reception was attended by leading representatives of both parties. Lord Beaconsfield sent his regrets that he could not attend on account of illness. The royal family were absent because the court was in mourning for the recently deceased Queen of the Netherlands. Among those who crowded the capacious saloons of the embassy were the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Leeds and the Duke of Beaufort, the Marquis of Salisbury, the Marquis of Hertford, Earl Derby, Earl Shaftesbury, John Bright, Mr. Gladstone, Lord Houghton, the Marquis of Ripon, the Marquis of Lorne, and representatives of every phase of English society. On the 6th of June, the General dined with Lord Carnarvon. On the 7th he was presented at court. On the 8th he made a hurried visit to Bath, where an address was presented by the Mayor. On the evening of the 8th there was a dinner at the Duke of Devonshire's and a reception by Consul-General Badeau. The latter was a brilliant affair, and was attended by large numbers of the nobility and many notable persons of English society. On the 9th, there was a dinner with Lord Granville. On the 10th, General Grant dined with Sir Charles Dilke. Two or three days were given by the General to a visit to Southampton, where his daughter, Mrs. Sartoris, resides. This was a pleasant episode in the routine of dinners, receptions, and excitement. The General and family enjoyed exceedingly their drives round the southern coast to Netley Abbey and other places of historic interest about Southampton, which never looked so beautiful as in this calm summer weather.

On the 15th of June took place one of the most important incidents connected with the General's visit to Europe-the conferring upon him of the freedom of the City of London. This is the highest honor that can be paid by this ancient and renowned corporation. The freedom of the city was presented in a gold casket. The obverse central panel contains a view of the Capitol at Washington, and on the right and left are the General's monogram and the arms of the Lord Mayor. On the reverse side is a view of the entrance to the Guildhall and an inscription. At the end are two figures, also in gold, representing the City of London and the Republic of the United States.

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These figures bear enameled shields. At the corners are double columns, laurel-wreathed, with corn and cotton, and on the cover a cornucopia, as a compliment to the fertility and prosperity of the United States. The cover is surmounted by the arms of the City of London, and in the decorations are interwoven the rose, the shamrock, and the thistle. The casket is supported by American eagles in gold, standing on a velvet plinth decorated with stars and stripes.

The ceremonies attending the presentation of the freedom. of the City of London are stately and unique. Guildhall, one of the most ancient and picturesque buildings in the city, was specially prepared for the occasion, and eight hundred guests

was received by a deputation of four aldermen, with the chairman and four members of the City Lands Committee, including the mover and seconder of the resolution presenting the freedom. This deputation conducted the General to his place in the Common Council on the left hand of the Lord Mayor. The Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas White, came in state from the Mansion House. The passage leading to the library was guarded by a detachment of the London Rifle Brigade.

At one o'clock the Common Council was opened in ordinary form for the transaction of business. The Council never deviates from its established routine, not even for ceremonies. A resolution was passed with reference to some ordinary matter

of municipal interest, and the Town Clerk read the minutes of the past meeting. This over, the Chamberlain, Mr. B. Scott, addressed General Grant and said:

"The unprecedented facilities of modern travel, and the running to and fro of all classes in our day, have brought to our shores unwonted visitors from Asia, as well as from Europe-rulers of empires both ancient and of recent creation; but amongst them all we have not as yet received a President of the United States of America--a power great, flourishing, and free, but so youthful that it celebrated only last year its first centennial. A visit of the ruling Presi

dent of those States is scarcely to be looked for, so highly valued are his services at home during his limited term of office; you must bear with us, therefore, General, if we make much of an Ex-President of the great Republic of the New World visiting the old home of his fathers. It is true that those first fathers-Pilgrim Fathers we now call them-chafed under the straitness of the parental rule, and sought in distant climes the liberty then denied them at home; it is true, likewise, that their children subsequently resented the interference, well intended if unwise, of their venerated parent, and manifested a spirit of independence of parental restraint not unbecoming in grown-up sons of the Anglo-Saxon stock. Yet, for all this, there is furnished from time to

time, abundant evidence that both children and parent have forgotten old differences and forgiven old wrongs; that the children continue to revere the mother country, while she is not wanting in maternal pride at witnessing so numerous, so thriving, and so freedom-loving a race of descendants. If other indications were wanting of mutual feelings of regard, we should find them, on the one hand, in the very hospitable and enthusiastic reception accorded to the Heir Apparent to the British throne, and subsequently to H. R. H. Prince Arthur, when, during your presidency, he visited your country; and on the other hand, in the cordial reception which, we are gratified to observe, you have received from the hour when you set foot on the shores of Old England. In this spirit, and with these convictions, the Corporation of London receives you today with all kindliness of welcome, desiring to compliment you and your country in your person by conferring upon you the honorary freedom of their ancient city—a freedom which had existence more than eight centuries before your first ancestors set foot on Plymouth Rock; a freedom confirmed to the citizens, but not originated, by the Norman conqueror, which has not yet lost its significance or its value, although the liberty which it symbolizes has been extended to other British subjects, and has become the inheritance of the great Anglo-American family across the Atlantic. But we not only recognize in you a citizen of the United States, but one who has made a distinguished mark in American history-a soldier whose military capabilities brought him to the front in the hour of his country's sorest trial, and enabled him to strike the blow which terminated fratricidal war and reunited his distracted country; who also manifested magnanimity in the hour of triumph, and amidst the national indignation created by the assassination of the great and good Abraham Lincoln, by obtaining for vanquished adversaries the rights of capitulated brethren in arms, when some would have treated them as traitors to their country. We further recognize in you a President upon whom was laid the honor, and with it the responsibility, during two terms of office, of a greater and more difficult task than that which devolved upon you as a general in the field--that of binding up the bleeding frame of society which had been rent asunder when the demon of slavery was cast out. That the constitution of the country over which you were thus called to preside survived so fearful a shock, that we saw it proud and progressive, celebrating its centennial during the last year of your official rule, evinces that the task which your countrymen had committed to you did not miscarry in your hands. That such results have been possible must, in fairness, be attributed in no inconsiderable degree to the firm but conciliatory policy of your administration at home and abroad, which is affirmed of you by the resolution of this honorable Court whose exponent and mouthpiece I am this day. May you greatly enjoy your visit to our country at this favored season of the year, and may your life be long spared to witness in your country, and in our own-the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon family-a career of increasing amity, mutual respect, and honest, if spirited rivalry-rivalry in trade, commerce, agriculture, and manufacture; in the arts, science, and literature; rivalry in the highest of all arts, how best to promote the well-being and to develop the

industry of nations, how to govern them for the largest good to the greatest number, and for the advancement of peace, liberty, morality, and the consequent happiness of mankind. Nothing now remains, General, but that I should present to you an illuminated copy of the resolutions of this honorable Court,

for the reception of which an appropriate casket is in course of preparation; and, in conclusion, offer you, in the name of this honorable Court, the right hand of fellowship as a citizen of London." (Cheers.)

General Grant replied:

"It is a matter of some regret to me that I have never cultivated that art of public speaking which might have enabled me to express in suitable terms my gratitude for the com

pliment which has been paid to my countrymen and myself on this occasion. Were I in the habit of speaking in public, I should claim the right to express my opinion, and what I believe will be the opinion of my countrymen when the proceedings of this day shall have been telegraphed to them. For myself, I have been very much surprised at my reception at all places since the day I landed at Liverpool up to my appearance in this the greatest