The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-22 00:00:00

AN AMATEUR DRAMATIC MEd 2 RE.

Notwithstanding what has been previously stated
in a former article on the advantages to be obtained
in having " A Special Theatre for Amateurs," we
are induced, in consequence of the subsequent cor-
respondence we have received upon the subject, to
again revert to the matter, the more especially as we
have fully considered the possibility of carrying out
what seems to be, and unquestionably is, the greatest
possible desire of the Dramatic Amateur. One cor-
respondent in particular suggested, and we cordially
thank him for his goo I offices, the renting of a
theatre instead of building or purchasing one, and
upon this suggestion we have built up, what we
conceive to be, a very easy plan for obtaining a
theatre devoted exclusively to amateurs, and we
have great pleasure in placing the same before our
readers. Let all the clubs, or so En tny as can be
got together for the purpose, form themselves into
" A National Amateur Dramatic Fund Associa-
tion," each club to be represented by its manager or
secretary. The annual subscription to be five
guineas, and assuming for a moment that fifty clubs
start the association, there would at once b.)
a fund of upwards of £260 upon which
to commence business, each club so subscribing to
be entitled to one performance annually, and for
every other performance to pay a like sum of
£5 ss. By this means the Association would be in
possession of sufficient funds to enable them to rent
a really good theatre. And if the Association
should be thoroughly well supported, and there is
no reason why it should not, we fully anticipate,
before any lengthened period has elapsed, seeing it
in possession of sufficient capital to enable it to
build its own theatre.

It will, of course, be understood, that we do not
mean to convey the idea that £5 ss. should com-
pletely liquidate the whole expense of an evening's
perfcrmance. Of course, stage carpenters, the
band, doorkeepers, dressers, and all the other
minutia attending a dramatic representation, would
have to be provided for; still all this might be
left in the hands of the association, and by co-ope-
ration and judicious management everything might
be as near perfection in these details as possible.

All the officers of the association would be chosen
from the representatives of the clubs--a thoroughly
efficient stage manager would be permanently en-
gaged, and also an acting manager, who would be
assisted by the members of the respective clubs, and
thus the amateurs themselves would be enabled to
make their arrangements complete and their whole
organization perfect.

In making the foregoing remarks, we sincerely
hope they will be met in the spirit in which they
are given, our object being to benefit the whole
class to whom they are addressed. And in con-
clusion, we can only add our entire willingness to
assist in every possible way compatible with our
position in promoting an association such, as we
have promulgated, and to lend our assistance in
publicly making known, through the medium of
our columns, any meeting which it may be proposed
should be held for considering, and, if possible, i n
carrying out the subject of these remarks.—Racing
Times.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

--4.--
From the Anglo-American ?lines.)

The Rev. Newman Hall, in a lecture on Wednesday
night, in Mr. Spurgeon's Tabernacle, on his recent visit to
America, gave his audience an account of a conversation
he had with Mr. Robert Lincoln, son of the late President.
Mr. Hall asked about the Queen's letter to Mrs. Lincoln.
`` Yes," said he, " we have been asked often about that
letter—we have been asked to publish it. But it is a long
letter of three pages—the outgushing of a generous
woman's heart, and my mother and myself thought it
would not be right to publish it."
It is stated that Lennon, the Fenian now in cus-
tody in Dublin, headed a procession lately in New York,
wearing the uniform in which he deserted from the 9th
Lancers. He is branded with the letter " D," and his in-
genuity in assuming various disguises is declared by the
Dublin police to have been surprisingly fertile.

Mr. George W. Savage, late President of the
Star Fire Insurance Company, has been elected president
of the International Insurance Company ; Hamilton Bruce,
vice-president; and W. J. Hughes, secretary. The corn•
piny discontinues marine risk,, and will confine itself to
fire and inland insurance business.

William Henry Gardner, convicted in Jersey of
forgery, falsification of books, and embezzlement, has been
sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. lie was major
of militia, and secretary to the Governor.

The widow of General Miramon has, with her
children, taken up her residence at Vienna. She is to re-
ceive a pension from the Austrian Government.

