The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-05 00:00:00

.tom-7.1P tri I
SHAKSPEARE CELEBRA
It is now pretty generailyknown
past few mouths a movement has taken pai.l4ntai
commemorate the three-hundredth birthiay of Shak-
speare—April 23, 1864—bylal leg the „first stone of
a monument to the immortal bard in same censpi-
cuous part of London. In order to effect this object
in a manner in some degree worthy of Shakspeare
and of the country, a committee of nob!emen end
gentlemen have charged them.'ielvss with the 3tear
of inviting the patronage of her Majesty, the presi-
dency of his Royal Highness the Prince of Waks,
the co-operation of corporate bodies, special tout •
naittees, and eminent man of ail ranks end ?rcf:,-s-
-sions. The list of vie,-presidents elrea;:i
comprise the foll.3wing, emirifnt carn;_
bishop of Canterbury, Lori Primate of all En;: and ;
the Lord Archbishop of York ; the Lord Areb)ishv
of Dablin ; the Duke of Devonshire, Chaneelor of
the University of Cambridge; Lord Bronghon and
Vaux, Chancellor of the University of Edin3uegh ;
the Doke of Manchester, Chairman of Con lit tee ;
Earl Granville, K.G., Lord President of the- Privy
Council ; the Right Hon. Sir Frederick Pollock,
Lord Coief baron of the Exchequer ; the Earl of
Carlisle, K.G., Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; Earl
Stanhope, President of the Society of Antquaries ;
General Sabine, President of the Royal Society :
Sir C. L. Eastlake, President of the Royalakeademy
of Arts; the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor of Lon-
don, the Right Hon. Sir 'E. Belwer Lytton, Bart.,
M.P., Charles Dickens, Esq., W. C: MacreaLy, Esq.,
Alfred Tennyson, Esq , Poet Laureate. The si cre-
taries and treasurers are . as follows :—General se-
cretaries—W. Hepworth Dixon, Esq., F.S.A.,
J.
0. Halliwell; Esq., F:R.S.a Colonial seeretaries- •
Sir Charles Nicholson, Bart., Sir Richard Graves-
Macdonnell,.C.B. ; Dramatic_ secretaries-4. Stir-
ling Coyne; Esq., Westlatid.Marston, Esq., LL.D. ;
Literary secretaries—J. C. Jeaffreson, Esq., H. N.
Barnett, Esq.; Secretaries for committees-in-aid--
Frederick Haines, Esq,, F.S.A., G. Linemas
Banks, Esq; Foreign secretaries—Ernest de Bun-
sen, Esq., Antonio Panizzi, Esq ; Treasurers—Sir
Richard Charles Kirby, C. 8., William The, Esq.,
M.P., F. W. Cosens, Esq. The general committee,
already numbering upwards of 400 members, in-
cludes names the most eminent in literature, art,
science, law, the church, diplomacy, and cotrmerce.
Up to the present the meetings of the committee
have been strictly of a private character. Yester-
day afternoon the members met at the rocms of the
Society of Arts, Adelphi. Amongst thole present
were the secretaries and some 50 members .of the
general committee.
On the' motion of W. HEPWORTH D:xoN, Esq.,
Mr. Braoebridge, of Stratfordeupon-Avov, was voted
to the chair.
FRED. HAINES, Esq., read the minutes of the
meeting of Dec. 7. Part of the proceedings of this
meeting was a motion , for inviting the late Mi.
Thackeray to become one of the vice-presidents ;
which motion, on a mere matter of form, was op-
posed and negatived by a vote of 22 to 9.
On the motion that these minutes be confirmed,
Mr: VIZITELLY apposed it on the ground that the
numbers had been inaccurately recorded, as more
than 9 had been in favour of the proposition to in-
vite Mr. Thackeray to become one of the vice-presi-
dents. His amendment, however, was not seconded.
W. HEPWORTH DIXON, Esq,, said before the
minutes were confirmed he would submit a Sugges-
tion which the meeting might or might not adopt.
He for one should infinitely egret that there should
remain on the records of a committee like theirs any
such entry as that to which reference had been made.
(Hear.) That proposition, he believed, was made in
haste. It was said, on one side, that there was a
misapprehension with regard to the character of it.
He was perfectly certain that under the circum-
stances all regretted that it had been made. (Hear,
hear.) He expressed an individual opinion when
he said that he never thought of contesting Mr.
Thackeray's high claims or his right to any. place
on that .committee. to which_ they thought pro-
per to appoint him. He believed the whole
thing had arisen in a misapprehension about
the form in which the invitation should be
sent. He would therefore propose that the •ehair-
man be authorised to erase that entry from the
minntes before confirming 'them, so that the book
which would certainly some day be deposited in the
British Museum, and remain as a permanent record
of the committee, should not bear on the face of it
an entry which was the result of haste, and which
was certainly a matter of very profound regret.
'Hear, hear.)
11Ir. GEORGE CRUIKSHANK seconded the resolu-

