The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-30 00:00:00

The Brothers Davenport,

The following is Capt. Burton's (the African traveller)
observations of phenomena connected with the Brothers
Davenport :

" London, Nov. 10.

" Dr J. B. Ferguson,—Dear Sir,—You spoke yesterday
about my writing in a few words my opinion of what I
have seen done on various occasions by your friends the
Messrs Davenport; you kindly overlooked my confusion of
side views, and you permitted me to call the thing ' odic
force,' or 'od force.' The usual terms, 'spirit,' manifes-
tation,' and so forth, will now, with your permission, be used
—begging you, however, to understand that wh let I believe
everything and anything equally, and nothing more than
another thing, my faith and unfaith in od force' and
'spirit' remain exactly as before. In case of my becoming a
spirit,' I hope not to be summoned for the small sum of
£1 15s into anybody's drawing-room, there to play the
guitar and rap people's heads. The latter state is worse
than the first.

"As you are aware, I have now witnessed, under advan•
tageous circumstances, four of the so-called dark seances.
These were all in private houses—one of them in my own
lodgings. We sedulously rejected all believers, and chose
the most sceptical and hard-headed of our friends and ac-
quaintances, some of whom had prepared the severest tests.
We provided carefully against all possibility of confede-
rates,' bolting the doors, &c., and brought our own cords,
sealing wax, tape, diacbylon, musical instruments (guitar,
harmonicon, bird whistle, tambourine, bells) and so forth.
" The results of the seances were almost invariably the
same. After Mr Ira Davenport and Mr William Fay, the
two strongest ' mediums,' had been tied up hands and feet
by us, you suddenly extinguished the light ; we then, the
darkness being complete, sat in a semicircle fronting the
mediums, each holding his neighbour's arm or hand, and
each warned not to break the chain. On one occasion I
placed my feet on Mr Fay's, while Mr B—, the waster of
the house, did the same to Mr Davenport, and we measured
their distance from the semicircle-10 feet.

" Within two seconds--I speak edvisedly—after the candle
was put out, the musical instruments placed on the table be.
tween the two mediums began to ehudder and tremble. Pre-
sently the guitar strings commenced twanging as if badly
played with a single finger and the instruments went round
the semicircle with the velocity of a bird, fanning our cheeks
as it passed. The prettiest effect was to hear it buzzing in
the distance as a humming bee would sound when flying
awiey. If the guitar happened to be in good humour the in-
struenent patted our heads softly, or lay on our laps, or
thrust itself into our hands. If the ' spirits were dis-
pleased, the manifestations were decidedly rough. I re-
ceived once a rather severe contusion with the tip of the
guitar, when the heavy bells and the tambourine struck
the ground and the table with a noise and force that sug-
gested the kick of a horse on a splashboard. Presently the
sounds cease, the candle is relit, we run up to the mediums,
we find thew ix our own cords, taped with our own tape,
sealed with over own seals, and perhaps plastered with
diachylon stripe Every one inquires how it was done, and
no one answers, and not a few are clearly and palpably
frightened. The _honest declare themselves puzzled.
"The most remarkable manifestations that occurred in my
presence were the following :—A tumbler of water placed on
the table, with a bird whistle in it, was thrown on the carpet
at my feet without noise or breakage ; a dry, hot, and rough
hand on one (meal= felt my hands, fell on my face, and
then pulled my moueta Chios. and, finally, thrust between
my lips a cigar, taken .from the mantlepiece ; my legs have
also been twitched, and .my head patted. My neighbour in
the same séance felt a cad, clammy, and feminine hand,
screwed up at times like a bird's claw, running over her
face, and evidently with a large portion of the arm resting
on her head. Sparks of red and pale fire have fallen from
the ceiling, sometimes perpendicularly., at other times cross-
ing the room, and coming from a part apparently higher
than the ceiling. Mr Willisru Fay's coat was removed whilst
ho was securely fastened hand and foot, and a lucifer match
was struck at the same instant, 'showing us the tw o gentle-
men, fast bound, and the coat irt the air on its way to the
other side of the room. Under• precisely similar circum-
stances the coat of another gentleman present was placed
upon him. A gruff voice has repeatedly addressed me and
others. There are many others, for which you have not
space, o/ my own experience.' A. lady, whose veracity I
have no reason to doubt, and who is supposed to have
strong mesmeric powers, assured me that she perceived the
musical instruments floating high iu the the air or wriggl-
ing along the floor. Being able to see them in a dark room
she imagined that we had applied to them phosphorised oil,
which we had not. On the same occasio u she distinguished
the outline of a figure which stopped slik,ehtly, and not, as
she thought, that of any one in the room.•
" I have spent a great part of my life in Oriental lands,
and have seen there many magicians. Lately I have been
permitted to see and be present at the performances of
Messrs Anderson and Tolmaque. The latter showed, as
they profess, clever conjuring, but they do net even attempt
what the Messrs. Davenport and Fay succeed in doing ; for
instance, the beautiful management of the musical instru-
ments. Finally, I have read and listened to every explana-
tion of the Davenport tricks' hitherto placed before the
English public, and, believe me, if anything. wou‘.cl make
me take that tremendous jump ' from matter ,+o spirit,' it is
utter and complete unreason of the reasons by which the
' manifestations' are explained.—Believe me ever yours
truly, &c., "RICHARD F. BILITON."