Henry Ward Beecher has given $l,OOO to the
fund for the benefit of Washington College, Virginia, and
Messrs. Greeley and Horatio Seymour unite in an appeal
to Northern men of wealth to support an institution sup-
ported by Washington. General Lee is at the head of
this college. _ _

Governor Bullock sent a full and able message
to the Legislature of Massachusetts. Among the subjects
he advocated was the nomination of Grant to the Presi-
dency, irrespective of party.
Mr. Davis and wife have arrived at New Orleans:

A. J. Fergusson Blair, son of the late Admiral
Adam Fergusson, has just died. He was a Canadian
statesman of great repute, a barrister at law of Upper
Canada, and had been Receiver-General, Provincial Sec-
retary, and President of the Privy Council of the Domi-
nion in turn. In 1863 he succeeded to the Balthayock
estates, and assumed the name of Blair.
A gentleman passing through North Union-
street in Cork, being mistaken for a detective, had his
head made a target for Greek fire. The casing was proof
against the missile, which bounded off, and breaking ou
the pavement, burst into a brilliant light.
M. La Rientire succeeds Mr. Savage as American
Consul at llavannah.
Minister Rose, of Canada, reports the Dominion
to bo financially well off.
Commodore James T. Watkins died on board the
Costa Rica, between Yokohama and Shanghai, from inju-
ries received in falling down a hatchway.
General Van Valkenburg, American Minister to
Japan, was married to Mrs. Schayer, of New York, on the
23th November.
The American papers poke fun at Mr. Dolby,
Charles Dickens's manager. They lay the blame of all
shortcomings on his shoulders. "I wonder," one asks,
"if Dolby is his real name, or if he adopted it from
'David Copperfield,' who recalls young David's adven-
ture when he sold his wardrobe piece by piece, and the
buyei of the little vesket' was a Mr. Doloby." We can
assure the wonderer that his real name is Mr. Dolby, well
known in Regent-street, and brother of Madame-Sainton
Dol'iy, a celebrated English singer.

The United States Consul at Amoy has made a
treaty with the Formosa savages, by which wrecked sea-
men will be protected.

Mr. Vallandigham advocates war with England
or any other nation that will not admit American claims
as to naturalized citizens. It is impossible for poor Eng-
land or any other nation to admit claims as yet undefined.
The first thing to bo done is for America to state what a
naturalized citizen is, and what rights it claims for the
animal when defined. Mr. Ashley spoke before the Con-
vention to the same effect as Mr. Vallandigham wrote.
One would suppose that the "Republican fool," as the
Springfield Republican terms this man of impeachment
celebrity, had lately been before the public sufficiently to
satisfy even his craving for notoriety.
The Rev. Thomas Baker and six native mission-
aries have been eaten by the Feejeo Islanders.
When Richard Pierce, printer, of Boston, worked
off upon his hand press, on the 25th of September, 1690,
the first newspaper ever published in America, the General
Court took the sheet into custody, held solemn debate over
the daring disturber of the public quiet, and voted that it
"contained reflections of a very high nature," and its pub-
lication was contrary to law. It was not allowed to ap-
pear again.
James Brooks, of New York, has been appointed
a Government director of the Union Pacific Railroad Com-
pany in place of C. T. Sherman.
The Massachusetts Legislature met at Boston on
the Ist of Jan., and elected Harvey Jewell over Charles A.
Train, by 151 votes, out of the 216 east. George R. Bra-
stow was elected President of the Senate by a majority of
one, in the entire vote of the 40 Senators. The Maine
and Maryland Legislatures met on the same day ; that of
Ohio was to assemble on the Gth, and of New York on the
7th. The Maine Legislature elected Josiah Crosby of
Penobscot President of the Senate, Theodore C. Wood-
man of Bucksport Speaker of the House, and Thomas
P. Cleaves and Sumner J. Chadbourne, respectively,
clerks of the branches. Tho various state offices have been
filled as follows:—Secretary of State, Franklin M. Drew
of Brunswick ; Attorney-General, William P. Frye of
Lewiston ; Adjutant-General, Gen. John C. Caldwell of
Ellsworth ; Land Agent, Parker P. Burleigh of Linens ;
Executive Councillors, Henry C. Reed, of Norway, Geo.
W. It. Randall of Portland, Daniel Holland of Lewiston,
Joseph A. Sanborn of Readfield, Elias Milliken of Burn-
ham, Ephraim Flint of Dover, and Daniel K. Hobart of
Dennysville. Both Maine and Maryland Legislatures
have questions of the Senatorial succession to settle, and
Diessrs. Morrill and Roverdy Alum are both candidates

