The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-19 00:00:00

SHAKSPERE TERCENTENARY.

A meeting of the bankers and merchants of the City of
London was held yesterday in the long parlour of the Man-
sion House, for the purpose of hearing addresses from the
Right Hon. W. F. Cowper, M.P., and Mr. W. Tite, M.P.,
relative to the proposed Shakeperian monument. The Lord
Mayor presided ; and amongst others present were the Right
Hon. W. F. Cowper, M.P., Mr. W. Tite, M.P., Mr. Lovell
Reid (master of the Girdlers' Company), the Rev. J. M.
Jephson, the Rev. W. Kirby, Mr. Sheriff Nissen, Mr.
Alderman Besley, Mr. Deputy Elliott. Professor T. L.
Donaldson, Messrs. J. H. Couoh, Fielgeass, G. Cor-
nell, &a.
The LORD MAYOR, in opening the proceedings, said
that at the request of several influential gentlemen of the
City of London and others of the West-end connected with
the movement of the tercentenary of the immortal Slick-
spere he had called the present meeting at the Mansion
House in order that gentlemen connected with the City
might have an opportunity of furthering the efforts which
had already been made for the purpose of raising a suitable
memorial in commemoration of the great dramatist.
31r. COWPER, M. P., having thanked the Lord Mayor
for convening the meeting, proceeded to say that recent
events made it patent to everybody's mind that one of the
great characteristics of the present age was to pay honour,
respect, and reverence to all those who had laboured to
benefit mankind and to elevate the general feeling of their
day. Although they had during the past few days paid
such an infinite amount of homage and respect to that great
Italian patriot who came amongst them as a great sample
of disinterested patriotism, they did not feel any the less
towards Englishmen who had done much for their nation.
The present was a most favourable opportunity of showing
the degree of respect with which Shakspere was held in
their hearts, and the gratitude they felt for the great
services which he had done to this country ; and all
classes joined in expressing their opinion that this op-
portunity of showing their feeling to the greatest
of England's writers should not be allowed to pass. The
working men had shown their desire in a remarkable
manner to join in this great movement, a certain society,
representing upwards of 90,000 of that class, having ex-
pressed their desire to show how strong they felt upon the
subject by holding a great open •air demonstration. A great
deal of talk had been used in discussing various propositions,
and they had now come to the practical point of considering
what could be done with a view to erecting in the metropolis
a monument which should hand down to posterity the feel-
ing of gratitude which mankind now entertained for the
writings of Shakspere. He had been called upon rather
late in the day, with a few friends, to endeavour to give a
practical turn to the subject, and to consider how they could
best erect a statue of Shakspere in the metropolis, with
such decorations as the art of the present day could supply,
which would ho an honour both to the country and to the
name of the man they sought to celebrate. They knew
that around that centre of the metropolis there werenumber-
less persons who were always ready to respond to the call of
the chief magistrate of the City whenever he proposed to
them to join any good work, and to give their support,
which the City of London was always ready to give to any
movement in honour of its country. (Hear, hear.) When
the matter was fairly brought before the wealthy citizens of
London he felt assured that it would be immediately taken
up by them, and that they would show themselves amongst
those who desired to cultivate intellectual works. The
scheme which had been proposed was one for placing a
statue in one of the chief thoroughfares of the metropolis,
and after considering various sites they had come to the
conclusion that an open space near Piccadilly would afford
a very admirable position for a handsome structure.
It was proposed that the statue should be adorned with
all the art and skill which could be commanded, and
that it should be placed at the side of Piccadilly on the
borders of the Green Park, where it would be seen from
both the parks as well as from one of the great thorough-
fares. Funds had been raised sufficient to erect an ordinary
statue, but the question now was whether it should be
one worthy of the occasion, or one which all would after-
wards deplore. He was convinced that when the matter
was brought before the wealthy inhabitants of the City
they would find no difficulty in raising funds for the purpose
of raising a memorial worthy of the City and the man whom
they wished to commemorate. They gave their guarantee
that the design of the statute and the canopy under which
it was to stand would be open to competition, and that con-
sequently there would be no favouritism or partiality what-
ever. Judges would be appointed, and every effort made to
secure a work worthy of the occasion and of the present
day, and ho hoped that by April 23 the committee would
have every arrangement made, and the work would be so
far advanced as to form a suitable and appropriate way of
celebrating the occasion. He might here state that the
executive committee had undertaken their duties with ex-
clusive reference to the statue, and all the money which
they had received would be devoted to the purpose of erect-
ing a memorial which should be a permanent honour and
an evidence of the feeling of the people of the present day
towards William Shakspere.
"

