11 MARCH 1876, Page 2

The Queen visited Whitechapel on Tuesday, to open the new

wing of the London Hospital, just given by the Grocers' Com- pany. Her Majesty was well received, the East-End turning out its hundreds of thousands to welcome her in a district so rarely seen by Royalty. At the Grocers' banquet which followed, the principal speaker was the Duke of Cambridge, who stated that in his recent speech upon the Army he had intended " to warn rather than alarm," contended that the English were a very pugnacious people when their interests or their countrymen were assailed, and expressed his gratification with Mr. Hardy's proposals, and the spirit in which Parliament and the nation had received them. We should want 7,000 more men next year than we did this, because of the operation of the short-service system, and the offer of extra pay was therefore most desirable, in order to avoid " a great risk which might bring about grave disasters." His Royal Highness apparently doubted whether the terms would be quite sufficient, but was contented "so far."