The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-20 00:00:00

711 E PEACE JUBILEE.

The great Jubilee at Boston to commemorate the
return of Peace commenced on the 15th June and
lasted five days, during which the city was thronged,
visitors from all Parts of the country flocking to
Boston to evince their interest in the object of the
celebration. Mayor Shurtleff, in his opening ad-.

dress, said
"Iv this national festival, instituted to Commemorate
the return of peace to our country, the restoration of our
ancient liberties unimpaired, our national bonds of union
unbroken, and our honour and credit unsullied, Boston
wolcomes you all most sincerely and cordially. Let this
welcDme extend as widely as the beneficial and glorious
effects of our happy peace can reach and be felt, that all
nations and all tongues may join in the joyous strains, and
let the gladsome mus:c of this jubilee resound in one ac-
clamation throughout the world, and be echoed and re-
echoed to the remotest regions of the universe. Domestic

strife bas ended ; peace and harmony prevail. The sons
of the Union rejoice in liberty and friendship. All, then,
are welcome to join with us in singing the praises of the
great Ruler of events, who has vouchsafed to us the most
estimable of blessings. May the harmony of the occasion
strike deeply into the breasts of us all, and leave within
our nature the most sacred and lasting impression, and
may peace and good will forever reign triumphant.
Welcome, thrice welcome, are all, to this our Festival of
Peace."

" The Star-Spangled Banner" was sung by the full
chorus enthusiastically, with chiming of bells and
artillery accompaniment, the guns being fired by
electricity. An additional verse was written ex-
pressly for the occasion by Mr. W. T. Ball, as
follows :

War's clamors now o'er, with her mantle hath Peace,
Again in its folds, the nation enshrouded ;
Let no fratricide hand uplifted e'er be,
The glory to dim, which now is unclouded ;
Nat as North or as South, in the future we'll stand,
But as brothers united throughout our loved lanc4
Ar d the star-spangled banner for ever shall wave
O'er the laud of the free and the home of the brave.
On the third day the " Overture Triomphale," the
only strictly American piece, was performed, com-
posed for the Festival by Mr C. C. Converse, which
was greatly admired. Mr. Converse is a native of
Massachusetts, but studied music on the Continent
of Europe, pursuing the usual course at the Leipsic
Conservatorium. The overture is an elaborate
composition, in D minor, on " Hail, Columbia."
Mr. Gilmore proved himself to be a masterly con-
ductor, and was warmly praised by the performers.
Great order prevailed, and as the weather was pro-
pitious every one enjoyed the various amusements
provided. On the first day, at the ticket office on
the north side of the Coliseum, over a bushel and
a half .of greenbacks were taken. Some were
disappointed that they were not conscious of
more noise from the ten thousand voices, but
it must be borne in mind how gigantic was the
hall which hail to be filled with the volume of
sound. People are surprised to find that by
multiplying instruments and voices a multiple of
the unit is not gained, and that beyond a certain
limit the conductor is powerless to achieve a great
noise. Some assert that the Handel Festival at the
Crystal Palace was even more imposing in volume
of sound although with not half the number of per-
formers. The original idea, and the marked fea-
ture in the Festival, was the " Anvil Chorus," as it
was accompanied by sounds never before intro-
duced into a musical performance—the blacksmith's
hammer ringing on the anvil, guns giving their
thunder for bass notes, and bells chiming in, made
up a chorus worth going some distance to hear.
The artillery was fired by electricity, and beau-
tifully timed on the first performance, though

the encore was not quite so good. Everything
was on an imposing scale of magnitude, impressive
to the eye if disapnointing to the ear. One Ame-
rican critic says, " there is no reason why a note
struck on an hundred instruments should make
more noise than the same note struck on one. The
sound is the result of a certain number of vibra-
tions, and the number of these vibrations is deter-
mined not by the number of instruments, but by
the note. The reason why a thousand instruments
do make more noise than one is that the distance
of each from the ear is slightly different, and there-
fore the vibrations interfering with one another
confuse and multiply fly:3 sound. Besides this, the
time grows more imperfect as the number of instru-
ments increases ; if a thousand violins were arranged