or re-election. Ex-Vice-President Hamlin is the mos
dangerous competitor in Mr. Morrill's path, and Gov.
Swann is working hard to defeat Mr. Johnson.
Robert Preston was arrested, Jan. 2, at Charles-
ton, South Carolina, with $lO,OOO, stolen from the Dorches-
ter Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Neponset, Massa-
chusetts, where he had been employed as a clerk till be
absconded.

Bryant T. Henry, the receiving teller of the
Shawmut National Bank, of Boston, disappeared, and the
bank books show a deficit of $60,000. The teller omitted
to credit $6,000 he had received, and as he was compelled
to go, he took the precaution of carrying away from the
bank vault $27,000 in compound interest notes, and a like
sum in bills.

A New York paper characterizes General Grant's
sense as reticence.

The President has recognised George Raster as
Consul-General of Hayti at Washington, and Loon do la
Coza as -Vice-Consul of the United States of Columbia at
Philadelphia.

Admiral GoldsborOugh, who has reached the legal
limit of the Laval service, is trying to prevent his name and
himself from going on the retired list, by pleading that the
three years which he spent iu the Naval School are not to
be counted, altheugh all precedent and Secretary Welles,
equally ancient and venerable, are against him. The
President and Judge Jere Black support the Admiral.
The Report of the Hon. David A. Wells, Special
Commissioner of Internal Revenue, will not be published
before the middle of this month.

General Butler has filedthe application of Admi-
ral Farragut and his officers and men for the bounty of
S2OO each, allowed them by the statute for the capture of
the forts between New Orleans in 1862.

Caleb Cushing gave $4,000 for the new Episco-
pal Church of the Incarnation at Washington, which was
dedicated, Sunday, 29th December; and the new Memo-
rial Methodist Church, which counts General Grant and
Chief Justice Chase among its trustees, will cost $200,000,
and will have free pews for the chief dignitaries, which it
is to be hoped they will occasionally occupy.
General Crittenden succeeds General Strong in
command of Arizona, and the latter goes to Nevada.

General Hancock defends himself in print against
Colonel Wynkoop's charges of the Indian Commission in
burning the Cheyenne village last summer.
General Custer writes against the decision of the
court-martial by whose sentence he was lately deprived
of rank and pay for a year, for being absent from hit
post, and not making sufficient effort to recover some sol-
diers of his command captured by the Indians.
A. J. Halleck, brother of General Halleck, and
Capt. Marshman were lost with the steamer Raleigh, burned
off the Carolina coast.

Mysterious disappearances have occurred in other
cities of the United States besides Chicago, where four
persons were lately reported as missing. Edwin R. Colton,
of Springfield, Massachusetts, disappeared at New York,
and was missing by last advises for more than two weeks,
His integrity is said to be above question, and the suppo-
sition was strong that he had been foully dealt with. Be"
sides several other disappearances, that of Thos. R. Whitte-
more is mentioned, town clerk and Treasurer at Spencer,
with $20,000 of the town's money. Among maul
others that of a highly respectable lady, Mrs. Nast',
residing at 170, Hudson-street, Hoboken, Newark,
who left her home on the evening of the 26th December
to call on a friend, and has not since been heard of. It ig
feared she was overtaken by a severe storm which shortly
after commenced.

Robert S. Pringle, who was defeated by a negro
for the position of sergeant-at-arms of the Georgia Bee°lv
structiou Convention, was so much chagrined by tbe
fact and the taunts of his friends that he committed suicide•

Henry M.. Tyler, son of Professor IV. S. Tyler'
of Amherst College, returned to Massachusetts last wolc
fromlB months foreign travel and study, and will commend®
the duties of his Latin professorship at Amherst with the
beginning of the winter term.

