The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-19 00:00:00

!ANL

Is
13
tair

m day

lads,

1.
ollnon
. 20

16 mon

16 mon

de-
+i> (via
,d the

I been
lister,
!stern,

; 2j-
cent.,

brisk

a }—
Is, 63k
',astern

;o-day,
Undo,
'terns,

8611—
, S7l
d), 48i
r cent.
in and
334—
of Ire-

he wife

?-road,

'ranois

vorth-

Edin-
a hes,
Li er of

dr . L.
agl 'ter
tot iry.

.0 t 0.4. 'g-
la to

uls 17'•

Fag; ;.
litar)

to 00.

Bad-

SITU %

an. die,

••••.111 .1,

UN(
112,
At 7

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE. THIS
EVENING, and every evening during the
week, the GRAND ELEUSINIAN SPECTACLE of MAGIC
and MYSTERY, by Professor ANDERSON, the Great
Wizard of the North, in 12 acts, with ever-changing variety
of incidents, continuous surprises, novel and extraordinary
effects.
Magic and Mystery is an entirely new entertainment, pos-
sessing distinctive characteristics and peculiar phases of
amusement. It is not a monologue, for the audience them-
selves perform their parts with the principal actor, some of
them on the stage and others in front ; it is not an exhibition,
for though everything becomes metamorphosed before the
eyes of the visitors no one can be positive that ho sees any,
one thing ; but it is a comedy really performed by the com-
pany ; a melodrama replete with startling positions and unex-
pected denouements ; a magnificent spectacle, with 2,000 of
the public every night to appear as auxiliaries ; and an ex-
travaganza, in which all that seems to be is entirely beyond
the bounds of probability.
Professor Anderson returns his thanks to thronged and
fashionable audiences which have nightly filled the Lyceum
Theatre to overflow, and by means of whose generous aid he
has been enabled to announce Magic and Mystery for con-
tinuous repetition. He believes that no professor of his art
las at any time or in any place been honottredezt,ll
smennt laccisse splezteallft Mistrial* 304,
4,-711frittitttattrilftite4 the% encases to ree causes ; first, that
'lit his present entertainment he has placed before his visitors
the results of a life sedulously devoted to the attainment of
perfected skill in one peculiar art, and to perfect which he
has travelled the globe in every clime ; secondly, that he has
spared no trouble nor expense to put this entertainment on
the stage in the most elaborate manner, by the employment
of the first mechanicians and artists of the day ; and thirdly,
that, while endeavouring to provide amusement for those
who honour him with their presence, he has not forgotten that
it is possible to afford information also, and that the oppor-
tunity should not be neglected of exposing conjuring where-
ever it has been used for nefarious purposes, or whenever by
resorting to the conjuror's arts, in an illegitimate manner,
the designing have succeeded in making dupes of the
°sedulous.
The 937 letters on the subject of spirit-rapping, which Pro-
fessor Anderson has received, from the time of opening the
theatre up to the present date, bear witness to the great in-
terest taken on the subject of this singular delusion ; whilst
many of them bear melancholy evidence to the dangers which
attend a belief in the superstitious nonsense of the " Spiri-
tualists." Judging simply by the correspondence which has
resulted, Professor Aslerson's expose of spirit-rapping and
his illustration of the so-called table phenomena, have pro-
duced a sensation unequalled by any previous attempt to ex-
pose a mischievous and impudent juggle. It is impossible
for Professor Anderson to reply at length to a tithe of the
communications which reach him on the subject. He regrets
that many of these should come from ladies and gentlemen
who, from their position in society and their well-known in-
tellectual attainments, he would least have expected to have
been converts to a belief so preposterous in itself, and so
easily susceptible of being controverted and disproved. Every
evening, from the Lyceum stage, Mr. Anderson's opinions oa
spirit-rapping are' expressed, and every evening, within the
Lyceum, how tables can be made to rap is exhibited
and elucidated. It is respectfully requested that this
public exposition will be accepted generally as Professor
Anderson's only mode of replying at full length to his
multitudinous correspondents. He regrets that the
names of the great and learned of the • land should
have been made to figure in the documents emanating
from the spirit-rappers, as for instance the following, ex-
tracted from the Morning Advertiser of Thursday, Septem-
ner2o, and taken by that journal from the New York Spiri-
tual Telegraph. It purports to emanate from an American
spirit-rapper, Mr. D. D. Hume :—" Sir David Brewster
frankly confesses that he is sorely puzzled' at what he has
witnessed, and Lord Brougham acknowledges himself to be
thoroughly nonplussed. Both of these noted men brought
the whole force of their keen discernment to bear upon the
solution of the phenomena; but the presence of substantial,
actual hands, and the demonstrative strength of the spirits
who thus clothed themselves for the time, and moved mate-
rial objects about the room, proved to be too much of a ques-
tion for them to master." Mr. D. D. Hume, the author of the
above, has recently loft England, and the following account of
who, and what he is, occurs in the Family Herald, No. 648:
—" This young man, who is a Scotchman by birth, and now
in Italy, is a remarkable medium for all the manifestations
without apparatus. Barnum, who is well-known throughout
the Anglo-Saxon world as a splendid humbug, offered him 2,000
dollars per annum if he would perform at his museum in New
York. Barnum then took it for granted that mediums could
be bought. He was somewhat astonished when his offer was
refused, Hume, on telling the fact in London lately, simply
and honestly remarked, that the money would have been very
acceptable to him, for ho was poor, young (under 20), an or-
phan, and in very had health : but he would have been afraid
of losing his power AS a medium, and he would sooner lose '
his life. The refusal, however, made Barnum thoughtful.
Re inquired into the subject; and now Barnum, one of the
greatest humbugs in the world, and withal a conjuror, is
one of the firmest believers in spiritualism." It is cer-
tainly surprising to find such a paragraph as this in the
editorial article of an established journal, the editor of whom
