The Express.
London, England, 1868-11-09 00:00:00

STRAND.

The accession of Mr. J. B. Clarke, the American
comedian, to the Strand troupe has considerably increased
its force in a department of dramatic representation in
which it has always been strong. His impersonation on
Saturday night of Major de .Boots in The Widely Rust
was exactly of a character to Ind favour with an audience
that has been well schooled in the extravagant and
burlesque. His style, though frequently overcharged
till it becomes almost puerile, is so gushing,
capricious. and animated, that the laughter it ex-
citse completely overpowers the sense of its extrava-
IrceMr. Clarke is eminently a caricaturist. He brings
.peculiarities of character before him sadism* in all
their excess. He makes no attempt to polish and refine.
With a keen sense of the ludicrous in attrition and man-
ners, and a correaponding power of expreesioa and ges-
ture, he enters into a good humoured rMatio. =hip with
the spectators, and intimates that he means to make them
Lamb. This be does effectually. He was called several
times before the curtain on Saturday night. Mrs.
Raymond also made her first appearance at this theatre as
Mrs. de Boots.

ROBBERY OP THEATRICAL BULL—The borough
magistrates at Buckingham were engaged last week in
investigating. charge of considerable interest to theatrical
managers. The prisoner John Quick, alias Lanham, w is
charged on • warrant with stealing a quantity of bills and
lithographs, the property of the proprietors of the
" Christy Minstreb," and also with receiving the same,
well knowing them to have been stolen. Mr. Edward
Lewis conducted the prosecution, which he said was of
great importance to the musical and theatrical profession.
He applied on behalf of the proprietors of the " Christy
Minstrels," who for several years pent bad carried on their
entertainment at the' St. Janies's-hall, Piccadilly, and in-
curred great expense in announcing their entertainment to
the public by means of bills and illustrated lithographs,
and this expense was materially increased by a system
which had been for some time in force, and to check which
this prosecution was rendered imperative. Mr. Frederick
Burgess said he was the manager of the Christy Minstrels.
Their registered title was the "Veritable and only Legiti-
mate Christy Minstrels." The proprietors were Messrs.
Moore and Crocker. Their entertainment was given
nightly, at the SL James's-hall, Piccadilly, and also every
Wednesday and Saturday afternoons throughout the year.
They spent several hundreds of pounds each year in adver-
tising their peiformanoss by mesas of bills and illustrated
lithographs some of the blocks for which coat them 241.
each. They had suffered heavy lose through their bills
being abstracted. He believed they had lost within the
last two or three yeses between 2001. and 30W. in that
manner. They also suffered various indirect losses
through the same system. He had found the walls of
Buckingham and other neighbouriag towns plaearded
with bills and lithographs belonging to the company which
De represented. He Identified • large number which
were produced as his pro They had been, in
me instanece, very altered. The words
"The Veritable sad may Legitirnate " bad been mad.
and "0. I. C." eabelitaled, whack he Inferred, meant
Original Illustrated Chriare. His own name bad
been erased, and the yaitoner's substituted. The cards
had been varnished over so as to render tbe alteration
las sonspisnona /saber evidence was called to show
that the bills produced had been posted by the prisoner's
orders, and
the Mat a quaatity el identified by Mr.
=ll as property
_el. Us Christy was
the priessr's fedoras. Mr. Lewis was
said that as
the hills had base stolen bent London, he should ask the
seagistraice to tram* the_ depasitleas, and oorentit the
pri to the Ilielkan wider lervie's het, to
hii:trial spat chugs of ,lea and Wee of re•
yacht, certain property well !nada; it to have been
stolen. The magishates having degheratod. the mayor
said there was no evideace to souse* the prisoner with
stealing the bills, but a strong_ prink task cans had been
made est that the primmer bad readmit the hills with a
VI! knowledge, sad they should eomealt hhe mooed-
eommand a lasting pretense% tea mast be
me lenses la pls., sad NSW& hr ens sienna:
sere tea__
_hem esathig Moos Mina" Is sosestrod So all
abase mom Gab le mama poolmes los
le leaden, sae dostsisft, Ike, le 1111/7 lovm=r

