The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-14 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER.

BANEFUL EFFECTS OF INTOXICATION,—Sarah Cooper,
a middle-aged woman, was charged with being drunk and
creating a disturbance.

Peter Allen, 180 V, said that between five and six o'clock
last evening he was sent for to 34, Paulton-square, Chelsea,
outside of which he found the defendant drunk and creat-
ing a disturbance. He requested her to go away, but she
refused, and he was obliged to lock her up.
Defendant—l am a very ill used woman, your worship.
I have been grossly neglected by my husband, and every
time Igo near him for anything he locks mo up. I went
to see him on business.

Mr. Arnold—You were drunk, and therefore in no con-
dition to visit any one on business.
Defendant—Oh, dear me, no, not drunk ; I might have
taken a little refreshment, but was certainly not drunk.

The acting-inspector on duty at the station was called,
and proved distinctly that she was.
A Police-constable—She has given her husband and
family a great deal of care and trouble. She was only
liberated from prison yesterday, after undergoing a con-
finement of six weeks.
Mr. Arnold—How was that ?
Policeman—She was unable to procure £2 bail for her
good behaviour, and was locked up in default.
Mr. Arnold—Was she then charged with drunkenness ?
The husband, a very respectable looking elderly man, a
dozen years her senior, said—She got drank and took up a
knife and then threatened to cut off the childrens' heads,
but I fortunately got her out into the street before she did
any mischief. She's an incorrigible drunkard,
Dennis, the gaoler—When here last night she was drunk.
Mr. Arnold—l shall now commit her for seven days
without a fine.

Defendant—Pray don't, Oh, pray don't.
Mr. Arnold was inexorable, and sho was committed to
Tothill-fields Bxidewell.

Many mistakes have occurred in the observations
made on the appointment of Mr. Beard by her Ma-
jesty to the office of Court Newsman, from which Mr.
Doane retires. This office has nothing to do, as stated,
with the clerkship of presentations, which concerns eccle-
siastical appointments, and is in the gift of the Lord Chan-
cellor. The Court Newsman's duty is to distribute daily
to the morning papers a document supplied from Court, and
called the " Court Circular"—not in any way connected
with a newspaper so called. The office of Court Circular,
or Court Newsman, commenced under the reign of George
111. The King, being much annoyed at the inaccuracies
in the papers as to the Royal movements, took the advice of
the chief metropolitan magistrate, mad appointed a Court
Newsman; and Mr: Doane, the grandfather of the late
official, was installed in the office, which has gradually
developed itself in importance.
A SUBTERRANEAN HUNT.—AR extraordinary
battue has just taken place in the sewers of Paris. Taking
advantage the frost, which drives this particular game
i
er of
t,t he owner invited a Christmas party to partake
n covert,
of the sport of rat killing. All the great sewers were driven
in one diriction till millions of rats, which fought among
themselves like tigers as they were hunted along, were col-
lected in the large drain by the bridge of Asnieres. Forty
docrs were then let down into the sewers, and after a fight
which last 45 hours, and in which four dogs were killed
and some blinded, no lees than 110,000 rats were despatched.

The National Shakespeare Committee.

Under this heading we must, if merely for the
good-humoured banter of the thing, put the follow-
ing delightfully comical report as given in the
pages of Mr. Punch. A more perfectly truthful
report, in its way, we hardly conceive it possible
can any where have appeared in regard to any public
meeting that ever took place. In saying this, we ap-
peal to the recollection of anyone who happened
to be present on the occasion referred to. And we
are satisfied that those who were present on that
occasion will agree with us, after reading the sub-
joined report, that, exquisitely ludicrous though it
is, it is really and truly, hardly anywhere touched
with the exaggeration of a mere caricature. Quoth
Mr. Punch or his Reporter ;
Precisely as the clock struck four, the room being tole-
rably well filled, the chair was taken by an elderly gentle-
man totally unknown to any one present. Mr, Chick, the
energetic promoter of the scheme, was seated at the chair-
man's lett hand, while a mild individual, acting as under-
secretary, was on the chairman's right, but in consequence
of being placed behind several large volumes, he was not
visible to the majority of the members.
The CHAIRMAN on rising, said that -
A MEMaER of the committee here observed that he was
sorry to interrupt, but what he wanted to know was, how
that gentleman came to occupy the chair? (Hear, hear.)
Mr. CHICK rose to explain. He begged to say that since
the last meeting, he had come to the unanimous resolution
of electing himself secretary, and that he now, of course,
held that position. In discharge of the duties of this office,

he had received and answered several letters from various
influential personages in the United Kingdom, who had
expressed themselves favourably with regard to the present
national movement. Also, in bearing this onerous but
cheerfully self-imposed burden, he had had the pleasure of
calling on a few of his friends, whose names he would now
read to them : the Duke of Turnham Green,

His Grace the Duke of Kennington,
The Marquis of Islington, with whom he had spent an
hour or so at luncheon.

