The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-15 00:00:00

MR. F. PEEL AT BURY.

The Right Ron. F. Peel, it—.l3. (one of the Under Secre-
taries of the Treasury), met his constituents at Bury, Lan-
cashire, on Wednesday evening. Tho lower room of Barn-
brook-mill had been prepared for his reception, and an audi-
ence estimated at from 3,000 to 4,000 assembled. Mr, Geo.
Whitehead presided.
Mr. PEEL, who was much cheered, said that among the
anniversaries to which he looked forward with pleasure ho
counted that which brought him before his constituents to
I account to them for the manner in which he had performed
his duties as their representative, and, as it were, to strike
a balance in the account between them ; and far from that
p: ceeure palling him by repeated use, he found it as fresk
and as treat as at tte first, th ,nks to the cordial greeting
he always receiv,d and the kindly feeling which they In-
variably manifested towards Ilea. He vveteoteed each sue
cessive meeting as affording another link in that lengthen-
ing chain which bound them together so firmly and yet so
freely ; and he looked upon those meetings as a safeguard for
his own faithful service, because they reminded him of his
responsibility to them; and he knew that a sense of realms
sibility to one's constituency was not less necessary to make
a member of Parliament a good member than was a sense
of responsibility to the elected representatives of the nation
themselves necessary to make the Government of this
country a good Government. These annual audits appeared
to him to combine many of the advantages of annual elec-
tions, with freedom from their disadvantages, because they
imparted that popular impulse, they gave that fresh sense
of responsibility, under which a member newly elected
might be supposed to act, without foregoing then advan-
tages which might be presumed to be derived from the
services of members of Parliament tiho had the experience
of several sessions to guide them. It had been said that the
Parliamentary duties of members had not been so onerous of
late as they formerly were ; that the last session, like the pre-
ceding one, had not been productive of any striking legisla-
tive results. (Haar.) He thought,however,that some measures
were passed which, though not ushered in by any flourish of
trumpets, were calculated to produce the most beneficial re-
sults. But admitting the statement to be true generally,
the fact was easily to be accounted for, inasmuch as in the
prevailing temper of the public men the questions of the
day had not afforded a favourable field for the realisation of
such legislative results 48
he had referred to. These were
times when the questions of most particular interest con-
cerned the foreign relations of this country—the equilibrium
not of classes at home, but of independent Powers abroad—
times when, perhaps, the maintenance of peace—the greatest
blessing which a country could have—might depend upon
the issue cf negotiations that were pending—times when
what this country principally desired was that her influence
should be used in the cause of moderation and conciliation
abroad, and when the force of that public opinion, of which
she is the representative,
should be brought to bear for ac-
complishing those ends; and times when, in order that pub-
lic opinion should have its dee weight, it was essential that
shoald be as the mind of one man,
the mind of the country
and that no questions should arise to divide or weaken her
T
counsels. (Applause.)
It was clear that the mind of the
country had been bent upon what was passing outside, and
he must confess that when we reflected that the tempest
was still raging in America with undiminished fury; when
we marked that war seemed on the point of breaking out in
the north of Germany;
When we observed how the horizon
abroad was everywhere clouded and overcast—we could not
be too thankful at our imuunity from those complications in
which foreign coUnttiest were involved. We could not be
too thankful, seeing how elsewhere the atmosphere was
overcloadedj for the sunshine we ourselves were enjoying,
even though there /night be spots in the sun and shadows
beneath it, which it would be politic at the jlrst opportunity
to remove. (Cheers.)
