The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-13 00:00:00

THE WANDERING MINSTRELS.

The concert in aid of the Brompton Hospital
took place on Tuesday night, and more than came
up to what had been anticipated. the audience,
one of the most brilliant ever assembled in St.
James's-hall, Ras also one of the most indulgent—
liberal of applause where the eff)rt to please was
manifest, and ultra-liberal where, as more than
once occurred, earnest endeavour was rewarded by
success. In short, the performances were enjoyed
from first to last, and in frequent instances appre-
ciated with such downright heartiness as must have
greatly flattered the amateur singers and players
who were induced to make a public exhibition of
their talents on behalf of a very useful and com-
mendable charity. When this concert was originally
projected it was intended that the proceeds should
be handed over to the fund for the relief of the
families of those who suffered in the Hartley Col-
liery—which may account for a conspicuous feature
in the programme, viz., an ode upon that lament-
able calamity, written by Mr. Shirley Brooks, and
set to music by the Hon. Seymour Egerton. The
music is divided into five parts,- respectively fitted
to each change of rhythm adopted by the poet—a
recitative, accompanied (Mr. Underdown) ; a part
song for five Voices (chorus); a recitative for tenor
(Herr Kumpel) ; a ballad, for tenor ; and a final
chorus. The striking numbers are the five-part song
("When the laurel wreath is woven"), and—not-
withstanding the close resemblance of one particular
passage to a prominent theme in Weber's overture,
" The
.Ruler of the Spirits"—the final chorus. The
execution was, for the most part, highly creditable ;
and the audience not only encored the part-song,
but unanimously recalled the composer at the ter-
mination of his work. The ode was preceded by
Beethoven's overture to " Egmont ;" the first tenor
air and a..chorus (" Yet cloth the Lord see it not")
from "Elijah" (solo singer Herr Kumpel); and the
Barcarole from Professor Sterndale Bennett's fourth
pianoforte concerto—a beautiful composition, as all
amateurs are aware, and played to perfection, as all
amateurs will believe, when it is stated that Mdlle.
Angelina Goetz was the player. The second part
of the concert began with the overture to " Guil-
laume Tell (encored) and ended with the overture
to " Oberon"—both orchestral masterpieces offering
difficulties to players of long professional experience,
and therefore doubly trying to amateurs, with whom
the practice of music is an occasional means of re-
laxation. The " Guillaume Tell" overture, more-
over, was immediately followed by the elaborate in-
troduction to that magnificent opera, for chorus and
solo voices (solos by Mr. Tom Hohler, Dr. Levies,
Mr. Frank Skey, and Mr. Underdown—two tenors
and two basses), which together with the adagio
from Mendelssohn's Symphony in A minor
(" Scotch"), also introduced in the second part of the
programme, gave further proofs that in some in-
stances ambition slightly outweighed discretion.
Horsley's glee "By Celia's Arbour ;" Mr. J. L. Hal-
ton's arrangement of " My love is like the red red
rose" as a part-song for chorus (extremely well
given), a cleverly-written solo for cornet-a-pistons
(with accompaniments for the orchestra), the com-
position of Mr. Frederick Clay, performed by Mr.
A. B. Mitford ; and two vocal solos—an aria from
Donizetti's "Dom Sebastiano" and Gordigiani's
" Un Ricordo"—both sung with remarkable taste,
the first (encored) by Mr. Tom Hohler, the last
(and, though not encored, the best) by a gentleman
whose name we could not learn, completed the pro-
gramme. The orchestra, consisting of upwards of
70 performers (30 from the ranks of the " Wander-
ing Minstrels") was conducted, with the nerve and
decision of an old practitioner, by the Hon. Seymour
Egerton. The chorus numbered something short
of 200, and in each department—soprano, alto,
tenor, and bass—voices of rare strength and fresh-
ness were detected. Singers and players were ex-
clusively amateurs.

FRESH "ISSIRI.AN DISCOVERIES BY
SIR HENRY RAWLINSON.

Sir Henry Rawlinson has Written to the .Athe-
meinn, giving the result of some recent investiga-
tions of the Assyrian tablets in the British

Museum.

