The Press. — London, England, 1853-05-21 00:00:00

4 to I..rrxig+ LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1553. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—Fatmv. In reply to questions, Sir Citun.Es WOOO said, that the province of " l'egn" had been annexed to our Indian empire, by the Governor-General, in accordance with instruc tions from the home Government ; that it was be lieved the new province would pay its own expenses ; and that no instructions had been sent out to annex more territory. In reply to Sir Joint SHELLEY, Lord lons Itossmi. said he intended to postpone his bill for the disfranchisement of the dockyards until Thursday se'nnight. The noble Lord, in answer to Lord Joe FINN, explained, in reference to the civil war going on in China, that the Government had given instructions that a sufficient force sl 1(1 attend the scene of action to protect British subjects, but that there was no intention to join in the hostilities. (Hear, hear.) THIS BUDGET. On the motion for the second reading of the Income-tax Bill, Mr. DisitAma announced that although from con siderations of public convenience it was not the inten tion of his friends to resist the motion, they reserved to themselves the right of objecting to the bill in its future stages. 'f he bill was then read a second time. In answer to Mr. MAOUIUE, Lord lons Itussr.tt said that, the house having refused the vote for the re pair of the College of Maynmah, it was not the in tention of the Government to propose any further estimate. ( Hear, hear.) The noble lord gave notice that on Monday he should move the tuljourn ment of the house until the following Thursday (the intervening days being the Queen's birthday and the Derby day). ''(Cheers.) The report of supply was then brought up and re- eivetl. The house then went into committee of supply, when the additional civil service votes were taken. On the vote of 4,Th4)i. to defray the expenses of the Falkland Islands, Sir .1. SHELLEY objected to an item of 4001. in the vote for the salary of the chaplain of the Falkland Islands. He moved the reduction of the vote loy the above amount. After some disenssi (((( the committee divided — For the amendment Against it Majority The vote WAS then agreed to. On the vote 1t4,000/. for the consular establish ments abroad, Captain `courts. denounced the double salary paid to the tiovernor of Bong-Kong, as Oovernor and Chief Superintendent of Trade, as excessive. 'rite latter ottiee was unnecessary, and he moved that the salary of VOW. be reduced by 1,500/. On a division the a u ►end►u cut waoi negatived by a majority of Th to 46. The vote was then agreed to. The other votes, and the ►xders of the day, having been disposed of, the house &abeam ►ed. PROFESSOR AYTI N'S I.F,CTURE ON DRAMATIC POE'fltN . Tine chief topic of Professor Aytiant's lecture on yesterday was Shakspeare. Its tone was throat ;hoot more powder than we had anticipated. The learnt% l professor evidently WAS apprehensive that a large palmist r mutants. would not relish much analytic dissertation ; n o t t perhaps he might have made more allowance leer the ut wilier of Shaksperian students produced by the recent edit ions. rapidly passing over the areluvology of the Englist , drama, glancing at Kit Marlowe for a brief time. he eon eentrated the attention of his audience upon Shakspeare, of whom he spoke with the revereuee of a sincere womhipti or. It is very atittieUlt tat say anything upon a theme so often treaty(' ; lott Pro fessiw Mi applied his own test of " repression" to Shakspeare, and tried hint micro by the felicitous energy of his eloquence, then by the en alysis and invention of character. Ile scouted the "ct .ut of etiticism." which pn,fessem to final faults in the " art " of Slinkspeare, and pointed to the untivalled ext •ellemere of his " female characters," paying, as he went along, a graceful eoutpli ment to Mrs..la ttt i t `SOIL Atha` .ng to the West Ilithellity men experience in fathoming th e female heart, he instanced Sem:B " and " Lto ly Ashton" as suceessfhl instances of female portraiture from a man's pen, inn how immeasurably infrrior to the Shiykspetiati gallery! "Jeannie Dealigt.. however, n tight he admitted tat stand as antique and rerfect. 