The Press. — London, England, 1856-03-01 00:00:00

210 His visit to the Crimea gives glimpses of the incredible hardships our troops had to sustain, and indicates the difficulties the commanders had to con tend with. The one great blunder, occasioning per plexities not to be described, and a mass of suffering fearful to reflect on, was, that from the first no pro vision was made to winter the army before Sebas topol. Hence wants of all kinds, and the extreme destitution and misery which prevailed. The author came from the Crimea to Constantinople in a ship employed to convey the sick. No proper provision had been made for them : The dreadful odours that pervade the ship become more intolerable every hour, notwithstanding the most abundant nse of disinfecting fluid, chloride of lime, and the like, which, quite powerless to suppress the stench, seem but to aid in producing a more outrageous compound of " villainous smells." During the still hours of the night groans and sup pressed cries of pain could be heard throughout the ship, telling of anguish and tortures unendurable among the un happy sufferers on the decks below. On those hard decks how many a poor soul is doomed to " shuffle off its mortal coil.' . . . . When all is over, and the corpse, rolled in a blanket, is carried on deck, a little commotion about the gangway, and a slight splash in the sea along side, alone announce that another fellow mortal has gone to his last resting-place. No ceremony is observed, no solemn words are spoken. As the spirit departed without comfort, so the body is cast forth without prayer, and with ont intercession, like so much worthless carrion. The author is not without a perception of the ludicrous. He 13 in the following passage de scribing a ride he took in the environs of Constanti nople : Ir. another field I found a Turkish husbandman at work, planting wheat. His plough was quite as rude as those of Egypt, from which, indeed, it differed only in being fitted with a short spur or stump of wood, to serve in a sort of way the purposes of a mould-board. Entering the field, I remained for a while to observe how this rude implement performed its work, and to admire the extreme docility of the pair of small oxen, which, guided by reins, seemed as obedient and tractable as the steadiest horses. While thus engaged, a couple of English sailors came up along the road, mounted on horses, and as gay and as full of spirits as Jack is wont to be on such occasions. They no sooner espied me riding beside the plough, than, speaking in a broad Somersetahire dialect, one cried out, " Holloa! here's a varmer!" And then, addressing his companion, he continued, " I say, Joe, this is English, though, arnt it? Here's an oud varmer, out ■ viewin 'is ground, but he've got too good a snit a clothes of 'is back, though." With this critical remark the two jogged on in search of fresh wonders, and never doubting that they had seen a real live Turkish farmer, and their friends at home will no doubt bear in due time how they saw a farmer in Turkey riding round his ground for all the world like an English farmer, only that he carried a red figure-head. Of his further voyage it is unnecessary to say more than it is modestly and agreeably written. Our Ourn Story. By Selina Bunbury. Three Vols. London: Hurst and Blackett. Miss BUNBURY is better as a tourist than a novelist. Her " Life in Sweden " is very superior to " Our Own Story." There is plenty of incident in the latter, but nothing resembling actual life. It is the story of a twin brother and sister, narrated by the sister. Born of wealthy parents, their youth is passed in luxury ; but just as they are entering life their father dies ; their property is lost, through that blessing to novelists, a Chancery suit, and the young lady turns authoress, in the hope that she may be able to contribute towards the wants of their house hold, and support her brother at college. Wonder ful to relate, she succeeds in her endeavours, and for the first production of her pen receives 501., that being the sum she asked the publisher. Next we hear of her receiving 2001. for a work—a large sum for a young and unknown girl to receive for a produc tion. But exaggeration is the fault of the book, both as to matter and manner. The following passage will give a fair idea of its style : The blossom of hope within young hearth folds closer its petals as it breathes more deeply the air of earth. The twins are no longer what they were : true, the young authoress is an authoress still, only grown a little older; and the student is a student still, only he has re moved bis standing to Oxford. But where is that authoress now? Not in her green room, with her young flushed face bent over the green reclining board on her knee; not at the writing•table which had succeeded it; nor yet in the study she has since called her own. No ; she is sitting on a footstool beside the great chair of a gently fading mother. The mother dies ; and there is much said of " the dreadful necessity " of dealing with the mercenary hirelings of death. But it is remarked that a great change has taken place in that respect : A funeral can be made now decent, and even pretty and cheering, without being rninously expensive. Miss Banbury has plenty of invention. It would have been better had she drawn less largely from that faculty, and more from nature and common sense. THE P R ESS. PUBLICATIONS RECETVED.