The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-24 00:00:00

ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.

HERR DOBLER'S EXPERIMENT IN NATURAL
MAGIC.

A certain learned pundit hath lately propounded a
new theory of mesmerism---to wit, that these persons
who are in a state of mesmeric coma are possessed of
a devil. Now if this erudite personage were to witness
the feats of Herr Dobler, he would no doubt come to
the conclusion that Herr Louis Dobler was the fiend
himself ; and he might advance many arguments in
support of his conclusion. For instance, in polite circles,
the fiend, if ever mentioned, is spoken of as the " Gentle-
man in Black," a description which exactly suits Herr
Dobler, who last night appeared, for the first time this
season, on the stage of the St. James's tgeatre, attired
in a black velvet tunic, black silk hose, and girt round
with a black leathern band ; moreover, he speaks
no language save German—the original language of the
original Zamiel in the original Der Freischutz—and, as
for his tricks, they are such as none but the fiend him-
self could accomplish. Does he not produce from one
single hat flowers enough to stock Covent-garden
market ? A male Medea, does he not resuscitate the
dead, by boiling them until they become alive? True,
he operates only on pigeons; but why may he not ope-
rate on other things? Does be not compress a cellar
into a bottle, and produce from it all sorts of wine, and
then, breaking the bottle, draw from its cavity a pocket
handkerchief ? Seeing these things, could our learned
pundit fail to believe that Herr Dobler was the "Gen-
tleman in Black" in propria persona? Joking apart,
however, Herr Dobler is a very clever artist, and per-
forms his tricks with great neatness and dexterity. We
were highly amused by his performances last evening,
and were glad to find that so many of his friends had
assembled to welcome his return. The house was very
well attended, and every one seemed highly delighted
with the performances, which were over at a reasonably
early hour.

THE SCOTCH FREE CHURCH.
We copy the following account of the tyrannical pro
ceedings of the Free Kirkmen towards one of their own
body, from the Scotsman, a journal that lately has been
rather favourable to the seceders. It now throws them
overboard, and justly. We never have had but one
opinion of their principles and practice, and every fresh
act only confirms us in the belief that, by their disjunc-
tion from the Church, Scotland has been saved from a
more galling thraldom than any that ever afflicted the
human race :

" A considerable sensation has lately been created among
Dissenters, by the publication of a pamphlet, from the pen of
the Rev. Mr. Waddell, late minister of the Free Church, Gir-
van, in the presbytery of Ayr. The object of the pamphlet
is to show the tyrannical treatment Mr. Waddell has ex-
perienced at the hands of the Free Church for the simple
avowal of principles hostile to the compulsory support of
Chi istianity. We have hitherto refrained from taking any
notice of the case, in the hope that some explanation would
be forthcoming to show that the charge was unfounded; but,
so far as we are aware, nothing of the kind has yet been
attempted.
It appears that, in October last, the Free Church congre-
gation of Girvan transmitted to the Free Church Assembly,
then sitting in Glasgow, a petition through their pastor, Mr.
Waddell, praying the Assembly to abandon altogether the
compulsory theory. Mr. Waddell added another on his own
account, requesting the Free Assembly to consider the 23d
chapter of the Confession of Faith, on the ground that it is
inconsistent with itself and the present position of the Free
Church. The Assembly's Committee of Bills, however, re-
solved to forward them to the Aisembly not as petitions, but
as documents affording material for a case of discipline against
Mr. Waddell. Mr. Waddell protested, and was told that
he would be allowed to state his reasons for dissenting from
the resolution to the Assembly. The Assembly, however,
broke up without any reference to the subject ; and just
as Mr. Waddell was about to leave Glasgow for Gir-
van,
he received a letter re-directed from that town, a deed
of suspension, signed by the secretary of the acting Corn-1
mittee of the General Assembly's Special Commission, of
which Dr. Candlish was convener. This document ordered,
the petition to be remitted to the Presbytery, suspended Mr.
Waddell, and authorised Mr. Wallace of "Barr to supply his
plice, pro tern. Mr.-Waddell returned to Girvan, and laid a
representation of the case and protest against the appoint-
ment of an interim minister before the Presbytery of Ayr,
who had appointed a committee to meet Mr. Waddell and his
friends. A private meeting between the committee and the
deposed minister first took place, when the latter re-
quested answers to a set of queries on the interpretation
of the 23d chapter of the Confession of Faith. The Presby-
tery maintained its incompetency as a court to reply to any
such queries. • The committee recommended Mr. Waddell
to endeavour to satisfy his mind on the question of
endowments by reading Gillespie's " Aaron's -Rod Blossom-
ing" and the " Hundred and Eleven Propositions," to which
he naturally objected. A conference then took place between
the committee and congregation, Mr. Waddell not being pre-
sent. The former endeavoured to persuade the petitioners to
repudiate their petition, which all refused to do. Despairing
to move the petitioners, one member of committee, with the
concurrence of his brethren, proceeded to assure them, then,
that there was no necessity laid upon them to compromise
their own standing in the Free Church, from any desire to
befriend their minister, for that his own petition would be
quite sufficient to insure his condemnation, if he should ad-
here to it. This announcement was highly offensive to the
petitioners, being a very palpable attempt to seduce them
not only from the profession of their own principles, but from
'the company of a solitary individual exposed to jeopardy in
defence of these principles.
" After other proceedings, Mr. Waddell was obliged to re-
sign, his theoretical Voluntaryism being the only thing that
could be brought against him.
" In concluding his published defence, Mr. Waddell says :
" In pleading my own cause, at such a crisis, I plead the
cause of universal conscience. A gross outrage on the com-
mon sense, and on the spiritual freedom of the whole com-
munity, has been deliberately perpetrated in the case, and
on the person of a solitary individual. He has been driven,
by the majesty of aCourt amenable to no man, and scarcely to
God, into the corner of rebellion or despair. He might
quietly succumb ; or he might fly from persecution, if he
would—what of that? The atrocity of persecution remains,
and the scourge of the same disgraceful dilemma may be op-
plied to the aides of any other soul."'

