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If they rejected the bill in opposition to the opinion of the other House , the proceeding would be pregnant with evil to the Church of Ireland . He urged upon the House that they would place the Government in a position of considerable difficulty by rejecting the bill , and earnestly iniplored of their Lordships to pass it . The Earl of Derby warmly opposed the bill , which was only justified'by Government on the low ground of expediency .. The impost was not a tax on religious opinions , but a rate levied on property , of the existence of which the purchaser is well aware when he buys it . The funds at the disposal of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners are inadequate to meet this additional burden of 12 * 000 / . per annum . If the bill were passed , the
Commissioners would be compelled to abstain from carrying out the very objects which they are appointed to advance . The measure was an acknowledgment on the part of the Government that they are not strong enough to maintain the law , and that , in compliance with an unfair agitation on the part of the tax-payer , they had consented to violate the sacred rights of property . He moved that the bill be read a second time that day six months . — This motion was supported by the Bishop of Kilmore , Viscount Dckoamnon , the
Earl of Wickix > w , and the Earl of Donoughjiore ; while the second reading was advocated by the Earl of Cork , Lord Taxbot de Malahide , the Earl of Ellenborough ( who , however , objected to transferring the charge to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners , as they are almost bankrupt , and who ¦ - thought the amount of the tax might be saved by giving the management of the Irish Church Temporalities to the Irish Board of Works ) , and the Duke of Newcastle , who nevertheless conceived that some explanation was due from the Government with respect to the non-enforcement of the existing law by the Lord-Lieutenant .
Earl Granville replied , and said , in regard to the suggestion made by the Earl of Ellenborough , that , though he did not presume to pledge Government on the subject , it was a suggestion well worthy of attention , and which , if feasible , might be productive of a great saving and great good . With respect to the point raised by the Duke of Newcastle , Earl Granville said : — " The noble Duke who spoke last said that the Government ought to give some explanation with respect to the charge that , the law has been suspended in deference to those who resist its operation . I know of no declaration such as that quoted as coming from the Lord-Lieutenant ; on the contrary , I know that the legal proceedings in question were pushed with the utmost vigour until the Parliamentary announcement was made by her Majesty ' s Government that it was proposed to bring in a bill on the subject , when , of course , the proceedings were arrested . " ( Hear , hear . ' )
The Earl of Derby made a few supplementary observations , and referred Lord Granville for an explanation , for which he had asked , respecting the preparation of the bill abolishing Church cess , to the Lord Chief Justice , who , as Attorney-General of the Grey Administration ( with which Lord Derby , then Lord Stanley , was connected ) , drew up the bill . —Lord Campbell rose on this appeal , and reminded Lord Derby that he had thrown overboard ten Bishops—( Hear)—and the Church cess ;
and he regretted he had not also thrown over Ministers ' Money . He believed that Ministers' Money was overlooked ; but this bill would complete the work . Their Lordships then divided . After the numbers were ascertained , proxies were called , when the result stood thus : —Contents present , 65 ; proxies , 36 ; total , 101 . Noncontents present , 71 ; proxies , 25 ; total , 96 . Majority for second reading , 6 . —The bill was then read a second time , and the House shortly afterwards adjourned .
SAVINGS BANKS . In the House of Commons , in reply to Lord Goderioh , the Chancellor op the Exchequer said that , in the event of the Savings Banks Bill becoming law in the present session , he should be prepared to assent to the appointment next session of a committee to consider the general state of . the law relating to savings banks , both as regarded their constitution and the financial questions raised by gentlemen opposite , with a view to the reconsideration and consolidation of the statutory
enactments , ARMY ORGANIZATION . On th « report of the Committee of Supply being brought up by Mr . Fwjzuoy , General Peel called attention to portions of tho evidence taken before the Sobastopol Committee and the Chelsea Commission , showing the necessity of defining the responsibility and duties of the various departments . Tho groat fault of our military system , ho observed , is the making one department responsible for another , and ho instanced the Quartermaster-General ' s Department ; so that there Is a want of
security for the co-operation of the whole . There should be a proper organization of tho various War Departments , and a clear definition of tho duties and responsibilities of each . —Mr . Eluob , eon ., believed that very much had been done since the late war to put tho army In a state of efficiency ; but a definite statement from the war department on thta important subjeot was looked for by tho country . As a consequence of our copying the continental system , we had now a much larger number of staff-officers than was hitherto considered necessary . Ho gave a qualified condemnation of tho establishment at Aldorshot t and doubted whether thore did
