The Press. — London, England, 1854-02-25 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 25, 1854. SIXPENNY POSTAGE STAMPS are in preparation, and will be issued by the Post, office authorities on and after the Ist of March. THE BOYS Or THE RAGGED SCHOOL SHOEDLACE SOCIETY earned, by cleaning shoes in the streets, during the year 1853 the sum of 8531. Of this 4701. was paid to the boys, 1921. put by for them in a bank, and 1911. retained for expenses. The number of pairs of boots and shoes cleaned during the year by 30 boys was 204,750, or about 4,000 pair every week. A LADY has recently bequeathed 1,0001., and the residue of her estate, which may amount to several hundred pounds more, for the purpose of building and repairing churches in the diccese of Glasgow. The same testator left 5001. to the Cathedral of Perth. RETURNS OF THE TRADE BETWEEN ENGLAND, Russia, AND TURKEY show that in 1852 the official value of imports into the United Kingdom from Russian northern ports was 4,190,8301., and from the Black Sea, 2,212,2881. The official value of the imports from the Turkish dominions, exclusive of Wallachia, Mol davia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, was 2,252,2841., and the exports 2,079,9101. THE BILL TO ABOLISH PROPERTY QUALIFICATION FOR MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT has been printed with the names of Mr. Tufnell, Sir Benjamin Hall, and Mr. Ewart. It is a very short bill, reciting the several acts from the 9th Anne, c. 5, to the 41st (ieo. 111., and declaring that it is " expedient" that they be re pealed, so far as relates to the qualification of members of Parliament. A COURT OF DIRECTORS was held on Wednesday at the East India-house, when the Right Hon. Lord Harris was appointed Governor of Madras. THE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL, of the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest was held on Wednesday at the London Tavern, Lord John Russell in the chair. It was stated that since the first commencement of the institution the number of patients relieved has undergone a steady increase, and during the last year amountedto 4,199, making a total of 81,910 persons admitted to the benefits of the insti tution since its opening, in June, 1848. The average attendance of patients in each week in the year 1853 was 632. The subscriptions announced during the evening amounted to nearly 3,0001. AT THE HORSE GUARDS Major-General Charles Yorke has been appointed to succeed Colonel Airey as Military Secretary to the Commander-in Chief. Major-General Yorke served in the Peninsula with the 52nd Regiment at Roleia, Fuentes d'Onore, Sala manca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, and Orthes, and also in the Waterloo campaign. He has received the war medal with ten clasps for his services in the Peninsula, and only very lately returned from active service in the Kaffir war. CAPTAIN AARON TOZER (1830) died on Tuesday at Plymouth, aged 65. He was in receipt of a good service pension, which is now placed at the disposal of the First Lord of the Admiralty. A QUANTITY OF GUNPOWDER, intended for exporta tion and delivery to the enemies of England, has been seized. Two large operations of this kind have been happily disconcerted, and it is hoped that all others will meet with the same fate. This result has been obtained by anonymous communications made to the authorities. " Athough," says the Times, in announcing this event, " we are no friends to anony mous communications in most instances, still, when the lives of our gallant soldiers and sailors are at stake, we cannot afford to be over sensitive. The only point for consideration is, is the information true or not? If true, or probably so, the Executive must act at once, at their proper peril if they make mistakes. This is no ordinary case. When we think of the brave fellows who are leaving our shores every day to meet the enemies of England in the field, it is too shocking to think that the powder and ball which are to lay them low may be made by English hands, and probably manufactured a few streets off the barracks from which one or other of the English regiments sets out upon its march. The public in a case of this kind will, we are very confident, throw political economy to the four winds. The thing simply must not be, if we can prevent it. We deeply regret, of course, that the English gun powder-merchants and bullet-factors in the con fidence of the Russian Czar should be disturbed in their operations, but we really cannot maintain the principles of commerce in this one