The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-25 00:00:00

AMATEUR SUGGESTIONS.

Amateurs are generally ignorant of all that needful bye
play, of all those little manoeuvres of the stage so common
to the practised professional. It is an ignorance that is
felt in more ways than one, for with such knowledge the
actor can give a vitality, extend the exemplification of his
role beyond' the utterance of words, and thus do more
than avoid that dummy-like appearance which is too com-
monly apparent in Amateurs when not actually engaged
in recitation. Of course these little arts must be practised
with discretion. They must not be pushed too pro-
minently forward so as to trespass on public attention.
They must, therefore, be ever in the bickground, secon-
dary to the active business of the moment, and always
in keeping with the character assumed. If such know-
ledge is essential to all highly finished representations, it
is frequently used in the provinces for a less creditable
purpose. There the artiste has frequently not sufficient
time to acquire all the parts allotted to him (which are
very commonly numerous in order to draw audiences from
a limited population:by a constant production of novelties),
and he renders thereby his ignorance of the author's text
less palpable, his attendance on the prompter less evident
to the public. It may be assumed,in making the fore-
going assertion, that we are travelling beyond the legiti-
mate bounds and object of the present article. Such, how-
ever, is not the case. We wish to make the ordinary
amateur sensible that, deficient in those little arts, which
require much time and study to thoroughly acquire, it
behoves him, all the more, to make himself thoroughly
conversant with the language he has to deliver. We desire
to impress upon him that dependence on the prompter's as-
sistance will be painfully conspicuous—will be detractive to
his own merits as a declaimer, and a peril to the successful
exertions of his friends; and for which dependence he has not
the excuse of the provincial actor to palliate. We know
how difficult it is to get a company of gentlemen together
that shall be well up to the mark in this particular. We
are aware that many delay and delay all serious study
until the time becomes too short for acquirement. We
have known some who seem to take delight in throwing
themselves into a dilemma, trusting for extrication to
their own wit and confidence on the boards. Let none of
these presume that their shortcomings are unnoticed be-
cause they receive the applause of a friendly audience, for
such is sometimes given as a stimulant, as though it ex-
pressed " better luck another time," and is therefore not
always a proof of pleasurable appreciation of individual
or collective merit. Ignorance of an author's text
is, indeed, a terrible drawback to amateur per-
formances, and one beyond the control of the
leading members of dramatic societies, for the least stu-
dious may naturally possess very considerable histrionic
ability, or may be, through an amiable and lively disposi-
tion, exceedingly popular with his companions; others
enter such clubs on the spur of the moment, with the
desire, perhaps, of merely a pass behind the scenes, to see
how the pieces progress, and if induced to take a part do
so with indifference. There is with none a fear of dis-
charge, with only the few an innate love of the buskin
and desire for dramatic excellence. Heine in amateur
clubs like these,—clubs in which there does not exist
that esprit de corps leading towards general efficiency,—we
think recourse should be had to the pockets of all those
who presume to tread the stage in ignorance of their
parts, and fines established proportionate to their need of
the prompter's assistance,
at least at the final rehearsal, if
not before.—Racing Times and Amateur Dramatic Chronicle.

FREE-7RADI DINNER TO WILLIAM
CULLEN BRYANT.

