The Sun.
London, England, 1834-06-24 00:00:00

PART 111.
SELECTION FROM SAMPSON.

Overture.
Recitative—Mr. Vaughan, " This day a solemn feast."
Chorus—" Awake the trumpet."
Recitative—Mr. Braham, " 0 loss of sight!" Air—" Total
eclipse."
Chorus—" 0 first created beam."
Air—Mr. H. Phillips, " Honour and arms."
The Dead March. . _

Air—Miss Stephens (11;;;;obligato, Mr. Harper), " Let
the bright seraphim I"
Chorus—" Let the celestial concerts."
Handers celebrated " coronation anthem," the
opening piece of this day's performance, was judi-
ciously chosen, if it was intended to astound the audi-
tory at once by letting them hear the tremendous
effect of so large a combination of vocal and instru-
mental force as was nowpresented. There may he
those, however, who think with ourselves, that if
this development had been. postponed to a later part
was, the
peu7minppaonsysession
of
were, in the course
of the (lay, the interest of the whole would not have
the whole
capabilities of the occasion, as far as grandeur of
minutes,%-
combination and power went. In these particulars
soufffaerveedi.y.,Al.osvit
there was nothing more to look for. The loudest

report was made, and the most effective shot fired
at the opening of the, battle. Many pieces
that followed consequently -appeared, through
contrast, to fall short in =energy and spirit.
The anthem was played and sung, almost as well
as we ever heard, it. The opening by the violins
was neatly given, notwithstanding the large number
of bows and fingers employed, and the burst of
chorus, aided by trombone, trumpet, and drum, was
terrific. With the exception Of the abbve, the two
first parts of. the Oratorio comprised Haydn's Crea-
tion: Thb instrtiinblital introdubtion; intended as a
representation of 'Oha'os; was played with accuracy:
We cannot, however, say that we considered it so
effective as when we have heard it on some other
occasions. Consisting, as it does, of a number of i
detached flashes from solo instruments, and present-
ing no grand combinations requiring the aid of so
large a band, it seemed to us- rather inappropriate
to its situation, It is more .a musical curiosity than
any thing else it was curious even here; but we
cannot help saying less effective than when heard
simply as the introductory movement of a theatre
oratorio; In the recitation' which opens the ora-
torio, " In the beginning," the veteran Bellamy, as
was the case with most- of the singers at starting,
appeared to be at a loss to suit- the power of his
voice to the capacity of the building. *He sang
lnuehw
leolludienrttuttnaen. was neeccehaosraurys,
„:aAndndnotht particu-
larlyespirit;
went well considering. There was a little want of
firmness at the commencement ; the effect of the
band at " Let there be light' was trefnendbus, and
had not its full power already been heard in the an-
them, the audience must 'have -been actually elec-
trified. " Now vanish," :by Mi. Vaughan, was
weak in the extreme. 'ld the air, "" The marvel-
lous work," our old favourite Miss Stephens made
her debut on this :occasion; She appeared to be
oppressed with a Sense of the., arduousness of her
situation, and as diffident as when shefirst, many years
since, appeared before "the public.- Her voice still
retains its beautiffil quality Of lone, but if we were
to say she sings as well as ever, we should be guilty
of most egregious flattery. The chorus that fol-
lows theair was given with its fullest effect. The
recitative, " And God said let the waters," with
the air, " Rolling with foaming-billows," were sung
by Mr. H. Phillips. We are bound to say we have
heard this gentleman with much greater pleasure
than on this occasion. There was a tameness and
a want of light and shade about this performance,
and the voice was not well thrown over. We must
premise, however, in making this and other re-
marks, that to persons situated in different parts of
so large an edifice, the estimate in regard to power
and energy might be different. In the air, the mel-
lifluous tones of the Messrs. Platt and Rae's horns,
in the beautiful accompaniments the composer has
adapted to it, were heard to very great advantage ;
as were the flute of Nicholson and the oboe of
Cooke. The next piece, " With verdure clad,"
introduced Madame Caradori Allan, the prima
donna, we presume, of this day's celebration. This
lady also appeared at a loss to suit the power of her
voice to the building. The air was sung very
chastely, and with great feeling and purity of tone,
but the singer was occasionally rather out of tune.
She, moreover, introduced a cadence, which, if Haydn
had heard it, would have driven him stark mad.
Ii is a pity great singers will not confine their love
for display to the theatre or the concert-room ; in
such a situation as this, and in such a composition,
it was sadly out of plaCe. Mr. Hobbs, in " Awaken
the harp," showed good taste, and no deficiency of
judgment, and his voice was much admired.
Mr. Braham, to whom the next recitative and
air were assigned, ‘‘ And 'God said, Let there be
light," and " In splendour bright the rising sun,"
showed himself a veteran- in more respects than one.
There seemed to -be about lir. B. none of that fid-
getty anxiety that seemed :to parvade the rest of
the singeri, with scarcely a, single exception. He
was firm and bold at -the 'very Ontstart,'seemed at
once to catch the proper notions-of the extent of tle
building, arid filled it readily with his noble
without appearing to :labour -or to -eiert himself
more than ordinarily. :Many reports have lat-
terly been spread abroad 6f the alleged failures
of this long popular vocalist. On this occasion there
was no failure, and, What probably contributed not
alittle to his success, there appeared to be no apprf-
, hension of failure. He sang the splendid compo-
sitions in question as finely its we ever heard him at
any period of his life, and if it had been. his first
appearance before the public, instead of after an
unprecedentedly long career of popularity, trium-
phant success must have Crowned hiS efforts. We
could imagine the overpowering burst of applause
that would have followed btit for the sacred-charac-
ter of the edifice. " The heavens are telling," the
concluding chorus of the -first part of the Creation,
often as we have heard it, seemed to acquire new
beauties ; its effects' were awfully magnificent, and
exclamations of astonishment burst from a thousand
, voices. Hundreds of those who call themselves
musicians, present on this occasion, must have felt
, themselves to be very little people indeed at hearing
this transcendent composition given in the style it
now was.

