GENERAL SUMMARY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 120, 1 June 1863, Page 3

GENERAL SUMMARY.

[From the Some Seios t March 26.] Memorable amongst the white days in English history will be the 7th March, 1863. Upon that day the Princess Alexandra of Schleswig-Holstein-Sender burg-Gliicksburg, now Princess of Wales made her public entry into London. We have elsewhere given a detailed account of this magnificent reception, which in point of splendor and enthusiasm, has no parallel in our annals. No country but England could produce the sucession of marvellous scenes which greeted the eyes of the Princess on her route from Gravesend through London to Windsor. The decorations and trophies which were'seattered in profusion along the entire road, the vast preparations which were already made for the celebration of the nuptials, and the display of power and wealth which rose about her in a thousand varieties of form as she advanced, were in themselves sufficiently striking; but that element of greatness which must have been most surprising to her, and which, more than any other, musthaveimpressed upon her mind the magnitude of the occasion, andthe resourcesof thecounlry of which, under Providence, she may one day become Queen, was the spectacle presented by the population, independently of the flowers and evergreens, the statues and the transparencies, the music and the pageantry. She must have passed through masses of English men and women, between the moment when she landed at Gravesend to the moment of her arrival at Windsor Castle, amounting to little less than double the whole population of the kingdom of Denmark. It has been roughly computed that in London alone there were at least two millions of persons who J actually witnessed her progress. Of course, no means exist by which the accuracy of such calculations can be tested ; but, estimating the unknown by the known, that number cannot be considered an exaggeration. At St. Paul’s alone, 12,000 people were seated ; at some of the clubs GOO persons were accommodated on the temporary seats erected for the occasion; every spot where it was possible to insert scaffolding along the line of route was turned to account ; every window, housetop, and balcony was crowded ; and the street and roads were packed so full that people who had once got into the mass could not got out again till the sight was over, and the dense multitude were slowly liberated. The expenditure of the people of London on the 7th of March, including the corporations and other public bodies, the sightseers who hired seats, the decorations of houses, and numerous miscellaneous items, may be estimated at considerably above a quarter of a million. When to this comes to be added the cost of the illuminations, banquets, and other demonstrations got up in celebration of the wedding, the full-hearted devotion of the English to the throne, and to those who deserve well, or promise to deserve Well of them, will, like good wine, need no bush. That the Princess Alexandra will j ustify the noble tribute which has been paid her, we do not doubt. If any augury may be drawn from the “ human face divine,” her character is frank confiding, and generous. There is remarkable brightness and candour in the play and expression of her features, which beam with vivacity and good nature. Every movement is distinguished by ease and grace. Her figure is slight and delicately formed ; her complexion too is delicate, but it is the delicacy of high blood and fine organisation, and not of physical weakness. Her face is extremely pretty, full of varied emotion, and reflecting back sunnily the life around her. She appears also to be perfectly able to appreciate the difficulties and responsibilities of her new and trying position. Intelligence site in her eyes, and is displayed in the rapidity with which she seizes upon every incident, and the promptitude with which she responds to every demand made upon her attention. Throughout the whole of that arduous progress, which lasted between four and five hours, she never lost her self-posses-sion, or forgot for an instant what was due to the loyal crowds who gave her so enthusiastic a welcome. Nor did she betray, whatever she may have suffered, the least symptom of fatigue to the last; she preserved her bright spirit and her gracious manner, and carried with her into "Windsor Castle the hearts and the blessings of those thousands who on that clay hailed in the " Rose of Denmark” the future Queen of Eng-

land. It is pleasant at the close of this elaborate display of national feeling, to be able to say that the performances passed of with the greatest success. The only shadow that fell upon the splendour came from the terrible crush in the City on the 10th March. Several lives were lost. It was no place for women and children ; but unfortunately women and children are always to be found where they ought not to be. In the Westend of the town, where there was more room for circulation, and a more efficient police system, the spectacle was seen by tens of thousands without danger, although in many places the pressure was unavoidably very severe : but in the narrow streets of the city, where the police are either less nnmerous or less capable, deaths took place in the streets, and many persons sustained gi*evious injuries. Out of experience comes wisdom ; and now that the difference between the two forces is made apparent, something must be done to prevent such terrible incidents in the future.

