The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-11 00:00:00

RUSSIAN ARMOUR-PLATES.

On Saturday afternoon the first of a series of
enormous iron bars, ordered to be rolled by the
Miliwall Iron Company for the Russian Govern-
ment for the construction of a powerful iron fort at
Cronstadt, was rolled most successfully in the pres
sence of a large number of visitors. It is now some
years since efforts have been made to induce our
own and various Governments to sanction the adop-
tion of iron instead of granite in important land
forts; but it is only recently, and since the con-1
struction of the ironclads have proved the value of
the system, that the proposal has been entertained.
Armour-plates of immense thickness are now being
made at Messrs. Brown and Co.'s Works at Sheffield
for the Belgian Government, to be used in the
construction of some additional iron defences at
Antwerp. France, it is said, intends similar works
on all the more important points of Cherbourg's
sea defences, and now Russia has ordered the
materials for an iron fort at Cronstadt. The enor-
mous advantages which iron possesses over stone,
not alone in its utter impregnability, but in allowing
the guns the widest range while limiting the open-
ing of the embrasure to little more than the width
of the muzzle of the ordnance, has long been seen,
and the general adoption of iron for land defences
has only been checked by the difficulties of manu-
facturing such enormous masses sound throughout.
But, with the experience gained in the manufacture
of our armour-plates, the great foundries through.
out the kingdom are improving every day, and con-
tracts are now eagerly sought for which, four years
ago, every firm would have refused, as requiring
manufacturing impossibilities. The bars rolled at
these works on Saturday, however, were in advance
again upon what has been hitherto done, and the
result was looked forward to with some doubt,
for each bar when delivered was to weigh six tons,
to be 15 inches square, to be tongued and grooved
in the rolling, and to be perfect in its soundness
throughout. The furnaces were opened at 3 o'clock
and the immense mass of metal was drawn forth on
to an iron truck, heated to a brilliancy that was
almost blinding inits intense whiteness, and in-
stantly changing the temperature of the vast fac-
tory to a scorching sulphurous heat that was insup-
portable. Directly it was out, workmen, shielding
their faces as they best could, swept the impurities
from its surface with long 'brooms soaked in water,
but which nevertheless lit like tow the instant they
came in contact with the iron, which was sparkling
like a gigantic firework. It was then let down the
incline to where the rollers, turned by one of the
largest fly-wheels in the kingdom—more than 100
tons weight, and nearly 40ft. in diameter--was
waiting to crush the mass into its required form.
This was the critical moment; for an instant or
two the rollers failed to grip it, but at last they
caught it, and the whole machinery moved slower,
as amid loud cheers from the workmen they began
to wind it in. As it was slowly crushed through,
the refuse melted iron was squirted out in showers
in all directions, and as the mass emerged from the
rollers on the other side it lit up everything with a
bright, lambent flame, said to be caused by the pres-
sure to which the bar was subjected. This was
only the first roll, but it had to be passed through
three times to reduce it to its proper thickness. It
was not, however, as in the case of ordinary armour-
plates, a mere question of reduction, as these bars
have to be rolled, tongued, and grooved to fit into
each other. Thus in the rolling they have to over-
come all the peculiar difficulties of their construction
almost in two operations, which must be done while
is in a half melted state, or the whole is spoilt. The
bars, as we have said, are 15 inches square, but each
of these presents a most difficult section. In the
first place the lower part of the bar has a projecting
rib, and in the upper part is a groove, corresponds
ing in size with the rib on the lower half, so that
may fit into the groove of
the projection of one bar
the one beneath, thus making a solid dove-tailed
wall of iron. Beyond these, also, is a rid at the back
of the bar, formed to dovetail again into projecting
masses of iron in the rear supports of the fort, and
in the process of rolling all these departures from a
plane and smooth surface have to be formed, and to
be formed with so much accuracy that each part fits
into the other without the necessity of any machine
planing of surfaces. To give to the mass of metal
the required section the rollers of the mill are
grooved where the raised surface is required, and
sunk to produce the projecting ribs. It took three
rolls on Saturday before all was finished, and at the
completion of each the workmer, who seemed in-
tensely interested in the success of the experiment,
cheered loudly. The last operation was effected by
lifting the bar into a bed, so to speak, made be-
tween two masses of iron, and then passing over it
an enormous iron roller, which removed the curved
form the bar had received in passing between the
rollers. Now that the success of the first bar has
been achieved, the rolling of the others will go on
every day until the whole order is completed. When
the fort is erected in Russia it is intended to test

