The Press. — London, England, 1855-05-26 00:00:00

derive from the history of past times and of nations and people with whom the moderns have scarcely one point in common. The great temptation in this kind of discussion is to seize on fanciful similarities, and to invariably mistake the post hoc for the propter hoc. For ourselves we see a* little reason in predicating our own future position or fate from that of the Roman Empire as Croaker had in Gold smith's comedy for agreeing with the pro phecies of immediate national destruction, read to him by his friend, who had omitted to tell him that they " had been written in the "reign of Queen Elizabeth." We select the fol lowing, for instance, from Mr. Congreve's lec tures as a passage interesting just at this moment to every individual, from the most overworked surgeon or commissariat clerk in the Crimea to the nonchalant and jocular Prime Minister himself : All such States as the larger kingdoms of modern Europe, with no exception as to our owu country, are not tit subjects for the constitutional system. That system, with its fic tions and its indirect action, may offer advantages at certain times—as, historically, it has done with us—but, on the whole, I think it alien to good government. It has ever failed,—and I appeal to the history of England in support ' of my assertion, and nut merely to the present disgraceful state of our Government, though that is so much in accord once with past history as to exonerate, in a measure, the men at the expense of the system ;—it is failing you now, in the presence of real dangers and war. It is of more than doubtful advantage in peace. The people of this country must have felt of late that it is not a system of checks, with the ultimate irresponsibility that is its result, but a vigorous unity of administration, that is required for the right con duct of a war. The poor of this country feel the effects, t hough they may not be aware of the cause, of the want of a vigorous central executive—of a Government, in short, in the place of parliamentary no-government. It may be long before the necessity of so great a political change is acknowledged, but it is, at any rate, a possibility that it should be again acknowledged as it h as; been; and it would be desirable, that the atmosphere of political discussion should be free enough to admit of such questions being agitated, which, speaking generally, is hardly the case. For myself, I heartily wish that the time were come when we were clear of the government of boards, call them a cabinet or a vestry, with all their complication of personal and local interests, and under the government of one—a protector or dictator, if you like to call him so—the name is unimportant : the essential is, that he should be one who would rule England as sho was ruled by Cromwell. Now, all this we most potently disbelieve It is founded on the vulgar fallacy that the des potic form of Government creates the ability and genius of the individual who, by his per sonal will, wields the mighty engine. What is the history of despotism but a narrative of one great reign of glory, and even of internal prosperity, followed, when the sceptre falls into weaker hands, by disaster and disgrace? Nor can elective despotisms show any other rule. The power To govern men and guide the State may be so latent as to be impossible of detec tion till the situation calls it forth. It was so in Napoleon 111. The truth is that parlia mentary government is as capable of being impressed with a master hand as any other form. What is wanted is the men; and so far from men being " exonerated by a system " in England, they are themselves guilty alike of the system and its misuse. That since the Whigs forced themselves into power by threatening a servile war in 1830 no doubt the systems of hoards and commissions has been created, and created from motives the most corrupt and sordid from which governmental changes were ever attempted. But there is abundance of vigour in the parliamentary system and no indisposition whatever in Par lament itself to give to any Ministry the most ample powers of action, if that Ministry has itself given no reasons for distrust. If we have " a parliamentary no-government" it is because we have men in power who have thrust themselves into a posi tion to which they were prompted by corruption or conceit, and in which they have openly, and without shame, displayed that they seek no more than the inert enjoyment of their places. The aspiration at the end of the above extract is scarcely complete. The lecturer should in fairness, when he wished for Crom well, have desired that Richard should succeed him, or, to speak of what is more important, should have well considered what he desired when he referred to that ten years of dark despotism—dark equally to the general historian and the cursory reader—during which life and property were held in the THE PRESS. -• • breath of the meanest spies—the period of the domestic tyranny of Oliver Cromwell. To deal with foreigners as Cromwell dealt would indeed be desirable, but to " rule England" as ho ruled her would be to revive a govern ment in comparison to which that of James 11. was paternal. The conclusion is, iu tine, inevitable that in any form of government a system will no more work without the fitting men than a plough will act without guidance ; and M r. Congreve comes to the same result as we do, when he thinks that power, even despotic, should be in the " hands of a man competent " to wield it." itrt-Hints. Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting. By J. F. James. London : Sampson Low and Son. MR. JAMES, without giving us any new or original views upon art, devotes a great portion of his work to the consideration of the relation of art to history, and an inquiry into the political condition most favorable to its development. His plan involves a review of the different schools of art which have flourished and faded, from those of Greece to those of Italy, and of the influence of the political ten dencies of the age upon them, together with remarks upon the general differences and most conspicuous analogies of the schools of modern Europe. The few concluding chapters are devoted to the question of patronage and a notice of the great compositions of the old masters. The author is evidently a man of highly-cultivated taste, loving nature, revering art, and hating formalism ; and his book, though scarcely sufficiently artistic for artists, is yet one which every amateur may read with pleasure. The Life and Beauties of Fanny Fern. London Kent and Co. _ A COLLECTION of Fanny Fern's contributitions to the press in America. Many of them, mere fugitive pieces, have never before been gsthered together; and though in the preface we are told that they are the articles upon which Fanny Fern made her repo• tation, yet they do not in any way induce us to change our opinion of her writings. She is lively and entertaining at first, but after a few pages her wit., or her pathos, as the case may be, becomes wearisome and insipid. Her style, too, however well a.lapted to please the taste of the Americans, is un deniably coarse, and far too colloquial to please English readers. Her sketches, it is said, are very clever word-paintings of society in America : if so, we can hardly congratulate the men upon their good manners, or the women upon their modesty. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. BOOKS. Natural Elements of Political Economy. R. Jennings, M.A. Longroans. Within amd Without. A Dramatic Poem. George Mac Donald. Ditto. The Monarchy of France ; its Rise, Progress, and Fall. W. Tooke, F.R.S. Sampson Low. Frank Wilton; or, the Queen's Own. James Grant. Routledge. PAMPHLETS. The History of the Char; isTilove;int. Parts I. to VII. Holyoake. An Account of the Library of the Division of Art. Ralph N. Wornum, Librarian. Eyre and Spottiswoode. The Dangers of England and the Duties of Englishmen. By A British Commoner. Bosworth. Where are we Drifting? Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, Bart. Hamilton and Adams. PERIODICALS Journal qf the Statistical Society. Vol. XVIII. Part TI. J. W. Parker and Son. History of Christian Churches and Sects. Rev. J. B. Marsden, M.A. Part V. Bentley. WASHINGTON IRVING, says the New York Courier, is suffering from a casualty sustained on the lkth of April. Mr. Irving was riding on the river road near Sunny Side, when his horse took fright and ran away. The animal's head was towards home, for which he made at a terrible pace. Mr. Irving kept his seat, and might have escaped unliart, but as the horse turned from the main road he fell and threw his rider, who was taken up stunned by the fall. Mr. Irving remained insensible for several hours, and, though for some time in danger, is now (April 21) considerably better. THE SEA SERPENT had again exhibited himself, this time off the capes of Delaware. His snakeship is reported to be one hundred feet in length. His appearance was telegraphed to Philadelphia, and an expedition immediately sent in pursuit of him. A reward of 1,000 dollars had been offered for his capture. A PREMIUM or 5001. for the invention of an effectual method for preventing the emission of smoke from the chimneys of multitubular boilers, has been offered, by advertisement, by the Steam Colliers Association of Newcastle. usir. THE FOURTH CONCERT OF THE NEW FEHLHAUDIONIC SOCIETY was given ou Wednesday evening in aid of the funds of the Lock Asylum, Harrow•road. The following was the programme of the performance PART T. Selection from " The Ruins of Athena" Beethoven