The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 18, 1868.

fair ? Again and again he has been subjected to
annoyance and been made the object of persecution
on various grounds. They now charge him with
misdemeanour, and accordingly Mr. VAUGHAN, at
Bow-street, is hearing the proceedings. It is said
by those who prefer the indictment that they are
only desirous to bring it forward, that they do
so on technical grounds ; but really we think
that the public can hardly credit this, and
even if the Committee really think so, they are
mistaken in their idea, because their prosecution is
more than technical, and must leave effects of a
serious kind upon the accused if found guilty
when the verdict is pronounced. Perhaps we
shall arrive at a more definite notion of the
real objects the Committee have in view if
we read a letter Mr. BUXTON writes, in
which he says that Mr. EYRE should not
be allowed to escape the due punishment belonging
to the " awful cruelties" committed with his sanc-
tion in Jamaica. What becomes of the laboured
excuse of the prosecution that to obtain a correct
interpretation of the law is all that they desire ?
We feel little or no doubt as to the acquittal of Mr.
EYRE ; but still how unfair it is that he should be
put to all this expense and trouble in order to gratify
the devices of those who are acting contrary
to the feeling of the country, and displaying a
spirit of rancour happily rare among English poli-
ticians. Not to know when to leave off is always
a misfortune, but in this instance it is indeed
deplorable, and the Jamaica Committee will
one day regret most bitterly that they set
no bounds to the course they marked out
to themselves, and that they did not follow wiser
counsel than that of their owu prejudices. The
spectacle they are now exhibiting to the world is a
sad proof of the mistakes the all-wise may make,
and the harsh course of action those may
follow who set out to act on liberal prin-
ciples in the fullest acceptation of the
term. We feel convinced that surprise and
indignation will contend for the mastery in the
minds of those who dwell upon this affair, and that
the general opinion of the public will be that the
Jamaica Committee deserve the strongest censure ;
and this will be shared by those who do not approve
wholly of the line of action taken in Jamaica, but
the case has now got beyond the first limits, and
must therefore be looked upon differently.

The accounts that have reached us of the Abys-
sinian Expedition are most exciting and interesting,
and the public will pursue the details with the
greatest eagerness. It is long indeed since our forces
met with so extraordinary a success, and, for many
reasons, there is much to rejoice at in the triumph
won at Magdala. First and foremost must rank
the liberation of the captives, and their restoration
to their home and country, which at one time seemed
impossible, and only to be accomplished by means
little short of a miracle. Besides this, it is of con-
sequence that our prestige should be kept up in
those distant lands, where we can never effect our
purpose or protect our fellow-countrymen except
by influence. Mere numbers will not do, and
there is so much to contend against with respect to
climate, so that a considerable time always
elapses before our expedition can be fitted out. It
is no exaggeration to say that the effect of the
Magdala affair will be of vast significance, and the
mere fact that the prisoners have been rescued do
more to support our authority and secure respectfor
our friends than volumes of despatches, and the
most grandiloquent messages could ever ac-
complish. The particulars that have just
come to hand show that the task was not an easy
one which our bravo soldiers performed, and also
that the greatest credit belongs to General NAPIER
for the masterly manner in which he performed his
work of direction and supervision. It was not
without some delay that the prisoners' safety was
secured, and THEODORE was evidently unwilling to
relinquish his hold upon them ; but Sir ROBERT
NAPIER wisely resolved to lose not an instant in
the important matter, and as soon as there was the
slightest chance of compliance he preferred his re-
quest. A long, anxious day was spent in parleying,
which, with every desire to sympathise, we in this
country can hardly either enter into fully or appre-
ciate entirely. The feeling that they were within
grasp, as it were, of those so long mourned
over as lost, the conviction that, after all,
they might even then be sacrificed, must
have been overwhelming, and yet it could not be
possible for Sir R. NAPIER to give in to THEODORE'S
terms hastily, because he had the honour of the
nation he represented to consider. At last the
guard gave in, and by nightfall all the prisoners
were surrendered unconditionally, and some of the
other Europeans were safely lodged in the Eng-
lish camp. A stirring scene was that which took
place under the walls of Magdala, and the Abys-
sinians showed far more spirit than it was believed
possible for them to evince. The effect produced
upon the dead-beaten men of the fourth by the sound
of the Abyssinian gun which announced the combat
to have begun was magical. Before that exciting sound
was heard they had been falling out of the ranks
from sheer fatigue, and imploring all passers-by for
a drop of water; but all was changed when the
gun was beard. "In five minutes they were to the
front, dressing up, and hurrying right past the
Belochees, not that the Belochees were a whit the
less eager, but they had not the deadly SNIDER to
recommend them, and in a very few minutes more,
though to anxious eye alone it may have appeared
a longer time, they came from the hollow into which
they had disappeared, and leaving the hill, they
began steadily to mount the stage, which
the enemy had at first so dauntlessly made their
own, and to take it from them, inch by inch."

