The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-20 00:00:00

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and Son, the mak rs, and elicited OPProbatte, • mill
board by the manner in which performed . tr;
The diameters of the cylinders- are 431 inehes,.vith a 4-foot
stroke, and the engines in their general Tian are to
those of the Royal yacht Victoria and At' erti-which were
manufactured by the same firm. The. wheels have feather-
ing floats, with a diameter of 14ft tl:tx..at tte.axis, In pro.
ducinz the Alberta's engines the Messes. Penn have added
to even their former high reputation.
The weather was exceedingly favourable 'or the trial, the
water being smooth, with the wind at a erce Of about 3
from S.W.

PRICE .4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

an attempt really to edit AShakevcare would have taught
him—his works aro all posthumous, and they require to be
read warily. Mr. Dyce seems to us inclined to follow him
to implicitly. Dr. Gu9st goes to one extreme in his ideas
of Shakespeare's versification ; Walker goes to the other,
and would cut and carve the poet's lines with arithmetical
regularity. This is surely a middle course.

Naval and Military Intelli;c7.M.

TIE NAVY.

The sbipwrighta engaged in plating I`.k. Red's experi.
mental iroocased sloop Enterprise are ontercd re work over
a portion of the night is order to hastcn the work, so that
the ship may be got off the stocks at Deptford en Feb. 9,
one day sooner than was anticipated. Coulllll2'ler R°w3eY*.
who 'nas commissioned the Enterpr'Je, has ben informed.
that in all probability hor destina6un will bs the Obina
Seas, which is considered an ill-juitted decisim, as thlia.
waters are not suited fur an experinrutal trial
The Clara, convict ship, has arrived at Spittead from the
eastward to embark a number sf convicts fr,,n the Ports-
mouth prison on her way down Channel. SW is to touch
at Portlend and Plymouth.

Notwithstanding these objections to Mr. Dyce's edition,
it is a great work, worthy of his reputation, and for the
present it contains the standard text. Two such editions of
Shakespeare in one year as Mr. Staunton's facsimile of the
first folio and Mr. ID) co's final revision of the text are an
honourable testimony to the regard in which the poet's
memory is held, and are the best signs of a Monument
which we can discover.

NATIONAL SEAKSPERE COMMITTEE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sllt,—The undersigned, feeling it incumbent upon them
to withdraw from the National Shakspere Committee, are
desirous of stating their reasons for doing so.
Their strong anxiety that a national tribute to our greatest
poet should be worthy of its object, and their equally strong
conviction that those who have assumed the direction of the
movement do not comprehend, and therefore will not satisfy
the expectations of the nation, have compelled them to take
the unpleasant step of separating themselves from gentle-
men with whom they have endeavoured to co-operate.
Without dwelling upon the irregular and unbusiness-lihe
character of the proceedings of the executive body, the un-
dersigned complained that more than half a year has been
wasted in procuring a list of names which would have been
given in without solicitation, had a practical and worthy
scheme been laid before the public.
It was not until December last that the question of the
site of the proposed memorial was referred to a sub-com-
mittee for consideration, and the all• important question of
the nature of the memorial was not taken up until the pre.
sent month.

An additional number of mechanics and labourers have
been removed from the other vessels in progress et Chatham
dockyar in order to be employed in preparirg the ironwork
fur Mr. Reed's new frigate.Bellerophon, which will be com-
menced in the dock in which She is intended to be con-
structed as soon as the new iron caisson has been fitted
in its place at the entrance to the second dock. In
the factory adjoining the dock the foundations are being
prepared by Messrs. Food and Sons for the erection
of more powerful machinery than any at present in use
in the dockyard for bending, pltining, polishing,
slotting, and otherwise preparing till thick ?Ton plates
with which it is intended to encase tie sides of the Bel-
lerophon. In consequence of the numeotts vessels now ia
hand at Chatham dockyard and the anxoty evinced by the
Admiralty for the completion of the •icon and iron-clad
vessels actually commenced, it is probabe that a consider-
able number of hands will shortly be reqfired to be entered,
the existing number of workmen being farbelow that neces-
sary to be employed to complete the now iron-clads ordered
by the Admiralty within the period assig,ted fig their con-
struction.

At this moment—within little more than three months
from the 23d of April—the committee is as ignorant as the
public where the memorial is to be placed, and what it is
to be.

A further trial of the coffer-dam invented by Captain
R.N., is to take place on board her Mljosty's
ship Recruit to-morrow morning, when that vessel takes a
trip to the Nore to try het speed, &e., utder the superin-
tendence of the officers of the reserve at Smerness.

