The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-02 00:00:00

THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.

THE REV. ALFRED BARRY TO THE RESCUE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—In the letter which appeared in the Times
last week on the Pugin and Barry controversy,
signed "Alfred Barry," there are two points so
curious as coming from such a source as to make it
worth while at least to take note of them. The
first point is the reckless and most unbecoming
manner in which the rev. gentleman not only
throws out imputations against Mr. E. W. Pugin,
but endeavours, by an artful juxtaposition of the
witne3ses on both sides of the controversy, to con-
vey an imputation which he dare not openly state
against the antecedents and character of Mrs. Mares.
Mrs. Mares is in truth a most damaging witness
against Sir Charles Barry. She can speak of her
own knowledge of many of the facts contained in
the suppressed correspondence between Sir Charles
Barry and the late Mr. Pugin, and she is also in a
position to give the true history of the letter of 1845,
in which, solely to save Sir Charles Barry's credit,
Mr. Pugin disclaimed the ownership of designs which
he had sold to Sir Chas. Barry for a sum of money,
and for the glory, as Sir Charles phrased it, cf esta-
blishing Gothic architecture in England. Such a
witness is, no doubt, inconvenient to the three
Messrs. Barry, but that is not a right reason why
imputations without a tittle of evidence should be
thrown out against the character of Mrs. Mares.
These unworthy imputations against Mrs. Mares
and against Mr. E. W. Pugin himself —implied
rather than stated—are as cowardly as they are
untrue, for were they boldly stated the writer could
be called upon either to substantiate or retract
them.

The second remarkable point in the Rev. Mr. A.
Barry's letter is the confession that Sir Chas. Barry
retained letters which were lent to him, and refused
to return them to the rightful owner because they
might " compromise living persons and existing
firms." Ilabenius confitentent reum. The public, 1
imagine, will draw its own conclusions from the
retention of the famous 76 letters by Sir C. Barry;
at all events they cannot help being struck by the
fact that on one side in this controversy there is an
eager and reiterated demand for the production of
every scrap of evidence referring to the matter under
dispute, and on the other a manifest desire to sup-
press every document, every letter in the voluminous
correspondence between Mr. Pugin and Sir Charles
Barry which could by any possibility throw light
upon the controversy as to who was in reality the
architect of the houses of Parliament.

I am, sir, yours, &c.,

DELTA.

The New Process for MAking Chlorine.

Both Mr. Isham Baggs and Mr. Walter Weldon
continue, at considerable length, in the Mining
Journal of Saturday last, the correspondence in
which they are now setting forth their rival claims
to the credit of being the Discoverer of the New
Process of Making Chlorine. Not assuming to be
expressly a scientific organ, like the Alining Journal,
from which we extracted with due acknowledgment
the two first letters of Mr. Baggs and Mr. Weldon,
we regret that we cannot find room in our columns
for the continuance of their correspondence further
than by quoting here, from the Mining Journal of
Saturday, the following P.S. to the letter of Mr.
Isham Baggs—a postscript, as will be seen, con-
taining within it a letter and a testimonial :
The following letter and testimonial, which have
been addressed to me, and which I now submit to
the intelligence of your readers and the public
generally, carry with them their own argument, and
need no further remark from me :
" Paper Mills, Ilford, Sept. 24.—1 n reply to your letter I
have carefully read your article in the Xining Journal, of
Sept. 14, on the new process for making chlorine, and I
feel great pleasure in stating that I can bear witness to all
the facts brought forward by you in reference to the sup-
posed now process. Ido hereby testify that at those very
mills, which have been many years under my control, you
have made groat quantities of chlorine and bleach by the
methods specified in your paper of the 14th inst. ; that you
hare used at different periods many tons of lime and other
materials, and that you always employed the oxidi of
manganese so restored by you for making fresh chlorin).
I am further aware that the same system was acted upon
by you to a groat extent at " The Tovil Upper Mills,"
Maidstone, and I am more than surprisodto find that anyone,
appearing to devote attention to such matters, could think
of bringing forward as a now process what is already so
well known. Several of my workmen gladly forward
their corroborative evidence to the same effect. Their
united testimony I have annexed.—THOMAS FARRANDS."

