The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-23 00:00:00

'ME SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 23, 1867.

affirmations, that there were in the Congress persons
heartily attached to the Christian faith.
" 2. To protest against the attacks directed by
the greater number of the orators against Christi-
anity ; and
" 3. To ask that if such attacks were renewed,
without being immediately repressed, leave might
be given to one of us to reply.
" In the name of liberty all attacks were permit-
ted'; in the name of peace all replies were forbid-
den. Our letter was neither read nor mentioned.

"We only ask the publicity of your journal to
state a fact. It was impossible such brutal chal-
lenges could be uttered in the open day at Geneva
without any one being found to take them up.—
Believe me, sir, &c., J. A. Boscx.

JOHN CRACROFT WILSON, C.B.

A STORY OF THE INDIAN MUTINY.
(From the Anglo-Alnerican Times.)

Rohilcund is the fairest of the North-west Pro-
vinces of British India. On one side, the Himma-
layahs rise in a chain of snowy Sierras ; on the other,
the Ganges sweeping from the ranges at Hurdwan
in a curve, flows thence almost in a parallel line,
forming the south-west boundary. Oude is a con-
tinuation of the same level and fertile plain between
the Ganges and the mountains, about 100 miles in
breadth by 450 in length. The importance of these
provinces is shown by the fact that, although some
5,000 square miles less in area than England, the
population is greater, being twenty-two millions,
which gives the proportion of 490 persons to a square
mile against 332 in England. Torrents rushing
in cataracts down the bill-sides flow in numerous
streams, watering the Provinces on their way to the
sacred River.

Bareilly is the capital, and Moradabad, scarcely
inferior in importance, is the great city of the upper
territory. If a line were ,drawn from Delhi, the
Imperial City, to Meerut, the great military station,
and continued eastward, it would strike the moun-
tains almost at right angles, passing not far from
Moradabad. Delhi stands on the right bank of the
Jumna—Meerut, mid-way in the Doab or country
between the rivers Jumna and Ganges, and Mora-
dabad mid-way on the plain between the Ganges
and the Himmalayah. For many years before the
outbreak of the mutiny, John Cracroft Wilson was
magistrate and collectorof that district of Rohilcund.
He had proceeded to India as a civil servant at a
very early age, where he at once distinguished him-
self by the success of his untiring efforts to suppress
Thuggism, earning the soubriquet of Thuggee
Wilson. It was in this department that Mr. Wilson
acquired so intimate a knowledge of the languages
and habits of the people, and formed a taste for the
fascinating pursuit and an acquaintance with the
working of the native mind, which he afterwards so
usefully employed. Being a man of great ability, and
of an energy that knew no rest, he not only mastered
the languages, the manners, customs, and habits of
the people, but he was able to identify himself so
thoroughly with the inhabitants, as to deceive even
the keenest observer amongst them when he assumed
the Mussulman or Hiudoo disguise. It is seldom
that such a power has been acquired by one of our
race, and in India it is regarded as a wonderful
achievement when a man born and bred in England
can pass himself as a native among them. One so ma-
terial in his ideas, so restless in activity, and of such
quick observation, could not fail to become intimately
acquainted with the localities of a district over which
he had been placed, and where he exercised so large
a measure of power. His rule in Moradabad was
marked by the introduction of beneficial reforms.
Agriculture was developed, new plants and herbs
introduced—stock improved—but he will be best re-
membered by his successors of the ruling race by
the formation of one of the most charming hill
stations in the Himmalayah. Nynee-Tal nestles
on a peak of the mountains around a lovely lake,
where the parched traveller from the white arid
plains suddenly finds himself in a delicious atmo-
si here, with a green sward under foot. and the
placid waters of a deep blue lake before him,
reflecting the green trees that grow along
its borders. Before the Mutiny, John Cracroft
Wilson had been promoted to the highest post
at Moradabad —the judgeship, although one
scarcely so potential for good, or admitting of the
same play for qualities in which he excelled. A
period, however, was at hand which gave him full
scope, and enabled him to show to the world of what
material he was made. The mutiny broke out at
Meerut on the 10th May, 1857 ; kindling a fire for
which the materials had been prepared, to spread
with the greatest speed from Calcutta to Peshawur.
There was not a single European soldier in the rich
province of Rohilcund, and but the head-quarters
of one European regiment at Lucknow in the ad-
joining province of Oude, which had but a few
months before, been annexed. The civilians and
English officers of the native regiments at Morada-
bad, at Bareilly, at Shahjebanpore, and at the cities
on the other side of the Ganges, were suddenly
placed in circumstances of extreme desperation,
and one by one were compelled to succumb
to events beyond their control, a few escaping,
but the most, falling victims in the vain effort to
perform their duty. As week by week passed at
Meerut intelligence was anxiously looked for from
Moradabad, which John Cracroft Wilson held
in the midst of its native garrison, when all
besides had fallen. Daily the news was expected
of a massacre at that station, as it was impossible
to bear up against the overwhelming odds. Personal
influence and determination, combined with an ex-
traordinary amount of courage, could not continue
to make head against the tide that had surged over
the whole country, and John Cracroft Wilson, the
last in the fatal field, was compelled to retire. The
party was formed for the ride to Meerut over the
scorching plains at the hottest period of the year,
through a country literally alive with marauders,
where village was armed against village, where
Goojurs looted and murdered, where bands of
badhniashes and soldiers spoiled, plundered, and
burnt, all they could with safety. It was at this
moment of desperate peril that the cavalcade, with
many ladies in its train (among them his own wife,
who had refused to leave him), started under Mr.
Wilson's guidance. He had done all that mortal
man could do to uphold British authority in his
district. At Lucknow the 32d maintained a portion
of the city to which they had been driven after being
defeated in their attempt under Sir Henry Law-
rence, to break up the gathering thousands of their
enemies, and this chief —the most distinguished
member of the Lawrence family—had been slain.
At Cawnpore the Nana ruled supreme, and
shocked the world by a massacre which will
be remembered in India when the Calcutta
Black Hole is forgotten. All had perished at
Shahjehanpore, all but a few fugitives at Bareilly,
and none knew what the fate was of those at
Futteygurgh. The fort of Agra was held in pre-
carious tenure by a British regiment, and, again,
the Mogul ruled in his palace at Delhi, issuing from
that ancient seat of empire those orders which were
once a law to the extremities of the Peninsula. It
was in this interregnum when British rule had
ceased, and no native Government had been esta-
blished, when both were gathering up their forces to
decide who were to be the future lords of Iliudostan,
that the party left the last spot in Rohilcund which
maintained even the semblance of the late all-domi-
nant power of England. Till then the Sepoys and
the host of traitors in the city had been overawed
by the firm front and audacious bearing stilt assumed
by this indomitable civilian. But the question arose
to every mind —How would they pet when the party
turned to fly ? They lay like tigers crouched for a
spring, fearing to move, while their prey stood facing
them with a dauntless front. The position was horrible,
for it was death to remain, and they had remained
so long that it was almost death to fly. As the
cavalcade moved on, Mr. Wilson's quick eye per-
ceived on the road in the dusky light that two pieces of
artillery barred the way, with the gunners in readi-
ness. He knew what these preparations por-
tended, and quietly moving his party off the high
way, he directed them across country, while he rode
up to the artillerymen, who seeing in the dim light
of the night a single horseman, permitted his ap-
proach. The men stood by their guns with their
matches ready ; but the influence of his personal
character and his fearless daring cowed the soldiers

