The Sun. — London, England, 1860-02-23 00:00:00

ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA, 1 COVENT-GARDEN. Under the management of Miss L. Pyne and Mr. W. Harrison. TIIIS EVENING (Thursday), will be produced a grand Opera, entitled LURLINE, by W. Vincent Wallace. Messrs. W. Harrison, Santley, Corti, and G. Honey ; Misses Louisa Pyne, Pilling, and F. Cruise, Conductor, Alfred Mellon. To conclude with the new grand pantomime, called PUSS IN BOOTS ; or, Harlequin and the Fairy of the Golden Palms. Messrs. W. 11. Payne, 11. Payne, F. Payne, Barnes, Tall kn, Infants Lauri, and Miss Clara Morgan. Doors open at hall-past 6—Commence at 7. THEATRE-ItO YAL, HAYMARKET. Lessee, Mr. J. B. Buckstone. THIS EVENING, will be performed a new and original Comedy, , TILE OVERLAND ROUTE. in Messrs. three C.acts Mathews,entitled Buckstone, Compton, Chip pendale, Mrs. C. Mathews, Miss Weekes, and Mrs. Wilkins. After which, the new Haymarket Comic Christmas Panto mime, VALENTINE'S DAY; or, Harlequin and the Fairy of the True Lovers' Snot. The pantomimists the unrivalled Leclercqs. THEATRE -ROYAL LYCEUM.— Sole Lessee and Directress, Madame Celeste. Brilliant and Increased Success of the new Drama—Colette Dubois and Therese Defarge, by Madame Celeste. Tills EVENING, the new Drama of A TALE OF TWO CITIES, by Tom Taylor, Esq., from the story of that name by Charles Dickens, Esq. Principal characters by Mr. James Vining', Walter Lacy, Villiers, Rouse, Forrester, J. Johnstone, T. Lyon, Morton, Palmer, White, H. Butler, Clifford, and Fredericks ; Misses Kate Saville, Stuart, Turner, Mrs. Campbell, and Madame Celeste. - - - - - - Atter which, will be produced the Grand Christmas Ex travacranza and Pantomime, KING TARES fIBEARD, the LITTLE PET and the GREAT PASSION, in which is pre sented one of the most novel, costly, and brilliant effects ever witnessed -designed and painted by Mr. William Gallcott.— King Thrushbeard, Miss Julia St. George. Commence at 7. RO YA L PRINCESS'S THEATRE.- Lessee. Mr. A. Harris. Re-engaement of the Wonderful Dancer, Mons. Espinosa. First appearance of Mdlle. Marietta Rosetta, Principal Dan sense of La Scala, Milan ;' and the Delapierre Family. These highly-talented Children will appear every night. The Royal Princess's Rifles on parade every evening. THIS EVENING, the Comedy of MONET. Messrs. Geo. Melville, Ryder, Frank Mathews, Widdicomb, H. Bland, 11. Saker, Garden, Graham ; Misses Carlotta Leclercq, Clifford, and Mrs Charles Young After which, a new Christmas burlesque pantomime, by H. J. Byron, called JACK T 1114: GIANT KILLER ; or, Harle quin King Art'Aur and the Knights of the Round Table. Jack, Miss Louise Keeley—Harlequin, Mr. Cormack Panta loon, Mr. Paulo—Columbine, Miss Caroline Adams—Clown, Mr. A. F. Forrest. W THEATRE - ROYAL, AD ELPHI Sole rroprietor and Manager, Mr. Benj. Webster. Second Week of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Wigan. THIS EVENING, to commence with THE BENGAL TIGER. Messrs. Alfred Wigan, J. L. Toole, Eburne, Mrs. A. Wigan, and Mrs, Billington. After which (by desire, at eight o'c.ock), and for this night only, THE DEAD HEART. Messrs. Benjamin Webster, J. L. Toole, David Fisher, P. Bedford, C. J. Smith, Billington, Powell, Romer, Miss Woolgar, K. Kelly. Doors open at half-past six—Commence at seven. Box- Office open from 10 to 5. No charge for securing seats, nor for bills of performance. All fees to servants of this establishment arc strictly prohibited. Acting Manager—Mr. Win. Smith. ROYAL ST. JAMES'S THEATRE, Ring-street, St. James's. Lessee, Mr. T. B. Chatter ton. Directress, Miss Wyndham. The nearest Theatre to Chelsea, Pimlico, and Westminster, the Park being open to carriages and foot passengers all hours of the night. T ETIS RVRNING the performances will commence with MAGIC TOYS. Miss Lydia Thompson. After which, FIRST AFT EuTIONS. Messrs. H. T. Craven, G. Spencer, and Miss Wyndham. Followed by a new burlesque called DIDO. Mr. Charles Young, Mesdames Wyndham, Clara St. Casse, Murray, Eliza Arden, C. Ranoe, A. Evans, and Corps de Ballet. To conclude with I WILL, IF YOU WILL. Reduced Prices—Gallery, 6d ; Pit, is. The Box-office open from 11 to 5 daily. Doors open at half-past six; perform ance commences at 7. CANTERBURY HALL CONCERTS.