o all, >ut police were
stationed round it, and none except those invited were
allowed to enter. Many inrmbers of the royal suite,
who could not be accommodated at the President's
mansion, remained with Lord Lyons. r>n the morning
following the arrival at Washington, the I^-csidcut held
a levee in honour of the Prince :t as held at oi
o'clock, and to it everybody can t .. wanted, an
many came that were not wanted at uil, if one migL

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339

judge from their extremely neglig^ costumn There
were plenty of ladies there in bonnets and sh; . and
some individuals who sauntered into the ro.uu with
their hands in their pockets, and who otherwise
conducted themselves in a way which certainly, as
far as I had seen, was not usual among the Ameri-
can gentlemen, who cliew tobacco. The President
did not remain in any speciiil place or take a pro-
minent part in the rer-eption at all. Like his chief
guests, he was dressed in black, though not in full
(Iress-a sort of male demi-toilctte, which was quite
suflicient for the occasion. People passed in, gazed at
the Prmce, shook hands, bowed to him and the Presi-
dent, and then passed out. In fact, it seemed less a
reception than a mixed deputation, irom which ladies
were not excluded. It was not a good tin., of the year
in which to hold such :i levee, for Washington was
almost empty then oompa -ed to what it generally is.
There was a total absence of formality or restriction'
either as to (h-ess or persons of any kind, and yet as a
rule there wa^ a quiet decorum in manner which, con-
siderin^' that ai- vho . ' o o to come might do so, would
huv> ue honour +o any geiioral assemblage 'in any
capi -al in Europe i feir and there could be seen some-
thing rather outj c, and. T have intimated, to English
notions almost offensive; out f -'ese were the rare excep-
tions as to conduct. The dresses of very many certainly
shov I an uUer disregard of the European usages of
society on these occasions; but mere di ss makes very
little ditierence, and after all, it must be remembered
tho it was very early in the day. On the whole, in
juuging of this reception, I could not help fe. ling that
it showed well for the American people. If Her
Majesty received the President at liuckiu^nam Palace,
and allowed cvenj one, male and femaL . that chose . \

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WASHINGTON.

attend to be admitted, without distinction of rank,
dress, or calling, I doubt if the assembhige on such m
occasion would even bear comparison with that at the
White House to meet the Prince.

His lioyal Highness saw on the whole as much of
Washington in his three days' visit as any one can
ever see who stays there three weeks, three months, or
even three years, with tlie one exception, that he took
away a very favourable i' pression, which those who
dwell there much longer seldom do.

Washington consists of a few magnificent public
buiklings ; the town per se has, if 1 may so speak,
nothing whatevc to do witli the place, beyond that its
shabby little dilai)idated houses act as a foil to the
marble palaces of the government, making them seem
like jewels badly set. Even in those very public
buildings, however, Washington is unfinished. There
is not one which is entirely c •mpleted— some scarcely
well begun. In short, ihe only structures which are
complete are the houses of the city, and those are the
ones which should all be pulled down at once. AVhen
you have visited the capital and Mount Vernon, ad-
mired the Treasury, Patent, and Post Offices, called at
the White House, suffered under a bad hotel, and con-
tinually mistaken the Washington Monument for a
lighthouse, all of which, especially the two latter, you
do easily in three days, you may quit the administra-
tive capital of America with perfect ease of mind as to
your having seen as much of the place as if you had
lived there all your life. His Royal Highness went
through all this, except the bad hotel business, and, no
matter what else he hurried through, he at least saw
Washington, and knows all that visitors can ever know
about it. He made a long visit to the Capitol with the
President and chief members of his suite. This is one

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THE CAPITOL.

841

of the noblest buildings in America. Its site is un-
usually fine, its proportions are massive and noble,
and its severe, grand simplicity of architecture well
becomes the administrative halls of a great repub-
lic so young and primitive as America. Of course,
like everything else, it is not finished, and it is
likely to be very many years before it is. It is difficult
to say to ukat particular order of architecture it
belongs. Its noble columns are Corinthian. Yet
there is a huge cupola at the top which is at variance
with tlie rest, and which is too elongated for a dome,
though the diameter of its base, if I am not much
mistaken, in appearance, is very nearly as great as
that of St. Peter's at Home. It is Bacon who says
tbat " in the truly beautiful there is always something
strange," and the force of the remark is exemplified
in tlie (Japitol of Washington, which, though not in
perfect harmony with itself, either inside or out, is,
nevertheless, one of the grandest and most imposing
structures in America. It is all built of pure white
marble— as, indeed, all the other public buildings, and
many even of the houses, of Washington are also.
The main entrance to the interior is by a noble and
lofty flight of steps— those daises of architecture which
always add so much to the grand and imposing efi'ect
of lofty fa^a-les. At the top of the steps, at either side,
are two allegorical groups of statuary; one a very fine
cue, representing the influence of civili.jation on the
savage Indians ; the other a poor, clumsy, and badly,
executed figure of Columbus, covered with all sorts of
M i^ntific allegories. Passing under a fine colonnade,
you enter the rotunda beneath the dome, a lofty and
spacious circular hall, with some good and some very
badly executed pictures on the walls whieii form the
outer circle ; the inner magic ring towards the centre

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342

WASHINGTON.

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being composed of wide-mouthed highly decorative
iron spittoons. Nothing more forcibly repudiates the
vulgar notion as to the expectorating accuracy of
Americans than the appearance of the marble round
these nasty receptacles. These spittoons are the first
things you see on entering, and from this moment
you never lose sight of them as long as you remain
in the building. No matter where you wander —
into the Senate Chamber, the House of Kepresenta-
tives, the Speaker's room, the gorgeous chamber of
tlie President— the yawning nuisance haunts you every-
where. You tumble over them in quiet corners of
rich frescoed halls ; they flank the tribune and the
Speaker's chair, like quaint heraldic supporters, and
stand in hideous rows and semicircles round the halls
—recognised institutions of the place ; the little altars
on which every one asserts his liberty of spitting, ro
matter who is present or what the occasion. A long,
and for the proportions of the building, a very low and
narrow corridor leads to the Hall of Representatives,
a large and very " dumpy " square chamber, with the
Speaker's seat and tribune facing the entrance, and a
large semicircle of seats and desks (each, of course,
with the never absent spittoon) ranged round the floor.
The visitor who enters the Capitol for the first time
with his mind still impressed with the chaste, simple
grandeur of the exterior, looks forward to seeing in
the Hall of Representatives another illustration of
quiet dignity, becoming in the young republic, which
claims to carry its simplicity almost to sternness,
which in its love for plainness affects to think even
a court dress a backsliding into gorgeousness not to be
tolerated in its Ministers abroad. But alas for the
disappointment which awaits him who enters With taese
ideas ! He sees before him the Hall of Bepresenta-

HALL OF KBPRESENTATIVES.

34$

tives, a chamber like a disused showroom, which has
all the windows in its ceiling, and yet has no light ;
which is large without being spacious, low in height
without looking comfortable, covered with gilt and
scarlet without being decorated, gaudy without effect,
costly yet mean and even dirty ir its appearance, with
a tawdry vulgarity of splendour that disgusts every
man of taste, and with its enormities of gilt and paint
sufficiently darkling and olocure to fail to impress the
masses. There is a kind of mixture of a grand
Californian bar-room and a second-rate Paris cafe—
an air of a rather well-worn half-business place of
entertainment, which is inexpressibly disappointing to
one's anticipations, and which even the recollection of
the exciting — indeed, violently exciting — debates it has
witnessed quite fails to remove. Of what use are
the recollections or imaginations when it only requires
the presence of a dingy waiter to assure you that, in
spite of everything, you must have made a wrong turn,
and wandered into the ill-decorated salle-d-manger of
the House ? This impression is by no means lessened
when one passes through the large barbers' saloon
just off a corner of the chamber, where in the light
garrulity of the tonsors the members find relief from
a debate of unusual calm and dullness. With a few
alterations, such as moving back the side walls some
twenty feet, heightening the roof at least thirty, white-
washing the gilt, extinguishing the red, and entirely
remodelling the whole interior, the Chamber might be
made something of, but any change which does not
carry out each and all of these improvements had better
be left alone. It is a comfort to pass from this to the
Senate Chamber — the first that was ever used in

Woclnnnff nil +]lP (^.Viotnl-vov xirlii/ili l-tna nnVi/^nA +li«

elo(iuent and mostly anti-English denunciations of

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WASHINGTON.

lit

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Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and other of the greatest of
American statesmen, the Chamber in which all the
measures have been discussed and . passed to laws
which have brought the vast empire to its present
eminence. It is higher, but in all other respects
mu^h like in size its modern successor, except that
its decorations are cold and plain almost to severity.
The Senate Chamber now in use is precisely the same
in size and form with that of the House of Repre-
sentatives. It is very plain, however, and would
almost be handsome looking, but for its mean propor-
tions. The Democrats, or slave -holding party, sit on
the left as you enter, the Republicans, or anti-slavery,
.on the right. From the Capitol the Prince visited
the Patent OflSce, a noble building, such an one as our
own indefatigable patent-chief, Bennet Woodcrofi,
would wish to raise in London. Here the Prince saw
a suit of uniform belonging to Washington, and the
clumsy old printing-press of Franklin. When will
the English get a National Museum for such germs
of the great inventive genius of her people ?

Beyond this visit, and a short drive round the city,
nothing of note was done, and in the afternoon the
party returned to the White House. This Presiden-
tial mansion is not imposing though handsome, plain,
and simple, painted white to conceal the traces of the
conflagration when it was burnt by the English in the
war of 1812. In one of the rooms still hangs the
great portrait of Washington, cut from the frame
by Mrs. Maddison wliile tlie English troops were
actually entering the city. It is very handsomely
furnished, tliough not at all better, if as well as many
of the houses of the merchants of New York. lu
front of it is an enclosure and carriage-drive, and
at almost the corner of the avenue a ehesnut tree

^mf. — ■ *■

VISIT TO MOUNT VErtNON. 345

With a deep-scarred bark At the foot of this Sickle^
murd red Mr. Key, and some of the ballets were cut
from the bark and produced in court. The very plain
«nd like most other houses in Washington, poor
residence of Sickles is on the opposite sWe of the
square, with a hideous statue of General Jackson always
bowing to ,t What did poor General Jackson do that
he should be overwhelmed with such posthumous
opprobrium as this dreadful figure perpetuates?
George III saluting the cabstand in the Hayraarket
IS a work of genius compared to it, and more than this
one need not say.

On the eyeninr f Thursday, the 4th, there was a
|and display of fireworks and a small party at the
White House, on which, as private, I need not dwell-
and on the 5th an expedition was made to Mount
Vernon-the house, the home, and tomb of Wash-
ington. The President, with the Prince, the Duke of
Newcastle, and a very large party, went early in the
morning down to the dockyard, where the government
steamer-called after the niece of the president, the
Harriet Lane,"-was waiting. Under a double
salute for the Prince and President, the party em-
barked, and went away down the broad and glittering
waters of the Potomac. Washington is not impressive
from this noble river. The intended dome of the
Capitol, half finished as it is, looks like an ex-
tinguisher, and the Washington monument more like
a lighthouse than ever. The city, too, lies low and
sti-agghng, and its whole aspect is flat eind poor It
may and must be grand hereafter, but with that I
have nothing now to do, but only speak of it as it is.
Fur her down the river the little town of Alexandria
nestles in a green bank= Some ten miles below this
tile shores on either side are higher and more grand

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WASHINGTON.

The " Harriet Lane " steered for the most conspicuous
of these headlands and anchored, and the large party
went ashore in cutters, the Prince steering the one in
which the President sat. You step from the boat upon
Virginian territory, and are at the foot of Mount
Vernon, a steep wooded headland, which rises abruptly
from the shore of the Potomac, and on which the
clustering trees and thick rough underwood stand out
in startling contrast from the red bricky earth, the
characteristic colour of all Virginian soil. A winding
irregular footway leads up here, broken away in gaps,
over which a few clumsy planks supply the place of
the crumbling earth. Bits of bricks and stone, with
now and then dead boughs, lie in the way, always
narrow and difficult, and crowded in upon by branches,
while around, as far as one can see through, the
neglected shrubbery is rank and uncultivated, with
an unmistakeable aspect of desertion, of slow and long
decay, in every wild straggling deep-tangled thicket.
Even the trees are mildewed over with a sickly moss,
and look damp and ruinous ; the ground between the
briars is littered ankle deep with fallen leaves ; while
broken boughs, all white and brittle, are scattered
everywhere, and peer out starkly through the matted
weeds. Is this Mount Vernon, the home o^ AVash-
ington ? Is this the property purchased by a grateful
nation to save it from decay and demolition ? Alas !
Republics are ungrateful masters, and have been so
from all time. Still toiling up through the steep,
neglected wilderness, you come out at last upon a
eloping open grass plot, more like a rough meadow
now, though once a well-kept lawn. Small groups of
trees are planted here and there, and underneath a
few are wide-armed garden-seats, bleached white with
long exposure to the weather, and fast faihng to

STATE OF MOUNT T^ilNOK 347

pieces. In the centre of the lawn is a long strangling
old-fashioned wooden country house, three stories
high, with very tall square wooden pillars, supporting
a broad balcony, which shades over the whole front
Beneath this, in an irregular square stone pavement'
IS a long angular wooden seat, white and almost
decayed, placed close by the side of a narrow double-
leafed door, from which the yellow paint is worn and
the panels are shrunk and cracked. Above the' bal-
cony, with its wooden lattice balustrade, ruined and
broken like torn lace, is a sloping irregular tiled roof,
green with the moss and damp of many years. Four
pointed little gable windows peep timidly from under
the eaves of this, while in the centre of the ridge rises
a little glass lantern, like a belfry, with a huge rusty
weather-cock, and an iron lightning-conductor of great
thickness. At either side of the house, curving back-
wards, are the blanched remains of little vaulted
arcades, leading to dilapidated farm-buildings in the
rear; while on the left another large tiled outhouse,
in better preservation, though still in keeping with the
rest in swift decay, completes the scene. Such is the
first appearance presented by the remains of this
world-famous building; such, and no more, are the
plain simple features of the house in which George
Washington lived and died. Every window in its
quaint white wooden front has an interest now ; every
little peculiarity is r.crutinised as you stand amid the
silence that belongs to decay, and note its every aspect
tor memory to treasure up and dwell upon hereafter.
Iha old faded green blinds are closed over the sitting-
room, as if the house was mouvnbnr, ihe others are
open, but dim, hollow, and vacant Jooking like eyes
from which the light has 11 .d fo trer. The clospd
wmuows speak only of death, but there is something

348

WASHINGTON.

awful in those sightless glaring panes, stained black
with dust, and tapestried with webs ; there is a mute
appealing mournfulness in their decay — in the sad
efforts which they seem to make to keep the daylight
from entrance into the gloomy rooms beyond — that is
almost touching; that speaks of one not only dead,
but dead and long forgotten. The gaunt white
columns are riven with imseemly gaps and crumbling
to decay; the bell-wires outside the house are worn
to threads and parted, leaving a mouldering rusty
stain along the wooden walls. The upper windows
seem to have grown decayed and lost their light, as
if from long neglect of use, for years have come and
gone since they were wanted — since any faces looked
for light from them. The very walk under the arcade
has a faint cold echo of the past ; the solitary tap, tap
from drops of water breaks on the stillness with a
sound which here is noise ; the old green-tiled roof
droops in slow bends, as if, its duty done, it, too, was
slumbering to decay with all the rest. There is a
loneliness about the place, about its solitary quiet and
forlornness, that is more than clings io tombs ; it is the
echoing loneliness of the forsaken mansion of one
greatest in the world's history, left desolate, and never
to be used again. The stacks of chimneys stand in
sharp outline against a cold October sky, dumb and
smokeless, breathing no signs of hospitality or token
of life within those mute white walls. There are no
swallows near the building, no people round the place;
even the vane above the lantern is rusted into quiet,
never broken here save by the falling leaves or wind,
or drip, drip, drip of water. Even the glass belfry on
the roof has a ghastly look, as all white and empty,
its iron bell rusted and lead, and its dim sliaaowy-
poking windows just permitthig the light of a cold

STATE OP MOUKT TERNON. 349

October sun to be seen through its little pands. The
most bigoted stranger that ever trod within these
sacred precincts cannot look around without emotion
cannot free his mind from a feeling of sorrow that this
touchmg relic of one of earth's noblest dead should be
now in such a state and left to such decay.

Those who wish to see the interior of the house
must search to the left, where, down in a cellar, a negro
woman and her family almost lurk— a slave herself
though the only cicerone to the deserted mansion of
the man who gave freedom and independence to this
continent.* This woman has the key of the house
and, passing sulkily under the arcade, points out with
a monotonous drawl of habit the old armchair in which
Washington used to sit near the door, with its little
desk fastened to one side on which he wrote and
answered the dispatches placed in a drawer beneath.
The Prnice was honoured by having the chair brought
out for hnn to sit in— a chair which future ages will
regard with as much veneration as the thrones of state
on which whole dynasties wer- crowned. But the
slave is tired of pointing it out, ana Larries on to the
door, fumbling in her pocket for the key, while she
apologises in shambling terms for the ruinous d-c<v

» On the occasion of the Prince's visit, of course this coloured dau.^^ ,.->
not oftcate as guide. There are two or three days in the week w i.. a
steamer leaves Mashingtou for Mount Vernon. There are always a ,reat
many visitors who avail themselves of these opportunities to visit the
building; and a gentleman then always goes in the boat with the p.rtv
to gui e them to the house, and also to see that none of th p ope'y s
mjnred by cutting names or taking away relics, iu which matters the
Americans are almost worse than ourselves. Those who prefer to e he
js. quietly and unattended by a noisy crowd, must drive out by them

Ives on one oi these off days when the boat does not run. They wTll
then find the home of Washington as I have described it and 1 erted
save by the old negress and her children. For a mn,...ate ' 'c I- !
Uoa ^' sL-p ^. shows " the house inside and out readily enom-h '

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WASHINGTON.

in which the house is falling. Oh, vanitas vanitatiirn !
a dirty negress shows the home of Washington for
cents, and drops her maudlin pity on its sad forlorn

neglect.

Inside the door is an old-fashioned wooden hall,
wide and low, with heavy, lumbering porticoes carved
above the doors on either side, and a wide, thick-
stepped staircase climbing up from the corner. The
boards creak as you tread on them with a loud noise,
which echoes gloomily through the house ; the doors
and shutters are decayed and shrunken, and let
through flaunting, sharp-edged gleams of light, which
find no resting-place in the gloom beyond, but, filled
with dusty, eddying motes in clouds, seem struggling
back again. Over one portico are a few rough stones
— fossils which Washington picked up and placed there,
which might almost have become fossils since he
gathered them, so bygone seems all belonging to him,
here in his very home. In a little case in the left
hangs a rough massive key of iron, which once closed
on crimes and mysteries the world can only dimly
guess at now, which is as typical of shattered power and
despotism overthrown, as if the fleur-de-lis sceptre of
the Bourbons was hung up broken there. That old
misshapen key represents the crimes of a great dynasty
and their tremendous punishment ; it is the first-fruits
of the French Kevolution — the key of the Bastille. By
its side hatigs a little black profile and portrait of
Lafayette, who presented it to Washington.