The Polish revolution will occupy a large space in the history of the year, although its triumphs have been brief. From a small beginning it made rapid head, acquired consistency with marvellous rapidity, and finally achieved successes that made the whole of Europe look on with admiration, and that must have led to more profitable sympathy had they continued a few weeks longer. Wherever collisions took place between the insurgents and the Russians, the former were invariably triumphant. One victory was won at Bug, on the eastern confines of Poland, and two others in other places. Refugees gathered day after day to the standard of revolt. A capture was made of 6,000 Russian arms, the one thing which most of all the insurgents stood in need of, for previously they bad fought with scythes, clubs, or whatever implements they could improvise. The whole of the southern half of the kingdom was in the field, and the campaign had developed itself at Limberg, a city of Austrian Galicia, near Cracow, and standing nearly equi-distant between Austria and Prussian Poland. Here Langiewicz was at the head of his forces, which had been recently augmented, and here was (he bulk of the Russian army, which had, likewise, been reinforced. The revolution was gaining ground also in Kalisch, which runs between Prussia, Poland, and Warsaw; so that in these different and nearly opposite directions it was daily acquiring fresh strength.

Such was the situation in which the Poles determined to assert their nationality in the face of Europe. Having maintained them-

selves thus far against superior numbers and superior means, and won back more than half the kingdom, they thought the time was come when they should take some formal step to consolidate and proclaim their victories. What they chiefiy wanted was a visible head, with a recognized central power, for the more effective prosecution of their objects. That visible head they now found in the person of Langiewicz, who issued a proclamation, in which he assumed the functions of Military Director of Poland, with the assent of the secret provisional government. The effect of this proclamation was like the burst of a trumpet calling men to arms. It supplied exactly what every one wanted ; and the confidence inspired by the gallantry and devotion of Langiewicz was at once shown in the enthusiasm with which his assumption of absolute power was universally hailed. At this momentous crisis, when the prospect of accomplishing a great practical result seemed possible, Langiewicz committed what we fear will be regarded as the fatal error of giving battle to the enemy in the open plain. So long as he confined himself to the species of guerilla war, which is best adapted to irregular and undisciplined troops, he carried everything before him ; the moment he ventured to contest a pitched battle he was defeated and the whole force dispersed. The sequel may be briefly related. Seeking refuge across the Vistula, in Galicia, he was arrested by the Austrians, and placed in the fortress of Cracow. He will not be surrendered to the Russians, but kept upon parole in some Austrian town. Under these circumstances, Langiewicz at once resigned the Dictatorship, and the secret committee at Warsaw resumed the Provisional Government. The fires of the insurrection still flicker in various places ; but it is felt that the revolution has received its death blow.

The few items of intelligence that reach us from America are important, though they do not materially alter the “ situation.” Congress has armed Mr. Lincoln with ample powers by suspending the Habeus Corpus Act, and authorising the President to issue

letters of marque. It has also passed a Con* scriptiou Bill, embracing all citizens between 20 and 45. These measures shew there is no present intention of diminishing the war pressure. But that is not the sole consideration which has influenced the American legislature in adopting such extreme steps. The conscription and the letters of marque, and the suspension of the habeus corpus, are evidences of a secret apprehension that America does not stand quite so well with Foreign Powers as she did. There is a notion that a war with France is imminent, not arising out of the Mexican business, but of the attempted mediation between North and South. Humour follows rumour as to the sinister designs of the Emperor, and the gobenouches of the North conclusion than that of an approaching recognition, which, in their bunkum, is equivalent to a declaration of war.

There are many small items, showing that the war is being prosecuted as furiously as ever in detail, but without any material advantage on either side. We learn, for example, that the Confederates have captured 200 Federal cavalry in one place ; but this is balanced by the loss of 200 Confederate infantry in another. The fear of a Confederate invasion is still apprehended in Kentucky ; Vickburg still awaits the slow horrors of a protracted siege. Charleston has been emptied of its domestic valuables, preliminary to its being set on fire should it fall into the hands of the Federals ; the Mississippi has risen, and the Confederates fire descending with rams to attack the Federal fleet at New Orleans; General Banks has been shot at, as he was stepping into his carriage ; a force of 5,000 negroes is training in the North, for the purpose of being employed to raise the slaves in the South ; and a Confederate privateer has captured and burned a ship bound for New York, with a cargo on board estimated at the value of <£11,000,000. This last circumstance has thrown the New York Chamber of commerce into convulsions. There is a report that the Federals have gained a great battle, and taken 7,000 Confederates and 8 frigates on the Yazoo Hiver, and the rhmor of the Confederate invasion of Kentucky is circumstantially revived.