Madame Stockhausen sang the recitative that
commences the second part, with the air, " On
mighty pens the eagle," very chastely and
beautifuly, much, we apprehend, to the sur-
prise of many who - supposed her talent to
be confined to the singing of Swiss melodies
and their equally light compositions. She is a lady
of very considerable merit, and we rejoice much at
the opportunity the festival has afforded of making
that merit more generally known and appreciated.
It is unnecessary, and indeed impossible at present,
to go through the whole of the performances in the
way of critique ; we must, therefore, confine our
remarks to a few of the remaining points that appear
more particularly to call for them.
The recitative " And God said, Let the earth
bring forth," with the air " Now Heaven in fullest
glory shone" was sung by Mr. E. Seguin. This
vocalist, we imagine, was never heard to so much
advantage. His voice, even in this large edifice,
sounded full, rich, and powerfully ; and what he had
to do was given with great judgment and taste.
Mr. Sapio also will have added considerably
.to his
professional reputation by the manner in.which he
gave the air " In Native Worth." Miss Glara
Novello,-Mrs. Bishop, and Miss Turner, with Mr.
F. and Mr. W. Robinson, in several of the con-
certed pieces sang very chastely and with much good
taste. Mrs. W. Knyvett also was in fine voice, and
acquitted herself with more than her accustomed
excellence. Indeed at such performances as the
present she may be considered peculiarly at hoe.
The duet (Adam and Eve) with Mr. Phillips,
was quite a feature in the performance.
theto quite
w as
as muchin in
its lovein fa with
infancy
e
In the third part (the selection from Sampson),a
the overture, we think, gave little satisfaction to any
one unless he happened to be so inveterate an ad-
mirer
i ofsthatHandel
asoverture
in his day, and a vefy infantile
production
the present one is. Although performed in a style
that Handel himself could never have anticipated, it
was not at all to our taste. We heard in the three-
four movement a great deal of the " belching and
brattling," as an old writer has it, "of some half'
dozen French horns," and the loud music of haut-
boys was very discernible amidst the din of violins
and basses. The minuet was more effective, but
still common-place enough. We were much
amused by the motions of a party of elderly gentle-
men, all in black, who nodded their heads most sa-
piently when this air was played, after having sat
through the whole of the Creation in a state
of apparent apathy. The exhilarating chorus
" Awake the trumpet's lofty sound," supposed to be
sung by the priests of Dagon, was performed with
great power and animation. 1-larper's trumpet ap-
peared to be just such a may tial instrument as in the
olden time cheered up the Philistines, either at the
feast or in the battle field: Mr. Braham's " 0
loss of sight" and Total Eclipse" were given with
the deepest feeling and pathos. There was nothing
aproximating to failure or decay. The choruses
were well sustained throughout,. and Mr. Philips's

" Honour and Arms," to. th4istt. who like. tie song,
which we confess we do not, must have been a
great treat. We have room to mention the " Dead
March," from Saul, and " Let the bright Seraphim."
The former was well played, and particularly effec-
tive. The trombones and large tower drums were
splendid. Some liberty, however, appeared to liars
been taken with the composition by some clevef
young gentleman or other, for though we noticed
the flutes as usual, we did not heif thtlorns.in the
place we have been accustomed to them. In thg
air mentioned, Mr. Harper played with more than
his usual. excellence. We regret, however, we can-
' cot say die same of nisi Stephens 1 antiety, want
of practice, or something else, detracted from het
performance most materially.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT,

THIS DAY, TUESDAY, JUNE 24.
HOUSE OF CO112'A16178),

The SPEAKER took the chair at a quarter put twelve
o'clock.
The Edinburgh Police Bill was read a third time and,
passed.

