The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-15 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, SEPCEMBER 15, 1857.

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[PRICE 4D. STAMPED 5u .]

THE HANDEL FESTIVAL

The committee of the Handel Festival have at
length wound up their accounts,: and the result is
eminently satisfactory. The enterprise appears to
have been quite as successful in a financial as in a
popular and artistic sense. The net profit reaches
the handsome sum of 9,0001. This is in excess of a
large amount of incidental property paid for out of
the receipts, of which the most important items are
the orchettrN, still a fixture in the Crystal Palace,
the necessary furniture of the orchestra, and the
printed and copied music—all, of course, available
for any future occasion. Taking the3e into consi-
deration DO previous musical festival ever realized
so much. The distribution of the surplus, in ac-
cordance with an agreement between the directors
of the Crystal Palace Company and the Committee
of the Sacred Harmonic Society, wilt be as follows:
—One ninth (t,0001.) to the society ; six-ninths
(6,0001) to the company ; and two-ninths (2,0001.)
to a guaraut e fund, jointly invested, towards the
expenses of the Handel commemoration proposed
to be held in 1859. _ _

The gross receipts of the recent festival were
23,3001:, out of which amateurs will be glad to
learn that so less than 11,0001. was-obtained on the
last day, when Han Tel's great choral masterpiece,
" Israel in Egypt," was performed. Tbis fact says
volumes for the musical taste of the public, in ad-
vancing the progress of which the Sacred Har-
monic Society has been an important and powerful
agent. Noth withstanding its grandeur and sub-
limity, " Israel in Egyp," has not hitherto been a
" popular" work, in the strict signitisation of the
term. During Handel's lifetime it w a more rarely
presented Vian almost-any other of his great works,
and never without curtailments and interpolations.
At the festival ,iu the Crystal Palace, however,
4' Israel" was given p reeieely as it came-from the pea
of its immortal composer, and the effect, produced
noon the vast multitude assemWed was unparal-
lele 1. It is more than prob ibte that henceforth
" Israel in Ygypt" will maintain the place towhich
it is justly entitled by the side of " The Messiah,"
its worthiest companion, and that public affection
will be fairly divided between tho two. The
interests of the musical art, the fame of Handel,
anal .the prosperity of the Sacred Harmonic Society
must alike be promoted by such a result, while the
festival of 1857 will be rememberel with all the
more satisfaction in consequence.
The greet experiment having been tried it re-
mains to profit by experience. Competent judges
ar3 of opinion that, with sundry not very formid-
able expedients, added to certain modifications
suggested from the outset, but which there was not
time enough to consider, the concentration of sound
within spec al limits and its more equal diffusion
among the various localities in which the audience
are stationel may be easily accomplished. What-
ever could possibly be done under the circumstances
was done by the energy and zealous perseverance of
the directors ; but between this and 1859 there ii
plenty of time to devise and carry out such im-
provements as aro indispensable to unqualified
euecess. The committee of the Sacred Harmonic
Society, we are informed, have already in con-
templation a
,p 1 kn to keep the enormous body of
amateurs, provincial and metropolitan, who ofli.-
elated as chorus at regular and constant practice in
the interval. The other duties will devolve chiefly
upon the directors of the Crystal Palace, who have
already shown that many thousands of persons can
be ac •ornmoclated with ease and comfort—which
was half the battle, since otherwise the Handel
Festival would in all probability have degenerated
into a riot. On this head doubts and fears are
wholly set at refit, and the exclusive question now
becomes one of providing means by which the musi-
cal effect shall be more generally distributed. The
year 1859 is not only interesting as the centenary
of Handers death, but as the 50th anniversary of
the death of Haydn, and the 50th anniversary of
the birth of Mendelssohn.
The last ceremonyconnected with the festival of
1857 in which the performers *ere concerned took
place on Friday night, at Exefer-hall, when medals
commfamora'ive of the event were distributed.
These medals are of bronze, with Handel's bust
(from the original statue of Roubillac, in the pos-
session of the Sacred Harmonic Society) on the
obverse, and.on the reverse an ancient lyre, encir-
cled by the inscription—" Crystal Palace—Handel
Festival—June, 1857."

DESTRUCTION- OP THE SIIIP HARK-
AWAY BY "OE.