London, Feb. 28, 1E62.
In examining the many fragments of the historical
tablets of Ashur-bani-pal, the son of Esar- Haddon, which
crowd theishelves of the British Museum, with a view of
arranging, if possible, one complete copy of the annals for
publication, I have, within these few days, lighted upon a
passage which had previously escaped my observation, but
which I have now found repeated in a more or less perfect
state on several of these mutilated terracotta records.
The possage is of great interest, as it furnishes the first
point of undoubted contact between Greek and Assyrian
history, and I hasten, therefore, to announce the discovery.
Ashur-bani-pal states as follows :—" Gyges was King of
Lydia, a country on the seashore, and so far off that the
kings, my fathers, who reigned before me, had never even
heard the name of it. In obedience to my royal proclama-
tion—(the proclamation is given at length, and invites all
people to do homage and offer tribute to Ashur-bani-pal,
King of Asyria, on pain of incurring the vengeance of
Ashur. King of the Gods)—the said Gyges sent his officers
to my presence to propitiate me ; and they brought with
them some Cimmerian slaves whom they had t,ken in,
battle when those tribes invaded Lydia, together with a
heavy tribute. They brought these things before me at
Nineveh, and they kissed my yoke."

This Lydian tribute was brought to Nineveh, it would
seem, early in the reign of Ashur-bani.pal, perhaps as
early as B.C. 660 ; but the event could hardly have occurred.
anterior to that date, and we must either, therefore, re-
duce by some 20 years the ordinarily received chronology,
or we must suppose the Gyges of the inscriptions to be the
Ardys of Herodotus. The Cimmerianinvasion favours the
latter explanation ; but, on the other hand, we must re-
member that a passage of Dionysius (tom. vi., p. 773,
Reiske) does actually fix the commencement of the Lydian
kingdom as late as p.c. 698, so that Gyges, who reigned 3$
years, would have been still living in B.C. 660. It is fur-
ther ethnologically interesting to find that the Scythians,
who invaded Lydia in the seventh century 8.C., and whore
Herodotus calls Cimmerians, were really the 'same people
as the Sam of later history ; the title of Gimirri, which
is used in this passage of Ashurbani-pal's annals (and pre-
viously, for the first time, in the annals of Esar-Haddon),
being the Assyrian equivalent for the Persian Saca in the
trilingical inscriptions of Darius Hystaspes.
Whether this name of Gimirri, however, has any real
connexion with the modern Cymri, or Celts. is, I think,
exceedingly doubtful. H. C. RAWLINSON.
London, March 4.
P.S.— Since writing the above I have continued ray
search among the hitherto unexamined tablets of the
British Museum, and have been rewarded by further die-
coveries. Upon a broken clay tablet belonging to the
Biblical Tiglath-Fileser I have found an epitome of the
h
monarch'sigrnefdaesfcrroimbe d hisln
first
to
hie
Babylonia ; 2. In Media and Armenia ; 3. In Asia Minor ;
istorical
seventeenthev ents
year. of this
The
campa
and 4. In Syria; and the narrative throughout is far more
detailed than on the slabs, with which alone we have been
previously acquainted. In the Syrian chapter, for in-
stance, after the usual lists of kings who brought their
tribute to Tiglath-Pileser in his eighth year, and among
whom, as is already known, are Menahem of Samaria,
Hiram of Tyre, and Rezin of Damascus, we have a supple-
mentary list of the tributary kings of Southern Syria,
which is entirely new, and which, although unfortunately
imperfect owing to a fracture in the tablet, still preserves
the names of the kings of Arved, Beth Ammon, Moab,
Ascalon, Judtia, Edom, and Gazah. The name of the
Jewish king ought, according to the Scriptural narrative,
to be Ahaz ; but on the tablet we find Jeho-ahaz (or, as it
is written in Assyrian in the oblique case, Yahu-khazi).
that the Assyrians did not know the names of the foreign
What are we to suppose from this ? Was it really the case
kings who brought or sent them tribute ; mistaking Pekab.
for his predecessor Menahem, and confounding Ahaz, king
•
of Judah, with Jeho-ah az, king of Israel , who reigurzd a
century earlier P or has the Hebrew nomenclature come
in a corrupted state ? There can be no doubt
down to u-
fromawshwateellvear,s from the
th eg emn
mention
at
il ei
io no cf uRr reezni
nc y
ooff
rot haemcahsrcounso, og y
that,
the Tiglath-Pileser the Second of the Assyrian annals is
the same king whose Syrian expedition is described in
2 icings xiv.; (?) yet it is equally certain that, instead of
the Pekah and Ahaz of the Bible, we have the cuneiform.
names of Menahem and Jeho-ahaz for the contemporary
monarchs of Israel and Judah,
The tablet of Tiglath-Pileser, 'which I am now describ-
ing, is, like all other monuments of this monarch, entirely
silent as to his ancestry, thus affording strong negative
evidence that he was a usurper, and initiated the second.
or lower dynasty of Assyria ; and it also points to a very
close connection in time between Tiglath-Pileser and Sar-
gon, the names of the tributary kings which it enumerates
being, for the most part, the same as thoes of the monarchs
whose conquests is narrated on the marbles of Khorsabad.
If the reign of Shalmaneser did really intervene between
that of Tiglath Pileser and that of Sargon, it could have
been but of very short duration. Merodach-Baladin, in-
deed, the son of Yakin-L-who is stated at Khorsabad to
have ascended the throne of Babylon in the same year thatn
Sargon commenced his reign at Ninevah—was
ealreadyont
of
power when Tiglath-Pileser, at the very cemroe
time, it is
e o
his career, invaded Babylonia ; though at
that
ed
true, his dominion seems to have been confined
tory on the sea-coast, and at the mouth to the terri-
tory the
H Euphrates.