In any political speech, under existing
circtimstances,the leading topic Must necessarily be the
American
question. (Rear, hear.) Tha war had now lasted
three years, and we saw that as yet the north had not been
able to oVercome the resistanev of the South. the North
was like the Roman Consul who would not despair of the
Republic in its adveretyo The North did not despair of the
union, and was straining every nerve in its cause. The
South sad broken frtto that union ; would not hear of it
again; disbelieved I the possibility of its reconstruction ;
disbelieved that the Union could again exist in its former
sense of a brotherhood of States;
barriers by which nature
union for it must mean subjugation, and so strained on its
side—and if posalhis to a higher degree of tension—every
nerve for the purpose of accompllelng its independence.
adful
wat must hate created a gulf between the Northern
loftiest Moientairi believed, therefore, that
a bystander he thought it would appear that that dreadful
the
o
hie
Southern people more impassa than tho widest seas or the
ever separated
one people from another---(heard that, therefore,a the
.
alternative of that war must be subjugation or separation.
l
He remembered meeting in
an old writer with th e t
eh,eprt
eexs.
slot " What he meant by
the America of truth." because he
pression was the undiscovered parts of truth, h
wrote some 300 years ago, at a time when America, houwgts
discovered, had not been explored, and the exPr"""ld be
forcible enough, But he (Mr. reel) thought there con
no doubt that if there were an America of fiction it would
s
burden
of be so startling as the America of truth, not of 300 years
.t
ago, but of the present day. Look only now at the thong.;
of this war to one side—the North. We bad had
4.;11 ssaacs
information on that subject placed before
presented, to Congress disputed'
American phrase, the cs reliability" could not
thenthree
Tau the question of expense. it appeared that the
evert)._
years the war had lasted it was costing the Central
ar• It ar
went of the North at the rate of L 150,000,000 tot;Y:_ee
raise
peered that of that annual expose they were not ht
statements of uu'liil.-icibuh,
quently the
by thxation more than £25,0t0,000 a- a
be ye
obtained by borrowing
remaining £125,000,000 had 19 obtain:dtotesuee an
and that they had up to the present time found no difficu

in meeting with persons willing and able to lend them the
necessary funds. The consequence was, of course, a rapid
augmentation of the national debt. The debt, which at the
end of the first year of the war, in June, 1862, amounted to
£125.000,000, in June, 1863, was £250,000,000. It was esti-
mated that in June, 1854, it would amount to £376,000,000,
and if the war continued to June, 1865, and if that war,
different from other wars, did not become more costly the
longer that it lasted, the debt would then amount to
£00,000,000. Now, a portion of that debt bore no interest•
It had been employed as a medium of circulation to answer
the purpose of money; but it was found that the quantity
which could be disposed of in this manner was necessarily
limited. That limit was taken to be about £80,000,000, and
it had been already reached. All the rest of the debt, and
all the money that must be borrowed for the future, must
necessarily belong to the interest-bearing portion of their
debt, and inasmuch as the average rate of interest of their
debt was 6 per cent., next June the amount which would be
annually payable for interest on that debt would be about
£16,000,000 or £17,000,000—a very respectable sum, even
when placed by the side of the interest which we had to pay
ourselves for a dennincurred during ages and generations of
wars. (Hear.) Now, these figures, large as they were, would
appear still larger if contrasted with the slenderness of the
proportions of the figures for these same purposes before the
war, only three years ago. In June, 1861, the capital debt of
that country was not more than £l7,ooo,ooo—that was to say,
about the same as the interest that the debt would amount
to in a very few months ; while the income necessary to
cover the expenditure, which had now reached the large
sum of £150,060,000, was then not more than £12,000,000 or
£13,000,000. Now, applying a scale of the same magnitude
—for it was equally applicable to the other circumstances of
the war, to the destruction of private property,—to the
waste of human life. Bear it in mind that the facts had
shown that, war could not be carried on without breaking
off all allegiance to liberty ; that we had seen the Habeas
Corpus act suspended, trial by jury and the independence
of the judges interfered with, liberty of the press and of
speech things of the past, and we could form some idea,
imperfect no doubt, of the burden and sacrifice entailed by
that war. Now, it might appear a redeeming feature of it
that if not the origin, if not the objeot of it, at least the end
of it would be the extinction of slavery--(hear, hear, and
applause)—and the conferring of freedom upon vast num-
bers of human beings who had been born and were held in
slavery. (Cheers.) But alas I there were many forms of
evil. Slavery was one—a hateful and most-to-be-abhorred
form ; war was another ; military despotism, too, was an
evil t and it was a question whether even so great an object
as the extinction of slavery might not be purchased at too
high a price. (Hear, hear.) Probably it was because
some persons thought that however the war might end
slavery was doomed that we found opinion in this country
so much divided on the question. If slavery were the only
hinge upon which the question turned, there would be 213
difference of opinion—(hear, hear)—but slavery apart, it
was open to ask such questions as whether this war, eiffe-
rent as it might be in form, was not in principle the same
as that which was waged by the American colonies against
ourselves—whether we might not trace in it the spirit of
1776—whether we did not see in it the influence of the New
World, which it was perhaps too presumptuously supposed
was to exercise so predominant an influence neon the whole
world—whether it was not the influence of the New World
acting upon a part of itself, and whether, in short, that
same centrifugal force which separated the American colo-
nies from this country was not now operating to separate a
part of those former colonies from the other. (Cheers.)