Lord Eletant-and-Carcel, who expressed himself in the
strongest terms possible of admiration—(hear, hear)—for
him personally, Mr. Chick—(disapprobation),
His Excellency Karut Sng, Ambassador from the Un-
discovered Islands of the Pacific,
The Earl of March and April, to whom he Mr. Chick,
had been lately introduced, and was proud to acknowledge
as his dearest friend.

Mr. CHICK was proceeding to read a long list of his aris-
tocratic acquaintance, dividing them into five classes, t.e.,
Those whom he knew well; those with whom he was on
speaking terms ; those who knew him well, but were not on
speaking terms ; those whom he knew by sight ; and the
remainder consisted of those whom he wanted to know,
when-

Mr. MIVINS interrupted. He (Mivins) didn't want to
hear the self-glorification of Mr. Chick. (Order, order—
Hear, hear—Chair.) He pressed the original question-
-Who was that elderly person in the chair ? (Hear, hear
—Order.)

Mr. CHICK, in explanation, said, that the inhabitants of
the county of Surrey had at first contemplated the celebra-
tion of a distinct Festival in honour of Adam, founding their
right on the existence of a mall colony, not far from Rich-
mond, entitled Ham, which they asserted, could trace an
unbroken descent from the Noachian era. Mr D'Hummy
was the President of the Han Council; that distinguished
body, so far from opposing the National plan, had sent in
their adhesion to it, and he (Mr. Chick) felt sure that he
had done nothing but carrs out the wish of every well•
wisher of the present Great festival, in electing, on his own
responsibility, to the office oftheir chairman, the late anta-
gonistic President, Mr. D'Hummy _ _

Mr. D'HummY (on being nudged by Mr. Chick), rose
and said—Ladies and Gentetnen—l mean Gentlemen—
the—um—present occasion—is one—on which you—that is
I--(Hear, hear)--and in fact the National Committee--I
must state, however, that rya come all the way from Ham
by the omnibus—

VOlCE—Better go back again.
.(Order I Chair I)

Mr. D'llummr continued—And being unaccustomed to
public—no—l should say, this sort of thing—(Speak up
Order I Chair I) 1 can only remark that I wish—(here
Chick handed the Chairman a small piece of paper)—eh ?
where are my spectacles P Oh, yes, (reading what Mr.
Chick has written)—ah I—qu,te SO—yes—thank you. The
Secretary—no, the Under-Secretary—(looking about)—l
don't exactly see where he is. (Here Mr. Chick attracted
the Chairman's attention to the Under-Secretary, who
emerged from behind the big books.) Ah, how d'ye do,
Sir 2—then, yes—
At this point the Chairman, imagining he had done
everything that was necessary, sat down.
SEVERAL MEMBERS—What's the question ? What's
going to be done 2
CHAIRMAN (rouses by Mr. Chick, smilingly)—Oh yes, I
forgot to say that the Minutes of the former Meeting—l
wasn't here you know—will be read. (Hear, hear.)
The reading of the Minutes led to an animated discussion
as to whether they were framed in grammatical language,
and a good deal of language that was neither elegant nor
grammatical was exchanged. A Member proposed that a
copy of Lindley Murray should be provided for the use of
the meeting, and offered to go °it and buy one at the ex-
pense of the Secretary.
Mr. Wic]riNs observed that Bach a course was unprece-
dented.

The CIIAIItMAN (rising)—What I want to say is, that
I've come all the way from Ham by omnibus—(Order,
Order, and cries of " Wickins").
Mr, WlcKiNs (angrily)—ls this proceeding to stifle dis-
cussion?

Mr. SPLITPF (rising and attracting the Chairman's eye
away from Mr. Wickins)—l ask to be allowed--(Order
Chair I Chorus of " Wickins.")
The CHAIRMAN (who has all this time been talking,
apparently, to Mr. Spluff, contiaues)—And I must say that
at Ham—(goes on talking inaudibly.)
Mr. Wickins (violently)—la this conduct intended to
stifle—to stifle discussion

Here Mr. Chick plucked the Chairman by the sleeve, who
on turning and seeing Mr. Wickins on his legs, bowed to
that gentleman, and, after smiling affably, was about to
proceed with the dircourse, in which he had been just in -
terrupted, when Mr. Chick handed him a slip of paper.
After inspecting the writing,
The CHAIRMAN (politely to Mr. Wickine, before sitting
down) —I didn't know that you were speaking, Mr. Wig-
gins.

