THE PRINCE OF WALES.
The latest news from Canada comes down to the 18th, when the Prince of Wales was about to land at Quebec on that day. He had not progressed so far without mishaps. The Hero had gone aground twice, once in attempting to run into the inner harbour of Gaspe and once at the mouth of the Saguenay river. During the time employed in getting her off the shoal at Gaspe, "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 Royal Highness had pur- posely gone ashore to receive their ovations at his ease. At his ease, indeed, the Prince certainly seemed to be, 'skylarking' about the quar- ter-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 hourtfr- more haa been spent in usless at- tem clfe—Ariadne passed two hawsers out astern, and, taking the flag-ship in tow, pulled her out of her difficulties bodily and set her afloat once more in deep water."
The Prince made two excursions up ;the Saguenay river—a very savage place. The Times correspondent thus writes-
" Sunlight and clear skies are out of place over its black waters any- thing which recalls the life and smile of nature is not in tudsOn with its huge naked cliffs, raw, cold, and silent as tombs. Compared to it, the Dead Sea is a blooming garden, and the wildest ravines look coaey and smiling, It is wild without the least variety, and grand, apparently, in spite of itself, while so utter is the solitude, so dreary and, monotonous the frown of its great black walls of rock, that the touriet is sure to get impatient with its sullen reserve till he feels a positive antipathy to its very name. Some sir miles above it is the little town, or, as in England we should call it, village of Tadousiac. At the mouth of the Saguenay, the water varies in depth from 10 to 16 fathoms, but once between the walls of the river and the depth from end to audit never less than 100 fathoms, generally 150. On either side, at a distance of about a mile apart, the difik rise up thin, black, and straight, varying ip perpendicular height from 1200 to 1600 feet, and this is the character of the laver Saguenay from its month to its source. On the right bank, the clink are poorly Mantled here and there with stunted pines, but on the left-thare le Bearcely a sign of life or verdure, and the granite rocks stick up whitetind'bleached in the gloomy air, like the bones of an old world. At tivo places, St. Marguerite and between Capes 'Trinity and Eter- nity, 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 un- couth 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—anything, 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 prefer- able 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 enough was seen, and they returned to the Hero at about five o'clock, wet and dull. There was rather a state dinner on board the flag-ship that evening, and the Prince, having to be up early 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 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 belle (four o'clock) was sounded." The Prince went up the rapids of SL Marguerite in an Indian canoe. The Duke of Newcastle accompanied him. The same correspondent says— "In common parlance, as he is spoken of on board the Hero, he seems 'game to the backbone,' and it would be impossible to name any gentleman who is so liked on board his ship as the Prince of Wales. His popularity is not at all the effect of rank, for any one that knows a line-of-battle ship's wards and gun-room knows how much mere rank, however high, goes for there. He is liked for his kindness and perfect joviality, and for nothing more, except his 4 dash' and love of fun.'
Admiral Mine afl a portion of the West India squadron arrived at Quebec on the l7 I; the squadron of the Prince arrived there on the afternoon of the th of August, and was received with a salute from the men-of-war, citadel, and the town. The shipping were dressed with gags and their yards were manned. The fortifications and the roofs of the houses were covered with spectators. The scene was very animated. The city was crowded with visitors from all parts of the British posses- sions and the United States.
A meeting of the most prominent merchants bankers and others, of the city of New York, was held on the 14th of August at the Merchants' Bank in Wall Street, to adopt measures for extending an appropriate re- ception and welcome on behalf of the people of New York to the Prince of Wales, on the occasion of his visit to that city. Mr. Cyrus W. Field stated that he had just received a letter from a resident in Newfoundland, well acquainted with the Duke of Newcastle, stating that the Prince had only at present accepted two invitations from the United States, one from the President, and the other from the city of New York ; and that no more invitations would be accepted until the arrival of the Prince at Quebec, at which point his future movements would be determined upon.
A resolution to appoint a general committee to make arrangements for the proposed banquet was carried, and the committee appointed—General Winfield Scott, Peter Cooper, William B. Astor, R. B. Minturn, Moses Taylor, Moses II. Grinnell, Cyrus W. Field, James Gordon Bennett, Horace Greely, and a large number of the most distinguished men of New York. A resolution was also carried, that the committee should pro- ceed at once to Canada, and present the invitation to the Prince, and re- port the result at the adjourned meeting.
The following is some account of a disgraceful scene in the Montreal City Council—
It was proposed to change the name of "Commissioner Square" to that of "Victoria Square," a step to which the French members objected. "The Council was dividing on the main motion, and a name or two had been called hurriedly, as Councillor Homier rose to speak on the occasion, amid applause from a mob in the galleries. Councillor Homier proceeded to pour showers of vile abuse on the heads of the English, stating that the cowardly English, with.their whores and bastards, came to the country of the Canadians and after receiving shelter and support, began to domineer over them, and wished to crush them, their language, and laws. They wanted to rule Canada and have it for themselves. But ah, no ! they could not change the St. Jean Baptistes, or subdue them. They were the children of the old French who had settled in the country first, and would teach the English that they would not be insulted and oppressed. Councillor Duhamel next proceeded to address the Mayor. He was a Canadian in feeling, in language, and religion, and would never sanction the tyranny of the Eng- lish over the French Canadians. The English had no right there, only that got by the bayonet and at the cannon's mouth. Enough honour had been done the name of Victoria by giving it to the greatest bridge in the world, without calling every street and square by that name. The English had encroached on everything Canadian. Let them look at that crumblingheap of stones in Jacques Cartier Square, called 'Nelson's Monument,' which never should have been put there, as it was a'disgrace '—a shame' to the square called after the great Frenchman, whose statue should be in its place. '
The Commercial Advertiser offers the following editorial remarks upon this extraordinary scene-
" We have pointed out from time to time how this bitter hatred against the English, Irish, and Scotch population of Canada is encouraged by a party among the French Canadians, which looks forward to a war with France to afford them an opportunity of revolt, and to a French invasion as a means of subjecting the superior race.' Without a solitary reason, without even the shadow of u wrong to stimulate it, there is today a more persistent and deadly hatred among this ' national ' section of the French Canadian population towards the British Government and race than at any time before or immediatelyfter the rebellion of 1837 and 1838. The re- presentatives of this party, in the council, in the press, and in political cir- cles, lose no opportunity to excite popular prejudices and to create a war of races, which must desolate the country. The prime movers in this con- spiracy, and the instigators of these men, are foreign Jesuits, who, contrary to law and to public policy, have been allowed to locate themselves in our midst, and to repeat here the machinations by which they have been re- cognized in every clime which their presence cursed as the dieturbers of na- tient."
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