The Free-Trade dinner, to which we alluded in
our last issue, given to William Cullen Bryant, at
Delmonico's, was presided over by David Dudley
Field. In proposing the health of his guest, he
said " the society under whose auspices this banquet
is held especially directs its efforts to the question
of Public Economy—one of the two great subjects
now occupying the attention of the American people."
Alluding to misrepresentations, Mr. Field explained
that the Free-Trade League advocated freedom in
trade, but were not opposed to taxation to the
fullest extent necessary to meet all engagements.
" We hold that the country is bound to pay the
whole of the debt, as it falls due, principal and in-
terest, if it take our whole property to do it. But
we would limit taxation to its proper object ; we
would not take from any one a single dollar be-
yond what is needed to meet the necessary ex-
penses of the Government and the payment of the
debt. We hold that Government has no right to
tax for any other purpose; and when a tax is laid upon
one for the purpose of making another's business more
profitable, that is not only a flagrant injusticl but a
violation of the first principles of economical cience.
p political economy
. There never
There never was a time in the history of America
sowh en
needed the
diffusiontrue principles
was a time when the teacher of these principles
should be so sought after and honoured. It is igno-
among of
people.
igno-
rance of them which has brought us into so many
difficulties, industrial and financial. It is this igno-
rance which has filled our statute boeks with so
many burdensome laws ; which has diverted our
industry into so many artificial channels ; which has
so straitened commerce that, at this moment, while
the ocean rolling between us and Europe is covered
with steamers, not a single one floats an American
flag, and there is not a single American vessel now
in the harbour of New York loading for Liverpool,
that port with which our chief commerce was held ;
it is this ignorance which has driven gold and silver
from circulation and filled the land with irredeem-
able paper, calling it money ; and which now madly
seeks to stop the process of return to coin ; which
has so lessened the credit of this the richest in
resources of all the nations, that we cannot bor-
row as cheaply as Russia, nor half as cheaply as
England or France." The distinguished champion
of social science then paid a high tribute to the
poet and Free-trader they had assembled to honour,
and Mr. Bryant rose to reply amidst thundering
cheers. What he had done in applying the prin-
ciples of human liberty between man and man, be-
tween nation and nation, was simply in obedience
to his own convictions without attempting to reason
them away. Thus he had saved himself perplexity,
bewilderment: wade of ingenuity, and perhaps no

little remorse. " Another circumstance has made
my task easy. I had only to walk in a path
smoothed and lighted by some of the best thinkers
of the age—impartial, unprejudiced men, who had
no object in view but the simple discovery of truth.
It was not difficult to walk in such a path. Grand
and noble intellects held their torches over it, and I
could not well step astray with such guidance. Be-
sides I had only to follow in the way which the
world is going. The tendency of enlightened pub-
lic opinion in all countries is towardi the fre.doni
of trade. There is no difficulty in swimming with
the current. I saw that the navigation was safe, and let
my boat float with the streatn,while others laboriously
tried to stem it, or lay moored to the shore wondering
which way they ought to go. We shall have them
all with us yet, Mr. President, a merry fleet of all
manner of craft, bound on the same easy voyage.
Another circumstance which has made the task of
the friends of free trade more easy is the involun-
tary admissions which the Protectionists make of
the fallacy of their system. A capitalist in New
England, owning cotton.or woollen mills, however
great his attachment to the protective system, has
no idea of employing any part of his capital in
raising wheat in the fields close to his mills, that he
may save the expense to him-and his work-people
of bringing it from the distant West. Hs bringf
it from a thousand miles away-and .sencls_baok