- . T HIS EVENING, LUCREZIA BORGIA, (Donizetti). Donna Lucrezia Manic Orsini Mrs. Anderson. Gennaro Mr. Henry Herbert. Don Altonzo Signor Tivoli. Conductor—Mr. Jonghm ans. Comic Vocalists —Messrs. George Hodson (the Irish Come dian and Mimic), W. T. Critellileld, and E. W. Mackney. Several interesting Pictures are added to the Fine Arts Gallery. The suite of Halls have been re-decorated and beautified, and constitute one of the most unique and brilliant sights of the metropolis. The gallery is open from 5 111111 on Sunday Evening. THE WEATHER.-SUN OFFICE, FEB. 23, 1860. THERMOMETER, IN THE SHAM 44—highest since noon yesterday. 34—lowest this morning and during the night. 42—this day at noon. BAROMETER-30.23 ; rising. WIND, South-Westerly ; moderato, with fine weather. Sharp frost in the night. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. THIS DAY.—Morning, 3h. 6m.—Afternoon, 3h. 21m. To-uORROW.-Morning, 3h. 34m.—Afternoon, 3h. 47m. , •;-,,,tx.4.4;14;; 14- ~ 4 .‘,;- ,4 - - -4 , , ,„ , -,- kA.I, ~ ~,- 'Sri: 4,,(--,,,,6 ,- t-- :7, ~ a+ tf44 34 , - ~..S ..',ol'' r- t.A 4 C - rt_lll . l' ;i1j.44,4: U " r . N' THE SUN. LONDON, THURSDAY, FEB. 23, 1860. Hard upon the heels of the Commercial Treaty between France and England, comes A New Con• vention between the Allied Governments ! A Con vention relative to the prizes that may result from the approaching expedition against the Chinese ! This certainly looks as if the Allies were in earnest about bringing the Celestials to speedy and serious account for their treacherous and even infamous ambuscade behind the Peiho fortifications. The Convention, it is true, is not yet actually signed ; but it is understood to be on the eve of receiving in due sequence signatures and ratifications. This being the case, there is (to say the very least of it) a minor degree of probabilty that the expedition will be paralysed in its operations when once it approaches those remote shores from which the blood of our entrapped and butchered countrymen cries loudly for retribution. It was not unreason ably dreaded, under the circumstances, that the expedition to China might partake more of the character of a mere idle demonstration. The Earl of ELGIN'S nomination once more to the post of Pleni potentiary augured well, of course, in itself for the skill and vigour of our diplomatic proceedings. But —it could hardly fail to be borne in recollection that those charming cotton-spinning Utopians of the Manchester school, the Peace.at-any-pricc mongers were latterly becoming strangely and ominously in the ascendant. Insomuch so, that the Treaty now awaiting the decision of the House of Commons is evidence of the amazing fact that that quondam Diplomatic Fire-eater, Lord PALMER STON, has actually gone the length of accrediting the arch-advocate of the craven doctrines of Peace at-any-Price to the Imperial Court of the Tuile ries as our smooth-spoken Agent-on-the-Sly, or Secret Plenipotentiary. However, while these are literally some of the rather dubious peculiarities of this singularly questionable " situation"—it would appear, upon more careful scrutiny, that many of the old prejudices of those who are involved in these wonderfully suspicious negotiations are dropped one after another in the very nick of time —most conveniently ! Are they not ? Let us see. There is Mr. COBDEN, for example, currying favour with the French Protectionists, and actually going the length of making concessions to them—in the name of Free Trade ! There is Mr. BRIGHT swal lowing a War Budget with a positive relish and a smacking of the lips—although it necessitates a tenpenny income-tax, otherwise mulcting the nation in a time of peace, through the most odious of all war taxes, to the tune annually and indefinitely of £10,000,000 — and although it squanders within a single financial year £30,000,000 upon the naval and military armaments ! These concessions, of course, on the party of the Peace-at any-Price men of Manchester making the due equipoise to the word-eating, the promise-breaking, the modification of opinions (" not to put too fine a point upon it") of such men as the Home Secretary and the Chancellor of th e Exchequer ! 