The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-30 00:00:00

POST.—The Tercentettry Commemoration of
Shakspere has as,umed a definitive shape lo)th in
London and at Strattord-on-Avon, and we hate
now before us the programmes of the two commit-
tees. We will not go into details for the sake of
drawing invidious distinctions, but it is not in human
nature to shut one's eyes to a gigantic disparity, and
therefore we cannot help seeing that it is not in
London—the centre of wealth, art, science, talent,
and dramatic resources—that the Poet of England
will be properly honoured, but most happily, as most
properly, in his own little picturesque town in the
centre of the great central plain of England. The
proceedings of the London Committed are a decided
failure. Whether it was that the committee was not
well selected, or that the committee left all to their
secretaries, or the secretaries acted without the
committee, or both secretaries and committee
were at fault in the original conception of the kind
of festival, or petty jealousies crept in, or mere
hangers-on sought to push themselves into notoriety
by assuming a leading part in the proceedings—we
cannot tell. What we have to guide us in forming
an opinion is that, and only that, which every one
may see in the public advertisements. There we
learn that on the 23d of April, under the auspices
of the London Committee, the foundatiornstone of a
statue to Shakspere will be laid somew here in Lon-
don, probably in the Green-park, on a mound which
has no single recommendation for the purpose but
that of being a mound. We have looked at the spot,
aud, unless we are smitten with blindness in the
matter of art, we say that nothing will look
more uncouth and out of place, whether seen
from Piccadilly or Constitution-hill, than such
an erection as the British public is now asked
to raise to the honour of the Bard who has
done more to show the wonderful facility of our
language, more to enrich our literature with apt
quotations, more to supply ideas and materials for
thought, than any of our best writers, not excepting
Addison and Bacon, Johnson and Swift, Burke,
Macaulay, and Tennyson. This and a public din-
ner, and the free opening of the theatres, is ail that
the London Committee can do, not merely to com-
memorate Shakspere, but to repair the neglect of
three centuries. Even as to this memorial we are
quite in the dark. The foundation is to be laid, but
the same foundation will do for a pillar, a temple, or
a drinking fountain. We have no designs, no de-
scrip ion, no estimate of cost, no certainty of the
completion of anything, but the public is asked to
give its money in the assurance that some use will
be made of it, and that something will be built.
We have seen a good deal of this sort of raising,
of funds for undefined purposes, and this erec-
tion of monuments to men who, however deserving,
do not always kindle the same enthusiasm in the
mind of the public as in that of a few generous ad-
mirers. We remember, for instance, the instructive
history of the Nelson column. The design originated
with a few enthusiastic gentlemen, who thought
that all England felt about Nelson as they did—and
such was the feeling of that England which wit•
nessed the exploits of the hero. But the result
went to show not how mach, but how little, the
English people in a succeeding generation cared
for the memory of Nelson. The scheme went beg-
ging,, and would have been begging to this day had
not Parliament come to the relief of the
undertaking. and Nicholas Emperor of Russia
contributed £5OO to the accomplishment of
it. But is this the way to honour great.
names ? Would not the cheapest conceivable
trophy erected by real admirers be better a thou-
sand times, if heartily subscribed and duly paid for
than a more pretentious structure that left its pro-
tno-t!rs in debt, and proved only how its friends had
either over-estimated the generosity of the public or
had failed to secure its confidence ? Will it be any
tribute to his memory to tout for contributions ?
This is a question of great moment, not only to the
London Committee, but to those who are disposed
to carry out its projects. If we turn to Strat-
ford, we see at all events something definite,
practical, and suitable. A statue is to be erected
to the Poet in . his native town. Various
plans are laid out for holding high festival. There
are to be a banquet, various performances of the
Poet's plays, a concert, a ball, readings, and exhi-
bitions. The first talent of the day is enlisted, and
gratuitously enlisted. Our best actors are to per-
form, our best vocalists are to sing; and distin-
guished men in art, politics, literature, and science
are to lend their help, or grace the proceedings with
their presence. The future interests of the rising
generation of Shakspere's native place are not to be
overlooked, and the surplus of the proceeds, which
promises to be large, is to be applied to theim-
provement of the Grammar-school of Stratford.
What strikes us as most remarkable is that in Lon-
don all is coldness, apathy, and blundering. In
Stratford all is energy, enthusiasm, and prudence.