Mr, TITE M.P., expressed his obligation to the chair-
man for the manner ia which he had received the sugges-
tions of the committee, remarking that there were various
suggestions as to the class of memorial which should be
erected, amongst which was one for erecting a monument
in the snape of a theatre, but it had been resolved that it
should consist of a bronze statue enshrined in a small
building, of which they had already excellent examples in
that of the Prince Consort in London and that of Sir
Walter Scott in Edinburgh. They had already received
between £2,000 and £3,000, but they wanted to increase
that amount to a considerable sum. It had been said that
a great deal was being done at Stratford-upon-Avon, With
that, however, they had nothing to do. Bat whilst wish-
ing that work every success he thought it would be be-
coming of the metropolis to have a monument in honour
of so great a man. It was unnecessary to occupy the time
of the meeting with declarations that a monument was
desirable, for that might be taken as conceded on all hands;
and it was, therefore, only desirable that they should obtain
from the citizens of London all the assistance which they
could render towards forwarding that really national work.
He hoped some gentleman would move the appointment of
a committee for that purpose, and he had no doubt they
would soon have the means of erecting something which
would be both creditable to the metropolis and to the great
man they were about to honour.
Mr. DILLON said it was needless for him to make any
remarks, but in moving the resolution which had been
placed in his hands he would simply say of Slaakspere—as
had been prophesied in his own time, " that he was not for
an age, but for all time." He concluded by moving a reso-
lution to the effect that the following gentlemen, with power
to add to their number, be appointed a committee for the
purpose of airing in raising subscriptions for erecting the
Elliott, Mr. W. Tito, M.P.,
statue:—Sheriffs Nissen and Cave, Aldermen Bes,ey, De-
putythe Rev. W. Kirby, Messrs. Brewer Cousins, Dillon, Hill,
E. H. Lawrence, and Dr. Reid,
The motion was seconded
by
Mthr.e
sihteevri.a.D.
Nissen,
iMesoenr:imaner,
and
after a few remarks from Air. Field, carried unanimously.
The proceedings were then brought to a close with a vote
of thanks to the chairman.

The Ocean Mail Service.

SOUTHAMPTON, Monday.—The Royal Mail Company's
steamship Atrato, Captain F. Woolley, sailed hence to-day
with the West India and Pacific mails and 103 passengers,
among whom are Chief Justice Sharpe, Capt. Wise, Lieut.
Cooper, and Surgeon M'Dermott for Barbadoes. She takes
out £13,880 in specie (of which £10,200 is silver and £3OO
gold coin from France), English jewelry value £2,215,
French jewelry value L3,Slin
---) and a full cargo of British
and foreign merchandise. Advises from Bremen have been
received by the agents of the North German Lloyd at this
port stating that the Hansa steamer, which arrived at Cowes
last Thursday morning from New York, on her way to
Bremen, arrived off Wangenrooge, at the mouth of the river
Weser, at 7 o'clock on Friday evening, when she was
brought to by some shots fired from the Danish frigate Niels
Juel, which was cruising. in the Channel some time since
looking after German vessels. Capt. von ;Santee imme-
diately stopped his ship, and sent off a boat to the frigate,
with the chief officer of the Hansa and the ship's papers.
The papers having been examined by the captain of the
Niels Juel, they were returned to the chief officer, and the
steamer was allowed to proceed on to Bremen. It will be
remembered that the Hansa and the other steamers of the
North German Lloyd running between Bremen, Southamp-
ton, and New York were some time since transferred to the
Russian flag. Some interesting data, illustrative of the con-
tinued improvements making in the construction of marine
engines, to accomplish the great desideratum of combining
a high rate of speed with economy in the consumption of
fuel, is afforded by the first voyage to and from Alexandria
of the Peninsular and Oriental Company's last new screw
steamer the Baroda, which arrived here on Saturday night.
The actual steaming time of the Baroda outwards was as
follows •—Southampton to Gibraltar, 94i hours ; Gibraltar
to Malta, 81± hours; Malta to Alexandria, 681 hours—
total, 2431 hours. Homewards--Alexandria to Malta,
761 hours ; Malta to Gibraltar, 86± ; Gibraltar to South
ampton, 113—total, 2751 hours. The voyage out and home
was therefore accomplished in 519± hours, during which
time she consumed 831 tens of coals, and that this marks a
great improvement will be seen by a comparison with pas-
sages made by three other fast steamers of the company's
fleet, viz. :—The Delta (paddle) made the voyage out and
home in 550 hours, burning 1,395 tons of coals ; the Malta
(screw) in 605 hours, burning 1,539 tons; and the Ceylon

(term) in 546 hours, burning 1,489 tons. The dietance
from Southampton to Gibraltar is 1,151 miles; Gibraltar to
Malta, 981 miles; and Malta to Alexandria, 819 miles;
being a total of 2,951 miles, or 5,902 for the voyage out and
home. The steamship Delhi, Captain J. R. Kellock, sails
hence on 'Wednesday, with the Calcutta, China, and Aus-
tralian mails, and the Bavaria, Captain H. Taube, on the
same day, with German and English mails for New York.
The America, Captain Wesse.s, is due on Thursday, with
mails of the 91h inst from New York. The Germania,
Captain Ehlels, which was to leave New York on the 2J,
and was expected here last Thursday, has not (six p.m.)
been reported.

ST. PETERSBURGII, April 16.—The Bank ho
reduced to 5 per cent. its discount of three months'
bills, and 51 per cent. for those of six months, and
UA advances qtl merchandise and securities,