Sir,—The balloon left the earth at 4h. 7m. p.m.;
in three minutes it was I,oooft. high, and moved
very evenly upward, at the rate of I,oooft. in three
or four minutes, to the height of 11,000 ft. at 4h.
38m.; it descended at the rate of 500 ft. per minute,
till we were within 1,500 ft. of the earth at 4h. 59m. ;
we then descended very slowly, were I,oooft. high
at sh. 4ra., and reached the ground at sh. 18m. We
were accompanied by our friend Mr. F. Norris, who
has been up with us on several occasions.
During the whole day the sky was overcast, and
the wind was from the S.E. ; on leaving we at once
crossed over the river to Essex; at the height of
500 ft. the air was very misty, and the view very
limited, but Woolwich Dockyard, the town of
Woolwich, the river under us, the numerous ship-
ping, with so many upturned faces from their decks,
formed a very pleasing and interesting sight. The
mist increased in density as we rose. When at
2,500 ft. we entered a dense white cloud, and shortly
afterwards lost sight of the earth ; at 3,500 ft. there
was a very thin fine rain ; at 4,000 ft. the clouds
were less in density, and there was a great increase
of light ; at 4,500 ft. we saw the sun faintly, but
there was more cloud above; at 5,000 ft. the sun
cast a faint shadow, but we were still in cloud,
which decreased :in density as the balloon rose.
When at B,looft. high we felt the wind press against
us with a sensible pressure, and inferred that there
was another change of the wind, but we had no
means whatever of determining the direction from
which it came; the mist again increased till the
height of 9,000 ft. was reached ; we here heard*
a train and supposed we were over the Chelms
ford line of railway. At the height of 9,500 ft.
the sun shone very brightly, and it was
quite warm ; at 10,000 ft. we were entirely out of
cloud, and there was a sea of white cloud dazzling
in its brightness, extending without a break or irre-
gularity in its surface as far as we could see all
round—that is, for more than 100 miles on all sides,
Near to us on the cloud, on the side opposite to the
sun, was a Wright oval halo of immense extent, in
the centre of which was situated the shadow of the
balloon and car, but without prismatic colours; this
all appeared to revolve with us, for it was constant,
and we knew we were turning round by the sun
now shining at our backs and then in our faces ; at
the greatest elevation (11,000 ft.) there was perfect
repose, the sky was without a cloud, and of a beau•
tiful deep blue. We were, however, quite baffled
in our attempts to determine our direction, as we
could not see any inclination in the grapnel line.
Mr. Coxwell had been watching the weather all
day, and once during a break in the lower clouds he
had sent up a pilot balloon, which had moved to-
wards the east when at a high elevation, and, con-
necting this with the current we had met with, ho
had begun to fear that the railway we had heard
might be the Southend railway, and, if so, we were
drifting out to sea. He therefore determined to
take a dip downwards without delay, before attempt.
ing a higher elevation, so that if we found ourselves
over water we might have gas enough to keep up
for some time. We began the dip downwards, the
sky continued of a deep blue, the air free from mist,
and the sun hot, till we approached the height of
7,000 ft. and at 6,000 ft. we lost sight of the sun, and
were in a dense white cloud at 5,500 ft, high ; when
at 3,000 ft. fine rain fell and we caught sight of the
earth at the height of 2,500 ft. ; we expected to find
ourselves over Essex, but hills and a beautiful un.
dulating country presented theraselves, and it was
evident we were at fault.

