The Sun.
London, England, 1827-04-24 00:00:00

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON TO MR. CANNING.

My dear Mr. Canning,---Before I reply to your letter,
I wish to be informed who is to be the ly.td of the new
Ministry, and which of my former colleagues are to form a
part of it. I am, &c. WELLINGTON.

MR. CANNINO TO TPLE DUKE OF 'WELLINGTON.

My Lord Duke,—After I.had informed your Grace that
had received his Majesty's commands to form an Ad-
ministration, I am surprised that it should be inquired from
me who is to be at the head of it ? lam to be that person.
1 remain, &c. G. CANNING.

TIE DUKE or wELLINOWNN? MR. CANNING.
have only to say, id tetWy to your letter, that I
cannot consent to become a member of the new Admini-
etratiou.—l remain, &c. WELLINGTON.

This correspondence was laid before the King;
and the Duke, under feelings of great irritation,
sent in his resignation to his Majesty ; from
whom he received a communication to the fol-
lowing effect :
The King receives the Duke of Wellington's resignation
with the same sentiments of regret which his Grace pro-
fesses to feel in tendering it.
*** We belie7e that this publication is not
far from correct : the spirit of the correspondence
is accurately represented, if not the letter.

SHAKSPERIAN JUBILEE.

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, MONDAY, APRIL 23.

This gala festival, in celebration of the natal
day of Shakspeare, commenced this morning,
and the contrast between the animated bustle of
the inhabitants and visiters on this day, compared
with the stillness of the preceding, was most
striking. During the whole of Sunday, the
several stage-coaches from London and the
neighbouring towns were crowded with pas-
sengers, and vehicles of every description were
put in requisition at Birmingham, Warwick,
Leamington, and the adjacent villages, to con-
vey the immense number of individuals who
were anxious to witness this splendid pageant,
the first upon any scale of magnitude that
has taken place since the Garrick Jubilee,
on the 6th, 7th, and Bth of September, 1769.
The common observation, that great events have
risen from small beginnings, was never more
verified than in the progress of Shakspeare's
Jubilee. A Clergyman had purchased some
property in and about this town, and with it the
house which was Shakspeare's. In the garden
of this house there was a remarkable mulberry
tree, which the inhabitants looked upon with
veneration, as it was planted by Shakspeare's
own hand. The gentleman to whom the house
and garden belonged, finding that the tree
overshadowed too much of the house, and
made *it damp, not having the fear of
his neighbours before his eyes, nor the love
of Shakspeare in his heart, one night most
sacrilegiously cut it down. The alarm of
this deed soon spread through the town. Not
the going out of the Vestal Fire at Old Rome, or
the stealing away the Palladium from Troy,
could have more astonished Romans and Tro-
jans, than this horrid deed did the inhabitants of
Stratford. In short, such a spirit was on foot,
that the Clergyman was obliged to leave the
town. The mulberry-tree was instantly bought
up, and the purchaser retailed and cut out the
branches of it into various relics. The Corpo-
ration secured some of the best parts of it ; and,
among other fancies which this sacred tree gave
rise to, the most remarkable was the foundation
of the Shakspeare Jubilee, which was soon after
established, under the auspices of Garrick.
The festival was conducted by the Shakspearian
Club established at Stratford-upon-Avon, who,
anxious to do honour to their illustrious towns- i
man (Shakspeare), and to show their loyalty to
their Sovereign, have proposed holding a Trien-
nial Commemorative Festival on St. George's
Day, the 23d of April, and to continue the same
on the two following days. The subscriptions
received for this purpose on the present occasion
have been most liberal, and far exceeding the
expectations of the Committee, whose good taste
and evinced yesterday in the various
f the ceremonial, reflect upon them
(
lt'lroeceedn liberalitygs
highest ) credit.
Soon after six o'clock, the inhabitants were
serenaded by the various bands of instrumental
performers parading the town, and subsequently
by the ringing of bells, firing of cannon, &c.
The arrangements in the line of procession
were very judicious, and controlled by the Com-
mittee, wearing sashes and. medals, assisted by
about fifty constables. The whole being in rea-
diness at eleven o'clock, the pageant of Shaks-
peare's dramatic characters, filled up by actors
from Mr. Raymond's company, and amateurs,
moved from the Guildhall in the following or-
der, and not as previously published :
The Royal Standard of England.
Full Military Band in uniform, playing ' Warwickshire
Lads and Lasses.'

The Committee of the Shakspearian Club, two a-breast.