3lodifications such as the remission, at last, of the paper duties—the surrender of which was until yesterday so loudly reprobated—a rc mission, however, that must remain merely nomi nil, wholly idle and incomplete, until the present prohibition of French rags into England, be altogether rescinded! Or still more flagrantly, let us say, the re-imposition of the Income tax at the monstrous rate of 10d. in the £l—by the very man who predicted its final abroga- tion as a peace impost, and in the identical year too, in which he had predicted this its final abro gation ! While these marvellous transformations are taking place—it is, perhaps, not so very sur prising that with the connivance of the advocates of Peace-at-any-Price, the third Chinese war should be inaugurated by the despatch in veritable earnest of a most formidable and energetic expedition. However—there is the convention already alluded to upon the eve of being signed, sealed, exchanged and ratified, by the'. representatives of the allied French and English Governments. And, meanwhile, what, in the name of fortune, can have possessed two of the ablest men on the side of the Opposition—the ex-Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Mr. SEYMOUR FITZGERALD) and, more recently, the ex-Secretary of State for War (General JONATHAN PEEL)—in the inquiries already made by one of them, and on Friday evening to be repeated in a new form by the other, as to the strength, character, and all the rest of it, of the force about to be sent by us upon this third Chinese expedition? There, down upon the Parliamentary papers we find the second of these queries—Mr. FITZGERALD'S we have already taken occasion to reprobate as extraordinarily in discreet and inconsiderate! There, upon the Par liamentary papers we find it notified for to-morrow, Friday, the 24th February, " General PEEL—To ask the Secretary of State for India, what is the amount and description of force that has proceeded, or is about to proceed, from India to China specifying, if possible, the regiments of which the European portion of the force is composed !" Why, the indiscretion of inquiries of this kind is surely manifest, upon one instant's consideration ! To render the whole thing complete : Some one ought to ask immediately if the House of Commons and the public newspapers had not bet ter be supplied at once with a precise out line of the projected campaign, so that the enemy might be carefully prepared at all points to meet their approaching difficulties ! Further com ment is, after this, we presume, quite unnecessary. We only hope the Secretary of State for India, and all other officials who may be similarly cross questioned, will just—say as little as possible ! Nor is this all. There is down upon the Parlia mentary papers, indefinitely for, an earlydate, a notice a great deal more long-winded and (if that be pos sible) still more extraordinary in its way, considering the nature of the motion and the person from whom it has emanated ! To be plain, on Wednesday, the 22d of February (yesterday), the veteran Sir DE LACY EVANS gave notice, under the head " China War," that he would (upon an early date) move the following among other Resolutions :—"That, in the opinion of this house, no sufficient proof has been adduced of the late attack upon the Peiho forts having been authorised by the original instruc tions of her MAJESTY'S Government; that the recourse to force of arms, in order to use a particular route by plenipotentiaries proceeding to ex change ratifications of peace, was unprecedented and inconsistent with the object of a professed amicable mission :—That, although under the untoward consequences of this ill-advised hos tile measure, some strong military demonstration on the part of the allies may unfortuuately be neces sary, in order to restore our relations with the Chinese Government to a more satisfactory footing; yet were the failure of an unauthorised collision made a pretext for operations of an extreme hosti lity, involving for instance an attack on the City of Pekin, or a conquest of territory by either of the allied Powers, such a proceeding would be contrary to every principle of international law, nor would it be less impolitic, as being more likely to interrupt than promote the extension of commerce and diffusion of civilisation amongst the population of that country: That this house humbly participates in the wish ex pressed by her MAJESTY in her most gracious Speech on the opening of this session of Parliament, viz., It will be gratifying to me if the prompt acquiescence of the Emperor of CHINA in the mo derate demands which will be made by the