There can hardly be a doubt which movement is
most in honour of the Poet, and we shall be sur-
prised if we have not to record that the chivalry of
the country has gravitated to the central England
demonstration.
TIMES —President Lincoln has called on the
States of the North to raise 200,000 fresh troops for
the service of the Federation. That such a host
should be required in the fourth year of the war
ought to open the eyes of the American people to
the magnitude of the task they so lightly undertook.
If it does not, the spectre of a political revolution
beginning to rise in the confusion of the struggle
must warn the North of the perils into which the
war is bearing it. Mr. Lincoln, as a candidate for
re-election, has lost much of the advantage he held
over his rivals. The extreme Republicans intend
to adopt Gen. Fremont as their leader, with a policy
of Abolition that, if successful, will sweep away the
Federation itself. In the fiery furnace of civil war,
the American Constitution, in its present form, is
to be recast, the distinctions of Sovereign States
and their independent rights are to disappear.
Territories larger than European kingdoms are to
be reduced to the position of counties, and a power
is to arise much nearer a monarchy or an empire
than the Fathers of the Republic ever contemplated.
The Confederates will "create a nation" in a very
different sense than attached to the wards when
they were uttered. The North is to be fused into
one State, to prevent it splitting up into a group of
confederacies. If the next President is elected on
the policy of destroying the Federation the war was
commenced to maintain, it will be one of the most
extraordinary instances of events overruling human
purposes ever recorded. But the bold " platform"
of the ultra section of the Republicans may be only
put forth as a test of public opinion. . If it secures
support enough to be carried out, the discontent of
the people with the existing political system must
be deeper and stronger than it has ever appeared.
How the war can be conducted while a recognised
party in the North is tearing down the whole fabric
of the Government is difficult to perceive. It is a
matter for speculation whether the Federal Constitu-
tion will survive till the end of the conflict. The call
for 200,000 fighting men is a suggestive illustration
of the results of the recent military operations. The
Government has shown that Gen. Sherman's expedi-
tion damaged or destroyed much Southern property ;
but General Seymour's march into Florida to dis-
cover the Union sentiment supposed to be there
concealed hes been a disastrous failure. Close on
these discouraging events in the South and West
comes the requisition for another large army, in
addition to the enormous number of men the war
has already consumed. Greater sacrifices, in-
creased expenditure, are demanded of the nation
which is always assured it is on the eve of some
signal triumph. After three years of war the
Southerners are found to be stronger in all the
means of defence than they were at the commence-
ment of the struggle. The march of General Sher-
man led into a territory abounding in all the neces-
saries of life. For the past two years cotton has
not been cultivated, as it cannot be sold, and the
available labour has been turned to growing corn.
The mere means of subsistence the people of the
South can easily procure, and they submit willingly
to the deprivation of those luxuries which can be
obtained only by importation. As every measure
of the Federal Government, besidea the repeated
invasions by its armies, has been calculated to
make reconciliation impossible, the war spirit of the
South burns more fiercely than ever. The conflict
now has ceased to be for political independence so
much as for the defence of life and property. Con-
quest by the North now would probably be equi-
valent to a confiscation of all the cultivated land of
the Southern States and its division among the
soldiers of the armies of the Federation. The
measure is at least proposed, and indicates the feel-
ing by which the extreme Abolitionists are now
animated. The mere proposal will strengthen the
South in its resistance. If adopted, even in one of
Mr. Lincoln's useless proclamations, it will give a
different character to the war, and reduce it to a
struggle that has scarcely had a parallel in the
history of civilisation.

Yesterday afternoon the protocol putting an end
to the English protectorate of the lonian Islands was signed
at the Foreign-office. Immediately afterwards Lord Rus-
sell and Mr. Tricoupi, charge d'affaires of Greece, signed
anotter document, stipulating pensions in favour of lonin
and other subjects whose services to the lonian Islands had
entitled them to that recognition.
Persons who have been in the habit of paying weekly as
borrowers of Sewing Machines will do well to apply at once
and become members of Messrs. Watts and Co.'s Sewing
Machine Clubs. By so doing they will not only save the
money they now foolishly throw away, but at the sum, time
secure to themselves the possession of one of the best an.'
most celebrated sewing machines in the world. Every in-
formation given on application; or by letter addressed, with
a stamped envelope, to Messrs. Watts and Co., 12, Beaufort-
buildings, Strand, London, W.C., where meta rs are en-
.tolled daily between 10 and 4 ; Saturdays, 10 and.X.