even in this extremity. He spoke with the ease
and fluency of a native, and with an intimate
knowledge of every feeling that moved the muti-
neers before him. His parley lasted for some time,
and while it lasted the fugitives rode for their
lives. When amongst the Sepoys, armed to the
teeth as he was, he would have been a dan-
gerous customer to deal with, and when he left
them they discovered that the birds bad flown. He
brought his party safely into Meerut, with the
exception, as far as we can remember, of one who
died of coup de-soleil. But though Mr. Wilson
was compelled to withdraw from Moradabad, he
left an influence behind that was potent for good in
the campaigns which followed. His intimate
acquaintance with the principal native families, the
numerous servants, both Government and personal,
with whom he had been connected, enabled him to
carry on those intrigues in which the Eastern mind so
delights, and for which he was so peculiarly adapted
that no movement took place throughout the coun-
try--no speech was made—no counsel held, no act
performed, that his spies did not communicate. He
kept up in the district a wide surface of agitation,
strengthening the opposition of the weak, circu-
lating rumours of the arrival at the ports of count-
less regiments of British soldiers, of defeats of
native troops, and of the quick advent of the
avenging army. But his services to the Govern-
ment did not rest in maintaining his hold on Rohil-
cund ; he gave a great spur to the operations carried
on around Meerut, which kept in awe the district
from the Jumna to the Ganges. Parties were con-
stantly in the field who hung the plundering
Goojurs to the nearest trees, who levied the taxes
due to the Government, who intercepted the com-
munications with Delhi, and made the natives far
and wide feel that England still ruled, and intended
to keep her dominions in Hindoostan. He was for
ever in the saddle, and the force of his influence
exerted its effects far beyond the iiiost distant points
he was able to reach during the gloomiest period
of the great trial. Brighter days at last began

to dawn. Dreary months had passed away,
and the North West Provinces, which had
been converted into a charnel house to the English
from Allahabad to Umballa, began to yield up in
retribution the Indian promoters of the massacres.
Sir Henry Havelock had penetrated to Lucknow ;
Lord Clyde had assumed the command of an army
growing each day in strength ; all India was alive
with moving columns, but the stronghold of the
mutiny from Delhi to Cawnpore still remained im-
passable, being wholly in the hands of the rebels. It
was then that Mr. Wilson achieved his great exploit.
Burton penetrated to the Moslem sanctum of Mecca ;
Outrain maintained his disguise, passing through
Beloochistan as a native merchant; Cavanagh
carried from the beleagued garrison at Lucknow the
message to the force advancing to the " relief," but
it remained for John Cracroft Wilson to surpass