Pleni potentiaries shall obviate the necessity for the em ployment of force.' That conciliatory expressions are also stated, through various credible sources, to have been made by the Emperor of CHINA in rela tion to the conflict at the entrance of the Peiho, which would almost permit of the anticipation ex pressed by Lord S. RUSSELL that peacful relations with the Chinese Government ' may be placed upon a permanent footing without further effusion of blood "'—and so forth. Why, talk of a Sop to Cer berus—this is surely nothing better than throwing a frightened sop to every little mangy cur that snaps at the heels of the British Lion. According to the new policy that is rapidly being organised for us with regard to our nearest neighbour (France) and our remotest (China), we shall be systematically receiving all the kicks and giving all the halfpence ! All we ask in reference to the new or addi tional taxation is, in our idiomatic English " That the collar should be put on the right horse." Mr. GLADSTONE tells us that nearly £4,000,000 will be remitted to consumers, at a loss to the revenue of about a million less than that sum. Who will chiefly benefit by these remissions ? Because, whoever they are, they are the persons whom the additional taxation ought chiefly to strike. So far as we can judge what, in point of income, may be called the lower half of the middle class, will gain nothing. Already the ne cessaries of life to them are beginning to rise, and they are this very day paying advanced prices for several articles touched by the tariff, and because of the altered duties. Small con sumers will most of this class be of French wines, even at the reduced price ; and not many great ga'ners, we imagine, by exchanging th e i r g l ass of English ale fo r the thin w is h - wash of our volatile neighbours. _ The working classes are, in certain districts, likely to be benefited by an increased demand for their la bour, and therefore by increased power to purchase what luxuries they can afford. But on just these luxuries the duties are unaltered. The advantage to them will be, not cheaper:articles, but more to spend on probably c l ear er ones. Currant cakes, it is true, should be cheaper—it remains to be seen whether they will be. The great body, however, of our working men will have, we fear, little or no more to spend. Wages in agricultural districts, and in non-manufacturing towns, will not be likely to rise. Taking, therefore, the working men as a body, all the kingdom over, we fear the changes made will rather lessen than increase their command over the comforts of life. We do not overlook the flow of labour from the country to the towns, and the consequent diminished competition of labour in the rural districts ; but this will be insensible in its operation. It will barely suffice to keep wages from falling. We know full well, at least, that the busiest times at Manchester have produced no impression on the starvation wages of Dorsetshire. Mr. MEcm, not Mr. GLADSTONE, is the man to raise agricultural wages. And then, glancing at the wealthier classes—we see in a moment who are those whom the Budget either spares or enriches. It spares, as we have already shown, the propertied class. It leaves still the legacy and probate duties disgracefully unequal in their favour; it leaves the income tax the same on incomes from property and from labour ; it lays no tax on property. We know it will be said —" How could Mr. GLADSTONE have carried a pro perty tax and equal legacy and probate duties against an army of Whig and Tory landlords ?" Then let us hear no more of the boldness of the Budget. It is bold against tribes of persons as numerous and incapable of co-operation as the tribes of our an cestors in the time of the Romans. It is timid be fore the well-organised host of men of property, who ride into the House on the shoulders of their own serfs, or who hire the services of venal bo roughs. Why, Mr. GLADSTONE'S " Succession Duties" Bill, little as it has accomplished, was a more bold and honest measure than the scheme now before us. It was, at least, an earnest of some thing fair. The Budget spares property; we ask, therefore, emendation on that point first. Bat if it spares one class, it bestows a positive bounty on another. We do not wonder that Mr. BRIGHT should declare himself ready to swallow the whole