k -----
REPRESENTATION OF WYcomßE.—Mr. Campbell
Sleigh has retired, leaving Mr. Remington Mills, the only
Liberal candidate, in the field. Mr. D. Cameron, of Hamp-
den-house, bas issued an address, in which he describes
himself as an "independent Liberal Conservative," but
says he " has no wish to see the present Government su-
perseded," and especially praises Lord Palmerston's foreign
electors yes-
terday in unanimous policy. Mr. Remington Mills addressed the
the Town hall, and a
oils vote in his
favour e passed. The nomination takes place on Mon-
day.

TILE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

The long foreseen " drive" to get the work for-
',ward for the opening of the building is slowly be-
ginning at South Kensington. Of course the hurry
will be greater, and certainly on a more extensive
scale, before all is done, though on the first glance
xnund the building now it seems difficult to imagine
how, under any circumstances, the bustle, excite-
ment, and perfect roar of preparation can be greater.
The aspect of the interior is at present almost be-
wildering, and it is hard for a stranger at first to
say whether it is being pulled down or built up,
filled or emptied. The whole aspect of the interior
changes literally day by day. The floor, only part
completed, down the nave, and the laying of which
added so much to its apparent width, is already
being cut up into holes for foundations, or lumbered
over with piles of bricks to mark the spots where
foundations are to come. Gaunt, long-armed cranes
And shear legs are busy in all directions, inside and
out, loading and unloading 'waggons ; hundreds and
hundreds of painters creep about on the frailest of
frail spiderweb looking scaffolds, painting the roofs
of the galleries ; while loud above all the subordinate
tumultuou rush of noises is the thundering din of
Flanks d beams thrown headlong from the summit
of the dome scaffolds and travellers on to the earth
beneath. These beams, planks, scaffold poles, ropes,
and material of all kinds are now being summarily
tumbled down from every part of the building, so
as to really make it almost dangerous for those
who are not most careful to keep a bright look-out
aloft before they -venture under any scaffolding
-whatever. Of course, in the very dangerous parts
warning placards, ropes, red flags, and policemen
are all Put to keep back the ignorant or foolhardy,
though all these safeguards are sometimes insuffi-
cient to prevent the men risking themselves in the
most wanton manner. Yesterday a fatal accident
occurred, though not from this cause. A
workman engaged high up on the eastern dome
scaffold missed his footing, and fell a height of 140
feet to the ground, striking with fearful violence
against a beam in his descent. His death, of coarse,
was instant. Both domes are now fully painted
and gilt, and the gigantic scaffold frames are fast
coming down. Greater progress would have been
made in their removal before this but for the severe
gale of Saturday and Sunday, which broke or blew
out a great many of the squares of glass. This
storm put the building to a more severe test than it
is likely to encounter again before next winter. On
Sunday afternoon, when the wind was at its worst,
and the glass coming out of the dome in all direc-
tions, Mr. Ashton ascended to the summit of the
western dome to ascertain whether the damage was
due to the force of the wind acting upon the squares
of glass only held in by soft putty, or whether there
was any vibration in the dome ribs themselves
which would account for it. A long examination
made by this gentleman showed conclusively that
all the ribs and ironwork were as rigid and immov-
able as rocks, and that it was merely the violence
of the wind acting upwards from the inside that
forced the squares out. In fact, the firmness with
which every part of the huge structures bore the
very severe strain of the gale surprised even those
most confident of their strength.
The goods received during this week have been
almost entirely from foreign countries—the Nether-
lands, Saxony, Austria, Prussia, &c. The English
goods, which are every day said to be coming, are
still unaccouutablybackward in making their appear-
ance. This long procrastination is likely to give rise
to most serious inconvenience as the time for the
opening approaches. One result of the delay, if much
longer continued, is certain to be that the building
will open with the foreign courts complete and
beautifully arranged, while the English will have
their counters and cases but half-finished, and their
displays, of course, proportionately ill-arranged and
ill-shown. Exhibitors should bear in mind that
the Royal Commissioners have the power to refuse
to allow goods into the building after the 31st of
this month, and it is a power which in some cases
they would do well to exercise if they find them-
selves likely to be inconvenienced by this unwar-
rantrAble dilatoriness.