Mr. Cox well then decided upon anchoring, and we
did so on the outskirts of a pine plantation, near
Sevenoaks, in Kent, on the estate of the Marquis
Camden, and we found the direction of the wind
here S.E., the mule direction as at starting. The
temperature of the air was 46 deg. on leaving, at
the height of I,oooft it was 411 deg., at 1,500 ft it
was 40 deg., at 2,000 ft, 37 deg.; at 3,000 ft it was
34 deg.; from 3,500 ft to 4,000 ft there was no varia-
tion from 33 deg.; this was the lowest temperature
met with ; at 5,000 ft the temperature increased to
36 deg., and did not change for 500 ft, then decreased
to 34 deg. at 6,500 ft, at which point it turned to
increase, and was 40 deg. at B,oooft ; it decreased
to 34 deg. again at the height of 9,000 ft ; it then
increased, on leaving the cloud below, to 36 deg, at
11,000 ft, and rapidly to 46 deg. while between
10,000 ft and 11,00uft high. The highest tempera-
ture observed was at B,oooft, on descending, when
it was 47 deg.; from this point the temperature de-
clined, on descending, to 40 deg., at 1,500 ft high,
being nearly the same as on ascending, and to 46
deg. on the ground.
The temperature of the dew point, or that tem.
perature at which water, is the invisible shape of
vapour, is deposited as water on substances of that
temperature, was 7 deg. below that of the air on
leaving the earth, and this difference waa the same
up to 2,000 ft. It then decreased to 1 deg. on enter-
ing the cloud, and was from 1 deg. to 3 deg. while
in the dense cloud. On leaving it at B,oooft this
difference suddenly increased to 10 deg., and varied
from 14 deg. to 24 deg. between the heights of
8,000 and 11,000 feet, and decreased on again en-
tering the cloud to 5 deg. and 6 deg.
There ware 21 grains of water in a cubic foot of
air near the ground, about two grains in the cloud,
and about one grain only above the cloud.
The humidity of the air, therefore, increased from
the earth to the centre of the cloud, where it Was
all but saturated, and decreased rapidly above the
cloud, where it was very dry.
No osone was detected by Schonbein, Moffat, or
Lowe's papers during the whsle time the balloon was
in the air.

The lines in the solar spectrum were very name.
roue and well defined. The spectrum itself was very
long.

The goat was very uneasy, and continued bleating
till we passed through the cloud and into a warmer
atruospheae, when it was quiet and happy.
This ascent was inteuded to have reached to five
miles high, but in ascending from London or Wool-
wich, Mr. Coxwell's tactics are put to the severest
tests, especially if the sky be overcast as it was on
this day, although the visible mass of vapour floated
away in a north-westerly direction ; yet some indi-
cation during the day led Mr. Coxwell to conclude
that there was an upper westerly current, and it was
this induced him to descend. It is impossible to say
how far we went into Essex, where we re-crossed
the Thames, or how far we penetrated into Sussex,
or if we reached Sussex at all; but it is certain that