Instinctively one looks to the opposite wall for some
token of the freedom which Washington gave to oir
descendrtfits; Iwt the cracked neglected panels are
blank and dum • and make no sign save of decay.
There is no token on the wall, but you are told that
his most tiiduring record ia to be found in the

'- * * *iJi!'i?iiSU!???*!*'T*' ' ■ ' '

STATE OP MOUNT VERNON.

351

nitas vanitatim !
Washington for
a its sad forlorn

ed wooden hall,
porticoes carved
I a wide, thick-
he corner. The
th a loud noise,
louse ; the doors
runken, and let
8 of light, which
lyond, but, filled
, seem struggling
few rough stones
and placed there,
fossils since he
)elonging to him,
case in the left
^hich once closed
can only dimly
ittered power and
-de-lis sceptre of
there. That old
•f a great dynasty
is the first-fruits
the Bastille. Bv
and portrait of
ngton.

site wall for some
^ton gave to oet
ected panels are
1 save of decay.
you are told that
6 found 111 the

memories of a grateful nation. Well, let us see » An
apartment off the corner of the hall was his sitting,
room. It is empty, cold, and vacant, with one of those
dim hghtless windows, just letting in sufficient murky
day to add to its cheerless gloom. In the corner is a
little fireplace, from which the grate has been torn out
leavmg a black gaping aperture as mourni--x as a grave'
Over It, framed in the wainscot, is a painting which
once represented a bright summer day ; but the winter
of adversity and cold neglect has overtaken its warm
hues, and, dim and faded in its dirt as a November
morn, it looks even more wretched than the room itself
with its colours blurred out, and holes and tatters in
Its decaying canvas. In a corner of the apartment is its
only article of furniture-a large terrestrial globe
with its zodiac half eaten through with rust, its com'
pass broken, and the globe itself a dirty brown ball
with scarcely an outline distinguishable on its surface
from damp and long neglect. Turn it round, and there
seems something retributive in the fact that the United
States-the very land he gave its freedom to, whose
destinies he studied on this very globe-is a mere black
stam, utterly unrecognisable under the mouldy decay
to which this relic has been abandoned. It is written
"Put not your trust in princes," but you may say
lut not trust in peoples either," for their captious
love is hard to win and easy lost, and when once oone
can never be revived. ^ '

The room leading from this was the dinin« and
state room-large, dim, and empty, except that in one
corner stands the General's piano: an old-fashioned,
yellow, jangling harpsichord. In the centre, on a quaint
enamelled plate, like a watch-dial, are the names of
Longman ^and Broderip, musical instrument-makers,
viieapiiide, London," but no date.

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WASHINGTOIT.

In one corner is a dirty heap of leather and old rags.
What do they here ? Has not this building fallen low
enough, but it nust be a storehouse for old luinbti ?
"Lumber?" says our guide; "I guess they're the
General's saddle-bags and holsters." And such,
indeed, these mouldy fragments turn out to be— the
old embroidered holsters, full of holes, and shreds of
ruin ; the saddle-bags, moth-eaten and falling to
pieces, strewing the floor, a mere unsightly litter. In
this room is the beautiful marble mantelpiece pre-
sented to Washington by his devoted friend and
admirer, Lafayette— a rich and elaborate structure—
the only object in the whole house which retains its
pristine cleanliness and form — shining out like a flower
in a ruin. The room in which Washington died is
upstairs, but none are allowed to enter it; perhaps this
sanctuary is too decayed to be safe for visitors. There
is no more to see, and if there is, you do not wish to
see it. Let the dust settle again liipon the rooms in
which Washington lived and thought and worked for his
country. They echo with a hollow feeble effort, as if,
sickening to their dt. ft}", unwonted noises pained them,
Close the blinds, ana let them wither in silence. This
house will not cumlv v the earth for long. How true
is that eternal moral, "The evil that men do lives
after them ; the good is oft interred with their bones. '
The key of the Bastille will survive as the type of a
tremendous despotism, when the sanctuary of liberty
in which it now hangs shall have passed away like a
tale that is told.*

* From what I heard of the way in which the Mount Vernon Committee
intend preserving this historic building, I should think it would almost
be better to leave it to its pro8t.'ut ruin and decay. It is abuut to be
"reconstructed," and will, of course, be so rebuilt and repaired as to
retain little of its former self. It is in fact threatened with conversion
into an "eligible family residence." The cost of erecting a glass and uoq

"■ -V,

Washington's tomb. 353

Awiy from 'he house is a rou U ^.i-oken footpath
wliich leads thro, ^^h mazy wil,ls---a mingled tUbrk of
ruined woods *nd buikling . Down this the Prince and
President and j.ll the Eojul paif passed, a gay asseni-
blage of some hundred visitors, ^uing to 'asliington'g
tomb. It is a needless iteral >n to point out how
terly waste and ne-lected is this road, which seems
f>winil through the coarse ^vild nnd rwood like an
abandoned cattle-track. At last, through the trees,
you come upon what seems to be the ruins of a ceme-
tery, where, in front of a red brick wall, a few white
marble columns, honimcd in by rusty iron railings,
stand like sentries of the dead. Move round to the
Irontof ihis wall, and befoi. y.n is a hollow arched
gateway, sliut in by double iron gates. Within this
glooihy recess are two white marble coffin-shaped
sarcopha; - h reflect a wnn and ghastly light over
the Httle at. That to th( ''^ bears the'inscription,
."Martha, consort of Washi .-t ,n ; " on the ther is
simply cut, in massive heavy letters, the one word,
"Washington." Beyond this tliore is nothing; and
nothing else is needed, for the history of a world is
carved in those ten deep letters. There is no pomp of
woe about the spot. I almost wish there were, for now
the tomb has the plainness that springs from neolect,
and from neglect a fast decay will rise in time. The
old red walls are scored with vulgar names, bricks
have been broken out, and the very stone tabh over-
head, which tells that " Within this enclosure rest Jie
remains of General George Washington," is d ised
with the offensive scrawls of travellers, not ashamed to
leave these records of thei- vulgar inf^imy behind.

roof over the wliole building would be little more tban 25,000^., when the
house beneath, Ibus shielded from the weather, might, with a little ordi-
iiary care, survive lor centuries.

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Over the brides creep wild and tangled shrubs— weeds,
rubbish, and mortar are littered in front, while all
around it is a dirty, thriftless waste, like the remains
of a shrubbery in which a building once stood. No
pious care seems to have ever tended tliis neglected
grave, none by to shield it from the desecration of idle
profanity. It is here alone in its glory, uncared for,
unvisited, unwatched, with the night-wind for its only
mourner sighing through the waste of trees, and
strewing the dead brown leaves like ashes before the
tomb. Such is the grave of Washington !

" Where may the wearied eye repose

While gazing on the Great,
Where neither guilty glory glows

Nor despicable state ?
Yet one, the greatest, last, and best,
The Cincinnatus of the West,

Whom envy dared not hate.
Bequeathed the name of Washington,
To make man blush there was but one."

Before this humble tomb the Prince, the President,
and all the party stood uncovered. It is easy
moralising on this visit, for there is something grandly
suggestive of historical retribution in the reverential
awe of the Prince of Wales, the great-grandson of
George III., standing bareheaded at the foot of the
coffin of Washington. What may not history bring
forth? The descendants of a regenerated line of
Hapsburgs may yet do honour at the tomb of
Garibaldi. For a few moments the party stood mute
and motionless, and the Prince then proceeded to
plant a chesnut by the side of the tomb. It seemed
when the royal youth closed in the earth around the
little germ, that he was burying the last faint trace of
discord between us and our great brethren in the
West. May it be so, and may no Amtrican in times

shrubs — weeds,
Tont, while all
ike the remains
nee stood. No
L this neglected
secration of idle
)ry, uncared for,
ind for its only
of trees, and
ishes before the

RETURN TO WASHmOTON.

355

hereafter think of the tomb of Washington without
remembering the friendly visitor who planted the tree
in whose grateful shadow it reposes. May the act live
in the memories of both nations, green as the offering
that records it, and Britons recollect that in this
graceful rite of homage to the memory of one whom
we must now strive to claim as our descendant, the
Prince did honour to himself and^his nation. This
simple ceremony over, the party' returned to the
" Harriet Lane," and " danced away dull care." Alas
that I should say so, but the visit to the shrine of
Washington partook of festivity as well as homage.
But the world is made up of inconsistencies, and, as
Thackeray says truly, we see tears under bridal
wreaths and hear jokes in mourning coaches.

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re at- grandson of
t the foot of the
lot history bring
enerated line of
it the tomb of
party stood mute
en proceeded to
omb. It seemed
earth around the
last faint trace of
brethren in the
merican in times

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CHAPTER XVIII.

RICHMOND, BALTIMORE, AND PHILADELPHIA.

Departure from Washington— A "strap road"— Frederickslmrg— Arrival
at Richmond — Visit to the capitol, and alleged rudeness of the crowd
— Denials of the Richmond Committee- Tlie North raid the South—
The Prince visits Baltimore— The Washington Memorial — Philadel-
phia — Ovation at the Opera House.

The Prince with the rest of the royal party left the
White House on the morning of the 6tli October. The
leave-takmg between His lloyal Highness and the
President and his amiable niece, Miss Harriet Lane,
was marked by the most sincere expressions of regret
on both sides, that the friendly visit liad been of such
short duration. Cordial were the good wislies ex-
changed between all the distinguished members of the
royal party and the chiefs of the American Admini-
stration, who had assembled to bid them farewell, and
a successful and happy progress tlirough the remainder
of their great western tour. The carriages of the
Prince, the Duke of Newcastle, and Lord Lyons, accom-
panied by those of the American Cabinet, quitted
the White House at 10 o'clock. There was a large
€rowd collected in the avenue leading up to the man-
sion, who cheered the Prince most heartily as lie drove
off. At the Arsenal a salute of twenty-one guns was
fired as the cortege entered, and a similar compliment

A '-STRAP r.OAD.

357

was paid froL. the Navy-yard when His Royal Highness
weni, on board the little steam cutter " Harriet Lane "
The instant the royal party were embarked, the hawsers
were cast off, and the quick little steamer sped down
the broad quiet waters of the Potomac like a bird
Passing Mount Vernon the speed was slackened, and
the bell toUed-an empty honour paid to the poor
rumous, neglected house of Washington by every
steamer or vessel of any kind that passes up or down
the stream.

At 2 o'clock the boat reached the little landing-place
at Acquia Creek, where the special train was in waiting
to convey the party to Richmond. The first part of
the journey was over what is termed a '' strap road "
one of the most unsafe varieties of railway ever used,
even m that country of bad tramways of all kinds'
The scenery through which the route iay was not very
attractive. The land in Virginia has been exhausted
by constant reckless farming. Very little is grown
there now but tobacco, and, the climate being unusually
favourable to the " cultivation of the black," slave-
breedmg forms almost the whole business of the State.
A lew plantations were, however, passed, and a few
negro huts, the best worse than the worst Irish cabins.
The train crossed the Rappahannock River, and stopped
for a few minutes at Fredericksburg. At this city
Washington was born, and there his mother is buried
But the house in which the father of his country saw
the light has, of course, been pulled down, and the
monument over the grave of his mother, the first stone
of which was laid by President Jackson in great state
nearly thirty years ago, has been left unfinished since
that time. Truly, the Americans, as a people, seem
to lack veneration or gratitude, perhaps both.
The train reached the fair grounds, some two miles

'1.1'

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1.1 "

358 EICHMOND, BALTIMORE, AND PHILADELPHIA.

I N

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distant from Richmond, at six in the evening. The
Mayor and a committee of citizens were in waiting to
welcome His Boj^al Highness to the capital of the Old
Dominion. There was an immense concourse of people
who blocked up all the avenues leading to the Ballard
Hotel, so that the carriages could scarcely force a
passage. No police were present, and the pressing of
the crowd soon became almost unbearable, and the
reception here altogether contrasted very badly with
the enthusiastic decorum with which His Boyal High-
ness had generally been welcomed in American cities,
abov all such cities as Chicago, and afterwards at
Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. During all
the night of the arrival, every room and stairway in
the Ballard Hotel was crowded with a regular mob, all
striving and huddling to get some look into the apart-
ments where His Boyal Highness was staying. There
v/as always a good deal of noise mixed with ciies for
the Prince to show himself — invitations with which I
need scarcely say His Royal Highness did not comply,
as he had already seen quite enough of the Richmond
crowd on his passage from the railway to the hotel.

There was to have been a ball in the evening, but
that greatest of all difficulties — financial difficulties-
stood in the way of its being carried out on a proper
scale, so the idea was abandoned.

On the following day (Sunday), the Prince and suite
attended Divine Service at St. Paul's Church, and his
entrance into this building created a far greater sensa-
tion and display of eager curiosity on the part of the
congregation than had been witnessed in any part of
the very many churches the Prince had attended
throughout the whole progress. After service His
Roval Hijdiness. with the Duke and manv members of
the royal party, walked round the streets to see the

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[LADELrHIA.

ALLEGED INSULT TO THE PRINCE.

359

town. Eichmond is not a little altered from tbe time
when Madame Esmond reared her young Virginians
here. Seen from a distance, it looks a very handsome
town, both far grander and far larger than it really
is. Its population is only about 40,000, of which
nearly one-half are blacks and slaves. The capitol is
a bizarre Grseco-American building which runs much
to windows, as is generally the case with all the public
buildings of this continent. In the hall of this building
is the noble statue of Washington, the first erected to
that great patriot, with a simple, dignified inscription
worthy of the hero it commemorates. The sculptor's
legend in the corner reads, " Fait par Houdon, Citoyen
Frangais, 1788."

It was during the visit to the capitol, and while
inspecting this fine statue, that some of the crowd of
Kichmond are alleged to have behaved in a manner
so insulting to the royal visitors, and so likely to cast
a stain upon the hospitalitj of the people of the town.

I was not present on this occasion, but heard of
what was said to have taken place soon afterwards, and
of course made diligent and repeated inquiries, not
only at the time, but even quite recently, since the
return of the royal party to England, and the result of
every investigation I have been able to make leaves
no doubt that some very rude remarks were made by
the crowd, while the Prince was inspecting the statue
of Washington ; but on the other hand, I am equally
convinced that this rudeness was at the very most the
act of a few impertinent boys who, as a most distin-
guished 1 lember of the suite told me, ought to have
had their ears well boxed. Since this occurrence, the
Reception Committee at Richmond have published
manifesto after manifesto, denying in the stron<^est terms
that there was any, even the smallest, foundation for

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the statement, that rude remarks were ever uttered. I
know on undoubted authority', that the Prince, whose
hearing is almost remarkable for its quickness, never
heard a single word of the coarse observations which it
is stated were used on tliis occasion by one or two per«
sons. Several members of the suite also state the same.
But on the other hand, gentlemen with the royal party,
though not forming part of the ofhciiil suite, did over-
hear one or two very offensive remarks. Both English
and American gentlemen who were present, and stood
in the crowd, confirm most positively the fact, that they
were constantly uttered, sotto voce.

This is exactly how the matter stands, and if
Richmond admitted all that was alleged, the whole
would only amount to impertinence from a few
" gamins," for which the city itself can no more be
held answerable, than Canada for the mad stupidity
of the Flannigans and Robinsons at Kingston or
Toronto. It was not, however, viewed in this impar-
tial light in America, and the occurrence was at once
seized upon by the Republican party, and magnified
and exaggerated to its very utmost, in order to affect
the then fast approaching election for the Presidency,
in favour of Mr. Lincoln. Thus poor Richmond woke
up one morning, and found itself notorious throughout
the United States for blackguardism, and ruffianly in-
hospitality of every kind, because some fifty or sixty dirty
scamps over whom they had no control had used rude
language, and made coarse remarks. Now Richmond
certainly did not deserve all this, though the Reception
Committee must have their share of blame in the
matter. The eager curiosity of the people to see His
Royal Highness was well known, and having this fact
to guide them, the authorities of all the towns which
the Prince visited, took precautions to prevent his being

LADELrillA.

WALK THROUGH RICHMOND.

3G1

crowded upon and followed by an inconvenient mob.
This was so at Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pitts-
burg, and Washington. At Detroit, where tliere were
no police, the firemen were called out to keep the streets
as dear as they could. If some such precautionary
measure of this kind did not fall within the province
of the " Committee of Reception," for what purpose
were they appointed at all ?

After leaving the capitol the crowd, which had then
increased immensely, followed so close upon the Prince
as almost to inconvenience him with their pressure, and
became, for the time, a most material annoyance.
Two or three of the suite turned round and actually
pushed the foremost back to prevent their treading on
the Prince's heels ; but, beyond this, there was no inter-
ference, nor were any disrespectful remarks attempted.
Arrived at the house of the Governor of the State,
Governor Letcher, all the royal party went in to pay
their respects, and their carriages after a time were
sent for, to a private door, by which they issued unob-
served, escaped the crowd, and had a quiet drive out
to the pretty little cemetery of Hollywood. Beyond
the controversy to which this visit gave rise, there
would be little worth recording, and in tact the
excursion would never have formed part of the royal
programme at all but for the wish of avoiding the
appearance of anything like party feeling in the
arrangement of the tour. Had .t been exclusively
confined to the northern and free States, those
of the south where slavery is dominant would all
undoubtedly have felt bitterly offended. It is true
that the Prince had been in Missouri, which a few years
since was a great stronghold of the pro-slavery party.
Now, however, it is not only equally divided between
the pro- and anti-slavery supporters, but the members

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302 RICIIMOXD, BALTIMORE, AND PIIILADELnilA.

of the former are steadily on the decline, and in a
very few years more Missouri must become a free
State. There is not the least prospect of such a
happy change in the opinions of the inhabitants of the
capital of the Old Dominion.

Virginia as a State is probably not surpassed in its
intolerant advocacy of pro-slavery doctrines by any in
the Union save and except by the merciless bigots of
Arkansas. While the royal party were in Canada the
American papers were full of accounts of an unfortu-
nate news agent who had been found with some copies
of the great anti-slavery organ, tlie New York Tribune,
in his possession, and who was actually sentenced
to be hanged by the vigilance committee who detected
him. Things are not quite as bad as this in Virginia,
but they are bad enougli, goodness knows. One might
as well talk of freedom of opinion in China or
Morocco, as of the liberty allowed to either thought or
speech in any of the ultra slave states of America, and
in Virginia almost above all others. What would any
man's life be worth who should express in Charlestownor
Richmond sympathy with the blacks, or disgust at their
degrading cruel bondage ? It would not be worth an
hour's purchase — not a single minute's. The mere
suspicion of being an abolitionist would suffice for Jiis
tarring and feathering and being ridden out of the town
on a rail.

