The Press. — London, England, 1856-05-10 00:00:00

alimegementof the committee. Alluding to the wee 4ional difficulties of literary men, he adduced a remark able instance in the case of M. de Chateaubriand, baying been a,sistedby the society, as a proof that its bene fi ce nce was not limited only to Englishmen. His r o yal Highness concluded by announcing a gift of itml/. from the literary executors of the late Sir Robert I'eel, as well as the annual gift of 1001. from Iler I,lajeaty. The report was then read, by which it ap peared that the funds of the society amount to 21000/. Consols, and 8,1071. stock, of the Newton Pr° p e rty, the Whitechapel estate of which last year brought in rents to the amount of 2031. Fifty-three grants had been made 1111 the present year to the amount of 1,0051. 31r. ReeEnT BELL, :n proposing the toast of " The Writers of Periodical Literature," availed himself of the o pportunity of alluding to the many obliga tions which the Literary Fund owed to the Royal Family. George IV.. William IV., Queen Victoria, Queen Adelaide, the Duchess of Kent, Prince Albert, and the Dukes of Kent, York, Sussex, and Cambridge, had not only manifested great interest in the success of the society, but had by the most munificent aid contributed to raise it to its present position. The list of chairmen included all the royal dukes, and was now completed by the gallant soldier who then so ably presided : It was an auspicious occasion. The union of arms and letters—the fraternisation, so to speak, of the sword and the pen—recalled the age when the purest gallantry and highest accomplishments were cultivated in common by the most distinguished men—the age of the Surreys, the Sidneys, and the Falklands. No person could better than his Royal Highness appreciate the consolations of literature to the soldier in the camp, iu the hour of sick ness, and the scanty intervals of leisure; nor would it be easy to conceive a more appropriate position than that which his Royal Highness now filled with so much honour to himself, when, returning, crowned with victory from the war, in which he bore so conspicuous a part, he inaugurated the establishment of a happy peace, by presiding at a fes tival dedicated to the interests of literature. Looking back upon the constant support which the fund had received from the Royal Family, it was impossible to forget the active sympathy and valuable aid it had received from the aristocracy. From the very commencement they had been amongst its most earnest and liberal supporters ; nor did he exaggerate the importance of their services when he said that it owed its existence and preservation to their early help and continued support By no part of their conduct had the aristocracy more fully established their claim upon the respect of their fellow-countrymen than by the strong interest they have always manifested in the public charities; and, although he was far from considering the Literary Fund in the light of an ordinary charity, but rather as the grateful acknowledgment and imperfect dis charge of the large debt which the world owed to scholars and literary labourers, be thought that the committee, of which he was a member, and who knew by experience the importance of that noble benevolence, would be wanting in their duty if they did not testify their full sense of its benefits. He trusted that the relations between men of the highest rank and the professors of literature might long sub- sist, and be still more closely cultivated They were not the relations of patronage on the one baud, and a vulgar sycophancy to great people on the other. The real vulgarity lay in such a suspicion. The intercourse between the two nobilities of mind and birth were carried on upon equal terms. The republic of letters kne , v no aristoracy but that of genius. And whoever in the name of literature desired to separate the classes that were mutually engaged in promoting the interests of its professors, wronged the true mission of literature, whose civilising influence was directed, nut to widen the social distance between classes, but to draw them together on the common neutral ground of knowledge and intellectual elhure. The toast was responded to by Mr. P•CEVE ; and the Bishop of OXFORD, who came in for a short time, re sponded ou behalf of the Vice-I'residents in a brief but eloquent address. The Duke of Cambridge then proposed " The Literature and Science of the Ilnited States, and his Excellency the American Minister." Mr. Dma.as replied, and recalled the fact that in 177:3 Franklin had originally sanctioned, as prest ddnt, the formation of tba present society. Alluding ti the progress of American literature, Mr. Dallas rematked of his countrymen : They owe a heavy debt, payable in the coin of the brain, to the genius of this island. But let rt:o say, that they labour indefatigably to reduce that. debt, and already they e-eaSe to regard ass hopeless achievement the pvtuent of Vie debt in full. (Hear, hear.) Since my arrival, and during the last se ven wee k s th at I h ave been in your great o tpital, I have been delighted to listen to eulogies on Arne r.can juridical science coming ftatn the lips of those who a-c the most exalted and learned in Westminster-hall. h .i ive been delight e d t o heel. intermingled the names of son, Bancroft, Macaulay, Prescott, Grote, said Irving. I have been delighted to remark that no exclusion