these deeds. The first was the exploit of an enter-
prising traveller, dictated half by bravado, half by
an enlightened spirit of inquiry. The second was
the political achievement of the Bayard of the Indian
army necessitated by diplomatic reasons. The third
was the act of a brave man volunteering from
among his comrades when placed in a despe-
rate positiori; while John Cracroft Wilson's en-
terprise was dictated with the noble object
of saving the lives of others at the peril
of his own. His numerous spies had informed him
that there were Christian fugitives concealed in
the enemy's district of Futteygurgh, and he de-
termined to penetrate to the spot to effect
their release. Disguised as a Persian, alone and
unaided, he made this memorable journey. The
road he travelled was crossed at every stage by
bands of sepoys passing from the cities of
Rohilcuud to Agra, Gwalior, and other points.
Its dangers were shown by the murders of
English officers who had attempted to travel
on it. The cool assurance of the distinguished
Indian civilian was exemplified by his proceedings
at Futteygurgh, where he got himself introduced to
the mkt., who had inaugurated his government by
blowing from his guns every Christian on whom he
could lay hands. lie actually assisted at his coun-
sels, and was feasted iu the household as a distin-
guished traveller who hated the Kaffir rule, and
was on his way to congratulate the native poten-
tates on the extermination of the Christian dogs.
How he succeeded in his mission is best shown by
the despatch of the Governor-General, who an-
nounced to the world that " John Cracroft
Wilson had by his own obstinate courage and
perseverance, saved more Christian lives than
any man in India." Long before the road was
safe, Mr. Wilson had made his way to Alla-
habad, where, in an interview with Lord Can-
ning, he proposed a scheme for recovering the pro-
vince of Rohilcund. In compliance with arrange-
ments then made, General Penny marched with a
force to Kasegunje, accompanied by Mr. Wilson, but
on the eve of crossing the Ganges he was arrested
by order of Lord Clyde, who had no idea of his own
• arrangements being interfered with by those of this
obtrusive civilian. It is probable that the dislike
conceived by the Commander-in-Chief for Mr.
Wilson prevented the due recognition of the civilian's
services. His manner was not calculated to con-
ciliate persons in authority, as there was a self-
assertion in him which was simply unbear-
able to a military chief, whose command was
law. When Lord Clyde, therefore, came on the
stage Mr. Wilson was set aside, as far as a man of
his indomitable energy and " pluck" could be set
aside. But he had the pleasure of re-entering, as
a conqueror, the city he had so many years ruled,
re-establishing his sway at Moradabad. He had
ridden more miles, he had exposed himself more
freely, he had had as many hair-breadth escapes,
he had collected more money, he had saved more

Christian lives, and he bad punished more evil-doers
than had perhaps any one of the most energetic
during this period of terrible peril to the Christian
rule.

After spending the best years of his life in India,
and crowning a long service by acts which reflect
honour not only on himself but on his country, he
withdrew from the East to the province of Canter-
bury, then a struggling settlement of New Zealand.
Although his name has been forgotten in England,
it is well known at the Antipodes, where, as a mem-
ber both of the Colonial and Provincial Legislatures,
he is always to be found at his post, and his voice
heard with the same self-assertion that marked
his career in the Civil Service of Bengal. • He offered
with a few Gcorkhas and Seikhs to finish off the
New Zealand war, then employing 10,000 British
soldiers, and sinking countless treasure. But Mr.
Wilson's life can best be judged by the acts he has
accomplished, and if these be duly weighed, the
colonists will gee he has no small grounds on which
to base " tall talk." He threw in his lot in the
Province of Canterbury, when it was an unformed
settlement, and surprised the people by selecting his
estate in a swamp, but those who now pass over
the broad clover fields of " Cashmere," and see the
meadows covered with fat beasts, the enclosures
waving with heavy crops, will pass a high encomium
not only on his judgment, but on the persevering
industry, which rescued from a waste, some of the
finest lands that Canterbury now boasts.
Though John Cracroft Wilson has succeeded
through the same qualities as a colonist (now count-
ing his flocks by thousands) as those that gave him
success in India—in one respect he has been un-
fortunate in selecting the Antipodes as his home.
Among the first honours distributed for service in
the Indian mutiny he was named for Companion of
the Bath ; but a second distribution has lately been
made for these services, in which he has been wholly
overlooked. Indeed, those who made the selection
must have laboured under the impression that John
Cracroft Wilson had ceased to exist. There are
many people who dislike him, but we never yet met
the man who did not frankly acknowledge the value
of his services. Had Lord Canning lived, the sub-
ject of our notice could not thus have been for-
gotten, and it has occurred to us that the matter is
a pure oversight, which simply requires to be
brought to the notice of the Government to be cor-
rected. It would be easy for us to turn back to the
correspondence of the period, both published and
unpublished, to bring overwhelming proof of
John Cracroft Wilson's claims, but the extract from
Lord Canning's despatch is more than sufficient for
our purpose. It would indeed be hard if while this