At the same time, it must be said that much of this
intense feeling is due to the fanatical attempt^^ of the
extreme anti-slavery party, who encouraged openly or
secretly the late mad attempt of John Brown to raise an
insurrection among the blacks at Harper's Ferry, which
is only some fifteen or sixteen miles distant from Rich-
mond. When it is recollected that negro insurrections
have often been marked with the infliction of the most

*mw„n,.

LADELnilA.

THE SLAVE DIFFICULTY.

aG3

foavful atrocities on the wliites whom tliey have over-
powered, — atrocities to which those of Cawnpore and
Delhi are ahnost as notlung ; it is not' to he wondered
at that tlie whites are vigihmt and merciless against
those who tamper with their slaves with this object in
view. In fact, the very safety of their own lives de-
pends npon snch precautions. The incredible amount
that would be required to effect an equitable release of
the slaves by payment of the value of the " chattels "
to their owners, would be such a stupendous amount,
that this solution of the slavery question has long
been abandoned as utterly hopeless. The extreme
abolitionists, therefore, only propose that an Act should
be passed declaring all slaves free; in other words,
that the entire property of the Soutliern States, — the
slaves who were purchased when the traffic was not
only legal but encouraged,— should be confiscated and
declared by an Act of Congress to be slaves no longer.
Against such an extreme step, of course, the slave
owners declaim with almost as much vehemence as
against those who endeavour to promote insurrection.
In short, the attempt to pass such an Act would be
instantly met by the secession of the Southern from
the Northern States. That this disruption of the
Union Avill in the end solve the slave difficulty, I
quite believe, and from all I heard from those best ac-
quainted with the subject, secession is only a question of
time. The interests of the Northern and the Southern
States are too widely dissimilar for any true bond of
union to subsist between them. Each day widens the
division more and more. The Northern States, how-
ever, almost monopolise the energy, intelligence, and
manufacturing genius of the country ; and whether the
Southerners secede or not, will eventually make little
diti'erence to their great future. The difference between

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the two seems to be tlmt the people of the Northern
States iihnost liope for secession, and tlie Southerners
with all their h)U(l hraggadocia, ahnost drt ad it.

On the Monday foUowing the visit to tlie llichmond
capital, the I'rince quitted New Yoik for Baltimore.
The route was over the same ground previously tra-
versed to Washington, and thence through a line and
fertile country to the chief town of Maryland. At
Baltimore only a halt of one nigiit was made ; in fact,
the Prince merely stopped to sleep after his long and
fatiguing day's journey. But the visit, short as it was,
afforded fresh proofs, if proofs were needed, of the
cordial warmth and good feeling with which, as a rule,
His :Iloyal liigliness was welcomed at all tlie chief
towns througli the United States. Only one short
year before the Prince's visit, Baltimore was the
most riotous and disorderly city in the Union. Up
to that time, even New Orleans was behind it in
the frequency of its daring cold-blooded murders,— in
the desperate encounters which took place almost
weekly in its chief streets. When the townspeople
at last rose as one man, and insisted on the formation of
a really efficient and energetic body of police, murders
had become of such frequent occurrence, that I should
almost fear to be accused of exaggeration if I related
their numbers here. The present energetic chief of
the police told me that when his services were called
upon at Baltimore, no less than fifteen persons had
been shot down and murdered in the open streets the
week previously. A high hand was necessary with
such utter desperadoes ; and, on the first disturbance,
those who refused to disperse quietly were shot down
without mercy by the police. A few months of this
determined rule put an end to the riots, and at the
present time there is scarcely a state town in the

ILADELI'IIIA.

THE WASHINGTON MKMOIUAL.

365

Union— not even lioston itself— where more perfect
onler prevjiils. In PMiltiinore, tlie dcspenito rowdies
Imve c-tlier been kilh-d. imprisoned, or driven from the
city, and the less turbulent awed into subjection and
good order.

There was an immense crowd to see the Prince
arrive, who waited patiently round his hotel from four
in the afternoon till nearly seven in tlie evening.
When he at last did come, their dernoanonr was quiet
and orderly, and, at tlie same time, marked witli such
an enthusinstic and cordial feelinpf of welcome, that
none could see without being impressed by it. There
WHS a short tour made round the city next day,— a city
called the City of Monuments in America, — from the
fact of its having three. One of the most conspicuous
of these is the Washington Memorial, an immense
column, almost as high as the Monument, surmounted
with a strtttie of Washington at top, but whicli might
as well be a statue of George III. for aught that
any one at that distance can see to the contrary.
The second monument, and one which stood exactly
opposite the rooms in the hotel occupied by the
Prince, is a handsome, though most bizarre memo-
rial—Egyptian in its base, Roman in its column, and
Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and American all together in
its capital. It was erected to commemorate those who
fell in the attempt to defend the city from the British
in the war of 1812.

There was, however, but little time to view the lions
of Baltimore, for early the next day the travelling
commenced for Philadelphia.

In wealth and importance in the United States,
Philadelphia is secoiid only to New York, while in
political affairs its decision, as the decision of the chief
town of Pennsylvania, is often of more weight than

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that of New York itself. As a city, it is perhaps for
its general plan and situation almost the ver}'' best in
all North Amciica. All the streets are wide and clean,
the houses lofty and magnificent, and the wliole town
traversed from end to end in every street by iron tram-
ways for the passage of omnibuses, a plan which is
of course of immense convenience to the inhabitants,
but which cuts the streets up in such a manner as
almost makes one hate them in spite of their great
utility. Unusual crowding might have been expected
at this city, for His Royal Highness arrived on the
evening of the day appointed for the State to choose
electors for the office of President. The very crisis of
the long and fierce struggle between the Democrats
and Republicans was at its height. There was of course
a great concourse to see the Prince, just as there was
afterwards at New York, but it was quite equal to it
in its orderly decorous enthusiasm. More tlian this
cannot be said if I were to write whole chapters on
their demeanour. In the way of a grand and beauti-
fully regulated city there is much for ever}'^ one to see
at the city of Brotherly Love, but it is too old to be
of much interest to the tourist who loves to see the
brick and mortar wonders of the far AVest, the huge
exotic cities which have risen almost since the tide of
emigration began to flow from Ireland in ISJ^S and
1849. On the other hand, it is not sufficiently old to
interest the traveller from Europe. In fact no city in
all the north-western continent is : their antiquities
date from a time which Englishmen call very modern.
It was not till the great days of the revolutionary war
commenced that the historic interest of Piiiladeipliia
begins. The first American Congress assembled there;
the Declaration of Independence was issued from
there ; the Convention which formed the Constitution

ILADELPHIA.

OVATION TO THE PRINCE.

367

of the Republic assembled in its quaint roomy hall.
In Philadelphia resided the first President of the
United States, and Congress always met there till the
close of 1797. After the disastrous defeats of the
American army in the battles of Brandywine and Ger-
man-town, it was held, during the war of independence,
for more than a year by the English troops.

On tlie day following his arrival, the Prince drove
round tlie streets of this splendid city, went to tlie
races held in the suburbs, and visited the chief public
buildings. Everywhere he went, there was the same
respectful recognition— a kind of homage which, with-
out in the least approaching servility, was decorous,
cordial, and one of almost affectionate friendly wel-
come. On his return to the hotel an immense con-
course had collected, but there was no mobbing, no
intrusive forwardness, nothing in word, look, or gesture
which was not of such kind respect as would have
gladdened any Englishman to witness. The tremendous
reception of New York of course surpassed that of
Philadelphia both in its magnitude and importance,
but it did not efface the memory of the welcome wliich
the Prince received in the finest city of Pennsylvania.
In the evening the royal party went to the Opera, to
a grand performance of Martha, given specially in their
honour in a theatre which, for size and magnificence,
is equal to the best in Europe. The whole of the
audience — the creme de la creme of Philadelphian
society— rose en masse as the Prince entered, and rose
again and remained standing while the *' National An-
them" was sung. This compliment was the more
marked from the fact, that when the beautiful American
Anthem was played none rose or moved. Never before
had any Ameriran audi .-nee risen to \\iQ strains of " God
save the Queen." It was only known in Philadelphia

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868 RICHMOND, BALTIMORE, AND PHILADELPHIA.

that it was customary in England to do so, and therefore
was it done in honour of the Prince's visit.

A little inquisitiveness on the part of opera glasses
would have been excusable on this occasion, but
with perfect good taste nothing of this kind was
attempted, till the Prince himself set the example
towards the close. The whole audience rose again as
the Prince quitted the building, but this time their
fervency was not to be restrained, and the house rung
again and again with cheers and clapping hands, and
fluttered all over with waving handkerchiefs. There
were few events connected with the royal progress
which made a deeper or more favourable impression on
the royal party than their visit to Philadelphia. There
was in fact a good tone about it from first to last which
could not even be weakened by their subsequent un-
equalled reception at New York.

^smmmmrm^

IILADELPHIA.

CHAPTER XIX.

NEW YORK.

Enthusiasm in favour of the Prince-Its Origin— Protest of the "Iriah-
bom Citizens "-The New Yorkers lectured by a certain Journal-
Impressive Character of the Prince's Welcome— His Arrival and Re-
ception—Down the Broadway— American Hotels-The Prison System
-The "Tombs "-The Pirate Hicks-Attention paid to the Pri-
soners-Grand Ball— Accident to the Ball-room Floor-A Carpenter
buried alive-Drive round the City-Grand Torchlight Procession-
The English Royal Family Prayed for at Trinity Church.

The population of New York is probably one of the
most excitable on the face of the earth : a population
which not only enjoys excitements, but actually re-
quires them. Last summer, fortunately for their peace
of mind, in this respect they had plenty and to spare.

Apart from one or two astonishing murders such as
those of the pirate Hicks, Jackalow, the Chinaman, &c.,
there was the visit of the Japanese Embassy and the
arrival of the Great Eastern. Then the keen struggle
for the Presidential election again absorbed attention.
But even the varying fortunes of this contest, fought
with an earnestness and determination to which one
finds no parallel elsewhere, sank to a mere nothing
as the time drew nigh when His Eoyal Highness the
Prince of Wales was expected to visit the empire-city
of America. The Prince had been running his quick
progress through the West under the very eyes of the

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370

NEW YORK.

American people, all of whom were daily informed by
their papers, even to the minutest detail, of all that the
Prince did, and of a good deal more too which he never
thought of doing at all.

The excitement manifested at other cities re-acted
upon New York, until only one topic occupied the
minds of the people, which was how best to receive
their young guest. The whole of this enthusiasm in
favour of the Prince might be traced to three causes.
The first was the admiration in which the Queen's
name is held throughout America. Loyalty does not
of course enter into this feeling : it is a pure love of
her character as a great Sovereign and a good mother.
It is a feeling which has been growing up for years in
America ; no matter where you may be in the Union,
north or south, east or west, there is one great topic
on which all men agree, one subject on which they
seem never tired of expatiating, and that is Queen
Victoria. The simple fact of being her subject and
her admirer is a passport to the friendship of all
Americans, and an Englishman feels a double pride in
going among Kepublicans with such a lady at the head
of his country. The second cause was the Prince's
own kind and genial behaviour throughout the tour.
In spite of the careless misrepresentations of some of
the papers, facts had spoken for themselves, and the
Prince of Wales had gained a reputation for courtesy
and kindly feeling which will not be lightly lost in
America. The last, though not perhaps the least cause
of all, was the feeling of hospitality which always per-
vades New York, and which, as an almost invariable
rule, makes its inhabitants think nothing can be done
too much in the way of cordiality and welcome for the
visitor. As a city. New York is to English i. en the
most hospitable under the sun. Foreigners are always

THE "IRISH-BORN CITIZENS.'* 371

welcomed there ; but for the traveller from the mother
country there is a kindness and courtesy shown, such
as he can meet with in no other part of the world, save
perhaps Australia. When these three causes were
umted - respect for the Queen, admiration for the
Prmce of Wales, and welcome to a great visitor-it is
not difficult to imagine how among a warm and excit-
able people the feeling in favour of giving him a grand
reception spread far and wide through all classes of
society m the American capital.

Of course, however, no rule is to be found without
Its exception, and the exceptions on this occasion were
shown in a little meeting of those who called themselves
the " Irish-born citizens " in the 69th regiment of New
York miUtia, and a few others of the more violent
Irish party. They ' protested against the outrage
done to their feelings as free men and citizen-soldiery
by the action of Major-General Sandford to do honour
to the Prince of Wales, the representative of a Govern-
ment which had driN n them from their homes, and
which continued to destroy their kith and kin in the
land of their nativity."

One of the resolutions passed at the meeting was
that, "it is beneath the dignity of a sovereign people,
and a stain on its manhood, to pay court in any form
to monarchs," &c. Another, " that whereas the Crown
of England, to which the Prince of Wales is heir, is
responsible for the wrongs inflicted on Ireland, for 'the
banishment and proscription of her people, the destruc-
tion of their homes, and the suppression of her ancient
nationality ; and whereas it is no portion of their duty
as citizen-soldiers to exhibit themselves before a scion
of the royal house, to which they owe nothing but
eternal hostility ;— therefore be it resolved, that we
dechne to exhibit ourselves before the Lord Prince of

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NEW YORK.

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Wales on the 11th inst., or at any other time, in the
State of New York." These resolutions excited the
unmitigated ridicule and contempt of all New York,
which likened them to the celebrated manifesto of the
three tailors, headed " "We the people of England."
Colonel Corcoran however, and the men of the 69th
Regiment became only more mcensed at the utter want
of sympathy with which their resolutions were received,
and the flood of sarcasm which was poured down on
them from all sides. To such an extent was the ridi-
cule carried, that the poor 69th was left no option but
to decline to show itself in public, and therefore gladly
adhered to its resolution of staying away when the
Prince was received by the rest of the militia. The
key to this conduct on the part of the 69th may
perhaps be found in the fact that it was, I am told, a
purely Orange regiment, and one remarkable for the
warmth of its party feeling. Most of the men did not
blush to avow their sympathy with the Kingston in-
hospitables, and accordingly refused to parade. "With
this last impotent display of wrath from a defeated
faction, the Prince was done with the Orangemen.
"While thus mentioning the Orangemen, I may say that
all I heard in New York with reference to the unhappy
dispute at Kingston left little doubt on my mind that
if the Prince had b^en so ill-advised as to have landed
there and recognised the Orange Procession, his re-
ception at New York would have been painfully dif-
ferent from the grand welcome he eventually met with.
Very nearly, if not quite one half, the entire population
of New York are Roman Catholics : certainly the great
mass of the lower orders, the very people who make
or mar the effect of the reception, are members of the
Romish Church. These watched with feelings of no
ordinary interest the progress of the dispute at King-

LECTURES TO THE NEW YORKERS. 373

ston and Toronto, and their delight at the firm refusal
of the Prince to recognise political or religious party
lodges was boundless. Of course the real source of
this exultation might be traced to their considering the
Pnnce's refusal a party victory for themselves and a
snub for their opponents. But whatever the cause
the result was, that the mass of the Roman Catholic
Irish— the people about whose conduct during the
reception all had previously entertained serious mis-
givmgs, turned out and joined heart and soul in all the
preparations that could do honour to His Royal High-
ness. To a man these would have been against hun
had he landed with the Orangemen of Kingston.

The public of New York had been so schooled
and abused by one journal as to the necessity for a
quiet yet kindly welcome, that one would have abnost
thought, from the tone of the articles, that the popu-
lace of the city were a mere horde of untutored roughs
-people to whom it was necessary to point out the
most ordinary rules of civilised behaviour. In fact
throughout the whole course of the tour, this New York
paper had never ceased to heap dirt upon the manners
and customs of its own countrymen. A little crowding
at the country towns, the mere harmless curiosity of
viUagers, en route, had been transformed in the columns
of a certam newspaper into studied outrages, and
visited, in the New York Herald, with such a down-
pour of maudlin "Billingsgate," as, if any sensible
American ever minded how that journal raved, must
have made the poor country people regret the hour
they ever saw His Royal Highness at all. In the same
style the New Yorkers were lectured and denounced
en avance, and there was a constant succession of
coarse articles, in which the people of that great city-
the people who eventually received the Prince with a

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374

NEW YORK.

grand dignity, such as I never expected to see in any
concourse of citizens in the world — were held up daily
as little better than a horde of savages. How these
insulting diatribes were borne goodness only knows.
They were enough to make the very name of His
Royal Highness odious to all sensitive Americans. In
fact, so strong were some animadversions, that I know
they at last gave rise to much uneasiness both among
English and Americans, who in their mind's eye
pictured an open barouche with the Prince in it, tossed
like a little b\)at upon the surges of a violent, irrepres-
sible, rough, half-drunken mob, all trying to shake
hands with him, and clamber into the carriage at once.
And all these things were written of the people of New
York, who gave the Prince such a marvellous reception!
Can the Americans wonder at their being so misunder-
stood abroad when thus libelled to their very teeth by
the second journal for influence and importance in the
United States ?

The visit of the Prince to New York was in fact
marked by such an ovation as has seldom been offered
to any monarch in ancient or modern times. It was
not a reception ; it was the grand impressive welcome
of a mighty people. It was such a mingling of fervent,
intense enthusiasm, of perfect good order, of warmth
and yet kind respect, that I am fairly at a loss how to
convey in words to English readers any adequate idea
of this most memorable event.

There was no pomp or pageantry attempted of any
kind, no grand liveries or gilded coaches. There was
a military procession, but that was only an item in
the great feature of the day, which was the welcome
of the citizens. It was such a welcome as only a whole
people and a free people could ever give, and in the
details of its enthusiasm and its good order there was

THE WEI COME OP ''W YOEK.

375

much, strange as it may seem, tliat made such a recep-
tion possible only in New York. In Paris it would
have been a governmental affair of soldiers and gen-
darmes ; in London it would have been a mob with an
immense police force to control it. In New York it
was simply the people turning out in hundreds of
thousands. A huge sea of decorous, but most enthu-
siastic spectators, who even at the spots where they
were densest were yet so quiet, so impressive in their
majesty of good order, that at no one place did they
seem to have a single element in common with what
we call a mob. It was more a gigantic meeting of the
citizens of New York, convened for some great and
solemn rejoicing along the whole length of the city,
than the mere chance mustering of its busy, restless,
and excitable population. It was such a grand display
of popular enthusiasm, there was such a dignity in the
calm reliance felt by every one in the preservation
of order, such a perfect warmth and geniality of kind-
ness evinced from highest to lowest towards the young
visitor, as made the whole demonstration, perhaps, one
of the most remarkable of its kind that has ever taken
place. Quiet and demure as are the English people,
there are yet few Englishmen who can realise the fact
of the whole inhabitants of an immense city, assem-
bling to witness a spectacle and give a cordial welcome,
intrusted at the same time with the duty of keeping
order among themselves. Yet this was actually the
case at New York ; and along three miles of road,
thronged with half a million or more of spectators,
there were not fifty policemen, and even these were
only stationed at intersecting streets to stop carts and
vehicles from entering in the line of route. Yet de-
scription does not easily convey the idea in such a
multitude of the strict, the rigid good order and good

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humour that prevailed. This, too, was not for an hour,
or only while the Prince was passing. It was the
unvarying demeanour of the whole concourse from ten
in the day till past six at night.