from the al inia , t magical precincts of Waveriey," and " Vanity and My Novel "is harshly pronounced against the Indian romances and the sea stories of Cooper, or against the " House with Seven Gables " (Hear, or the " Scarlet Letter." , hear.) And in tine I have been delighted to per. "we as having grown obsolete and permanently banished THE PRESS. the sarcastic criticism I used to hear in my youth—" who reads an American book?' (" Hear, hear," and cheers.) It is trout this harmony of scientific andliterary expression between the two countries that we draw the best hope of harmony in the general intercourse between them. (Load cheers.) The influence of authors over communities were neither to be doubted nor exaggerated. Let us, then, trust that the copious, strong, and polished language which is common to England and America, may cease to be the medium of strife--( loud cheers )—but, on the contrary, be• come the instrument of mutual instruction, of conciliation, and of peace. (Loud and continued cheering.) The other toasts (which, it may be remarked, were not interspersed as usual with vocal music, no singers or pianists being present) were—" The Writers on Science, and Professor Owen," proposed by Mr. Napier, M.P. ; "The Travellers, and Dr. Sandwith," proposed by Lord Dynevor ; "The Stewards; " and " The Ladies." After which the company separated at a somewhat late Lour. Mu. GLADSTONE M.P., laid the foundation-stone on Thursday of a iree school for the poor of Golden lane and Whitecross-street, in St. Thomas Charter house. The right hon. gentleman, after the cere mony, addressed the meeting at some length, and pointed out the necessity of a neighbourhood crowded with 2,400 families and 3,100 children, of whom only 715 attended school, possessing more means of education. The progress of population in the east was continually going on, and the children must be educated:— He believed those who, with him, adhered to the prin- ciple that it was wise to draw payment from the labouring classes, so called, for the education of their children, were yet prepared to go along with the founders of this school when they were dealing with a clan who were not called the labouring elasses,—by whom ho meant, inde pendent of their vocation, persons who had fixed abodes, but with a floating sea of human life, in which were tossed up and down a huge mass of less fortunate beings, not inaptly termed " the Arabs of modern civilisation " great masses of energy and animal and mental life, but untamed and unreclaimed; and he did not for a mo• ment question the wisdom of the principle with which they threw open the doors of their school to that class of the population, and bade them come and receive freely the knowledge which they offered them. A CURIOUS ACCIDENT happened to the City Canal Dock, Limehouse, on Tuesday night. During low water, at nine p.m., some repairs were being made to the dock-gates, which for some time past have been in a precarious condition. Suddenly the gates burst open, and, with a roar like ten thousand thunder claps, the waters, nearly forty-three feet above the level, rushed into the river. The dock was, of course, nearly drained in a few minutes, and the vessels left in the mud. Happily but little damage was done, and no lives were lost. The dock gates are now repaired. THE ROYAL ACADEMY DINNER came off without any remarkable incident last Saturday. The usual com plimentary toasts were proposed and speeches de livered. A witty remark made on the occasion, and attributed to a certain eminent legal lord, is worth recording. Standing before Hunt's picture, No. 398, he observed that it was a capital portrait of "Lord Stratford, de Redcliffe." THE MAY MEETINGS, apparently like the summer, have set in with their usual severity. The Churcl: Missionary Society, the Wesleyan Missionary Society, and the British and Foreign Bible Society, have held their annual meetings this week. The affairs of each of these admirable societies, which appear to have ma terially extended their influence during the past year, seem by the reports to be in a satisfactory state. The British and Foreign School Society, the Field.lane Ragged-schools, and the Naval and Military Bible Society have also held their annual meetings this week. , •-• I flt tI. AT A MEETING OF THE MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL this week an address was proposed, congratulating her Majesty on the conclusion of peace. The repre sentatives of the peace party in the council con curred in the object of the address, but objected to expressions' in the document acknowledging the " justice and necessity of the war," and speaking of " the spirit of aggression and aggrandisement " which led to the war as having " been triumphantly chastised." The question was put to the vote, and the address carried by a majority of 35 to 9. 