not previously , exist sufficient barrack accommodation about the country . He should have preferred Aldershot being a summer camp rather { than permanent barracks . : —Sir John Pakington thought the Crimean evils were rather the result of general disorganisation than of personal demerit or shortcomings . He trusted that the cause of the errors had now been removed ; and that , should a war again unfortunately arise , the army would be found to be in a state of complete efficiency .- ^ Sir William Codrington attributed a great deal of the disorganisation of the army to the clashing authority of the Commander-in-Chief and the War Secretary , the latter of whom is constantly interfering in the details of military management . The knowledge
and training acquired by our men at Chobbam in 1853 was of great use to them during the late war . — Mr . Henley said he should regret to see the details of army management brought into the House of Commons . —Sir John Trelawney complained that the aides-decamp in the English army are less efficient than those on the Continent . In France , an officer cannot be an aide-de-camp unless he has served two years in the cavalry , two years in the infantry , and two yeaTS in the artillery ; and even then he must pass a rigid examination . Lord Palmerston said the subject was one of great interest and of considerable importance . When the war began , the House would recollect that our military departments were not in a satisfactory state ; but the arrangements had since been altered : there are now only two departments , and there has been a great
simplification , tending to expedition as well as efficiency . As to the expediency of establishing a distinct line of separation between the duties of the Secretary for War and those of the Commander-in-Chief , although a line might be drawn upon paper , yet 'in execution one department must avail itself of the services of the other . Under our Parliamentary system , moreover , for every act there must be an adviser responsible to that House , and this showed that it was impossible to build up a wall of brass between the Secretary for War and the Commander-in-Chief , separating entirely the functions of the two . He was glad to say that nothing could be more complete than the harmony and confidence of their communications , and Lord Panmure was engaged , in concert with the Gommander-in-Chief , in working out arrangements for the distribution of business between the two departments . -
Mr . Stafford believed that the Premier desires to carry out military reforms , but is frustrated . —After some further desultorv discussion , the subject dropped .
ORDNANCE SURVEY OF SCOTLAND . The question of the 25-inch scale survey of Scotland was again brought before the House by Sir Desham Norreys , who considered it useless and extravagant , and who advocated the employment of the six-inch scale used for England and Ireland . He moved that the supplemental vote of 151 , 744 / . for the Ordnance Survey be reduced by 36 , 000 / ., the sub-estimate for the 25-inch survey of Scotland . —The large scale was also
condemned by the Earl of Glfford , Mr . Henley , Mr . Locke , Colonel Boldero , Mr . Vance , and Mr . Tite , and approved of by Lord Duncan , Sir William Jolliffe , Lord Elcho , the Lord Advocate , and Lord Palmerston , who contended that the larger scale is , in fact , more economical . —On the House dividing , there appeared—for the amendment , 172 ; against , 162 ; bo that the Government was left in a minority of 10 . —The vote as reduced was then put , and carried by 290 to 22 . The remaining votes were also agreed to . Some routine business being then got through , tho House adjourned at turned hulf-past one .
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THE HANDEL FESTIVAL . Thk series of full rehearsals of this magnificent celebration commenced last Saturday . The weather was lovely , and the palace was crowded with music-lovers and glowing with the brilliant dresses of tho ladies . In another part of this day ' s paper wo have entered into a brief critical estimate of the performance itself ; but in the present place it will bo necessary to give tho reader some idea of the general arrangements , which were on a scale of unparalleled vast ness and grandeur . And here we cannot do better than reproduce some of the interesting d stalls laboriously collected by our daily contemporaries . Wo read in the Times : —
" The orchestra , its aspect , and the method of its construction , have already been described in general terms ; but a few brief technical memoranda will not be out of place . This really ingenious and novel work of architectural carpentry was not erected by contract ( like its costly predecessor , at tho inauguration of the Sydenham Palace in 1854 ) , but planned and completed by Mr . W . Eare » , the company ' s resident clerk of tho works , assisted by the permanent staff of workmen . It occupies feet wideand ab
a space of 14 , 784 superficial feot , 168 , - sorbs 10 , 102 cubical feet of timber . Tho weight of the entire structure Is about 160 tons . The banks of seats for tho chorus are 28 in number , which , with 9 for the instrumental performers , makes a total of 82 . fno highest range Is 62 feot from tho floor of tho orchestra , where Mr . Costa , the conductor , and tho principal vocalists are stationed . Tho average curved extent of eaoh range of seats Is 100 foot . This huge mass of timber Is supported by uprights , ' with a BoantHng of 5 Inches by 5 , and diagonal braces 4 Inches by 1 £ .