After the SNIDER came into play the Abyssinians
had no chance whatever, and the havoc it created
among them was fearful. It must be borne in mind
that our forces had not to walk over the ground, for
the Abyssinians kept up the show of resistance,
though their chance was completely gone after the
conflict was fairly begun. No one can lament the
death of THEODORE, for his ferocity was dreadfal,
and our forces discovered a large heap of dead
bodies. They were those of some unfortu-
nate witnesses which the tyrant wished to
have out of the way. It is in some
sort a satisfaction to learn that after the departure
of our forces this merciless man can no more em-
ploy his ingenuity in torturing and destroying the
unfortunate beings who were in his power. The
dead body of 'THEODORE was found also on the
hill, and it remains doubtful whether he killed him-
self or met with his fate in battle. Magdala has
been burnt, and the blackened ruins will long be a
warning to the savage and barbarous chiefs who
may visit them that the name of Engl tnd is to be
treated with respect ; and it is also satisfactory to know
that we have done good service to other Europeans
who may hereafter visit these wilds by putting down
the tyrant with a firm hand, and rescuing the victims
of his tyranny. THEODORE was the terror of the
whole country, but the knowledge that a stronger
even than himself has taken possession will not be
without due effect upon many who may imitate
his career without, perhaps, equalling his ability.
Be this as it may, it can fairly be said that if Eng-
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appreciated accordingly.

THE HANDEL FESTIVAL
At the Crystal Palace, Sydenham.

Another of these grand memorial celebrations of
the genius of Handel, and—through his sublime
creations—of the glory of the divine art of music, is
now fast approaching. Within less than a month's
time we shall be in the midst of it. The forthcoming
is the Third of these Great Triennial Festivals. And
as the Second surpassed the First, it may be safely
enough predicted that the Third will surpass the
Second.

Blow the trumpets, sound the drums,
Briareus-handed Handel comes
Musicians have pronounced him THE Maestro, "THE
Master of Music," by acclamation—this wonderful
George Frederick Handel, German by birth, Eng-
lish by adoption : born at Ilalle, in Saxony, on the
23d of February, 1684: dead—hia body, that is,
dead, not his glorious productions any more than
his own immortal spirit—in London on the 14th
of April, 1759 : buried soon afterwards, in West-
minster Abbey, with all befitting pomp and
solemnity. It is astonishing to remember, in regard
to the mere mechanical labours, to say nothing of
the intellectual achielbments, accomplished by
Handel within the interval of the span of his
existence, that the record of them in Original MSS.
extends to as many as Eighty-Iwo Large Folio
Volumes! And that among these are numbered as
many as Twenty-Three Grand Oratorios, Thirty-

Two elaborate Italian Operas, and as many as

Eight Volumes of Anthems, Fugues, and other
miscellaneous compositions. No wonder that
Haydn cried 'out in regard to him, " This man is
the Father of us all !" Or that Mozart said of
him, " When he chooses be strikes like a thunder-
bolt !" Or that Meyerbeer pronounced his " Israel
in Egypt" supreme and peerless above all other
musical masterpieces ! Or that Mendelssohn so
honoured and revered his memory that within the last
twelve years of his own fore-shortened life he gave to
the adornment of Handel's, very much of the flower of
his own genius, writing organ parts to the whole of
the Oratorios I No wonder that—to crown all, these
tokens of homage on the part of the Great Masters
towards the Master Genius of Handel—no wonder
that even Beethoven exclaimed, when speaking of
him, " I would uncover my head, and kneel at his
tomb!" Those who have enjoyed the privilege and
happiness of attending either of the two preceding
Triennial Festivals, at the Crystal Palace—the
Festival of 1862 and the Festival of 1865 —will
from that cherished remembrance appreciate to the

