The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY. EVENING„TULY 11, 1860.

GREAT WI STERN RAILWAY.-
HEREFORD RACES. CHEAP EXCURSION,
allowing- ONE WEEK.—On SATURDAY, July H, an EX-
CURSION TRAIN will leave Paddington at 3.30 p.m., and
Readingat 4.35 p.m., for Cirencester and Stroud (fares 12s and
6s), Gloucester and Cheltenham (14s and 7s), Ross and Here-
ford (16s and 8s), returning on Saturday, July 21, from Here-
ford at 5.0 p.m., and intermediate stations as per handbill.

HEAT WESTERN RAILWAY.-
x_A On SUNDAY, July 15, a CHEAP EXCURSION TRAIN
will leave l'addington at 7.45 a.m., and Reading, at 8.50 a.m.,
tbr Chippenham, Bath, and Bristol, returning the same day
from Bristol at 7.0 p.m. Fares, there and back—Chippenham
and Bath, 9s. and ss. ; Bristol, 10s. and 6s.

NREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.-
GRAND FETE of ODD FELLOWS in NUNEHAM
PARK, near Oxford. -On Tuesday, July 17, a CHEAP EX-
CURSION TRAIN will leave Paddington at 7 a.m., Slough
at 7.35 a.m., and Taplow at 7.45 a.m., for Culham and Oxford,
returning the same day from Oxford at 7.45 p.m., and Culham
at 8 p.m. Fares, there and back—gat Class, 6s. ed. ; and 4s.
Covered Carriages.

CANADIAN PREPARATIONS FOR RE.
OEM-NG THE PRINCE OF WALES.

(From the Quebec Chronicle of June 19.)
The time has come when the public expect some
general outline of the programme likely to be ob-
served in the reception of the Prince, and, without
being oracular, we may be able to give our readers
a general idea of what will be done. The public
have been labouring under the impression that a
great portion of the arrangement would be sketched
out in England. This, we have reason to believe,
is not the case. Nearly everything is left to the
authorities here, who, it is understood, have now
thetthhaetloth
proximo.
dbeepenar
The Royal convoy will make St. John's,ft ouir
et the
from
first
Englandtime wneiltlifitaedkeepffilaeciaelolyn
Newfoundland, their first landing point, proceeding
thence to Halifax, from which place the Prince will
go to New Brunswick and Prince Edward's Island.
In the Lower Provinces his stay will necessarily be
very limited, and the arrival of the Royal fleet in
the Lower St. Lawrence is confidently expected to
take place not later than the 6th or Bth of August.
At this point, therefore, the Canadian arrangements
will necessarily commence; and these arrangements
will be conducted almost exclusively under the
direction of the Commissioner of Public Works,
who will charge himself with what may be called
the governmental portion of the duties appertain-
ing to the reception.
The steamers Victoria and Lady Head will be sent
down the river in the quasi capacity of pilot-boats.
Accompanying this convoy there will be, in all pro-
bability, a number of volunteer boats, including
some of the best river steamers. In this city one
entire wing of the Parliament-house is set apart to
the Prince and his most immediate attendants ; and
it may as well be stated in this place, as part of the
etiquette observed towards Royalty, that there will
be the same observance of privacy in dinner invita-
tions as at Windsor or Osborne; so that one of the
rooms of Parliament-house—the Assembly-room—
will be the Royal dining-room for the time, and
subject- entirely to the control of the household
accompanying the Prince. Of course we are not
in Canada entirely accustomed to these
things, but we believe it is the only way
in which what is properly a State visit
can be carried out in harmony with the observances
of the Imperial Court. Apart from the formality
of select invitations to dinner, or of a public levee,
the Prince, it is supposed, will naturally do at
Quebec as he would do at home. He will see the
interesting sights of the neighbourhood' without
being obliged to travel in perpetual state. At the
Governor's he will occupy more of the position
of a private guest than that of the Prince of Wales,
precisely as he might be a guest at the house of
any nobleman or gentleman at home. The object,
in short, will be, as far as Quebec is concerned,
that while his visit will be attended by certain
ceremonies essentially of a State character, to make
the display harmonise as far as possible with the
habits and tastes of a well-bred gentleman, to leave
the Prince as much as may be to select his own
mode of enjoying his visit, neither impeded by any
superabundance of officious zeal nor made miserable
by incessant worship and adoration.
For the accommodation of some of those who
may accompany the Royal squadron, although
they may not specially belong to the Prince's
suite, a p.prtion of one or other of the principal
hotels will be engaged. Indeed, they would have
been engaged before this but for the natural diffi-
culty experienced by the landlords of providing at
once for their own ordinary guests, and giving up
the required accommodation for this occasion.
What the Chief Commissioner may ultimately be
enabled to do in the way of providing extra room
beyond the capacity of the Parliament-house we
have not ascertained, but accommodation must and
will be found.

