The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-13 00:00:00

THE SUN,

be that which its stench announced, put it back again
and placed it in the yard. So they stood yesterday,
arrayed in lines, of every weight, from 4. lbs. up to
32 lbs., and which no passer-by may approach in safety.
Now, will not the public ask, bow is it possible that
ever since the year 1845 Goldner should have bad the
contract, notwithstanding the competition and the many
other tenders sent in? By what magic was it that he
was always so fortunate as to be declared the contractor?
Had Greenwich politics, or any individual high in office
resident there anything to do with it ?
The following explanation of the circumstances under
which preserved meats were issued to sea-going ships,
and likewise to the causes which led to the recent con-
demnation of those meats, which had been contracted
for by the Admiralty at Portsmouth, appears in the Ob-
server of yesterday.
" The preserved meat is supplied in tin canisters of a
certain dimension and strength, hermetically sealed.
The supply is obtained by contract, and subject to
examination—any
canister once opened become un-
serviceable within twenty-four hours—it is therefore
impossible to examine every canister, but a cer-
tain proportion, about five per cent. is usually
opened. In this examination it can be ascertained
in the canisters actually opened, whether improper parts
of the animal have been used; but where the proportion
of improper meat in the whole supply is very small, it
must happen that on some occasions breaches of the
contract in this respect will escape notice, from the im-
possibility of examining every canister; but this is not
the usual cause of the meats becoming unserviceable. If
the air has penetrated into the canister, or was not
originally entirely exhausted, or if there was a defect in
he original curing, meat which on examination appears
erfectly good and is properly passed, would corrupt and
e come unserviceable. Preserved meat was first issued
to the navy, as an article of comfort for the sick, in the
year 1815. It was also supplied in a limited quantity to
Captain Parry on his Arctic voyage in 1819, and again
to Captain Trotter's ships in the, Niger Expedition in
1840. The reports in these instances were favour-
able ; still, as the article, from its comparative
scarcity and cost, could only be considered as '
one of luxury, its general use in the navy was not
then contemplated. In 1840 a patent for preserved
moat was taken out by Mr. Goldner, and from
this time considerable improvement was made in the art
of manufacture, and in the cost at which it could be
supplied; and in consequence of this the Board of Admi-
ralty were induced in 1846 to authorise the issue of pre-
served meat, experimentally, on a more extensive scale.
The trial thus made appearing to be successful, the
Board of Admiralty, by a circular of the 29th of April,
1847, directed that preserved meat should be introduced
as an article of victualling into the navy, and issued to
ships on foreign stations one day in each week, with
preserved potatoes, in lieu of a salt beef ration. About
the end of 1848, or in the beginning of 1849, it was re-
ported to the Admiralty that, in addition to such occa-
sional condemnations of preserved meat as are common
to salted provisions, parts of the animal not fit for use
had, in a few instances, been found mixed with the
meat, and immediate steps were at once taken to re-
medy the evil. In the following year (1850) a new con-
tract was entered into with Mr. Goldner, and in
1851, increased quantities of preserved meat being re-
quired for the navy, a further contract was made with
that gentleman for a large additional supply. It was in
the course of examining the first deliveries under this
contract that an improper substance was discovered in
one of the canisters, and upon this the whole quantity
under delivery, amounting to 22,3251 b., was at once re-
jected; and complaints at the same time reaching the
Admiralty of the nature and quality of the preserved
meat then being served out in ships abroad, orders were
immediately sent to the commanders-in-chief on foreign
stations to stop the issue of such provisions, and to re•
tnrn the supply into store. The contract with Mr. Gold-
ner was then immediately cancelled; tied, in order that
the exact amount of penalty to which he as contractor
is liable may be ascertained, every canister in store, as
well as those returned from ships abroad, is now being
subjected to eximinatiou.—ln justice to the contractor,
however blameable his conduct, we are bound to
state that a very small proportion of the
canisters examined is objectionable on the
ground that improper parts of the animal
have been employed. The principal proportion of those
condemned may have become unserviceable from the
other causes before stated. It appears, therefore, that
the use of preserved meat generally was adopted after
much experience—that, on the first complaints, imme-
diate measures were taken to supply a remedy; and
that this last extensive examination and condemnation
has been occasioned by the determination of the Admi-
ralty not to permit improper meat to be supplied for the
use of the navy. It is much to be regretted that this
failure of the proper supply should have taken place;
and in issuing the preserved meat the Admiralty were
not swayed by any motive of economy, but were de-
sirous of substituting a change for the salt meat ration
—a change w4iich those only who have served long at
sea can sufficiently value. The supply was obtained by
contract—a mode which is generally preferred—but
such instances as the one now under consideration show
some of the inconveniences to which the system of con-
tract is liable."