might be supposed to be sane. Even if Barnum does believe
in spirit-rapping--does spirit-rapping gain or lose by ,
this accession to its adherents 3 and, with Barnum's endorse-
ment to it, is this bill, drawn on public credulity, more likely
to be negotiated ? Professor Anderson would believe not :
but, when he finds that educated clergymen of the Church of
England have the temerity to subscribe their names to so gross
a swindle, when he finds that the Incumbent of Wortley (the
Rev, N. J. Godfrey) positively asserts his belief in it, and
writes a book on the subject, he considers it t be time for
him to state that which he knows of the mechanism by which
it is effected, and the mischief to which it tends. In the
Morning Advertiser of October 3 appears a letter from Sir
David Brewster, relative to that which he saw at Cox's Hotel,
in company with Lord Brougham. He distinctly states that
which the Wizard of the North proclaims every night—that
Writ-rapping is nothing more than conjuring applied to bad
purposes, In the Morning Advertiser of the following day,
however, there is an answer to Sir David's letter from one
who was present when he and Lord Brougham had their
skance with the spirits, in which the writer says, that " the
table (a large dinner-table, I believe) moved about in the most
extraordinary manner, and, among other things, a large ac-
cordion was conveyed by an invisible agency to my hand and
then to Lord Brougham's, in which, held by his lordship's
right hand, apart from any person, it played -ail air through-
out," With such a statement, printed for the edification of
the people of the 19th century, with the facts before us that
the most talented men of the day are permitting themselves
to be deluded by these juggling spirit-mongers—that the
greatest novelist of the age is now engaged in making it the
subject of a new work, and that a " spiritual convention"
has actually been advertised to be hold in St. Martin's-hall,
Professor Anderson trusts that his exposures of the spiritual-
ists of America, as given by him nightly at the Lyceum, will ,
be received by the people of England as genuine honest at-
tempts to provide an antidote for the bane of the spiritual
jugglers.
In the course of the last five weeks 100,017 persons have
Visited the Lyceum Theatre,—a larger number, it is believed,
than has ever before been assembled within its walls in so
short a period. Magic and Mystery is repeated every even-
ing, the programme being continually changed. Grand
fashionable Day Performance, on Saturday, November 24, at
2 o'clock ; the programme being thus arranged ;
Part I.—Act 1. The Mesmeric Couch or, the Clinical
Capabilities of the Atmosphere : in which the Wizard will do
by magic that which some suppose to be effected by mesmer-
ism, and illustrate the possibility of sleeping unsupported in
the air.
Act 2, The Aqua-Avial Paradox ; exemplifying the power
of producing animated nature from fire and water only, and
the possibility of eliciting from the simplest elements the most
complex forms of ornithological existence.
Act 3. Le Livre des Reeneils Choisies or, Puck's Own
Pocket Book, with Puck himself within it. Typifying the
evening's entertainment in the production of the very volu-
minous from a small volume, in the extraction of magnitude
out of minuteness, in developing bulk where no space appears
for its existence, in discovering odd things in odd places, and
in bringing forth unexpected wonders from the most unlikely
place for to be found.
Act 4, Magical Locomotion ; or, Transition without Trou-
ble. In which will be comprised—the Adventures of a Wed-
ding Ring; the Peregrinations of a Bank Note, the Transfor-
mation--black into white, and the Discovery of every Article
in the position which would seem the most inappropriate.
Act 5. L'Ecrin do Verre ; or, the Casket of Creesus. Into
which, though made entirely of glass perfectly transparent,
an Responded so as to be visible to the eyes of all present,
the Wizard will cause the money of his visitors to transport
itself, and rain into the casket, though its lid be closed,
locked, and the key in the possession of the audience.
Act 6. Clairvoyance Extraordinary ; or, the Transparency
of Opacity.
Act. 7. A New Bottle of Bacchus ; or, the Novel Wine
and Spirit Store. An improvement upon the " inexhaustible
bottle," inasmuch as the Wizard's bottle will not only be in-
exhaustible, but will change its contents, ad infinitum, at the
word of command, producing soda-water, butter-milk,
Epsom salts, Port, Sherry, brandy, gin, rum,. whisky,
noyeau, or any other wino or spirit required , and finally
proving to be filled with pocket handkerchiefs perfectly dry,
and occupying the whole space when tightly packed.
Act 8. Half an Hour with the Spirits ; or, of
an Expose
Spirit-rapping. Introducing the spirit-rapping table and
tocsin of the invisibles.
Act. 9. Grand Mystic Amalgam, in which the property of
the Wizard's patrons will undergo some strange metamor-
phoses, and, amongst others, their handkerchiefs become
transformed into the flags of victory—the banners of Eng-
land, France, Turkey, and Sardinia.
Act. 10. The Enchanted Chair of Comus, in which he who
seats himself will be under the magic spell, and appear to
the audience, under circumstances least expected, in a posi-
tion as peculiar as perplexing.
Act. 11. The. Mystery of the Charmed Chest ; or, the
Nucleus of the Night's Wonders. To comprehend which the
audience will have the goodness to observe, in an earlier part
of the evening,, the chest suspended (like Mahommed's coffin)
in mid-air, into which all things will travel, and out of which
all will be produced.
Act. 12. The Homological Evaporation ; or, the Shortest
Route to the Antipodes. Illustrating the easiest mode of
ridding ourselves of a troublesome friend, and the advantages
of the newly-discovered dia-terrestrial passage from the west-
ern to the eastern hemisphere.
Doors open each evening at half-past 7 ; commence at 8.
Private boxes, 1/. 115. 6d. and 1/. ls., to be obtained at the
Box-office, or at the principal libraries ; stalls, 4s. ; dress
circle, 3s. ; upper boxes, 2s. ; pit, ls. ; gallery, 6d. Tho
Box-office is open daily, from 11 till 5, under the direction
of Mr. Chatterton, jun. Grand fashionable Morning Per-
formance on Maturd,ty November 24, at 2 o'clock. Doors open
A halt-past I

