The Press. — London, England, 1855-07-14 00:00:00

672 a •ery few days befiNre. had declared himself satisfied with the Austnan pnvposal, and recommended it " with all his influence " to his rAleaguet in the Cabinet! Are we not justified, then, such being our rulers, in looking with the most pnifound anxiety upon the results of a war in which the honour of England awl the destinies of the world are deeply c.ouccerated? The country is earnest and trite, the national resources are inexhaustible, the courage, discipline, and spirit of our army were never exceeded. Yet advantages such as few, if any, statesmen who have directed the affairs of a nation ever po4sitestseil, have been thrown away, and a great cause has been sacrificed to incompetent men and an unworthy pulley. The most remarkable article in the Westminster is that on " International Immorality:* The reviewer, in considering the degrees in morality of the various Governments of the world, comes quickly to the surface of modern events. India on one hand, and Turkey on the other, offer, he conceives, notable examples of miserable misrule through a policy of expediency. In relation to our Government of India, when the plain facts of the late Burmese war are stated, "people will refuse to believe them—they " prove too much—they make out Lord Dalhousie "to be a high criminal!" Yet these facts are to be found in Blue-books, acknowledged by the Govern ment, and admitted to be true. We had picked a quarrel with the King of Burmah upon what was acknowledged to be a false charge; we insulted him, and then, to use Lord Dalhousie's own words, " because the Government of India cannot con " sistently with its own safety appear for one day in " an attitude of inferiority," we went to war, shed blood like water, and took the province of Pegu from the very man we ourselves had wantonly quarrelled with. Such is the morality of our Government in India; and it was from such gross want of principle that the Czar, infers the writer, " unable to imagine " that our Ministry had two consciences, one for " Asia and one for Europe," endeavoured to entice them to join him in partitioning Turkey : Naturally be did not believe that we should have a particle of moral repugnance to his procedure, and the conduct of our Ministry through this war has justified his worst opinion of them. The weakness of the late Government is represented as the temptation which induced Nicholas to put his legions into motion Every reader will remember the year 1853. The fulsome adulation with which Lord John Russell declined the Emperor Nicholas's wicked overtures, virtually yielded over Moldavia and Wallachia to the Russians fur the latter half of that year : fur it led, first, to the protest of our Ministry against the ordering of the French fleet eastward in March, to oppose a contingency which our Ministers had chosen to assume would not occur; and next, when it did occur, they had not strength of mind to acknowledge that they were childish dupes, and flame out in indigna• tion the moment the Pruth was crossed; but, trained to courtliness, they still listened to promises, and went on tic• ceptiug the " words of gentlemen," until Lord John Russell declared in Parliament that the Emperor Nicholas " had exhausted every form of falsehood against us." Perhaps all now see the extreme folly of our Ministers in this affair; in fact, it was a folly peculiar to themselves, for it was from the beginning denounced by all the non-Minis• terial newspapers. Speaking of moral influence without a will, aptly likened to the brute force of a tame or, the re• viewer continues : • Our Ministers have in many ways plunged into so im• moral an atmosphere that they utterly mistake wherein moral influence consists. They do not know that the verdict of a virtuous power has a moral influence (or perhaps, rather, they think a virtuous power to be a chimera), nor do they appear to see that the example of enthusiasm and devotion ►s a moral influence : their notion of it is wholly material. To possess a great fleet or agi eat army, they suppose, at once confers "moral influence' on a state, and at once gives weight to its negotiations and its opinion, forgetful that the question underlies, "Is there a will to strike?' How different would have been the effect of those "Moral Demonstrations" which were made in 1853 4, if we had possessed an honest Government at home ! That the terrible calamities of this war are in the main owing to the connivance of Lord Aberdeen and the imbecility of his Cabinet, the most pre judiced cannot now deny. The other articles do not call fox special notice at our hands, the one on "Party Government" being little more than a sketch of the political parties in existence, and of the prospects of the nation. Lord Stanley is noticed as one of the few rising statesmen of the day. In the " Errors of Teetotalism " the assumption of the total abstinence advocates, that what is true of the abuse of stimulating drinks is true also of their moderate