E. SILAS'S SONATA.
(From the Musical World.)
Sonata! what various and vivid emotions are excited
in our breast as we write the word. It recalls past
times, past excellencies, past performances, past rivalries,
past friendships, with their many interesting associa-
tions, and from it we borrow a hope that a genius may
yet arise to shed a beneficial influence over the atmo-
sphere of the musical world, and diipel the crowd of
dull spirits that now hang around the stalls of our great
music-publishing establishments. It is a matter of deep
regret to most admirers of the art, that at the present
period there are no productions equal in excellence to
the works of the composers of the past. Some infer
the art is in a state of decline, others believe it to he
merely in a state of transition. Unquestionably, the
public of England have now a better appreciation of
the compositions of the great masters than that enter-
tained by the public of the prevh Ili quarter of this cen-
tury; yet the original comoositiuea issued from the
musical prase of Europe at the present day, do not pos-
seas the classical form or elevated character of the pro-
ductions of former days. In place of sonatas, trios,
quartetts, concertos, &c., we are satiated with caprices,
notturnos, fantasias, mazurkas, romances sans paroles,
morceaux caracieristiques,
,laniastiques, and such like
oddities. Composers say the race of spirited publishers
has departed, but publishers know the public will not
accept mediocrity io works of high pretension, and they
have the experience that professors avoid a sonata, con-
certo, or any other classical form of composition by a
modern composer, with as much alacrity as one with
cloyed appetite shuns the choicest viands.
The truthejs, that time, the true propounder of excel-
lence, has so irompletely established the surpassing beauty
of the sonatas, quartetts, and symphonies of Mozart and
Beethoveen, that it is to be feared the portentous words
of Dante, "Lasciate ogni spent zs, Sce." may be too
significantly applied to all those who enter upon their
department of art. It may be objected that the sonatas
of Clementi, Dussek, Steibeit. Cramer, Ries, Hummel,
and other pisnistes, were a source ot great profit to com-
posers and publishers, but this must be attributed to the
progreres then making in the art of performing en the
Pianoforte. Composers were performers, each seeking
to produce effect by new figures or forms of passages
suited to his peculiar style of performance, and which
were then quite as available to excite the admiration of
an audience as the impossibilieies of a modern fantasia
by List, Dohler, Dreyschock, Meyer, and id genus °sine.
Then the sonatas of Beethoven were not well under-
stood, nor were they so well adapted for great mecha-
nical display; their excellencies were spiritual, not
physical; time has dulled the tinsel brilliancy of the
compositions of the great pianistes, while it has exalted
the beauties of those of Beethoven. The ideal has out-
lived the material. Those works of the great pianistes
which were in much demand on their first publication,
and are now merely sought in illustration of the history
of the art; while the sonatas of Beethoven, which may
be said to have been dropt from his pen at their birth
unheeded and unnoticed, are now wafted into a reputa-
tion boundless and enduring as music itself.*
Not for a moment have we any intention to depreciate
the works of the pianistes ;to whom we have above al-
luded. Some were profound musicians, each advanced
the art, and all were composers superior to the acknow-
ledged pianistes of the present day. Honourable excuse
may be pleaded for their inferiority to one who has no
equal, and their defeat can bo acknowledged with a
better grace by their admirers, through a conviction that
the most illustrious composers, even Weber, Spohr, and
lYfendelssohn, have not approached the spirit of Beet-
hoven in this form of composition.
The fate of the works of the eminent pianistes invites
Insular forms,
us to warnfature aspirants againat the adoption of allcon-
vent ialities,
taste, that are not founded on true principles of art.
however illustrious, freely
Few artistes, whether and mechanical expressions of
poets, painters, or composers,
popular mannerism of their escapeae. Among the works of
Beethoven, are most free from conventialities;
departed genius,and
P the prejudices and
those of Sebastiang Bach, Mozart,
they offer
few or no examples of a style that may be termed old-
fashioned or obsolete; bat the operatic works of Handel
are loaded with these imperfections—faults arising from
his attempt to conciliate the taste of his fashionable
audience. So damnatory have they proved, that the
name of the mighty master, though encircled by a halo
almost sacred, has not been able to redeem these works
from contemptuous and merited neglect.
Art in every degree, simple and combined, and all
branches of industrial product, when remotely allied
with art,
failing. No furniture
nee mancient, will
iborui
cs toh 0
wt this a
r convey
impression of obsoleteness if the amount of art he-
a manufactured nor cbdil obnoxious
voleed therein shall have been fitly applied. More
novelty and freshness aro felt in a movement from one
of Haydn's quartett 's than can be found in any modern
fantaida fur the pianoforte.
The costume of an ancient
Greek or Roman appears not so much out of fashion as
a dress of last season. The draperies of Phidiae or
Titian present a more recent mode than the Court gar-
ments of the present day. The Parthenon is less anti-
quated than most of the costly buildings in Europe of
tide century, and an Etruscan iazzt has more newness
than a cup and saucer hot from the manufactories of
Chins. The ideal or imaginative is the essence of art.
They who possess it, possess it by nature, they who wish
to understand it must study it;. fer the peculiar powers
and propensities thereof are not to he fully appreciated
upon a superficial acquaintance. Without the divine
spark, as poets call it, none can hope for immortality in
their art. Beethoven. possessed it in a degree beyond
that of any other composer. His position among mu-
sician is as high as that ot Shalespeare among dramatists.
It may be a questima whether of the two individuals, he
were not the mgra higly endowed. Certainly his works
do not exhibit the faults committed by the immortal
bard, and which. have been justified by Schlegel, who
had the most prafound comprehension of his subject, in
the belief ths; ;":313oksPere employed ;Um with the view