full how absolutely the genius of Handel is entitled
to these rare evidences of homage and admiration.
They will recognize that in these unstinted worth
of praise lavished upon his glorious memory by
Musicians themselves of the loftiest genius, by
Haydn, by Mozart, by Meyerbeer, by Mendelssohu,
by Beethoven, there was no extravagance whatever,
there was no opportunity even for hyperbole. To
those who have not been present on either of those
two memorable occasions, we would say now is their
opportunity I An opportunity that, Handel himself
never had the rare and priceless good fortune of en-

joying. Never did he hear his own marvellous produc-

tions as we have hoard them—upon a scale of such
colossal magnitude and magnificence. The Man was
there—but the Hour during his lifetime had not
struck. The world's greatest Orchestra had to be
built in the Palace of the English People, before that
undreamt-of period arrived. The Hour had come,
however, in 1862. It struck again more sonorously
in 1865. It is preparing to sound anew and yet
more sonorously even than then —when the " Glorious
Three Days" of June shall conic once more to allure
not the lovers of music in London alone, but through-
out all England, down to the Crystal Palace at
Sydenham. As a Record of the Past, no less than
as a Programme of the Present, the little violet-
coloured official pamphlet recently issued in re-

ference to The Handel Festival is worthy of perusal
and of preservation afterwards. It conveys all the
information that could be reasonably wished for in
regard to the arrangements, and it is besides that
especially deserving of attention as an evidenca of
exquisite and often of eloquent appreciation of the
giant genius of Handel as manifested through his
sublimest productions. One passags at least we
cannot here resist the temptation is transcribe, if
only in illustration of the literal truth of what
we have but just now remarked. It is where—say-
ing of the effect producel upon the more appre-
ciative by their attendance upon these Festivals
that " the imagination soars far beyond the com-
poser and his work, the great Miracles of the Exodus
standing out in such relief as to present themselves
to the sense in the vivid grandeur of actual oc-
currence"—the writer exclaims with enthusiasm,

" Who can have thus -listened to the Hail-
stone Chorus without almost seeing the 'Fire,
Rain, Hail' that 'ran along upon the ground ?'
Who is there who has not felt his very
hair stand oa end, at that darkness which
might be felt?' Who has not fancied a glimpse
was opened to him of that Power above, as He
spake the word,' thundered out in unison by
fifteen hundred tenor and bass voices, rolled
throughout the long-drawn nave and aisles of the
Crystal Palace? Who has not found his heart's
pulsations increase in joyful accord, as again and
again, I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath
triumphed gloriously,' has resounded from side to
side, in that antiphonal majesty, which can only be
realised by such music on such a scale, in such an
Orchestra?" Yes—those words, those queries, may
be taken in a manner literally. Listening to the
" Hailstone Chorus," it was literally as if we saw—
amidst the choral cries of " Fire, Rsin, Hail"—that
they "ran along upon the ground," those lashing, and
billowing, and sinuous trails of Hail, and Rain, and
Fire ! And so of the rest. It is word-painting and
sound painting together. It is the realisation of
inspired dreams, and those dreams sublime even to
the preternatural.
As indicative of the scale upon which everything
is done in connection with these unapproachable
Musical Celebrations, it is worth mentioning that
already they have produced in their receipts, count-
ing the Festivals of '62 and '65, and two subsi-
diary ones, more than £lOO,OOO. Besides which,
they were brought together upwards of 250,000
persons. Remembering what has been done al-
ready in connection with these Festivals, remem-
bering what was accomplished in the instance of
the last one, the Festival of 1865, in our own
most recent recollection when improvement
is now spoken of as in any way possible
under the circumstances, it should be under-
stood at once that reference is made to the shading-
in rather than to the outlines. The grand, broad,
symmetrical outlines are there already. They ad-
mit, as we conceive, of no reasonable expansion.
It is the filling in, we repeat, that alone allows of
perfecting. As the official pamphlet itself says, the
" New Resources " that are now fast preparing for
the coming Festival relate to details rather than to
broad principles.
The Orchestra, to begin with, what more in rea-
son could he wanting there? Why, in the mere
width, it is double the diameter of the Dome of St.
Paul's Cathedral! And, whereas the Orchestra of
the late Ancient Concerts at Hanover-square had
an area of 943 feet, the area of the Crystal Palace
Orchestra occupies a space of upwards of 16,000
feet! Then, again, in place of the Velarium of
1859, there was constructed in 1862 that gigantic
sounding board, or wooden semicircular ceiling,
which is known to be the largest piec3 of
carpentery of the kind ever put together. Even
that was so far deemed insufficient in 1865
that by " partly filling up with a hard, rever-
berating material" the side of the grand tran-
sept and the naves " considerable acoustical
additions" were made, and a noticeable improve-
ment effected. Whatever in the details may,
nevertheless, have still been recognized in any par-
ticular by the more discerning as yet wanting,
will now be carried out to the fullest extent, as
we are informed in the programme of the arrange-
ments actually afoot for the forthcoming Festival.
Now, as to the purely musical rather than as to
the simply mechanical or material preparations
making with an eye to the greater effi-
ciency than ever cf the choral and orchestral
armies about to be martialled under the baton of
Field-Marshal Costa. There, again, as the
nucleus, heart, core of the Festival Orchestra will be,