fabrics in exchange, at the very moment that he is
procuring laws to be passed, which will prevent us,
the consumers, from buying iron and cloth and
paper from Europe, that we may, as they say, save
the expense of freight. When we make a new
acquisition of territory, they do not object that we
should have free trade with the new region. On the
contrary, they rejoice in a wider market. This they
did when Texas was taken into the Union. They
made no opposition to the acquisition of California
on the ground that all revenue laws which shut out
the trade of that wide region would now be re-
pealed. When we talk of annexing Canada they
do not object that we and the Canadians will then
be no longer independent of each other. In this
they are in the right ; in this they tacitly admit the
advantage of free trade. 'Whatever other objec-
tions may be made to the acquisition of new terri-
tory, the enlargement of our borders by the addi-
tion of new and extensiveprovinces is a great com-
mercial and industrial advantage, because it makes
the exchange of commodities between them and us
perfectly free. Yet there is a certain plausibility
in what the Protectionists say when they talk of
home industry and a home market—a plausibility
which misleads many worthy and otherwise sensible
people—sensible in all other respects, and whom
as men I admire and honour. There are clever men
among them who bring to their side of the question
a great array of facts, many of which, however,
have no real bearing upon its solution. There is
plausibility, too, in the idea, that the sun makes a
daily circuit round the earth, and if there were any
private interests to be promoted by maintaining it
we should have thousands believing that the earth
stands still while the sun travels round it. " See
for yourself," they would say. " Will you not be-
lieve the evidence of your own senses ? The sun
comes up in the east every day before your eyes,
stands over your head at noon, and goes down in
the afternoon in the west. Why, you admit the
fact when you say the sun rises, the sun sets, the
sun is up, the sun is down. What a fool was Ga-
lileo, what nonsense is the system of Copernicus,
what trash was written by Sir Isaac Newton ? I
remember a case in point—an anecdote which I
once heard in Scotland. A writer to the signet,
called in England an attorney, of the name of
Moll, who knew very little except what related
to the drawing up of law papers, once heard a
lecture on astronomy in which some illustrations
were given of the daily revolution of the earth on
its axis. The attorney was perplexed and be wil-
dered by this philosophy, which was so new to him,
and one day his thoughts frequently recurring to
the subject he looked up from his law papers and
said The young mon says the warld turns round.
It's vera extraordinar'. I've lived in this place sax
and thretty years, and that grass-plot presarves the
same relative poseetion to the house that it had sax
and thretty years sin' ; and yet the young mon says
the warld turns round. It's vera extraordinar'.'
Here was a man who was not to be taken in by this
nonsense about the earth's revolving on its axis ;
and if there were any real or imaginary pecuniary
advantage to be gained by denying it, Mr. Moll
would have a whole army of his way of thinking,
many of them far wiser and better informed in
other respects than he. Perhaps, Mr. President and
gentlemen, you will allow me to make use of another
familiar illustration. You have heard of a man
attempting to lift himself from the ground by the
waistband of his pantaloons. Now if anything
were to be gained by it, a very atspectable a
priori argument might be made in favour of the
possibility of the feat. One might say, You
can lift two hundred pounds ; your weight is but
a hundred and sixty. A power of gravita-
tion equal to a hundred and sixty pounds holds you
down to the earth. You have only to apply a
counteracting force a little greater than this, and
you will 12e lifted into the air. Take hold of your
waistband, therefore, with both hands, and pull
vigorously. If you do not lift yourself up at the
first trial you must pull harder.' All that might
sound very plausible to one who had no experience
to guide him. This country has been persuaded to
attempt the feat of lifting itself from the ground by
the waistband, and for nearly half a century, with
occasional short relaxations of the effort, prompted
by the return of common sense. When the first
pull was made, and was ineffectual, we were
told to try another, and then another still more
vigorous, and another, and another; and now
what do we see ? The garment of which the
waistband forms a part is torn to shreds and tat-
ters, presenting what Pope, alluding to a similar
accident, somewhere calls a dishonest sight,' mor-
tifying to the pride of philosophy. It is most true
that a man can be raised from the ground by the
waistband ; but he cannot do the feat for himself
—another must perform the office. The force must
come from without. One strong man may raise
another in this way, and be raised by him in turn.
In this case there is an interchange of good offices—
freedom of trade. No man, even with the strength
of Samson, can go into a room by himself and en-
deavour to perform the feat alone without coming
forth from the undertaking in rags, his nether
garment full of ghastly rents, inviting the entrance
of the January wind. So no nation can enrich itself
by excluding foreign commerce; the more perfect
it makes the exclusion, the more certain it is to im-
poverish itself. Mr. President and gentlemen—
There is a great law imposed upon us by the neces-
sities of our condition as members of human society,
the law of mutual succour, the interchange of bene-
fits and advantages, the law of God and nature com-
manding us to be useful to each other. It is the
:aw of the household ; it is the law of the neigh.
bourhood ; it is the law of different provinces in-
cluded under the same government, and well would
it be for mankind if it were in an equal degree re-
cognised as a law to be sacredly regarded by the
great community of nations in their intercourse
with each other. Were that law to be repealed, the
social state would lose its cohesion and fall in pieces.
There is not a pathway across the fields, not a high-
road, not a guide-post at a turn of the way, not a
railway from city to city or from State to State,
not a sail upon the ocean, which is not an illustra-
tion of this law. It is proclaimed in the shriek of
the locomotive ; it is murmured in the ripple of
waters divided by the prow of the steamer. The
nation by which it is disregarded, or which endea-
vours to obstruct it by artificial barriers against
the free intercourse of its citizens with those
of other countries revolts against the order
of :nature, and strikes at its own prosperity."