Overture, " Melueina" Mendelesohn Aria, " 1)1 militari Unori," Signor Bellew Spolir Hondo in B minor, pianoforte, M. Billet Mendelesolin Scene., " Ocean, thou mighty Monster," Mme. Clara Novell.) (Oberon) Weber Symphony lu B Sat Beethoven EMT 11. Overture, " Frelsehiitz " Weber Air and Chorus (Loreley) Mendeleaohn Aria "Udite," Sig. Belletti (L'Elissir !'Amore) Donizetti Part Song, " Behold the Woods" ld eudelssolin Wedding March . Mendelseuhu . . Conductor, Dr. Wylie. The great orchestral piece of the evening was Beet hoven's symphony in B tint, one of the most beautiful of his works. It was carefully and well performed; and if some parts of it comparitively failed in effect, the fault was more in the hall than in the band or the conductor. Exeter hall is not well fitted for this kind of music; it is too large, and, unless when tilled by a very crowded audience, bas an echo which renders rapid and complex passages indistinct and contused. In this symphony, the first allegro, being taken in moderate time, went well, and the adagio was beautiful; but the minuetto and finale were so quick as to be quite inarticulate. Mendelssohn's imaginative overture to ifelusina was also indistinct and obscure. The best orchestral performance of the evening was the overture to the Freischiitz, which was played with immense fire, and loudly encored. M. Billet executed Mendelssohn's rondo with much bril liancy, and was warmly applauded. In the vocal music the selection from The Ruins of Athens, in cluding the famous chorus and dance of dervishes, was given with excellent effect. Belletti was encored in the fine air from Jessonda ; and Madame Clara Novello's performance of the scents from Oberon was a magnificent display of vocal power. The same lady sang the scene from Mendelssohn's unfinished opera, Loreley, in a style not less admirable; but this remarkable composition has never, at any time we have heard it, made that impression on the audience which it is surely capable of doing. The concert was well attended, and on the whole highly successful, MADAME rUZZI'S CONCERT.— Madame Puzzi's annual concert on Monday morning consisted almost entirely of vocal music of the Italian school, selected from the opHae of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Mercauante, and Meyer beer, and performed by a numoer of favorite singers, among whom were Mme. Clara Novello, Mme. Gassier, Mine. Fiorentini, Signor Salvi , Signor Ciabatta, Signor Marras, Signor Belletti, M. Gassier, Mr. Pierre, and Signor Bettini. The pieces they sang were very familiar to the musical public, but they were selected with taste and well performed. The only novelties were instrumental. M. Ascher, a pianist newly arrived, played a fantasia of his own composition—a light and brilliant piece, quite in the modern style ; and a duetto concertante for the clarionet and contrabasso, composed by Signor Bottesini, was performed by Signor Belletti and the composer. Signor Belletti (not our favorite singer) is a clarionet player of the highest order, anti every body knows the marvellous achievements of Bottesini on his gigantic instrument. This duet is a very masterly composition, and was executed with a finish and brilliancy which could scarcely be surpassed. The concert was conducted by Mr. Benedict., Signor I'ilotti, and Signor Vera, who by turns accompanied the vocal pieces, and the room was crowded by a dis tinguished and fashionable audience. We are compelled, from want of space, to defer our notice of Madame Grisi's reappearance. CRESIORNE AND SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. — The regular season at these delightful gardens com mences on Monday next, when increased attractions will be presented for the public over and above those of former years. Among the alterations and im provements in the first-named which have been so extensively introduced, we must notice the two new and great leading features of structural adornment — the Temple of Mahomet the Second, and the Turco- French Illuminative Arch, both of which display, in design and execution, very considerable talent. The temple is an elaborate model of a Turkish mosque, painted by Jones, in imitation of the varied and peculiar Oriental style, and its outline is that of the great Christian church of Santa Sophia, which the Turks appropriated many years since, being some what similar in form to a Greek cross inclosed in a quadrangle. The arch is brilliantly painted in alle gory, showing the course events will probably take from the action of the combined European powers against Russian aggression, and displays the stan dards of the five united countries, —England, France, Austria, Turkey, and Sardinia; and when illuminated, the structure presents spirited and striking likenesses of Victoria, Louis Napoleon, and the Pacha, supported SATURDAY,