The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-18 00:00:00

own. The main points of which are these; firstly,
that it is lawful to seize contraband of war in neu•
tral vessels trading between neutral ports, provided
that such contraband may be hereafter destined for
an enemy; and, secondly, to seize and condemn the
vessel which carries these articles, as well as the
articles of free commerce forming the remeinder of
the cargo. Were such a precedent once established
no vessel would be safe from sudden seizure, for, ac-
cording to the American SOLOMON, an article which
can be of service to a belligerent, not only for the
purposes of aggression and defence, bat even for the
necessaries and luxuries of life, are, in many in-
stances, considered contraband. Again, ho w is it
possible for the master and supercargo of a mer-
chant vessel belonging to a neutral nation, and
carrying goods from a neutral owner to a neutral
consignee, to prove that at some future time these
same goods, which are perfectly legitimate merchan•
disc between neutral ports, may not come into the
possession of a belligerent; and yet, unless this
practical impossibility can be accomplished (so the
satisfaction of the captor, the vessel and her cargo
are to be forfeited on the evidence of the American
supposition that the ulterior destination of the cargo
may possibly be intended for a belligerent. Let
this extraordinary mode of dealing with the pro-
perty of friendly nations be admitted, and it would
be less injurious to the prosperity of a maritime
country to engage in any existing war, where, on the
strength of belligerent rights, its navy could protect
its commerce by force, instead of standing neutral
and permitting friendly cruisers to ruin the trade
of the nation. In the case of the Springbok the
seizure was made upon the alleged ulterior destina-
tion of the cargo. The Springbok sailed from
Liverpool, bound for Nassau, having a British cargo
on board, is February, 1863. She was captured
between these two neutral ports by the Federal
steamer Sonoma, when it was discovered that,
amongst a general cargo of the value of some
£66,826, there were two cases of buttons, a few kegs
of nitrate of potash for curing of provisions,
and a couple of dozen swords and bayonets,
amounting to the value of £225. The
buttons in question, which constituted the greater
portion of the condemned articles, were adjudged
contraband because they were marked C. S. N.,
which letters, the sagacious Judge BETTS stoutly
maintained, could not signify anything but Confe-
derate States Navy. But that the result of the
trial of the Springbok has been her unjustifiable
condemnation, and must lead to the most disastrous
consequences sooner or Liter, we might feel inclined
to laugh at such a thorough down east conclusion.
As it is, the position of a neutral consigner of cargo
is not enviable; he may please himself as to the
course he adopts, but the result will be the same in
any case. He may either declare that the cargo is
destined, after being landed at a neutral port, to
be forwarded at some indefinite time to a belligerent,
or that it is a bona fide consignment for the use of a
neutral. In the first instance the cargo is at once
condemned ; in the other, the ship's papers are
pronounced to be simulated, because they do
not set forth that the cargo is intended
to be subsequently forwarded to a belligerent
port. Credat Judceus :2 Why, it reminds
us of the fable where, in dividing the spoil,
the one sportsman thus addresses his compa-
nion :—" Have it any way you like—either I'll
take the partridge and you the owl, or you take the
owl and I'll take the partridge." " That sounds
quite fair," replied the other, " but it seems to me
that I shall get the owl anyway." So it is with
Judge BETTS' international law. Where is this
national disgrace to end?

Shakspere Events of the Coming Week,

(From the Athenceum.)
On Monday, in the afternoon, there will be a meeting of
bankers and merchants at the Mansion House, to hear
addresses from Mr, Cowper and Mr. Tile, on behalf of the
Shakspere Committee, the Lord Mayor presiding. In the
evening there will be a perlorrnance of" The Merchant of
Venice" at Sadler's Wells, for the benefit of the Menu-
meat Fund. Miss Marriott and G. V. Brooke will sustain
the principal parts; Mr. Buckstene will appear in the
farce of "Box and Cox ;" and Mr. George Cruikshank and
Miss Heraud will play the dagger scene from " Macbeth,"
On the same evening a Sbakspere concert will be given by
the Philharmonic Society, at which Miss Banks and Mr.
Lockey will sing, and Signor Sivori will perform Mendels-
sohn's violin concerto.