On Saturday all the metropolitan bankers, bullion
dealers, and money changers, were served with a printed
notice by the City detective force, at the instance of the
Salvage Association, Lloyd's, offering £3,000 reward for
such information as may lead to the recovery of 68 bars
and 11 boxes of gold, valued at £50,000, stolen from the
treasure in the sunken steamer Golden Gate, off Manza-
millo, near San Francisco. The bills contain an accurate
description of the bars and boxes, with the mark and num-
ber of each bar, the name of the assayer, weight, and value.
Twenty-five were assayed by Messrs. llewston and Co., 16
by Messrs. S. Molitor and Co., 8 by G. W. Bell, 5 by
Messrs. H. Harris and Co., and the remainder by Messrs.
B. C. Gevascy, Greenwood and Newbain, Rodene and
Ruhling. There is also one bag of foreign coin missing,
and several express parcels containing bullion. The Golden
Gate was an American steamer, and was wrecked in July,
1862, when a great loss of life took place. The total amount
of gold and specie on board was about £450,000, consigned
to several firms in New York, London, and Paris, and the
whole of it was insured. The underwriters, on hearing of
the wreck, dispatched a special agent to the scene of the
wreck to recover, if possible, the treasure. After conside-
rable exertions a large amount of the gold was discovered,
but owing to the dangerous character of the currents and
climate a great many lives were lost in the enterprise.
Several expeditions went to the wreck ; some failed, and
others wero unsuccessful, and the gold in question was re-
covered by one party, who immediately decamped with the
valuable store. It is stated, however, that one of the gang
has been arrested. The gold when shipped on board the
Golden Gate was packed in boxes, and marked thus :—F.
A. S., No. 451 ; Lazard Freres, No. 217 ; B. D., No. 12 ;
H. L. and Co., Paris, No. 141; J. A., No. 28 ; B. and Co.,
Paris, No. 4; A. G., No. 1, It is believed that much of
the gold has already arrived in London, and that some con-
signments are expected.

Several Fires and Great Loss of Property,

On Saturday and yesterday several fires took place in
different parts, some being as far as six or even miles from
the others.

One ffre happened at 2 in the morning in the premises of
Mr G. H. Attwood, wholesale clothier, 27, Turnpike-road,
High-street, Stratford. The family and servants had re-
tired to rest, when a constable noticed a flame in the front
shop, He alarmed the inmates and sent off for the
escape and fire engines, several of which quickly attended.
The flames, however, soon fired the whole of the building,
containing about a dozen rooms, and filled with a costly
stock in trade, and were attacking No. 23, belonging to
Mrs Wayland, a milliner, and No 26, belonging to M
H. L. Wayland (private), when plenty of the East London
Company's water having been procured the firemen went
resolutely to work, but the fire could not be extinguished
until the building and the two adjoining were seriously da-
maged by it. The loss will fall upon the Sun and Ulobe
Fire offices.

Another fire occurred on the premises occupied by Mr.
J. Skean, a merino store dealer, 51, Great Alie-street, Good-
man's-fields. The alarm having been given by the police,
Conductor Wood attended with the Whitechapel Royal
Society's fire escape, and found an aged female, of 78 years,
on the landing, whom he succeeded in bringing down in
safety. The steamers by Shand and Mason attended, and
a bountiful supply of the East London Company's water
procured, but in spite of which a building of two floors,
used as stores, at the rear of the dwelling, was burnt out
and the roof destroyed.
A fire, which at ono time threatened very disastrous re•
sults, broke out from some unknown cause in the premises
belonging to Mr. J. Hatton, a cornchandler and seedsman,
situate at 26, Little Portland-street. The flames when first
discovered were raging in the provender lofts over the
stabling. Brigade and other engines attended, and the fire-
men, aided by 60 hired auxiliaries, managed to get the mas-
tery over the fire, but not until several loads of hay and
straw were destroyed, and the building seriously burned.

A SHIP ON FIRE AT BLACKWALL.—About a
quarter before one o'clock a.m. on Saturday, a
telegraphic message was received at the chief station in
Watling. street, that a ship was burning in Messrs. Wig-
ram's Yard, at Blackwell. Capt. Shaw gave orders for the
engines to be despatched from sundry stations, and also
started himself, as did the Duke of Sutherland, Lord
Richard Grosvenor,-M.P., the Hon. Stuart Wortley, Hon.
Captain Howard, and a powerful body of firemen, as well as
the land steamers by Shand, Mason, and Co. Upon reaching
Blackwell, Capt. Shaw found that the outbreak had com-
menced in the large ship under repair named the Princess
of Wales, Capt. Head, of the Eludsoi.'s Bay Company, of
590 tons register, which was burning furiously between the
midships. This large vessel was lying in Messrs.lVigram's
dry dock, and a fire raging amongst such valuable property
and in such a confined place caused great excitement to
prevail, and the floating enginesof the East and West
India Dock Companies were brought alongside the ship, as
well as one of the private engines belonging to the
firm. These were followed by numerous other engines.
The whole of this force was called into operation, and
floods of water discharged upon the flames, but befog eon,
fined below the hatchways it was a work of no little diffi-
culty for the firemen to teach the seat of the conflagration,
and it was found absolutely necessary to scuttle the ship.
Large portions of the ship are destroyed, and she is officially
reported as being severely damaged by fire and the attempt
at scuttling. The origin of the misfortune could not be
learned.