--Eza. 28. BOOKS. Poland, and Other Poems. Groombridge and Sons. The Pleasures of Music, and Other Poems. Ditto. De L'Orme. " Parlour Library." Hodgson. The Influence of Christianity upon International Law. Macmillan. Diary of Travels in Three Quarters of the Globe. Saunders and Otley. Sql, or the Narrow, Narrow World. Routledge. After Dark. Wilkie Collins. Smith and Elder. Garlands of Verse. Thomas Leigh. Ditto. The Log cf the " Pet." Ditto. Lucius Junius Brutus. A Tragedy, in Five Acts. Henry F. Robinson. Bell and llaldi. The Entomologists' Annua l for 1856. The German Lyrist, 4c. Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey. Longnians. Parisian Sights and French Principles. Second Series. Van Vooral. Macmillan. Sampson Low, and Co. Cuzco, and Lima. Clement It. Markham, F.R.G.S. Chapman and Hall. C. Mitchell. Spirits and Wafer. R. J. L. ii Month al Malvern under the Water Cure. R. J. Lane, A.E.H.A. The Poetical Works of Thomas Aird. A New Edition. Blackwoods. A History of Me Christian Church. Murray. Things not Generally Known Familiarly Explained. Bogue. Lectures on the History of Ancient Philosophy. W. H. Thompson, M.A. Macmillan. A History of the Christian Church during the Reformation. C. Hardwicke, M.A. Ditto. The Drainage of London. Ridgway. Longmans. Trtibner. Longmanc. Three Letters to a Friend on the Sunday Question. The Clayton- Buheer Conrention. A Sermon. G. H. Bowers, L.U. The Bank Charter. Simpkin and Mirshall. Contract Reform. Substance of the Speech of Lord Campbell on Life Peerages. Murray. Popular Education. Parker. Official Correspondence between the Law Professor of the Presidency College. Calcutta :Bellamy._ Narrative of the Origin and, Formation of the Industrfal Association. Bell and Daldy. The Life of Luther. W. H. Cullingbridge. Universal Exhibitions of Foreign and French Breeding _ Stock A Plan for the Better Management of Railroads. Effingham Wilson. The Currency Question. George Coombe. Ditto. A Manual of British Butterflies and Moths. Van Voorst. The War and the Newspapers. Parker. What is Pre•Raphelitism ? John Ballantyne, A.R.S.A. Blackwoods. A Sermon by a Layman. Stanford. A Revision of the Rubrics and Liturgy. Groombridge. Portsmouth Protected. Murray. Popular Education. Parker. Blaekwood's Magazine. Black woods. Fraser. J. W. Parker and Son• Puinam's Monthly. Sampson Low and Co. Royal Gallery of Art. Treaty Map. ^ Colnaghi and Co. Wyld. lmustments, it. COVENT GARDEN.—Mr. Andersool as e.nnounced his benefit for Monday and Tuesday next, and from the tenor of the announcement the performances which are to celebrate the event will be unprecedented in point of length—for they are to extend for two days —and remarkable for effect. The representation of Monte Christo, when visitors took their nightcaps, and pillows, and provisions for forty-eight hours, will be nothing to what we may expect at Covent Garden next week, although neither nightcaps, pillows, nor provisions will he required. A pantomime will com mence the performance at one p.m. on Monday ; then we are to have the drama, in two acts, of Time Tries AU; then the Scottish drama of Gilderoy ; then the opera of Sonnambula ; then the Great Gun Trick, in which Mr. Charles Mathews will appear and take off the learned Professor himself; and after that the counter-farce, What Does He Want I in which Mr. Leigh Murray will take off Mr. Charles Mathews. This will conclude the first night's enter tainment, and on the second evening we are promised a Bal Masque of unprecedented splendour. Mr. Anderson will thus conclude his season with a clap of theatrical thunder which is essentially all his own. We may take this opportunity of speaking briefly of Mr. Haigh, the new tenor. Although new to the stage, ho is possessed of one of the sweetest tenor voices to be heard, and, with care and practice, will no doubt achieve a very high reputation. MADAME JENNY GOLDSCITMIDT-LIND.—A second and last performance of Handel's oratorio of The Messiah will be given at Exeter hall, on Tuesday evening, March 18, at which Madame Goldschmidt will sing for the last time previous to her intended provincial tour. The Grand Miscellaneous Concert of Mr. and Madame Goldschmidt, for the benefit of the Nightingale Fund, will take place on Tuesday, the 11th instant. Mn. ADAMS'S ANNUAL BALL will take place at Willis's-rooms, on Tuesday, March 11th. Stan siderabli count* Ceni prcvernen, owing declaration dence irn- of the 1. ° 111 • 111111111111111.11.1111.1111.01.1111 MI SATURDAY , pritet ad Citg Nam, FRIDAY EVENING. TEE return of the Bank of England for the week ending Feb. 23, shows the following changes com- pared with that for the previous week Decrease in Circulation £239,917 Decrease in Public Deposits Increase in Other Deposits Increase in Government Securities .... 