He should not attempt to offer any answer to these ques-
tions. It was not of great importance which direction the
sympathies of people took ; what was important was the
line of conduct which this country, as a whole, had pur•
sued. This country had steadily adhered to a policy of
non-intervention, and he believed that never were
the Americans more anxious for disentanglement in
the intricacies of European politics than had this country
been anxious for disentanglement in this American struggle.
(Hear.) So faithfully had we adhered to our policy of neu-
trality that, as usually happened with very fair people, we
had disappointed both sides at different times. Thus the
North complained that we had been too hasty in acknow-
ledging the South as belligerents, alth( ugh they were com-
pelled to do the same thing quite as early as ourselves.
(Hear.) On the other hand, the South thought we were
too tardy in their recognition, although it was clear they
had not even now succeeded in establishing their indepen-
dence. But appeals had also been made to the Government
in reference to the acts of private persons and the rights of
neutrals. He referred to the vessels of war of a formidable
class. If these vessels were constructed in our ports a belli-
gerent could not, of course, enter our ports and seize them,
because he must not violate our neutrality; and when they
issued from our ports, far from being liable to seizure, they
ware much more likely to seize the vessel sent after them,
(Laughter.) lie admitted the difficulty of drawing the line
between such vessels and other munitions of war, but he
thought there was a distinction. These vessels had a sort
of distinctive character, they sprang forth a Pallas armed—
when they left our ports they were fitted and prepared at
all points to prey upon the commerce of a belligerent who
might be at friendship with ourselves, and in that way our
ports might be viewed as starting places for hostile expedi-
tions. Fortunately the case had been provided for by anti-
cipation. An act was passed many years ago giving power
to seize such vessels, and some of them had been seized for
violating that act—the Alexandra, for example, and the
ronclads at Birkenhead. It had been decided that the
Alexandra was not strictly liable to be seized. The policy
of our Government would be, however, to do as we
would be done by. (Rear.) He hoped when the war was
over that both sides would acknowledge that our conduct
had teen eminently fair. Hear.) The impending rupture
in the north of Germany was. n very menacing subject;
but he thought he might appropriately preface his re-
marks by glancing at a very joyful :rube jn—the birth
of an heir to the future throne of this country, and he
hoped that event might prove as fruitful of good to us ati2s
happiness to tier Majesty and the Princess of Wales.
(Cheers.) Denmark wee a very small country, and the ques-
tion in dispute was a very small one, but it had brought
matters to the verge of war, and it was much apprehended
that if war should break out there it would drag all Europe
into the Vortez. There were two points in dispute, one aing
the question of stlcassion to the government of the Duchies.
In the Duchies the rule of succession had been in favour of
the male line, while in Denmark the female line was not ex-
cluded from the throne. On the death of the King of Den-
mark these rules of succession would have separated the
dominions of Denmark into two parts, and as all the great
Powers of Europe were agreed that the integrity of those
dominions was of importance for the maintenance of peace
in Europe, they agreed in 1852 te, recognise the title or: the
present King to succeed to these Duchies. The States of
Holstein, it was said, were not consulted, and did not con-
sent to this change, hence the present difficulty. The other
question arose from the Duchy of Schleswig being inhabited
partly by Danes and partly by Germans; and Austria and
Prussia had threatened to march their forces into Schleswig
unlees the King of Denmark withdrew his Constitution,
which virtually incorporated Schleswig with Denmark.