LONDON,

of painting the actual tone of the society of his day;
that they did not meet with his approbation; on the
contrary, he clearly held them in derision.
It would be instructive and highly interesting to elu-
cidate the affinity of the two sister arts, poetry and
music, by a diligent and metaphysical inquiry into the
various mental conditions and capacities requisite for
the attainment of pre-eminence in either. To such a
remarkable degree do the works of Shakspere and Beet-
hoven manifest identical powers and parallel resources,
that the science, which determines the peculiar functions
of each cerebral organ in the various operations of the
brain, might have been advanced by a comparative exa-
mination of their intellectual organism. Both minds
were imaginative and creative; their idiosyncrasies were
homogeneous. Are the works of Shakspere characterised
by sublimity and pathos, by grandeur and simplicity, by
vastness and minuteness, by description and suggestion,
by philosophy and nature? so are those of Beethoven.
To each of these features, as they occur in the dramas
of Shakspere, can a parallel—drawn by synthesis or
analysis—be offered from one or other of the quartette
of Beethoven—an assimilation, not merely in the inter-
pretation of isolated phrases or passages, but embodied
in entire movements.

Such gigantic and boundless resources had Beethoven,
that by the employment of four instruments, be presents
images to the mind more stupendous in effect than the
colossal proportions of Handel, when he moves with a
thousand instruments and as many voices. It is rare to
find a critic who can elevate himself to the comprehen-
sive contemplation of Beethoven's works; for his com-
positions, from the very depth of purpose displayed in
them, have been especially liable to the misfortune of
being misunderstood. As he advanced in his art his
conceptions became deeper, more vast,ideal,and original.
An opinion became prevalent that he was a rude and
wild genius, who poured forth at random, and without
aim or object, his unconnected compositions. The diffi-
culty of understanding him rendered it impossible to
perform his works with fidelity. His fame did not
break forth into full glory till after his death. Since
then it has but increased in lustre with the course of
time. Even the rivalrous efforts of both opera houses,
last season, did not yield a true representation of the
Fidelio. Some time must yet elapse ere "a consumma-
tion ao devoutly to be wished for," can be accomplished
in this vast and wealthy metropolis. Nor has the Phil-
harmonic Society attained the glory of rendering a per-
fect performance of the " Choral Symphony," the last
and the greatest of these works by the greatest man of
this century. To the minds of some of the members of
the Philharmonic Society, the " Choral Symphony"
presents nothing more than a chaotic confusion of
sounds, rudis indigestaque molest
These observations have grown to such a length, that
we must defer our analysis of Mr. Silas's work for a
future number. In the meanwhile, without exposing
ourselves to the lues Boswelliana, a disease said by
Macaulay to infect those who, in admiration of some
idol, proffer their praise in such indiscriminate abun-
dance, as Boswell rendered to Johnson, we may con-
sistently aver, that no sonata possessing the same high
promise, and deserving the same claim upon the atten-
tion of connoisseurs and artistes, has issued from the
press since the publication of the sonatas of Beethoven.
We sincerely hope that a composer so young, enriched
with such large acquirements, and gifted with such rare
powers and surpassing abilities, will neither seek nor
shun distinction, and that his genius may find fame only