Mr. CHICK, in explanation, regretted to inform the
deafness. (Hear, hear.)
D'Hummy was slightly afflicted with
meeting that Mr.

Mr. WrcKlNS—Sir, I must protest against being called
Wiggins.

AK S➢fITH said he was sorry to interrupt the last
speaker, but as a practical mau—he repeated as a practical
man—he wanted to know what they were going to do about
the Adamite Festival. That was their object in meeting
together. They had been there for nearly three hours doing
nothing. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. WICKING was understood to protest against being
called Wiggins._ _ _

Mr. CHICK said he would read to them a little poem that
he had just written in honour of--
Mr. SMlTH—Question! (lear, hear.)
Mr. CHICK—WeII then, ha would read to them a list of
every one who wished his name to appear in public• print,
commencing with those who had forwarded a guinea spe-
cially for that purpose.
This occupied about three-quarters of an hour, during
which most of the members left the room. At the conclu-
sion, Mr. Chick wished to know whether they'd like to hear
the names of several members of the aristocracy who had not
yet been asked to join the movement. This question having
been replied to in the negative, Mr. Chick proposed a vote
of thanks to himself, and moved that he should not for the
Committee in the interim before the next meeting. This
proposal having been also negatived, Mr. Chick said that he
should do what he liked without reference to any of them.
Mr. Wicxixs—When and where do we meet again ?
Mr. CHICK—Don't know.
Mr. WICKINS ---Don' t care.
After this the meeting separated, and the amiable chair-
man went back to Ham for the omnibus.

their unfortunate hineathdes
taovtaals
jtuasmticoeunoft
A WORD IN ITS FAVOUR.
(From the Court Journal.)
The National Shakspeare Cyomofmmitetene
inhaEvengllaatendly. been
e
drawing down upon
of censure and abuse, and bade fair some few days ago to
ouents of the committee,
tnb
hee
eci
to
severe
vre e
etr hoe
ne r
cemumor
as
with
unpopularremarks
h madet
hos
e b wy
nor with the gentlemen who are so vigorously striving to
the opp
prove that they acted in the most courteous, modest, and
justifiable manner to the late Mr. Thackeray. In our opi-
nion the committee certainly wronged the great matt who
has so unexpectedly been snatched away from us, while, on
the other hand, they have done their best, since Mr.
Mr. Thackeray's death, to set themselves right in the eyes
of the public, and to make amends for the fault whioh they
may possibly have committed in a moment of haste and
mortification, rather than of planned bostility. At any rate,
it is time that personal biekerings and accusations should
give way to tho general desire to do something in 1861
worthy the memory of one of the greatest men whose
genius ever adorned the literature of ancient or modern

times.
The whole gist of the dispute lios in a mere nutshell. It
appears that the most distinguished authors, statesmen,
orators, artists, and actors have been asked by the commit-
tee to act as vice presidents, and that the names of Sir E.
B. Lytton and Mr. Dickens were both added to the list,
though not till some very
unaccountable opposition had
been made to the admission ®f Sir E. Bulwer Lytton.
However, as two out of the three novelists who were
acknowledged to be the greatest of the day had been ap-
pointed vice-presidents, it was only reasonable to expect
that the committee would color the same distinction upon
the third, William Makepeace Thackeray. An invitation
had already been sent to him, asking him to join the ge-
neral committee; and here it
appears that the mistake arose
on the part of many members, imagined that the dis-

t inguished author intended to slight their body, and forgot
that, as the invitation was in the shape of a printed cir-
cular, Mr. Thackeray would be very likely to overlook it,
or to disregard it as a mere matter of form which needed no
reply. When, therefore, it was proposed to make him a
vice-president, those gentlemen who shared this belief
voted against the motion, on the ground that he ought first
to have accepted the place of a member of the commitee.
Several persons acted, perhaps, from a different motive, but
on the whole there is reason to believe that the great majo-
rity laboured under an unfortunate misconception, and are
consequently not deserving of the opprobrium and the
fierce attacks which they have had to encounter from every
quarter.