THE WILFULNESS OF WOMAN, BY THE AUTHORESS
OF " THE HISTORY OF A FLIRT."—AII those who have
had the pleasure of reading " The -Hstory of a Flirt,"
need not be assured that this is a very brilliant novel.
The writer writes herself a lady, but we confess the
vigour and power displayed in these pages shames the
masculine intellect of the best male writer of the day,
at the same time her knowledge of the female heart is so
great and subtle that we can imagine that no one but a
woman could have written them. The character of the
wilful Harriet Trelawney is drawn in a most masterly
manner. The writer has not attempted to paint either
a perfect fiend or a perfect angel • but by giving the
simple truth, the strength and weakness, the bright and
dark spots on the human heart, has managed to paint a
character we instantly recognise as true to nature. But
it would be heedless to pick out particular actors in this
most extraordinary novel ; all of them are equally
powerful in their drawing, and well composed as a group-
ing of human misery and joy. No novelist of the pre-
sent day has so much mastery over the passions of the
reader as the writer of the work before us. Nothing has
issued from the press equal to it since the last work by
the same hand.— Weekly Chronicle.
A CANADIAN HOAX.—At Montreal a very amus-
ing hoax has been practised on the credulity of her Majesty's
lieges. The Gazette tells the tale in these words :—" On
Tuesday a very clever jeu d'esprit was played off, and if we
were sure that the fair publisher would not sue us for breach
of—copyright, we should certainly publish it in lieu of the
news we -expected to-day. It consisted of a very spacious
and business-like newspaper extra, containing the impor-
tant intelligence received by special express from New York,
of the arrival of her Majesty Queen Victoria in Yankee
land. It created quite a sensation, and numerous were the
inquiries at the newspaper-office, and the Post-office, by the
credulous. Mr. Porteous was, of course, unable to give any
account of it, being by special express; but this was only.
set down to official mystery, and his incredulity to vexation
at the Post-office being beaten. The particulars were full,
and the whole narrative could not possibly be more minutely
circumstantial. As a sample of the style of the thing, we
take the following paragraph :--‘ The _Royal party dined at
seven o'clock. The following gentlemen had the distitiguished
honour of being present—Majors-General Scott and Wool,
Commodore Dallas, Major Jack Downing (commanding
Guard of Honour), the Mayor of the city, and the British
Consul. The greatest gqpd humour prevailed during the
evening. Among the dishes served up by our friend of the
Astor, none elicited more praise, or seemed to be more heartily
relished by her Majesty and the Prince, than the national
delicacies of pumpkin-pie and fipple-sauce ; and upon her
Majesty's retiring, Prince Albert enjoyed with great sgout a
gm-sling with Major Jack Downing, who guessed that his
Royal Highness had ,never Jiquorecl.sp well before.'