gentleman has laboured in developing the resources
of one of England's best colonies he should be
neglected to make way for those who may elect to
lounge out their days in comfort in this centre of
civilisation, a choice we do not dispute they have
well earned the right to make. But we do dispute
the right of any to throw into the shade the
services of this absent gentleman, now working
out a colonial career which will leave even
a more broad and lasting mark of his
presence in New Zealand than he has left
in India. We cannot close this notice with-
out alluding to the lady who shared so many of
Mr. Wilson's perils with a courage and endurance
which marked so grandly the character of English
women in that time of trial. Whatever may be Mr.
Wilson's popularity, a more popular person than
his wife will neither be found in India nor in

the colony she has made her home. They have
fought out this great fight together, and it would
surely be a consideration for the Government that
in bestowing on John Cracroft Wilson the well-
merited reward of the higher grade of the order of
the Bath, the title which accompanies it, would be
shared by his wife.

WESTMINSTER PALACE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE " TIMES."

Sir,—Business engagements from home have prevented
my availing myself sooner of your invitation to assist in
" devising some plan which should make the Houses of
Parliament worth the money which the nation has spent."
Allow me now, thorefore,to offer some explanations and
suggestions respecting them. While fully admitting that
you express no more than what is felt by four-fifths of
the House of Commons, it is but just that the grievances
you detail should be traced to their proper quarter. I
always understood from my father, that Sir Charles Barry
did his utmost to persuade the Commissioners to make
the two Houses of equal size ; but he was overruled on
the consideration that, as the attendance in the House
of Commons seldom exceeded 200, it was thought better
to endure an occasional crush, than to be daily exposed
to the permanent annoyance of a comparatively vacant
House, with empty benches. In this respect it is unrea-
sonable to blame Sir Charles, than whom no man had a
more comprehensive idea of what ms necessary for
uniting space with convenience. Had Sir Charles Barry
been absolute master of the position, rather than a shut-
tlecock tossed from post to pillar, the blame with which
you now charge him would have been justly merited, but

he may fairly be exonerated from much of the respon-
sibility hitherto attached to him. I have often heard my
father say that the perplexing annoyances to which Sir
Charles Barry was a victim would have killed him in a
twelvemonth. What, however, was considered at the
time Sir Charles's great merit was, in reality, his greatest
fault. The attempt to form a successful combination of
Grecian symmetry with mediaeval features, of uniformity
of plan with Gothic elevations, was the fatal mistake
which fascinated, but destroyed him. His ground plan,
I must maintain in opposition to yourself, displays a mar-
vellous amount of ingenuity and compactness of arrange-
ment. To bring together those huge chambers of audi-
ence in close proximity with numberless rooms and offices,
all within reach of eath other—to group that long suc-
cession of "spacious halls "with their connecting galleries
and approaches—to pack, as it were, with such orderly
method that vast multitude of apartments, was surely an
accomplishment involving no little thought and mental
application ; and is scarcely to be condemned in so unquali-
fied a manner on the score of inconvenience. But at the
same time it must be admitted, if not deplored, that what-
ever convenience may exist, it was obtained at the sacri-
fice of light, air, propriety, and many desirable if not
essential characteristics. The somewhat prison-like
aspect of a portion of the rooms, and the general air
of closeness, are to be attributed to the classical
exigences of the plan, and the idea that sash windows
and other modern requirements were inconsistent with
the principles of Gothic architecture. My father, however,
while fully admitting the great talent and ingenuity in
Sir Charles's general plan, always maintained, not merely
that the outline, disposition, and proportions of the various
parts of the building were Grecian, but that the ground
plan itself partook of the same character, and was fitted
only for a Southern climate. This was, after all, the fatal
mistake. The small enclosed courts, in winter little better
than wells, fronted by a long, lofty pile of building facing
south, which, though basking iu the sun itself, effectually
excluded both sun and air from every portion of the vast
mass behind it, my father almost prophetically announced
was not the right and proper treatment for a climate where
sun is a luxury, and not a superfluity. In advance of his
time, and gifted with practical instincts, which saved
him from being led away by the fascinating idea upon
which Sir Charles Barry stumbled, ho saw without an
effort that we required courts open to the south, and de-
tached buildings so placed as to receive each its due
share of sun, the more important marked by the greater
prominence, all rising ono behind the other to the north
and then backed by a sturdy barrier of the loftiest and
most massive character. Yet, strange to say, a design of