j At the suggestion of Mr. Gruneisen, the committee have,
in the most commendable manner, carried a resolution to
the effect " that the general committee; deeply deplore the
premature disease of Mr. Thackeray, and regret that cir-
cumstances should have occurred to prevent the enrol-
ment of his name in the list of vice-presidents."
This ought surely to have the effect of lessening the
public resentment, and eau4ng the committee to be re-
ceived as the exponent and representative of the country in
the national movement, to which all men must wish well.
No doubt it is not composed and constituted exactly as
might have been wished, but, nevertheless, the names of
Bulwer, Brougham, Dickens, Lord Stanhope, Gladstone,
and others are sufficient guarantee that the affair is not in
the hands of a selfish and petty-minded clique, as some
persons (from what motives we know not) have been
pleased to insinuate, Those who now endeavour to throw
obstacles into its path will lay themselves open to the im-
putation that their veneration for Mr. Thackeray's memory
is but a blind to disguise their personal dislike to several
members of the committee. Surely, too, our desire to do
justice to Mr. Thackeray should not be the means of pre-
venting our display of admiration for Shakspeare. It is
time that something should have been proposed, if not
commenced, for the day appointed for the festival is close
at hand ; and unless more good-will, unity, and activity is
displayed on all sides, England will be open to the reproach
that, while every country has done honour to its national
poet, she alone has neglected to show any mark of admira-
tion or respect to the memory of one whom the world
acknowledges as the greatest poet of all ages. If, too, it
should be added, this neglect was occasioned by the most
contemptible and petty squabbles of a personal nature, the
disgrace will, indeed, be doubly strong.

A ROUNDABOUT PAPER.
(Front the London Review.)
(Not yet printed in the Cornhill Magazine.)

UPON POSTHUMOUS STATUES, AND OTHER IMAGES NOT

POSTHUMOUS.
(A Letter to a young Literary Gentleman.)

A certain writer, I mention. no names, my dear Bob--for
after a long interval I again address you—a writer whose
name you may possibly have seen affixed to certain yellow
covers of a work that shall be nameless, objected in that
mild and benignant way which so well became him to the
gushing enthusiasm of Poor Paddy, who wished to raise a
statue to King Gorgius the Fourth upon the banks of that
silver stream which flows through the beautiful city of
Dublin. "My dear Public," that ill-conditioned and satiric
writer is reported to have said, " what is the use of raising
a statue to a man who never did a good action in his life,
who was debased, sensual, vulgar, and gluttonous ; whose
highest genies was strained, absolutely strained, when he
invented a shoebuckle, and whose great mind was
taxed in endeavouring to make his coat sit
without wrinkles ? No, my dear Public, do not
do so; choose your heroes with more wisdom; besides,
why are you so anxious to commit a superfluous deed ;
why rush into a work of supererogation? Is not Gorgius
fitly represented amidst the waxen populace of Madame
Tussaud's ? Is he not there in all his glory, strut, stare,
pink cheeks, coronation robes, flaxen wig—a masterpiece by
Truefitt—dancing pumps and all ? Gorgius was proud of
his foot, and the artist who stuffed him—for the Chamber
of Horrors, I was about to write, but I remember his Ma-
jesty is in a properly gilt recess—has been careful to copy
it." There he stands in all the majesty of real life, and
children and flunkies who are admitted at half price, my
dear Bob—only sixpence each—wonder and admire.

There—l declare if I have not let the secret out. Of
course, the ingenious public will see that the present pen-
man is the ill•conditioned writer. Of course, they will
nudge each other, and say, Ah ! we knew his contempt for
the Georges. Well, I may as well make an open confes •
sion, de me 1 abula narratur, I was one of the non-contents ;
I think that the character of a people may be known by its
statues, just as the character of the Athenians in the days
of Alcibiades was shown by the damage done to the effigies
of a certain god, as we read in Plutarch. You will please
to mark the classical allusion and take it for what it is
worth. What I mean is that people should be careful about
setting up posthumous statues to the successful speculator,
the pill merchant, or the king of snobs. I, for one, did
once subscribe two guineas for —. But that fact shall
never pass my pen—no, never. But when I do subscribe
again, it shall be to one eminently great in Genius, Fortune,
Wisdom, and Service to his country. Of course, statues
to such men are, need I say, from the very nature of the
thing, perfectly superfluous. Great men who combine in
their life these four requisites have raised statues to them.
selves less perishable than brass and marble ; and, as
Milton says of gentle William Shakspeare of such a
sort—

"That kings for such a tomb might wish to die."