In the Daily News , we read " Th « n __ i , . , "" like a vast amphitheatre , and would be eoSSd ?^ where else as affording sufficient accommodaS £ " large audience . The orchestra , in the fwhTof » JSl * rises from the floor at a front elevation of 8 fee ? IIT ' then carried , in a series of semicircular steS l » from 10 to 1 5 inches each , to a total height ^ I ? T " Ample room has been given to the performers Th violrns havo ^ lS square feet , and the double bashes and violoncellos 24 square feet for each desk . The ehnri ? are all seated on raised benches ; each person tS inches in width by 30 inches in depth . S Z 1 " The organ , " says the Times , " erected for the no * sion by Messrs . Gray and Davison ( who also built f £ instrument for the last Handel commemoration whl \ took place in 1834 , at Westminster AbbeyTcove ™ t ™ ° fi 226 ^ i ? * P ? orted * a iW 0 K 0
^ . enormous strength and solidity . " A pamphlet has been published , in which the organ is thus described _ « ii » width is 40 feet by a depth of 30 . The reader wul perhaps , be at a loss to conceive how by any possibility a musical instrument can require 1200 superficial feet of standing room , and be tempted to set it down as a piece of display—an attempt to impose on him by the mere appearance of magnitude . A few simple facts will however , convince him that these arrangements are controlled by a necessity passing all show . When he is told that this organ contains 4510 sounding pipes varv . ing isize from 32 feet in with
n length a diameter sufficient to easily admit the passage of a stout man ' s body to less than 1 inch in length , with the bore of an ordinary quill ; that , in order to place these 4510 pipes efficiently at the performer ' s disposal , at least G 800 other separate working parts are required ( many of these being complete machines in themselves , the separate members of which , if reckoned as in the process of manufacture , would at least quintuple the number ); that all these 11 , 310 sounding and working parts require" such a disposition and arrangement that each one may be more o :- less easily accessible for those occasions
of adjustment which must frequently arise in so complicated an instrument ; and , finally , that the entire mass before him weighs nearly fifty tons , he will scarcely fail to perceive that the space is economically rather than ostentatiously occupied , and will , moreover , be enabled perhaps to ' understand some of those points often deemed mysterious with regard to large organs in generalsuch , for example , as their cost and the time occupied io their manufacture . " This wonderful instrument stands on more ground than is allotted to most ordinary houses , and the orchestra covers considerably more space than is found in any music hall in the kingdom . "
The marshalling in their proper places of the 2500 vocal and instrumental performers must have been a work of great difficulty , but it was accomplished with admirable precision , quiet , and celerity . Mr . Costa waa exact to hia time ( eleven o'clock ) , and th .-n the harmonious thunders poured forth through the vast building with wonderful and unrivalled effect . The pieces performed consisted of extracts from the Messiah , Judas Maccabams , and Israel in Egypt .
An interval of an hour , for refreshment , took place between the two parts , and the performance terminated with the National Anthem . At the end of the rehearsal , Mr . Costa , says the Times , " summoned the superintendents of the various London and provincial brandies of tho chorus , witli whom it was arranged that the sopranos and altos should change placos with the tenors and basses in the orchestra . Tlio fairer members of the chorus will now be stationed in the centre , which will prove advantageous to tho general effect , since during tho rehearsal it was more than once remarked that the male voices wore heard with much greater distinctness thuu the others . " Tho same writer gives the subjoined sketch of tho appearance of tho Palace previous The winding
stairto and during the performance— " cases that connect tho galleries with each other appeared to distant beholders as though endowed with locomotw power—as if , indeed , they themselves woro making win strange evolutions the passago from platform to p « - form , of which they were merely tho unconscious instruments under tho pressure of living foot . Tho opportunity of perpetuating so imposing a spectacle waa not hw , since , whilo Mr . Costa was directing tho rohoarsul ol « m of tho choruses , Messrs . Nogrotti and Zanibra , pnowgraphors to the Crystal Palaco Company , P ro 0 U ™ V ™ almost an instant of time , for tho stereoscope , a wry striking daguerreotype view of tho whole orehoatrn w a groat part of the audience , which was ""^ gj forwarded to tho Quoon . " Tho rehearsal ended about
three o ' clock . . n >| l 0 Tho second performance took placo on Monday . weather again was glorious . » Tho rood fron 1 >« e to tho Palace , " says tho Times , » lind « " n PPJw « which wo can only expect to see ngnm to-moiro \> soomed a kind of Harmonic Dorby day , but in ' rospoct moro orderly than tho mixed , riotoua oon which always mark * that groat equestrian &a - AH tho pathways and Iioiltforowu woro H" 0 " w" ' of tators , and on the lawns outaldo vll <« wore gro » seated ladies , which gave to tho whole road tnj of a long ffa champttro . An immense crowd . on wcro collected outeluo tho building , «« d ™™ aI" ° J ) n 8 of . throughout tho ontlro popforroonooH . I l » oyjv « , tnlnly not unrewarded , for during ho cl < " « JJj fl , lh of voices soomod to swell from tho balldlnft » n « »"
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580 THE LEADER . f ^ o . 378 , SATim ^ -
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Leader (1850-1860), June 20, 1857, page 580, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2198/page/4/
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