use, is combated on the authority of Liebeg, Berard, and many first-rate chemists and physiologists of the day. In the "Review of Contemporary Literature," the Rev. Baden Powell's volume of essays is com mended as a book "distinctly in the right direction." Praise from such a quarter ought surely to make the reverend professor consider to what conclusions his reasoning must inevitably tend : He very distinctly clears the region of natnre from all lIM pernatural interposition. He vindicates physics, as a THE PRESS. series of onlerly effects and causes, from all intrusive disturbances of that order. Yet such a position is highly unphilosophical. It we had no evidence that there was at one t►me a condition of the earth when man did not exist upon it, the question how he was created might be met by saying that he existed from all tune; and to such a reply, unsatisfaffory as it might be, it would be diffi cult to frame a logical refutation. But when it is proved that man's existence on the globe is referable to a comparatively modern epoch, the conclusion that he owes his being to some direct act of creative power, and not to " a series of orderly effects and " causes," is irresistible. Professor Powell belongs, we fear, much more to the theological school of John Henry Newman than to that of the Church of England. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. BOOKS. The Spanish Conquest in America. Arthur Helps. J. W. Parker and Son. The Rights of Employer and Employed. M. Justitia. Simpkin and Marshall. Saunders and Utley. The Intistence Exerted by the Mind over the Body. John Glen, M.A. Blackwoods. A Lost Lore. Ashford Owen. Smith and Elder. A Londoner's it to the Lands • End. Walter White. Chapman and Hall. Hendrick Conscience. Lambert and Co. The Curse of the Village and the Happiness of being Rich. Do. Do. Vera, or the War of the Peasants. Do. Do. Live and Learn, esv. J. F. Shaw. My Travels, or An Unsentimental Journey through France, Sivitseriand, and Italy. Captain Chewier, R.N. Hurst and Blackett. Robeson. Olympia; or, The Cave of Inhuman. the Lion of Flanders. The Pulpit. Vol 67. PAMPHLETS. Charterhomse Reconstructed. By a Non• Commissioner. Longmaus. 4d/simian:tine Reform. Rer. Dr. F. Maurice. Bell and Dalay. The St. James's Medley. No. 111. J. Nuttell. The Volcanic Cause of Epidemic Cholera, Alluensa, Plague, te. Alfred Fenninge. Newbold Noses from France on the War with Russia. By a Clergy• man of the Church of England. Ward and Co I , I4IIODICALS. Bosworth Yew Quarterly. Vusit. DRURY LANE. WE have been compelled lately, from want of space, to postpone our notices of the successful continuance of a cheap Italian Opera at this house. From three performances a week they have speedily reached a performance every night, and despite the attractions of Covent Garden, on orthodox opera nights we question whether that house even could show so crowded an audience as Drury Lane now nightly exhibits. Since our last notice Mme. Gassier, who was the most charming Rosina, the best character of her role, has taken her falewell benefit, and Mme. Lucy Escott, an American singer of some little repute upon the Continent, has made her debut, in addition to Mine. Arga, Miss Huddart, and Signor Flavio. The benefit of Alma. Gassier took place on Wednesday night, when the house was crowded to that excess which the old nights of Jenny Lind alone equalled. The Barbiere de Seviglia, and the last act of Sonambula, were chosen for the occasion, and Mme. Gassier did full justice to her part. She never sung with greater brilliancy or finish as Rosina, and in the "Ali non giunge" the enthusiasm of the house was most rapturous. The ceremony of presenting a piece of plate to her had little to interest the audience, and would have been better confined to the green-room. Miss Escott, who has made her debut for some little time now, deserves a word or two in commendation of her performance of Elena in the Donna del Lago, as well as of Lucia in that favorite opera. Her voice is a high soprano, remarkably clear, sweet, and flexible, and her execu tion, though here and there betraying a trace of im perfect finish, is yet on the whole pure, free from affectation, and full of refinement and expression. Her success ss Elena was decided at once by her de. livery of the opening aria, "Oh mattutini albori ;" and throughout the opera, whether in concerto pieces or solos, she fully sustained the expecta tions of her friends. Exceedingly graceful in manner, and with a pleasing and expressive counts. name, she has made a most favorable impression upon the public. Miss Fanny Huddart, with her rich contralto voice, is a most efficient member of the company. Mine. Arga also combines every requisite for success. Signor Flavio is, on the whole, a good tenor, if he would content himself with his chest notes, and not strain his falsetto so much ; while Signor Armareli and Mr. Hamilton Braharn are both effective and prominent in their several pare. La Cenerentoki is promised, in