That a monument worthy of Shakspere, and to be reared
by the united energies of the three kingdoms and the 50
colonies, can bo devised, discussed, and accepted by the
country within a few weeks, is an idea too absurd to be en •
tertained by a nation of practical men who hold Shakspere
in befitting reverence.
Had the executive a due appreciation o f their task, it
might have been possible to arrange some pleasant celebra-
tion for the 23d of April, while taking time to consider the
question of memorial with the care it demands; but the
executive, having wasted so much time, are now endeavour-
ing to hurry matters, and in order to do so have obtained
leave to take a step which must deprive the memorial of a
national character.

The new naval uniforms are, we unders And, deposted at
the Admiralty, Whitehall; for the inspection of those
sons interested.

The following appointments and promoions were made
yesterday at the Admiralty :—Lieut: toe 'Hon.-Harry
A'Court to the Prince Consort, for gunnery duties--Lieut.
Augustus Jacob to the Hector, for gunnery duties—Sub.-
Lieut. Caosar H. Hawkins to the .Prince Consort—Alien C.
Seeley nominated to a naval eadetshir—Hcibert Birch,
engineer, to the Euryalus, as supernumerary—William
Collier, engineer, to the Blenheim—William 11. Larson,
engineer, to the Shamrock—Amos Pritchard, James But-
chart, and John Galbraith., first-class assist. engineers, to
the Euryalus, as supernumeraries—George Whaling, first-
class assist. engineer, to the Colossus—F. N. Thornton,
first-class assiet. engineer to the Edinburgh—Robert.Spiers,
first-class assist. engineer to the Asia for the Tender—
James Torkington, Henry Caller, Henry Brown, George
Alexander, George Hancock (b),. M'Neill, David
Crichton (a), and J. 0. Wilson, secoud-class assist. engi-
neers, to the Euryalus as supernumeraries; Richard GrLen,
second-class assist, engineer to the Russell—Willigm John-
ston, second-class assist. engineer, to the Cornwallis—
Robert Winfield, second-class assist, engineer, to the
Dauntless—George Park, second-class assist, engineer, to
the Majestic—and Edward Chambers, second-class assist.
engineer, to the Hogue.

The general committee, a'ter showing its estimate of its
executive by rejecting a draught report prepared and im-
properly put into circulation by that body as the report of
the committee, followed up what was in effect a vote of
censure, by appointing a sub-committee to prepare another
document to be issued to the public. This sub-committee
unanimously decided that it would be premature to address
the public until the site and memorial committees should
have reported. It was agreed that it would be absurd to
make such an appeal in the absence of a definite object.
On Monday last this report was presented to a meeting
of the general committee, and was approved by it.
The general committee, attar it had thus decided that it
was in no condition to address the nation, having no infor-
mation to communicate, was induced to stultify that deci-
sion by voting that the public should be appealed to, and
moreover that it should be asked for a definite sum. It
had occurred to somebody that the memorial ought to cost
£30,000, and that this notion should be presented to the
nation, which, however, was to be at liberty to give more if
it pleased, and was to be assured that any surplus should be
laid out philanthropically.
This final blunder, the conclusion of a series, appears to
the undersigned to be fatal. They are therefore compelled
to withdraw from co-operation in a scheme which, as at
present managed, must end in discreditable failure, and
draw down universal contempt upon English professions
of reverence for ShalispPre.

Tom TAYLOR. THOMAS WILIER.
THEODORE MARTIN. 11011ERT BELL.
SHIRLEY BROOR,S. C. L. GRUNEISEN.
J. S. BREWER. H.0.1N FIiISWELL,
T. DUITUS HARDY.

Her Majesty's Paddle Yacht Alberta.

