The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-04 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

A letter from Malta, dated March 29, says :
I regret to state that there is a good deal of ill-
feeling existing just now between the military and
a portion of the inhabitants, which has broken out
during the past week in several disturbances. On
Tuesdaylast, on the occasion of some athletic games
got up by the officers and men of the garrison, a col-
lision took place between them and the people, in
consequence of the latter, as it is alleged, having
infringed the boundaries set up by the military.
Sticks, belts, and stones were freely used, and the
affray at one time threatened to be more serious
than it ultimately proved to be. Save a few broken
heads and numerous contusions no damage was
done ; but it was not before a picket was called out
that order was reestablished. The disturbance was
renewed the same evening on the Palace-square in
Valetta, when for several hours that part of the
town was kept in a state of uproar by collisions be-
tween the people and a number of military officers.
Five soldiers were arrested the same evening for
attacking the inhabitants with their side belts, and
having on the following morning been brought be-
fore a magistrate, were condemned to a term of im-
prisonment. These disgraceful scenes are greatly
deplored by all good officers and citizens, and it is
hoped the Governor will take steps to put a stop to
them, otherwise serious consequences may ensue.
The detachment of the Grenadier Guards, under
the command of Col. Ponsonby, having completed
their course of rifle practice, returned to head-
quarters from Eastbourne on Wednesday; on the
same day detachments of the Coldstream and Fusi-
lier Guards, under the command of Col. Lord
Abinger, arrived there to go through a course of
ball practice.
Yesterday a party, including Gen. Sir John Bur-
goyne, Lieut.-Gen.Wetherall, Col. E. H. Greathead,
Col. Hamilton, R.E., Col. Manners, Inspector of
Volunteers, Capt. Inglefleld, Comr. White,
RN., Lieut.-Col. Newlands, L.E.V., Lieut.-Col.
Clay, L.A.V., and several other officers, accompa-
nied the Mayor of Liverpool, in the Cunard steamer
Satellite, on a trip up and down the Mersey. After
visiting the new Royal mail steamer Scotia, in the
Canada Dock, with which they expressed very
great satisfaction, they proceeded to the extreme
north end of the intended new docks at Liverpool,
near which it is intended to erect a strong protec-
tive fortress. This, it is understood, is to be con-
structed of iron and stone on a new•principle. It
is said it will be so situate
,as to be copipletely stir-
rOtinded by water at certain times ofthe tide, and;
will be of a most formidably defensive character.
These works, it is understood, will be commenced
at an early period. Having inspected this imPg*

PRICE - .4(1.
STAMPED ....sd.

tart point, the steamer then conveyed the party
towards the Cheshire, shore, where, without land-
ing, they made a cursory in,ptetion of the Rock
Fort, arid proceeded up the river, crossing to the
Albert Dock, on the Lancashire side of the Mersey.
The party afterwards visited Her Majesty's ship
Majestic, and landed after having cruised about for
about three hours.

LIT.E.TUTURP.

---.- ----•,..

Mendelgsalin's Letters front Italy and Switzerland.
Translated from the German by Lady Wallace.
Longman and Co.
That Mendelssohn ranks among the greatest
musicians has long been admitted, indeed nowhere
was his genius more speedily or more cordially re-
cognised than in England ; still, few,
t, we imagine,
are at all aware of his power with the pen. Not
that he was by any means what is termed a literary
man, he simply possessed in a very high degree the
faculty which, according to Goethe, all educated
persons should have, namely, of expressing clearly,
vividly, and agreeably their thoughts, feelings, and
impressions. But he was also, in the broadest sense
of the term, an artist. By this wo do not mean ono
who has a special gift merely ; often little butter
than an instinct,—but one who can feel and com-
prehend the universal harmonies of nature,—who
possesses judgment as well as imagination, and can
both discriminate and produce. Endowed with a
marvellously perfect organisation, the world was to
him full of beauty—an unending joy; his sense
of colour seems to have been but little inferior to
that of sound. Had ha not been pre-eminent as a
musician he would have excelled as a painter.
Whilst there is such a current of sweet tender feel-
ling running through his letters, the humour is so
playful, the irony so polished, the refinement so
complete ; there is such utter freedom from envy
or malignity, such thorough sympathy with all that
is great and noble, such clear buoyant freshness of
thought, such perfect enjoyment of existence, that we
feel refreshed as by a country ramble in the leafy
month of June, with the lark singing shrill in
the blue heavens above, the cool, mossy sward soft
beneath our feet, and the balmy south wind, laden
with health, delighting and soothing our senses.
These letters were, indeed, written when he was in
the freshness of youth—he was but twenty-one
—and they have consequently all the elastic vigour
which first impressions give. Not that Mendelssohn
would ever, in the ordinary sense, have grown old.
No truly poetic nature ever does. But there is still
something in the first sight of a grand mountain or
a glorious picture which powerfully stimulates the
faculties, and gives to recorded impressions the
charm of enthusiasm—the charm, in fact, which
underlies this work. Through it we see nature and
art in their most delightful aspects. We throw off,
as we read, the trammels of fashion and convention.
The heart expands, we brush the cobwebs from our
brain, and feel somewhat of the golden time steal
back to us when all great things seemed possible.
And what great things Mendelssohn did in his
short life ! Resembling Raphael in fertility, pre-
cocity, and sweetness of nature, if not quite his
equal in genius, he also died in the flower of his
age, leaving no peer. What operas might he not
have given us had he lived ! What oratorios have
we not lost by his death ! It was chiefly to mem-
bers of his family these letters were written, and
the first, dated from Weimar, contains a very in-
teresting account of Goethe, with whom he seems to
have been on the most affectionate terms. Very
pleasant it is to see this converse of the old et
and the young musician, and very remarkMe
is Goethe's desire, at his advaneed age,
to learn all he could from his friend.
"In the forenoon," says Mendelssohn, "he
likes me to play to him the compositions of the
various great masters, in chronological order, for
an hour, and also tell him the progress they have
made, while he sits in a dark corner, like a Jupiter
Tn:n
on me." With Men-
delssohn deoigohs his o
n,Goethe
eevsi
dfleansthlyi n
at case. His age
and fame prevented antagonism or rivalry. Not so
with that greater and sterner genius Beethoven,
with whom the courtly poet never fraternised, and
for whose compositions he affected not to care. But
we must hasten to Mendelssohn's Italian tour, the
first city he arrived at being Venice, of which, and
Titian, he thus speaks :