We are very sorry to say that the anticipations
we have so frequently expressed as to the magnifi-
cent effect which the interior of the building when
Complete would present are not likely to be realised,
in consequence of the permission which the Com-
missioners have given to the various English and
foreign courts of exhibition to enclose themselves
with wooden partitions, in order to get additional
hanging space for their goods. This permission—
according to the way the French are acting upon
it, and others are sure to follow their example—
will simply ruin the whole interior effect of the dis-
play, and break up what should be one grand Ex-
hibition into a number of detached courts as distinct
from each other as so many shops. The French
have received for their court a space amounting to
very nearly one-quarter of the entire building.
This is in what are called the 50-feet courts, under
the glass ridge and furrow roof, on the south side
of the building, and this space the French have per-
mission to enclose entirely up to within two feet of
the floor of the first gallery, and from the first gal-
lery again up to within two feet of the actual roof
of the court itself. They not only have permission
thus to enclose it, but they are actually doing it.
They are walling themselves in all round with deal
partitions, which entirely fill in part of one side of
the upper gallery nave, and, in short, darken and,
as we cannot help thinking, spoil the building. It
is true all these partitions will be covered with car-
pets, tapestries, and paper-hangings, but as, of
course, other courts are already availing them-
selves of similar partitions, the result of the whole
will be to break up the Exhibition into a great
aggregation of small enclosures., which, as we have
said, will be as distinct and independent of each
other almost as so many shops or bazaars. The
two feet spaces between the gallery floors and
the roof above are nominally left for the pur-
poses of ventilation, for which we venture to
think they will prove totally inadequate, not
only to let in fresh air, but even to let out the
heat and dust. We certainly have had no warm
Weather yet, but even during the recent mild days,
when, the sun has been shining, the heat felt through
the glass roofs of these 50 feet courts gives a fore-
taste of what their temperature will be when crowded
with visitors, totally enclosed, and a July sun blaz-
ing down upon them. True, the glass roofs will be
screened over with canvas, for, without some such
shelter, it is known the heat would be insupport-
table ; but the enclosure of the courts will aggravate
this inconvenience in a tenfold greater degree than
any amount of canvas over the roof will mitigate it.
From this cause alone we believe that it will be
found necessary, before the summer is half over, to
d° away with the topmost line of partitions which
ron from the galleries to the roof, and, as the lower
"ne l3 infinitely leis objectionable, it might remain,
though even this last will bo a disfigurement to
been nterior. The Austrians are showing signs of
being about to enclose themselves in a somewhat
similar manner in r the very middle of the north-
western transept.
But in this case the partitions
are not 10 feet high, n,ad of being, as round the
French court, in alli
nearly 45 feet high. The
forward
western annexe,
well, but itsellinery eastern b
in motion, is pushing
rotlter s
for agricul-
tural machines, impl.cuienta,
scc is'carcety so
woo. columns are
forward, and scnno of-Its light den
not a little out of the perpendicular, and must be
replaced.
Messrs. Kelk and Lucas may now almost be said
to live in the building, and their indefatigable
endeavours to push forward everything are really
beyond all praise.—Times.

