The Press. — London, England, 1857-04-11 00:00:00

368 keep scrupulously to the facts of the case. They are clearly explained in Lord Clarendon's own language. His lordship has uttered a distinct threat to indict beggary and disgrace upon a man should he be unable to prove a negative. How improper that threat must have been was clearly evinced in the sequel ; and the question now is, had he the right to utter such a threat, or had he not? Your final solution of the case is excellent—the proper ground for a writer to take is to refuse to re cognise the right of any person to question him. Such questions should invariably be treated as an improper interference with that privacy of action which every man has a right to maintain. Sir, it was to establish this incontestable right that " The Press and the Public Service " was written, and it is with a feeling of no common gratification that 1 perceive it is admitted. For, if a strong case may be made out against the exercise of any such authotity as Lord Clarendon is convicted by his own despatch of having assumed—if a suspected writer might indignantly refuse to give the disclaimer required of him, though perfectly innocent of the charge—if an editor or publisher might still more probably refuse to supply that negative—and if under " such circumstances the prospects of an honourable man might be blasted, and the head of a family in prosperous circumstances might in a moment, by the caprice of his superior, be degraded to destitution and dishonour," it is surely fair to assume that the recent proceeding of the Foreign Secretary was entirely indefensible. On the highest grounds it was wrong and cruel. On the lowest grounds it was more unlucky for his lordship than a crime. It was a blunder. As a matter of mere prudence, even Lord Claren don would have acted far more judiciously to reflect that he could not come with clean hands into court on any one point of the case. He has always waged a most singular war with the press—dabbled in it with one hand, and worried it with the other. In Ireland, and even in Belgium, he got into such a serious scrape with the ;Tess that his political career very nearly came to an end. It is also not the first time that he has broken the constitutional law of the kingdom to make his displeasure felt by an unoffend ing man. It is not many years since Lord Derby, in one of the noblest speeches in our parliamentary records, convicted his lordship cf having exceeded his authority by the dismissal of Lord Roden, and compelled him to confess in the House of Lords that this act was the most painful of his life. Lastly, Lord Clarendon must be aware that what ever may be the advantages of official secrecy in ordinary cases, he has carried it too far. Mr. Dis raeli's remarkable speech on the " secret treaty " is recent. Count Cavour complained that he had beet) treated disingenuously. By secret information con fidentially communicated by some unworthy person to his lordship, it is confidently reported that the character of a general officer was recently so slan dered that he was obliged to request a court-martial to clear himself ; that he did clear himself, and that he demanded the dismissal of his traducer. Only last week, also, a letter in the public papers declares that it is Lord Clarendon's marvellous pas sion far concealment which has given rise to the misconceptions on the subject of Lord John Russell's mission to 'Vienna. A reputation for secrecy of this kind is scarcely one which an English Minister should be ambitious to acquire. With all these examples to warn him—l say it without the smallest ill-feeling towards his lord ship—he should surely have gained too much expe rience 1r an the past to have entered again rashly on such delicate ground. One word of personal explanation and I have done. 'Your joke about tire " distinguished writer " is per fectly fair, for it does not in any way prejudice the facts of the case, which should not, of course, be affected by any merits or demerits of its exponent. I need scarcely say, however, that I did not apply this designation to myself.—l am, sir, yours faithfully, THE WRITER or " THE PRESS AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE." MAJzs LYS THEATRE.—MIIe. Piccolomini arrived in London yesterday, and in the course of a week or two will make her first appearance this season at the Opera. She comes fresh from the repose of her native place, Sienna, where she has been enjoying a ahort period of retirement after her Paris campaign. Before her appearance she will have the opportunity of witnes-ing tlw debut of Spezia and Ginglini,.who will share with her the honours of the Beason. The union of these distinguished per formers in the greatest of operas, 11 Don Giovanni, will afford to the public an early opportunity of ap preciating their distinct powers. Meanwhile, the Farorita is in full rehearsal, and Spezia and Giuglini, Ramos and Vialetti, will on Tuesday next open the season. The orchestra and chorus have been greatly a•rengthened. The rehearsals of the ballet La Esmeralda, which is announced for Thursday, to gether with the Favorite, ai well as for the