England in 1862, to prevent things coming to the present
crisis, proposed a very sensible plan of a bond of union of
our own, which it was to Le regretted was not adopted ; and
now, acting as usual on the side of moderation and peace,
had proposed a conference on the subject which, it was to
be hoped, would extricate this question from the arbitrament
of the sword. (Cheers.) It wouldnot be surprising that when
there was cause for so much anxiety in general there should
be an unanimous wish that England should be strong, and
that justice should be done to her strength. (Hear, hear.)
He was happy to believe that the forces of this country,
supplemented by the well-disciplined body of volunteers,
were never in a more effective condition than at present, and
could confidently be counted upon as equal to any emer-
gency. (Cheers,) It has been the object of the Government
to combine efficiency with economy. In the last financial
year the expenditure of the country was, for the first time
for some years past, under £70,000,000, and showed a real
reduction, as compared with the average annual expendi-
ture of the three previous years, of no less than £2,500,000.
But the satisfaction which this would produce would be seen
more complete when it was remembered that the estimated
expenditure of the present year—and there was no reason
to suppose the estimate would be exceeded—was £1,500,000
less than it was last year. (Cheers.) Thus the expenditure
of this year would be £4 000,000 below the average annual
expenditure of two or three years back. It followed that
with a reduction of expenditure a diminution of taxation
could be made; and in distributing the relief derived from
that source the Government had been anxious to effect a
twofold object—namely, to give direct relief to the taxpayer,
and also to encourage the commerce and industry of the
country. Among measures passed for the widening of our
area of commerce might be mentioned the repeal of the
paper duty in 1861, and the repeal in 1860 of the customs
duties in connexion with the commercial treaty with France.
In the sense of direct relief to the taxpayer, reference might
be made to the remission of taxation during the past year.
(Hear, hear.) During 1863 the income tax was reduced
from 9d to 7d in the pound, with the not inconsiderable
additional boon of allowing a man whose income was less
than £2OO a year to deduct £6O. The reduction of the
duty on tea was a matter which speke for itself. There
was no commodity, not a necessary of life, which was
so universal a favourite, and whose cheapness and ex-
cellence were so ranch appreciated, The increase in the
consumption of tea was no bad measure of the habits and
customs of the people, and that increased consumption
had been wonderful during the past 20 years. Whereas at
that period 40,000,0001 b of tea were consumed there were
now 80,000,0001 b, showing in some degree an addition to
the rational and domestic enjoyments of the people.
(Cheers.) It might perhaps be thought that with tires
great reductions of taxation the revenue of the eountry
t show a great falling off. But the tables of the revenue
121118
lately published told a vary different and more gratifying
3, Nothing, in fact, could yield more gratifying proof
sort.h.cr general sound condition and healthy prospects of the
country. It was not to be expected that the decline in the
distress would receive a check with the advance of winter,
but the additions which had as yet been made were small,
compare 1 with the additions made at the corresponding
Period of last year. But, whether the distress advanced,
receded, or altogether disappeared, it would be remembered
both for its severity and for having been passed through
without the aid of Parliament, without a single penny from
the Exchequer, (Cheers.) And if the.cultivatieu of cotton,

stimulated by high prices, should become general, leaving
us dependent no longer on one source of supply, then,
whenever the good time should return, it would be doubly
welcome, for it would not only come, but come to remain.
(::11,:ers.) _ _ _ - -

Tho only question asked of Mr. Peel was whether he
would support " Mr. Lawson's Permissiveßill ;" as to
which he said he declined to pledge himself, but had no ob-
jection to vote for a first reading. The meeting resolved
unanimously and with acclamation to support Mr. Peel at
the next election.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.—We are in a position to place before the
public this morning a complete history of the pro-
ceedings connected with the respite of George Victor
Townley, and the case has acquired a character of
such extraordinary importance that it cannot be too
attentively observed. On the day following the
conviction of the prisoner, Mr. Baron Martin, who
had tried him, reopened the question by a commu-
nication to Sir George Grey, suggesting, but merely
suggesting, a further inquiry into the convict's
actual state of mind. The judge's letter was not
decisively worded. Of his own opinions, indeed, it
conveyed but this much—that he thought the con-
viction right, but as two medical witnesses at the
trial had deposed "in the strongest manner" to the
actual insanity of the prisoner as he stood at the bar,
the judge thought it right to " call the attention" of
the Home Secretary to the point thus raised. To
this letter Sir G. Grey, after three days' considera-
tion, replied in terms implying that he himself
could see nothing in the report of the trial to call
for fresh investigation, and he begged the judge to
give him his own impression on the subject. Mr.