The Prince and all the royal party travelled from
Philadelphia to Camden hy steam ferry, and from
Camden to Amboy by rail, and thence by water to
New York in the " Harriet Lane." On tliis steamer
General Scott received His Eoyal Highness on the
part of the military of New York, and Mr. Peter
Cooper, as representing the committee of citizens who
gave the ball at the New York Opera House. There
were a few presentations of other gentlemen, and,
these over, the whole party sat down to a superb col-
lation. There was not much in the way of scenery on
the run down to the " Empire-City." The land was
low and monotonous, though fertile and heavy with
crops of corn. It was near 2 o'clock before New York
came in view, presenting, as always happens on these
great occasions, its most unfavourable side towards
the approaching visitor. It seemed a long, low, inter-
minable mass of red brick houses, with hosts of ship-
ping on the water; making up with their tall spars
for the want of spires over the dusky wilderness
beyond. Boats laden to the very edge of the water
were skimming to and fro in the distance, like flights
of summer flies, and wall-sided steamers, with their
tiers of decks crov;ded at every spot, went striding
about with a great splash like houses bathing. There
were ringing of bells, of course, and remorseless blow-
ings of steam whistles ; but, on the whole, the aquatic
portion of the enthusiasm was not much, when com-
pared wiih the marvellous reception given to the Great
Eastern only four months previous. In fact, all the
interest was concentrated on the shore and the pro-

LANDING OF THE miNCE.

377

cession up the Broadway, and, tliougli there was no
lack of animation in the harbour, it s eraed afterwards
to have been a mere nothing to the reception in the

city.

As the Royal steamer came in view the guns from
the batteries pealed forth their royal salutes with slow,
dignified regularity, shrouding the town in huge masses
of white smoke that drifted over the city in a thin veil
of cloud, like the mist of a winter's morn. Gradually
objects grew more and more distinct; the Battery was
seen, a glittering mass of regiments, the walls, the
windows, the roofs of the houses along shore ; the
masts and yards of all the vessels in the harbour;
the quays and wharfs, the trees, and every spot or
post from which a glimpse could be obtained was one
dense sultry- looking mass of human beings, all seem-
ingly in motion, waving their hats and handkerchiefs,
cheering and clapping their hands. All the air seemed
filled with a hoarse undulating roar, as from the waves
of an angry sea. The landing-place was at Castle-
garden, the spot where emigrants are received and
housed by the State of New York on the first days of
their arrival. Its general appearance is hke neither
garden nor castle, but it was a convenient spot, and
close to where the troops were drawn up for inspection
by His Royal Highness in the Battery, where the
landing was nominally supposed to take place, for it
was there that the ceremony of the day began. All
around the buikungs called Castle-garden had been
put into perfect order, and flags of England and
America were intertwined everywhere. Mr. Mayor
Wood, with the aldermen of the city, were in attend-
ance here, and as the Prince landed his worship
advanced, and, addressing the Prince, said, "Your
Royal Highness, as chief magistrate of this city, "l

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NEW YORK.

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wolrome you hef$> n if'h welrome I represent the
entire popuUtion, -wntL,^ t exception." The Prince
bowed, and Sftiij "It affu. '^s me sincofe pleasure to
accept your ho!i<pitality, which, I liave no doubt will
be worthy of the great city of New York." Here tiie
alias of Baron Emfrew was entirely Iropped, as indeed
it had been for stOf/iv 'lays previous — all invitations to
fetes and public noticufi >f reception being giveix in the
name of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.
The members of the corporation and General Sand-
ford, commanding the Militia of New York, having
been presented to the Prince, the royal party pro-
ceeded at once to the office of the Emigration Com-
missioners. Here the Prince changed his walking
dress for the uniform of Colonel. The Duke of New-
castle wore his uniform of Lord-Lieutenant ; General
Bruce, Colonel Grey, and Major Teesdale, also assumed
tl r fu-1 uniforms and orders. The horses which
each of \Ae party rode during the Canadian tour had,
with del -ate thoughtfulness, been purchased for their
use on this occasion, and mounted on these, and
accompanied by the principal American officers, the
party issued from Castle-garden towards the Battery.
A long, deep, tremendous, sustained cheer greeted
the Prince, whose appearance astonished every one.
Slight and almost boyish in his appearance in morning
dress, in uniform and on horseback he looked a young
nobleman, whom, apart from his exalted position,
any Englishman might be proud to see acknowledged
as a representative of his nation. He sits a horse as
only young Englishmen can, and receives his homage
of welcome with the easy grace of one to the manner
born. Certainly, as L cantered down to the Battery,
his horse rearing an*^ , \.' tng tvith timidity at the
tumult of cheers aroirna he 'ooked even worthy of

I represent the

INSPECTION OF THE VOLUNTEERS.

379

the great welcome that awaited him, and more than
this it would be difficult to say. In the Battery were
drawn up in successive lines five 1 igades of the
New York Militia — mustering in all some 0000 or
7000 men. Taken as a type of the Volunteers of the
country, they certainly were splendid specimens.

In tlie 3rd Brigade were the 7th Regiment, the pride
and admiration of New York. They are, undoubtedly,
a most perfect body of soldiers, equal in all the
minute technicalities of disnpline to our very best
line regiments. I must own, however, I cannot share
in the feeling in New York, which awards all praise
to the 7th, and I Lamiot pay the Militia of New York
a higher compliment than to say that, to my unpre-
judiced eyes, there were on this occasion, several
other regiments there] almost, if not quite, as good as
the famous 7th. The 4th Brigade, to use Lord John
Russell's simile, was " conspicuous for the absence "
of the 69th Regiment ; for Colonel Corcoran and his
officers and men refused to turn out to welcome the
Prince. The insult, however, was not passed over so
lightly in New York. Colonel Corcoran was, it was
said, to be tried by court-martial and dismissed for
refusing to obey orders, and the whole regiment itself
may probably be disbanded, for the feeling was
strong against it. The inspection of the Militia
merely consisted of riding slowly along the front of
each corps. Every regiment drooped colours and pre-
senifc •' onus as the Prince approached them, surveying
\vit!i ')pe:i admiration the handsome^ uniforms, the
erect, steady, military aspect of every company, regi-
ment, and brigade on the ground. As a Volunteer
Militia they certainly formed a body of men of
whom any nation might feel proud. Our own Volun-
teers will arrive at the same perfection in time, but

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NEW YORK.

they are yet too young to fairly bear comparison with
these picked corps of New York. Let our regiments,
however, look to it in time, for when next his Eoyal
Highness sees them reviewed he will judge of them by
the high standard he has seen in America. The in-
spection took a very long time, almost too long for the
patience of the multitudes in Broadway, who had been
waiting and waiting for long weary hours. From ten
o'clock in the morning the immense concourse had
been slowly collecting. Before twelve all were in their
places, and here it was nearly four o'clock and no Prince
in sight. At last the long inspection terminated, and
a carriage drawn by six coal-black horses came into
the Battery for the Prince, with a train of other
vehicles for the rest of the suite. The open barouche
for His Royal Highness was plain, but excessively
handsome. It had been built expressly for the occa-
sion, and cost the city more than a thousand dollars.
The Prince sat with Mayor Wood on his right, the
Duke of Newcastle and Lord Lyons facing. Amid
the most tumultuous cheers the carriage went in from
the Battery towards the enclosure, called the City
Hall Park — a park not by any means as large as the
recent enclosure at Camberwell which has been hon-
oured with that title. Here the visitors caught a full
view of Broadway, and it was one of the grandest and
most impressive sights which His Royal Highness is
ever likely to witness. Broadway, I must say now, is
not the Elysium of thoroughfares which Americans
suppose it to be. In ten or twenty years hence it
will certainly be the finest street in the world. Now
it is too unequal. Here is a row of colossal marble
palaces, six or seven stories high, and next a small
hiatus of ordinary shops, built when New York was
in its nonage. Next comes a grand series of build-

DOWN THE BROADWAY.

881

ings carved in solid stone, with shops as large and
extensive as small towns, and employing almost a
population of assistants. To these succeed cast-iron
stores, with richly decorated fronts, tinted to resemble
bronze, and then again white marble and granite
Bath stone and brick, a wild, bizarre street-a pattern
book of shops and palaces such as one sees nowhere
else m the world, such as could only arise in a fast-
growing young empire like America. From the City
Park, however, none of the inequalities were seen. It
only appeared one long yista of lofty palaces, thronged
from base to summit with thousands of people. Both
sides of the way for miles were lined with a dense
mass, which seemed to vibrate slowly in its massive
undulations backwards and forwards in constant
heavy waves. Balconies, windows, roofs, storey over
storey to the lofty house-tops, were white with eager
faces. Every tree along the road clustered with
people,— every railing, every post, even to the distant
chimney stacks, were occupied. It was one vast
concourse of citizens such as few people have ever
seen assembled together, such as is not likely to be
seen again in our time. When the Prince entered this
great avenue of human beings a long deep cheer went
up, such as could only be given by hundreds of thou-
sands of enthusiastic people. It seemed less a cheer
than a prolonged outbreak of welcome— the welcome
and greeting of an empire.

It is impossible to describe the route from this
point. The impression left was grand, but vague and
undefinable, as that of tlie ocean in a storm. Fla^s
and banners were across the road, but they seemed as
solid as masonry compared with the endless flutter of
handkcrcliieis-a flutter that seemed to make the
whole avenue glimmer and flicker-that rippled out

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382

NEW YORK.

over the fronts of massive distant buildings like flakes
of snow, that formed a perfect fringe above the huge
black crowd of heads. Hats went' into the air, and
handkerchiefs too, at last, and there were cries of
" God save the Queen ! " with " You're welcome to
New York ! " and cheers and shoutings, even gestures
of kindly feeling and delight, such as carried even the
coldest away with the headlong torrent of enthusiasm.
In vain you sought. to catch a glimpse of anything
definite — the vague immensity of the whole impressed
you too much. There seemed to be no details, such as
usually belong to a vast assemblage of people of all
ranks, — no quiet here and outbursts of vociferatic»n at
another spot. It was one continued unanimous wel-
come that can neither be told nor forgotten. At one
church — the mother church, as it is called — the
chimes were ringing prettily " God save the Queen."
Yet from this edifice, some eighty years ago. Dr.
Inglis (in later times Bishop of Nova Scotia) was
expelled for reading prayers for George III. after the
Declaration of Independence. Here it was now
chiming the national anthem, and all New York mad
with exultation and delight, welcoming the great
grandson of that same George, who had only a
few days before been to the tomb of Washing-
ton bareheaded, and planted a tree to shade the place
of sepulchre of that great man. Who can ever believe
in the permanence of hereditary antipathies after this?
What antipathy, rather, can be hereditary between
such empires as England and America ? If the West
is ever S( bad it owes its faults to England. If Ameri-
cans ever think lightly of England, let them remember
they are the inheritors of our every vice and virtue.
Our kith and kin meet us there in every city, town, and
village — exaggerating our national character — both for

? If the West

ENTHUSIASTIC GREETING.

383

good and ill, but with the grand type of the Anglo-
Saxon predominating over all.

At the City Park His Koyal Highness and suite left
their carriages, and stood in the middle of the enclo-
sure to see the regiments from the Battery march past.
This was rather a serious hitch in the day's programme,
for it took a long, long time to accomplish, and the
day waned and dusk came, and nine-tenths of the *
people were still waiting for the royal visitor. Appa-
rently enough, however, saw this meagre ceremonial of
marching past to have satisfied all America. Even
the houses round the square seemed to have turned
into component parts of the crowd, so dense were the
clustering masses that thronged at every window, over
the copings, filling the balconies, and huddling together
on roofs a hundred feet from the ground. And the
enthusiasm seemed boundless, inexhaustible. If the
Prince only turned his head they cheered ; if he didn't
they cheered louder still. In fact, the Prince had
come, the people were glad to see him, and testified it
by never stopping cheering while he remained in view,
no matter what he did. It was past dusk and getting
very dark as His Royal Highness again entered his
carriage and resumed his triumphant progress down
the Broadway. Up to this time there had been round
the carriage an escort of light cavalry, including in
their ranks some of the fattest men in New York.
But at the request of the Prince they fell back so as to
let him see and himself be seen by the cordial people
who had waited for his coming so long and quietly.
At every point from this time it was one long, cordial
greeting. It was such a mixture of enthusiasm and
good manners, of the most vociferous welcome yet the
most profound respect, as no other visitor that ever
entered this city has been welcomed with. No matter

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384

NEW YORK.

what the excitement, it never tempted the people to
break their self-formed and self-kept line. Thej-
seemed to feel that it might be indecorous and mis-
construed to press upon the royal cortege, and the
route was rigorously maintained open till the Prince
had passed at least half a mile. In this manner His
Eoyal Highness journeyed down the Broadway of New
York, and at last, at nearly seven o'clock, arrived at that
palace of all American hotels — the Hotel of the Fifth
Avenue, the magnificence and extent of which asto-
nished every member of the royal party. On the
following day quiet drives were made about the city
and round its more distant suburbs, unequalled for
picturesque beauty by any city in the West.

New York is very much of the same kind as the
Broadway, that is to say, like London in its starthng
contrasts of wealth and squalor. Unlike London,
however, most of the chief streets are planted with
rows of trees, which in the summer days give the long
avenues a most beautiful appearance ; and unlike Lon-
don too, all but one or two of the principal streets are
wretchedly paved, or rather not paved at all, and full
of deep holes and ruts, almost sufficient to overturn a
carriage. Even in the drive to the magnificent park
which is being formed under the superintendence of
Mr. Olmstead, and which as a park will some twenty
years hence be almost a wonder of the world, the
road is not only full of holes, but with such rocky
boulders sticking up, as require the most careful driv-
ing to avoid. For public buildings there is not much
for any traveller accustomed to the old cathedrals and
grand historic monuments of England and the conti-
nent. The edifices the best worth seeing are the stores
and hotels. These are not only in their external
structure, but internal arrangement magnificent to an

t^(^iii*-ii^;ii ■.:!'_:' ji:r;r_f ■.<

AMERICAN HOTELS.

385

astomshmg degree. Half the best shops of Eegent
Street might be stowed away in any of the palatial
warehouses which line the Broadway. Is to
hotels, the full meaning of the term as understood
m New lork is not known in England. When we in
London have enumerated Claridge's, Long's, the
Clarendon, Morley's, the Great Westei-n. and L few
hers, we have told all that we can offer in the way
of accommodation to all sorts of travellers. But alas
how poor and worthless do the two latter a;>pea;
by the side of the magnificence of New York in this
respect.

The St Nicholas has 900 bed-rooms in it, and has
seldom, If ever, les. than from 1500 to 2000 persons
stopping there. The Fifth Avenue at which the Prince
stayed ,s both a larger and a handsomer building than
Backmgham Palace, and built entirely inside and out
of pure white marble. London tradesmen of the class
who depend on chance visitors lose an enormous
sum yearly from the want of a good American
hotel. Americans can't stand the London hotel system
and as soon as they have gratified themselves with
a flymg visitto St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey, the
Tower, &c., they rush to Paris and find in the Louvre
Hotel not certainly what they get in New York
but immeasurably better than the best the London
hotels can offer them, always excepting Claridge's and
Longs. °

The prison system of the Americans is one which
all travellers think it incumbent on them to go into
ecstasies about. I had no opportunity of visitLg the
slands of Sing Sing, where the prisoners under sen-
ences of all kinds, from two years to imprisonment
or life, are confined. I can, therefore, only judge of
the state of discipline there by the almost daily accounts

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NEW YORK.

in the New York journals of desperate attempts
on the part of the convicts to escape, very many of
which were successful. Before the arrival of the
Prince at New York, I paid a visit to the chief gaol of
the city, answering much to our Newgate, where
prisoners await trial, and await the time when, if con-
demned, it is their turn to he removed to the Islands
of Sing Sing. At the time I went there the celebrated
pirate Hicks was awaiting execution for the dreadful
murders on board the oyster sloop, which were
detected in so extraordinary a manner. If the con-
fession of this ruffian was to be relied upon, a
greater miscreant never suffered on the gallows : for
the circumstances he detailed left no doubt that at the
very least, he had actually murdered between fifty and
sixty persons, many of whom were women, whom he
had captured in ships off the coast of Cuba, and to
whom death must have been a mercy, if his ghastly
narrative was to be depended on. It seemed almost a
kind of wonder that in this age a man so bloody and so
remorseless could have pursued his career of murder
with such impunity, and still carried his lust for blood
to the very verge of eternity. I saw him on my first
visit to New York, and was told that even at that
dreadful time, when the very minutes of his existence
were numbered and fast passing away, he seemed to
derive a dreadful satisfaction in detailing crimes
from which the mind recoiled in amazement and
horror.

The prison called the " Tombs " now stands in the
centre of a district called the Five Points, the St. Giles
of New York. The building itself is in the Egyptian
style, massive and colossal in its proportions as those
rock-hewn temples which appeal with such silent gran-
deur to the tourist who " does" the Nile. The very aspect

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THE "TOMBS." ggy

Of the huge structure is mournful. Not a window
hgh ens he monotony of its huge granite walls, which
lave a bhnd impressive appearance that well becomes
Its name, and makes it seem like what it is in truth-a
great sarcophagus of crime. AH its terrors, however,
are externa , and in this it is unlike our penitentiary a
MUbank, where everything is gloomy and silent as the
grave, and where, when the great gates clang behind
the visitor, he feels it jar upon his heart as if hope
were shut out for ever, and knows at once, by the
cautious vigilance of the well-armed warders, that he
IS withm the walls of a prison where the worst and
most dangerous of London villains are crushed into a
temporary submission. The entrance to the " Tombs "
.s nothing like this. The way in is open enough, and
a turnkey merely sits at a door to take checks from
» or passes from .those who have leave to visit
t eir friends, and which, to judge from the numbers
always mside the prison, seem rather liberally given
Passing across a stone courtyard, in the midst of which'
a httle fountain plays, and where an American eagle,
ohamed by the leg (though less vicious than any other
mmate within the walls), sits and droops his rust,-
mngs all day, the visitor enters another yard spanned
above by the Bridge of Sighs-a light iron path so
named from the fact of murderers after trial being led
back over it to their condemned cells. Entering a
narrow doorway he at once finds himself in a handsome
lofty passage with rows of strongly grated doors at either
side with light galleries above communicating witli
similar rows of cells in the walls. Little slates over
the entrance to each cell, feark the prisoners' names,
tor there are sometimes two or three inmates. " But
are they prisoners, and is this a prison ? " is the first
thoughtof the visitor as he looks through the ba^s into

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NEW YORK.

the carpeted cells and sees their occupants, in every
style of dress or undress, lounging on their beds,
smoking their pipes and veading the morning papers,
or laughing merrily through the grating with friends
(just then at liberty), who have Jorought them in what-
ever they may want. It seems incredible, but it is a
fact, that these miscreants are supplied with the daily
journals, with novels, or with prayer-books, as their
tastes may lead them ; are allowed to smoke ad lihitiim
at all hours, are even supplied with drink, should their
profligate lives have rendered such stimulants neces-
sary to their comfort. In a word, they are less
felons than pensioners boarded by the State. On the
lowest floor of the passage which the visitor first enters,
the cells are all occupied by those under sentence of
death, of whom there are generally but too many. Over
one of these was written the name of Albert Hicks,
alias William Jackson. My conductor tapped at the
bars, and sliding back an iron door beyond, in answer
to the summons, a tall, thin, athletic man, dressed in
a loose blue suit, came grinning forward, from whose
appearance, prisoner as he was, I shrank back almost
in fear. In all my life I had never seen a human face
on which the worst vices of our nature were so terribly
impressed. It seemed almost like that of a baboon.
The retreating forehead and projecting mouth, the
restless, cruel, small black eyes, the hard, merciless
grin upon the features, more dangerous and fearful
than any frown, were awful to look upon. He seemed
to enjoy the evident sensation of loathing and dismay
which he excited, and as he stepped forward, with his
hard stony smile and rapid shifting look, hanging his
head on one side to get a better view through the bars,
his appearance was more that of a wild beast than a
human being. His long lean hands clutched the bars

f"i

THE PIRATE HICKS.