"Dear Sir,—The 'above is an accurate copy of Captain
Burton's letter to me, and I have his permission to place it
before the public.—Very truly yours,
"To H. D. Palmer, Esq. " J. B. FERGUSON."

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The claims of Mr Sergeant Glover upon
the Duke of Persigny have been brought so re-
peatedly, though imperfectly, to the knowledge of
the public that the trial in which the case was dis-
posed of on Saturday may attract less notice than
it deserves. In the year 1856 M. de Persigny,whose
conceptions of the functions of the Press we yester•
day recorded, resided in this country as Ambassador
from the Emperor of the French, aad in that capa-
city, as is alleged, he or his agents entered into ne-
gotiations for securing the services of eeetain Eug.
fish newspapers on behalf of his Government. Toe
French Government, we are told, wished to be
represented in our metropolitan Press ; or, in other
words, to become possessed of a paper in which
articles conceived in the interest of the Govern-
ment might be written and published. At that
period the Morning Chronicle belonged to T;fr Ser-
geant Glover, and it was in such sad case as ,`o be
open to the offer of M. de Persigny. According" to
the statement of the plaintiff the design was actele
ally carried out for the space of a couple of year
or so, a great number of leading articles having.,
been composed and inserted in the spirit of the
scheme. Of course, however, there were conditions
on the other side. Mr Sergeant Glover did not.
give the services of the Morning Chronicle for
nothing. He was to receive a consideration in
return, and it was for this consideration—alleged to
have been wrongfully withheld from him—that he
commenced bis suit against the Duke of Persigny
and M. Billault, Minister of the Interior at the
time of the presumed contract. These are almost
all the facts of the case on which it would be safe
to build. Other circumstances of the transaction
are disputed on one side or the other, but it will be
necessary to give an idea of their purport before
the. story can be understood. Mr Sergeant Glover
affirmed that the contract between himself and the
representatives or agents of the French Governs,
ment promised him a stipend of £7OO or £BOO
a month for his services, as well as a compensa-
tion for any depreciation which the paper, con-
sidered as a piece of property, might sus-
tain from its performance of the part under.
taken, M. de Persigny denied that he had ever
entered into this contract, and pleaded non-indebt•
ednees in general ; but it was not denied that the
Morning Chronicle had beea employed in the sera
vice described, or that remuneration of some kind
was expected by its proprietor. It is, indeed, a fact,
and was related by the plaintiff's own counsel as a
" remarkable fact," that Sergeant Glover did., in the
month of April, 1857, repair to Paris. He there
had not only an audience of the Emperor himself,
but several interviews with M. Billault, and with
another functionary, described as " Director-Gene-
ral of Public Safety and of the Press." It is also a
fact that he obtained from the French Government,
a few weeks afterwards, a concession of the Inter.
national Telegraph between Bordeaux and, Boston,