this very character was rejected by the judges. He who
wrought the elaborate coat of the accepted design origi-
nated at the same time a conception which was described
in the Morning Post of the period as "presenting combi-
nations of convenience and picturesque grouping in per-
fect keeping with the character of the style, which it is
delightful to contemplate." This treatment, embodied
by my father in his designs for Mr. Gillespie Graham,
is now found by experience to be the very treatment neces-
sary for our requirements in this country. But, unfortu-
nately, we were not at that time sufficiently advanced to
appreciate it ; we were deceived by a phantom ; the plastic
nature of Gothic art was trammelled by the exacting
demands of classical propriety ; and we can now only
regret that the opportunity of thirty-five years back,
which was actually available, was lost through our own
ignorance. Is it not most lamentable, let me ask in passing,
that unless a sharp look-out be kept the very selfsame
false treatment will render the new Law Courts as huge
a blunder in this respect as the Parliament Houses ? It

is to the Quarterly Rain; that thanks aro principally
due for calling attention to this particular danger.
We may, however, be grateful that at a time when little
was generally known of GothiC art, and nothing of Gothic
principles; the judges sele4ed a design which was not
only far in advance of the others, but which, in course
of erection, was the means of forming a school of men by
whom the best works of the present day aro executed.
The momentum then given to true principles has not yet
stopped, although I fear there are many signs that its force
is weakening. Considerations lik4 these make me hesitate
to accept your sweeping condemnation of the Houses as
"so ingeniously ill-adapted 'to every purpose for which
they were intended as to be the greatest architectural
failure of the age." Whatever may be men's judgment
on the particular period of architecture adopted, of its
kind it is perfect from base to cornerstone—from the
most important feature to the smallest detail. Its pro-
portions are true and elegant ; its forms are pleasing ; it
is not devoid of stateliness ; some of its parts aro most

noble ; all have a delicate grace which charms and satisfies
tho eye. Its fitness for its purpose as a royal palace of
debato, and the external manifestations of majesty few
will question ; its internal magnificence produces a whole-

some awo ; and so far from the ornamentation being a
"barren and wearisome repetition of one idea," I beg of
you to consider the vast space literally covered with

detail of marvellous variety, if not of great beauty. In
saying this, however, I am by no means inclined to dispute
with you the fact of its being excessive, and often mis-
placed, or that propriety is not sacrificed thereby, and I
am not blind, as must appear from what I have said, to the
faults and partial failure of the entire building, whether
in architecture or in plan. • In turning my attention to
this, allow me to correct a mistake into which you seem
to have fallen with regard to the material described by
you as "decaying 500 years too soon." This estimate is
only partially true. The great mass of the material is as
sound to-day as it was when the stones were first placed
one upon the other. The stone chosen by the Commissioners
was the Balsover Rock, or Mansfield Woodhouse ; and of
this, in the great number Of the courts, the work below
the plinth and a considerable portion of the south-east
section of the building are erected. Where the stone has
been properly selected the work remains as sharp as a
razor. This would have been uniformly the case through-
out, I imagine, had not the division of responsibilityproved
to the letter that " what was everybody's business was
nobody's business." But ono of the chief causes of the
failure lay, in the difficulty of obtaining blocks of sufficient
size. At this juncture recourse was had to the Anstono
quarries, principally on account of their stone being very
similar in appearance to the Balsover, and I have no doubt
whatever that even this stone, although inferior to that
first used, would have been perfectly successful had care
been taken to select the blocks from proper bads. There
is no quarry in the world which in every part can beast of
a perfect uniformity of hard and durable material fit for
external work. In a gigantic building like that under con-
sideration it was of the first and most essential importance
to have appointed a Government inspector, whose posi-
tion and salary should have placed him beyond reach of
temptation; for, be it remembered, that the amount of
time—varying from a week to a fortnight—required for
working stones from the same quarry is regulated by the
hardness or softness of the material, and in a large work
the profits increase or decrease in proportion. Soft stone
nuts pounds ; hard, perhaps, not oven shillings. Had one
of the Yorkshire sandstones been selected this danger
would have been far less imminent, and the present symp-
toms of decay considerably reduced, even had the decay
appeared at all. It is most erroneous, however, to infer
that this is the beginning of the end, and that the decay
is likely to increase. What stone has already gone is all
that will perish, and the remedy is within our roach at a
comparatively small cost. There is no necessity for re-
sorting to Portland for material. The quarries originally
selected will yield abundance of stone, on which time will
have a beneficial rather than an injurious effect ; and the

remedy I would suggest is at once to replace the decayed
blocks by sound stone from the same quarries. .
2. Had a plan like my father's baen originally adopted

