Vrnuintial.
The opening of the Art Treasures Exhibition at Manchester was successfully accomplished on Tuesday, the appointed day. The Exhibition building stands in the green fields at Old Trafford, on the Western side of Manchester. It was purposely planted there in order to escape the smoke of Manchester as much as possible. But the East wind perversely blew on the opening-day, even as it has blown for weeks past. The Manchester Art Palace consists of a nave and two aisles, forming what is called the great central hall. Slender iron pillars divide the nave from the aisles, and a semicircular roof springing from these pillars covers in the nave. The transept is near the Western extremity. The principal entrance is at the East end, opening into the nave. The side-walls are hung with pictures, chiefly portraits. Beneath them stand a double row of statues on either side of the nave ; and on the floor are cases filled with a rich collection of art treasures—bronzes, ivory carvings, wood carvings, jewels, &c. Near the transept stand groups of old armour. Beyond the transept the seats of the orchestra, terminating in a grand organ, complete the perspective. The pictures are arranged in chronological order, beginning with the earliest, and terminating with the productions of our own day. There are upwards of 5000 subjects hung upon the walls : 1098 are by ancient masters, 652 by modern masters, 337 portraits, 965 water-colour paintings, 1859 engravings, and 70 pieces of sculpture. Besides these there are some 500 pictures for which room has not been found.
For the ceremony of the day _a dais had been erected in the transept in front of the orchestra. It was approached by six steps, and surmounted by a chair of state. On each side stood a Venetian mast. From one depended a yellow bauderolle, bearing the inscription "Dieu et mon droit" from the other, a blue banderolle, inscribed " Treu and Fest," the motto of the house of Saxe-Gotha. Union-jacks were hung out here and there, and the banners of foreign nations inscribed with the names of great painters.
Manchester was astir soon after dawn. Excursion-trains brought their thousands ; multitudes arrived in a great variety of vehicles, and the local population swelled the crowd. Prince Albert, who had started from London at 6.20 a. m., arrived at the Cheadle station at 11.25. Here he was received by Mr. Watts, the Mayor of Manchester, with Sir Harry Smith, and the High Sheriff of Cheshire. Much welcomed by the crowd, the Prince, escorted by a handful of dragoons, drove to Abney Hall, the residence of the Mayor ; where he rested for an hour. The road to Manchester from Abney Hall lay through a number of villages; in every one some kind of demonstration was made—in some by the erection of triumphal arches, in all by a display of flags and an eager crowd. As soon as the carriages had passed the Mersey, the Earl of Burlington, Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire, Mr. Towneley, the High Sheriff, and the Bishop of Manchester, met and joined the cortege. As soon as they entered Manchester streets, the density of the crowd compelled the procession to go at a walking pace, under a continuous fire of cheers from a mile of human beings closely massed on both sides of the road. A salute of artillery announced to those within the building that the Prince had arrived. At the entrance, he was received by Lord Overstone, President of the General Council, and by its members. After a brief absence in the reception-room, the Prince reappeared, and received an address from the Corporation of Manchester, to which he made a neat reply. The Duke of Argyll, the Duke of Newcastle, Earl Granville, the Earl of Carlisle, Lord Stanley of Alderley, Sir Benjamin Hall, Mr. Cowper, and Mr. Massey, here joined the procession. As soon as it began to move along the central hall, the orchestra struck up the national anthem, and the spectators began to drown the music with their shouts.
