Manchester Unity Independent Order

Southland Times, Issue 759, 4 December 1867, Page 3

Manchester Unity Independent Order

of Oddfellows, Ancient Order of Foresters, Grand United Order of Oddfellows, United Ancient Order of Druids, Order of Eechabites, St. Patrick's Society, Ancient Independent Order of Odd- . fellows, j Sons of Temperance, St. Francia Society, and free Gardener*. The entire procession being now complete, was composed (in addition to : the members of it who proceeded on foot) of about fifty carriages in the following order : — Carriage of The Argus. The carriages containing His Royal Highness and the Governor, followed by two of the Governor's carriages conveying the personal staff, and the carriage of Major - General Trevor Chute. The members of the Government. The members of the Eoyal Reception Commission. Members of the suite of His Royal Highness. Members of the suite of His Excellency the Governor and the Consuls. The members of the Executive Council. The Judges Members of the Legislative Council. Members of the Legislative Assembly. The Vice- Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. The Mayor and members of the Council of the Borough of Sandridge. The Mayor and members of the Council of the Borough of Emerald-hill. The accompanying crowd, though many thousands- were left behind, and others"' were hurrying by bye-roads to get into town to watch the proceedings there, was still enormous, and increased every minute. The Prince had now come to a part of the road where there were no houses, but Princes-bridge and Melbourne loomed in the distance, and the scene rapidly increased in interest. Looking behind there seemed to be at least 30,000 people on the road, arid in front the city seemed fringed with the color of its flags, whilst heads upon heads appeared in every place where people could stand. On the Melbourne side the centre space was lined by the men of the 14th Regiment, who behaved excellently, and it was scarcely possible to improve the circumstances under which the Prince and his escort entered the metropolis of Victoria. . . ■ - - The first glance at Swanston-street showed a wonderful sight ; nor could the eye at first quite take in the scene. Except in the space kept clear for the line of procession, nothing could be seen in the streets but heads. Each window was crowded with' faces, the housetops were full, the fronts of the houses were almost hidden with festoons of evergreens and transparencies, and flags waved in countless numbers. There had been cheering before, but it now rose louder than ever, and the sound reverberated along with thrilling intonation. The front of St. Paul's Church was filled with ladies and children, and as far as the eye could reach was a mass of upturned faces. The cheering never stopped a moment, and as the Prince advanced, the demonstration only became more and more;' effective. •' When the corner of Collins-street was :J reached, the scene was such as a man can only expect to see once in his life. The huge Town-hall gallery was crammed with ladies, and twelve thousand or so of children filled the space in Collins-street, fronting the Argus office. The continuations of Swanstonand Collins-streets were also densely crowded, and as the cortege drew up in front of the enclosure where the Mayor and Corporation of Melbourne waited to welcome His Royal Highness to the largest and wealthiest city in Australia, fully 40,000 people were by to witness ; could the streets have contained them, there would have been 50,000. The men of the 14th Regiment had hitherto assisted the police to keep the line clear, but now the volunteers began to do that duty, and they formed the guard of honor drawn up to receive the Prince. What took place here — how the Mayor presented the address of the corporation ; the reply he received ; how the children sang the National Anthem ; and how the Prince moved off amid deafening cheers, the waving of tens of thousands of handkerchiefs and hats, is a matter for history. It was a glorious sight, and will not soon be forgotten. There was not a barrier erected, yet the vast masses were kept in capital order, and the only accident was the fall of part of Mr Germain Nicholson's verandah, which did no harm to anyone save the proprietor. The view of Collinsstreet was bewilderingly grand. We had seen flags before but here they waved and fluttered doubly thick, and the festoons of evergreens looked like the spoils of a small forest. As might have been expected, the cheering rather increased than abated, and every window and l balcony gave its special welcome. The volunteers who lined the streets made the march — which was now indeed triumphal — perfectly safe j and the arch erected by the corporation was passed without a single casualty. Beyond and among the banks the glory of the spectacle increased. The proceasion stopped for a moment outside the Bank of New South Wales, and to look back at the hill down which it had come was to see nothing but heads below and flags above. The bank we have, mentioned was ornamented with eritagon h&ngiiiga and, festoons aad

} might perhaps be thought gaudy,I but nevertheless harmonised with the 1 general view, __and greatly distins guished it from the others. The length i of the procession may be judged from the I fact that as the Prince was passing Queen- . street, the friendly societies were crossing r the same street in the line of Bourke■treet. We need not go on telling the story of the bursts of applause that ac- ; r companied every step of the Royal advance, and to which the Prince replied by bowing as often as, he could. It must suffice to say that the line along the western end of ; Collins-street ° and William-street was kept by volunteers from Ballarat, Castlemaine, and Sandhurst, and they did their duty most creditably. In William-street the ap- • pearance of the Prince was the signal for a peal of joy-bells from St. James's Church ; but there was little to see till i the procession turned by Goldsborough's j wool store and Menzies' new hotel, into Bourke-street, when the scene of Collinsstreet was repeated with scarcely abated j impressiveness, though the people were | not . so numerous. There were a good I many grand stands, however, and most |of them were full. Looking down the j hill from the high ground opposite the i horse-yards the fine facade of the Posfc-. office came out -in splendid relief; but there was more cause than ever to regret the unfinished condition of the Parliament Houses at the eastern end of the street; and the wretched incomplete canvass screen, painted to represent a sham front, only made matters worae. But the warmth of the people's welcome to the Prince never flagged. As he went forward, the cheers were renewed and continued, and bands placed at frequent internals heightened the general enthusiasm as they thundered out the tune that every British heart loves so well. Turning into Spring-street towards the Treasury brought to view another enormous crowd awaiting the Royal arrival, and at a few minutes before two o'clock, the procession reached the Treasury terrace. On either side of the dais were the Executive councillors, members of the Legislature, the judges, heads of religious denominations, foreign consuls, members of the City Council, and some of the duburban borough councils ; Commander Norman, of tlie H.M.C.S. Victoria; Commander Wilkinson, R.N\, of the Admiralty survey ; the vice-chancellor and professors of the Melbourne University, and others ; and behind them were benches for as many ladies as could be accommodated. Most of the gentlemen were in some sort of official costume ; and the city aldermen and councillor appeared in their court dress, including cocked hafcs. In front, were in compact masses fully 30,000 persons, surging and waving backwards and forwards, as the police and soldiery strove to make them keep within bounds. Who shall describe the tremendous cheers that rent the air when the Prince left his carriage and took hia stand on the dais ? The Prince bowed his acknowledgements for a few moments, and then retired inside the building, needing refreshment as much, perhaps, as any man in the world ever did. While in the Governor's offices the members of the Ministry and of the . Reception Coinmisaion were presented to him, and in the long interval which ensued before he again appeared in public occurred the squeezing and giving place mentioned above. At last he returned, and then for a few moments the deafening peals of t cheering again rang through the air. The addresses over, Mr M'Culloch came to the front of the dais and called for three cheers for the Queen. It may ibe guessed with what heartiness the appeal was responded to, and also to another on behalf of the Duke of Edinburgh, and a third for the Governor. The Prince then descended to his carriage, and drove off amid repeated demonstrations of applause. His Royal Highness then proceeded to Toorak, where a dinner party — Ministers aud friends — had been invited to meet the sailor Duke. In the course of the evening, it was said that His Royal Highness, in company with His Excellency, incog, visited the city, to view the illuminations, taking the route of Collins-street. The Duke returned to Toorak before eleven o'clock.