The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-02 00:00:00

THE SULTAN'S GUNS.

The Standard gives a word of warning about the arma-
ment of our navy. We have not merely, it observes, to
pierce our enemy's coat of mail, but we have to demolish
him in the shortest possible space of time. Will anyone
tell us the real meaning of that nest of " light guns,"
twenty in number, to be carried on the Sultan's upper
deck ? It is said that these comparative popguns " will
be useful in close action, although they are not to
be reckoned amongst the armament proper." But
by what sort of mischance is the Sultan to get into
" close action " with a vessel so weak as to suffer penetra-
tion by such small fry in the shape of naval ordnance ?
A vessel with rifled guns ought to take care that a battery
of smooth bores never gets very near to her, lest the high
initial velocity of the latter should be turned to account.
Amid the acclamation which greets the launch
of the Sultan it is announced that " the old con-
troversy between broadsides and turrets has been solved
by amalgamation." The Sultan is said to be an instance
of this, and it is argued that "a vessel carrying her
guns on turn-tables in a central battery is a turret vessel
with a square tower." We might as well be told that
a coach was to be made to run on square wheels, or
that Mr. Reed had actually succeeded in squaring the
circle. There is all the difference in the world between the
traversing of guns in a square box, and the rotation of a
circular tower carrying its guns with it. Again, the power
to fire in nearly all directions at once is not equivalent to
the power of firing all the guns in one direction. The
" old controversy" yet continues, and we still contend
that neither in the calibre of the guns, nor in the mode of
working them, does the British fleet present that degree
of efficiency which properly belongs to it. Mr. Reed may
still continue to improve, and probably will do so ; but
for the sake of the nation we should like to see the righ
thing done at once.

SUFFOCATION IN A WELL.—On Tuesday morning
a man named William Hamilton, a labourer, was killed by
foul air while being lowered into a well in course of sinking
at the new asylum, Longdales, Bothwell. On Saturday
water had been found at a depth of 57 feet, and from that
day till yesterday morning the well remained closed. About
half-past six Hamilton was lowered into the well, with his
foot on a rope attached to a windlass wrought by two
labourers. As the apparatus neared the bottom these two
men heard Hamilton shouting, and asked what he wanted.
No answer being returned, they raised the rope, rind wer
shocked to discover Hamilton's dead body hanging head
downwards. Medial aid was was called in, but it was of
no avail.

FREEMASONRY.—The installation of the Earl of
Carnarvon as the Deputy Grand Master took place last
night at a Grand Lodge of Free and accepted Masons, held
at the Masonic Temple, Great Quoen-street. In consequeuar
of the Earl de Grey and Ripon, the Grand Master, being in
attendance on her Majesty at Balmoral, the throne 11113
' occupied by the Earl of Zetlaud, who was supported by a
large body of masons from all parts of the kingdom. The
Grand Lodge having been opened in due form, the newly
Appointed . Grand Master was installed, received the
customary honours, and presided for the remainder of the
evening.

The Right Hon. B. Disraeli and the Viscountess
Beaconsfield have left Grosvenor-gate for Hughenden
Manor, Bucks.
Three young ladies have been admitted as students
in the Vienna University, and one in the philosophies]
faculty of the University of Prague. It is stated that there
ladies have already passed severs of the ordinary univer"
sity examinations with great credit.
Lord Stratherlen will move the foilowing standing
order when the House of Lords meets after the recess
" That if two or more peers rise to speak at the same time,
the Lord Chancellor, and wh©n the House is in Committee,
the Chairman of Committees, shall call on one of them to
proceed, unless the House do otherwise order."
M. ROUND, M.P.—A marriage is in contem-
plation between Mr. J. Round, M.P. for East Essex, told
his cousin, Miss Sibyl Freeland. Miss Freeland is the
fourth daughter of the late Rev. H.. Freeland, rector of
Hasketon, Suffolk, and at the age of two years she became
the adopted child of Mr and Mrs C. G. Round, of Birch Hall,
Essex.