We briefly mentioned this event yesterday. The
following is an extract of the Harkaway's log
" SATURDAY, SEPT. 5.-5.7 p.m., light airy and
fair weather, with the wind north-westerly. 7.30,
while under all sail, lower and aloft, and making 5
• . .

knots through the water, heard an explosion in the
hold, and found a thick smoke issuing from the
after hatchway, this being the only hatchway not
battened down. We immediately gave the alarm of
fire in the ship. The cargo consisted of spirits of
turpentine, resin, and cotton. We soon discovered
that the hold was on fire, the smoke then coming
up from below very thick. We then covered all
the hatchways with wet sails, and wetted the decks
tore and afr, fearing the turpentine might explode
and blow the ship to pieces. .We immediately got
out all the, boats and got the passengers in them—
men, women, and children ; every man belonging
to the ship remaining on board to extinguish the
fire, and ready to jump into the boats if necessitated.
Al hands remained to ascertain what might
happen.
" At four a.m. of the Gth the smoke appeared to
abate. We got in our boats again, and made all
possible sail. At eight we found to a certainty
that the hold was on fire, smoke and heat issuing
from every place where there was ventilation, the
smoke smelling of burning cotton. We closed up
every place that might give ventilation to the hold,
this being all that we could do, for we dared not
open any of our batches ; got the boats ready for
hoisting out, with provisions of water in each. We
then trimmed and made all sail, and kept the ship
on her course, remaining on board to see what
would happen, wishing to save the ship and cargo
if possible. , At noon, appearances very bad, but
apps-ently no worse. A strong smell of smoke and
fire through the decks and hatchways, although
well closed up. All hands still remaining by the
s'Ap. Allowed the ship to make four feet water,
to be kept so, to cool the hold. Shortened, made,
and trimmed sails occasionally. The wind at
S S.W. beginning to increase as night came on.
Midnight, a heavy gale blowing.
" MONDAY, SEPT. 7.—Continued heavy gales,
and rain all this day, and a very heavy sea running.
At 5 a. m. every appearance of fire breaking out—
smoke'issuing through the hatch-s and decks fore
and aft, and through the ship's sides. 8 a.m. A
hard gale of wind blowing, and the sea running
high; found it impossible to keep the ship from
burning, and dreading an explosion every moment,
concluded on cutting away the masts and filling
the ship with water. 9. Cut away the fora and
main masts, and got out a boat for the
saving of lives. Two boats were all ready
for getting out the ship's side. By this time the
smoke and fire began to appear through the
forehatch and ship's side starboard. We then ob-
served a sail standing towards us. She came down,
and hove to to pick us up. She proved to be a
barque, the Sarah Dorothy, of Newcastle. We
first got out all the passengers, two men, two wo-
men, and six-ohildren, and with difficulty got them
all into the first boat. The barque sent her boat to
our rescue, by which we sent some of the crew.
Tried to get out another boat, but she swamped
alongsith.. By this time the ship was enveloped in
flames through the decks and sides. .
" The turpentine in fore hatchway now exploded,
and blew up the deck. By this time the. bolmreC:
turned from the barque, the ship then. in
save
fore and aft. After using every exertion
tain and
lives, and in the next boat's return the
after seeing
remainder of the crew quitted the ship,
all the passengers and crew safe on
board the Sarah
Dorothy.
in the English
the captain and crew re-
maire" O al
oTnimbsd,aaryd
Dorothy.wjti
" Wedne-rday,
barque, Al vice, of Liverpool, who took seven of our
thetn t eh
Sarah B—t I '
nth.--''ell 1 1
I „ Thursday, 10th, 7 a.m.—The royal mail steam
)cople with him to London.
packet Atrato hove in sight, and took the captain,
Ist and 2d mates, and ten passengers on board ; the
remainder of our crew, four hands, preferring to
stay on board the Sarah Dorothy and go to St.
,
, I John's."
0

A -Elam MARRIAGE.—A Texas paper tellq of a young
couple who el sped on lioneback, accompanied by the
c'ergyinan who W 33 to marry them. The lady's father
gave chase, and was overtaking the party, when the
maiden called out to her clerical friend, "Can't, you
marry us as we run !' The idea took, and he commenced
ed
the ritual, and just as the bride's father clutched
man
d
v
bridle rein, the clergyman pronounced the
the daibinthel
and wife. The father was so pleased ivi
aztion that, as the story goes, he gave them his blessing.

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