389

eagerly, and, drawing himself up close, he seemed sud-
denly to disregard us, and looked at the bolts and
fastenings with an eager kind of gaze that was painful
to watch, then, after a minute, loosening his hold
shrank back into the cell and slammed the door, almost
as one could fancy in despair at being so powerless
tor evil. Up to the day I then saw him, he gloried in
his crimes, and dwelt boastfully upon them to any
who had nerve enough to listen to the awful tale A
fe^y minutes afterwards his wife and child came to
visit him, but two Sisters of Mercy were then in his
cell, and it may be hoped he was attending to their ex-
hortations, as after a few hurried words with the poor
little woman, and without casting a glance on the child
who held to the bars and looked up at him with a play-
ful smile, he shut his door and retired again. The
wife remained there, mute and apparently absorbed,
rocking her child to and fro, and staring unmeaningly
with red swollen eyes at her husband's name over the
massive grating. Beyond, there were two or three
others under sentence of death, and many of whom
deserved death as well as Hicks, but they almost
laughed at the idea of being hanged. And they were
right, for the mistaken leniency of the law of the New
York State requires that twelve months shall elapse
between the sentence and the execution. During this
interval a spurious philanthropy is sure to be exerted
111 behalf of the unfortunate wife and children of the
malefactor, and a commutation of the sentence becomes
almost certain. Hicks was hung under the Federal
Law, and, but for that and his being a vagabond,
without friends or money, even his execution would
have been almost doubtful. The case of one Felix
Sanchez, a half-negro, who occupied a cell near Hicks,
was peculiar. He had murdered a man in New Yorkj

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NEW YOllK.

but escaped, and went out west. Here he made some
lawless acquaintances, who persuaded him to travel
south, and where, waking up one morning after a riot-
ous debauch, he found that his companions had done
a neat stroke of business during his intoxication, and
sold him to a dealer for 1500 dollars. He was already
on his way to a sugar plantation. He resisted, and
was sent down to another dealer (rather more strict
with refractory subjects) at New Orleans, where he
managed to communicate with the police, and gave
himself up for the murder rather than remain for life
as a slave. It was a wise choice, for he, too, it is now
certain, will not be hanged, nor, perhaps, considering
the circumstances under which he killed the man, is it
altogether right he should be, though he is quite un-
deserving of the pardon he will no doubt succeed in
getting. Near these was young JefFers, who was
accused of shooting dead his stepfather, and another
gentleman who strove to capture him after committing
the act in the streets of New York, only a few days pre-
viously. He seemed, a mild, quiet-looking lad, appa-
rently only intent on his morning paper, in which lie
wasperusing an account of his own arrest, examination,
and personal appearance and general antecedents,
given with all the reiterated headings, italic emphasis,
and minute details so peculiar to the American journals.
Above these cells were the prisoners awaiting trial for
manslaughter, arson, forgery, burglary, or smashing,
all comfortable alike in their cells, lolling, reading, and
smoking, and better taken care of apparently than
ever they were in their lives before. On the women's
side tliere were very few criminals. The prison van
— the "Black Maria," as it is termed — came in every
now and then, disgorging its fifteen or twenty persons
of both sexes and all ages. All the wretched, outcast

THE OKEAT BALL.

391

men thus brought to gaol were voters, it must be
remembered, and, as far as voting was concerned, had
as much political influence in New York as the Presi-
dent or Heenan himself. The women, as might be ex-
pected, were of every grade of misery and infamy, some
so young as to be mere children, some so old as to be
rtll but helpless, drunk and sober, magnificently dressed,
or with scarcely enough to cover them ; but all were
brazen and unsubdued, and passed into a common
yard, where they basked in the sun, or, quietly denud-
ing themselves of tlieir upper garments, proceeded to
pm up the tawdry finery which had been rent off their
backs in some midnight brawl. On the whole, the
"Tombs, though curious and well worth a visit from
a stranger, is, after all, a fearful place, and it is with
a feehng of positive relief that one emerges from its
massive walls into the bright sunshine, and tries
to forget the load of guilt and misery which it
encloses.

On the day succeeding the arrival of His Eoyal
Highness, the great New York ball took place. This
fete had been talked of, and looked forward to, by all
the city for weeks. At its first conception, when the
committee was formed, the number of tickets to be
issued was strictly limited to 3000. People lived on in
the earnest hope and firm belief that this select number
would eventually swell into 6000. They were disap-
pointed, however, as the total of admissions granted
up to the commencement of the ball only amounted to
8021. The result of this Rhadamanthian sternness
on the part of the committee was, of course, to create a
perfect /wore with everybody to get the tickets. Their
possession implied not only being a unit in the
"Upper Ten Thousand," but one of the three thou=
sand above the ten. Thus, as the day drew near] a"nd

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as the reception of the Prince added to his fame and
eclat, and the committee continued inexorable, those
who were fortunate enough to have tickets awarded
them became positive monuments of recognised fashion
in the eyes of their less fortunate acquaintances. No
admissions were sold at all — at least, not pubhcly.
The expenses of the entertainment were defrayed by
tl\e committee of a hundred of the foremost citizens of
the city, and to each of these were awarded ten tickets
for distribution among friends, whose names were sub-
mitted. Some tickets, I was told, were, nevertheless,
parted with by these second-hand recipients for a
heavy " consideration ; " but there were only one or
two such instances, though the prices realised by them
must have offered a great inducement to others to
forego the ball ; for on the night of the fete, as much
as .£150 was offered for an admission, and offered in
vain. The night of the ball came — the ball took place
— and next morning found New York grieving in sack-
cloth and ashes over the failure of the long-expected
entertainment. Certainly, as a fete — so long talked
about, so long preparing, and which, it was asserted,
Avas to eclipse all other entertainments of the kind,
ancient or modern — it was unquestionably a failure;
though the mere breaking in of the floor was only an
item in the causes which led to its unfavourable
contrast with similar festivals in the Canadian
provinces.

Without anything like rigid formality, there was still
in all the visitors an appearance of too much constraint
and want of ease for general enjoyment. The prepara-
tions had been profuse, and all that lavish expenditure
could do to secure success was applied, but notwith-
standing the grand surroundings and the real magnifi-
cence and suggestiveness of the scene, the spiiit of

TUB GREAT BALL.

393

festivity seemed to be absent. Only the most eminent
citizens of New York liad tickets, and even there a
man does not attain to eminence till forty, after which
ni^e he never attains to eminence in a ball-room. The
rcsidt of this was, that the very life-blood of these f^tes
-young gentlemen and young ladies— were in a
manner excluded. In fact, there was scarcely any
young men there, and far too small a proportion of
young belles. Perhaps, too, the whole ellbrt was too
f^reat for tlie occasion. The spontaneous outpouring
of the masses of citizens on the day of the Prince's
arrival was an event of infinitely greater interest and
magnitude than the colossal entertainment in which
the gay excitement of the tour was to have culminated.
I should judge, moreover, that the tastes and feelings
of the people of New York are not well adapted to a
celebration of this kind. The very cautious manner in
which It was arranged gave evidence of this. A number
of merchants, men of much wealth, and occupying the
highest social position in New York, assumed the
management of the ball. In order to insure the
respectability of the company, it was arranged that
the names of all holders of tickets should be submitted
for approval of a committee, a proceeding never
adopted in Canada. A singular circumstance con-
nected with the disposal of the tickets, was the
distribution at the same time of admonitory notes
describing minutely the style of dress in which gentle-
men were to appear. This occasioned some merriment;
but, in spite of the public assurances to the contrary!
It is by no means certain that the suggestion was
wholly needless. What is called " the best society " in
New York, is composed of very diverse and inhar-
monious elements. The standard of aristocracy is
wealth ; and wealth is there so suddenly gained "and

\^h\'n

394

NEW YORK.

lost, that the citizen who to-day holds the humblest
station may to-morrow lead his social coterie. The
merchant who until yesterday was ready to scoff at
frivolities of fashion, may to-morrow be startled into
the necessity of yielding to its most imperious laws.
And so the scrupulous committee, bent at least upon
exterior elegance and symmetry, thouglit it wisest to
forestall all possible ignorance upon the subject of
dress — no insignificant consideration upon an occasion
so showy as that they had in charge. In this guarded
manner they consummated all their plans, acting under
the natural belief that with every condition of decorous
adornment and external requirement properly supplied,
the first and most important step to ultimate success
would be achieved.

The ball-room, filled with its throngs of guests — of
whom, by the way, there were at least a third too many
— was undoubtedly as brilliant a picture as any the
royal party had witnessed. The regulation as to dress
was gracefully submitted to, not always to the advan-
tage of individuals, but greatly to the benefit of the
mass. The apparel of the ladies present was, I might
almost say, recklessly magnificent. The only jewels
generally worn were diamonds, and these were in
such profusion, that the floor and the galleries sparkled
like dew -laden banks of flowers in a bright sun-
light. The room itself — a very large and gaudily-
frescoed theatre, about one-fourth less in size than
Gye's — was hung about with such embellishments
as good taste justified, and altogether the scene was
more dazzling than any which the Canadian ball-
rooms presented, always with the exception of that at
Montreal.

The Prince and suite were announced at half=past
ten o'clock. The assemblage then was jammed in a

PALL OF THE FLOOR.

395

ced at lialf'past
as jammed in a

solid mass near the platform held in reserve for the
guests. Indeed, all over the artificial flooring erected
above the stage and parquet the people were so closely
clustered that motion of any kind was impossible.
His Eoyal Highness was greeted with a little sensation
and a murmur of welcome, which were immediately
lost in the burst of " God save the Queen," from the
orchestras. During the American national melody
which followed, an attempt was made in the centre of
the room to open a space for promenading, but without
the slightest avail. When the music ceased there was
an awkward silence, which lasted without an attempt at
interruption for a few minutes, everybody perceiving
the utter impossibility of action at the time. The
relief to this monotony, which was getting uncommonly
d-' , came in a most unexpected way. With a hollow
crackling sound the centre of the floor sunk abruptly
some three feet. The fall was slight, but the chief
danger to be apprehended was from sudden panic.
The co.>1p)any, however, fortunately, displayed the most
perfect coolness and presence of mind— there was not
the least sign of terror, hardly of discomposure. The
people withdrew from the sides of the hole as rapidly
as possible, and the few under whom the floor had bent
too suddenly to enable them to get out, quietly extri-
cated themselves as if the whole afl^air was a thing of
course, and necessary to the opening of any and every
ball. The prospects of the fete were most seriously
darkened by this catastrophe. The general opinion of
everybody who looked into the gap was that " some-
thing ought to be done." Somebody suggested car-
penters, but this idea was scouted as premature, inas-
much as the managers of the fete had not at once made
up their minds as to how the contretemps had taken
place. Eventually, however, they came to the same

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NEW YORK.

conclusion, as everybody else had done from the first,
that the mishap was solely owing to the want of proper
support beneath. Carpenters were the practical sug-
gestion after all. They were summoned accordmgly,
and the work of restoring at once undertaken. For
more than an hour and a half the rough shirt sleeves
and coarse jackets of the workmen were mingled with
the delicate toilettes around, — an amusing commentary
on the anxious forethought of the committee with
regard to dress. The work was done with marvellous
quirkness, — so quick, indeed, that one of the men was
overlooked and nailed down under the floor. He
knocked to be let out, but his request coming at such
a moment, just when the floor was complete, was
generally regarded as frivolous and ill-timed. He
maintained, however, such a determined knocking that
his demand was at last reluctantly conceded, a plank
taken up, and the imprisoned artisan let out all hot and
dusty. A little after midnight the flooring was
thoroughly restored and dancing began.

His Royal Highness first danced with the wife of the
governor of the State of New York, and afterwards,
over the very spot where the accident had occurred,
with a number of the daughters of distinguished
citizens. The curiosity of the company was quite
irrepressible, and was displayed in so bold and demon-
strative a manner, that one was sometimes led to regret
the committee had not vouchsafed a hint concerninir
manners as well as dress. Hundreds of gazers hemmed
in the guests as they danced, impeded their movements,
and utterly forbade their free participation in the
promised enjoyments of the evening. Nevertheless,
the Prince continued to dance until a late hour in the
morning, with apparently the same pleasure which he
seemed to find in all the provincial balls. The crowd

DllIVE THROUGH THE CITY.

-•97

lingered until the end, and towards the close appeared
to brighten into a more cheerful humour than had
been earlier shown. It is fair to say that the remem-
brance of the ball, although less gratifying on the whole
than that of many preceding entertainments, was to all
extremely pleasant and agreeable : and that if the more
important festivities of Canada had not been so unex-
ceptionably administered, this would, perhaps, have
been without a rival.

The day of Saturday was passed in driving round the
city, and making private caUs and visits to some of the
chief objects of interest along the Broadway. The first
was to Mr. Brady's photographic establishment, where
a number of admirable portraits of the Prince, alone
and surrounded by all his suite, were taken for the
members of the historical society, with whose wish to
have these interesting records of the royal visit the
Prince had at once complied. The sittings over, the
whole party drove to Barnum's Museum— a building in
which all sorts of -vulgar monstrosities and curiosities,
more or less real, have been gathered together by that
prince of showmen, Mr. Barnum. The enterprising
proprietor was himself absent on this occasion, but his
deputy attended to receive the illustrious visitor, and
showed him over its bizarre collection, sometimes con-
taming objects of almost interest, sometimes the
merest rubbish, and absurdities of deformity. His
Highness next drove to the m.agnificent jewellery
establishment of Messrs. Ball and Black. This build-
ing is a very recent addition to the rows of superb
stores that abound in the Broadway, and is one
of the finest even in that splendid avenue. The
rooms in it are of a height and size such as we have
no notion of in London, nnrl cipoorat^A ^xj\ih o ^„^
nificence which would appear lavish and almost absurd

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398

NEW YORK.

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for places merely meant for business shops. Of course
in £uch a building the stock of plate and jewellery is
displayed to most unusual advantage, and a very grand
effect produced. The details of this effect, however,
scarcely repay examination. There, however, are no
grand works of art in gold and silver as at Hancock's,
and Hunt and Roskell's, nor exquisite reproductions
of ancient cups and salvers and rich minute objects of
bijouterie as at Elkington's. There was not as much
in the whole store in fact, from top to bottom, as
would be found in a single department of any of the
great jewellers of London. I say this in mere justice
to our own goldsmiths, whose stock in trade certainly
as much surpasses those of the stores at New York as
their places of business are utterly eclipsed by the
American buildings. An immense crowd collected
round Messrs. Ball and Black's establishment while
the Prince was visiting it, cheering so determinedly
that at last his Eoyal Highness was obliged to show
himself fit the balcony in acknowledgment, to the
intense delight of the crowd, who roared themselves
hoarse with enthusiasm. From the Broadway the
royal party went to General Scott's house in Twelfth
Street, off the Fifth Avenue. This was, of course, a
strictly private visit, and one which, when it became
known, gave immense satisfaction to the New Yorkers,
for the general, as an old and distinguished veteran, is
one of the most popular men in the state. A stay of
more than two hours was made here, after which the
p..rty returned to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, all along
the route being crowded with enthusiastic people, who
cheered him till the air rang again. On his return to
the hotex this evening, a very drunken English sailor
persisted in blocking up the door of the hotel, and
uttered all sorts of vague maudlin threats against

1 g-gimpiBiBi^ilimiiii TT*"

TORCH-LIGHT PROCESSION.

Albert Edward. The police accordingly removed him
and the poor fellow died two nights afterwards at the
lock-up from delirium tremens, brought on, as it was
proved, by more than three weeks' incessant intoxica-
tion. This poor drunkard's unmeaning threats were
magnified by the Neiv York Herald into an attempt to
assassinate the Prince of Wales ; and but that the
" sensation " articles of that journal were pretty well
understood in New York, the announcement might
iiave created almost a panic. Fortunately, it was
known that those selling paragraphs were always
fabricated " to order ; " and as the Nezv York Tribune
and Times put the matter in its true light, the fear of
the Americans, lest anything should be said or done in
the city to mar the effect of their splendid reception,
was soon allayed.

Late on Saturday night the grand torch-light pro-
cession of the firemen, in honour of the Prince, com-
menced, and continued promenading the streets till
past one o'clock in the morning. The volunteer fire
brigades of New York always form a most important
and picturesque element in all processions. As fire
brigades, however, they are most colossal shams, as
any one who takes the trouble to examine into the
orgamsation and working of the whole force can see in
a very short time. At Boston and Cincinnati their
uselessness has been long seen through, and a regular
paid force, like our own fire brigades, substituted in
their stead. At Philadelphia, also, the volunteers have
been to a great extent done away with, and in a short
time will be superseded entirely. . Among the intel-
ligent citizens of New York the fire brigades are no
more believed in than they are at Boston or the
" Queen-City." Their torchlight processions, however
(which are always remarkably splendid), make them

; H

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400

NEW YORK.

CWi

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popular with the people; and what is of infinitely
more importance to their conservation is, that they
form rather too strong a political organisation to be
rashly meddled with. I was told that they number
among themselves some 10,000 votes, and influence
more than four times that number. The functionary
who would be rash enough to propose their bein^
superseded hy regular paid corps must make up his
mind, whether he failed or succeeded, to forego public
life in New York for ever. New York volunteer fire-
men, therefore, are still among the institutions of the
state, and the result is, that in no other city of the
same size in the world are fires of such common
occurrence or commit such destructive ravages.*
Their processions, however, I must do them the,
justice to state, are always admirably managed, and
most effective in their general brilliancy.