At the dais, Prince Albert received an address from the General Council, offering condolence on the death of the Duchess of Gloucester, and thanking the Prince for not permitting that event to suspend the ceremonial of the day. In reference to this, Prince Albert said he was convinced the Duchess would have been anxious that he should not on her account disturb an arrangement intended for the public good. "In the Duchess of Gloucester we have all lost, not only the last of the children of that good King who occupied the throne during sixty years, and carried this country fearlessly and successfully through the most momentous struggles of its history, and thus the last personal link with those times, but also a lady whose nrtuesand qualities of the heart had commanded the respect and love of all who knew her." The next address was read by Mr. Fairbairn, the Chairman of the Executive Committee : it described the origin and design of the Art Treasures Exhibition, and thenked Prince Albert for his valuable assistance and advice. In the eonne Of his reply, the Prince said
" The building in which we are assembled, and the wonderful collection of these treasures of art, as you so justly term them, which it displays, reflect the highest credit upon von. They must strike the beholder with grateful admiration, not only of the wealth and spirit of enterprise of this country, but also of that generous feeling of mutual confidence and good
will between the different classes of society within it, of which it affords so gratifying a proof. "We behold a feast which the rich, and those who have, set befom those to whom fortune has denied, the higher luxuries of life—bringing forth from the innermost recesses of their private dwellings their choicest and most cherished treasures, and intrusting them to your care, in order to gratify the nation at large ; and this too, unhesitatingly, at your mere request, satisfied that your plans were disinterested and well matured, and that they had the good of the country for their object. "This is a gratifying eight, and blessed is the country in which it is witnessed. But not less so is the fact which has shown itself in this as in other instances, that the great and noble of the land look to their Sovereign to head and lead them in such patriotic undertakings, and when they see that the Sovereign has come forward to give her countenance and assistance to the work, that they feel it a pleasure to cooperate with her and not to leave her without their support,—emulating thus, in works of peace, the chivalric spirit which animated their forefathers in the warlike times of old."
This speech, though reported, was unheard by nearly all present. It was followed by a performance of "The Heavens are telling," and a prayer from the Bishop of Manchester invoking a blessing on the undertaking. Prince Albert then made a progress round the building, after the fashion of the Queen's progress at the London Exhibition in 1851 ; and returning to the dais' declared the Exhibition opened ; then, after a mere careful survey of the different departments, the Prince returned to Abney Hall. Among those who were present during the ceremony, in their robes of office, were the Lord Mayors of London and Dublin, the Sheriffs of Middlesex, and the Lord Provost of Edinburgh. It is estimated that ten thousand persons were within the building.
Prince Albert passed Tuesday °venlig "quite privately" at Abney Hall. On Wednesday morning, he went betimes to the Peel Park and Museum at Salford. Arriving about nine o'clock at the boundary between Manchester and Salford, and being there received by the Mayor, Mr. Heelis, he went in procession to the Museum. In the reading-room of that flourishing institution, the Corporation of Salford presented their address to the Prince. It described the origin and growth of the library and museum, which since 1850 have been visited by 2,362,619 persons : the books lent out annually amount to 70,000 volumes, and the readers in the library to 100,000. Prince Albert having duly replied to this address, a second was presented by the Bishop of Manchester from the Institutional Association of Lancashire and Cheshire. After inspecting the Museum, and the works of local artists, Prince Albert proceeded to the Peel Park, and there inaugurated a eletue of Queen Victoria. An inscription on the pedestal best tells its origin and purpose " To commemorate the visit of her Most Gracious Majesty to the Peel Park, Salford, October the 10th, 18.51, this memorial was erected by the contributions, aided by public subscription, of 80,000 Sunday-school teachers and scholars, who were present to welcome her Majesty on that joyful
occasion. THOMAS AGNEW, Mayor of Salford.' Having accomplished these duties, the Prince started for London at twelve o'clock, by a special train.
The election for two Professorships at the University of Oxford, on Tuesday, attracted many non-residents, and led to spirited contests. The two candidates for the Professorship of Poetry were Mr. Matthew Arnold and the Reverend J. E. Bode. The choice of the electors fell on Mr. Arnold, who polled 363 votes, while Mr. Bode had only 278. There were three candidates for the chair of Political Economy—Mr. Nassau Senior, who had filled it in 1825 and 1847; Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Charles Neate, one of the Members for Oxford city. The last-named gentleman was highest at the poll—for Neate, 194; for Rogers, b30; for Senior, 128.
The Basingstoke and Salisbury branch of the South-Western Railway was opened for traffic at the end of last week. The line will eventually extend to Exeter.
Accidents fatal to life have been frequent of late. Three miners have been killed at Breage in Cornwall, by the explosion of a boiler. The engineer had neglected to supply water. A labourer WAS killed by lightning, on the 1st instant, near Doncaster. A soldier and his lass, walking late on the cliffs near Fort Royal, Jersey, fell off. The girl was killed outright, the soldier died in a few hours. The explosion of a blast-furnace near Bilston has killed five persons. The explosion of the boiler of a locomotive engine at Liverpool, on Tuesday, killed the driver and fireman, and severely scalded a breaksman.
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