BREACH OF PRIVILEGE.
Colonel WILLIAMS wished to address the house on a
breach of privilege of which he had to complain.
The SPEAKER said the hon. member could not make
his complaint until the house sat for general business.
Colonel WILLIAMS said he should resume the subject
alt the proper time, but he thought it ought to be. heard
1: The 6.5
earn
tcrKi t said if the hbit: member made his
statement at the morning sitting the house rate to
no decision upon it, and he would have to restate his cow-.
plaint at the evening sitting.
PRISONERS' COUNSEL BILL. •
The house then resolved into a committee on the Pri-'
Boners' Counsel Bill.—Mr. ROEBUCK, chairman.

Mr. POULTER evressed a hope that the hon. mein:,
ber for Liverpool•, Mt. Ewalt, would withdraw his in-
tended proviso-that. the -prisoner's counsel should not be'
allowed to address the jury, unless the counsel for the pro-
secution, addressed them. The hon. member intimated

that if the proviso was persisted in, he should divide th
house upon it.
Mr. C. W. WYNN- said the whole clause was 0b..-
jectionable.
Mr. EWART said he bad consulted the best legal au-
thorities before he determined to propose this prcviso.
Sir W. RAE explained the law of indictment and
evidence in Scotland. He thought it very extraordinary
that in England a man could not have a counsel to defend
him when tried even for his life unless he had the means of
paying him himself, while the prosecution was provided
with counsel.

Lord HOWICK thought that the house, if it did adopt'
the proposition before it, would not secure the intended
object. He admitted that it was doubtful whether a jury,
in a long and complicated case, consisting only of collateral
evidence, would be able to arrive at so satisfactory a
conclusion as they would if a concise and consecutive state-
ment of the facts was first made by the counsel for the pro-
secution. He would rather confine the bill to the declara-
tion that the process in cases of felony should be similar to
that in cas. s of misdemeanor, than to meddle with the
present law of evidence. If the mode of cross-examina-
tion now practiced should be found not to be the very best
for eliciting the truth, subsequent improvements might be
made, founded on experience, without encumbering the
present bill.
Mr. C. W. WYNNE thought it was unnecessary that
any new law should be made to prevent counsel for the
prosecution addressing the jury at great length, ap it, was
rarely or never attempted; and suggested that the prisoner
should first be allowed to answer the accusation himself,
and then his counsel to wind up the defence.
Sir E. WILMOT believed that those hon. gentlemen
who had supported the bill had done so from motives of
humanity to the prisoner and a sense of public justice, and
he for the same reasons thought the clause wholly objec-
tionable. He said that in ninety-nine cases out of a hun-
dred, the counsel for the prisoner did not make an opening
speech, but merely examined the witnesses, and therefore
he thought it unnecessary that the prisoner's c'ouusel
should be allowed to address the jury. The proposed course
would mystify the ease, and the judge instead of taking
the trouble to travel through all the mazes-of mystification •
would enlist the feelings of the jury independent of what
had passed before. It would also prolong the 4tratton of
sessions, which were already too long. _ •
Lord HOWICK proposed that all the words after the
word " felonies" be left out, and the words inserted " that-
prisoners he allowed to defend themselves by counsel, saute •
casts of misdemeanor, any law or prietice thereto not=
witl standing. " -
prisoner
t Hetr'
Fd.uPiiOngLtLhOe CsKevmadvmeorrtthdstoof thehis fashetriatvhataitl;Slsfel
ttedth.e
seven persons on the ground of their innocence only. That
was a fact which spoke' volumes. ( Hear.) He suggeatede
that if the noble lord's amendment was adopted vvithout
somewotd cbheeciknjuurizninsthteeLriosof nebre'isngcoubnenseelfi,
hear.) It was, au opinion of high• legal authority,
that. full justice could not be done unless the de-
fendant was allowed a speech after all the evidence had
been gone through.' (Hear, hear.) At present the
plaintiff and defendant were not on equal terms. ( Hear.)
As the prosecutor was allowed a speech, it was nothing
but just that the defendant should be allowed a speeclralso,
and it would not occupy so much time as was now wasted
in cross-examination. Hear.)
Mr. EWART explained. One great object of the-bill
was to give to the prisoner the
.power of reply Upon' the
prosecutor. Let there be speech for speech, and. sassOr
tor answer, and then let the judge be merely an orbital'
between them, giving to neither of them an undue Pre-
ponderance. He would introduce an amendment to this
effect, allowing the statement of counsel to take precedence
of the evidence.