On Saturday night all the volunteers of the various
companies turned out to the number of nearly GOOO.
All their engines (polished till they resembled gold-
smiths' work) were hung with lamps and draped all over
with garlands of flowers. The ladders and hose waggons
were similarly decorated. Every man, marching in ranks
and hollow squares, wore his red tunic and helmet.
Each had a lighted torch in his hand, and each brigade
was preceded by a fine band. The effect of the Avhole
turn out, therefore, as can easily be imagined, was re-
markably fine. They mustered soon after six o'clock,
but the arrangement of the cortege^ spread out so as

* Soon after my first visit to New York in the " Great Eastern " a fire
occurred in the city. Two rival fire companies proceeding to the confla-
gration met in the same street. There was immediately a desperate fight,
during which firearms and knives were freely used ou both sides. In this
skirmish no less than fifteen persons were more or less seriously wounded,
and the victorious brigade celebrated their triumph over the enemy by
breaking up the engines and ladders of their antagonists.

TORCH-LIGHT TROCESSION.

401

to cover some miles of ground, took a long time
to perfect. It was nearly nine o'clock, tlierefore,
before it began moving down upon the Fifth Avenue
Hotel, from the balcony of which splendid building
the Prince with the Duke of Newcastle and suite
were to witness it. Very few spectacles appear
to delight New York more than one of these grand
displays, and, accordingly, the whole population of the
town was out in throngs as dense almost as those
which hned the Broadway on the night of the Prince's
arrival. Round the Fifth Avenue Hotel-on the spot
where the interest was concentrated, and where there
was ample space for thousands to assemble, the crowds
were immense. Every window, every housetop was
swarming with tiers of faces. Yet the same quiet
good order reigned among all as prevailed through the
streets on the day of the arrival.

As the procession came down the Fifth Avenue it
seemed, looking around the countless mass of lights,
like a river of flame -a kind of narrow variegated
prairie fire, which lit up the buildings far and near
with its bright glare, turning the sea of faces to a
dusky red that gave the whole scene a tremendous and
indescribable aspect. Most of the engines had beauti-
ful hme lights in front of powerful reflectors, which
concentrated the rays into one long pencil of bright-
ness that was visible above everything. As the head
of the column approached the Royal balcony a long
deafening cheer rent the air, and the companies simul-
taneously lit the Roman candles which each man
carried, and thousands of variegated baUs of fire went
whirling up in all directions. The efl-ect of this was
really wonderful. The whiri of coloured fires in the
air-the bright dancing mass of torches below., lighting
up the trees and houses- the lively music of the bands^

!.!

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402

NEW YORK.

the cheering of the whole concourse, and the inter-
minable column of flame which seemed to surround
the hotel like a belt, dying away among the trees in
the far distance in a dull, foggy glare, — the crowds of
faces thronging out of windows and peering over lofty
roofs, the waving of handkerchiefs and clapping of
hands as the scene grew more brilliant and exciting
every minute, — all made up such a grand picture as
only New York can show on these occasions. For an
hour and a-half the huge procession continued to file
past, the Prince acknowledging with the utmost
courtesy the cheers of each brigade. Second only to
the anxiety with which all looked for the Prince was
the interest with which the Duke of Newcastle was
regarded. His firmness and decision in the Orange
affair had raised him immensely in popular estimation,
as in truth any one rose there who made a firm and
successful stand against the dictation of mob law.
When the procession had passed the Fifth Avenue
Hotel its labours by no means terminated. It had to
show itself in nearly all the chief thoroughfares of New
York, so that it was nearly one a.m. before the march
was over. Immense crowds were out to see the last of
it, and though, as a rule, New York of a night is far
from being an orderly, or, worse still, even a safe city
to be out in late, yet everything went off as quietly as
possible.

On Sunday morning the Royal party went to the
Trinity, or the Mother Church. There was, of course,
a most crowded congregation inside the building, and
a still more crowded one outside. This was the
church (or rather one rebuilt on its site) from which I
mentioned that Dr. Inglis was expelled for reading the
prayers for King George III. But during the service
Qn that morning prayers were oflered up for Her

, and the inter-
led to surround
)ng the trees in
i, — the crowds of
!ering over lofty
md clapping of
mt and exciting
;rand picture as
asions. For an
jontinued to file
ith the utmost
Second only to

■ the Prince was

■ Newcastle was
1 in the Orange
pular estimation,
lade a firm and
m of mob law.
e Fifth Avenue
lated. It had to
lughfares of New
efore the march
to see the last of
)f a night is far
even a safe city
off as quietly as

PRAYER FOR THE ROYAL FAMILY. 403

Majesty tlie Prince Consort, and Albert Edward
Prmce of Wales, the first time hat such a petition
has ever been made for English lloyalty in that build-
mg since Dr. Inglis lost his living for persisting in
malving it. ^ b »

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CHAPTER XX.

WEST POINT AND ALBANY.

The Prince leaves New York — Voyage up the Hudson — Arrival at West
Point — The Military School — Voyage resumed— Enthusiastic Recep-
tion.

His Royal Highness started for this, the most
picturesque centre of all the grand scenery of the Hud-
son, on the morning of Monday, the 15th of October.
Great crowds assembled to witness his departure from
New York, in spite of the earliness of the hour and the
cold damp gloom of the day. There was the same
respectful enthusiasm, the same warm cordiality of
demeanour that distinguished the reception — that, in
fact, had marked every occasion when the Prince had
been among the people of New York. The Royal
party went at once on board the " Harriet Lane "
steamer, and amid the most heart-stirring cheers of
farewell, the Prince quitted the Empire City — a city
which must ever have a fresh and pleasant place in his
memory and the memories of all who were with him on
that occasion. Taken throughout, his welcome there
was one of the most brilliant, cordial, and affectionate
that ever was spontaneously offered by a people to any
passing visitor, no matter how illustrious.

The voyage up the Hudson was like floating through
a gorgeous vision of fairy land. The beauties of

UP THE HUDSON-. 405

American scenory are but too little known amon^.
Europeans. English touri, ts " do " the Nile or the
Rhine, and imagine they have visited the two rivers
best worth seeing of their kind in the world. It is an
exception to find an English tourist who knows the
Hudson Iliver, though, as far as my not small expe-
rience goes, there is none to compare with it. The
Rhme IS as nothing, and even the Bosphorus might
almost yield to its grand and stately magnificence.
Gomg on board one of those large river steamboats
which ply between New York and Albany at the rate
of twenty miles an hour, and whicn in all other
respects are among the luxuries of American travel
the tourist passes through such scenes of primeval
beauty as can never be effiiced from his memory. The
mighty river at first is hemmed in by lofty cliffs, called
the Palisades, which, striped with thin red and black
strata, look like coloured palings erected by Nature to
keep within bounds the stream which pours so grandly
down beneath. These Palisades are, somehow, con-
sidered the great beauty of the river ; though really
very grand, they are far inferior in grandeur to the
scenes above, where a spur of the Alleghany Mountains
closes m upon the flood. Occasionally glimpses of rich
merchants' villas are caught here and there, but they
are few and far between, and gradually disappear as the
boat progresses with a stride that jerks everything in
the saloons, and the wild mountain regions are gained
where the eagles still linger, and where the face of the
country is not changed from the time when the first
New England settlers drove the Mohawks before them.
At every turn you think the very source of the Hudson
is reached, as the mountains close in fast. But still
the river pours between, under gigantic cliffs, as bare
at the water's edge as the bones of the world, and

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406

WEST POINT AND ALBANY.

clothed above in such a mass of verdure as only the
Hudson shows. Ravens start up at every turn, uiul
hawks and buzzards wheel high in the air in circles,
as the beat of the paddles breaks on the deep silence
of the hills. It is a wild, but not a solitude. Crags
and rocks keep opening out ; here an island rising in
terraces of massive granite, and next a little chain of
aits, clad in the richest green, and seeming a connecting
Imk between tlie river and the lofty, grand, imposing
mountains of woodland at either side. Cropsey's exqui-
site painting has made " Autumn on the Hudson " as
familiar to the EngUsh as they can ever be without seeing
the grand original. It was autumn wlien the Prince
journeyed up it to West Point— autumn in all its
beauty. It seemed at first as if the approach of winter,
which had been making rapid strides, had rather
dimmed the glory of the scene, for the coloured
garments of the trees hung thinly over their brown
gnarled boughs, and the ground was thickly strewn
with the autumn leaves, which at a distance shone out
among the grass like piles of fallen fruit. Higher up,
liowever, as the river wound in between the lofty chain
of hills at either side, details were lost in the grand
magnificence of the whole, and each mountain became
a huge glory of crimson and gold. The day was dull,
and the i iouds lay low, often topping the hills with a
misty fleece, like smoke from a fire, for the whole scene
was burning and glowing in its ardent colours. The
water was calm as a mirror, and reflected back the piles
of gorgeous tints — the great trees of gold glittered and
trembled with every breath, and such a glorious back-
ground of ruby-coloured foliage spread out on every
side in long purple vistas as only autumn on the
Hudson shows.

The royal party reached West Point soon after one

THE MILITARY SCHOOL.

407

it soon after one

o'clock, and were met at the landing-place by Colonel
Delafield, the commandnnt, and the chief officers of
the institation. Accompanied by them His Iloyal
Highness rede up to the summit, and after a short
stay proceeded to inspect the cadets of the school and
witness them go through their evolutions.

West Point, both from the almost unequalled charms
of its scenery, and it being the seat of the great mili-
tary school of the United States, is perhaps one of the
best known of all the places on the Hudson, always
exceptmg the Empire City itself. It is replete with
niterest, too, as having been the key to the first great
l)osition of the young Ilepublicans in the War of
Independence, a key which Arnold held and would
have betrayed into the hands of the English, but for
the discovery of the plot by the arrest and execution
of Major Andr^ at Tarrytown, a little above it. The
remains of the old forts which were thrown up at the
time are still to be seen, though ruined now and almost
undiscernible. The military academy was estabhshed
m 1802 hf the Government, by which it is entirely
supported. The education of the cadets is enthcly
gratuitous, and extends over a period of fi , . years,
(luring which time they are completely grounded in all
tlie more minute practical and theoretical details of
their future profession. In return for tlieir education
each one is required to spend eight years in the public
service, unless s. oner excused for some great and
meritorious action. Nine-tenths, however, I was told,
of those who are educated here remain for life in the
small regular army of the United States, always on
frontier duty in the uttermost wilds of the far West^
the hardest duty, perhaps, that is exacted from any
officers in the world. I heard it said by many who
ought to be well acqmunted with the subject, that the

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WEST POINT AND ALBANY.

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school at West Point wants reforming — that it is not
what it used to be, and does not now, at least, accom-
plish such results as might fairly be anticipated. How
far this may or may not be true I cannot venture to
say from such a hurried visit. It certainly appeared
to be all that could be wished. The cadets there were
perfect in their drill, and equally au fait in the learn-
ing belonging to the more theoretical duties of their
future profession. I learned also that the present
officers of the United States' army were educated there,
and the universal opinion of officers of all countries is,
that a better educated body of gentlemen does not exist
than is to be found among the regular American army.
Some time was passed in showing the Prince over the
buildings and parade grounds, and in witnessing the
drill of the cadets to the number of about 300. As I
have said, they all performed their manoeuvres with
the steady regularity of well-disciplined troops. Their
marching past in particular was admirable. The
formal portion of the ceremony over. His Royal High-
ness and suite had time to drive about ana admire at
leisure the superb scenery round the place, which the
woods in their autumn foliage made picturesque and
grand beyond description.

On the following morning the journey was resumed
in the " Daniel Drew," probably the fastest steam-boat
in the world — a boat which, reckoning by the land she
passes, can ran her twenty-two miles an hour. From
West Point the Hudson widens to about three times
the width of the Thames at Gravesend> and continues
with varying breadth, though always wide, up to
Albany, some 150 miles from New York. Sometimes,
as at Tarrytown (where poor Major Andro was cap-
tured and hunsf)-, at Yonkers, or at Peokshill. the viewp.
are charming beyond all description, but after pass-

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DEPARTURE FOR BOSTON".

409

ing the Catskill Morntains, which rise blue, cool,
and misty-looking on the shore, the scenery gradu-
ally settles down into rich woodland and cultivated
meadows, more varied in their extent, though scarcely
as well cultivated, as those of England.

I am not going to attempt a guide-book of the
Hudson, and will merely say that from these, points
the Prince had enough to occupy his attention on the
steamboat in looking at Poughkeepsie, at Sunnyside,
where Washington Irving lived, or the place which is
shown as the Sleepy Hollow, where he builds his story
of the headless man. At last one gets gradually tired
even of these ever-recurring nooks, and hails with
delight the aspect of the tall warehouses which rise
over the narrow, ill-paved streets of Albany, which, for
wretchedness of path and roadway, are more like the
Grande Rue of Constantinople or Cairo, than the seat
of Government of the New York State. The upper
parts of the town, however, are very fine, and Albany
claims to have a larger portion of what is called good
society than New York itself. But as good society is
not a whit more interesting to look at in America than
in England, there was not much else to see at Albany,
and the Royal party, after their usual drive round the
city, retired early for the repose they all ^o much needed.
The first thing the following morning they were off
again for Boston, crossing the high viaduct in front
of the falls of the Cohoes, where a huge river struggling
over a number of cliffs and dashed into a kind of stream-
ing spray, looks like a fall of clouds. To my mind
this waterfall, after Niagara, is one of the best worth
seeing in America. The rest of the country on to Boston
was of no great interest. Now and then the line wound
through thick woods, but as a rule it had all been lone

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but after pass- ■ settled-was well cleared and very uninteresting

410

WEST POINT AND ALBANY.

All the stations along the route were crowded with
eager visitors, who had been waiting for hours merely
to see the train whirl by and to cheer with as much
vehemence as it passed as if every one of the hundreds
present had not only seen His Royal Highness, but
been favoured with a personal interview. At Spring.
field Station, where a short stay was made, there were
many thousands assembled, and the Prince came out
upon the platform of his car and bowed his acknow-
ledgments of the perfect storm of enthusiasm with
which his arrival was welcomed. So, again, at Wor-
cester there was the same never-tiring cordial multitude
shouting and waving hats and handkerchiefs as if they
were demented. At every place, in fact, the warmth of
enthusiasm was really boundless.

CHAPTEE XXI.

BOSTON AND PORTLAND.

Welcome at Boston-The Prince's Entry-Inspection of the Militia-Grand
Musical Festival-New Version of «' God Save the Queen "-Visit
to Harvard University.

Boston gave the Prince of Wales a reception inferior
to New York only in its magnitude. Its warm, cordial
enthusiasm, its decorum, its im^^ense outpouring of a
people's welcome equalled thpi .v the capital, and more
than this it would be impossible to say. It was, on a
more confined scale, a repetition of the same grand
scene which he had already witnessed in the Broadway.
If there could be a distinction drawn between such
heart-stirring ovations, I should feel inclined to lean
rather in favour of the enthusiasm of Boston, but this
shght shade of difference, if any really did exist, might
be more than accounted for by the fact that on the day
of the arrival at New York the people had been quietly
waiting in dense masses for eight hours, and it was so
dark wlien the Prince got down the Broadway that
one-half of the people saw nothing of him at all.
Certainly, New York and Boston as completely eclipsed
all other cities on the tour, in the intense cordiality of
their welcome, as Halifax surpassed nearly every other
place in its streat dpnnrrttin i o^" M-^n+».Q«i :„ -^- i -ii
Boston claims to be the modern Athens of the West,

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BOSTON AND PORTLAND.

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the Edinburgh of the Union, with the single difference
between it and our own northern capital that the claims
of Boston are so well founded that they are never
denied in America. Not only the greatest names, but
nearly all the names eminent in American literature
and science and art are those »f Boston men. Boston
is, in fact, alwaj^s point'^d to as the model city of the
Union— the model city for the good order, intelligence,
and quiet prosperity of its inhabitants— the model city
for the jealous care with which the progress of public
education is watched and fostered by the State. New
Yorkers sulkily admit its superiority in these respects,
but fairly enough point to the heterogenous mass of
emigrants who yearly inundate their streets as reasons
why that city is less orderly and has made less intellec-
tual progress ; so, with the exception of an occasional
sneer at the rigid excellence of Boston, and now and
then a bitter cut when they do detect a shortcoming
among its people or rulers, the claims of the Enghsh
city of America, as it is called, are as generally admitted
as any superior excellence ever is in this world. Boston,
both in its general appearance and in the houses and
manners of its people, is certainly the most Enghsh
city I have seen in the States. Its inhabitants, also,
are not a little proud of this resemblance, which strikes
the visitor at once, for in no city in the United States
is the feeling of affection towards what they term the
mother country so strong and so kindly. Yet the hall
is still standing where tlie harangues commenced which
ended in the War of Independence, and a tall and
rather ugly obelisk looms over the city marking the
spot where was fought and won the victory of Bunker's
Hill. Surrounded by such memorials and with others
still more suggestive in the very streets where the first
^blood was shed, an anti-English feeling would not be

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ENTKY INTO BOSTON,

413

surprising. But, as I have said, the verv reverse of all
this IS actually the case, and the name of England and
the Enghsh is not only admired there, but loved. There
may have been some Httle misgiving on the part of
Boston when it heard of the grand decorum with
which New York had received His Royal Highness
and even the most patriotic of Bostonians who wit-
nessed that display admitted with reluctance that the
model city could do no more than equal it. It did
equal it, however, and in saying this I think I give the
highest praise that can be bestowed upon either city

At the Httle suburban station of Longwood, about
three miles from Boston, the royal train stopped.
Mayor Lmcoln was in waiting to receive His Royal
Highness. With his worship were a few of the chief
citizens of Boston, who were duly presented to the
Prince, who had then an appearance of much fatigue-
an appearance which had shown itself unmistakeably
in all the suite more or less during the previous week
or two. The party entered the open carriages which
had been provided specially in honour of the occasion
and a kind o half procession being then formed
escorted by Volunteer troops of Light Dragoons the
mtege proceeded to the city. The crowd was compa-
ratively thin m the suburbs, but along the streets
leadmg to the Revere House they formed in such dense
impenetrable masses as almost surpassed the throngs
at New lork. Windows, roofs, and balconies, too
were crowded in the same manner, and aU were cheer'
mg and waving hats and handkerchiefs-the same as
at the capital, the same concourse, the same fervour of
welcome, the same good order. In all its grandest
and most touching details it was alike in both cities
13eyond escorting him home to his hn+pl howc"-r'
notlnng was done worthy of record on the night of the

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BOSTON AND PORTLAND.

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arrival, save that the streets were kept in a pretty con-
siderable uproar till an advanced hour by a grand
torchlight demonstration of the Bell and Everett party
in reply to the Kepublican fete of the same kind on
the previous evening.