instance. We would rather have our soldiers alive in never so blundering a way, than have them shot according to the doctrines of Adam Smith, Ricardo, or anybody else. We therefore call upon the public, upon every man, woman, and child in Englanderso, who may have a reasona ble conviction that any pn of their ac quaintance, or in their neighbourhood, is about to despatch contraband of war to the enemies of their country, instantly to give information of the fact at the nearest police station, or, if they so choose, by letter to the office of the Home Secretary. It would be much to say that this nefarious traffic can be altogether stopped, but, at least, great difficulties may be thrown in the way of the m erchant who is willing to deal in the blood of his countrymen." THE PRESS. THE BOARD OF TRADE RETURNS for the month ending the sth January, and for the year ending the same day, have been published. The exports, as compared with the two previous years, are as fol low :—Declared value, 1852, 08,531,6011. ; 1853, 71,375,0661.; 1854, 87,357,3001. For the month there is an excess of 423,0001. as compared with the corresponding month of 1853. The net receipt of customs duties for the three years stands thus-1852, 2'4,104,1571.; 1853, 22,036,2971.; 1854, 22,419,3081. H.M. FRIGATE Pique, 40, Captain Sir F. Ilicolson, had a narrow chance of sinking at her moorings in Hamo'sze on Sunday. It appears that on Saturday the wash-deck cock was omitted to be turned, anti by next morning there were nearly 14 feet of water in the hold, by which a quantity of bread and some of the ship's slops have been injured or destroyed. The crew of the Pique were unaware of their perilous position until apprised by the warrant-officers of a neighbouring ship. A PROCLAMATION prohibiting the exportation of arms, ammunition, gunpowder, military and naval stores, and machinery available for war, was ordered to be issued at the Privy Council held on Saturday last. Further explanations on this subject have been given by a Treasury minute, and by Lord J. Rus sell in Parliament. The proclamation has been issued, it appears, from its having become known to the Government that extensive shipments of war like stores were in the course of being shipped to Russian ports, and that other shipments were con templated of a like kind. It is stated, however, that while every means will be taken to prevent such shipments being made, either directly or indirectly, to countries where they are likely to be used against her Majesty's forces or those of her allies, the Government are extremely anxious that the neces sary restrictions should as little as possible interfere with the large and important trade connected with the manufacture of such goods when of a legitimate kind. In all cases, accordingly, where satisfactory proof is given that all such goods are really destined to other markets and ports than those of Russia, taking into consideration the character of the per sons and the nature of their usual trade, such goods and the vessels containing them are to be cleared in the usual way ; and, espedally with regard to such goods as it is proposed to carry coastwise in a regular and established trade, every facility will be afforded consistent with the object is view. gain ant Volta. THE GREAT WIGNER CASE. THE trial of the much-celebrated case of Lumley v. Gye has occupied the Court )f Queen's Bench during three entire days of the past week. The circum stances out of which the action has arisen are sutfi ciently notorious, as well as the fact that damages were laid at no less an amount than 30,0001. Plead ings and evidence on both sides were correspondingly voluminous, and nine eminent counsel were retained for the respective parties, Sir F. Thesiger leading for the plaintiff, and the Attorney-General for the de fendant. For Mr. Lumley a chain of evidence was offered to establish four successive pdnts—that he had en gaged Mlle. Wagner to sing at his theatre during the season of 1852 ; that the lady did not fulfil her en gagement; that such non •fulfilment arose from the act of the defendant ; and that the plaintiff had suf fered loss and damage from the circumstance. Upon the first point Dr. Bacher was the principal witness. He said:— "lam a native of Germany and doctor of civil law. I am ac quainted with Mlle. Wagner. I received a letter from her on the 18th August,lBsl. In consequence of that letter I went to her, and arranged that through me she should endeavour to procure an engagement in London and Paris. I then communicated with Mr. Lumley, and arranged that an engagement should be proposed to her. She was then at Berlin. I proceeded there, taking with me the contract. 