BANQUET TO CAPTAIN DREWE.—A banquet which, was
attended by 130 gentlemen, among whom were Sir John
Patteson, Sir T. D. Acland, M.P., and Sir John Duntze,
was given in honour of Captain Drewe, of the 23d Royal
Welsh Fusiliers, on Thursday, at Cullumpton. , The gal-
lant captain, who arrived home from the Crimea invalided
last week, has met with a most enthusiastic reception
from all classes residing in the Cullumpton district,
where his father lives. His health was drunk with en-
thusiasm, and in responding he said :—" An officer can
do nothing unless he is supported by his men, and
the thin ranks and diminished numbers of the 23d
will prove to you far better than I can describe how
well the soldiers of my regiment have supported their
officers and performed their duties in the war. (Cheers.)
But, gentlemen, not only my own regiment but all regi-
ments have suffered more or less in this campaign ; and
not only in our own service, but in that of our gallant
allies, whose bravery is only equalled by their kindly
feeling toward us. (Cheers.) We have worked together
in having only one object in view, and
I been spared to see one of those
thank
n k same
Goct stphiaritt, i
have
objects accomplished. (Hear.) If lam not trespassing
too long on your time, I should very much like to relate
to you an anecdote which happen to me at the Redan
on the Bth of September. I was left in a somewhat
awkward position, having only _a very few men close to
the re-entering angle. A soldier standing near me was
wounded in the back, and I told him to go to the rear.
He looked me in the face and said, ,NO2 Captain,
we
,'
will live and die together. (Cheers.) T
- am proud to
say that that soldier was a Devonshire man, and that he
was born and bred in Cullumpton. (Cheers.) Before
sitting down I should like to allude to the men at pre-
sent filling our ranks. They are certainly young, very
young—too young; their constitutions are not suited to
stand against the hardships of a campaign. But, let me
tell you, they want none of that pluck which so distin-
guished the old British soldier. (Cheers.) As long as
France and England are united so long may you rest
assured you have no reason to fear.:: (Cheers,)

