Page:Australian views of England.djvu/110

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LETTER X.


LORD PALMERSTON AND MR. COBDEN—THE DISTRESS IN LANCASHIRE—CONFEDERATE SYMPATHY IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS—COMMEMORATION DAY AT OXFORD.


THE present month was ushered in by the marriage of the Princess Alice to Prince Louis of Hesse, the ceremony being strictly private. The royal bride, after a brief sojourn in the Isle of Wight, left England with her husband for her future home, with the prayers of every English household for her happiness.

The quiet of the Parliamentary session has been a little disturbed by a rather sharp encounter between Lord Palmerston and Mr. Cobden, which filled the benches for two or three successive evenings, and furnished food for the newspapers for nearly a week. The Premier, who a few months ago was anxious to confer a baronetcy