the Houses would have been so naturally and conveniently
disposed as to admit either of enlargement or alteration
with comparative ease. But the very convenience of juxta-
position, the long line in which the various buildings
stand, and the immediate proximity of the entourage create
serious difficulties. It is, however, unfair—nay, it is un-
just—to make the angry feelings of members (who, not
being sixteenth century cherubs, require seats) a ground
of complaint against the architect, who had no control over
the question of dimensions. A new House for the Com-
mons is, I assume, beyond all probability; but I see no
difficulty in increasing the present House by a third of its
length. This could be accomplished without inconveni-
ence by somewhat curtailing the Speaker's Boom at one
end and projecting it into the Commons' Court at the
other, at the same time clearing away all that is now con-
tained between the wall of the House and the private lobby
beyond. The present rooms, staircases, and any further
accommodation could easily be constructedin the Speaker's
Court. The House of Commons' lobbies could without
any difficulty be made half as large again by projecting

them on arches into the Star Chamber and Commons'
Courts. In order to relieve the pressure in the corridors,
I would suggest that galleries be projected all round one
or more of the courts ; these, especially in the Royal
Court, could be so planned as not to interfere with any
existing arrangements, and would more than double the
present accommodation. I would also mention that, being
almost always excluded from the sun, they could be suc-
cessfully treated in iron and glass. The centre of the
court would beleft open as at present.
3. With regard to the difficulty in being heard, I would
remark that a room is governed very much by the same
laws as a musical instrument. If you remove the back
from a violin, the sound obtained from it would degene-
rate into a mild squeak. The House of Commons has no
floor, which remarkable peculiarity at once solves the
acoustic problem. The perforated gangways covered with
drugget or kamptulicon simply destroy Tiltration and re-
duce the sound of the human voice to what it would be if
proceeding from a head speaking into a sack. The loudest
and most forcible words fall into the depth below and are
absorbed. On a newly-laid floor of yet unshrunken tim-
bers, the panel of the floor will increase the volume of
sound tenfold. If, then, a parquet floor of good solid oak,
slightly arched so as always to remain taut, were laid
down in place of the present perforations, the House
would, I am, certain, from being one of the worst, become
one of the best chambers of debate in Europe. The very
projections, which aro now imagined to cause the defect,
would increase the sound and make an exertion of lungs
less necessary.

From the practical I pass on to the architectural defects
of the Houses about which I will say a few brief words.
I have before. alluded to the present wretched termina-

tion of the Victoria Tower. The design prepared by my
father, but a few weeks before his illness, contemplated
a grand erection in stone growing from and mounting
some 40 ft. above the present angle pinnacles, and termi-
nating, as the Victoria Tower should do, in a Royal crown ;
thus supplying what all now feel is wanting—viz., ele-
gance of proportion and pleasurable outline. From the
centre of the crown was to rise the flagstaff, supported by
the arcs of the crown itself. Here was reason, purpose,
and beauty combined. What have we now in its place ?
A poverty-stricken structure which forcibly reminds one
of the poop dock of an old three-decker, on which an im-
provised flag pole has been set up and strutted. Its gilded
coat fails to hido its paltry and make-shift appearance. It
is in fact the greatest as well as the highest architectural
anomaly of the day.
2. I need scarcely say how impossible it is to believe
that the same handwhich designed the gas standards in
Westminster-hall had anything to do with those on the
bridge. The former are of the true design and con-
struction for metal work ; the latter, mere deformities,
made more hideous by size, and, together with the balus-
trades, are essentially designs for stone, worked in iron.
3. It is less invidious to criticize the work of the de-
parted than of the living ; but in a letter professing to
point out and remedy, as far as may be, the defects of the
Houses it becomes impossible to omit all reference to the
works now in progress, which, I regret to say, are a
reproduction of old blunders on an embodiment of new
ones.

Of all their faults, not one grieved my father so much
as the sinking of the Houses to their present level.
To have been really imposing the building should have
been raised on a bold, massive basement, so that its eleva-
tions might have stood up high above the bridge, instead
of being dwarfed beside it.

We must, as you intimate, make the best of a bad job.
This, however, is not likely to be accomplished by the
works now in progress. If we cannot imitate the Chicago
operation of raising the building 10ft., at all events there
can be no possible reason for practically reducing its
height by the same number of feet. I allude to the cloister
and iron fence now being set up in Palace Yard. The
railing, although beautiful in itself, effectually destroys
all proportion, and cannot possibly proceed from the same
hand which designed the ugly stone piers supporting it.
If there could be an inappropriate treatment of this par-
ticular spot it is that now being carried into execution.
Sections of ironwork between lofty masses of masonry
are precisely what ought to have been avoided. A strong
and comparatively simple railing, no higher than the ab-
solute exigencies of the position required, should have been
adopted, which would have neither screened nor dwarfed
the already too low buildings within the enclosure.
Precisely the same fault, although vastly exaggerated,
appears in the cloister leading from the underground rail-
way to the main building. In the first place, it literally
destroys the lower portion of the librarian's and clerk's
residences no less than the whole of the northern facade.
If this cloister was absolutely necessary above ground,
why on earth was it not made, in the language of Sir
Charles Barry himself, of a " simple and massive cha-
racter," so as to form a judicious contrast, and act as a
kind of base to the building above it? But the present
structure is neither an appropriate adjunct to the main
building nor consistent in itself. A plinth about 8 ft. high,
which would be a due proportion of base for a building
some 60 ft. high, can scarcely be the right application for
a cloister only 15 ft. in height. Yet almost the whole of
this new addition is absolutely nothing but plinth, and
that plinth breaking round large buttresses capped with
gables, destroying all repose and simplicity of outline.
The true spirit of what a work such as this should have
been is indeed so little manifested that oven the details are
multiplied and crowded in without reason or meaning.
Crowns crowning nothing, angles which take neither an
architectural nor artistic line, niches, finials, even useless
gargoyles, are all confusedly grouped together. All this