A RAILWAY TRAIN DETAINED FOR A Kiss.—On
Monday morning, as the train from Kidderminster stopped
at the liilston station, at 8.58 a lady rose in one of the car-
riages as if desirous of getting out. buf was unable to do so.
Some difficulty was expo-fenced by the oflleials in opening
the door, and a do/ay of a minute or so was occasioned.
When, however, the door had been opened, a young man
who had been all the while standing on the platforin as it'
desirous of taking the seat that the lady seemed about to
vacate, leaped into the compartment, gave the lady a hearty
kiss, and then returned to the platform, whereupon the
eyounglady resumed her seat, evidently quite delighted with
success of the ruse to obtain this passing and affec-
tionate saint:die:l.—Birmingham _Post,

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)

O NEW YORK, FEn. 25.
On Friday
evening I left Montreal on my way
back to Washington, and had some small experis
ences of the difficulties of travelling by railroad in
a North American winter. During my short stay
in Canada I heard frequent complaints of the
1 Grand Trunk line because time was not kept and
the trains ran off the track. For the most part
they were unreasonable, though they might be
founded on fact. It is impossible for railway
managers to be responsible for snow storms and
drifts, or for accidents caused by the effect of in-
tense cold on metalwork. All that astonishes me
is that the trains are able to make such good time
of it, though no one can be supposed to look favour-
ably on a detention of four or five hours, hungry
and frowsy, in a long over-heated box on wheels,
filled with some 40 or 50 fellow-creatures in a state
of high wrath and perspiration. Those abominable
stoves ! They are perhaps indispensable, but they
are nuisances. Mr. Blackwell, the managing direc-
tor—whose health has broken down in his enclea-
i yours to set the railroad right, so that he is obliged
to retire, to the regret of all who served with him
—has made some very interesting researches on the
contraction and expansion of the Victoria-bridge,
but, as his observations will, no doubt, be made pub-
lic on his return, I shall only may that the durabi-
lity of iron and all its other properties are tested to
a great degree in these latitudes, and that it would
not be quite safe, even if it were practicable, to run
the trains at a high rate of speed during the winter
here. But the frozen frontier is by no means an
adequate defence in case of war. In two hours from
Montreal the American station at Rouse's Point is
reached. American influence in the shape of news-
papers, periodicals, and ideas, extend much further.
Among the passengers there was less exultation
than might have been expected, though a confident
opinion was expressed that the neck of the rebellion
was broken, and that only a few kicks and convul-
sive struggles were to be expected from its galva-
nised extremities; indeed, Americans almost justify
Mr. Bancroft's assertion that no man can under-
stand them, and that De Tocqueville was unable to
penetrate the mysteries of the national character.
There was a sort of pride in the way they spoke of
the fighting of the "rebels" at Donnelson and of
the heavy losses. " They're not so easy to be
whipped. It's only our chaps could have done it',
Although Saturday was the day of Washington's
birth, and was to be celebrated all over the Union,
there were no great signs of jubilee in the villages
and cities we passed on our way. There were
" Stars and Stripes " waving, to be sure, from
steeple and window, but in no great abundance.
The cold and snow, which lay deep till the train got
south of Albany, may have had the effect of pre-
venting out-door manifestations. Certainly, there
was no token of any unusual excitement or anima-
tion on the platforms and in the railway stations.
There seemed a great deal of sympathy for the loss
sustained by the President, who was tenderly
attached to his little boy Willie. It is likely that
he has made a favourable impression on the popular
mind by his recent course in politics, notwithstand-
ing some drawbacks and obstacles connected with
the less public affairs of his administrative life.
But the favourite of the day is Mr. Stanton ; he has
touched the heart of his countrymen. They like
his sharp, clear-cut manifestoes, and his sounding
pronunciamientoes. The recent successes are, they
think, somehow or other connected with his acces-
sion to power. He has, indeed, endeavoured to dis-
abuse the Northerners of the delusion that the
movements of Grant, Buell, and Landor are por-
tions of a concerted plan, each directed from head-
quarters in reference to the other, and has plainly
intimated that their victories are due to individual
inspiration, and to Fortune typifying the God of