in grander force than ever, the Sacred Harmonic
Society, associated with which as an enviable and
highly coveted privilege will. be the Sixteen Hun-
dred Voices of the Exeter Hall amateurs, entitled
the Metropolitan Amateur Choral Contingent. Alto-
gether, there, will be seen once more that stupendous
Orchestra of Four Thousand Performers, surely the
grandest army of choral harmony the world has
ever had the opportunity of witnessing, or rather
to which the world has ever had the privilege of
hearkening. As to the baud of instrumentalists,
again, some idea of its magnitude, of the numerical
strength of those instrumentalist; may be afforded
by the simple mention of the fact that Two Hun-
dred and Fifty Music Desks arc there attended by
Four Hundred Stringed Instrument Performers
—one hundred and fifty of these being players on
double basses and violincellos. Given the grandest
of Composers to interpret ; given as the arena, the
noblest and the most Fairylike Palace in the world ;
given the largest Orchestra ever constructed, an
orchestra comprising within its vast cir-
cumference 400 stringed instruments, to-
gether with proportionate numbers of drums,
trumpets, oboes, picollos, hautboys, clarionets,
cornets-a-piston, French horns, cymbals, triangles,
serpents, opliecleides, flutes, harps, trombones, all
congregated about the central glory of the
whole—the Grand Organ—with its triple key-
board, its broad range of sonorous pedals, its
marvellous variety of stops, each surging at will
from the treble to the diapason ; given, with all
these " means and appliances to boot," a com-
pact mass of skilled vocalists, sopranos, con-
traltos, tenors, baritones, basses, to the number
altogether, there, in rank and file,of 4,000 within that
gigantic area ; given all these as the " new re-
sources" brought for the first time on record, within
reach of art at this particular and crowning epoch in
its history--there, too, is, happily, the Greatest of all
Conductors to wield them by the " powerful deter-
mination," as the official programme terms it, of his
peerless baton. As Mr. Ella has admirably remarked
in his &cord of the Musical Union—" Whatever
can be accomplished to satisfy the connoisseur, i❑ the
organisation, discipline, and control of the
musical forces assembled at this Festival,
in the proper balance of voices and instruments,
judicious use of the monster organ, important distri-
bution of brass instruments to assist accent, the
the precision of tempi, and intelligible motion of
the baton, the one directing mind of Costa will not
fail to achieve." The same writer wittily applying
to Michael Costa the familiar words—

"Cella sedet bolus arce
Sceptra tenens, mollitquo animos, et temperat ira."
Remembering past achievements in connection
with these Triennial Handel Festivals—remembering
that the same great artistes as heretofore will still be
there as the soloists, that the tenor, for example, will
still be no other than Sims Reeves, and that the bass
will still be no other than Santley—remembering
that Costa will again hold the wand of office, a
wand in its potency as marvellous as that of Pros-
pero—that the First Day, Monday, 15th proxim',
will be again allotted to the Messiah, the Second
Day, Wednesday, the 17th prox. to the wonder-
fully varied Selections, and the Third and
Last Day, Friday, the 19th proximo, to the
subliruest of all the Oratorios, the " Israel in Egypt"
—we can only look forward with what the cynic once
defined as "a lively sense of favours to come,"
namely a profound feeling of gratitude—gratitude
for the delight the high intellectual, and, we would
even say, spiritual delight now in active prepara-
tion. Attendance at these Festivals is a privilege,
for the affording all of us the opportunity of which the
world is—it would be difficult to say how largely—
indebted to the Crystal Palace Company at Syden-
ham.