might have been avoided and the original building im-
mensely improved, had the cloister been continued at its
low level to the main building, its windows opening into

a sunk foss crossed by a bridge for carriages passing into
the courts. To surround a building, tho greatest defect

of which is that it is 12 ft. too low, with a barrier 12 ft.
too high, is manifestly absurd.

Since reading your article I have visited Lord Carnar-
von's seat at High Clere, and I can only say that if the
nation has been saved by my father from possessing
anything bearing the slightest resemblance to that edifice
it has, indeed, cause to be grateful. Occupying one of the
most lovely and elevated positions in England, the ugliness
of its style can only be equalled by the utter absence of
any principle whatever. Had it been built of timber, held
together by metal clips and bolts, and then petrified, it
would have been a natural curiosity. As it stands it is
simply an architectural monstrosity. However, even were
High Clare the fac-simile of Westminster, it call scarcely
be its type, as it was erected in 1842, seven years after the
designs for the Houses ,of Parliament had been accepted.

It would be an utter waste of time to reply again to Mr.
Edward M. Barry, for he has adduced nothing new since
he replied in the Pall Man Gazette. One word, however,
is due to Mr. Charles Barry in reply to his recent letter.
He complains of my carrying on the question of my father's
claims in several journals at the same time. I admit the
crime, but it will be found that the various roads all con-
verge to a common centre. Ido not, however, admit the
" folly " of referring to any of the gentlemen he names
as " able to corroborate my statements." To Mr. Wright
I alluded as a person who refused to give my solicitor any
evidence at all, either for or against me. This fact throws
suspicion on what he did say. Of Mr. Talbot Bury I
remarked that ho " can," not that ho will, support me ;
to Mr. Ferrey I made no reference whatever.

Mr. Richardson's letter in your impression of to-day
deserves just thisinotice—that he knows nothing about the
matter, and fires beside the mark. He, however, fully
confirms what Mr Mares stated in his communication of
the 16th inst.

If Messrs. Charles and E. M. Barry, instead of throwing
discredit on my statements respecting my father's diaries
and the existence of the witnesses I have still too surely
in reserve, to be called at my discretion, would have the
manliness to come forward and specify what they consider
to have been the actual services of my father, instead of
generalizing and reducing him below the level of the wit-
nesses who have depreciated him, it would conduce mate-
rially to a settlement.of the question. If his services were
of the insignificant character they insinuate, they ware
literally beneath their own. But it was not one of these
men who was ever named as associated /with Sir Charles
Barry in the great work. It was not the name of Mr.
Wolfe, who boasts of being " consulted on every stage of
the work ;" it was not Mr. Banks, "for fifteen years the
chief assistant of Sir Charles Barry ;" it was not Mr.
Wright, "the superior clerk," who seems to be alluded
to by Sir Charles in a letter of his (vide Ferrey's Life) as
"a youngster as dull and destitute of feeling as the board
upon which he draws ;" it is not Mr. Talbot Bury,
who volunteers information about transactions of
which he evidently knows nothing, and letters of the
existence of which he was ignorant—it was none of these
names, but it was the name of the "occasional assistant,"
with a salary a little more than Mr. Wright's, which was
all along associated with that of Sir Charles Barry in the
great work. This was the tradition established, and it
passed from mouth to mouth, from senator down to
artisan, till it grew to such magnitude as to endanger the
reputation of Sir Charles, which appears to have been
saved only by the noble devotion of my father himself.
And who will maintain that this tradition had grown u p

without foundation, knowing the antecedents and the
after career of the man to whom it was attached ? None
of those who parade their intimate relations with Sir
Charles were ever suspected of the crime. But of my
father, whose touch even at that early period of his life
was detected in the competition drawings—" whose powers
of creation" and "inventive genius" are the theme of Sir
Charles Barry's praise—it is credible engugh. Depend
upon it, the tradition, true itself, rested on a foundation
of truth, and every effort to kick the dead lion only re-
veals the character of those who commit the outrage.
Rather, in your own words with reference to my father,
"let us remember to his honour that if now there seems
to be the dawn of a beWr architecture—if our edifices
seem to be more correct in taste, more genuine in material,
more honest in construction, and more-sure to last-it was
he who first showed us that our architecture offended not
only against the law of beauty, but also against the laws
of morality."—Your obedient servant,
21, Savile-row, Sept. 17. E. WELBY PUGIN.