STEAMSHIP COLLISION AND LOSS OF LIFE.-0a
Saturday the particulars were received of a collision
which took place in the East Swin between the Florence
Nightingale and the Admiral, iron screw steamers, resulting
in the immediate foundering of the former and loss of two
of her crew. The Admiral was on her way to Newcastle,
from London, with passengers ; and the Florence Nightin-
gale, a new and powerful steam collier, was on her way
from Sunderland to the Thames, freighted with 600 tons
of coals. Between twelve and one o'clock in the morning
of the 7th, weather fine, the vessels were proceeding in
opposite directions through the East Swin, between the
Gunfleet and Sunk Sand light ship, when the Admiral
struck the Florence Nightingale just abaft the main rigging
on the port side, with such force as to cut her down to the
cabin-house on deck. The ship immediately began to sink,
and in less than six minutes went down in deep water.
Most of the hands succeeded in getting on board the Ad-
miral. The screams of those on board could be heard as
the vessel went down. Th© Admiral's
pororerfesollnosww, bhuothtawveo
boetehnerisa perished. The Admiral sus-
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THE SATURDAY REVIEW ON THE SHAKSPERE
TERCENTENARY DEMONSTRATION.—The fate of the
Shakapere Memorial is the last and drollest effort
of the spirits of malicious fun. Why should this
whole affair have come, in every Varticular, chap-
ter and verse, to such condign and total grief ?
There is nothing at all absurd in the notion of get-
ting up a National Shakapere Monument. On the
contrary, it is a thing to be done. Even a Shakspere
Festival has its precedent—a sufficiently absurd
one, it is trite—iii Garriek's Stratford jubilee, A
Tercentenary glorification haS beau tried so often
that we almost condone its absurdity from the fact
that it is only a stupid plagiarism. In itself, even
the formation of the London Shakspere Committee
was not absolutely ridiculous. Mr, Dixon has won
a name in literature. Mr. Halliwell, the co-secretary,
though not without his fopperies, is a man of great,
if queer, reading. in the antecedehta of even the
London Committee there was nothing on which to
anticipate its ridiculous break-down. We are not
going to repeat its history. It has disappeared,
vanished, exhaled. Like Aubrey's ghost, " being
interrogated, it made no answer," but, un-
like Aubrey's ghost, it has left neither " a
curious perfume, nor a melodious twang."
The, London Committee collapsed in a
wrangle, a fiasco, a break-down, so thorough, so in-
geniously comical, so total, and so absurd, that we
can only account for its ignominious death on the
same theory under which we subscribe to the Stock-
well mystery. The Devil, or at least an imp,
was in it. A superhuman, or infrahuman, agency
is necessary to account for a catastrophe ao mis-
chievously nonsensical and ridiculous. The London
Shakspere Memorial, however, did not stand alone.
There was a Stratford Memorial Committee, and
something at least of the public confidence which
was alienated by the sayings and doings of Messrs.
Dixon and Halliwell gravitated to Stratford. At
Stratford there has always been a semi-religious
fanaticism about Shakspere, and nobody very seri-
ously objected to an extravagant outbreak of it.
Besides, there was every reason to believe that the
malignant influence at work had been exercised by
the completeness of the London failure. No Puck
could be frolicsome or tricksy enough to lead his
victims, if he could find them, a second witches'
dance through bog and briar. Besides, the respec-
tables and the dignified mustered in strength and
dulness round the Stratford Committee. However,
it very soon became at least a suspicion that " the
strange doings" were about to be repeated. It was
like the old ghost story which relates how a family