APPOINTMENT OF MR. LA BOUCHERE AS
COLONIAL SECRETARY.
( From the Times of this day.)
The British public has borne the want of a
Colonial Secretary so long, and with such equa-
nimity, as to suggest a suspicion that they have
forgotten the vacancy, not to say the colonies,
altogether. However, we still possess some fifty
colonies, or thereabouts, and they are still governed
through that Colonial-office which till lately was so
widely feared and so little loved. This department,
unhappily vacated by the death of Sir William
Molesworth, after being refused, as our readers
know, by Lord Stanley, and after being also re-
fused by Mr. Sidney Herbert, has been offered to
Mr. Labouchere, and accepted by him. That the
name of this gentleman should have been men-
tioned from the first day of the vacancy, and that
the office should, nevertheless, have been offered
meanwhile to at least two other statesmen in
opposition to the Government and to one another,
is a fact that speaks for itself. Notwithstanding
all that is said about liberality, fuSion, compre-
hension, and all other large ideas, when the
moment arrives they generally give way to the
actual force of political connexion, or "party,"
as we suppose it must be called. Lord Palmerston
has fallen back on a trustworthy and competent
man, who will transact the business of his depart-
ment with regularity, and perhaps with despatch.
There cannot be very much to do in it, or at least
there is not much that requires the anxious con-
sideration of the chief, if we are to judge from the
way in which the office has been,knocked abssutsfor
the ' lagOvrelyeraciAii tibdueliererifikhinlr,-
thel-rth-secretary within that brief period, nay,
virtually the sixth, as Sir George Grey held the
reins for Lord- John Russell while he was at
Vienna. As there has been no very loud com-
plaint as yet from the persons most interested in
the colonies, none at least so loud as when one
energetic mind was concentrated for several years
on the government of the colonies, it may fairly be
concluded that a respectable man of business will
answer the purpose. We don't now attempt to go-
vern the colonies in the old sense of the word. We
allow them to govern themselves, and it is only
within a very limited range that there can arise
any discrepancy between colonial and imperial
legislation. The discrepancy, when it occurs,
is commonly a case for lawyers, not for states-
men. Even on the very important question of
colonial constitutions the only object is to find
what really best suits the wishes and the wants
of the colOnists themselves, as we no longer aim to
force upon them the model of the British Constitu-
tion, or any theoretical plan.
But though the colonies no longer want a master
mind, or an inventive genius, or a splendid admi-
nistrator, or a Heaven-sent lawgiver, perhaps it
will be said that Lord Palmerston wants a' little
more Ministerial eloquence in the Commons. How
is it that all the clever fellows--all the men who
can make speeches—are on the other side, or, to
speak more correctly, on the other sides, of the
House ? We think the question is one for the
clever fellows themselves to answer. So far as
Government is concerned, there happens to be no
great call for eloquence just now. The only thing
the nation cares about is the war, which is a matter
not of rhetoric, or of exposition, but of fighting,
backed, of course, by a good administration at
home. The nation does not want hounding on to
a war which it has undertaken itself with the ut-
most good will, and which it is prepared to carry
on with the greatest perseverance. The Minis-
terial defence is to come, not from the Trea-
sury bench, but from the seat of war, in the
laconic style of the electric telegraph. It is
true there is an immense power of eloquence in the
house unretained, and therefore probably on the
other side. There are a score er two good speakers
of one party or another, who will either have to
say nothing, or something unpleasant, and who
will probably prefer the latter alternative. But,
besides that some of these gentlemen will knock off
one anothsr, Vieir very multitude stands in their
way. 'The conditions of the House of Commons
only allow of a certain amount of rhetorical oppo-
sition. There were in Sebastopol 6,000 guns, with
a proportionate quantity of powder, shot, and shell,
and no lack of men, and yet the laws of time and
space permitted only a certain quantity to be
brought to bear on us even in a twelve months'
siege. Thus it is probable that the army of
talkers with which Lord Palmerston is threatened
next session will find itself seriously embarrassed
for want of a suitable area. It will get " clubbed"
like an ill-handled regiment, or the greater part