as he can meet it in his progress so the highest attain-
ment of his art, for a few such works as this sonata
must bear the name of the composer to a bright im-
mortality. S. K. E.

* Some opinion may be formed of the relative estimate
of Beethoven's works at the period of their publication and
the present time, from the fact, that, out of the numerous
editions that have lately appeared, a larger sum has been
paid by a firm to an artiste in London for the mere revision
of their edition than the composer, with a few exceptions,
received for the copyright of the original.
As it may not be generally known, it is but an act of
justice to state that this symphony was composed at the re-
quest of the Philharmonic Society, and the commission was
endorsed by a munificent sum.

AUSTRALIAN GOLD DIGGINGS.
The following correspondence, dated August 20,
from the new diggings at Buninyong, appears in one
of the Melbourne papers received yesterday by the
Honduras :

" Buninyong, Wednesday Evening.
" The inhabitants of Geelong are becoming nomadic'
—various tribes from Corio, Chilwell, and Ashby have
sent their deputations, and the denizens of the western
district may be described ere long as dwellers in tents,
as hewers of wood and drawers of water.' Geelong is
going out of town and coming to Buninyong; bricks
and mortar are deserted for tarpaulins, comfort for in-
convenience, ease for hardship, ordinary travail for hard
labour, and all is set at nought and succumbs to the
desire for gold, gold that is to be rent from the bowels
of the earth. Neither rain nor storm overpowers the
desire; the ery is still ' They come, they come.' First,
a party of stragglers trudge through the slough with un-
tiring energy, some few with swag at back,' others
shouldering guns and forming the advance party, a sort
of picket to the baggage coming on; anon a solitary
horseman rides through the township, and asks 'How
far is the diggings?' and so all wend to the caravanserai
at the foot of Hiscock's Diggings,' and swell the gipsy-
looking encampment formed there ; some sanguine,
others desponding, according to temperament, but all
hastening to the same point, with the same desire and
object in view. In the evening the cradle rests, the dip-
pers and the tin dishes are thrown aside for the night,
and horses are turned adrift, and the busy workers have
retired to their tents, the line of which may be seen and
traced by blazing fires. Tea, beef, biscuit, and damper,
all or some of which form the evening refection are then
partaken of, pipes follow, and a deep slumber ends the
eventful day; but ere this period arrives it is necessary
to ascertain the result of their enterprise. I will go to
the nearest cradle first. Good evening, Mr. Bichard;
what luck to-day ? " Well 1.1 don't know; come and
look at it; here it is;' and Bichard pours out the water
from a pannikin, and shows the golden deposit at the
bottom. How much do you say?' Well,l don't know;
shall I say two ounces and a half?' Don't say too
much; suppose you state two and a quarter, and then
you'll be within the mark.' Be it so, said I, ' I want
but the truth,' and so I write.
" Messrs. Bichard and Wilson's party of six, horse
and cart, three days work, 21 ounces, besides specimens
in quartz.
" Messrs. Pattison and Howe's party of four, horse
and cart, three days and a half work, about z oz.
" Mr. Gundry's party of four, horse and cart, two days'
work, 1 or.
" Mr. South's party of three, horse and cart, one day
and a half's work, 1 oz.
I made inquiries of various other parties, but found
that they had not completed their arrangements, or got
their cradles into working operation, in fact the work is
not begun.