31. KOSSUTH has commenced at Birmingham the delivery of his series of lectures on the Austrian Concordat. Upwards of two thousand persons were present in the Town-hall upon the delivery of his first lecture on Wednesday evening. THE GERMAN JAGEaS stationed at Maker Heights, Plymouth, have evinced some insubordination this week, and refused to do duty. Sixty-five men were imprisoned in the citadel at Plymouth on Thursday, and a court of inquiry is now sitting. The Jagers complain that their drill hi too severe, and that they were only enlisted while war continued. M A Y 10 minagemei tional ("Abe able instan having bee] b e neficence Royal I li g lthit. from Robert Pet Ifer Majeal The re; peered tin 21,:300/. C property, brought , in grants hai amount of Mr. Ron Writers of of the opp, tions whicl Family. ( Queen Ade and the DE had not on of the soci, contribute( list of chaff was now CC so ably pre It was an letters—the the pen—ri and highest by the most the Sidney,' than his it( literature to nests, and th easy to con which his R to himself, I war, in whic the establisl tival dedicat upon the cc from the R active symp aristocracy. amongst its he exaggera said that it early help a By no part fully estab' fellow-cont have alwa) although Fund in th as the ore charge o f e scholars ai committee knew by benevolent (lid not tee trusted thi rank and I silt, and b They wet baud, and other. Th , intercourse were carrier kne , v no a the name o were mutu ytofessors, civilising distance bi the entnnao e thure. The toe Bishop of sponded ( but eloqu, proposed States, ai Mr. D, 177:3 Fre dint, the t) the pi rental kelt They ow to the geni MAY 10, 1856, SECOND EDITION. SATURDAY AFTERNOON. LATEST INTELLIGENCE. EVACUATION OF THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES. Intelligence from Paris (Saturday morning) states : A telegraph from Vienna announces, on authority, that General Coronini has formally notified to Prince (Mika the approaching evacuation of the Danubian principahtie a by the Austrian troops, within a period of six months. Baron Brunow, having accomplished his mission, leaves London this afternoon for Frankfort. General the Hon. Charles Grey, Equerry to the Queen, has been charged to proceed to St. Peters burg, on Monday next, bearing an autograph letter from her Majesty to the Emperor Alexander. The official announcement of M. de Morny's appointment as Ambassador to St. Petersburg appeared in yesterda)'s Noniteur. His Excellency, it is expected, will depart about the middle of June. LONGFOED ELECTION. Captain Shuldhaxn has retired limn the contest, and Mr. H. G. Hughes, Q.C., will have a wziAi over. A correspondence has just taken pace between the Bishop of Bangor and the Rev. Bulkeley Jones, warden of Ruthin, Denbighshire, in connection with the movement for multiplying services in Wales. The bishop, having ascertained that the warden had invited several of the clergy of the deanery of Dyffryn Clwyd to join the movement, wrote to the rev. gentleman on the 26th Feb., and threatened him with prosecution if he did not retrace his steps. The warden replied, when the bishop returned a second answer : You have sent me a sheet of foolscap paper full of non sensical and impertinent trash as might be expected from a young man of your calibre. It is to be regretted that this sheet of foolscap cannot be applied to its original use —that you cannot be sent, with a foolscap on your head, and a fool's rod at your breech, to be whipped through the precincts of Christ's Hospital, and the main street of the town of Ruthin. After a further correspondence, the bishop closes the . _ subject with a notice that at the expiration of three months he sball revoke the rev. gentleman's license. The Jager Mutiny at Plymouth is suppressed. The principal offenders were flogged yesterday on the citadel green. Mr. Thackeray, after a most successful lecturing tour through the United States, returned to England on Wednesday last. The Dowager Queen of Denmark, widow since 1848 of King Christian VIII., will leave Copenhagen at the end of May and proceed to Bains d'Ems, and finally visit France in July. Her Majesty will be accompanied by the Countess d'Oldenbourg. An approaching marriage of Prince Adalbert of Bavaria, brother to the King, with an Infanta of Spain, daughter of Don Francesco de Paula, brothel of the late King Ferdinand VII., and uncle to the present Queen, is rumoured. Saturday morning, 11 a.m. Ni ft for Account .. .. FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE. Tuesday, May 6. BANKRUPTS.--Jewns WELCH, York-grow North, Old Kent. road, builder—Lours ADOLPH HuRE, Albany-street, Regent's park, COOk—HARCOURT MASTER MARLEY and FOSTER REY- Noun', Old itruad-street, City, silkaien—TnoiLts tionNzn, st. John-street, and Bridporteplace, Buxton, surgeon— Tnowss BATE, Birmingham, hat manttfactiwer—Jons LIZARS, Binning hum, general sealer—HENiot THORNTON, Birmingham, and Wal sall. Staffordshire, baker—G lIAJIAM Pntm.ipsox, Stamford, Lin colnshire, wine merchant—HonnuT WEBB, Newport, Monmouth shire, ironmonger—EnmoNnson Agin/4AL and JOHN ABRAHAM ROBINSON, Belton-le-Moors, Lancashire, machine malmrs-- CriatsTorman TvER, Bohan : le-bloors, Lancashire, machine maker AlcusL Isaics, Maneheater, cigar dealer. Friday, May 9. 11BANKRUPTS.—WiLman Foan, Chipping Lambourne, Berk- shire, innkeeper—Uaian DISCARD, King's Lynn, Norfolk, cabinetmaker and! upholsterer—Hgnßy CHARLES BROERS, Leadenhall•atreet, metal and general merchant—M'il. Agent. Jun., Tooley-street, Southwark, carrier—MAgwria. HONEY. Maidstone, grocer—PETEß PETCII DUCE, Jar, ME Abbey. York shire, cattle dealer—TH(4lAS DAVIES, Liverpool. merchant-- PATRICE MCDONNELL, :Manchester, cabinetmaker—Wm. FRYER, Nottingham, wholesale draper—JOHN JENKIRSON, Kingston upon-Hull, china and earthenware dealer—tirtriamix WlLsots, Greshanrstreet, City, money scrivener— Geoaoa FREDERICK OWEN, LeWillbalYl, butcher.-41gonas Magnin°, bbeptou Somersetaldre, innkeeper. 443