The Sun.
London, England, 1826-12-02 00:00:00

MR. BOCHSA.

In the number of the Harmonicas for the present month,
there is a remonstrance addressed to Dr. Crotch, " Principal of
the Royal Academy of Music, in Tenterden-street," for " placing
himself before the public in fellowship with a convicted felon, &c.
&e." In the letter we have alluded to, and which is signed "De-
tector, " the name of Boehm is not mentioned, but the application
cannot be misinterpreted; and judging by the expressions it con-
tains, we verily believe it to have been penned by a correspondent
of the writer of this article (when Editor of another Journal),
who wrote several letters on the same subject, and in which simi-
lar expressions were used to those in the epistle to Dr. Crotch,
but who refused to give up his own name and address. These
letters now lie upon our table; one of which bears the signature of
"J. W. K." and is dated from Judd-place. At the time we re-
ceived them (in 1822), Bochsa had been engaged in the musical
department, at Drury-lane Theatre, by Elliston ; and having
occasion to write to the latter—under the impression that
by the connection of their names, they must have been fellow-
labourers. We Informed him of the purport of J. W. K.'s
communication, and, supposing, from the infamous character given
therein, of the person we believed to he his (Elliston's, intimate
friend, that he would communicate it to the criminal party, we prof-
ffered our services to detect the then imagined libeller. Mr. Ellis-
ton, however,denied any intimacywi th Bochsa, although their names
were invariably coupled in the theatrical announcements, and re-
ferred 'us to address Bochsa himself upon the subject; but believ-
ing at the time the statements against him as false, we declined to
do so, leaving Mr. Elliston to act as he pleased.
Now, either Mr. E. believed or disbelieved the account we re-
ceived, and transmitted to him, of Bochsa's delinquency, and, if
he did believe it, as " the child of public patronage," himself
ought to have placed the man, whose intimacy he disowned
first in the musical department of his theatrical arrangements, to
the prejudice of a more worthy and equally competent person. On
the other hand, if Mr. E. did not believe it, would he not have shown
our letter to the party accused ? Bochsa is now at the head of the
Royal Academy of Music—he is accused publicly of being a rob-
ber, a forger, rruneway galley-slave, bigamist, &c. The letters
of which we have spoken he is at liberty to peruse at any time he
may think proper to call at our office, in order to enable him to de-
tect " Detector," if bean please ; but if he allow the aspersions
cast upon him in the Hartnonicen to stand unnoticed—if he ivail
himself not of our proffer to assist him in discovering his libeller...
if he be such—why then the public will draw their own inferences
from his silence, and we may be tempted to publish the version
which we have received of the Parisian " Adventures," on the
sheer grounds of impartial justice; and which, we think, we have
amply proved our strict sense of, by withholding certain state-
ments in our possession from the public eye for upwards of the
three preceding twelvemonths, merely because we could not be-
lieve thews to be true."