1 reached Berlin in November, 185!. They objected to the contract as being too complicated, and I proposed that M. Wagner should himself draw out a con tract. He did so, and he and his daughter signed it. I brought that contract to Mr. Lumley in Paris ; lie observed there was a stipulation omitted as to her perforu3ing for him exclusively, anti I added it, and signed it on behalf of Mlle. Wagner, according to our understanding, and I wrote to her and stated that I had put in this a dditional clause, and I also sent the contract, so com pleted, ta her I received a letter from her in answer. It stated that she had been astounding the people at Leipsic, and that m any fainted when they beard Borneo was onl y to be performed once. I no.ified to Mr. Lumley the approval of the contract. On the 10th March I wrote to Mlle. Wagner. I had at that time 4001. in my hands belongin to evidence Lumley. (The letter was not pro duced, and secondary of its contents war not allowed to be given). The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said his instructions were that no such letter was sent, or at all events received. Dr. Becher continued: I went to Hamburg and met Mlle. Wegner there, and conferred with her upon the subject of the letter. I did not hear from her that she had not received it. I arrived at Hamburg on the loth of April. She said she had com mitted a very bad action against me; she had signed another en gagement. I said, "That's impossible." She said, "As I signed it my band trembled, but Mr. Gye has been here, and said that Mr. Lumley would not open the house, and he offered me 20,0001. more than Mr. Lumley, and gave me a guarantee for id' the da mages, and he was in such a hurry that we bad not time to think upon the thing. and you had not sent the 3001., so we signed it." I took the 3001. with me to Hamburg, and I tendered it to Mlle. Wagner. 177 Cross-examined: I gain my livelihood by my profession. I am not an advocate. 1 ant happy enough to have some fortune. I do not negotiate between managers of theatres and artistes. I do not get commission for it. I was not to have commission upon this engagement. 1 was not to have any money at all. I heard Mlle. Wagner iu July, letiO. I sew MI. Lumley soon af terwards, and recommended her very much to him. Mr. Lum ley told me to use my best endeavours to secure her for him. don't know that I told her it was better to come tint et Mr. Lum ley's, as Mr. (lye's was a second-rate theatre. I told her that her Majesty's Theatre had the prestige. I don't remember telling her that the press was all iu favour of Mr. Lumley, and would write tier up if she came out under him, and write her down if she was at Mr. Oye's. 1 used toy best endeavours with her for Mr. Lum ley. M. Wagner said Mr. Gye had uttered her more money. I said she should not lose by going to Mr. Lumley, and she signed the contract. I did not produce the 3001. to Mlle. Wagner, but I had it at my hotel. It was 1u gold. I have not said that Mr. Lumley's bill for this money was dishonoured. It was Baths child's bill, and therefore that is impossible. I have received money front Mr. Lumley ou toy own account fur expenses. It may be 4001. That was for more than four years. I was potful gaged by him, but 1 undertook to get him some singers. I said I had a tenor m each pocket That is not my constant occupation. Managers have begged me to interest myself for them. Re-examined : 1 had no interest hi advising Mile. Wagner to accept the engagement fur her Majesty's '1 heatre, but It was for her own beuetit. The fact that Mlle. Wagner never appeared at her Majesty's Theatre according to contract was taken for granted by both sides, and shown, moreover, abundantly in the testimony adduced. And that Mr. Gye had been the immediate cause of her non appearance was shown upon the evidence of various interviews and letters, in which the proprietor of the Italian Opera-house, Covent-garden, sought and at length obtained a contract from the lady to sing at his own house. The contract was completed on the sth and oth of April, 1852, and formed the turning point of the whole action. Under the previous en gagement with Mr. Lumley, Mlle. Wagner had agreed to be in England by March 31st, while the plaintiff on his side covenanted to pay her an advance of 300/. a fortnight previous to her arrival. This money should consequently have been so paid by Slash 10th, but Mlle. Wagner previously applied for a tort night's delay in her journey