EAST LONDON EMIGRATION FUND.—The second
batch of emigrants sent out by this fund departed horn
London last night by a special train for Liverpool en route
for Quebec. The party were no fewer than 354 in number:
Many friends of the emigration movement were present 3'
the St. Pancras Station, including the Hon. Elizabeth Waldo"
p rave, the Hon. F. and Mrs. Hobart, Sir H. Verney,
Octavius E. Coope, the Hon. Arthur Kin Jaird, M.P., &e.
SHOCKING DEATH OF A BOY.—About seven o'clock
on Tuesday a boy named Thomas Coulthard, 13 years o,
age, who lived with his parents at 55, Miles-street, was
climbing a tree in that portion of Prince's Park skirting 03
Inlet-road, in search of a bird's nest, when one of the
branches gave way. The poor lad fell on the park railing's,
one of which entered his side, and he then rolled into the
road, dying almost immediately.—Liverpool Courier.
CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.—The sessions of the
Central Criminal Court commence on Monday next. Tll5
judges on the rota are Chief Justice Bovill, Mt. Justico
Blackburn, and Mr. Justice beating. The most important
case in the calendar is that of Boulton and Park. The
charge against th m is expected to be proceeded with at
these sessions. Up to yesterday no application had been
made in Judges' chambers for bail in the case of these two
yeung men.
A PLAGUE OF ,BEETLES.—A very s rious plague
of small brown beetles has occurred iu Yorkshire, en',
during the last few days the Swede turnip crop lime been '
destroyed. This is especially so in the Weld district, many
farms having no plants remaining. At Mahon on SaturdaY
the farmers obtained new stocks of seed, and re-sowing
would commence on Monday. The beetle, in myriads bate
also attacked the tare and pea crops. The long drought;
is supposed to have favoured this destructive visitation of
insect life.

EMIGRATION TO CANADA.—Another large party
of about 200:;emigrants left Euston Station be the 9.1 d
train last night for Canada. to join the ship Prus jai],
which sails from Liverpool to-day. The Rev. A. Style-
man Herring, chairman of the Clerkenw,ll Emigration
Society, accompanied the party with 143 of its mambo?,
comprising eight wives, with 29 children, rejoining their
husbands 'n Canada, and nine little orphans proceeding
to a female orphanage in Canada West. The remainder of
the party, 4, were sent out out by tho British and Colonial
Emigration Fund.
A MINISTER WITH ONE HAND.—The new Minister
of Public Works in France, M. Plichon, is without the left
hand ; but what is not generally known is the manner 10
which he lost the member. When a young man, he was
out shooting with a friend, each beating the cover se irately,
when the latter in firing at a black cock, wounded his coat •
panion in such a manner that amputation became necessary
M. Plichon was much attached to his companion, so, In
order to spare him the reproaches of their two families, 103
pretended that he had himself caused the accident; but on
the other having subsequently died, the motive for preser-
ving the secret no longer existed.—Galignani.
We understind that the French Government lias
declared its willingness to permit the official quotation of
the new Turkish Railway Stock on the Paris Exchange
soon as it is quoted on the Exchange at Vienna. Davi!
Pasha, the Turkish Minister of Commerce, who arrived In
the latter city on the 22d instant, has been engaged in neV-
tiations on this subject, which it is expected will have I
favourable result. The Turkish Government has expressed
'
its readiness to give all necessary guarantees for Lb • ex In;
sive employment of the capital on Turkish railways
their completion in the shortest possible time.
THE CHURCH IN THE METROPOLIS.--The Bishop
of London has collated the Rev. Henry Nicholas Collier;
M.A., to the new vicarage of the Holy Trinity, FinchleY
and has instituted the Rev. Henry Samuel Eyra to
,
the new vicarage of all Saints, St. John's-wood; and has
licensed the Rev. Edmund Fearon Burrell Bourke Fellowes,
M.A., to the curacy of Stoke Newington ; the Rev. Arthur
William Beaty Marshall, 8.A., to the curacy of St. Andrew, .
Hollingwoorl ; the Rev. Edward Bainbridge Penfold,
to the curacy of Christ Church, St. Pancras; the
Philip William Sparling, 8.A., to the curacy of St. Jude,
Gray's-inn-road; the Rev. Thomas Theojore Sutton, 13. A,:,
to the curacy of St. Andrew, Hoxton ; and the Rev. Joseph
Bishop Wheeler: to be chaplain to the House of Detention
at Clerkenwell.

THE IRISH NATIONAL PRESS.--The intended pub-
lication in London of "a national and democratic journal
for the Irish Nationalists resident in England and Scotland
has just been announced. The promoters of the scheme
state in their prospectus that the Irish exiles resident in
England, Scotland, and Wales are "numerically far larger,
owing to the poverty caused by alien rule in their native
land, than any other body of exiles resident in these coun-
tries," and are, nevertheless "totally unrepresented in t lie
Press." Having remarked that American, Frenchman,
Germans, : nd Italians posses,, in this country, journals d&-
voted to their interests, and that " in the great American
Republic journalsintensely Irish in tone and feeling,"wbich
may be counted by the score, teach Irishmen to hope and
toil on'for their country's enfranchisement the prospectus
states tbat " a committee of Irishmen has been formed for
the purpose of re-establishing in London the People of Ire-
land, a journal which, during the p-riod of its publication„
in Ireland, enjoyed such great and deserved populgrity•
The new paper will advocate 44 Ireland's inalienable right to
national independence." It may be remarked that the
,People of Ireland, which was published in Dublin, suddenly
collapsed when Fenianism was rife in Ireland soma three
years ago.