This now yacht, of 391 tons and 161-horse power of en-
gines, recently launched from Pembroke dockyard, and now
fitting at Portsmouth for her Majesty's private service, was
tried a second time under steam at Portsmouth yesterday
and on this occasion under the personal supervi,ion of Rear
Admi: al It. S. Robinson, Controller of the Navy, who was
accompanied by Rear-Admiral George Elliot, the energetic
superintendent of Portsmouth dockyard. Captain H.
Broadhead, commanding the Steam Reserve of the port
and her Majesty's ship Asia, had the command of the
yacht, the detailed working of the trial being carried out
by Messrs. Murray and Ward, of the dockyard steam fac-
tory, and Mr. Murdoch, inspector of machinery afloat.
Mr. Cradock, master shipbuilder of the yard, and part of
his staff were also on board. The conditions of yesterday's
trial were very different to those attending her trial on
Thursday last, and as reported in The S un of the following
day. On that occasion she drew ift lin of water aft, and
6ft 10in forward, being thus 3in by the stern. Yesterday
she was trimmed at an equal draught forward and aft, or
" on an even keel," to use a technical phrase, and this at a
draught at starting of 6ft 161 in. This, as will be seen,
gave the ship a less average c'raught of water and conse-
quently considerably less displacement yesterday than on
Thursday, and had therefore an important bearing in rela-
tion to the ship's speed and her behaviour under steam, and
especially so at full power. This alteration in the vessel's
draught was attained by taking all her movable weights that
could be possibly spared out of her--such as her anchors
and chains, boots' davits (the latter massive enough for a
frigate), &c., and starting her with only 14 tons of coal in
her bunkers, in lieu of 25 tons as on Thursday, and only
partially replacing those removed weight() by nine tons of
iron ballast on the upper deck, which served as trimming
ballast during the trial.
Shortly after noon, the Controller having arrived on
board, the Alberta turned ahead and left Portsmouth har-
bour for the measured mile in Stokes Bay, gradually in-
creasing the revolutions of her engines until reaching the
maximum number on Thursday--49—when she was placed
on the mile, and a pair of runs taken with full-boiler power
with the following results :
Time. Speed. Revolutions
m. s. Knots. of Engines.
First run.... 3 .5S 15.126 49
Second run.. 3 44 16.071 49
Steam, 271 b; vacuum, 26k.

The mean of the two runs gave the ship a speed of 15.598
knots against 15161 knots obtained with full-boiler power
on Thursday's trial. These two runs were deemed sufficient
with full-power, and the ship was then run off the mile
ground and through Spithead, to give time for blowing the
water out of the two after boilers, and trying her next over
the mile with her two forward boilers, or half-boiler power.
In trying the yacht with half-boiler power on Thursday it
was done in the ordinary manner—simply by shutting off
one-half the boilers. By, however, getting rid of the water
altogether from the two boilers cut off yesterday the yacht
got rid of so much weight, and the result of this measure
was that on the required amount of ballast haying been
shifted from forward to aft to still keep the vessel on an
even keel the ship's draught of water was reduced from 6ft
101 in to 6ft Bin. Under these very advantageous condi-
tions a pair of runs were taken over the mile with those re-
sults :
Time. Speed. Revolutions
in. s. Knots, of Engines.
First run.... 4 22 13140 41}
Second run.. 4 0 15000 41
Ship's mean speed of the two runs, 14.307 knots, against
14.244 knots on Thursday. The difference in the gain in
speed between the full and half power runs is a sufficient
proof that the vessel is overweighted, or perhaps, speaking
with a morethat
of thewat engineser
ae andnseg
consequent
hull
t
nd
are out of proportion to each Jther. The difference speed
in the runs obtained yesterday, and those of Thursday is
due solely to
vessel'se resou Alberta se
erfect tempest of a sea when were
tinder
correctth e decreased definition,
draught
hull displacement. This latter circumstance, together with
the fact that yesterday the yacht was sailed on an even
r d reduced ed full-power size,
car-
rieshey
were
keel, instead of three inches by the stern as On Thursday,
also doubtless had considerable effect in reducing the size of
the rolling waves of broken water which curl in under the
vessel's quarters and rise up on the bluff Of the bows. Yes-
terday, although, as we have said, these unpleasant accom-
paniments
the water clear of her is, comparatively speaking, smooth
as a mill-pond. Yesterday's trial gave no reason for mate-
rially altering the opinion expressed relative to the form of
the Alberta's hull in the report of the trial which appeared
in Vic Sun of Fi iday list. It may be considered possible
with o t prevented,
her
a
her
course the
e a r
perfect
to explain existing defects to a certain extent by referring
to the restrictions laid upon the designers relative to her
length and draught of water, but this would not meet the
entire case, nor, indeed, should explanations at all be
needed to render perfect in the present day a yacht spe-
cially designed and constructed fur the service of the
Queen. It is very probable that the visit of the Controller
to the yacht yesterday will cause sonic alterations in seve-
ral portions of her fittings, which are almost as unartistic in
their character as is the hull_

The machinery of the yacht during the trial was in charge
of Mr. Matthews, one of the partners in the firm of Penn