Baron Martin answered that he " could nut say that
he had formed any decided opinion on the point,"
but that he thought there should be farther inquiry.
Thus moved, Sir G. Grey addressed himself to the
Commissioners in Lunacy, frankly avowing his con-
viction that the verdict was right, and that the pri-
soner had been sane at the time of the murder, but
stating the question which had been since raised as
to his present sanity, and commending it to the con-
sideration of the Commissioners. These gentlemen
lost no time in proceeding to Derby and instituting
the inquiry with which they had thus been charged.
On the 28th of December they made their report. In
this document they appear somewhat disposed to let
Sir G. Grey form an opinion for himself from the
minutes of the proceedings which they submit to
him, but they do communicate their own con-
clusions to the extent which the following words
will indicate :—" In view of the extravagant
opinions thus deliberately professed by him (the
convict), of his extraordinarily perverted moral
sense, and of the hereditary taint alleged, and
apparently proved, to have existed in the family of
t'ae prisoner's grandmother, we cannot consider
him to be of sound mind ; but his views of right
and wrong, false as they are, appear to have been
coherently acted upon, and with a full sense of
what they involved. He reasons now as he acted
in committing the murder. Upon the point of his
alleged belief in a conspiracy against him we
pressed him very closely, but we could not satisfy
ourselves that this was in the nature of a delusion."
Tney close their report in these terms—" Being of
opinion, therefore, that the prisoner continues to be
now in the same mental state as when he committed
the murder, and underwent his trial, we think
that, applying the law as laid down by Mr. Berm
Martin to this case, the prisoner George Victor
Townley was justly convicted." Such was the point
to which the case was brought by the action of
the Home Secretary taken upon the suggestion of
the judge. But by this time action had been taken
in other quarters. On the day before the date of
the commissioners report a certificate was forwarded
to Sir George Grey, signed by three justices of the
peace and two medical practitionees, briefly testify-
ing, in such language as a certain Act of Parliament
demanded, that George Victor Townley
ye as insane.
And on the day after the commissioners' recort, a
similar certificate was forwarded, signed by t.7c,
justices of the peace, one of whom had signed the
first certificate, and two medical practitioners, being
identical with those acting in the first instance, to
the same effect as before. There were, therefore,
three reports made in as many days—one, in the
form of a certificate, on Dee. 27; another, from the
Commissioners of Lunacy, on the 28th; and a third,
in the shape, as it were, of an amended certificate,
on the 29th. Why the last should have been sent it
is not easy to see, unless it was thought better to
comply exactly with the words of the statute,
which spoke of "two" justices of the peace, neither
wore nor less, whereas the first certificate had
been signed by three. In fact, it was the latter
of the two documents on which Sir George
Grey acted, having, as is now known, no dis-
cretion in the matter. An Act of Parliament
obliged him, on the receipt of such a certificate as
was sent to him on the 29th of December, to direct
the removal of the convict from the gaol to a lunatic
asylum, and consign him to a madhouse instead of
leaving him to be executed. This obligation he
simply discharged. The reader is now in posses-
sion of every circumstance of the case from convic-
tion to the reprieve, and the conclusions suggested
are important in the extreme. The Judge who tried
tho case did not doubt the justice of the conviction.
He was moved only by the professional expositions
of Dr. Forbes Winslow and Dr. Gisborne, and, in-
deed, if the latter gentleman be identical with the
surgeon to the gaol, whose letter we publish else-
where, we may compress the authority into that of
Dr. Winslow alone, for his opinions seem to have
been largely instrumental in deciding those of Dr.