From Quebec it is understood to be arranged
that the Prince will proceed westward in one of
the lake or river boats. Probably two of th,lse—
the Quebec, Magnet, Kingston, or Passport—are
likely to be selected ; any of these will afford good
accommodation for the Prince and his chief atten-
dants, and the accompanying squadron will, of
course, be much larger than that engaged by the
Department of Public Works. The hour for de-
parture from Quebec will probably be three o'clock
p.m., so that the squadron will come to anchor off
Three Rivers about midnight, and in the morning
arrangements may be made for the presentation of
addresses from the municipal authorities of the
place. •

Arrived at Montreal, the Prince will take up his
quarters at the house belonging to the Hon. John
Rose, now occupied by the Commander of the
Forces, Sir Fenwick Williams. For the accommo-
dation of a portion of the accompanying guests of
the province, a portion of the St. Lawrence-hall,
next to Craig-street, has been leased. In this about
a hundred persons can be accommodated, which will
enable the Commissioner to make full provision for
the largest expected number likely to form part of
the Royal convoy.
The municipal arrangements of Montreal we have
nothing to do with. Between their.bridge and their
Crystal Palace they are, doubtless, before this, in a
position to make an unusual display. From Mon-
treal it is arranged that the Prince will proceed to
Ottawa, probably by the river and the Carrilon and
Grenville Railway. At Ottawa a new hotel has
been already leased for the occasion, and is now in
course of being furnished by a celebrated upholster-
ing firm, Messrs. Jaques and Hay of Toronto. Here
the Royal sojourn will probably extend over several
days. From Ottawa his Royal Highness will go
to Prescott by railway, and thence over the Grand
'Trunk to Brockville, at which port ho will go on
board one of the largo lake steamers for Kingston.
At the old capital we cannot say specifically what
stay will be made, as it is found difficult, we believe,
to get the necessary accommodation without incur-
ring an outlay incommensurate with the probable
or even possible duration of the Prince's visit. The
arrangements, however, are such as will afford the
people of Kingston an ample opportunity for a
right loyal display, and this, we presume, is all the
inhabitants of the city desire.
The next stage will be by steamer up the Bay
of Quinte to Belleville, where an opportunity
will also be afforded for a display; and from Belle-
ville the Prince will take a special train of the
Grand Trunk Railway to Toronto, where the
private residence of the Prince will be the old Go-
vernment-house, which will be found in every way
adapted to the purpose of combining privacy with
a special State ceremony in the forms usually ob-
served during a Royal tour. Half of Mr. Rossin's
hotel has at the same time been engaged at the
public expense for the visiting guests of the pro-
vince ; and the arrangements of the citizens for out-
side decorations promise, to be on a 13cale and in a
style corresponding with the position of the wes-
tern capital. From Toronto it is expected that the
journey to the Falls will be made by the lake direct.
At this point the house of the late Mr. Zimmerman
is engaged for the Prince's party, and the cottages
at the Clifton-house for other guests.
o perifueetp
In Hamilton the arrangements, so far as Govern-
ment is concerned, are only
yet
progress. The
as
also
L
those for the good city of London
Commissioner goes west t
zens are so well prepared 1 read, - where the citi
a y to co-operate.
Sarnia will also be put in re
p paration, and at this
point the duty of the department so far as the pro-
vincial localities are concerned, will t e
We shall not disturb the Co issionr me
rl,lls adte.
reams,
nor those of the Provincial Minister of Finance,
asking what all this will cost, nor shall wetrauble
by
the tax-paying public by speaking in detail of
fur
niture bills, of steam boat charges, or orders for
plate, and orders for choice wines; nor of the end-
less etceteras which on such occasions make up the
final account. The truth is, we have all, without
party distinction, made up our minds to do the thing
handsomely ; and if we get off at the end of the
year with £lOO,OOO sterling we ought to be thank-
The principal arrangements, we may safely
say, are not only in energetic, but in economical
hands. Everything will be done in a liberal spirit
—at the same time with the observance of the pru-
dence necessary in the present state of the public
finances. Expenditure for such articles as plate
will be in a measure merely temporary, and so,

although in a less degree, as to furniture. How-
ever, the arrangements must be liberal, else they
had much better not have been begun.