fled from a haunted house, and how, half-way to
the new residence, a gibing voice, in mocking tones
from the midst of a featherbed, shrieked out,
" Ha' you're flitting are you; I'm flitting too."
Puck has certainly gone down to Stratford. He
will not leave the Shakspere Memorial while there
is breath in it. What bat the old inspirer of Messrs.
Dixon and Halliwell could have dictated the Strat-
ford programme ? What mundane wit could have
suggested a Banquet and Handers " Messiah," a
Miscellaneous Concert and " Twelfth Night,"
" Hamlet" and a Fancy Dress Ball, together with
such a gallimaufry as Shakspearian Readings (of
course by Mr. Bellew), excursions, and exhibitions
of actors' portraits, and could call all this a Na-
tional Shakspere Festival? The witch cauldron in
"Macbeth" and its weird cooks mast have been at
work at this strange bill of fare. "Twelfth Night"
and the " Messiah"—that is, " Comfort ye my
people," and Sir Toby Belch—but the absurdity so
closely trenches on the profane that we decline to
pursue the nauseous parallel. This only we must,
in the interest of decency, observe, that if the
" Hallelujah Chorus" can by any stretch of imagi-
nation be deemed suitable to a Shakspere Festival,
then a fancy dress ball, with its Debardeurs and
Pierrots, is very much out of artistic and dramatic
keeping. But this is not all. The same ludicrous
fatality attends everything connected with this
outbreak of the Lues Shaksperiana. It infects all
who are connected with it. There is an Executive
Committee to whom the monument is entrusted. Of
the monument we have always had but one opinion.
It is a very proper thing; and the choice of
the memorial was entrusted to men in whom, or
in many of whom, artists might place great
confidence. We can say nothing as to the
knowledge of art possessed by the Duke
of Manchester, but Mr. W. Cowper's official
position justified his place on the Committee. Sir
Joseph Paxton once stumbled into a single great
success in design. Mr. 'rite and Mr. Donaldson, as
Presid.?nts of the Institution of British Architects,
justify the ;choice made of them, Mr. Beresford
Hope and Mr, Maclise represent very creditably
art in its amateur and in its practical form. Yet
what but the envious ;_nstleation of the ancient and
unappoaseable spirit of ,„„h chief could have induced
these gentlemen to clog thcir proposal for the
monument with the outrageously absurd provision,
to use their own wonderful languat:e, that " the
monument should embrace a bronze eten,:e, placed
under a decorative canopy, in the style of the poet7a
period ?" Whet on earth do they mean by a reeve''"
ment embracing a breeze statue ? and what is the
style of the poet's period ? If they or their trea-
cherous prompter mean architectural art as prac-
tised is Shakspere's lifetime, do they mean the de-
caying Gothic of Elizabeth's time ? or the halting
Tudor ? or the brainless Jacobean ? Do they not
know—if they do not, let them go to Queen Eliza-
beth's monument in Westminster Abbey, and they
may perhaps learn—that of all caricatures and de-
basements of art, of all senseless and barbarous mix-
tures, " the style of the poet's period" is the
very ugliest and most abominable ? But so it is.
There is a fatality about the whole thing. The
Shakspere blight infects all tat it touches. Omne
pod tetigit, he, the malign spirit, makes a mess of.
There only remained the theatrical portion of
the celebration. It seemed impossible to spoil
this part of the Festival. To be sure, the plays
offered at Stratford were like the sermons appraised
by Cowper's tithepayers—plaguy dear. To ask the
most devout of Shakspere's worshippers to pay 21s.
in a Stratford barn for what they could get for ss.
in a London theatre, was a bold attack on the faith
and fervour of the holy pilgrims. But it passed.