A lengthened discussion took place on this propo-
sition, in which Mr. Bell, Mr. Ottley, Mr. Theodore
Martin, Mr. Vizitelly, Mr. Gruneisen, Mr. Tomlins,
and Mr. Stirling Coyne took part. The deepest

regret was expressed on all hands that such
an entry should under the lamentable cir-
cumstances of Mr. Thackeray's death, have
been 'made, and there was a general concur-
rence in the statement of Mr. Dixon, that it had
occurred on a mere question of form as to whether
Mr. Thackeray should be invited to become a vice-
president before it was known whether he would be
willing to accept. It was thought that the case
should be met by a declaratory resolution, and not
by an erasure of the minutes. In this view the
minutes were first confirmed by the meeting, and
then C. L. Grnneisen, Esq., submitted the following
resolution, which being duly seconded, was, after
considerable discussion, eventually carried ; " That
the general committee deeply deplore the premature
decease of Mr. Thackeray, and regret that circum-
stances should have occurred to prevent the enrol-
ment of his name in the list of vice-presidents.
W. HEPWORTH DIxoN, Esq., then announced
the following additions to the committee since the
last meeting:—To the list of vice-presidents—Earl
Granville, KG., and the Lord Mayor. To the Com-
mittee—The Right Hon. the Lord Provost of Bain-
burgh, the Mayor of Arundel, the Mayor of Bolton,
the Mayor of Chichester, the Recorder of Durham,
the Mayor of Kendal, the Mayor of Northumber-
land, the Sheriff of Mid-Lothian, the Provost of
Stirling, Sir Robert Phillimore, Q.C. D.C.L.,
,Queen's Advocate; the Hon. the Chief Justice
of British Guiana, Sir Richard Hill, K.C.8.,
Col. de Bathe, Sir F. Madden, K.H., F.R.S., J. B.
Davis, Esq., M.D., F.S.A., H. G. Wright, Esq.,
M.D., Dr. Angus Smith, Hugh W. Diamond, Esq.,
M.D., Professor Goldwin Smith, Professor Tycho
Monsem, M. Arnold, Esq., James Crosby, Esq., S.
W. Davison, Esq., Warren De La Rue, Esq., C. I.
Dumphey, Esq., Otto Goldschmidt, Esq., J. Harts
land, Esq., F.S.A., Thomas Hood, Esq., Edwin H.
Lawrence, Esq., John C. Leighton, Esq., Theodore
Martin, Esq., G. W. Martin, Esq., Alfred Mellon,
Esq., H. A. Wright, Dq.., James Anderson, Esq.,
Rev. Thomas Corser, George Petrie, Esq., LL.D.,
James Spence, Esq., Liverpool, George King, Esq.
He said he had also to submit to them a report on
the general state of the committee, an exposition of
its ideas and of its organisation, with a view to
making the first public statement which they had
ever yet attempted up to the present time. All their
meetings had been private, and nothing had been
allowed to transpire except through the accredited
secretaries, who had been appointed to ref ort such
official formal facts as they were instructed to do.
The question of publicity had to a great extent,
however, been taken out of their hands, as some of
the members had made matter of public report the
common transactions of this private committee. It
had becnm e absolutely necessary, therefore, for the
committee itself to assume publicity. It was pro-
posed that a public statement should be Inede of
their ideas and organisation, which statement he
would submit to them for their ultimate adoption.
The hon. gentleman then read an address, setting
forth the ideas and organisation of the committee,
as at present existing, a resume of their opera,,rons,
and a classified list of the most emiuenutbllll" em
Another long discussion of no
icbein,, re-
p. int er est
took place on this report., resulting in its
ferred back to the execntivot
lowing resolution :—" That t
the draft t tphuet ffoorl:
ward on behalf of the ctoomema
printed, and a copy sent icthteemeb,mebeforr of
thein
jgoeunreoreadi cooomtiimitt3oene,dasyn d
uet hxat ttot
D m
siedeetti ntgh
es tbaan:tli
ea. d-
The meeting therev.pon adjourned.

i 47 74
k.;tr-1
t 14.7