to London, to which Mr. Lumley consented, and this application, it was ar gued, operated as an inferential waiver, on the part of Mlle. Wagner, of her claim to the advance, or, at all events, warranted a corresponding change in the lay of payment. It appeared, however, that on April sth, some days after the extended term for paying the ad vance had expired, there were no signs of the money being forthcoming. The letter which Dr. Bacher said he transmitted, proffering payment, was said never to have been received by the Wagners, and evidence adduced to show that the witness could not have written such a letter for some time after the new contract with Mr. Gye was signed. To prove the extent of damage and loss accruing to the plain tiff through the failure of Mlle. Wagner's engage ment, the evidence taken was most voluminous. We give a few of the details spoken to by successive witnesses : John Mitchell: I am a librarian in Bond-street, and lessee of the St. James's Theatre, and have taken boxes and stalls at the Opera-house. In February, 1852, I was In Paris, and saw Mr. Lumley there. He informed me of the engagement of Miss Wagner, and showed me the contract; in consequence of which I entered into an arrangement for boxes and stalls fur that year to the amount of 15,4001.; it was three times as much as the preceding year. I made known to nay connection the fact of the engagement with Miss Wagner. I relet boxes and stalls. On the iltith of March Mr. Lutuley's programme appeared, with the list of artistes engaged in it. Miss Wagner was announced. Applications were extensively made for boxes. Early in April the appearance of Miss Wagner was announced by Mr. Gye. It created great astonishment amongst the frequenters of the opera, and many parties gave up their negotiations for boxes, and other partiea who had taken them gave them up. I had sixty boxes in my contract; I could only let live altogether after this; all the others were unlet during the season. I had taken them for sixty nights, and put an end to them on the forty-seventh night. I had paid Mr. Lumley on making the contract 7,0001. and 5,0001. Mr. Lumley gave up the rest, being 4,8001. The non-appearance of Miss Wagner was very calamit o us; there was no dewand for places. I lost more than 5,0001. by my contract. I let boxes nightly averaging 1,5001. a season. Iu 1852 it did nut amount to 201. for the whole season. For the same cause 1 war also a subscriber to Gye's iu 3,4001. for that season. I remember the night when Miss Wagner was announced to appear on the 24th of April at Covent Garden ; the deu.aud from me fur boxes for that night was more than I could meet. 1 made application at (lye's office, but tumid all let. That night nay lettings at Lum ley's were not 301., while those at Covent Garden were 2001. Jonathan Wage: I am an agent for letting opera-boxes. I remember the announcement of the intended appearance of Mlle. Wagner at the plaintiffs theatre. The expectation excited was very gi eat—as great as the Jenny Liud fever. It was as strong as it could be. 1 took boxes for 1852. I remember the announce ment of Mlle. Wagner's intended appearance at Covent Garden. It had the effect of suspending my arrangements entirely. I should have received my subscriptions if she bad ap p eared at the plaintiff theatre. I did comparatively nothing Oher she gave up her engagement there. It was very disastrous indeed. I had only five boxes. My ielbscriptions for seven years averaged 3,0001. a year. I mean by this, my dealings with Mr. The total amount for 1552 was 4841. lls. Od. John Rush : I have the management of the business of Mr. Copeley, in Bond-street. Our contract for 1852 was 1,1521. Previously to that year our extra nightly takings averaged 4001. to 5001. a year. The nightly takings for 1852 were nothing at all. In 1852 we only let one box for the season. Three remained unlet. Cross-examined: It was not a very good company that season . It was not very bad. Cruvelll wan there. She is a star of the second magnitude. It was a very bad ballet that year. Covent Garden introduced the pure opera without ballet. Charles Nugent: I was the director of the box-office at the plaintiff's theatre. In 1847 Jenny Lind performed thirty-nine nights; the receipts for those nights were 45,9441. Tha season of 1852 began April 1, and comprised fifty-six nights ; the total receipts were 2,800!. 12s. I recollect Madame Sontag appearing in 1849, 1850, and 1851. She was paid from 18,0001. to 20,0001. during those three years. In 1840 she was only there part of 1 1 i i 4 ! i i 1 I 1!