1 u might ion to Sliakspeare's excellence in " expression," the lecturer game him the highest praise for " losslity" or tidelity to t: tie tone and colour of the place a114 81341 tY in which he east b is plots, CI itntstiwit !lambi with ammo 11114 Juliet to illnAtral e his text. the of the most 1.11111111161 1 4; points in the lot Aurts was the professor's reading a in the tiret mink ti of liassia, when the Queen is with the differing ts between her rind and second busbasd. " Reeve" said the lecturer," we have eddy the rotrilt ikuuQua—ilow mt .rk it polie. , hvel tee ',Kali:cavil "eee•er THE PRESS. and he recited the passage as it now stands in the tezt. The lecturer bad occasion here to say that In modent British literature there were too many rough diamonds," and that their lustre would not be visible to posterity, for want of due care in the setting. Of the dramatists who succeeded Shakapeare he spoke with severity, awl dwelt on plays being written for actors as a cause fur the decline of the drama, which he heartily wished might be resuscitated, specially mentioning with honour, as successful dramatists, Sheridan Knowles, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, and Mr. Craftuu, the author of " Nina Sforza." The lecture terminated at ten minutes after five, being heard throughout with marked attention, and the audience cordially applauded at the close. The room was crowded with a highly fashionable audience, and we observed many eminent. persons, fur whose names we have no room. The last lecture of the series will be delivemd on Monday. THE Tensistt QUESTION. —11l reference to the Times' statement " that the Russian Legation at Paris had received intelligence that Prince Menschi koff's ultimatum had been accepted by the Porte, a telegraphic message, dated Friday afternoon, has been transmitted by the I'aris correspondent of the Post to the following effect:—" I have just this mo ment ascertained that the Times' assertion is utterly false. The Russian Legation here has received no news of a later date than the ith. The answer of the Porte to Prince Menschikoff was to be given on the 10th. News is anxiously expected, but as yet any that pretends to be of later date than the ith is pure fabncation." A CABINET COUNCIL be held at the Foreign offiee to-day (Saturday) at two o'clock. W. B. NEALE, Esq., for some time Vice-Consul at Alexandretta, has been appointed her Majesty's Con sul at the Piraeus. Mr. Issexcron who received a gold watch from her Majesty on account of his services at the Great Exhibition of Isra, has just been appointed superintendent of the C, or St. James's, division, in lieu of Mr. Superintendent. Otway, who has retired on a superannuation allowance. ACCOUNTS have reached Ireland mentioning the demise of Sir Montagu Lowther Chapman, Bart., who, not having been heard of for many months, was reported to have been drowned some time ago. He died in February last, on board ship, while proceed ing from Melbourne to Sydney. Deceased repre sented the county of Westmeath in Parliament from l$:10 to 1841, and was High Sheriff in 154.1. He is succeeded by his brother, Benjamin James, who has also represented the county before mentioned. LATEsT DEBBY BETTING. TATTIKIWAI.I:I4, IrIUDAY EVFININO. 2to I against West Australian, S to 1 against Honey. wood (taken), 9 to 1 against Pharos (taken), 11 to 1 against t•ineas (ot1), 13 to 1 against I.lnthriel (taken), 20 to 1 against Peggy, 10 to I agst Broeket, 50 to 1 against 11nrworth (taken), 50 tip 1 ttgiiilist, IlK) to 1 against Rattle, 100 to 1 against Phasohl, 40 to 1 against Lord Exeter's Lot (taken ). Tux 00:14. 7 to 2 against Catherine Hayes (taken). No vEWER than 10,605 persons visited the British Museum on Monday last (Whit -Monday); the Layard diseoveties attracting especial notice. IT IN ESTIMATED that there lies from time to time, in the Dead Letter Office , undergoing the process of finding owners, some MOM. annually, in cash alone. it i 8 registered that one day ramie time since there were lying in the Dead Letter Office bills of exchange for the immense sum of 0 ; 110/. THE CommrrrEu of the Sailors' Home, in Well street, London-docks, have published an interesting sheet, giving a statement of the produce of gold from the diggings brought to the Sailors' Home by sea men during the last twelve mouths. Eleven sailors have brought home amounts ranging between two and three hundred pounds ; and ten between three anti four hundred ; four above four hundred and under five hundred. One Brown brings over an even live hundred pounds. Two obtained i5O/. each, two WWI., one 1,0351., and the most prosperous 24811. Tux lithuunso which has enclosed the statue of Charles the First, at Charing -eross, for some months past, during the modelling 44* a cast of it for the Crystal Palace at Sydenhatn, wasremoved on Monday, the works being emnpleted. The statue has been restored and beautified, and is now seen to much advantage. .IOHN KNOX'S HOUSE has been entailed on the 11ev. John Jattray, who, while paying a full price for the property. receives it under stringent provisions against diantembering or separating