The Express.
London, England, 1864-09-02 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 2, 1884.

AMERICA.

(ram on anew. oolamoinmort.)
SHARON SPRINGS, NEW YORK, Aucoax 16.

I cannot help recommending Admiral Farm-
gut to the attention of those gentlemen in
England who seem now to us here so badly off for
naval heroes on whom to expend their admiration.
He has, I believe, never in his life attacked an un-
armed enemy. He has never, I believe, burnt •
merchantman, and thus brought ruin on an un-
offending non-combatant. He has no " cbrono-
I meters" in his cabin that have not been fought for
or paid for. He has never avoided a fight when the
chanceof one was proffered him, and has never fought
except against superior force. He has three tames
maintained with honour and success the cause of
the old wooden ships, so dear to the hearts of Eng-
lishmen, against rams, ironclads, and earthworks,
rifled guns, and every other improved engine of
destruction, and has on each occasion performed
the moat difficult of all naval exploits, in forcing the
passage of narrow and obstructed channels under
the fire of heavy armed forts at short range ; and
ad this at an age when most men pass their time
in their easy chairs. How the soul of such a man
must have beaten against the bars through the forty
years of peace, of cruising on stations, of watching
slave-traders, of fretting monotony in navy-
yards, which have rolled over his head ! How much
bitterness must be infused into the enjoyment of
his present triumphs by the reflection that the
opportunity of achieving them has come so late ! I
inTitThim one evening !sat winter in New
York in a room crowded with notabilities.
The English admiral and the Russian admiral,
a large number of their officers, together with some
Italian and French ones, from men-of-war in the
harbour, as well as several military celebrities, were
present. There was a dazzling glitter of epaulettes
and decorations. Farragut was just fresh from
Port Hudson, and everybody was eager to see him ;
but it was no easy matter to find him. He was
always in a corner, always behind a crowd—a small
man, in a very plain and unpretending, almost
shabby uniform, with no ornament but a pair of
shoulderatraps that evidently had seen better
days. He talked very quietly ; has a somewhat
pensive and rather shy face, though there is unmis-
takeably an immense amount of fight in his eye ;
and yet surrounded by a group of gorgeous Russians,
"tout broth% et chamarres d'or," each of whom
' could have thrown him out of the window with one
hand, one would hardly have imagined that he
and his Hartford would probably have "given a
good account" of the whole Muscovite squadron
then lying in the harbour.

NEW YORK, Amon 20.

The military news is unimportant, There is, I
think, no chance of Mobile, and there is nothing
new from Atlanta. But it appears all but certain
that Hood has been heavily reinforced from Lee's
army, and is able, if not to assume the offensive,
to render the operation of investing the town, or
even flanking it, difficult, if not dangerous.
Wheeler is in the meantime endeavouring to operate
on Sherman's communications with 4,000 or 5,000
cavalry and artillery, and has actually attacked
Dalton and been repulsed. But Ido not think
much importance need be attached to the move-
ment. Sherman's precautions have been carefully
taken,and if Wheeler can subsist himself very long
in the country between Dalton and Atlanta he is
an officer of extraordinary resources. The detach.
ment sent to Atlanta, and the reinforcements sent
to Early, in the Shenandoah Valley, which have
been so large as to reduce Sheridan to the defensive,
(and he is now entrenching himself at Winchester),
are believed to have seriously weakened Lee, and
Grant has accordingly commenced a movement
against him on the James River at Dutch Gap,
about ten miles from Richmond, which, so far as it
has progressed, has been successful; but I confess
I don't anticipate much result from it. All points
that are likely to be assailed in that quarter
have been too thoroughly fortified to open up much
prospect of successfully assaulting them. The
position gained will, it is said, cover the cutting
of a canal through a wall of the river opposite
Fort Darling, thus leaving the Confederate
ironclads and obstructions high and dry, but it is
hard to see in what way this would contribute to
the capture of Richmond. It is the easiest thing
in the world to put in obstructions higher up, if
they are not there already. But I still think it not
improbable that Lee is fatally weakening himself
through excess of confidence, like Bragg at Chatta-
nooga, and may come to grief from the same cause
and in the same manner.

MTISIO.

FESTIVAL OF THE THREE CHOIRS.
HEREFORD, THIMIDAY.

The attendance at the cathedral this morning
was the hest of the week op to this time, the firstolace
mots were all mooned, sad the aisles were well filled.
The second =sort at the Shire-ball last eight, was at-
tended by about the ISMS number of visitors se that of
Tuesday. The programme was, perhaps, kw attentive in
an artistic farm al view. The Aiding feature in it was
Beeediees cantata " Richard Cow de Lice."
Is drawing op the programmer of the evening crown
Mr. Towasheod Smith has exercised a wise discretion
in choosing for each evening some special feature of earn-
nom, hulked of confining himself, as is too commonly the
ease at provincial music meetings, to mere excerpts from
operatic works. Thus for the first cowers was given a
selaction of the gems of Weber's grand opera of Oberon.
Lest sight we had Beeisdlet's manta, Richard Cour de
Lien complete, sad for to-eight we have Meadelseohn's
emu to Shakespeare's Ni44,IIIOIIUT Night's Dream. The
etteadaime at the ocean to-night was about the same as lame
eight, and the audience was a very little more demonstra-
tive la the manta Mr. Smiley took the part of Richard,
Mr. Sims Reeves that of Bkodel, Madame Senna-Dolby
till Ts" ant Mlle. Tieqem.
The early sorties at It. cathedral this rooming was
pretty well encoded, though the charity will benefit little
by till *Gamine. The service was Attwood is D, and the
anthem ‘• Fear not"—Goes. The selection of sacred muaio
took a wide maga. First we had Spahr's oratorio, The Fall
of Babylon, with its difficult vocalisatiou. Next came
Stalat Mater; and, lastly, we had selectious from
two of Randers greatest works, Judas Maeoabeusaad Israel
in Supt, besides the " Angela ever bright," from Theodora
The selection from Jerks Macrabeus included the recitative
and air (Mr. Sims Reeves), " Soiled as alarm,' and the
air, " From mighty kings" (Madill. linens), besides the
familiar but lively trio and chorus, " See the conquering
hero comes." The selection had not concluded when our
parcel was despatched.
The last secular concert will be held this evening at the
Shire-hall, and from the way in which the tickets have been
sold there son be no doubt that this will he a " bumper."
The fact is that the Thursday senior concert is considered
the fashionable one, and whatever the 'chose of musk;
time are certain persons (the leaden of others) who consider
it indispensable that they should attend it. Moreover, the
Messiah is promised, and 'heady nearly all the first-clam
seats are taken for it. In the omelet there is a "chamber
*moot," and a grand ball, with which the festival closes.
Lord Paluterstoe is not expected here until Friday af torment,
too late to attend the festival.