TESTIMONIAL.—We the undersigned hereby declare and
bear witness that the statements contained in the letter of
Mr. Isham Baggs, as published in the Mining Jonrnal of
Sept. 14, are true and correct, relative to the manufacture
of chlorine and bleach, and the continuous regeneration by
him of the manganese, as precipitated by means of lime.—
A. Gardner, engineer; James Tyas, engineer; George
Church, engineer; W. H. Jinkins, boiler and bleacher; J.
Barnes, engineer ; Thos. Church, boiler and bleacher—all
of the Ilford Paper Mills.

If this is not sufficient evidence to establish my
claim to priority in this invention, I can readily
obtain from the Tovil Upper Mills another batch of
names whenever I am called upon.—ISLIA.3I BAGGS.

PIUNCELSS'S 2HEATRE.

-..-•,S,*_

The revival of Mr. Boucicault's clever Irish melo-
drama, with all its original effects, has been received
with so much favour that a " second run" for an
unlimited number of nights may fairly be calculated
upon. The cast varies but slightly from the original
one—the most notable change being that of the
O'Grady, who is now represented by the spirited
lessee himself. Mr. Vining throws a good deal of
gentlemanly humour into the part, and therefore
the drama loses nothing by the change. Mr. and
Mrs. Boucicault sustained their original parts of
" Shaun and Arrah " with unabated spirit, and
Mr. Dominick Murray also reappears in the part of
Feeny, the process-server, a character that enabled
him to claim a very prominent place in the theatrical
profession. In place of the song " Wearing of
the Green," which circumstances have rendered
objectionable at the present time, Mr. Boucicault
sings, with great spirit, the " Shan Van Vocht,"
and altogether the piece " goes" as briskly and well
as it did on the first night of its performance.
We believe that the various novelties Mr. Vining
has in hand will prevent the representation of
" Arrah-na-Pogue" for any lengthened period, so
that those who wish to see one of the best Irish
pieces that has been performed on the metropolitan
stage must, without the slightest delay, embrace
,the present opportunity. Good fortune still seems
the handmaiden of Mr. Vining, as the theatre is
nightly crowded to overflowing.

AMATEUR THEATRICALS.—The Alexandra Dra-
matic Class have just given a performance at the Poly-
graphic Hall, which went off with the greatest success.
The pieces selected were "Charles the Second," "Mrs.
White," and " The Wandering Boys." The students who
respectively supported the characters in each gave general
satisfaction to a very crowded audience. Although it is un-
usual to point out particular persons for praise where all
do their best, yet we must, by way of encourage-
ment, compliment Mr. A. J. Bailey for his capital
performance of the part of Peter White in the
farce succeeding the comedy. It was, for an ama-
teur, very cleverly done, and deserved the applause it
called forth. Miss Beatrice, as Mrs. White, also acted very
well in the samo piece, and had Miss Vailleur thrown a
little more spirit in the telling part of Widow White she
would have shared the applause the performance of the
farce elicited. Mr. F. Scott had a great deal to do, as he
appeared in all three pieces, and, with a little more training,
he will be quite up to the business of leading old men. A
word to Mr. 'Wilson, in regard to dressing, may perhaps
be useful for the future—it looks exceedingly bad, where
it is thought desirable to "make up" fair to allow the
natural dark hair to peep from beneath a false flaxen wig
and whiskers.
ThE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION IN HOLBORN.—
The bandsman, M'Donnell, who was wounded, as is sup-
posed, by a Fenian assassin, and who lies at University
Hospital, was stated, on inquiry this morning, to have
passed a good night, and to a great extent may bo said to
be bettor, although it has not yet boon thought proper to
announce him as out of danger. The fact of his having
been allowed to see some persons, amongst them his
mother, who visited him yesterday afternoon, may be
taken as a favourable indication of his condition.

OPENING OF A PUBLIC PARK AT BRECIIIN.—A
finely laid-out public park, originated by a legacy of £2OO
by the late Mr. Garden Mitchell, Edinburgh, to the city of
Brechin, with a contribution of £lOO from the Earl of Dal-
housie, and a grant of eight acres of the Caldhame fens,
and aided, too, by general subscriptions to the amount of
above £1,200, was opened at Brechin by the Earl of Dal-
housie on Saturday afternoon.