opening THE PRESS. on Tuesday, are also actively progressing, the prin cipal danseuse, Poc.bini, having been fur some time in London to prepare for her debut. . THE ARTISTS' BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION, AND THE THEATRICAL FUND, held their annual meetings and and dinners, on Saturday and Monday last. Lord Dufferin supported by Sir Charles Eastlake presided over the first, and Mr. Phelps supported by Mr. Charles Dickens at the second meeting. Lord Dufferin stated, in the course of his speech, that, while the Artists' Fund income for the past year amounted to 1,0021., 1,191/. hail been expended in relief to distressed meritorious artist:. Donations were announced to the amount of 6501. At the Theatrical Fund dinner, Mr. Buckstone made the speech of the evenin.2, and iu the course of his financial statement alluded to the case of Mr. Rogers : HH I himself of that opportunity of declaring that for the small remuneration recently given to an actor for his services at Windsor Castle neither the Court ( which WAS a generous patron of the drama) nor the director of its theatricals was responsible. A liberal smn was always allowed for those performances. and he (Mr. liuckatone) had always been well remunerated for his services at Windsor Castle. In these sectarian times every performer ought to be proud that his royal mistress patronised his art in her own halls. The funds of this association are in a flourishing state ; upwards of 10,0001. balance are in hand. The Musical, Dramatic, and Equestrian Sick•fund Asso ciation also held its first anniversary on Thursday evening, at Willis's-rooms, King-street, St. James's. Mr. Tom Taylor took the chair, and about one hundred guests sat down to dinner, including among them the chief histrionic representatives of what are, perhaps, miscalled the minor theatres of this metropolis. Alter the usual loyal toasts, the chair man proposed the toast of the evening, and pointed out the difference between this association and the theatrical funds which already existed. Its object was, not to provide retiring pensions only to those who had contributed to its funds ; its relief was be stowed in a different manner, and among different classes. It was intended, in the first place, that the society should be an independent agent between managers and actors who wished for engagements. The sphere of its more benevolent operations in cluded not only actors, whether musical, dramatic, or otherwise, but scene painters, costumiers, and even scene-shifters were in their necessities con sidered among the qualified recipients of its aid. In returning thanks for the officers of the associa tion, Mr. Anson, the secretary, stated that the society already possessed a fund amounting to 6101. During the course of the evening upwards of 1001. was suit scribed in the room. THE RUIN 3 OF COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE are being sold by auction. A large quantity of loose bricks, charred timber, and sundry old materials lying on the ground, have been disposed of for immediate re moval, and so soon as the ground is cleared of these, the remainder of the rains, comprising several millions of bricks, the Portland stone forming the lower portion of the external wails, the portico, and other building materials, will be disposed of in the same manlier, in order to clear the ground for the erection of the new Opera-house. - SATURDAY, Paris at a twin birth in July, 1748. The youngest of the twins, who was named Sholto Thomas Stewart, died in May, 1753, and in November of the same year Lady Jane died at Edinburgh. Immediately after the duke's death the guardians of the surviving youth proceeded to put him in possession of the estates of the Douglas family. He was served heir to the late duke before a jury after the examination of a great body of evidence, the examination or in. quest having been attended by counsel on thg part of the Duke of Hamilton, who claimed the Douglas estate as heir male. The guardians of the Duke of Hamilton were not convinced, however, of the legiti macy of Stewart or Douglas, and with the view of cl!aring up the case they sent agents to the ConfineLt, who brought back a great body of evidence to prove that the pretended delivery of Lady Jane was a fiction, and that the twins really belonged to two poor families in France, named respectively Mignion and Saury. The guardians of Mr. Stewart, on the other hand, brought forward persons to !swear that they had seen Lady Jane in a state of pregnancy, and that they were actually present at the birth of these twins. After evidence had been collected pro and con. from every quarter, and most minutely sifted and criticised, the case came on for judgment in the Court of Session in Scotland on the 7th of July, 1767, and so important was the cause deemed that the fifteen judges took eight days to deliver their opinions. The result was that seven of the judges voted in favour of the identity or legitimacy of Mr. Stewart and seven against it; the Lord Presi dent, who bad the casting vote, agreed with the latter, by which Douglas, alias Stewart, was cast on the world without either