The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-26 00:00:00

TEATRH
E ROYAL DRURY-LANE
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. F. B. Chatterton.
ITIS EVENING, FAU6T. Mr. Phelps; Messrs. Ed-
mund W. Itarrimm, ,nd Johnstone; Mrs. Hermann
Vt zin, Nibs Poole, and Mrs. 11 Vandenhotl.
To conclude with ::-:hakspere's COMEDY OF ERRORS.
Brothers Dromio by the Brothers Webb.
Commence at Seven.

THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET,
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. Bucksene,
THIS EVENINO, THE OVERLAND ROUTE. Messlktoizers,
rs.
Char le, hews, Iluckstone, Conn ton, Chippende,
Clark, Braid. Gordon. White, ,tc. ; Mesdami. s Mathews, Chip-
pendale, II iil, •0 right, ctc.
Ai!er which, tho BALLET DIVERTISSEMENT. The
Ilealy.
To be followd by THE CRITIC. Me are. C. Mathews.
Compton, Rogers ; Mrs. i zwilliam, &c.
To conclude with 3IY II USBAN D'S GHOST.
Commence at Seven.

YCE IJ rr II E R E.—
sole Lessee and Ma.utiv,S
er,AN L) C. Mr. FeehESAlt. Miss
ter.
T
ti is EVENING. BitUTU
H rade.
At a Quarter before 8, the new Drama, in Four Ac's, THE
LONG STAIRE, written by Dion Boucicault. The New
S,ame.y by Mr. T. Greive and sssistants. Messrs.
Anderson,
H. Widdieomb, Lcitzpatrick, Dalton, D. Evans,
I,ewbound. Stanley, Lomas, Morehnd, Andrews, Reynoids,
and J. C. Cowper.
To conclude with TWEEDLETON'S TAIL COAT. Toby
Tweedletou, Mr. 11. Widdtcomb ; and Miss bratton
Acting Manager, Mr. H. Barnett. Stage Manager, Mr. W.
West.

_
of years and honours. But what shall we say
when his death finds him still in patient expectancy
of receiving what was his actual due, not from the
generosity, but from the justice of his country,
when the last years of his life were spent in weary
contest with officials in all the tedious round of ap-
peal and representation and argument, to be met
with delays and examinations and reductions till
the hope deferred not only made the heart sick, but

weakened the bodily health, and disease and dis-

appointment and exhaustion found no strength to
- -.

resi73t them. Yet such has been the case. Mr.
SNIDER is dead. The mournful anticipations which
were felt at the time when we last wrote on this

subject have been too surely realised, and yes-

tcrday the hand of Death wrote finis to the long,
sad story of an Englishman's exertions and his

country's ingratitude.
The facts of the case are well known to the public,
and there is good reason to believe that the present
Government, if Mr. SNIDER'S life had been spared,

would have endeavoured to atone for the neglect
of their predecessors, and that even now a liberal
remuneration will be given to his survivors, yet the
story is a most painful one. It would always have
been so, but especially in a year when the startling
events on the Continent created so much unea

siness respecting our national arm of defence, and
when so much relief was given to the public
mind by the announcement of the successful
working of Mr. SNIDER'S invention. Time as well
as money was saved by the speedy conversion of the
Enfield rifle, and its acknowledged superiority to other
breech loaders was so manifest that the new Adminis-
tration obtained great credit for largely increasing the
orders given. As we have said, we believe the present
Government are anxious to do justice to Mr
SNIDER'S claims. Mr. COLBORNE, solicitor for one of
the trustees of the SNIDER gun, writes to a contem-
porary to say that he has been in correspondence
with the War Department on the subject for the
last two months, and that yesterday Col. RODEN
had an interview with General PEEL, and that there
is every reason to believe the question will be set-
tled before the end of the week. Neither party was
then aware that one whose claims will not be post-
poned for the convenience of any department had
anticipated their deliberations, but no doubt now
we shall hear of a liberal provision for Mr. SNIDER'S
relatives. HOMER was not the only great man de-
spised in life and honoured after death. The bio-
graphy of the luminaries of science, of poetry, of art,
of philosophy, aye, even of politics themselves, repeat
the same old story. Influential mediocrity pushes to
the point and keeps it. Genius may stand without
the ranks and cry for admission in vain. It is
something, indeed, that Mr. SNIDER should have got
a hearing for his invention at all. It would have
been more in accordance with our usual English
fashion if the scheme had been laid aside, and the
inventor told it was under consideration, and by
and bye the best parts of it had been picked out and
amalgamated with some other adaptation under
another name. Perhaps the triumph of success atoned
in some measure to the man of genius for the personal
disappointment and discomfiture ; but human nature
is but human after all, and however enthusiastic a
man may be for his cause, when stricken low by
paralysis and tormented by pressing cares, the word
fame has but an empty sound.
We would not attribute to any English gentle-
man, from the head of the War-office to the lowest
of his subordinates, an intention of withholding
from a man his due, but there has certainly been
displayed in the case of Mr. SNIDER a meanness, an
illiberality, nay, more, an injustice which reflects
deep discredit on the whole system of our English
administration. When the late Minister for War
was taking credit to himself and hi 3 department for
giving orders for the conversion of the Enfield guns
amid the cheers of the llouse, he forgot to inform
the honourable members that the official solicitor
had beaten down the inventor's very moderate claim
to nearly two-thirds. Yet perhaps this fact may
be remembered when the name of Lord lIARTJNGTON
is forgotten. It is the old truism which instigated
the celebrated comparison between the poet and
the divine—

~ His treasures live like thine,
Ile strives and dies like thee ;"

and until a very different system takes the place of
routine and red-tape, we fear Mr. SNIDER'S will not
be the last name at which England will have to
blush, although she should be justly proud to
claim it as her own.

A letter in the Standard of to-day calls attention
to some circumstances connected with the proceed-
ings of the Jamaica Committee, and allude more
especially to the astoundicg intelligence that " the
Jamaica Committee have issued a circular asking
for £lO,OOO to promote the criminal prosecution
of Governor EIRE." Under the impression that
some excellent person may be found among those
who have lent themselves to this movement, the