Sir Stafford Northoote preoents his compliments
to the editor of the.isprine, and bap that he will do him
the favour of Mairg the smarmed litter
"My dear Xt. understand that some of
my trim& m North Devon are uneasy in consequence of
my answer when I was salted at Torrington whether I
would pledge myself never to consent to Gm disestablish-
:Dent of the Irish church, and that they are also dissatisfied
with the terms in whisk I wrote to Mr. Gladstone respect-
ing his speech at Wigan. Ido not for a moment sic
that you, who were present when I spoke at To •
misunderstood the answer I gave ; but as it has
inthurtrionalL misrepresented by our opponents, and as the
non ha. been mdweed by no lees a person
mthiagrner itedstons, I think it right to ask you, as the
chairman of the conservative committee for North Devon,
to allow use, through you, to assure our friends that I man
as heartily and sincerely _desirous to maintain the church
establishment in Wend es it is possible for any
man to be, and that no slots of mine will be
wanting to preserve it. It is true that, when
I was 'asked at Torrington to give what is called a pledge
upon the sub**, I declined to do so. I have sever
given a play upon the hustings, and I never will do so,
either upon this or an other question. I consider that it
is the duty of a • to state his o int and this I
have never shrunk from doing. Upon the question of the
maintenance of the Irish church establishment, I have, in
the course of the last few weeks, stated mine at lent •
doeen times. But I consider that it is equally a candi-
date's duty to refuse to give pledges as to what he will do
under circumstances which be cannot foresee, and as I
shot Id refuse tr do so when honestly asked by • friend,
much more did I refuse at Torrington, where the demand
was made by an opponent, apparently with no
other object than that of entangling me. My
ressecn for writing as I did to Mr. GLialstone was, that
in two separate reports of his speech at Wigan (in the
Dines and in the Stroderd). he was represented as having
put into my mouth words which I not only never need, but
which were as nearly as poseible the direct contrary of
those which I did use ; and upon these. as it seemed, he
founded an argument which would have had some force if
I had really raid what he was represented to have attri-
buted to me. Thinking that ho had been misled by some
incorrect report, I wrote to vet him right. He has since
informed ire that he was misreported, and that he in
reality quoted my words correctly, namely, that I would
not pledge myself under all circumstances to resist dis-
establiehment. Upon this foundation Mr. Gladstone
rests the charge, that it does not appear that the
maintaining of the Irish church is really written
in my purposes, my understanding, and my heart.
I confess that while I am perfectly indifferent as to the
abuse of such authorities as Mr. Pyuseut and the Western
Thom I sin both surprised and pained to find a man like
Kr. Gladstone imputing tome nikewarniness, and even, as
I read his speech, insincerity, upon a question on which I
have never wavered for a moment, simply because I have
given an answer upon the subject of indefinite pledges,
such as I firmly believe Mr. Gladstone himself, or any
other experienced statesman, will admit to be constitu-
tional and right. I will only say, in conclusion, that I
adhere firmly to the opinions which I have expressed in
all my speeches during the canvass, that I regard the dn.
establishment of the church in Ireland as an uncalled for,
unstatesmanlike, and dangerous measnre, and that I shall
resist it to the best of my power. At the same time, I
equally adhere to my refusal to give a general pledge.
upon this or any other subject, as to what I will or will
not doat any future time under circumstances which it is
impossible for me to foresee.—l remain, yours veil faith-
fully, Prarvono H. NOUTTICOTE.—The Hoe. Mark Rona.
" India-office, Nov. 6."

TRADES UNIONS AND ARBITRATION.—A crowded
meeting of delegates from most of the metropolitan trade
societies was held at the Beg Inn, Old Bailey, on Rater-
day night, to consider what steps should be taken to for-
ward the adoption of arbitration iu trade disputes. Mr.
Allen (Amalgamated Engineers) took the chair, and mid
it was neeeseery something should be done to impress'
upon members of parliament the desirableness of pro-
moting a system of arbitration applicable to trades; dis-
putes—a system that all trades unionist+, as far as he
knew, were in favour of. Mr. Hulloing (bookbinder) said
that after a great many years' etju•rience of strikes and
locks-out, he was convinced they had failed in their object,
and that conciliation and arbitration boards ought to be
establish( das speedily as possible. He would go beyond
Mr. Mundell& in this matter, and make the decisions of
those boards compulsory. He legged to move —" That
this ruectiuß of tiades societies' repiesentatives approves
of the je leo* of arbitration, in the belief that it is the
beet method of settling disputes between employers and
the employed, and recommends that trades couimittem,
in their curious localitior, seek to bring aboxt meet-
ings of masters and men, with the view of establish-
ing boards of conciliation and arbitration ; and this meet-
ing feels deeply indebted to Mr. Mundell& for the imam-
ful effects he has made to establish suoh boards." Mr.
W. Hammett (City Ladies' Shoemakers' Sodety) seconded
the resolution. Mr. Odger, secretary London Trades
Council, said the trades of London had adopted the
prineplee of arbitration some years agog but the Teeth:et
now was, how beet they could carry it into operation.
Some weeks since, having had ewe bagmen with the
Lord Mayor elect (Mr. Aklerumo J. C. Lawrence), he
mentioned the subject to the worthy &Mennen, who said
that he should. be happy, at the tecomeammeat of the
new year, to attend a 000gatiliall of WIMP and IbllO for
the mutual consideration*, the eialsjeet. Mr. Mundell&
had also promised to MINA the erediremee, which, no
doubt, would be the most mutant bold tor many rare
in this country. Mr. Lion toms theught tko great
thing that those boards would amelegliell te lead the
muter* te t 1 ommianatise of theassifeeideet Seqesetiois
and the men to • ocusideradon el %et ot the mmiese. He
believed the establiehment at theme boards wereldbabseel-
seal, not alone to the wartime dame bet le ell Ares
.The rellOintille wee serried eneeimewely, aad
thTitrordlTll of Miss Timm MARgros.—This
seeing Wren expired le ON 4th instead, at the
of ler eile-ihreet, Orey'itina-read. la the
lith year of pha age. ream Sna" imizkitsterrt
ae which typhus seperemed. Beatrice is the or
the daughters of Mr. end Mae. Mantes whom they hem
toe is a similar melanoholy meaner.
Reilly good old Irish Whiaky and Kinshaes
L ase sysearasus UM! It Mama zio.a.
&Need Omar astletsas old WWI It wee leseee age
really seat leak Whlsip la boa sew the E. Ma I*
kat fa ell lie pesft la eses7 lava tiouusaose ibe
wellisews rat seas Gest hsk4abelled lostlbm—lasteusj