Indeed, the lavish subscriptions to the fund for relieving distress in the cotton districts indicated how little the Cotton Famine had affected the aggregate amount of disposable wealth in the country. By the end of January this princely fund had reached three-quarters of a million sterling--a sum which did not, of course, represent the unestimated contributions of manufacturers who, like Mr. John Bright, ran their mills on short time at a loss, rather than turn their workpeople into the streets. Parliament was opened by Commission on the 8th of February--the first paragraph in the Queen’s Speech announcing the approaching marriage of the Prince of Wales to the Princess Alexandra. The offer of the Crown of Greece to Prince Alfred was alluded to, and the continuance of the Civil War in America, with its attendant Cotton Famine in Lancashire, deplored. But as to legislation, the Royal Speech said nothing definite. All promises were conveyed in Lord Palmerston’s stereotyped formula, that “various measures of public usefulness and improvement” would be submitted for the consideration of Parliament. The debates on the Address attracted less popular interest than the ceremonial proceedings of the House of Lords, when, on the first day of the Session, the Prince of Wales took his seat in that august Assembly. The scene on that occasion was a memorable one. In the side galleries near the Throne the Duchess of Cambridge, the Princess Mary of Cambridge, and a brilliant array of Peeresses had secured places. The Foreign Ambassadors and Ministers and Members of the House of Commons were also well represented. After the Royal Speech was read the Commissioners retired, and at about a quarter to four the Lord Chancellor, in his ordinary black silk robe, wig, and three-cornered hat, entered the House, preceded by the Great Seal, and seated himself on the woolsack. The Bishop of Worcester having read the prayers, a brilliant procession of Peers was then seen defiling from the Prince’s Chamber, and it marched with slow and stately formality up the floor of the House, led by Sir Augustus Clifford, Usher of the Black Rod, who was followed by Sir Charles Young, arrayed in the robes of the Garter-King-at-Arms. He was followed by an equerry carrying the coronet of the Prince of Wales on a gorgeously embroidered cushion. Then came the Prince himself, wearing the scarlet and ermine robes of a Duke over a general officer’s uniform, and decorated with the insignia of the Garter, the Golden Fleece, and the Star of India. Accompanying him were the Dukes of Cambridge and Argyll, the Earls of Derby and Granville, Earl Spencer and Lord Kingsdown, Lord Willoughby d’Eresby, Hereditary Grand Chamberlain, and Lord Edmund Howard, representing the infant Duke of Norfolk, as Hereditary Grand Marshal. As the procession entered the House, the Peers rose and remained standing during the ceremony--the Lord Chancellor alone retaining his seat, and wearing his cocked hat. The