Gis,.horne. The Home Secretary could sea no reason
for m„ii_ecr in the case on the face of the evidence,
nor coddle, on a second application, get the Judge
to confess to any ~.loubts apart from what ho thought
due to the testimony of the experts. Then came
the scientific and impart:al inquiry made by the
Lunacy Commissioners, and may probably be
deemed fortunate for the prisoner that Sir G.,orge
Grey was not, as he has Pince stated, " called upon
to decide :on that Report alone whethee' the sen-
tence of the law ought to be executed or not." The
fate of Townley was decided by the certifiect:e.
Upon this, and this only, Sir George Grey framed
his warrant, as, indeed, ho had no option but to do.
Two justices of the peace and two medical precti-
liners can compel him to do the same in any other
case any at any time. It is under these circum-
stances teat the stage of the case which we now
approach acquire such extraordinary importance.
Who constituted this commission of the magis-
trates and two surgeons, with power to overrule
every other authority in the country ? A formal
representation has been made to Sir George Grey
to the effect that the commission was constituted
at the instance of the prisoner's friends and ad-
visers, and by them introduced into the gaol.
This seems to be partially, though by no moans
absolutely denied ; but a far more important asser-
tion has received no denial at all. The Derby-
shire magistrates who memorialised the Home
Secretary in the case distinctly alleged that
every member of this self-constituted commis-
sion; magistrates and surgeons alike, had not only
formed conclusions beforehand, but had placed
these conclusions on record. In short, these gentle-
men, who entered, with a power of arbitrary deci-
sion, on the task of ascertaining whether Townley
was sane, or insane, had already settled in their
own minds that he was insane, and had published
their opinions. We are not sure that these asser-
tions cover both the certificates sent up, but the
doubt is not material. Three oat of the four certi-
fying authorities, if not all, had unquestionably pre-
judged the case, and put their judgments on record
before they commenced their official investigation.
We have not the least desire to impeach the sincerity
if their views. No doubt their conclusions were
uprightly formed, bat, having been formed, they
certainly disqualified those who had formed them
for the office of impartial and unbiassed inquirers.
We do not quarrel with these gentlemen as advo
cotes, but only as judges; and we repeat our opinion
that a law which could admit of their rimming un-
challenged from one of these capacities to the other
ought, with all possible expedition, to be repealed.
The Derbyshire magistrates, upwards of forty of
whom remonstrated against this presceeding, asked
for an investigation into the "origin ate 1 conduct"
of the inquiry which produced such results ; but Sir
Geo. Grey replied that, as the certificate had been
"in accordance with the provisions of the statute,"
these antecedents were "immaterial," Immaterial
they may have been to his decision, but immaterial
to the interests of the public they certainly are not.
tnwo
did de-
fAa au de-
fault
of
f caseany
ncoowrrsetcatiziodns,to and as
sudwee are
a eft,
hin
not on the 12ch of December appear mad to either
Judge or jury, who was not ont
in
he2Btaotohnofy so
the
motu thougt.t by the Commissioners
mad as to have been wrongly convicted, and who in
the opinion of the Governor of the Gaol was never
mad at all, is suddenly reprieved on the 30th of the
month in deference to
magistrates and two surgeons,
rgeoopnrai,vate
expressedopinion of two
con-
formity with the terms of a statute
which nobody anticipated. It is utethe
eienepeof
none the less so because all thesateTpesr,Ystsrearnie'gts strange as these ;
result may be, have b
cbountvfiocrt
ascertaining; under sen t sentence oe
f been
ntaken according to law.
It is very proper that h
sanity or insanity of a
death should be ascertained
it an agency should be provided
beyond any suspicion
tN a
the
h of prepossession_ or prejudice.
POST.--The asonSihtavkspofere Arts,Co ihnamaipottet
e, by
their report the
public in poefiseeeion
what the Rit-
Proachiug Tercentenary theei\'views
of
Commemoration should b:.