GREATBRASS BAND CONTEST AT THE

CRYSTAL PALACE.

The grand contest of the brass bands, announced
, for several weeks past to take place at the Crystal
Palace, came off yesterday, and attracted nearly
7,000 persons, although the entrance fee was half-
a-crown. The origin of these contests must be re-
ferred to Mr. Enderby Jackson, of Hull, a gentle-
man who has been for many years the most strenu-
ous promoter of music as a recreation among the
middle classes in the north of England. Some
twelve or fifteen years since, when Mr.. Jackson
discovered that brass bands were formed by the
workmen in the various large manufactories in
almost every district of the North, he founded these
contests, which were held at different periods in
Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and several
minor towns. So great was the successrof these
musical gatherings, that the idea of holding a
gigantic meeting in the metropolis was the natural
consequence, and an application to the directors of
the Crystal Palace to allow a monster concert to be
held there was forthwith acceded to. It was then
resolved that a competition should take place among
all the brass bands who chose to enter the lists, and
that prizes should be awarded. Immediately
ninety-nine bands sent in their application to be
placed on the roll, and subsequently others were
added, making in the whole one hundred and fif-
teen. Of course, the greatest share in the excite-
ment arose in the northern counties, as these sent
the majority of the bands with whom the contests
originated ; but other parts of England had their
musical representatives, nor was the metropolis
without its brazen cohort to do honour in its behalf.
Whoever invented brass band contests must have
agreed with that worthy into whose mouth Shake-
peare puts the sentiment—
" Silence is only commendable
In a neat's tongue dried, and a maid not vendible."

And yet it would be a mistake to suppose that these
contests are nothing but sound and fury, for, pro-
perly conducted, they may be made to afford real
pleasure not to the connoisseur alone, but to the
unlearned in matters musical. We are apt to asso-
ciate something national with brass bands. There
is a bold and warlike tone about them which stirs
up the spirit of the multitude, and hence many
persons would enjoy a fine march or a patriotic air
played by a band of this description who would be
insensible to those delicate refinements of the art
which it requires a cultivated taste to appreciate.
The directors of the Crystal Palace, therefore, were
not wrong in supposing that a national brass band
contest would prove both exciting and attractive ;
and accordingly they resolved on carrying out the
idea in that colossal fashion in which everything
here is accomplished. Being the largest concert-
room in the world, possessing an orchestra of un-
paralleled magnitude, and resources which it would
be difficult to match, the Crystal Palace was surely
the place for a monster contest. The idea once de-
termined on, no means have been neglected for put-
ting it into successful execution, and considerably
more than 100 brass bands from all parts of Eng-
land have responded to the invitation to join in this
friendly act of emulation.
The fete, which was opened under very cheering
auspices yesterday, will be continued to-day, and
altogether it is estimated that in that period no less
than 115 brass bands will have shown their prowess
and submitted their abilities to the test of a metro-
politan audience. Have our readers any notion of
what a brass band contest is ? First, we will tell
then what it is not, and then we will explain how
the present contest has been conducted at the
Crystal Palace, which we hope will render the
matter tolerably clear. It is not, then, as some in-
genious people seem to suppose, the assembling of
50 or 100 bands upon one orchestra, each playing a
different air, and the one that played the loudest or
the longest receiving the prize. On the contrary,
it is a perfectly business-like and skilfully con-
trived plan whereby every band in succession goes
through a severely critical ordeal, and has its pre-
tensions decided on by a thoroughly competent
tribunal.