the tenement, or changing its original antiquarian character, and, at the same time, undertakinglto improve it, and make it at all times accessible to the public. Soitt: WORKMEN engaged in removing an old thatched roof from a farmhouse: a t m ile , nea r E as i n g. wohi, have discovered an old linen hag containing a lose number of ancient silver coins, which were, with •.a few exceptions, shilling-pieces of the reigus of Eliza beth, James, and Charles. SATURDAY, Sittrature. The Colonial Policy of Lord John Rumen Administration. By Earl Grey. Vol. 11. Li radon : Bentley. (sEcosn spa CoNCLUDING Nortcc—SubJeets: TRANSPORTA. TION, dud thZe LElib D, ILATIoN for AtkiTNALIA, NEW EALAN stud the WK.] ONE of the chief defects of Lord Grey's book as a practical manual of politics is its dealing principally with questions now definitively set at rest. No subject can be less promising as material for au author than the legislation which is so far complete as to have ceased to • be a part of the present, and yet so recent as not to be susceptible of being judged by its results. The controversies of three or four years back arc past and gone ; no power of treatment can restore to them the interest of novelty ; yet we all feel that it is too soon to have them disinterred from Hansard and the blue-books, and paraded in the garb of his tory. Lord Grey, in dwelling on topics which have not lost their importance for him, allows too little for popular apathy, and the speedy satiety which succeeds an interest only tem porarily and artificially rouse d. Hence his book, though valuable for the light which it will throw on future researches, has commanded no great degree of attention ; and, indeed, owes most of its circulation to the personal position of the writer. One, and one only, of the questions to which it refers is at this mo ment agitating the public mind both in England and Australia. We refer, of course, to the subject of transportation, or penal exile, and especially to the decision an nounced by the Duke of Newcastle last winter, though, as it should appear from Lord Aberdeen's speech, now reconsidered, whereby that punishment was to be abolished finally and in all its modifications. From the step thus hastily and unadvisedly taken by his suc cessor, Lord Grey, as might be expected, dis sents. He expresses approval of the reforms effected by Sir John Pakington in this depart ment ; admits fully the rights of colonists, among whom public opinion may have posi tively declared itself, not to have convicts thrust upon them against their will ; does not deny the overcrowded state of Van Diemen's Land, or the inconvenience arising therefrom (though the latter he proves to have been in a great measure exaggerated); but contends, and, as we think, unanswerably, that, balancing the good against the evil, and taking the Australasian dependencies as they now are, the transpor tation system has worked well on the whole, even in that respect where it is usually consi dered as most fatuity , namely, its effect on the recipient colonies. A few facts not men tioned by Lord Grey will bear out this argu ment more strongly. It is indisputable that, of all the colonising experiments on record, none has ever attained an equal success with that which in half a century has peopled the Aus tralian continent. In 1788, when the British flag was first hoisted on the shores of Sydney Cove, 1,030 souls, of which nearly 800 were con victs, formed the nucleus of the future settle ment. These were speedily followed by about 1,800 more ; among whom. as among their pre decessors, famine and disease m ade fearful ravages. Every kind of danger and difficulty was endured by the infant colony. Scarcity of supplies, failure of crops, quarrels with the native population, mutinous convicts and, tyrannical authorities, want of friends, igno rance of the country, neglect on the part of England, concurred to threaten the existence and hinder the spread of the settlers. Yetthey grew and multiplied, for in 1817 the population of New South Wales alone exceeded 17,000, of whom 6.700 only were convicts. The returns of 18:13 give a total of 60,000, of whom 16,000 were convicts : those of 1848 a total of 220,000, wholly emancipated, and of whom a compara tively small proportion were either voluntary emigrants or the descendants of such. This, be it remembered. was before the discovery of gold ; and we may reasonably assume that the rapid growth of the colony was due to the penal element which it contained. when it is observed that no one of the North American provinces, though so much nearer, has thriven to an equal extent, or absorbed so large a population. Nor is the wealth of New South I I