Battles. One of his boldest acts has been the libera-
tion of the victims of the lettres de cachet of the
State Department, on the condition that they give
parole not to afford aid or comfort to those engaged
in hostility against the United States, and his
seizure of the agent of a journal which pretends to
exercise great influence in America as a spy has
been regarded with satisfaction, for it is proof of his
indifference to the enmity he will no doubt pro-
voke in the discharge of his duty, and of his con-
tempt for its power. Some discussion has arisen
in reference to his relations with General M'Clellan,
against whom something very like a cabal has been
formed inside and outside the capital. I have '
what appears to me excellent authority for stat-
ing
that ,sir. Stanton gives his whole support to
the General, and is one of his most powerful and
trusty friends. It may be untrue that he uttered
the words of praise attributed to him by the
associated press reporter at the recent meeting
of railroad managers at Washington, but he
has privately repeated sentiments analogous to those
which appeared in the newspapers. One thing is
quite certain. The concentration of Federal troops
in front of Manassas has paralysed the best army
the Confederates have in the field, and has kept '
them away from the west and south-west. It may
be considered, indeed, as the only well equipped
force (inferior as it is in that respect to the oppos-
ing army) which the Confederates have been able
to assemble. The prisoners who have surrendered
at Donnelson are described as being almost in rags.
Their arms of a most wretched quality. And yet
their sortie, or rather attack on the Federal right
was characterised by much energy and gallantry.
The prisoners taken at Roanoke were, as I heard
from a trusty eye-witness, altogether unfit for a
contest with troops provided with Enfield rifles
and rifled muskets. They were armed with all
sorts of firelocks, sporting rifles, smooth bores, flint
guns, and the like, and were clad in a great variety
of garments. What on earth they put themselves,
or were put on that island for, is not easy to see.
Pounded by gunboats from ranges which made it
impossible fur their ordnance to reply with effect,
and cut off by water from escape, it would have
been much better for them to have blown up their
works (or to have spared time and money in build-
ing them), and left the inland to its fate. It is
obvious that the gunboats and mortar vessels armed
with 9in. and 1 lin. Dahlgrens and 13in. mortars
must make earthworks such as the Confederates
construct untenable. When they approach close to
the guns, as at Fort Donnelson, they must prove
irresistible, and they cannot be touched by the ord-
nance directed against them. It is probable that
New Orleans will experience the truth of this as
soon as Captain Porter's mortar flotilla is ready.
Savannah is in much danger. One of the citizens
told me to-day he did not think it could be
defended, and that it would be obliged to capi-
tulate, and New Orleans may be reduced to the
same necessity if the success which has attended the
Federals in the West follows them to the South.
The burning or Winton by the Federals is not
likely to conciliate the people, and as yet there is
but little proof of the strong Union sentiment said
to exist iu most of the States. On the existence of
such a feeling must depend the ultimate and perma-
nent success of the Federals. If they are obliged to
garrison those enormous States, ruined in resources
by the conflict, and if they must have an armed oc-
cupation of a hostile South, it is beyond one's com-
prehension to understand by what means they are
to bear up against the burden which will be placed
on the Eastern States. The mere administration of
the laws in the States by Federal officers will be at-
tended by the greatest difficulties. It will be re-
marked with surprise that the Confederate soldiers
taken prisoners are not at all destitute of funds, and
that they are well fed. Great quantities of stores
have also been accumulated by their Government,
much of which iu the south-west has fallen into
i the hands of the Federals. We now hear Nashville
II"B surrendered or been taken, and that the
Confederates have resolved to make a stand at Mur-
freesborou h
g • Columbus, cut off from all commu-
nication, is in
the Confeder
such danger that I cannot see how
Mt's can hold it But still there re-
mains the heart
of the rebellion covered by a mass "
of bone and muscle.
of their retreating mThe negroes follow the steps
asters. Indeed, if they come
near General lialleek,s lines
they would get
a very cool reception. Those who think the
rebellion is crushed out are
a little sanguine.
One of the most hopeful signs of the temper of Con-
of the Con-
gress was its refusal to receive the flags