We know that your majesty deeply sympathises in the sufferings and privations which your people have undergone, and are still going through; and we are convinced that nothing would afford a higher gratification to your royal breast than to mitigate and relieve those sufferings, and to raise the moral and social condition of your majesty’s much and long enduring, but patient and faithful Irish subjects.
We trust that your royal advent here will lay the foundation of a better order of things than lias hitherto existed; be the means of fully developing the great and varied natural resources of our beautiful and fertile country; and that its prosperity, and the consequent comfort, happiness, and contentment of its people, will be the glorious and blessed results of your auspicious visit.
That your majesty may enjoy a long and prosperous reign over a united, happy, and contented people, and that you, your royal consort and family, may possess every happiness that this world can afford, is the ardent and sincere prayer of your loyal and attached subjects, the council and citizens of Cork.
Her majesty’s sail down the Lee was even more picturesque than her voyage up; and her departure from Cove was such a scene as, no doubt, the royal lady, as well as her subjects of the south, will long and vividly remember. Her majesty’s yacht tarried the next night at Waterford harbour, but she did not visit the city.
On Sunday, the 5th, her majesty was expected to arrive at Kingstown, and the people of the metropolis, and the surrounding country for many a mile, poured multitudinously along the beautiful shores of Kingstown and Killany. When in the evening the squadron approached, the enthusiasm of the people was boundless. At twenty minutes past seven, the squadron dropped anchor in the deep clear waters of Kingstown harbour, and every token of cordial greeting that a people could express, or a queen receive, indicated the popular spirit. The sea was crowded with barques, the shore with people. The former were gaily decked, the latter in elegant attire; and over sea and shore rang the loud cheers of a vast and excited multitude. Few sights were ever presented to her majesty equal in scenic effect. She appeared on deck, and bowed in acknowledgment of the cheers of her people. Prince Albert next presented himself, and was received with an ardour as great as that which marked the welcome of the queen. Her majesty and the prince having retired, the people renewed their cheers, when the royal pair again came forward, with their four children, and, amidst renewed demonstrations of welcome, bowed to the people in the boats, and on the shore. The attempt at illumination in Kingstown was a failure. It had been intended to light bonfires on the Wicklow and Dublin mountains; this would have been a picturesque and national welcome, but the scheme was not executed.
On Monday, the 6th, according to previous announcement, her majesty was to land, and proceed by rail to Dublin, about six miles. The morning broke over the beautiful bay and the bold hills of Wicklow in peculiar loveliness. From Howth to Bray Head the mellow light of an autumn morning shed its richness; the clear waters of the noble bay, the green hills of Dublin, the majestic city, west and south the granite peak of “the Sugar-loaf,” and the broad forehead of Bray Head, glistened in the glorious day. The very earth and heavens welcomed the Island Queen. Amidst all the loveliness on which she looked, the fairest spot was that which was washed by the waters of Killany Bay, where the soft sweet vale of Shanganah, with its silver strand, its green bosom, and noble background, stretched away between Bray Head and Kingstown. They were scenes amidst which one of queenly taste might love to linger, and were well calculated to impress her majesty and family with the beauty of the fair but sorrowful land upon which she was about once more to tread.
At ten minutes to ten on Monday morning, her majesty, consort, and children, came upon deck, and were received with acclamations. The moment she set foot on Irish ground, the harbour master hoisted the royal standard, and the cannon sent their thunders echoing over the bay, and among the hills.
The royal suite proceeded by rail to Dublin, the line profusely decorated, and the banks thronged with people, waving hats and handkerchiefs, and filling the air with their hurrahs. At the Sandy-Mount station the royal carriages were in waiting, and a grand procession of the authorities and gentry of the county. Seated in open carriages, the royal personages then drove, attended by a splendid military escort, to the vice-regal Lodge, Phoenix Park. The route was indeed triumphal, everywhere along the magnificent course which the cortege pursued, the national expression, “caed mile failthe” (a hundred thousand welcomes), was heard. There were several halts in the line of progress: the first to afford opportunity to the lord mayor to present the keys of the city to her majesty; the second was of her majesty’s spontaneous desire, in order to admire the beautiful church of St. George; the third was at the triumphal arch at the foot of Eccles Street, where a scene of much interest was presented. As the royal carriage was about entering the triumphal arch, a beautiful fawn-coloured dove, ornamented with a white ribbon, was lowered to her majesty by Mr. Robert Williams. Her Majesty received this suitable emblem of the effect which her royal visit was expected to produce with smiles, and most graciously acknowledged the simple but significant gift. The bird was held out by her majesty to the royal children, to whom it at once became an object of attraction. The Prince of Wales soon obtained possession of the bird, which seemed to absorb his attention. In the evening Dublin was illuminated, and maintained its well-established fame for pyrotechnic displays.
Her majesty during her stay held a brilliant court, which was attended by the nobility and gentry of Ireland, numbering many among them of those most famed for arts and arms, literature and politics. The royal party visited most of the public institutions, in which they appeared to take an interest, and many expressions were said to have dropped incidentally from the queen indicative of her concern for the peace and welfare of Ireland, as well as of her admiration of the country. On the Tuesday evening the illuminations were spontaneously renewed, and with more brilliancy than before, and on the Wednesday evening all the public buildings were a third time illuminated. On the morning of that day a levee was held at the Castle, the most brilliant ever known in Ireland. The costume of the queen attracted the highest admiration. She wore a robe of exquisitely shaded Irish poplin, of emerald green, richly wrought with shamrocks in gold embroidery. Her hair was simply parted on her forehead, with no ornament save a light tiara of gold studded with diamonds and pearls. On the Friday the royal party visited the Duke of Leinster, the premier peer of Ireland, and the same evening embarked at Kingstown for Belfast. Her departure, like her arrival, was attended by vast multitudes. Her majesty ascended the paddle-box of the steamer, and waved her hand again and again in response to the adieus of the great multitude. On Saturday morning the royal squadron arrived at Belfast, where her majesty and suite landed, and received as hearty a welcome as elsewhere. The same night she embarked, and steamed through a violent gale for the Scottish coast, but was obliged to defer the attempt until Sunday, in the evening of which the squadron arrived at Loch Ryan, in Argyleshire.