15,100 Increase in Other Securities .. Increase in Bullion ... 02,898 Decrease in Rest Increase in Reserve .... . . Bullion in Both Departments Circulation, including Bk. Post Bills 19,254,614 This comparison is, upon the whole, more favorable, in all essential respects, than was anticipated. The decrease in the Public Deposits is little more than nominal, and they are still comparatively low. Th e deposit of ten per cent. upon the new loan does not come into the present account. The Money Market during the week has been comparatively easy, owing, almost exclusively, to the return on Monday of the surplus deposits upon the new loan. On the Stock Exchange the rates paid for temporary advances have run from four and a half to five and a half per cent.; but in the Discount Market there has been no change, notwithstanding that the supply has been rather in excess of the demand. '1 he Bank has been dealing rather liberally. But, considering that in the course of the next few days a vast amount of commercial bills will fall due —that during the next fortnight more than 1,700,0001. of the loan instalments must be paid—and that the Consol settlement will happen in the course of the same period,—the prospect of an easy state of things for any length of time is not very promising. In- deed, tl.ete is already very serious pressure upon bankers and their correspondents, in connection with the engagements of the 4th ; and complaints are heard that the circulation of the country is not in proportion to its transactions. Bills, con- sequently, have to be employed in greater numbers, and in larger amounts, than would be necessary under different, circumstances, the discounts of which almost wholly absorb the profits of the best managed mercantile undertakings, to say nothing of the con- tingencies to which substitutes of this nature are always liable. In short, there is very little prospect of money being cheap for the next three months; while it is certain that the Bank cannot take any step in that direction with a small stock of gold—a reserve that some months ago would have been cen• sidered somewhat perilous—and a very moderate amount of specie imports. In connection with a sensitive Money Market we have an increasing home trade, and an amount of manufacturing production perfectly surprising, if we did not know that for a long time past stocks have been allowed to run down to the lowest possible point. The present activity is mainly caused by the necessity of replenishing the warehouses for the spring and early summer trades. There is, more- over, a large trade doing with India and China in textile fabrics, and Australian commerce is im- proving; but, on the other hand, the market: in the East and about the seat of war have been over-sup- plied, while we are still in debt to America on account of the late corn and cotton importations. On the whole, both the home and forei g n trades are sound, but they leave the barest shade of profit in most branches. It is from this state of things that we apprehend disaster, in the event of peace being fol- lowed—as it is almost sure to be—by a period of excessive speculation, unless the lessons of prudence taught some years ago have not been forgotten. Alen have now so long been suffering from the dwindling down, and ultimate disappearance, of profits out of their ordinary transactions, that they will for a time rush into other undertakings, whatever the hazard, which appear to promise some better return, only to become wiser and, it is to be feared, poorer. In- dividual prudence may do much to avert any con- siderable disturbance in the general trade of the country from the existence of a speculative mania; but the time has come for a word of caution to be n ow in season. The Consol Market has fluctuated rather consider- ably since our last. The closing price of Three per Cents. last Saturday was 911 to which was an im- prcvement of one-half upon the preceding day; owing to the opening of the Conferences in Paris, the declaration of an armistice, and the general c onfi- dence in the restoration of peace, they grad uall y improved, until on Tuesday they were done at 92 b which was the highest price of the week. The market was then affected by large sales to close • speculative purchases m ,it was also ade last week and depressed by a considerable fall in the French Three per Cents., attributable to an analogous movement in connection with the monthly settlement which takes place to-day, and to an unexpected suspension of the sittings of the Conference on Wednesday. T