On Thursday evening a festival concert and dramatic
entertainment will be given at the Agricultural Hall, at
which Mesdames Lemmens Sherringt,n, Sainton-Dolby,
and Parepa, Messrs. Reeves and Weiss, with many others,
will sing ; and Mr. Phelps will read the first act of Shaks-
pere's " Tempest,"
On Friday, a grand concert will be given, under the di•
rection of M. Jules Benedict, at St. James's Hall. The
roost eminent of our musical artists will give their ser-
vices,

On Saturday morning, the London trade societies will
assemble on Primrose Hill—from that day to be popularly
known as Shakspere Hill—where the bands of her Ma-
jesty's Household Brigade will execute some of the most
favourite Shakspere music. A space of ground will be
marked off on the southern slope, by direction of the Chief
Commissioner of Public Works, in which the working men
will plant an oak sapling from Windsor Forest in memory
of the day. The procession will then form and march
round the tree. . .

In the evening these societies will assemble in the Agri-
cultural Hall, Islington, to witness a Shaksperian Coucart
and Recital, At Drury•lane, the "First Part of Henry
then Fourth" will be performed. At the Haymarket,
"Twelfth Night," with " Venus and Adonis" as after-
piece. At the Princess's " Comedy of Errors." Perform-
ances in commemoration of Shakspere, and for the benefit
of the Monument Fund, will also take place at the New
Adelphi and the St. James's Theatres. At the Surrey
Theatre will be given the " Second Part of Henry the
Sixth." On the same day there will be a festival at the
Crystal Palace, for which a temporary monument has been
erected in the gardens; and a banquet, at which Lord
Carlisle is announced to preside, at Stratford.

PRESENT OF GUNS TO THE KIrSG OF DENMARK.—
The Hampshire Independent of Saturday states that
Mr Waterman, a working man residing at Shirley, near
Southampton, lately addressed a letter to Viscount Palmer-
ston, asking his lordship whether it would be proper for him
to present to the King of Denmark a small park of artillery
of which he is the owner. To this application Mr Waterman
received a reply, which the Independent publishes, together
with a subsequent correspondence which passed between
this patriotic Englishman and General Knollys 10,
Downing-street, April 6, 1864. Sir,--I am desired by Lord
Palmerston, in reply to your letter of the 3d inst., to say
that he dues not conceive there would be any impropriety
in your giving
to the Danish Government the guns which
you describe, but t'iat he should be inclined to think that
the Danish Government is sufficiently supplied with field
artillery. I remain your obedient servant, EVELYN
ASHLEY. W. Waterman, Esq."
• "Sir,--I am the pro-
prietor of the small park of artillery represented above.
14 4-pounder field-pieces, consisting of-pieces, properly mounted,
together with two gun carriages. They have been used
upon many loyal and festive occasions during the seven
years I have had them, as a proof of which I have expended
upon those occasions more than a ton and a half of gun-
powder. They have been inspected by many military men,
who have pronounced them to be faultless. My object,
Sir, in now addressing you is to request you will do me the
favour to represent to his Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales that it is my wish and desire to present them to his
Majesty the King of Denmark. 1 feel, in common with a
very large number of my countrymen, that his Majesty
is nobly sustaining the honour of his country in the un
equal strife in which he is now engaged, and nothing would
afford me more pleasure than to be allowed as a proof of my
sympathy to bo permitted to carry out my wishes. I have
written to,*and received a reply from, Lord Palmerston,
stating that he could see no impropriety in my presenting
them to the Danish Government, and I should feel greatly
h noured by receiving the sanction of his Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales. lam only a working man, and in but
humble eireumetatees, but will hope that my motives may
nevertheless be rightly appreciated.—l remain, sir, your
humble and obedient servant, Wm. WATEnmArf. General
Knollys." " Sandringham, King's Lynn, April 12, 1864.
Sir,—l have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
10th inst., with the offer of a small park of artillery for the
use of the King of Denmark, and have laid it before the
Prince of \Vales. His Royal Highness has desired me to
forward your letter to a general officer in the King of Den-
mark's household, which I have done this day, and will not
fail to communicate to you any reply I may receive should
the General employ me as the medium of conveying his
Majesty's pleasure.—l remain, sir, your obedient servant,
W, I NOLLYS, Mr, Waterman,".