TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE ROYAL MARRIAGE.
THE daily journals publish a hugely elongated programme of a ceremonial to be observed at the marriage of her Royal Highness Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa, Princess Royal of Great Britain and Ireland, to his Royal Highness Prince Frederick William Nicholas Charles, only son of the Prince of Prussia ; an elabora- tion by heralds and Court domestics, in which the royal per- sonages principally interested are reduced to atoms in a mathe- matical diagram. Pomp is supposed to be promoted by this ela- borate arrangement; but to modern eyes this parade of mil- linery and carpentry burlesques and overlays the majesty: of the event. The illustrious' individuals and others composing the &occasion are to assemble in the throne-room of St. James's Palace, not later than half-past eleven o'clock. The bridegroom will be conducted to the presence-chamber, her Majesty to the royal closet, the bride to the Queen's retiring-room ; and thus, in separate confinement, the princely victims will wait until they are released by the appointed functionaries. First, Garter principal King-of-Arms will marshal her Majesty's procession in the throne-room ; then, preceded by drums and trumpets, ser- geant-trumpeter, knight-marshal, heralds equerries and Minis,. tars of State,—Lord Palmerston reduced to sedateness and bearing the sword of State before her Majesty,—the Queen vall be conducted to the Chapel Royal; her sons around her, her daughters behind her, officers of the household bringing up the rear. St. James's Palace has been specially altered and adorned to mitigate the inconvenience of the passages to the chapel, to ex- pand the grandeur ; yet it is difficult to conceive how this superb procession can make its way within so small a compass with any- thing like majesty., save, of course," the 'moral majesty of the Queen, which needs not the drums and trumpets, the velvet or the gewgaw. The Lord Chamberlain and the Vice-Chamberlain will return, with the drums 'and trumpets, to fetch "the pro- cession of the bridegroom" ; who will by this time be released from custody and awaiting them in the throne-room ; and he will be conducted to the chapel by Prussian and British dignitaries, supported by his father the Prince of Prussia, and by the Grand Duke of Baden. That done, the Lord Chamberlain and Vice- Chamberlain will again go, "preceded as before by the drams and trumpets," to fetch the bride ; and, still preceded by the "drums and trumpets" and divers state functionaries, and sup- ported by her father the Prince Consort and her great-uncle the King of the Belgians, her train borne by eight unmarried daugh- ters of Dukes, Marquises and Earls, the bride will be conducted to the chapel,—like ."the lamb led to the sacrifice," say some in- vidious persons. As soon as the party is in the chapel, there will of course be the due admixture of religious ceremony with this theatrical furniture ; and persons of the highest sipritual rank are engaged to perform the sacred offices—the Archbishop of Can- terbury, the Bishop of London, and so forth. Which done, "the procession of the bride and bridegroom will return to the state apartments, the train of the bride borne as before." Her Ma- jesty will return in the same order; and the registry of the mar- riage will be attested by the usual formalities. This minute attention to forms and ceremonies reduces the royal persons to the position of minor actors—of "the fellow who plays the King," or the mute part of Bemire the Princess in Se- miramide, who has her appointed stations, her exits and her en- trances, and little else to do. An artist would think it better if the bride and bridegroom and the parents literally preserved a certain degree of privacy until they entered the sacred edifice; taking part in the congregated pomp, but not minutely carrying the drums and trumpets into the short passage between the chapel and their own rooms. It is admitting the public into the green- room and property-room of the Theatre Royal. Happily, we know that there is more in it than theatrical pa- geantry. The lamb is led to no sacrifice. Admirable as the union may be for political objects,—and they think it admirable in Prussia,—the Princess Royal is no daughter of Idomeneus, immolated for reek= of state; but her own heart is in it ; the' marriage is one of affection. The concurrence of events is at least lucky. The Roy-al Marriage Act precludes the bride from marrying without the Sovereign's consent ; the Act of Eettlement imposes serious contingent penalties on her marrying any but a Protestant'; usage limits her choice, among Protestants, to princes; reasons of state suggest - a closer alliance with Prussia; the illustrious Privy Councillor who is always at the side of the Sovereign inclines to select the heieepresumptive to the Prussian throne ; and that very person is the- choice of the young lady's affections. The coincidence is remarkable, but we have the as- surance on authority. Our gracious Queen, it is said, is resolved not to coerce the inclinations of the 'Princess, nor to sacrifice any of her daughters in purely political 'marriages and We receive: the Queen's avowal with implicit credence and great satisfaction. - The resolve is wise. A miserable union, condemned from the very beginning,- is .nsemtter sacrifice than a state Can demand from any human *twiner isit a profitable sacrifice. The coun-
trymen of George,* Irourth know the tendencies of a household' Pistolled by the wretched consequences of a political marriage too,
well to wish such things again. The .subjects of Queen Victoria' readily believe that a happy royal home is an excellent example ; to society. The rising generation will look upon Queen Victoria
and Prince Albert as noble examples to parents and guardians.' But a whole people may readily believe that wise and healthy councils are more likely to centre in a home which is in harmony with mankind and with society than in one which is out of tune,- perverse, and morbid. Every happiness, then, attend the young couple !
But are all these properties of the Theatre Royal essential to their happiness, or even conducive to it ? It is tritely said, that the most winning of wives cannot always reconcile the bridegroom to the conditions of a lower rank in life, and that the most be- witching of bridegrooms never shows his love better than in sur- rounding his bride with "the comforts to which she has been ac- customed " : but are processions the only approach of love in a . certain walk of life? are drums and trumpets to the threshold of the chapel essential to bridal felicity ? They cannot be demanded by the public, which sees theni not; and we are therefore scarcely able to resist a fear that the class of life to which the fair bride of next Monday belongs cannot be happy unless it is heralded to the altar with the noise and 'show of- an "equestrian troop" entering a country-town. If so, humbler folks may look upward without 'envy, and disinterestedly anticipate the day when "the march of intellect" may make its way even into the Palace.
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