The next day was made the great day of the recep-
tion, and in order that it might be observed with all
festivity and honour the Mayor suggested to the in-
habitants that it should be kept as a grand pubHc
holyday. The hint was no sooner given than adopted,
a general suspension of all business was decreed, and
every shop in Boston was closed as if it had been
Sunday. The first event of the programme for the
day was the inspection of the Militia on the Common.
Before His Royal Highness set out for this, an old
veteran, Mr. Ralph Farnham, the only remaining
survivor of the battle of Bunker's Hill, was presented
to him. This venerable man was then in his 105th
year, having been born at the commencement of 1756.
To that day he preserved a mental and bodily vigour
which seldom falls to the lot of those who pass
the allotted span of threescore and ten. He served
throughout the greater part of the War of Indepen-
dence, was in most of the half skirmishing actions
which distinguished that struggle, and was present
when General Burgoyne capitulated at Saratoga. I
am sorry to be obliged to add to this record that the
old veteran — the last of the men on either side who
fought round the earthworks in the midst of which
the Bunker^s-hill Monument stands — was far from
being independent in his old age. He was even seek-
ing for subscriptions to enable him to eke out with
comfort the few remaining days which can yet be
vouchsafed to him. What passed between His Royal
Highness and this venerable relic of bygone days I am

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'^S&mammmf^-

REVIEW,

415

not aware ; but the fact of the interview appeared to
have given much satisfaction to the kind-hearted
people of Boston, who have so completely buried their
ammosities as to look on England with a feeling of
hear y affection, such as one does not often see
equalled, even in our most loyal colonies. The review
took place in the pretty little park in the centre of
Boston, and which, though called " the Common " is
as picturesque and quite as well kept as St. James's.
Here all Boston seemed to be assembled ; a fact I felt
quite sure of till I saw the return of His Royal Hish-
ness to the city. The troops were drawn up in fhe
centre, looking at a distance amid the mass of people
Ike a bright coloured picture set in a dark, sombre
framework. To he delight of all, His Eoyal Highness
came upon the ground in uniform. His suite also-
at least the military portion of it-of course paid the
same compliment to the occasion. The hearty enthu-
siasm of the people was boundless. It was a repetition
of the night before-a repetition of the days in New
York, yet withal so fresh, so spontaneous, so untiring,
that every welcome seemed better than the last, till as
a spectator, one almost wondered when and where the
devotion of respect and hospitality was to end. And
all this kindly feeling was but a reflex-almost a faint
reflex~of the chivalrous sentiment of respect and love
with which the name of Her Majesty is reverenced
throughout the length and breadth of America.

If the Queen ever does visit the United States, her
reception will mark such an epoch in the welcome of
sovereigns as the world never saw before. The troops
on the ground gave the usual royal salute, presenting
arms and lowering colours as His Royal Highness rode -
along the ranks. The evolutions of mamhin^ &c
then commenced. As at New York, their manSuvres

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416

BOSTON AND PORTLAND.

were executed with a steady solid precision which
would have done honour to some of the best regiments
in our service. There were probably not more than
2500 or 3000 men on the ground; no very great
number, certainly, though great enough when the
reader remembers that those corps were only a part of
the militia of Boston, and only types of those that are
to be found more or less numerously in every town or
city of the United States. The number, therefore, was
sufficient to serve as a test of efficiency for volunteer
corps. Keenly as each company was scrutinised as it
passed, it was impossible to detect a flaw of irregularity
in its movements. There was an ease and evenness
about all they did which made it difficult to imagine
them only volunteers. Conspicuous among tlie regi-
ments were those companies which had come to
Montreal to assist at the ^clat of the splendid reception
in that fine old city. They were greatly admired at
the Canadian capital, but here they were no better
than others : the drill of all, in fact, was perfect. So
conservative is Boston in all its traditions of the old
country, that some of their volunteer companies
actually still wear the military costume of the infantry
of the early days of George III., old and quaint-looking
as the soldiers in the pictu?^es of the victories of Wolfe.
The inspection occupied soxne time. When it was
over, a military procession was formed, with the cortege
of the royal party in the centre; and with these
honours His Royal Highness was escorted back to the
old State House, in the centre of the city. It is quite
impossible to describe the ovation which the Prince
met with on this progress. It would be but repeating
what I have endeavoured to write of the reception at
New York. Every street was literally choked full with
thousands of spectators, and long tiers of ladies and

THE STATE HOUSE.

417

gentlemen, story above story, clustered over the front
of every building. In New York there were only a few
pohce to keep the side streets clear ; at Boston there
were none. The people were their own police, or
rather, I may say, none were needed. The masses
swayed heavily up and down the roads in slow undula-
tions, but, though almost crushed by their own weight
there was no attempt to encroach on the broad space'
which they themselves allowed for the passage of the
procession.

Along such streets, and amid such demonstrations of
welcome as really can only be imagined, the Prince
journeyed slowly, now and then removing his plumed
hat as he passed under some unusually long balcony
of ladies more than ordinarily demonstrative, or neared
a street corner where the throng and enthusiasm .
demanded special notice even amid such a scene. The
party stopped to lunch at the State House. It was the
very building, and looking into the very street, where
the first attack was made by English troops on the then
colonists of Boston, where, from the blood then shed
in State Street, arose the War of Independence, and
the empire of the United States. In these events, and
m all that relate to that war, the Americans have indeed
much which they need strive to forget, and the English
much which they should endeavour to conceal.

Lunch over, His Royal Highness returned to his
hotel, still passing between the same crowds, still meet-
ing with the same enthusiasm.

At five o'clock there was a grand musical festival in
the Music Hall. The hall itself is a magnificent
buildmg, noble and lofty in all its proportions, exqui-
sitely chaste and simple in its decorations. It realises
one's idea of what the House of Representatives at
Washington ought to be, instead of what it is. For

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418

BOSTON AND POIITLAND.

this occasion, however, the interior was specially decc
rated with ahiiost regal maguifieence in honour of the
Prince. The first balcony facing the orchestra was
draped with crimson velvet and gold, the upper galleries
with blue velvet and gold, while all around and above
were intertwined the iiaga of England and America.
The effect thus produced was positively dazzling ; and
when crowded, as it was, with a richly-dressetl audience,
the whole hall presented a rich, luxuriant, and magniti-
cent effect.

At the back of the hall was built a large orchestra,
capable of containing, tier above tier to tlio height of
fifty feet, 1200 juvenile choristers. This was filled
from base to summit with a perfect bouquet of children.
They were mostly young girls. All were dressed
in white, looking, in the distance, on a colossal scale,
like those soft, snowy banks of azaleas one sees at
flower-shows. Every other available nook and corner
of the spacious hall was crowded with all the rank and
fashion of Boston, their rich variegated dresses settino
off to the utmost perfection the great white altar of
little singers which rose in the midst. It was alto-
gether one of tlie most beautiful scenes which the
Prince had witnessed in America. The instant the
royal party entered the hall, the orchestra, if I may so
call them, of young people rose en masse. They had
been rigidly tutored not to cheer, but they seemed to
restrain themselves only by a very great effort, as was
plainly visible in the rapid manner in which they
waved their pocket-handkerchiefs, lashing them about
with an enthusiastic vehemence that was delightful
to behold. The performance equalled all the expecta-
tions which were raised by the preparations, the appear-
ance of the audience, and the building. It was second
to the yearly festival at St. Puuis only in the number

a large orchestra,

'^••iliyi THE QUEKN.'*

410

of its younj? pwfonnef* A new version of " God save
the Queen" had been composed for the occasion.
Nothing I may say was allowed prominence in these
receptions of the Prince unless it had been prepared
en avance as an honour and a tribute to the royal
guest. This anthem so fairly represented the feeling
of the American people during this remarkable visit
that I cannot refrain from giving it now in extenso. It
was sung with such a depth of feeling, with such a
welcome m every tone, with such a kindly reverence and
warmth as can never be expressed in mere dry words.
It was as follows : —

" God bless our Fathers' land.
Keep her in heart and hand

One with our own !
From all her foes defend,
Be her brave People's Friend,
Oti all her realms descend.
Protect her throne !

" Fatho/, with loving care
Guard Thou her kingdom's Heir,

Guide all his ways :
Thine arm his shelter be,
From him by land and sea
Bid storm and danger flee,
Prolong his days I

" Lord, let War's tempest cease.
Fold the whole earth in peace,

Under Thy wings !
Make all Thy nations one,
All hearts beneath the sun.
Till Thou shalt reign alone.
Great King of Kings!"

When His Royal Highness, at the conclusion of the
concert, quitted tlie hall, the young vocalists rose again,
but this time their enthusiasm could not be restrained.
One set the example of a cheer, and in an instpRt it
spread from mouth to mouth, gradually extending from

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BOSTON AND PORTLAND.

where the little choristers sat, all through the buildiiift,
till it echoed with an outburst of long pent-up feolinfr
of affection, hospitality, and welcome so blended in
warm hearty shouts of gladness, that the English
spectator could only look on with pride and mute
amazement at such a kindly tribute to his young
Prince. Every day, every hour of the long tour only
convinced me more and more of how little the English
people know of .eir brothers in Canada — how little
the English and Amcncaus really know of each other.
To most Englishu.en Canada is a geogi'aphical expres-
sion, and they are better acquainted with the Hindoos
than the r^al sterling character of their great descend-
ants and rivals, the Americans.

In the evening, after the musical festival, there was
a grand ball. It was given in the beautiful opera-
house, which was decorated and lit up with the most
charming good taste. The whole of the spacious
building was very full, though not by any means too
crowded for the proper enjoyment of such a festivity.
All the arrangements of the fete were, in short, very
good, so it was a decided success. Still, as with all
the other balls that had been given on the tour, none
even at their brightest approaches], either for splendour
or good taste, the magnificence of the great fete at
Montreal. •

Next day there was a brief visit and frugal lunch at
Harvard University, at Cambridge, the foremost seat
of learning in America, and which numbers among its
professors men of world-wide reputation in literature
and science. On his return the Prince was expected to
visit the superb public library of the city, the only one
conducted on truly liberal principles that I ever heard
of. This fine building contains upwards of aOO,000
volutnes. Any one, no matter who, on registering his

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g pent-up feeling
le so blended in
liat the English
pride and mute
te to his young
le long tour only
little the English
aiiada — how little
)w of each other,
graphical expres-
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ir great descend-

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beautiful opera-

ip with the most

of the spacious

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[" such a festivity.

re, in short, very

Still, as with all

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her for splendour

the great fete at

d frugal lunch at
lie foremost seat
imbers among its
ion in literature
i was expected to
ity, the only one
hat I ever heard
ards of aOO,000
tt registering his

HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

421

name and address, can borrow books from it. Only one
work or volume is lent at a time, and only allowed to
be retamed for fourteen days. These rules, however
are relaxed if good reasons are given, and always in
the case of habitual readers. Between 2000 and 8000
volumes are thus lent out wcokly, and not ten pounds'
worth are injured or missing at the end of the year
In fact, during the last two or three years, the losses
sustained by the library have been merely nominal
and m nearly all eases arise from unavoidable accident'
It speaks well, iiideed, for the Boston people to have
founded such a f:ystera, and to work it with such com-
plete success. Unfortunately, there was not timp lo
inspect this superb institution.

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CHAPTER XXII.

THE VOYAGE HOME.

Reception at Portland— Embarkation for the Voyage Home— A Winter
Voyage across the Atlantic — Stormy Weather— Delay in reachiug
England — Home at Last — Conclusion.

I HAVE little more to add to the long record of "The
Prince's Tour," save his arrival and embarkation at
Portland: and having followed His Royal Highness
throughout "unto this last," a few words more will
suffice to bring to a conclusion my narrative of this
most remarkable Progress of the Prince of Wales.

The good citizens of Portland were, on the whole,
rather disappointed that the Prince could make no
formal visit to their town, and that it was merely used,
in fact, as a port for embarkation. It is only doing
justice to their hospitality to state that they left no
effort untried which could induce His Royal Highness
to extend this part of the programme into a more
lengthened visit, and in the hope that they might be
successful they had arranged a little series of excursions
and fetes for their illustrious visitor, ',vhich by dint of
early rising and late travelling iniglit possibly have
been got through in a week. But the fiat had gone
forth that the Prince woiild embark on the 20th of
October, and so, as on every other occasion of this Ion"

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and varied tour, the progri-. ame was adhered to, to the

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ARRIVAL AT PORTLAND.

423

li? record of " The

day, the hour, and the minute. It must have been
almost a painful office for those intrusted to carry out
these arrangements on the route to have to refuse these
continual kind offers of respect and welcome which
were pressed upon the royal party at every town through
which they passed. They were refused, however; had
they not been, the Prince could scarcely have got
through his tour in less than twelve montlis. So Port-
land, like the rest, had to remain contented with its
good intentions, and expend its hospitality on the
officers of the royal squadron, to whom before the
arrival of the Prince a magnificent ball was given, and
every possible kindness and attention shown during
their short stay. There were the same scenes of en-
thusiasm in Boston on the day of the Prince's departure
as on his arrival, only differing in character. It was
less a welcome than a kind and regretful farewell. On
that day, as on all the days during the Prince's visit to
that fine old city, the English and American flags were
intertwined over the monument erected to commemo-
rate the battle of Bunker's Hill. Long after the train
had left Boston the grsat column could be seen with
its rival banners for the first time floating together
over the emblem of bygone strife. At Portland^there
was no formality about the reception. The people
were out in thousands, cheering and deliglited— kind
and respectful as everywhere, quite content if they only
saw the Prince, and knew that he in turn saw and appre-
ciated their welcome. There was a short drive made
round tlio town, and then the party went to lunch at
the Prebble House, for there was much leave-taking to
be gone through and kind Canadian friends to be bid
farewell. :Mr. Kose, of whom all had so many warm
recollections, was there, with Mr. Carticr, the Prime
Minister, the Mayor of Montreal, and the leading gen-

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424

TPIE VOYAGE HOME.

tlemen connected with the series of superb entertain-
ments which that great capital of Canada gave the
Prince. There were gentlemen too from Hahfax and
New E.unswick, Quebec and Toronto, London and
Hamilton. All who had been in any way concerned
in the magn^Ucent displays and receptions of the great
Canadian colonies were waiting to wish His Royal
Highness a happy voyage back, and take a kind leave
of their young visitor, who on that soil will always be
remembered with pride and affection. A little before
three o'clock His Royal Highness left the hotel to
embark. Nearly two months previous it had been
arranged that the departure should take place from
Portland at three p.m. on the 20th of October. " The
day and the hour" had come, and, with the same per-
fect accuracy which had distinguished every movement
of the long progress, this last appointment was kept.
Crowds thronged the streets down to the wharf, the
hill overlooking it was black with people, the ships in
the bay were dressed with colours. There was great
shouting, cheering, and waving of handkerchiefs as His
Royal Highness, with the chief members of his suite,
stepped into the " Hero's" barge, and one long-shouted
farewell seemed to fill the air as the boat shoved off
from American soil, and the first Prince of Wales
who has ever visited the United States quitted the
shore witli the love and good wishes of all its people.
There was a moment of ceremony as the " Hero,"
"Ariadne," "Flying Fish," "Nile," and "Styx" manned
yards and slowly thundered out n royal salute. Another
salute as the Prince's standard went up to the "Hero's"
main. Then " boats' recall" was hoisted, and before
five o'clock the royal squadron was steaming out of the
harbour. One last salute was given as the vessel
paased the forts. It was returned gun for gun, dotting

'I'HS^fmmm

A WINTER VOYAGE.

425

the hiUs with smoke, till the crowds were hidden and
the land lay in a dim blue haze, which gradually sunk
lower and lower in the horizon.

On board the "Hero" the Prince, with all the imme-
diate members of his suite, was embarked. The
"Ariadne" had only two of the Prince's travelling
companions— if I may so term them— the son of Lord
St. Germains, the Hon. Mr. Elliott, and the Hon. C.
Ellice, the son of Lord Howard De Walden. The
pretty little "Flying Fish" took no one ; for in a vessel
of such small size and comparatively low speed it was
not unreasonably conjectured that a winter passage
over the Atlantic would be both a long and an uneasy
one. How she made her way through, was unknown
to the rest of the royal squadron ; for there was rather
a strong swell on, with an adverse wind, the first
night of departure, in which she was not able to main-
tain the speed of the other vessels, and gradually
dropped more and more astern, parting company
towards the middle of the night.

A winter voyage across the Atlantic is the same for
princes as for other people-that is to say, always a
long, dull, and comfortless aifair— a damp monotony of
days and nights, slightly broken now and then by a
thick fog or a sharp gale. On this run, as in going
out, and as all through Canada and much of the United
States, His Royal Highness had his usual ill-luck with
regard to weather. There were head-winds, there were
calms, there were fogs, and in the short intervals, when
the breeze was favourable, there was so much of it and
to spare, that on the whole one rather wished the calms
and fogs were back again. There was no desire to be
too fastidious on board the squadron. Any wind with
west in it would do. But, of course, this never came
but once, when there was such a considerable admix^

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THE VOYAGE HOME.

ture of the westerly element, that I think everybody in
his heart was glad when it was gone again. It is
astonishing what an amount of discomfort is concealed
under the saying of a " Thirteen -knot gale in your
favour." For the first two or three days out both the
"Hero" and "Ariadne" were under steam. The
former was at full speed, the latter at less than half,
and having to resort to every nautical artifice to keej)
her i)lace behind the flag-ship. In spite of all, how-
ever, this beautiful frigate kept ranging up alongside
and a-head of the " Hero." There seemed to be no
keeping her great speed within bounds, and between
the intervals, when the watch turned up to shorten sail,
the main deck forward echoed with an impromptu song
among the sailors, with the chorus of " Wait for the
' Hero,' Avait for the * Hero,' wait for the ' Hero,' she's
a long way behind." There were "chaffing" signals,
too, going on between the vessels as to the state of
passengers on both, and ironical offers of medical
assistance in case they were very bad. In these, how-
ever, the " Ariadne" had much the best of it, for, with
the exception of His Eoyal Highness and one or two
others, the knot of passengers on the poop of the
" Hero" was rather thinned by the first day's head sea.
Now and then the "Ariadne" ranged up so close along-
side that both parties could converse from tlieir re-
spective quarter-decks by writing out their questions
on black boards, and holding them up. Once, indeed,
the "Ariadne" came so close that both could speak
with ease. This experiment, however, was only at-
tempted once, for a heavy swell was running, and tlie
two ships were within ahair's-breadth of coming broad-
side against each other, when the consequences miglit
have been most serious. Their yards actually touched,
and nothing but the speed of the " Ariadne" and the

THICK FOGS.

