15 SEPTEMBER 1855, Page 2

'(ht (Lund.

WHEN the Queen had last year retired to Balmoral she received intel- ligence of the battle of the Alma. During her stay this year in the North, she was destined to receive the news of a more important event of the war—the fall of Sebastopol. It was ten o'clock on Monday evening when the telegraphic dial told her Majesty that the Allies were in pos- session of Sebastopol. The Queen instantly caused the news to be spread abroad ; and Prince Albert, attended by Earl Granville and the young Princes, went up to Craig Gowbain, "where a quantity of firewood had been collected." Soon Highlanders appeared led by the late piper of the Forty-second, now her Majesty's piper, playing national airs. " A considerable number of people," says the Court newsman, " was soon assembled, and the erection of a bonfire was but the work of a few mi- nutes ; and upon the arrival of the:Prince and the party accompanying him it was lighted, and blazed high into the air, amid the loud and oft-repeated cheers of the assemblage. Some whisky having been procured, the health of the Queen and the Prince and of the brave armies of the Crimea were drunk, while the air rung with acclamations. The Queen and the Duchess of Kent, with the ladies of the suite, viewed the distant scene from the win- dows of the Castle. It was one of surpassing wildness and beauty. The country for a considerable distance was lighted by the vast bonfire, the ruddy gleams from which were reflected from the windows and walls of the Castle. The picturesque figures of the Highlanders, who had now collected in consi- derable numbers, were seen against the flames, and their shouts were heard far and wide through the glen, while the occasional sound of the discharge of fire-arms from distant localities proved how rapidly the long-wished-for intelligence had travelled. A little before twelve o'clock, the whole con- course of peasants, workmen, gillies, and others, descended from the Craig, and assembling before the Castle windows sang God save the Queen,' and, after three hearty cheers, gradually dispersed."

The Queen and the children drove out on Wednesday; and Prince Al- bert went into the forest, deer-stalking. Prince Frederick William of Prussia arrived at Balmoral yesterday, on a visit to the Queen. Prince Albert met him at Banchory.