I am seldom betrayed into a quotation except, my dear
Bob, as you know, from Horace or the Latin Grammar, but
the subject, I positively declare, stole it from me. And,
now I am about it, I remember that there are certain lite-
rary and other gentlemen who are about to raise a fund to
worthily commemorate sweet Will of Avon himself. I de-
clare positively that the only possible objection that I can
see to such a scheme is that the poet himself, whom I hold
in as much reverence as anyone, would probably shrink
from it, and rest content with his little coloured stone bust
in a country church, his quaint epitaph, and that large and
universal monument of love which he has built up in all
hearts. At the tomb of an ancient chief, each warrior once
brought a stone, and piled it upon the grave as he passed,
till the rough pyramid rose into the sky and lived amidst
the wreck of finer works unharmed by Time ; and at dear
Will's tomb we men of the pen have for ages brought our
hearts and laid them down ; old Ben, rough old fellow, was
the first bricklayer; and then Leonard Digger, and Milton,
and Dryden, and good old Doctor Sam, with Popo and
others, till it mounts upwards and upwards to the skies,
nor will it decrease till the last of us poor authors shall
have gone to join, let us piously hope, for we are a wild
race, his chief in heaven

But since you will have a statute—a fine work of art, my
dear Bob—of couse you artists with the pen, and the brush,
and chisel will make your exertions towards its, proper
erection a labour of love. There will be no literary jealousies
—not that such ever exist—over the matter. There will
be no cliquism, and I am sure all will modestly keep in the
background, and let the working men go forward, and the
fifth-rate penmen won't jump into the first-rate places. The
playful humour, admirable terseness, and keen sarcasm
which some of you possess, will be exerted in whipping up
a languid Public to its duty; you will not coquet with
lords, dukes, marquises, and bishops ; you will not bow
down to gilt calves on any account ; and dear Jones, who
dines with Lord Fierbras and Captain Deuce-Ace, will
leave their society, and work on the committee for raising
this great public monument. Above all—as, my dear Bob,
I hear from those versed in literary history, it is three hun-
dred years since he was born, and the time is rather a long
while to wait in these days of stony and statuesque recog-
nition—l am sure that no literary gentleman will put little
stumbling-blocks in the way, and hinder the erection of a
fitting monument to one to whom all the world owes so
much; nor will they, whilst building up this, try to build
up little ones for themselves ; I do not suppose for one
instant that they will pint their names—at any rate, more
than once; nu, they will be as modest, retired, and self-
abasing as they always are. Reddit Saturnii regnunz ; the
Golden Age has, indeed, returned; the lion of literary fame
shall lie down with the dramatic lamb ; the venomous critic
shall coil in glistening beauty round the pink-feet of the
dove of Posey ; the big elephant of the book-world, who
has lined his own and so many other people's trunks, shall
modestly consort with the timidest little mouse of a perio-
dical essayist, who has just ventured out of his hole, and
got into print. The world, my dear Bob, will wonder ; but
what care we for the world,we do not want to trumpet forth
ourselves, but to testify the applause, delight, wonder, and
admiration of this generation to the Mightiest Genius of all
time.

Believing, my dear Bob, that this little sketch fully em •
bodies your intentions, I am quite with you.
BROWN THE ELDER.

Megatherium Club, April 23.

THE POST-OFFICE SAYINGS BANK.—The weekly
deposit is about £lO,OOO, the withdrawals less then one-
thhd. The sum now remaining in the Post-office bank is
£3,263,000, and the number of present depositors 307,000,
showing an average balance of over £lO each.
NEW MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.—
The following gentlemen will be entitled to take
their seats at the commencement of the forthcoming session
of Parliament :—Sir Roundeil Palmer, on his re-election
for Richmond as Attorney-General—Sir R. P. Collier, on
his re-election for Plymouth as Solicitor-General—Colonel
Vyse for Windsor, in the room of Mr Hope, deceased—
Mr C. Neato, for the city of Oxford, in the room of Mr J.
H. Langston, deceased—Mr Humphrey, for Andover, in the
room of Mr W. Cubitt, deceased—Mr R. Bateson Harvey,
for Buckinghamshire, in the room of the Hon. W. G.
Cavendish, now Lord Chesham—Major Waterhouse, for
Pontefract, in the room of Mr R. M. Milnes, raised to the
peerage—Sir C. O'Loghlen, Bart., for Clare, in the room
of Mr F. M. Calcutt, deceased—Hon. C. It. Ilanbury Tracy,
for the Montgomery boroughs, in the room of Capt. Willes
Johnson, deceased—Sir William Frazer, Bart., for Ludlow,
in the room of Mr Beriah Botfield, deceased—the Hon. F.
Lygon, for West Worcestershire, in the room of Viscount
Elmley, now Earl Beauchamp—Mr J. Peel, for Tamworth,
in the room of Viscount Raynham, now the Marquis
Toarnshend—Mr M. Treherne, for Coventry, in the room
of the Right Hon. E. Ellice, deceased—Mr Lloyd, for
Barnstaple, in the room of Mr. George Potts, deceased ;
Mr. George Shaw Lefevre, in the room of Mr. Pigott, now
a liaron of the ExcheTzer.

One Law for the Rich and another for the
Poor,