~=•••=1

PRICE.... ld.
STAMPED sd.

Iti.e transfer one of the sentiments proposed by Mr.
.'meld to our columns in acknowledgment of the
g,z eat services and the well-known motto left for the
saidance of mankind by one of England's most
clulebrated men :—" Among the great names which
have illustrated the science of political economy,
r, one has been greater or more reverenced than that
Richard Cobden. The world will not willingly
ai !ow to die all that he did to promote,Free Trade be-
tw 'en England and France. Among all the stirring
lvort.ls which came from him are these Free
Trade, the international common law of the Al-
mighty.' I ask you now to drink to this sentiment
Free Trade—the international common law of
the Almighty—may the truth expressed in these
stirring words of Richard Cobden be fully acknow-
ledged throughout the world,' and I call upon Mr.
Wiliam W'ood to respond."—Anglo- American
Times.

THE EASTER MONDAY FOL&NTEER

REV IEIV.

Yesterday a meeting of metropolitan command-
ing officers was held at the rooms of the National
Rifle Association, Pall-mall, to consider the ques-
tion of holding, and the most suitable site for, the
usual Easter review. The commanding officers
present were :—Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Truro,
in the chair ; Lieutenant-Colonels Lord Bury,
Lord Ranelagh, Lord Gerald Fitzgerald, Lord
Campbell, Sir Fowell Buxton, Marcus Beres-
ford, Whitehead, Loyd Lindsay, Aikman, Walms-
ley, Grey, 'Wood, Cochrane, 'Wilkinson,
Macdonald, Stedall, Ward, G. 11. Money,
Laurie, Labrord, Du Plat Taylor, Williams, Darn-
ford, Murray, Bigge, Cruikshauk, M'Leod of
M'Leod, Majors laws and Oxley, and Captains
Templer and Phillips.

A deputation, consisting of the Mayor, Colonel
(Inuit, Captain Conway, Mr. Councillor Baker, Mr.
Emmanuel, and Mr. Gordon attended from Ports-
mouth to represent the suitability of that place for
the review. Mr. Knight appeared on behalf of the
South Western and London, Chatham, and Dover
Railway Company, for the purpose of stating that
the company were prepared to take down the forces
to Dover on the same terms, and offer the same
facilities, as they did last year.

Lieut.-Colonel WILKINSON read letters relative to
the review from the Mayors of Portsmouth and
Brighton.
Licut.-Col. C. LINDSAY, M.P., moved : " That
a review be held this year, as usual, on Easter Mon-
day."
The motion, after being put from the chair, was
declared " carried unanimously."
Captain TiotrLEr: moved: " That the Easter re-
view this year take place at Portsmouth, provided
the railway facilities are reported to the commit-
tee to be ample, and the railway fares to be mo-
derate."

Colonel DURNFORD proposed Brighton in similar
terms, but both motions were superseded upo n
Lord RANELAGII proposing—" That the follow-
ing officers be appointed a committee to inquire into,
and report at a future meeting, what site they con-
sider to be most eligible for the review, having re-
ference to the facilities given by the railway autho-
rities for the transport of the forces to and from the
place, viz., Lord Truro, Lord Bury, Colonel Loyd
Lindsay, Colonel Taylor, Lord Ranelagh, Colonel
Ward, and Colonel Thomson."
Colonel MONEY seconded the proposition, which
was carried.

It was moved by the CHAIRMAN, seconded by
Lord BURY, and resolved unanimously—" That the
deputation from Portsmouth be invited to attend
the committee meeting."
Tuesday, the 3d of March, was appointed to re-
ceive the report of the committee.