The Banner of the Club.

St. George on horseback in armour, and bearing the
ancient sword of the Corporation Armory, used
for similar purposes since Edward 111.

Melpomene, the Tragic Muse, in a dark-coloured car, drawn
by four Fiends.
Lean—Edgar, as Mad Tom. King Lear.

Richard the Third.—Gloucester. Prince of Wales.
Macbeth.—Three Witches surrounding the burning Caul
drop, with Music. Banquo, as Ghost. Macbeth.
Kin, john.—Cardinal. Faulconbridge. King John.
Othello.—lngo. Othello.

Hamlet,—Ghe3t. Hamlet: Grave Diggers, with thc:
Song.

Romeo and Juliet.—Romeo: Juliet. Friar Lawrence.
Banner of Shakspeare's Arms.

Thalia, the Comic Muse, drawn in a Car by four Satyrs.
Tempest.—Caliban. Trinculo. Ariel. Prospero.
Winter's Tale.—Shepherd. Autolicus.
As You Like It.—Audrey. Touchstone.

MidsuQer Night's Dream.—Oberon, King. Titania,
Queen, in a Car, drawn by Puck and Fairies.
Bottom, with the Ass's Head.
Merchant of Venice.—Shylock. Portia, as Doctor of

Laws.

Merry Wives of Windsor—Sir John Falstaff. Mrs. Ford.

Mrs. Page.

Henry the Fifth.—Henry the Fifth. Pistol. Bardolph

Union Flag.
Members of the Club, wearing the various medals struck
for the occasion, four abreast.

The procession, which had a most brilliant
effect from the splendour of the armour, dresses,

banners, chariots, and other decorations by Mr.
Palmer, passed through the principal streets,
amidst the plaudits of an immense congregation,
to the birth-place of Shakspcare, which still re-
mains in its forma- state. In front of the house
a temporary hustings had been erected, and upon
the cavalcade arriving at the spot, the officiating
gentlemen having taken their places, the bust of
Shakspeare was crowned by Thalia and Melpo-
mene, and the following appropriate address de-
livered :

More than two ages, marked by many a deed
Heart-thrilling, have passed o'er us since his dust
Reposed with baser earth ; yea, in that time,
High dynasties of Monarchs have been cast
From loftiest Thrones, found refuge in mean graves ;
Wars have depopulated regions ; light,
Celestial light of knowledge, hath
Eat the darkest corners. 'niece two centuries
The world haoi lived in deeds two thousand years.
Yet, mid the fall of Thrones the mighty crash
Of wars exterminating, all realities
That fill the drama of the actor—Man,
He hath not been fergotten ; his strong hold,
The empire o'er the soul, hath still been found
Impregnable. Science hath raised new powers,
Controlling elements ; but in his art,
Oh ! sweet humanity, we all turn back,
And linger on the accents of our Sage—
Our Shakspeare. Truth and Nature were his handmaids,
And led him curious and inquiring through
The realms of human passion ; all he saw
Within that mighty region, and polled forth
From his vast store a stream of living knowledge,
To animate, subdue, refine, exalt.
Yee, Kings and Conquerors have passed away;
The wealthy died, proud perished, high-bel n fallen,
Leaving but names, the empty wind of fame ;
Deeds, now whose very cousequents are past,
Records of strife for causes swallow'd up
In Time's great vortex ; is it so with thee ?
The Bard, with Shakspeare ? Is it so with thee ?
No ! Still we have the living Spirit with us
Breathing and moving in thy progeny.
There Falstaff is thy wit, Hawiet and Lear
Thy deep morality, Othello thy fire,
Romeo thy tenderness, and all the host,
Macbeth and Richard, an unnumbered train,
Still are thy genius. Immortality
Hath set her seal on thee. Of other names
We hear ar.d talk, revere perchance the sound ;
But we live with the Poet, and converse,
Holding continuous communien with him,
He cannot die ! Therefore we crown thy brow
With this fresh evergreen, the nearest symbol
A power so poer as Time can offer thee.

