The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-21 00:00:00

Z7IIIOIIETER.

This day at Two o'clock 65

Barometer-30,02.
WIND—W. ; fresh breeze, and fine,

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tn's DAL—Morning, 2h. 47m.—Aftertoon, 3h. 10m.
10-110E-80`,7.-Moraing, 3h. 32m.—Afternoon, 3h. 58m.

„ _

A, ~,

LONDON, 7 IiES DAY, JUNE 21, 1864.

The wonderfal:y ingenious series of contrivances
by which the Government have scycleverly managed
to tide over the chief pert of the session, have left,
even now, in this
.third week of June, at any rate,
one very distinct alternative still at the command
of the Hausa of Commons. The House has, in the
matter of Denmark, up to this present time, beeA
treated quite •systematically by the Government
most superciliously—we had nearly said most
contnmelious!y. It has been " put of"' by
a suceesion of evasions of vhich we be-
lieve that the records of " Hansard" furnish
riii*varallei. It was denied the papers first of all.
It is no A virtually prohibited from having a glance
at the protocols. The Cabinet has been consistent 1

at least in one thing, -namely, in declining to fur-
nish one syllable of frank or manly explanation.
No matter whence the inquiries came to them,
whether the interrogator' rose on the side
of the Opposition or on the Government
side, either from a back bench or below
the gangway, he was safe to obtain one
invariable kind of reply, which, of course,
amounted to no reply at all : namely, a repetition
literally usque ad nauseam of that evasive phrase
glibly articulated all through the session with such
"damnable iteration "—to wit, that it would be
indiscreet, as yet, to utter a syllable more about it !
And so the longest day has come, and Parlia-
n'a even tow, has not had vouchsafed to it
one word of rational explanation. To-morrow
in all human probability, the Conference will meet
for positively the last time. On Sunday next, the
period of the supplementary fortnight's armistice
will come to an end. Monday next, in all likeli-
hood,•will be signalised by the recommencement of
hostilities. The Government laughing in their
sleeves the while at having thus adroitly rendered
the session so far nugatory in the matter so long
that the dog-days are felt to be close at
hand, and the time of the grouse-shooting almost j
one might sey beginning even now to be sighted.
Late though it is in the session, late though it is,
in other words, in the season—one alternative hap-
pily still remains, as we have just now intimated, in
the safe keeping of the House of Commons, in the
grasp, at the command of her Majesty's Opposition.
And the observation we would speak of is simply
this—Ezther to force on at last a fall and complete
discussion of what has' hitherto been shirked so
completely by the Government—Or, supposing that
discussion still to be evaded by Ministers on the
plea of indiscretion, to petition her MAJESTY not to
prorogue Parliament until the Foreign Policy
of the Government, more particularly in this matter
of Denmark, shall have been brought under the
consideration of her faithful Commons. For one
thing or the other, the country will hold the House
of Commons responsible. Either, these momentous
subjects for discussion must be discussed at once,
route qui mute, Or measures must be taken for pro •
longing the session beyond the usual period of the
grouse shooting, until the Legislature shall have
had an opportunity of discussing the foreign
policy of the Government.