The plan adopted yesterday, and carried out with
a punctuality which speaks volumes for the un-
flagging industry of Mr. Bowley, was this :—At
ten o'clock the palace and grounds were thrown
open, and very speedily both began to fill ; but, for
a reason which will at once be understood, the
lovely grounds were the favourite resort during the
early part of the day. In different spots, at conve-
nient distances, and on the most eligible sites, had
been erected six substantial platforms. Upon four
of these seven bands were appointed to play in
succession one piece each, and on the other two
eight bands were to play one piece each. To each
platform were appointed three judges, whose names
are a sufficient guarantee for the honesty, indepen-
dence, and accuracy of the decisions at which they
arrived. This portion of the programme having
been accomplished, the whole of the bands assem-
bled at three o'clock in the Handel Orchestra, and,
under the able conductorship of Mr. Enderby Jack-
son, played in succession Rule Britannia, the Hal-
lelujah Chorus, Mendelssohn's Wedding March,
Haydn's chorus, The Heavens are telling, and the
National Anthem. The effect of this performance
was stupendous. The English are excessively fond
of the chief places, not only in the synagogues, but
elsewhere. They like too to hear and see every-
thing, and are not often over regardful of their
neighbour's comfort, so long as they secure their
own. There were only a few reserved seats yes-
terday, and hence the British sightseer with his
(and her) accustomed pertinacity had pressed for-
ward to the front, and had early taken up the most
commanding situations. But for once our friend
reckoned without his host. The mighty rushing
sound of the instruments fell with such fearful
force upon his tympanum that he was glad to beat
a rapid retreat, and to seek some safer and more
sequestered spot. Speaking of the tympanum, by
the way, recalls to our recollection a drum of an-
other sort—to wit, that gigantic gong of Mr.
Distin's, seven feet in diameter, which may be
fairly said to have distanced all its rivals. There
it stood, propped up in the centre of the orchestra,
as much superior to all other drums as the foun-
tains at Versailles are to those in Trafalgar-square,
whilst two stalwart fellows hammered away at it with
drumsticks as big as babies. Indeed, so arduous were
the exertions of these gentlemen that they had to
bo relieved in their labours. In return for the blows
which were inflicted upon it, the gong gave forth
most sonorous sounds, and we venture to say that
so much good was never before got out of anything
by pommeling.
The 44 bands which appeared upon the orchestra
numbered, probably, about 900 instruments, and,
as we have said, the effect was stupendous. That
it was all that could be desired in an artistic point
of view we will not pretend to say ; but the preci-
sion which was achieved was really astonishing,
and the grand swell of the crescendo passages was
very fine. Regarded as a musical performance, we
preferred the execution of Haydn's noble chorus,
"The Heavens are telling" • but the suffrages of the
audience were in favour of the (g Wedding March"
and " God save the Queen," which were re-de-
manded, and given a second time.
Whilst these pieces were being played the judges
summed up the merits of the various bands, and
having selected two from each platform announced
the twelve to be—The Dewsbury, leader,_ Mr. J.
Peel ; the Cyfartha, conductor, Mr. R. LiveseY ;
the Witney, conductor, Mr. J. Crawford ; the Sal-
taire, conductor, Mr. R. Smith, leader, Mr. W. Tur-
ner; the Blackdyke Mills, conductor, Mr. S. Long-
bottom, leader, Mr. Galloway ; the Chesterfield,
conductor, Mr. H. Slack ; tho Accrington, leader,
Mr. R. Barnes ; the llolmfirth Temperance, con-
ductor, Mr. W. Roberts ; the Stanhope, conductor,
Mr. R. 1)e Lacy ; the Darlington Sax Horn, con-
ductor, Mr. H. Hoggett ; the Staley-bridge, con•
ductor, Mr. J. Melling; and the Deighton, leader,
Mr.P. Robinson. The eighteen judges then formed
themselves into one body, and the twelve selected
bands ascended the orchestra in rotation and played
one piece each. This afforded the final test. The
whole of the judges thereupon consulted, and at
length announced the victorious bands in the fol-
lowing order :
First prize—Xlo in money, together with a splen-
did silver cup
.for the bandmaster. Also a magni-
ficient champion contrebass in E flat, value 35
guineas, presented by Mr. Henry Distin, 9, Great
Newport-street, St. Martin, s-1 ane, London —to the
Black Dyke Band.
Second prize—
X 25 in money—to the Saltaire.
Third prize-
-15 in money—to the Cyfartha.
Fourth prize— XlO in money—to the Darlington.
Fifth prize—
Es in money—to the Dewsbury.
To-day the contest will be brought to a conclu-
sion, and in the evening the presentation of the
prizes will take place. Seven prizes will be
awarded to-day in addition to the five contested for
yesterday, and it is anticipated that upwards of 70
beads will engage in the struggle.

PARLIAMENTARY COMIIII7'TEES.