HUNGARIAN FINANCE.
Herr von Longay, the new Minister of Finance, in the i.
Austro- Hungarian Empire, and late Minister of Finance ?°'
Hungary made a long farewell speech in the Hangars':
Parliament the other day, in which he gave a full accou°
of his policy while at the head of the Hungarian FiLlan.ce
Department. It appeared from his speech that the financial
i
affairs of Hungary are in a most fLurish condition. In 18v,: '
instead of a deficit of 12,.214,739 florins, which he had 119'
*vided for in his estimate, there was a surplus of 1,43974?_.
florins, or a balance of up wards of 13500,000 florins
favour of the State. This result wasnot produced 1/
reduction of expenditure—for the expenditure of 1869 was
87,000 florins in excess of that ()Nile preceding year le
by a considerable increase in the receipts of most of t
revenue departments.

THE PASSION PLAY IN BAVARIA.
The correspondent of the Standard continues "'-
narrative of the Passion Play in Ober Ammergau, Bawl
which is curious as being one of the last relics of the c't
The
" mysteries," or Miracle Plays of the middle ages. a
first act which was described in his last letter terminate
with our Saviour's entry into Jerusalem and departure
for Bethany. At the opening of the second " Vers.
tellung," the chorus, to whose share is allotted a
considerable portion of the work, comes on the
stage and the leader begins a recitation of
the next scene which, by way of illustration, goes baclt -,o
the history. of Joseph in the Old Testament. The
grouping in this tableau was conceived with great artistic
power. The scene was truly Oriental : the broad leaves
of the palm spreading parasol-like over the
straight bare trunks are there, and in the
back-ground—a reach of arid sands Josewicks
brethren cluster round the draw-well into which they have
just cast him. When the curtain falls the chorus continue'
its singing until the period of the action of the drama'
associated with the New Testament, approaches, when
files off statelily to the right and left. Then comes
session of the Sanhedrin, with the Jewish priests discussing
the bargain with Judas. The next vorstellung opens with
°t
a picture of the young Tobias taking leave of his par
(Tobias, chap 5. v. 32), followed by another of " the loviq
bride bewailing the loss of her bridegroom " (Joel, chap.
v. 17). The former of these tableaux was exceedingly
pretty, and a shaggy house-dog, of the faithful mountain
breed, was introduced on the stage ; the dumb animal',
except an occasional wag of the tail, was as motionless a'
if he were a dog of plaster of Paris. Both illustriv
tions were intended to typify the adieux of Christ to
Mary. In the handlung which succeeded, Christ appears
in the streets of Bethany and enters into the house of
i
Simon (to which he is asked to dinner), where Mary sat,'
Martha await him. Martha, I may here say, is the firs"
female character in the piece who has a passage
speak. At the end of the repast the Virgin Diary
makes her apparition on the scene, to take leave ?
her Son before his departure for Jerusalem, and tlug
brings down the curtain. A modest rustic beauty
they have chosen to fill this risky role of Mother,
of Christ—a rosy creature with a finely chiselled('
contour, a row of pearly teeth, with soft brown eyes
brown hair, confined by a blue nun-like veil. The acting
of the Virgin in the little she had to do in this instance'
was marked by much thoughtfulness and quiet matronly
dignity. Her voice had in it a thrill of exceedingly
womanly softness. The one point in which she fails—in
which, indeed, most of these village artists of her sex fag
—is in her movements. They are not—to be critical (30"
if we are not critical; we are nothing) exactly
sylphlike or fawnlike, but ever so little heavy
as those of people accustomed to carry burdens'
The fourth vorstellung opens with a symbolical cliaunt on
the restoration of the Jewish Church by Esther. Tile
corresponding handlung presents us Christ and his
followers on their way to Jerusalem. The Master rests
an interval on the stage, weeping over the sinful city an
foreboding its doom. s Christ leaves the eleven true
Apostles follow; but the unsteady Judas, who had
been hanging back; remains, undecided how to act'
Two money-dealers of the Temple enter into conversation
with him and ask if conversion would profitable to then'.
Upon this Judas shews them significantly his eraPtY
purse, and complains of the extravagance, not only Pei;
mitted, but approved by Christ in Mary Magdalen'saca
of anointing Him with ointment worth three hundred
sequins. The money dealers, finding him in the nic° A
tempt him to betray his Master, and, after an inward
struggle, he consents. This is the conclusion of the fourth
scene.