When Captain SEMMES' spirited vindication of
his course as captain of the Alabama appeared so
recently it was not anticipated by many that the
career of that gallant little vessel was so near its
close, and that but one more signal event was to be
added to its chronicles. The intelligence that has
just arrived will be a source of great regret to
many who have watched the progress of this
famous vessel, and admired the daring and intrepi-
dity which have signalised her men. It is seldom
that so much interest has been fixed and so much
attention centred in one vessel, and in the annals of
naval history it is certain that the Alabama has
some peculiar and distinguishing features which
will for ever set it apart in the :memory of all who
have takes cognisance of her striking incidents. It
was not to be expected that such a course could go
on long with impunity, and perhaps the real
wonder is that before this we have not received the
intelligence of her defeat or capture. It is entirely
owing to consummate daring and the most consider-
able skill in management that up till now this little
vessel has walked the waters like a thing of life,
spreading destruction on her track, striking terror
among all who encountered her, and while triumph-
antly sweeping the seas filling the minds of those
on shore with amazement and admiration. Those
who perused Captain SEMMES' communication will
have seen the straits to which he and his crew
were reduced, and the difficulties that they had to
contend with, in consequence of the very unfair and
unusual course adopted by Earl RUSSELL with re-
gard to the dealings of this country in the matter
of the vessels of the belligerents sending prizes into
our ports. If counted by the span of time the
Alabama has had but a short life, bat the chronicles
of fame take no note of weeks or months, and,
according to this calendar, her existence has
not been small nor insignificant. She has been
hard at work from the outset, through all the
storms and conflicts of her fitful course,
until she has sunk gallantly fighting to the
last, the ruling spirit strong in death. It was no
tame and easy victory, no playing at fighting, that
ensued when this pride of the Confederate navy
went down into the great waters, an which she had
played so conspicuous a part, and where her hard•
earned laurels had been won. When the mheer
events of this long and arduous conflict ,etween
the States of North America are put inns the shade
of oblivion, there will stand out conspicuous the
feats of the Alabama, and the memory of this
vessel will survive as an example of what may be
achieved by daring and dexterity. Conclusive as
the details afforded by the various accounts un-
doubtedly are, it may be said that they are not w holly
unsatielectory to the friends and admirers of the
diseingnished vessel. They may read events which
would-not disgrace a ship of far more power and
magnitude. There was no wavering nor hesitation,
but the greatest energy and spirit were evinced
throughout the conflict, which was sharp, short, and
severe, In some respects this was a fitting end for
a vessel that has throughout its whole career been,
as it were, a thing per se and totally distinct from
others. It was as well that a startling finale
should succeed to a course that was alone in its
strung© outset,
and unmatched in its meridian biters,
of day and triumphant tide of success. Whiin the
Federals will . .
reloice without stint at this fulfil-
ment of their
hunea,theiropponents wt in reserve to
themselves the right of satisfaction
the gallantry
which marked the closing no.'s of this strange affair.
Death and defeat towered, around the Alabama as
she sunk under 7,rater, her deck covered with dead
and dying-, out dishonour was
not there; and it
may, enerefore, be said that, in
Some respects, this
iaefittte but dashinglyingtermination tcoa venture which was
despraled out, which was
fraught with hazard, and where the chances could
not always be on the side of gain. It seems that
there was considerable difference in the advantages
of the two vessels, the Kearsage beingchain-plated
under her outside planking. Those on board the
Alabama were not aware of this circumstance. It
appears at first sight that Captain SEMMES was
rash 'in thus engaging the Kearsage; but there is
no doubt that he had some reasons for so doing, from
the fact of his sending his valuables on shore pre-
viously to entering on the momentous struggle,
such conduct seems to prove that it was not fool•
hardiness et all events that urged him on, but the ,
conviction that the exigencies of the case demanded
the venture of whose issue he was doubtful. it will
be a source of satisfaction to nearly ail who peruse
the details, that the gallant captain has been saved,
not only that his life has been preserved, but that
he has
from past experience,
been preserved from his enemies. Judging
the Federals were not likely
to show much consideration to a foe who had done
them so much mischief and always seemed so im-
possible to catch. Certainly the laurels of the
contest are all on the side of the Confederates, and
which ever way we lock at things courage and
constancy seem to belong to them exclusively. The
career of the Alabama has been a romance from
the outset, all tirx exploits and adventures that

appertain to her history read more like one of those
tales which used to delight an earlier generation
than the records of doings which belong to this
laggard age. Su far then there is not C., much to
regret in the sudden end of this celebrated vessel--
she seems to have fulfilled the intention of her crew,
and not to have left a wreck behind for her foes to
triumph over. Doubtless there will be most ex-
treme rejoicing in New York when the news of
Sunday's conflict reaches there, but they must
remember that instead of now boasting at the
victory they might consider the length of time that
it has taken to catch this terror of their navy. The
end must come to all triumphs, and the end of
the Alabama has not been a mean or unworthy
close to a career of daring and adventure. She has
gone down to an ocean grave -fighting valiantly,
with courage undaunted, and zeal that knew no
abatement. if we lament that her victories are
o'er, that the skilful little craft can no more plough
the waves, there remains other points of satisfac-
tion to mitigate the regret, and the crew who so
gallantly defended her will rejoice that she is safe
under the great waters from the grasp of a cruel
foe, and may not serve their triumphs when they
return to tell their friends of the fight and victory.