At the conclusion, the procession moved on to
the Church, where the Epitaph inscribed on the
grave-stone of Shalspeare—
" Good Friends, for Jesus' sake ! forbear
" To dig the dust enclosed here ;
" Blest be the man that spares these stones,
" And curst be he that moves my bones ;"

was sung in excellent manner by amateur voca-
lists, the music by Dignum. The procession, at
the termination of divine service, returned to the
site of the intended new Theatre, which is partly
erected, where the Mayor, assisted by the Corpo-
ration, laid the chief corner-stone in due form.—
This part of the ceremonial, as well as the ;.r,And
dinner to the Members of the Club in the t-ven-
ing, we shall give an account of in our next com-
munication, the express being compelled to leave
the town. Shakspeare's 1111:1 is fitted up in a
most superb manner for the occasion. In various
parts of the room are scrolls ; over a painting of
Shakspeare, upon a white ground, " We ne er
shall look upon his like again ;" and above that
of Garrick, " He suited the action to the word."

Over the principal entrance within the hall,
there is a transparency, representing the sun
breaking through dark clouds, and a portrait of
Shakspeare. So great has been the demand for
tickets for the dinner, that a great number of in-
dividuals will be disappointed in obtaining admis-
sion. In the evening, various parts of the town
will be illuminated, and several amusements,
shows, &c., provided for the gratification of all
classes. Tomorrow (Tuesday) there will be a
public breakfast and a masquerade, in a tempo-
rary amphitheatre ; and on Wednesday, a con-
cert, ball, &c. Much surprise is manifested at
the absence of the London performers, and their
conduct in not being present fully and freely con-
trasted with that of Garrick, King, and others,
who assisted in the Jubilee of 1769.

RAISING THE WlND.—Fresh instances of
the ingenuity of the schemers, or, as they are
called in the gambling-houses, regular macers,
are every day occurring, and there is no small
degree of humour in some of the little every day
tricks which they are in the habit of playing off.
The following, which occurred the other day,
is one of the many of which we frequently hear.
A macer, who formerly belonged to the Com-
missariat, and calls himself Captain, lodged at
a public-house in Fleet-street, and ran up a
little bill. His wardrobe being of a very portable
nature, the landlord began to get uneasy, and
the landlady to look savage. The macer was
too nice an observer of human nature not to
guess at the cause. He took the landlord,
whose credulity he had taken a very just mea-
sure of, aside, and eased all his fears by a pro-
mise " upon my honour." " All's right, Cap-
tain," said the landlord ; " I am satisfied that
you are a gentleman." " Ah, but, my dear
fellow," said the macer, " Mrs. B. is very un-
easy, and I'd like to quiet her mind a little."—
" Ay, observed the landlord, " I wish you
u
, Captain." The mace'. appeared thought-
fulcod
or a
moment—" I've hit upon it," cried be,
" I'll tell you what,—do you give me a sove-
reign to hand to Mrs. B. as part of my account.
That will make her brighten up, and she won't
nag you so much." This expedient, by which
the smiles of the mistress of the house were to
be
into the hands of the macer,
Propitiated, greatly pleased the landlord. He
put the sovereign
who went to the bar, leaving mine host in the
parlour, smoking his pipe, and soon raised him-
self in the estimation of the landlady, whom her
husband heard return thanks to him with all pos-
sible suavity. The landlord, of course, expect-
ed that his customer would return to report pro-
gress, but not finding that to be the case, he
went to the bar and asked where the Captain
was. " He'll be back presently, my dear," said
Mrs. B. " Well, you were right, after all, about
the poor man, and I am • very sorry that I thought
him a rogue." " Yes," observed the husband,
" but what has he done, and where is he ?"
" Don't make yourself so uneasy, my dear," said
the wife, in a tone of comfort, " he'll be back
instantly. He's going, poor man, to wipe away
a few of his chalks ; he's ,ust going into the
next street for a sovereign.' It is unnecessary
to add that the macer, for whom nothing was
too hot or too heavy, forgot to sleep at home
that night.

Mr. POPE then argued at considerable length in fa-
vour of private judgment. He acknowledged that
every man should exercise the right according to
certain rules. He should read the Scriptures with
an humble submission to those moral restraints
which men of learning and piety impose upon the
exercise of his judgment. He was far from justify-
ing an exercise of private judgment, not in accord-
ance with those rules.—Every being was account-
able to God for the interpretation which he should
put upon the Scriptures. A misinterpretation of
the laws of the country does not justify in any indi-
vidual a violation of those laws. It was so with re-
gard to the Scriptures. If a man fall into error in
reading the Sacred Scriptures, be exposea himself
to the wrath of the Great Eternal. Mr. Pope pro-
ceeded to argue that the fact of God having endowed
man with certain faculties, proved that man was en-
titled to the right of exercising his private judgment.
He concluded a very eloquent argument by express-
ing his conviction that the common sense of the
community would give its verdict, that private judg-
ment was the birth-right of every son and daughter
of Adam.