And even the unlucky Phelps affair was beginning
to be forgotten, though it showed that spiritual
wickedness was at work in Warwickshire as well
as in London. It argued something at least unhu-
man to set Mr. Bellew and Mr. Phelps by the ears ;
And Puck must have laughed in his sleeve, if he has
any, when " the :foremost man in his profession
claioed.the right to play Hamlet on this occasion,"
silently exclaimed " that he had been in-
and indite. 9
Stratford Committee asking Mr.
suited by teL
Fechter to nlav h. calet.,, But even this was got
: and everybody thought we
over somehow or other, -ter For the London
had come to the last (Use.,
Committee to have stumbles lave! the Thacke-
or
ray difficalty, and for the b.:.rat fd Com-
mittee to have floundered into te.:4 Phelps
trouble, ought to have satisfied the most spitb.cul or
evil influences, and hope began to whisper that aLI
was at last smooth, at least in the Stratford Green
Room. The limes has for a whole month adver-
tised, "Tuesday evening, ' Twelfth Night ;' Wed-
nesday evening, ' Hamlet;' Thursday evening, As
You Kike It;'—reserved seats, 215." We ~;id not
like it at all, but we submitted ; when 10, at the
ele"enth hour—nay at a quarter to twelve—on April
4 (the Festival being to come off on the 23d), the
crowning trouble is announced. Mr. Pechter follows
Mr. Phelps's example, and retires in grievous dud-
geon. There is to be no " Hamlet" after all. So that
at last Mr. Phelps's divine wrath is appeased, and
on the foremost man in his profession will not be in-
flicted the indignity of seeing, or hearing of, " Ham-
let" presented at the great " Stratford-on-Avon
Tercentenary Festival' by a Mossoo. More-
over, by a just Nemesis, the indignity which was
offered to Mr. Phelps has been repaid twofold
to Mr Fechter ; at least so he tells us, for there
are accusations and recriminations on both sides.
" Dr. Flower, M.D., Hon. See," announces that
" Mr. Fechter has broken faith with the Commit-
tee." Mr. Fechter, through his friend "H. Barnett,
Esq."—for, as Warren kept a poet, so actors nowa-
days keep a Secretary—on the other hand complains
that the,Stratford Committee has forced him to the
painful necessity of abandoning " Hamlet" by pass-
ing a resolution (which was a sensible one enough,
and only desired Mr. Fechter's guide, philosopher,
and friend, Mr. Bellew, to mind his own business)
" giving the force of truth to the false and in nge•
nerous statement spread about by one of your mem-
bers, and published by unfriendly papers, namely,
that Mr. Fechter by under-current and trickery
ways' forced on the choice of his Hamlet." To all
which Dr. Flower rejoins by professing his " entire
ignorance of any resolution—in fact, we are
quite at a loss to know to what resolu •
tion you refer, or who aro the members
of the Committee to whom you refer." We
think that we can clear up the mystery. The
" spirits" have been at it again. The imps of dark-
ness, who have all along had a spite against the
Shakspere Festival, have crowned their malignity.
They passed the mysterious resolution ; the Eng-
lish of the alleged "under-current and trickery
ways" is thoroughly elfish and diabolic. They have
slily punched Mr. Phelps into heroics, and secretly
pinched Mr. Pechter into sulks. It's all their doing.
Nothing else can account for it. A series of such
blunders, a succession of such misfortunes, a con-
sistent course of such mal-adroitness, in London
and Stratford. in theatre and monument, in com-
mittee and out of committee, in promise and, as it
now seems, in performance, could only have been
originated by Satanic malevolence and Satanic
skill. No mortal proficiency in blundering could
• have achieved this sublime and superb triumph of
failure. Ttie whole history of the Shakspere Ter-
' centenary Feslirai, combines, in the true Shekepe-