Alderman SALOMON'S Bill for purchasing South•
wark and Waterloo Bridges appears to have given
rise to some dissatisfaction on the part of the rate-
payers of The metropolis. The bill which the
Alderman has introduced into Parliament is de-
signed to facilitate the passage of traffic across the
Thames within the metropolis, and it is proposed
that power should be given to the Metropolitan
Board of Works to purchase any one or more of the
seven proprietary bridges within the area of their
jurisdiction, and to levy a rate not exceeding a
penny in the pound for the purpose of defraying
the expense of such purchase, the power to levy the
rate being granted until January Ist, 1884. This
does not appear to be by any means an unjust or
extravagant scheme. It is evident from the very
fact of there being seven proprietary bridges within
the are of the metropolis that there is great need
of some reform. These bridges give rise to very
great inconvenience on the part of the poorer classes,
a fast sufficiently proved by the thinness of the
population in their vicinity. The toll, too, has the
injurious effect of encouraging the overcrowding
of the busy thoroughfares on the Middlesex side,
since labouring men and others, who are forced to
live near their work, object to adding the amount of
the weekly toll to their rent. If a warking man
has to pass to and fro even twice a day, the
amount will be sixpence a week, and sixpence
a week makes a good deal of difference in four or
five shillings rent. Where the men go home to
dinner, &c., the amount is, of course, doubled, and
so they crowd their families away on the north side
of the river, while the south in many parts remains
comparatively bare, Ratepayers have a good right
and rod cause to watch jealously any addition to
their burdens, but in the present instance their
opposition is scarcely well-founded, seeing that
they themselves will participate in the relief. It
is most probable that by far the greater number of
ratepayers have occasion to cross some of the toll
bridges several times in the course of the year, and
if they do so in vehicles they are now paying an
amount which is nearly equal to a moderate rate,
for, ha it is only proposed to purchase one bridge
at a time, the full amount of one penny per pound
need certainly not be levied. Ali the arguments
against turnpikes apply with double farce to toll-
gates on bridges, and it is a most inconvenient and
unsatisfactOry way of levying money. It adds very
much to the confusion at London bridge and other
of our great thoroughfares, since heavy waggons,
&c., are naturally sent by the free bridges, and so
they are overcrowded to a dangerous extent. Ail
the metropolitan highways and byeways should be
free, and the traffic over old Father Thames should
be free also. If we object to impositions on our
trade, and obstructions to our commerce, we should
certainly remove these impediments which come
under both heads, and are entirely opposed to the,
whole spirit of our legislation.

It has always been felt that the claims of moss
who devote their lives to the public se:vice deserve
paramount consideration at the b
ands of the nation.
Soldiers and sailors more especially are entitled to
relief and assistant -in times of sickness and ,dis-
tress, since the, are called upon to sacrifice and to
risk so 133:ach on behalf of their countrymen. Eeg-
lant!,, never slow to acknowledge a claim upon her
gratitude or her kindness, has readily responded to
the wants and requirements of her disabled or
superannuated naval and military servants; and it
Chelsea and Greenwich do not fully accomplish the
works for which they were designed, it is not the
fault of their original founders, nor is it owing to
a want of sympattsr and approbation for their
objects on the part of the public. But until lately
there Was a great lack of care for thesfamilies of
these brave men, and the various institutions and
associations designed to benefit and assist the
soldier, and left • the important work of caring for
those dear to him undone. The soldier's daughter
has an especial claim upon our care, since she is
deprived of the counsel and protection of a father,
perhaps during the most important part of her life,
if he is stationed abroad. She is liable at any
moment to be orphaned by the casualties of man or
the evil influences of en unhealthy climate. An
expedition like the Ashantee affair makes many
orphans, and it is not too much to oxpeat that the
nation shall care for those helpless ones whom the
soldier has left behind him. The Soldier's
Daughter's Home, at Hampstead, was provided
eight years ago, for the purpose of educating and
providing for soldiers' daughters. It was opened
under the auspices of the late Prince Consort, and
has been patronised by many distinguished per-
sons; still it is unsatisfactory to find that at
the annual meeting held on the anniver-
sary of its opening on Saturday last,
the report stated the number of annual subscrip-
tions to be diminished. The financial condition of
the house is at present good, but its progress rests
on an insecure foundation, unless the annual sub-
scribers hold their ground. The practical workieg
of the Institution is very satisfactory. The girls
who have left it are doing well in the world; one
of them has gained a scholarship, and is in training
for a schoolmistress ; others are in service and
attended to and receive prizes for good conduct,
while the average number in the house is 162. A
proof of the great need that exists for such an
establishment is given by the fact that more than a
hundred applications have been refused for want of
funds. It is gratifying to find that soldiers them-
selves appreciate its value, since we are told that
con tributicns from regiments are on the increase,
and the committee have wisely resolved on grant-
ing to regiments contributing a requisite sum the
privilege Jake oof nominating regimental scholars. The
WeLLINGToN, and other gentlemen who
attended the
meeting, desirous of putting the
regular income of the institution on a better feet-
. that a good many
ing, increased the amount of their annual subserip.
givingitniut:rse,stthienreitbsysueces. We hope s practical evidence of their
others will follow their example, since the import-
auce of protection and regular training for soldiers'
daughters must be vident to all. It has become