Mr. O'CONNELL being obliged about this time
to retire, his place was occupied by Mr. Hugh
O'Connor.

Mr. MACUIRE, referring to the discussion of the
preceding day, said the question before us yesterday
was not whether the Catholic Church is the Church
of Christ, but whether Christ established a Church
upon , earth and endowed it with infallibility. I
have quoted numerous texts to prove the doctrine of
infallibility. Mr. Pope seemed either afraid or
ashamed to recur to the Scripture on that subject. I
have already shown that what was meant by the
Church of Christ was all the Churches in the
world, in communion with the Church of Rome,
which was the matrix of all Christianity, as St. Cy-
prian calls it. Mr. Pope has endeavoured to make
out a difference between the Catholic and the Roman
Church. But I have already shown that the term
Roman was applied to the C:-,tholic Church to dis-
tinguish it from the Churches which the Heresi-
archs set up in opposition to it. The argument ad-
duced by Mr. Pope relative to the salt, is one that I
would not be surprised to see coming from a Deist.
The salt does not lose its essence or flavour. This
was an argument that had been brought forwai fi al-
ready by Voltaire, and triumphantly refuted by the
learned men of the day. The Roman Catholic need
not look to Councils. If he is satisfied that the
Church of Christ is infallible, all he has to do is to
look to the texts of Scripture on the subject, which
are multiplied in the Sacred Volume. Mr. Maguire
applied himself then to the question of private judg-
ment, which he argued with great force and effect.

Mr. POPE insisted that the Councils of Florence
and Trent had raised the pow ,r of the Pope above
any Council, and that the Nicene Creed differed
materially from the Creed of Pope Pius IV. Here,
he said, were Councils against Councils, and creeds
against creeds. He repeated, that the Church of
Rome contradicted itself. He vas rejoiced to !fleet
his opponent with the Scriptures. He would weigh
the Church of Rome in the scales with the Bible ;
and while the former went up, the latter went down.
He contended, from the fact of Judea having fallen,
that Christ did not intend to confer infallibility upon
ins Apostles. He would not say that the Apostles
were not infallible, but in so expressing himself, he
did not mean tl intimate that they were infallible.
He then referred to 450 harlots and 600 barbers
who, he said, attended the hungry Bishops to the
Council of Constance.—Such men were not fit

judges of doctrine. He read a description of the
state of Spain, from the Rev. Blanco White, in
which it was stated that the Clergy in Spain are
bordering upon Atheism—that Jews officiated there
as Priests, &c.—The state of religion in Spain, he
said, was like a painted sepulchre, white without,
and all rottenness and death within.

Mr. MAGUIRE said, he would fling back the Pro-
testant and Hugonot authorities, quoted by Mr. P.
He was astonished to hear Mr. Pope refer to the
authority of that apostate, Blanco White—a man
who lived, according to his own testimony, for years
in the most abominable fornication and atheism.—
The statements of such a man were not worthy of
belief. In reference to the 450 harlots, he discre-
dited his authorities. But, said Mr. Maguire, I will
not pollute my lips by stating true and most dis-
graceful facts against the Protestant Church. He
would not now refer to Henry VIII., the Virgin
Elizabeth, &c. He would warn the Protestant
Bishops and Clergy who possessed the green acres
and the tithes, how they allowed such men as Mr.
Pope to take their places. If every man were allow-
ed to think for hiaiself,where would be the necessity
of paying 800,0001. a-year for the maintenance
of the Protestant Church in this country ? If Mr.
Pope's principles were established, the doing away
with tithes must necessarily follow. He quoted a
passage from the pamphlet of the Rev. Mr. O'Cal-
laghan, a Protestant clergyman, who calls upon the
Protestant church to condemn such men as Messrs.
Pope and Singer ; and who asks, when such men
are leading the people with them, why is the
Church of England silent?. Mr. Maguire proceed-
ed to point out the difficulties which Mr. Pope
would have to encounter in endeavouring to convert
the Pavan, under his principles. He then defied
Mr. Pope to confute the Socinian, without violating
the principle of private judgment. The remainder
of the discussion turned upon this question, and was
conducted with great cleverness on both sides. Mr.
Maguire particularly displayed powerful ability, and
a vast fund of controversial learning and research.
In this day's discussion, the tact, readiness, and
subtlety of Mr. Maguire was very much admired—
as well as the eloquence, temper, and judiciousness
of Mr. Pope.