The Press. — London, England, 1855-01-20 00:00:00

JANUARY 20, 1855. labourers from offering their services to Southern culti- Witors; and, if they come, it Would probably be only to starve. Hence the South can increase only by the neces sary operations of nature ; and in this respect we believe we may compare favourably with the North. The pro gress which we have made, therefore, is native and inde pendent of foreign resources. It is positive, and has the elements of stabi ity. The writer goes on to intimate that the very opposite policy would have been nearer to true wisdom : We have closed oar porta to those who never could affect our political state, and have thrown them open to others who threaten to destroy us. Had we continued the importation of slaves, our progress would, perhaps, have equalled that of the North. With all her advantages, it is not long since she outstripped us in our carver. Passing by the only purely literary critique in the number, that on " Petrarch's Laura," and an essay on the "Political Philosophy of South Carolina," we come to the concluding review on some New York periodicals, which are severely condemned for their attscks on slavery, and for their attempts to weaken the Union by sowing dissension between the South and the North. Here, as throughout the review, we see how broad a gulf this slavery question has created between the States of the Union on one side and on the other. The discord must, from the nature of the case, increase in violence as the slave population of the South continues to increase in numbers. By the census of 1830 the slave popula tion of the States was 2,009,031 ; by the census of 1840 it had only increased to 2,487,355 ; but in 1850 it had risen to 3,204,007, a much more rapid rate of increase than had ever previously been known. Wbea we recollect that in 1790 there were only four States where slavery was practically operative, viz., idarylnaid, Virginia, and the two Carolinas, and that the whole number of slaves throughout the Union was short of 700,000, we cannot but be struck with 'the immense expansion of the slave interest in modem times. It is evident that this interest now threatens the very existence of the Union. In some States the slave approaches the free population in numbers, and in one or two States is the prepon derating element. In Alabama, as will be seen by the subjoined figures, the slave population about keeps pace with the free, but in South Carolina, while the free population remains nearly stationary, •the slave increases : 1850 Free. Slave. Free. Slave. Free. Slave. •Alabama ..191,978 117,549 337,224 253,532 426,779 342,692 S. Carolina 265,784 315,491 267,360 82",03e 283,528 364,964 'The case of South Carolina, with its preponderating _slave population, is too isolated to justify reasoning on the danger to society from this cause ; but the undeni able fact of the increase of slaves in the southern States must tend to perpetuate slavery as a settled :and recognised institution of the States, or to 'explode the Union. The abolitionists must see with concern this monstrous and growing obstacle to the realisation of their hopes. The progress made by several of the new slave States, as of Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennesse, Kentucky, and Alabama, is 'even greater than that of the free States generally; and for good or for ill, it is evident that in many 'of those mighty tracts of territory which have but lately been incorporated into the American Union, slavery has taken firm root, and must grow with their ,growth and strengthen with their strength. The Irish Quarterly is strong in articles upon 44 National Education," " Convict Systems," and " Re formatory Schools," and contains a good paper upon *" The Removal of the Irish Poor." For reference upon 'several of the social questions of the times, the pre sent number will be found very useful, and we are ;promised in the succeeding issues a full history of lthe factory schools. PUBLICATIONS BECEIVEI) BOOKS. Philip Lancaster. Maria Morris. Saunders and Otley. The Neighbours of Russia. R. J. Morell. Edinburgh: Nelson and Sons. The Roving Englishman in Turkey. Routledge. Memoirs of James Montgomery. J. Holland and J. Everett. Longman and Co. Lays and Lyrics. C. R. Brown. Hall and Virtue Wedding Gloves. Blackwood. Fables of Birds and Beasts. Mien Corner. Dean and Son. Mother Goose. Ditto. Ditto. P, British Cavalry Songs. Conversation. War Waits. Town Dwellings. Battle of the Alma. J. W. Fletcher. Theobald. B.gns of the Times. C. iiirchenhall. Hardwicke. Tke Christian at Rome. Fowles. Poultry Almanac. Orr and Co. Observations on the War. Simpkin and hlarshall. Hall. Parker and Son. Bogue• Weale. THERE are no less than one hundred and twenty ragged schools in London. Between forty and fifty of these schools employ boys as shoeblacks in the streets, under one or other various religious and benevolent societies. THE PitESS. pusit. JULLIEN'S CONCERTS.