the wise and prudent custom of late years, when
striving to benefit any particular class, to assist the
young belonging to it. Thus not only relieving
the chief anxiety and lightening the labours of the
parents, but conferring lasting good on another
generation. Little encouragement has been hitherto
given to our soldiers to form domestic ties, but in
the present day we are trying to make emends in
some degree for the errors of the past, and certainly
an Institution like the one alluded to effords not
only satisfaction for the present, but hope for the
future.

Mr. Benedict's Morning Concert,

Yesterday this pre-eminently great musical event
of the season—among.all the fashionable concerts of
the year the most conspicuous and the m )st fashion-
able—duly came cff according to announcement. As
any one might very
confidently beforehand have pre-
dicted would inevitably be the case—the whole mag-
nificent area of the St. James's Hall was thronged
by a thoroughly appreciative audience—the pick of
the friends and admirers -of Mr. Jules Benedict.
The majority of those assembled together yesterday
in evidence of this most accomplished musician's
popularity, the eye recognised at a glance to be of
the gentler sex—the appearance of the interior of
the building, alike on the well filled level of the hall
and in the crowded balconies, resembling parterres,
the flowers of whiuh were represented by—to say
nothing of the faces—gossamer bonnets and light
and delicate coloured toilettes of every hue and
shade of a hue well imaginable. Leaving the hall,
as we did four hours and a half after the con-
cert had commenced, we yet left almost one fifth
of the wonderfully ample programme still to be got
through. It was then close upon six p.m,, and
the entertainment had begun punctually, according
to announcement, at half-past one in the afternoon!
The performance, consequently, could hardly by
any possibility, we should imagine, have contrived
be over until past seven o'clock in the evening. The
fact being, that Mr. Benedict was altogether too
bountiful in his arrangements. It was not so much
a Grand Concert, as it was two or three Grand
Concerts rolled into one. Never was there a more
conspicuous illustration of the possibility of giving
too much of a good thing. The mere time occupied
was more than twice too long. People began drop-
ping out at; last by twos and threes, and at length
by dozens and by scores, beca-ase in this feast of
sweat sounds they had already long before its close
been fairly surfeited. The mere catalogue of
the names of the perforneets, alike vocal
and instrumental, was something extraordinary,
something quite exceptional. To enumerate simply
the most conspicuous of the great names on the
list, there were Signor Giuglini, Signor Gardoni,
Signor Delle Sedie, Signor Bettiui, Mr. Sims Reeves,
Mr. Santley, Dr. z, Herr Fricke, Madlle. Car-
lotta Patti, Madlle. Bettleheim, Madlle. Leschetizki,
Madame Parepa, Madlle. Volpini, Madlle. Trebelii,
and Madame Sainton Dolby. There were two such
violinists as Herr Joachim and Herr Wieniawski,
and those two for once in their lives playing to-
gether a concertant duet of Ludwig Spolar's—a noble
competition ! Each of the two great artists, if not
to the other " a foeman worthy of his steel," cer-
tainly a rival worthy of his horsehair. No less than
five pianists--namely, Mr. Benedict, himself,
with Madame Arabella Goddard, and Mr.
G. A. Osborne, together with two of the youth-
tul pupils of Mr. Benedict, pupils as creditable to
him es Master Frederick Cowen and Miss Eleanor
Ward. A violincellist, as gifted es Signor Piatti,
who fairly surpnEssd himself in his exquisite per-
formance of one of his own fantasies on that noble
instrument. Added to these distinguished solo
performers, whether vocalists or instrumentalists,
there were a throng of others, aided by a most
efficient orchestra, and in the choral parts by the
well-drilled members of the Vocal Association. Mr.
Benedict himself assiduously presiding over the
whole of the elaborate arrangements of this
most prodigal of musical entertainments.
Selections from same of the greatest masters of
the diville art made up the bulk of the entertain-
ment. Beethoven's glorious overture to Fidelio led
off the performances, we might almost say without
any eztravEigance of phrase, sumptuously. Next
came one of the loveliest among the many lovely
treats provided for his numerous friends and ad
mirers by Mr Benedict, at this in every way memo-
rable benefit of his—the performance by the Vocal
Association, to the accompaniment of the grand
organ, of Arca ere's wondrously beautiful "Ave vernm
corpus nature." Listening to it with closed eyes, we
almost smelt the incense and felt spirited away
from teat gay haunt of fashion to one of the grand
o.lcl Gothic cathedrals upon the continent. Auber's
delicious duet, " Dans les defiles des Montagnes,"
from "Lea D:amants de la Ceuronne," was so charm-
ingly given by the Mademoiselles Georgi that it
was the first encore. A brilliant success has to be
here notified as having been achieved yesterday in
the James's Hall by Madame Harriers-Wippern.
whose dazzling delivery of the famous aria and
scene from Weber's haunted and haunting " Dcr
Freysclaii'z," "Wie nahte mir der Schlummer," was
applauded by the audience with a sort of enthu