name or estate. An appeal from this decision was taken to the House of Lords, however, by which the judgment of the Court of Session was reversed in 1769, and Archibald Stewart, or Douglas, declared to be the undoubted son of Lady Jane, the sister of the late duke. He now retained undisputed possession of the estates. Archibald Douglas was created a British peer, by the title of Baron Douglas, by George 111., in 1796. The peer who has just departed was his son and last male heir. WE announced last week the demise, at her resi dence in Piccadilly, of Hesther Maria Viscountess KEITH, in her 9th year. This remarkable lady was the last remaining link between the present genera. tion and that brilliant literary circle which congre gated around Johnson at" the club "—which thronged the hospitable mansion of Mrs. Thrale at Streatham. Viscountess Keith was the eldest daughter of Henry Thrale, the friend of Johnson, and the husband of Hesther Sainsbury, better known to the world by the name of her second husband, as " Mrs. Piozzi." As the child of his most valued friends, Hesther Maria enjoyed a large share of the attention ofJohnson, who was her early instructor, and in whose memoirs her name frequently occurs as " Queeny," a term of en• dearment conferred upon her by the great philoso• pher. During her girlhood she was surrounded by Reynolds, Garrick, Burke, Gibbon, Boswell, Beau clerk, Langton, Siddons, Burney, and Montagu. Johnson was her early tutor, and Baretti her Italian master. THE LATE 131AU31 OF MUSCAT, whose death was announced a short time since, was so remarkable a prince as to deserve some notice of his character and extended reign. An Oriental sovereign who establishes a firm empire over dominions before unsettled, who cultivates the arts of peace, who forms wise and useful alliances with 'Western powers, an.t whose reign is prolonged for more than half a cen tury., must possess qualities deserving of admiration. Sved or Said, the deceased Sultan, came to the throne in 18,06, at the age of seventeen years. His dominions were partly in Asia and partly in Africa. Muscat, from which he derived his title., is a very con siderable seaport and commercial depot in the pro vince of Oman, on the Arabian shore of the Persian. Wulf, and commanding the narrow entrance of that gulf Oman, the most eastern portion of Arabia, and about 330 miles in length, constituted the Asiatic dominion of the Imaurn, which he delivered from vassalage to the Wahabees. But he also partly inherited and partly wrested from the Portuguese a territory several hun dred miles in length on the eastern coast of Africa, called Zanguebar, with a large and beautiful island called Zanzibar, in which island he resided during the latter years of his life. The Irnaum of Muscat Was a man of dignified and noble presence, but not a warrior. His conquests were effected chiefly by means of his alliances, and especially by his alliance with England and the East India Company. He formed a considerable navy of five English-built frigates, but he employed them in commerce, not in war, and carried on a very extensive trade with India and various parts of the East. He was wise enough to encourage foreign commerce by very low Customs duties. He was not a man of high moral qualities, hut his wisdom as a ruler has not often been sur passed. He has left no children by his two wives, but one of his natural sons was Governor of Zan zibar, and the Governments of England and France have agreed to recognise his eldest son as heir. Obit CI r LT. JAMES DOUGLAS, BARON DOUGLAS, died at his seat, Bothwell Castle, upon the Clyde, on Tuesday morn ing. The deceased peer was born in 1787, and suc ceeded to the title and estates on the death of his brother, in September, 1814. Dying childless, he is succeeded in his estates—principally situated in Clydesdale, and estimated to be worth about :55,000/. per annum—by his sister, Lady Elizabeth, married in 18:12 to the Earl of Home. This lady is the mother of a large family, the eldest of whom is Lord Douglas. The deceased peer was the son of the first Baron Douglas, in whose name " The Great Douglas Cause "—the most important legal case of tie last century—was carried on. In connectiin with the death of the last male heir, it, may not be out of place to give a brief sketch of this celebrated case. The Duke of Douglas died childless in 1761, when the title became extinct, but the real and per sonal estate was claimed by his nephew, Mr. Archi bald Stewart, who was served nearest heir to the duke in the same year. The assumption of the estates led to this memorable lawsuit. Lady Jane Douglas, sister to the last duke already mentioned, was one of the handsomest women of her time, and in August, 1740, being then forty-eight years of age, she was secretly married to Mfrs•. Stewart, afterwards Sir John Stewart, of Grandtully. They resided abroad, principally in France, from 1740 till the end of December, 1749. At the latter date they returned to this country and took up their residence in Lon don, bringing with them two male children, of whom they gave out that Lady Jane had been delivered in • - _ -*-1111S01110= - -