which Mme. Favanti SATURDAY, will appear again before the public, and we hope with success ; and Puritani, in which Miss Escott will perform. The departure of Mme. Gassier is a loss to the house, but the energy of the lessee will no doubt be still further exerted to sustain the popu larity of this attempt to establish a cheap Italian Opera in London as one of our modern institutions. The entertainment that is now offered at Drury Lane is far from being inferior, considering the many cir cumstances which are required to bring out an opera successfully, and the extremely low price at which the public are admitted. On the contrary, there is much which deserves the highest praise, both in principle and practice; and the success which has attended the attempt may be regarded as a very clear proof that the sixpenny and shilling class of visitors are only too glad of the opportunity afforded them to hear good mus►c and good singing at a cost within their means. ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC. Tun first of a series of reunions of this society took place on Wednesday evening ; and although the directors of the Royal Academy have been rather tardy to invite their pupils and associates to meet to gether for the purpose of a public performance, yet the proposal was most readily responded to, and the performance highly satisfactory and successful. The programme was as follows: PART I. Overture (Prometheus) Beethoven Terzetto con Coro, " Esc° altin," Madame Weiss, Madame Bassauo, and Mr. Whitworth W. L. Phillips Concerto iu F minor, pianoforte, Mr.W.H.Holmes W. S. Bennett Reck., " Numi the intact mai," Aria, " Be m'abbandoni (Nitocri), Madame Bauman Mereatidanta Solo, " Autumn," " La Dans. des Fees," harp, Mr. John Thomas Parish Alger' Aria Buffa, " Wel rampolli," Mr. Frank Bodda (Cenerentola) Rossini Finale to the Second Act of " Don Quixote." The principal parts by Madame Weirs, Mr. Henry R. Allen, Mr. Herbert., Mr. Whitworth, Mr. Wallwonh, and Mr. Frank Bodaa Macfarren PART 11. Overture (MS.), " The Return " Watson Duet, " Come, be gay," Miss Helen Taylor and Miss Riumford reischiitz) Weber Aria, " Parto, ma to ben into," Miss Birch (La Clemenza di Tito) Mozart Clarionet Obligato, Mr. F. Godfrey. Introduction and Rondo Pastorale, violin, Mr. illagrove Blegrove Terzetto, " Troncar suol di " (Guillaume Tell), Bir.ilerberte, MrWallworth, and Mr.Whitworth Rossini Aria, " Prendi per me," Miss Rausford De Bei Jut Finale to the Second Act of " The Regicide " Principal parts by Miss Helen Taylor, bliss Ransford, Mr. Henry R. Allen, Mr. Herbert°, and Mr. Waliworth Lucas Conductor, Mr. C. Lucas. The solo instrumental performers were Mr. W. H. Holmes, pianoforte; Mr. H. Blagrove, violin ; and Mr. John Thomas, harp. The orchestra and chorus, conducted by Mr. Lucas, and composed of the pupils, were large and complete in every department, and the selection of music, though including several hackneyed morceaux of the German and Italian masters, yet did not neglect our own composers. Of the performance, we can only find room to say that it was excellent as far as it went. The opening overture to Prometheus was finely played. Bennett's concerto in F minor was given with great taste and expression by Mr. Holmes, and the finale to the second act of Macfarren's opera, Don Quixote, was performed in the most creditable manner, and the choruses given with great expression and force. Mr. Whitworth, who made his first appearance after his long tour in America, was very warmly applauded in the famous Anacreontic song, " When Bacchus invented the bowl," and Mr. Allen, in " I quit my pillow," sang with great sweetness and expression. Miss Birch sang Mozart's " Parto, ma to ben mio," accompanied by the clarionet, with great purity and finish, and the finale to The Regicide was given with fine effect. The concert was very fully attended, and though we would wish on future occasions for less of those hackneyed pieces of Italian opera music, yet the performance on the whole was highly creditable. Stt §rama. PRIVATE THEATRICALS AT LCAMPDEN!! HOUSE. A PERFORMANCE, to which much interest has attached took place on Tuesday night in a pretty little theatre which is one of the numerous ornaments of Colonel Waugh's magnificent house at Kensington. On the 10th, 18th, and 19th of June there were three gather ings of the friends of Mr. C. Dickens to witness the pre sentation, at his house, and by himself, some members of his family, and two or three gentlemen of artistic distinction, of a charming little drama by Mr. Wilkie Collins, called the Lighthouse. The brilliant suc cess of these performances well warranted a repetition of the piece, and it was selected as the attraction which should enrich the funds of a valuable charity to which Colonel Waugh has been, in other ways, a most liberal benefactor. The Lighthouse was there fore played on Tuesday to a high class audience, admitted by voucher and guinea ticket. The actors were Mr. Dickens, Mr. Mark Lemon, Mr. Augustus