slum. Signor Clinglines inimitable zenderiog
Benedict's own bawitchino,b little romanzi, "Figlie

d'Erina," from The Lily of Killarney, necessitated
its repetition. In its every articulate sound it

breathed evidence conclusive of the skill of the
consummate artist. It, is a particularly noticeable
circumstance in regard to Mr, Benedict's concert
yesterday, that in the midst of his immense array
of miscellaneous pieces, it comprised within its com-
pass the whole of that distinguished musician's
own cantata, " Richard Cceur de Lion." A
production admirably performed throughout,
and no wonder, remembering. who were the
artists among whom the four characters were
distributed—Madame Parepa being the Ma-
tilda, Madame Sainton-Dalby, the Page Urbain
Mr. Santley, Richard Car de Lion himself, and
Mr. Sims Reeves, Blonde!, the Troubadour. After
the completion of the Cantata, Madame Arabella
Goddard played with wonderful delicacy and

dexterity variations upon Ariel's r erial fairy-Bong,
"Where the Bee Sucks, there lurk I,"
exquisitely
arranged for the pianoforte by Mr. Benedict. After-
wards coming, another of Benedict's arrangements,
not for a e pianoforte this time, but for the voice,
and for such a voice as it happened, C_lrlotta Patti's
—namely Schulhof" s introduction to the famous
Carnival de Venice. A carnival of delicious sounds
it was—a pelting of sugarplum notes—fountains,
cascades of them, shining upon the senses as the
radiant young
soprano sang. It was doing with
o
the voice what the prestidigitateur does with his
exquisitely
little
hands. It was, if one might say so, a feat of leger-
de t;
do
oixn.:
hiswo word
in fee,
dulcet
pa-
thetic rendering
romance, "Le Chemin du Paradis"—one of the
admiration
and
Gris due to Signor
of Blumenthal's delicious
very loveliest little French ditties ever dreamt
of by poet or musician, for all it is so simple
both in idea and in melody. Compelled
though we are to pass by unnoticed so much
that was undoubtedly entitled to notice in this
truly remarkable concert, we would at least men-
tion in regard to it, that as it commenced nobly
with Beethoven's overture to Fidelio, it closed as
grandly, in its way, with the glorious " Wedding
March" of Mendelssohn.

PISHOP OF LONDON'S FUND.--Dr. Stanley, Dean
of Wes,mineter, has consented to preach on behalf of this
fund on Sunday morning next, at St. Matthew's, Spring-
gardens.
THE SCENE OF SCOTT'S `4 QUF,NTIN DURWARD.'
—The ancient castle of Plessy-les- Tours (Indre-et-Loire),
where Louis XI. resided and died, and in which the early
scenes of Scotes "Quentin Durward" are laid, is said to
have been lately purchased by a Paris agent de change, who
intends restoring it in the style of the period.
THE REPRESENTATION OF lIUDDERSFIELD.
A circular has been forwarded to the supporters of Mr
Akroyd, of Halifax, at the last Huddersfield election, in-
viting them to attend a meeting at the George Hutel, Hud-
dersfield, on Tuesday evening, to hear an " important
communication" from Mr Akroyd respecting the future
representation of thet town. Speculation is rife as to the
nature of the communication referred to; and it is thought
not unlikely that Mr Akroyd is intending to retire from
the field in favour of a gentleman resident in Hudders-
field, whose name has of late been freely mentioned as a
probable candidate for Parliamentary honours—ll/anchester
Courier,