In compliance with an order of the Supreme
Court, Simeon Peck, the Coleraine murderer, was, on the
20th ult., consigned to the Worcester insane asylum.
Torrey Wallace, formerly of the Housatonic
House, at Lee, has purchased for $23,000 the Phosail
Hotel property at Hoosiack Falls, New York, of Cobra
Quackenbush, now of the American House, at Pittsfield.
The Republican State Central Committee of New
Hampshire met at Concord, on the 26th December, and
organized by the choice of E. H. Rollins, chairman,
Benjamin Gerrish, jun., secretary, and John Kimball
treasurer.

Mr. and Mrs. William Collins, of Somers, Con-
necticut, were married on New Year's-day, 1800. His age
is 93, hers 92. He once represented the town in the Legis-
lature, and has held many offices of trust.
Not long since the American papers recorded the
flight of Mrs. Sumner to Europe while her husband want
westward on a lecturing tour. It was then known that
incompatibility of temper was the movingspring. A recall-
cilia-ion was effected, and prominent politicians rejoiced at
the announcement that the hospitable house of the Senator
would be again open to guests in Washington. We regret
to learn that so desirable an arrangement could not be
maintained, and that the incompability of temper I'a°
proved too strong for all other considerations, and a per-
manent separation has been agreed to.
" Colonel" O'Neil has been offered the post of
Fenian Head Centre, which there seems to be some diffi
culty in filling, in Now York. O'Neil was one of the
fillibusters engaged in the raid on Canada.
-The Hon. Anson Burlingame, United States'
Minister to Pekin, has been selected by the Emperor of
China to revise the treaties between China and the Great
Powers. He leaves at once, by way of San Francisco, on
his diplomatic mission, not by way of Europe, as we before
announced. Official despatches to this effect, dated
November 23, 1867, have reached the Hon. Cassius ]!'f•
Clay, United States' Minister to Russia.

The Archbishop of Quebec has given his bless-
ing to several prominent French Canadians who have Pr°-
ceeded to Rome. It is said that a large number of Wu
will follow them, and that the Papal Zouaves will thus b°
strengthened.

The Rev. E. F. Trefier, of Austin, Nevada,
about to visit the Eastern States to deliver a course °'
lectures on the mining districts. Ho has gathered muchgeneral information, aided by the miners of different local'.
ties, which, being condensed and put together, is not only
interesting, but convoys a knowledge and gives inforn33.
tion regarding the Silver State, which all may be glad t°
learn. He will arrive in New York about the Ist of MaY'

An order has been issued by General CaubY
exempting homesteads from legal seizure, and revoking
General Sickles's prohibition of the sale and distillation 0f
liquor in North and South Uarolina.

Mr. Joshua Baker has been appointed Governor
of Louisiana by General Hancock, in place of Mr. Flandeol
resigned.

Governor Chamberlain, of Maine, in his speal
delivered upon assuming office, was in favour of t"
State taxation of Government bonds.

Governor Swan, of Maryland, in his inaugu"l
message, strongly endorsed the course taken by Prosi;
dent Johnson, and was rejoiced at the reaction agai°6
Congress.

A story of cross purposes is told of two brother°
at Whately, Massachusetts. They owned a dog, wh°s°,,
life was threatened, as no license had been taken out.
constable called to kill the animal, when the wife of 000
of the brothers paid the license fee. At the same time !t
husband paid for the dog at the town clerk's office, and
the brother killed it shortly after to save the expense n'
the license. These were agreeable notes to compare.
Levi W. Barton, of Newport, Hampshire, 113,5
been renominated for Senator in the tenth district, an
Henry N. Blair, of Plymouth, in the seventh.
T. L. Avery, of Springfield, has been adinittca
as partner into the extensive New York firm of Suttoaf
Clark, and Halsey.

John Hadds caught a genuine cod at Indial3
Orchard, on-the Chicopee River. It weighed five pound%
and is believed to be the first cod caught so far from 03/w
water.