Sir G. GRAY most fully concurred in the principle
of the bill, and he thought that the best me9l§,
carrying that principle into effect would be thesadoption.et
the bill of his noble friend near him (Lord Howick).
With respect to the amendment of the hon. member, Mr.
Ewart, it would be quite useless ; for there was a wide dif-
ference between an opening speech for the defence and the
prosecution.
Mr. HILL scrim that it would be impossible o._
do justice in a inal case, unless the prisoners
counsel had a reply, and he therefore fully concurred
in the principle of the bill.
Sir G. SiRICKLAND entirely coincided in the ob
servations of the hon. member for Liverpool, as to the
propriety of allowing the prisoner's counsel a reply, as he
had himself known many instances in which prisoners-bed.
suffered under the present system, of whose innocence
there was no doubt, and there was equally little doubt but
that innocence would have been established had the. prir
soner's counsel the right of reply.
if there could not be an equal advantage to
must
the accused, let tfie preponderance, if there be
be in favour of the accused.
fleari3hoLLEß,
part of the defence, and the
Mr. BERNAL supported the bill, and
teohenactencuserded that
After a few words from Mr. Cas.
Mr. POLLOCK
berty to defend himself y.
ICK said that this amendment was essen-
tially should reply upon this evidence, that
in all criminal cases
t' ounsel sh uld ha
ther no
naccusedbovtaeedeocounsel,
spealr,atnyp
rsohaliudelteldhmtre naet t
fhetehaTili:t
o caste e right of ad-
ubreyguivperion the whole of the
tially different from that of the hon. member for Liverpool,
and m the absence of, the law officers of the Crowns and
dentedthr
prosecutor's
sornhelltohuoael should
endan 3 c
with the feeling which the house had upon this subject,
he would not offer any opposition, but should withdrew
his ( Lord Howick's) amendment. -
After a few words from Sir E. KNATCHBULL and Sir
E. IyILMOT, the clause, as amended, was agreed to.
Sir E. WILMOT moved, as an addition to the clause,
that at Quarter Sessions, unless the prosecutor's counsel
addressed the jury, the primer's counsel should not, have
the right of doing so.
Sir O. MOSLEY' fully agreed in the advantage of the
proposed clause, and thought that unless it was SaPte4
there would be a great waste of time, especially at Quarter
Sessions.
Mr. A GLIONBY objected to the proposed a.d.ditions
in his opinion it would be better to leave the clause as it
stood at present.
After a few words from Mr. Godson, Mr. Jgrvis, and
Mr. C. Buller—
Lordthe proviso of the hon. baronet would p
- to it than would sooner agree run
y
practical benefit, yet he
the risk of losing the bill altogether.
Mr. EWART said the proviso would nullify the bill, as
it would make the address of the prisoner's counsel de-
pend HOW ICK said, that though he
roddiductnivoet
0. thinkf
an
rein there appeared--
n which several members
25
Against it 32
Majority against the proposal of Sir E
took
Af
part,terF entirely
rt
hteheh upondesultoryopusreot
conversation,
ns,:pi
der
ero
dss
ae,
tci prosecutor.
Wilmot —7
The CHAIRMAN then reported progress, and obYlrned
leave to sit again on Friday.
The house rose at three o'clock.

aaftiO,errioiaptrhsieeevtae2:l3es,,tilialn:sit.,tis.s,Hoif'etriteeDdln,iotli,nl.reiyeopkns.,. Sandford Arnot, Esq,
(t.l)Ei.enstPhhreiosrs,l7w:Ceti wife.
On the 21st inst., at Stoke Park, Bucks,
year, John Penn, Es q., Govoerin,:r;;OPromrtoita,ndd.s,trheeerte.t?fore
nowo f 13t .Sht}ea,reterBn,6aotnhf
ze Pennsylvania,a,risagt ,Ross,tei nufS3e-rooervftoehrr ndA:hrt.ir
reoerfi,

L )ndon s at
and Published by MURDO YOUNG,
at the San Office, No. 112, Strand.