1. Many are coming, and some few are leaving, and
others grumbling, but the above statements you may
rely upon as official, received from the mouths of the
parties themselves, and the quantities spccfied seen
with my own eyes; and, if they are not so prolific
as many would desire, I think it is a gratifying fore-
taste of what may be anticipated from a fair trial of
the diggings, which anticipations the eeven rich
specimens I forward in their matrices will guarantee; but
rich as they are, there are many still more so, which may
be seen by examining a perfect gem dispatched by this
mail to Messrs. Young and Shotton by Mr. Veitch. The
specimens ,I forward will challenge comparison with any
yet found. in the Pyrenees, or any other part of Port
Phillip, and there are still finer specimens in the hands
of parties now working on the ground. Many of them
are found every day, sometimes two or three in one
cradle working, and hence I think it may be. deduced
that ere long a rich vein will be hit upon."
The following is another account from the same
locality :
"In my last I reported my arrival here, and gave
what information I had been enabled to collect at
the late hour at which I arrived here. Since that I
have been on the field and have spoken to nearly
every one there, without finding a single per-
son that is doing good. Several are only just
commencing, and of them nothing definite can be stated;
one party of two had procured about a quarter of as
ounce since Friday last, inclusive, and this was the
largest quantity which I saw. The gold is very dense
and pure, far more so than any other native gold I have
seen, and it will, therefore, fetch a higher price in pro-
portion to its purity; bat the people about here have
most inordinate ideas of its value, and imagine that they
will got a price equal to the current rate in London, and
some state variously that they have been offered 725.,
755., and 775. per ounce for it; of course, I advised them
to take the first opportunity of selling at either of these
rates, which are very far beyond the real value. In the
first place, at least les. must be deducted by the buyer
to cover the various expenses of transmission, freight,
insurance, &c., and the coat of reduction and assay; for
I may state, for the benefit of the uninitiated, that gold
is rarely, if ever, found in a state of actual purity,
being always in combination with some other metal,
as silver, iron, tellurium, &c. ; so that the term
' pure' or impure' as commonly used is merely
relative. I hear a great deal on the spot of men
who have collected large quantities of gold, but have
not yet been able to meet with any instances, so that I
feel strongly inclined to 'ignore the bill.' Lest, how-
ever,should exist without my having seen them, I
will they
give leave to move for a new trial, and shall make
further inquiry before I start, for lam going to have
another 'race with the mail,' in order, as before, to send
you by the same post communications from two places,
40 miles distant, by the same post. At present but
little ground has been turned up, and although persons
thavehert
obeoenl tiereli foundil n vainriouthsediornecetiloimnsit,edgoslpdoth. asThnie-
Clunes diggers, who came down here to inspect, won't
look at the place, preferring their hard work, with com-
parative certainty, at the Deop Creek. The carpenters
here are doing
marching
in
a heavy trade in cradles, on what they
call an improved construction; but the plan is demon-
stratively bad, being based on erroneous data."

moDudiasymeEvessciin7,
ford station, at seven r.m , William Rowe, a lad of about 17
lgT. the
M Onut
-
years of age, son of the station-master, was standing on the
asA thec c up gEgNa gT e tr AT
train sv Las°WpnassTsi°n
platform with a lantern, when unfortunately the light went
out, and the night being dark, he walked over the edge,
falling on the rails before the approaching train, which does
not stop at that station. He was immediately missed by his
father, who was standing near, and who was attracted to the
spot where he lay by his groans. Upon being picked up and
placed in the station-house, it was fOlind that the wheels had
passed over both legs in an oblique direction, frightfully
crushing them from the foot as far as the knee joint, and
nearly severing them. Medical aid was instantly procured,
and he was removed to the Lowestoft infirmary, where it
was found necessary to amputate both limbs above the knee
joint, the poor lad having been previously placed under the
influence of chloroform. Up to the preoat time 501110 'lopes
are euyertitiaed of rectrwy.