427

indomitable coolness of Captain Vansittart saved them
from actual collision. Even as it was many ran below,
thinking that the masts and spars would be about their
ears. After this slight escapade open order was en-
forced, except in fogs, when the "Ariadne" had to
follow, almost touching the Prince's vessel. These
fogs were as frequent as on the voyage out, and were a
source of perpetual anxiety. Every officer on board
the "Ariadne" was determined, come what might, not
to part company with the 'Hero." Yet the danger—
to say nothing of the difficulty of keeping together
when both were steeped in yellow clouds, impervious
to light and almost to sound— can easily be understood.
The mists seemed by their very weight and density to
make the ocean dumb, and only a huge, silent fog
swell, which seemed almost supernatural in its mute
undulations, gave evidence that the vessels were really
at sea. Every mast and spar was hidden, fog-lights
were useless— even at a few yards off they only shone
with a dim, thick, yellow glare, which might be a mile
oif, or a yard, for anything one could distinguish.
The very sea itself was blinded out by this wet, dun,
choking atmosphere, and, as far as sight or sound
could tell, the " Ariadne " or the " Hero " might both
have been, as they really seemed, in the clouds.
Voices could be heard on board the " Hero," and the
creaking of her masts and cordage as she drooped over
and over from side to side with the swell; but not a
vestige of her form or lights could be discerned for a
single instant. The fog hung, in fact, on everything
like a pall, and seemed to check siglit, and noise, and
even motion. The " Hero" used to go a-head, sound-
ing her fog-whistle, till the shrill alarm was faint in
the dip.tanco, and stifled in the thick air. Then the
•' Ariadne " would follow, sounding hers, till close upon

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428

THE VOY.',/>E HOME.

the flag-ship, when the 'Hero" again took up the
scream and went a-head ; and in this manner, moving
step by step, the nigl.ts and days would pass. On
these occasions Captain Vansittart, and Mr. Phillips,
the first lieutenant, seldom left the bridge for an in-
stant. It was both dull and anxious work, especially
as the fog always melted into a thick cairn, leaving the
vessels lounging from side to side with a heavy idle
motion like a couple of "jibbing" horses that would
back, or rear, or sidle, or do anything, in fact, but go
on. The "Ariadne" carried coals enough for her
voyage home, but the " Hero " only stowed some six or
seven days' fuel, most of which, of course, was reserved
in case, as it real ij happened, of their coming on the
English coast with easterly xuads asr>iinst them. But,
in spite of the care with wnich the cofus were hus-
banded, it was evidently of re ,,^ood lying becalmed
some 600 miles off Portland, so on Thursday, the 25th,
both vessels got up steanij and went a-head, the "Hero"
at full speed, and the " Ariadne " keeping her place
with ease at little mort: than one-third, and with only
from eigh' to ten pounds steam in her boilers.

On Fridav the 20th, signal was made to the "Ariadne "
to tow. The idea of a 20-gun frigate towing a line-of-
battle ship through rather a heavy swell seems almost
absurd, but the " Ariadne," either under sail or steam,
can do such feats as were never heard of from a steam
frigate before. So the " Ariadne " took the " Hero "
in tow, and actually dragged her along through a heav>
rolling swell at the rate of nine knots an hour. Such
an effort appears almost incredible, and I must own
that, had I not seen it myself, I should have found
some difficulty in believing that any frigate afloat could
possibly have done it. Both vessels were rolling rather
heavily, and the hawser kept tightPiiiug and vibrating

DIETT WEATHER.

429

like a harp- string. No one knew the instant it would
part, and as it was taken along the " Ariadne's " upper
deck, where the men could not possibly be always kept
clear of it, it was a constant source of anxiety to all
It ™nt at last with a terrific snap at about five am on
the 2/tli. There were plenty of men near it when it
.par,«( but provi.ientially it sprung into the air and
went clear over tl.e stern without hurting any one. At
hat tmie the loug-wished-for wind had come at last
from the north-west. The towing, therefore, was not
renewed, but botli went on under all plain sail, the
Ariadne shortemng hers every hour to keep with
tlie Hero. Bunng Saturday the breeze freshened
more and more, the sea got up as the glass went down,
and the wind came in fierce squalls, driving showers of
sleet and hail before it. On Sunday it blew more than
half a gale and hour by hour, reef after reef was taken
in by the 'Hero," and, of course, the "Ariadne" was
.bilged to follow the example. Both ships began to
.oil rather heav ly, and stmy traps went crashing about ■
the "Ariadne" creaked and groaned in every timber
the wmd moaned and howled through the shrouds in
every tone of hoarse and dangerous anger, while the
clouds of hail drove over everything, and kept ringin«
and spinning from the deck like smaU shot. Everv'^
thing was dark, w.t, noisy, creaking below, while above
no hing could be heard but the hunied tramp of the
sailors, the roar of the storm, and dash of the sprav as
It leapt up over the ship's side on to the deck. This
was the la-knot breeze in our favour. About three a m
on Monday this brief storm was at its worst, and
struck down upon both ships in a succession of an^rv
squalls. *= -^

The sea and sky seeniPd to have entered into a
^nspiracy, and were blended together in a dull,leaden-

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430

THE VOYAGE HOME.

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coloured mass, half scud, half foam, save to windward,
where amid the flying haze of wind and spray a dense
low bank of livid copper-tinted clouds was rising up into
the heavens with ominous rapidity. Tliere was a heavy
sea rolling, from which the waves came pouring down
rank on rank, their dull heavy sides streaked with weird
looking zigzags and blotches of lurid foam, and their
lofty blue ridges seething with tufts of spray, like hills
tipped with half thawed snow. The "Hero" was
abreast of the " Ariadne," not quite a mile to wind-
ward, no longer towering with a mass of canvas moving
with stately undulations over the ocean, but with a few
wet, black-looking sails, close reefed, and rolling quick
and heavily— a mere hard-struggling, weather-beaten
ship. The squall which the copper-coloured clouds
foretold came on her first with a hoarse, loud roar, as
if a mountain was in motion. At once it split both
her foresail and her mainsail, and heeled her sharply
over. What more it did I cannot say, for the storm
seemed to muffle her up with clouds of mist and hail,
till in a short time her outline only loomed faintly
through the haze, like the shadow of a ship upon a
watery cloud. The "Ariadne's" turn came next.
With a loud premonitory rush of hail, and dash of sea
up over her sides, the wind struck her, as sailors say,
"like a hammer." The reefed maintopsail spHt at
once. Then ihe forestaysail went. The almost instant
destruction of this sail was a wonderful sight. The
block holding it broke up, and the huge mass of wet
canvas blew out slatting in the wind with a fierce
noise like volleys of musketry, and jerking every
timber in the ship as though she was actually striking.
Another minute and this, the newest and strongest sail
in the ship, had blown away piecemeal in little shreds
and fragments. With this squall the thickness of the

weather-beaten
■coloured clouds

THE "hero" missing. 431

weather increased, till even the dubious, greasy light
of the moon was damped out. At last the clouds par-
tially cleared at six o'clock, and then the " Hero " was
nowhere to be seen. The last that had been seen ot-
her was tlirough the mist, when she was apparently
heaving to to reef. So the " Ariadne " hove to also,
till nearly nine o'clock, in the hope of her consort being
still m the neighbourhood. At nine o'clock the gale
was almost as bad as ever, but the sun was bright for
a short time, yet still the flagship was nowhere visible.
Blank consternation fell on all the "Ariadne's," from
captain to crew, for to part thus, after all their long
days and nights of trouble, was felt to be mortifying
indeed. After a delay of two hours and more. Captain
Vansittart came to the conclusion that the "Hero"
must have run before the gale, and was still a-head.
Acting upon this supposition, which proved to be quite
correct, all the sail which the "Ariadne " could safely
carry in such a heavy breeze was crowded on, and away
she went, tearing through the waves at the rate of more
than thirteen knots an hour. For the credit of this
noble vessel, however, I grieve to say that in this her
first real trial in a heavy sea she proved rather an
uncomfortable ship. It is true she was running almost
before the wind, and through the trough of a very heavy
sea; but, making every possible allowance for these
disadvantages and her weight of coal, it still by no
means accounted for her tremendous lurches. She
rolled with a deep, slow, heavy motion, as if almost
ut times about to capsize. To say that she dipped her
main-deck guns under water of course means a great
deal, but even this is short of what the " Ariadne "
sometimes accomplished in her unwieldy gambols.
She rolled from twenty-four to twenty-six degrees to
windward, and ironi thirty to thirty- six or even thirty-

I-
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432

THE VOYAGE HOME.

eight to leeward. In some of her hirches over to
leeward it was onl\ possible to guess at the number of
degrees she went; but her inclination maybe judged
from the fact, that in one tremendous dip she made
she actually dipped her quarter-b :)ats into the water.
This was certainly her worst, thou'.'^i nhe very often
heeled over so as to bring the l)or s ^vxth?>: a lew inches
of the sea. The shot was sent below from the upper
deck, and the long 68-poundevF so lashed tliat, unless
she actually turned over, they could never move. Two
of the light brass howitzers forward, however, "/^ ■
capsized, and some anxiety was felt during the heaviest
rolls lest any of her huge main -deck guns below should
get adrift. Fortunate]), however, they had been well
secured, and never movjd an inch.

All our troubles, however, were forgotten when,
though the gale stili blew, the weather cleared, and'
the man at the mast-head hailed that the " Hero " was
in sight. It was only from the mast-head, however,
that she could be seen under the very mengre alhDw-
ance of canvas which Commodore Seymour meted
out to her on all occasions— about fourteen or sixteen
miles a-]iead. The instant the discovery was made,
additional sail was crowded on the ''Ariadne," and
the wa} she tore through the water was " a caution."
The " Hero " herself must at least have been goi^^g ten
knots before such a wind, and v. tern chase ' Vo"
verbially a long chase ; yet in less tiian five hours after
first sighting ]ier from the mast-head the "Ariadne"
was alongside once more, and the ■' Hero " signalled
how glad she was to be rejoined by so good a consort.
With tlie night the wind— the only favourable win(i we
had— died away, and left both ships rolling i pi dy
to the bidding of the long, smooth swell. 1 n . ame
va_iia „^. ..,(.j ,vi,. log? uj liiyiii,, thuu morc laimg ami

ever move. Tavo

A ROTTEN ANCHOR. 433

rolling, getting a start of wind for a few hours to raise
momentary hopes of still making a fair passage ; then
again calms, and yet more fogs, till the chances .f
reaching England under fourteen days waxed fainter
and more faint with each long da^ s non-progress.
Then the "Ariadne" would tow again. To prevent
danger from the hawser parting while 011 hoai'd, the
end was made fast to the shackle of her stream cable
-a huge piece of iron, equal, according to the calcula-
tion of the dockyard authorities, to nearly three times
the strength of the towing hawser. Yet before the
towing had lasted half a, i hour the shackle broke, and
left the " Hero " adrift.

I would venture humbly to suggest that tl^e Lords
of the Admiralty should see this wretched piecr of
iron-work. The fracture shows a worse kind of metal
than one would expect to find in the coarsest pig-iron.
Yet on the strength of this shackle the " Ariadne "
herself, witli all on board, might have to depend for
safety m her most ti . ing emergencies. It is impos-
sible tliat It could hav been test -d at the dockyard
before it was i- ued, as il broke at less than half the
strain it is professed to hav- been proved to. A larger
shackle was tnen got up, nud wit^ thi^ the « Ariadne "
again set to work, and pulled th. 7ero " through the
water some 200 miles, making every t.. ber in the ship
creak and work awfully un(K>r the strain. After twenty
hours of this ,\-ork, the hawser parted on board the
"Hero," and, as there was then a little winu, the
towing was not renewed, but both vessels crep^ )n
under sail, t e "Ariadne," as usnal-though haTing
her miy.-utopsnil and topgallantsail backe<^ -dodging
ab at on all sorts of tacks to keep with the flagslnp.
In .Ins manner, now creeping on for a few hours with
a i. wind, then steaming a little through calm, and

F P

W'illHf

484

THE VOVAOE HOME.

fogs, the 1st of November found the ships in that part
of the ocean called " the beginning of the Chops of the
Cliannel," with the Hoa like glass, fogs by night with a
long fog swell, and a steady easterly wind against us
during the day. On this, the 1st of November, we
were 600 miles fr< m the Lizard ; at noon on Monday,
the 5th, we were 430. These figures give the best
idea of the amount of progress made in this time.
The " Hero " had not coal enough .o steam, and the
wind was too strong in the day, and the swell too much
at night, for the " Ariadne " to tow.

Thus day by day and hour by hour was passed, with
these two fine ships lying .Jl but idle in the water, and
everybody fuming and fretting for the fair wind, which
the more it was wanted " the more it wouldn't come."
On Monday, the 5th, there was another attempt made
to tow the " Hero," but then there was a heavy swell
on, and after some three hours the hawser parted
again, "nd both ships jogged on us usual, creeping up
slowly to windward, and passing many sail of nif^r-
chantmen similarly engaged. At last, on Monday
night, the 5th, the glass fell, and a strong soutli-
easterly gale set in, the very foulest of all the foul
winds that could have chanced to us. Of course there
was nothing for it but to close reef the topsails, and
keep dodging about to remain as near the entrance of
the Channel as possible. This, however, was not to
be done. The gale was fierce, though, strange to
say, the sea was not high, still high enough to make
both vessels generally uncomfortable and wet below.
Thus the Gth and 7th were passed with no sign of the
wind abating, and the two ships still staggering heavily
to leeward across a sea of dirty-looking foam. Every-
body studied the barometer, which still kept obstinately
high, and every one thought the wind must come round

SALT PROVISIONS.

435

iiust come rouua

on the next day, though the next day was, of course,
as bad as ever, and only brought such small additions
to tlic live stork as starlings, thruslies, and a woodcock
blown oft the land, sliowii.- tjuit the wind was likely to
bo hard and very Listing. There was only one comfort
left us, and that nn.. that since the great weight of
coals on board the Ariadne " had been got rid of by
towing, she never rolled at all worth speaking of. On
Wednesday, the 7th, the ships were near Galway, and
It was thought the " Hero " would have made for that
port, fdled up with coal, and then steamed home. But
for some reason or other she did not, and on the next
day the wmd was too strong and she could not have
done It had she tried. Friday, the 0th, the ships were
back again in the same place that they had been on
Monday, the 5th; wliile on Sunday, the 11th, they
were some thirty miles further off the land than they
had been on Sunday, the 4th. Altogether, what with
wind, rain, and hail, it was not an encouraging cruise,
especially as fresh provisions were out, even to the
vegetables, and there was nothing to eat but the saltest
of ship's salt stores. On Monday, the 12th, both
vessels were weU into tho Bay of Biscay, making a
long slant down towards Ushant. If the wind changed
to either south or n-rih-west, there would be a chance
of getting in; if it did not, there was nothing for it
but to wear and stand out to the west again—perhaps
for another week, perhaps for a fortnight, and all this
on salt provisions.

It wa.s not in human nature to bear it with patience,
and the barometers were consulted every hour and
every minute that night. At last they began to fall.
Then came rain, then little puffs of fair wind, coquettiiig
and flapping about the huctp. sflil« Gr^dr^H" i+ -arp^
rouud more and more from tUe west, tiU by ten a.m.

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436

THE VOYAGE HOME.

on the 13th, the 24th day out, there was, almost for
the first time, a fair wind, and both ships at last making
their course stood towards England. The breeze, how-
ever, was but a poor one. In the night it almost died
away, though the " Hero" stiU kept the double reef in
her topsails to a light wind that scarcely moved her five
knots an hour. A yaclit would have gladly spread aU
her canvas to the wind which was keeping this crack
line-of-battle ship under double-reefed topsails. On
the morning of the 14th the wind came decidedly fair
—a strong sou'-wester, under which, running full before
the wind, both ships went hissing and rushing through
the water at the rate of more than twelve knots an hour.
This was all very weU, but as some sHght uncertainty
existed as to where the vessels were, and consequently
whither they were going, it was evident that they could
not carry on long that way. There had been no obser-
vations for some day^, and when there had been any,
the "Hero's" differed from the " Ai-iadne's," and the
dead reckonings from both. Observations from stars
only made matters worse again. So, as the weather
was thickening and the wind inshore, both ships short-
ened sail at one o'clock, and hove to to sound; coarse
gravel was got in eighty-three fathoms, which the chart
said meant off Ushant, but this was almost doubtful,
BO soundings were taken again at six, and the bottom'
at sixty fathoms placed the first soundings above sus-
picion. The course of the vessels was, therefore,
altered to east-nor'-east, and under shortened sail the
" Hero" and the "Ariadne " stood across the Channel
for the Lizard Light. This, the last night of the cruise,
was as foggy as any, and once the "Ariadne " missed the
"Hero" and sent up red rockets, but the rockets were
answered by the " Himalaya," wln(!h had been long on the
louk-out fur us. At last the "Ariadne " put on full steam.

LANDING AT PLYMOUTH.

437

and running up at fourteen knots an hoiir, overtook the
" Hero," cautiously creeping towards the Lizard. For-
tunately the Hght was soon made, and the cold gray
morning at last showed the shores o^ Old England in
the lofty, rugged, picturesque coast of Cornwall. The
run to Plymouth was soon made, and before ten a.m.
the *•- Hero" and the "Ariadne" cast anchor inside the
Breakwater, the ships in the Sound and in the harbour
and the batteries on shore saluting the Prince's flag.
In a very short time His Royal Highness was ready to
land. For the last tjme the ships manned yards, salutes
were fired as the royal standard came down from the
"Hero," and amid cheers from the crews of the " Hero"
and "Ariadne," the Prince of Wales quitted the royal
squadron, and his long progress was brought to a
close.

In little more than four months he had traversed all
Canada and the greater part of North America, winning
such a friendly feeling of regard for himself as must in
the future history of the two nations be productive of
the greatest and most beneficial results. While giving
to His Royal Highness the credit that is really his due
for frank and poHshed courtesy, and that natural high
breeding which springs from innate good nature, I
should not be discharging my duty as narrator faith-
fully if I failed to remark that a most important share
in the success of the progress was due to the Duke of
Newcastle. On his grace rested the responsibility of
eveiy single step undertaken-— of the wording of every
address received, and every reply delivered. In short,
it is only necessary to remember the facts to do justice
to his grace; but these tacts are, that he had the
entire management of the tour, and its grand success
surpassed every anticipation tliat had been formed.
Second to the Duke in rank and importance, tliough

♦ ■

438

THE VOYAGE HOME.

scarcely second to him in popularity, were Earl St.
Germams and General Bruce. All the members of
the royal suite formed warm friends wherever they
stayed; but nis lordship and the general were espe-
ciaUy fortunate in this respect, and wiU be kindly
remembered in America when other incidents of the
late royal progress in America wiU have almost been
obhterated by the lapse of time. A long period, how-
ever must elapse ere the Prince of Wales and his visit
are forgotten in Canada and the United States. It was
the first royal visit ever paid to th^ West. Never will
royalty be seen there under a more attractive guise.

THE END.

V 'Tl!

TOADDUlty ANJ) EVANa HUNTERS, WHITKPRfA

VA.

[B.

rity, were Earl St.
11 the members of
nds wherever they
general were espe-
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