WILLS AND BEQUESTS.

(From the Illustrated London News.)

Probate of the will, with eight codicils of his
Grace the Most Noble George, Duke of Northum-
berland, P.C., LL.D., of Alnwick Castle, was
granted by her Majesty's Court of Probate to bis
eldest son and successor, Algernon George, hereto-
fore Earl Percy, the sole executor. The trustees
therein appointed are Lord Redesdale, and the tes-
tator's brother, the Hon. C. B. Percy. The per-
sonalty in this country was sworn under £350,000.
The will is dated Feb. 22, 1865, and the last codicil
July 13, 1867 ; the signature feebly written. The
testator was grandson of Hugh, first Duke of
Northumberland, and succeeded to the title and
estates Feb. 12, 1865, and died Aug. 21, 1867, at
the age of 89, leaving issue three sons anddaughters,
his eldest son and successor being now in his 57th
year. By the death of the late Dowager Duchess
of Northumberland, July, 1866, his grace states in
his will that his income had increased £12,000 per
annum, from which he makes a further provision
for his daughters and younger sons, in addition to
the bequests by the will, and leaves the policies
which were effected on his life in the Equitable Law
Life and other insurance offices to his two sons,
-Lord J. W. Percy and Major-General Lord H. 1-1.
M. Percy, V.C., M.P., and appoints his eldest sow,
the present duke, residuary legatee of his personal
estate. There are liberal annuities to his butler,
coachman, and housekeeper, free of duty in consi-
deration of their long and faithful services. He
leaves hispictures, books, manuscripts, globes, busts,
statues, bronzes, vases, antiquities, coins, medals,
and all other works of art and virtu, with the or-
naments, plate, china, and furniture, to be treated
as heirlooms, and to go with the inheritor of the
title and estates.

The will of the Right Hon. Benjamin Baron
Llanover, who died on April 27 last, was proved in
the Probate Court of London, by his lordship's
widow, Augusta, Baroness Llanover; John Johnes,
Esq., of Doloucothy, Carmarthenshire ; and Mr.
Henry Ray Freshfield, of Bank-buildings, London..
The will is dated Dec. 28, 1866, and, in the fewest
words, leaves all his lordship's property, real and
personal, " to his most dear and devotedly-attached
wife Augusta, Baroness Llanover." The personalty
was sworn under £25,000.

The will of James Wilson, Esq., of Brinkcliffe
Tower, Sheffield, was proved in the Registry at
Wakefield, by his partner, Samuel Younge, Esq.,
solicitor, and the testator's three sons, the Rev.
James Allen Wilson, rector of Bolton ; Charles
Macro Wilson, of More Hall, Ecclesford ; and the
Rev. William Reginald Wilson, incumbent of Bol-
sterstone ; power being reserved to the Rev. George
Anderson, his brother-in-law. The personalty was
sworn under £25,000. The will bears date 18551
with four codicils, the last dated April, 1865 ; and
he died July 14, 1867. He leaves his eldest son,
James, the family pedigree, " Hunter's Hallam-
shire," and all other written and printed books and
papers relating in any way to the family historh
including " Staniforthiana ;" also the family group
and family portraits and pictures, except any speci-
fically disposed of, and also leaves to his said soa
his large silver plated epergne. He leaves all his
law books in his office at Sheffield to his son Charles
Macro Wilson, and bequeathes all his other books
in his dwelling to his five children, and divides
amongst them the residue of his estate, both real
and personal. There are legacies to his servants.
The late Mrs. Sarah Pugh, of Vale Royal, Tun-
bridge Wells, who died in May last, leaving perso-
nalty sworn under £70,000, has bequeathed to the
Church Missionary Society, £1,000; the British and
Foreign Bible Society, £4OO ; the Church Pastoral
Aid, and the Incorporated Society for Promoting
Enlargement, Building, and Repairing of Churches
and Chapels, each £2OO ; to the Rev. Mr. Pope, of
Tunbridge Wells, for the purposes of his chapel,
£2OO ; and to the Kent County Hospital, £2OO.
The late Miss Elizabeth Carne Sloman, of Longton,
Staffordshire, who died in March last, possessed of
£9,000 personalty, has left to the Society for pro-
moting Christianity amongst the Jews, South Ame-
rican Missionary Society, British and Foreign Bible
Society, Church Missionary Society, Exeter Bible
and Domestic Mission, Crystal Palace Boarding'
house for Young Women, at Norwood, Surrey, each
£lOO ; to the Rev. P. M. Walker, for the Edensor
New Schools, Longton, £lOO ; and a like sum for
the general purposes connected with Edensor Church i
to the Irish Society for Promoting the Scriptural
Education and Religious Instruction of Irish Roma°
Catholics through the medium of their own law
guage, and to the Exeter Blanket Society, each
I £lOO.