will have to be laid up in arsenal for future occa-
sions. Then, the best talking in the world re-
quires something like a good case. Last session
Mr. Gladstone blazed away against the continu-
ance of the war, but the only results were that he
nearly expended his own character and damaged
his friends, who would now give a good deal that
his speeches were forgotten. So long as the war is
conducted with spirit, and no minor consideration
is allowed to stand in the way, such gentlemen
will have nothing to talk about. War is work for
the hands. As for negotiation the time has gone by,
or is not yet come. We have negotiated on an
equality, and failed. The next negotiation must
be on a disparity, when one side lies at the mercy
of the other. It is vain to expect that next year.
The offer of the place to Mr. Sidney Herbert was
a compliment to that gentleman's supposed patriot-
ism and admitted talents. There are those who
argue that if an offer is rejected it ought never to
have been made. We don't think so. It may be
wise as well as generous to express a friendly senti-
ment, even at the expense of what the world may
call failure. But till the advance is made the
failure cannot be known, and in politics it is gene-
rally best to clear away doubts as to the position
of those we have to deal with. Mr. Sidney
Eferbert probably felt that, had he accepted
office, he would have had either to repudiate
his pacific professions of last session or to ex-
Rose the whole Cabinet to the suspicion of in-
sincerity. He will, no doubt, give his explana-
tion in due place and time, but the country is
quite as well satisfied it should be as it is. The
" Peelites" had only two ideas—peace and eco-
nomy, and they must undergo much more change
than they give evidence of yet before they will be
prepared for war and its expenditure. Under their
management we opened fire on Sebastopol last year
without an adequate siege-train, and with only am-
munition for a third-class fortress, and, as they
have since defended that management warmly and
deliberately, they cannot be deemed to have re- ,
pented of their errors. It is true that the Colonial
Secretary has now nothing to do with the war, but
there has been such a thing as a peace party in the
Cabinet, and the very suspicion ought to be avoided
in the present state of affairs. Mr. Gladstone's
peace speeches of last session were translated and
circulated in Germany and Russia, to the immense,
encouragement of the Russian party, who, however,
so far from sharing his pacific intentions, only
thought it superfluous to ask peace of a nation that
would soon make humble suit for itself. What
would now be thought if the Cabinet included a
Minister so closely associated with Mr. Gladstone
as Mr. Sidney Herbert usually has been ? But
even the most entire and conscientious changes of
opinion require opportunity for ascertaining and
expressing themselves. Next session Mr. Sid-
, ney Herbert and his friends will find themselves
called on to declare themselves as to the conduct
of the war. Messrs. Cobden, Bright, Disraeli, and
others will be sure to provide such occasions, when
it will be quite open to the " Peelite" statesmen
to say whether they think the nation is in the
right ; or whether, in their opinion, we are simply
fighting alike savages or wild boasts for victory,
glory, territory, or revenge. We are not ourselves
much addicted to flatter the people, as a very cur-
sory retrospect of popular questions will show. On
several points we have steadily opposed the public
clamour, and earned a very respectable amount of
opprobrium in consequence ; but when a cause is
good, when it is the fulfilment of old pledges, the
defence of the weak and resistance to the aggressor
—when it has been only undertaken after exhaust-
ing every expedient for peace—when it is carried
on by the sacrifice of the country's best blood and
utmost material resources, and when we 'have had,
so far, substantial, if not very glorious success, we
will not tamely endure to see a 'generous national
enthusiasm coolly criticised or indecently lam-
pooned, as if it were only the outbreak of some
immoral or unreasoning instinct, and shall con-
tinue to view with distrust the statesmen who
have so regarded the mighty efforts of a generous
people, or have not cared to clear themselves of
the suspicion.

(From the Morning Herald of this day.)

The Colonial Office is, we believe, no longer va-
cant. After a month of indecision on the part of
the Minister, and of expectancy on that of the pub-
lic—at a crisis, moreover, of singular importance—
Lord Palmerston has at length found some one to
condescend to manage the affairs of our colonial
empire, and, 1113 choice has fallen upon the Right