It may all be comprehended in one sentence—the
for a statue. As far as we
the money
he
festival. report, there is to be no comme-
moration in the
proper sense of the word—no
Something is said of a morning perform-

r••••'df
_
ance at one of the theatres, and of the prose
the London theatres on a certain evening 13%07
given to swell the funds of the committee ; bu tad
Is all. Nothing more of consequence is Bianca) ne,,nd
and those who are entnusiestic in the cause shot 1.-
and
aels themselves whether that is enetesh? br, I
centuries after his birth Shakspere is to be house irclt,
by a statue, and the " improving the occasion,"
popular preachers say, by the theatrical perfool'i
antes, is called a commemoration ! We do not Wlll3'
to pick holes in a scheme at present only half dere;
loped, but we take leave to say that so use2g:Tc:,4
proposal is very disappointing. There can, in.
pit,
be no objection to a statue per se. No doubt Sr',lll4
spare ought to have had a statue years ago.
now that, after three centuries, the kingdom is ul
vassed for homage to the great bard, is a statue, Os
nothing but a statue, the true and adequate method
of commemoration ? We think the public will 1'
that it is not. Let us have a statue by all roeall
but let us have a great deal more besides. Let 11,
have the week, or the greater portion of the We::
in which the 23d April occurs devoted to Sbs
sperian festivity. It is not for us to sketch cot
i 0
programme. We have already laid down certf'
principles deducible from tee nature of the e!e,
which ought to guide the promoters of the Ine;ho
meat. But we cannot help saying that, as far as.o2.
National Committee's programme goes,
seems to be contemplated but the collection of ineneJt
for the statue. Now, if a statue were the Pr°l36ll
way of commemorating the Tercentenary', thenkee
'beep
place collection of resources ought to have '7,00
place months ago ; the money ought to ha° ;del
collected, the statue completed, and then w'heAred
23d of April came, it might have been une %lite
in the presence of tens of thousands; -410
royalty, rank, merit, art, literature, and pops ad'
enthusiasm circled round to admire and aPP`t;
Such an uncovering, with all the accessories slu:l4
the various interests and orders represented cod,,
supply--oratory, music, song, and the electricol-0,
pathy of numbers—might indeed be termed a °to
memoration, and be worthy of the poet ; but av"iil,
now proposed, however ultimately successful, vire
as far as the Tercentenary is concerned be a Y0°.0%,
two after date. The money is not yet for the°lll,,,l
the site is not yet chosen, nor the artist; :"„
after all, the celebration of the Tercentenary
lobe
danger of becoming exactly what it ought 00t is to
—a means of raising money, and Shakspere ° f
have a statute subscribed for on the prinelei net'
charity ball! We suggest to the distinguish9'4ol
sons whose names are mentioned in the report of
they would make the occasion far more worthAsle
the man whom they desire to honour, if, Whil°,fleit
hering to the purpose of a statue, they enlarge that
programme so as to include whatever can be far' be
undertaken in honour of the poet. Can nothilete
done in other places than London to keep 0601
centenary ? Since the Society of Arts has Beg:4-dg')
itself with the movement, can it not project :ioce
mode of Shaksperian festivity for the P°13"0(0
generally ? We can understand the liberalitt;ali
manager giving the proceeds of an evening to. teal
the statue, but we cannot understand the cetentl",-olf
acceptance of them. What we could understA"
eC
a gratuitous performance, at which certai° the
credited people—the youth of evening classes, or
members of mechanics' institutes and literary
,iiljeset
tutions, and many more who otherwise migt'!:s9/
see a Shaksperian representation in their 1".451
might be admitted free on production of t„ieli
obtained through proper agency from the Pi°,,-f
of Arts. We could understand any scheme ',`"b" se
presentingthe choicest of Shakspere's plays W%stigl
the latest and most perfect appliances of dr6-ns se
art, or for lecturing on Shakspere, or for orate bear
Shakspere, or for modes of bringing hero° 1-;:ottf,
pere to the popular heart up and down the c°,,lo'
as well as in London. All this would be alstioo
him, and would increase his hold on the 011r;a00°
and gratitude of his countrymen ; but all thie'7,9ge,,s
as a means of raising money for a statue, tbet;sell:
to be raised without difficulty from the ire- 1,4
L offerings of the people, is below the oceasio%oo
r us have the statue, bat let us have also aOn
, 1 making festival.