—Tuesday evening in this week was devoted to a selection from Beethoven's works, and the " Beethoven Festival," as M. Jullien terms these special selections, was undoubtedly the best performance which we have as yet had at these concerts. The selection included the overture to Leonora (op. 37), the pianoforte concerto in C minor, the violin concerto in 1), the symphony in C minor, and an exquisite aria, "In questa tomba oscura." The whole of these works are so well known to our musical readers that any description of them would be superfluous, but we may be allowed to make a few remarks upon their execution on the present occasion. The opening overture to Leonora and the con• eluding symphony in C minor are such stock pieces that we need only bear witness to the excellence of the performance by the orchestra, whose efficiency and brilliant execution was most en thusiastically applauded by the audience. The piano forte concerto in C minor was performed by Mme. Pleyel with unrivalled power, combined with the most refined feeling and expression. It was, in deed, a most superb performance ; for to the most perfect mechanical skill this gifted lady adds a tho rough intelligence of the spirit of the work that she interprets, and her performance, as it merited, created a perfect furore, as the phrase is, among the prome naders. Every movement was played amid almost breathless silence, followed by shouts of applause, in which enthusiasm and bad Italian were amusingly mingled. Why will English audiences persist in ap plying the epithet " bravo " to a lady ? The violin con certo in D, a complex but exquisite work, was per formed by Herr Ernst with the most spirited and brilliant expression, but it appeared to be rather above the taste of the majority—" 'twas caviare to the general"—and signs of impatience were mani fest before the completion of the first movement; the andante, however, restored good humour, but the great length of the finale again tried the public pa tience, and, in spite of the applause which was ren dered to the illustrious performer, it was pretty evident that most of the audience were glad that it was over, and entirely of M. Fuseli's opinion, "that to be long and at the same time interesting is given to few," and that the concerto in D was not included in that minority. So much, however, has been done by M. Jullien in improving the taste of our unmusical public, that we do not despair of seeing works like this concerto received at some future time with just tribute to their merits. Meanwhile, we will accept their mere toleration by a mixed audience as " aus picium melioris revi." In the beautiful melancholy aria, " In questa tombs oscura," Miss Dolby achieved a most happy success : it is an air well suited to her powers, and as a consequence she was most enthu siastically encored. The house, of course, was crowded to excess, and if anything was wanting to prove the growing musical taste of the public, it could easily have been found in the quiet attention to, and the intense enjoyment of, the magnificent compositions of this great master (Beethoven) per formed as they were upon this occasion in so un rivalled a manner. Truly, we owe a great deal to M. Jullien, whose benefit, we may observe, took place last evening, upon which occasion the andante and finale from Mendelssohn's concerto in G minor was performed by Mme. Pleyel, and some charming arias from Auber's operas sung by Mme. Anna Thillon. The house, as the phrase is, was a "bumper," and M. Jullien was most enthusiastically applauded. On Tuesday next "The Mozart Fes tival" takes place, upon which occasion Herr Ernst, with Mme. Pleyel, will perform one of Mozart's sonatas. The famous " Addio" is also to he sung by Miss Dolby. The concerts terminate on Wednesday the 31st; and the Bat Masque, which is to be upon an unrivalled scale of splendour, takes place on the following Friday. ST. MARTIN'S-HALL.—On Wednesday evening an oratorio, entitled The Nativity, by Mrs. Bartholomew was brought out under the direction of Mr. Hullah. An oratorio composed by a lady is quite a novelty in musical annals, and a great amount of interest was excited upon this occasion. The hall was crowded to excess, and the strictest attention paid to the per formance. Mrs. Bartholomew is well known in the musical world for her many excellent vocal and in strumental compositions, but a work of such magni• tude as an oratorio, and a subject of such sublimity as The Nativity, requires talent of the highest order, genius in fact, to produce such a masterpiece of music as an oratorio should be. It is hardly possible to criticise a great work like an oratorio upon one hearing, and, indeed, we have no space to enter into a detailed analysis of The Nativity, but will only re mark that the beauties of the composition lie in the solos and concerted vocal pieces, of which " Oh, Zion lift thy raptured eye," was very beautifully sung by Mrs. Endersohu ; " Behold thy servant," by Miss Hud dart ; and a quartet of angels, " Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid." These were all exquisitely snug, and encored with enthusiasm ; but the choruses appeared too simple, lamentably weak, and without 67 any richness of combination. The execution of the work was highly creditable to Mr. Hullah, and the libretto, which is written by Mr. Bartholomew, shows great taste and judgment. I.; is a connected series of passages from Scripture announcing the advent and birth of our Lord, accompanied by a few lyrical passages from the works of Heber, Campbell, &c. Mrs. Bartholomew was loudly called for at the con clusion of the oratorio, and very warmly applauded upon her appearance. The Nativity was followed by Beethoven's Mount of Olives, the principal vocal parts being sustained by Mrs. Endersohn, Mr. Weiss, and Mr. Allen. SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY.—HEUIdert3 Judas Maccabeus was performed last evening before s crowded audience in Exeter-hall. The principal parts were sustained by Mine. Rudersdortf, Mrs. Lockey, Miss Messeut, Mr. Sims Reeves, Mr. Williams and Mr. Weiss. ate putout. PRINCESB'B.—On Saturday last an adaptation of Casimir Delavigne's play of Louis XI. was produced at this theatre with great success. That this success was merited by either the excellence of the adapta tion or the merits of the principal actor, to whom it has been generally attributed, we cannot allow. In dialogue, the play in its English form is mediocrity itself; all its blank verses do not contain one single line of poetry, and the jokes—are translated ones. The character of Louis XI., in whom the interest of the piece is entirely centred, was played by Mr. Kean, whose impersonation has been the subject of must extravagant, and, it appears to us, unmerited eulogies. In the opinion of a contemporary, no mean authority in histrionic matters, not one of the great lights in the memory of the elders of the present generation, could have produced a similar representation of the character. We are perfectly ready to admit this, though perhaps not exactly in the sense in which it is intended, but when we are gravely assured that we must go back to the days of David Garrick himself for an adequate representation of the character, we must beg to be permitted to withdraw our assent, for there are many of the lesser luminaries of the stage who would have played Louis XI. as well as Mr. Kean, and some few who would have avoided most of his greater blunders. In fact, the old gentleman who shuffled about the stage with the regular conven tional stiff knees of theatrical senility, was Mr. Kean every inch,and not one tittle of him Louis X/. Those abrupt changes of voice, from the loud tones of anger to the level of ordinary conversation, do we not know them of old as we know the personnel of the actor, with all those charming peculi arities of pronunciation, which are part and parcel, according to the highest authorities, of the only correct system of spoken English? And while on this subject we may observe that we cannot comprehend why Mr. Kean should con vert horoscope into horyscope, why " sacrilegious" should become" sacrilidgious," and the unfortunate Duc de Nemours, disguised as Revel, should be unmasked in the great scene as " Nummores" (as if the king had had enough of him, and wanted to tell him so) ; but, no more can we discover in Mr. Kean's acting a reason for the assertion of his admirers, that he is greater than all the great actors of' the past, David Garrick alone excepted. Much has been said of Mr. Kean's extraordinary power of depicting the approach of death : the dying scene on Saturday gave little evidence of this facility. It is surely not by panting through a mouth made up into a circle, and speaking in a stage whisper, that death is correctly imitated; and Mr. Kean did little more than this. There was none of that labouring utterance of those words divided by quickly-suc ceeding inspirations,—" paroles entrecoupies,"—and but little of the langour which precedes death. It is almost impossible for a living, healthy person to correctly imitate death, as those who have seen the awful reality, as well as the counterfeit, well know; one reason being, perhaps, that for some short time before death respiration is performed almost entirely by the muscles in the upper part of the thorax. An actor always heaves his chest laboriously, and thus represents a person out of breath, instead of one in the act of dying ; but still a much nearer approach can be made than was made by Mr. Kean, and those who have seen Mlle. Rachel act will be unlikely to subscribe to the exaggerated praises which have been lavished upon Mr. Kean's death scene in Louis XI. His attitude, we admit, was very natural as he lay in a swoon on the sofa, and the terror in his eyes when he felt his dreaded enemy clutching at his heartstrings at last, and knows that " this is indeed death," was very fine. The best piece of acting, however, in the whole play is his unmanly terror at the conspirator's dagger; the whole expression of the face, the eyes striving in vain to close themselves, that they may shut out the horrible reality before them, the husky scream for mercy, and then, after the escape of the assassin, the sudden return of Louis's natural fero