Budget and the Treaty at one gulp. Cotton and iron are the two great interests they were intended to propitiate. One large manufac turer in the north told the gentleman from whom we had it, that he expected, when the treaty came into full operation, to nett not less than a million per annum ! Our informant was a gentleman who was a merchant in the same articles as the former manufacturer, and he assured us that the expecta tion Ras by no means an extravagant one. Mr. BRIGHT'S former and present constituents already see the francs and napoleons glittering in pro spect ; we cannot blame them for swallow ing willingly that tonic bitter—the ten pence—when they know it is but to whet their appetites for such a commercial feast as they see preparing for them. We advise the landed in terest to be quiet if they are wise for themselves. The time before last, when Mr. BRIGHT spoke in the North, it was to propose a grand Customs' re form, by taxing realised property at Bs. in the pound on its value ; but the last time he spoke in Manchester he had seen the treaty, and not a word did he say about his property-tax ! He had for gotten it altogether. And now he tells the House he can vote for an aggravation of a tax which he has denounced with all the force of his not very feeble vocabulary ! THE CHINESE IV AUSTRALIA. At a period when the public are on the qui vice ,o all things relating to China and the China ques tion, it may not be out of place to state a few par- iculars as to the treatment of Chinamen in Austra- Ha. There are at present a great number scattered over the three colonies. However, New South Wales and Victoria present the greatest attractions ; in the latter alone there were considerably more than 50,000 at a late estimate taken of their num bers, many of whom have betaken themselves to storekeeping, both wholesale and retail, for John Chinaman is a" cute boy," and as he knows that his brethren must be fed, he has justly calculated It has been said to us—Would you endanger a Budget fraught with so many advantages—so bold, so promising ? We reply, we want a bolder, because an honester one. Accepting of necessity the esti mates—meet them, we say, by taxing equitably the realised property they are required to protect. Accepting, if we must, the remissions of taxation, meet, we say, the deficiency by laying taxes on the *lasses who will make their millions out of them . We do object,' with all our souls, to scourging every respectable clerk, every curate, every clergy man, every medical man, every lawyer of all classes, every artist, every small tradesman, every man who struggles to live decently on a few hundreds a year, merely to enrich cotton-lords and ironmasters. If we are to have a Manchester Budget, tax Manches ter men for it. that they would rather patronise a countryman than a stranger, with whom there can be no reci procity—each party endeavouring to steal a march on the other; besides, there is more nationality in being done by a countryman. The greater part of them are engaged at the "diggings," where they work with great perseverance, and there is no doubt they greatly increase the gold escorts, and bring gold to market from ground which a Euro pean could not afford to work on account of its poverty. The Chinese hold together and assist each other in distress, the want of which kindly feeling is a groat drawback to the English miners the Cornishmen being the only ones who hang together. Again, if one Chinaman hits upon a lead the next morning before any European has a notion of it, the ground is marked out to an indefinite ex tent, precluding the possibility of any one else hav ing a chance. But the Europeans, aye, and the Assiatics and Africans, take an equivalent for this, for if rich ground is struck no Chinaman is per mitted to share it although the rights of the Ethio pians and the Hindoos are not questioned. The Celestials are detested and with good reason for, with few exceptions, such as Chinamen's Flat on Ararat, no new ground has been opened by them, cautious John preferring to follow his bolder neigh bour and carefully remove his leavings, and by his care for self-preservation and want of engineering skill he guts the ground, and although he can ob tain only a certain portion of the gold by this means, he effectually by his timidity prevents others from obtaining any. Thus the old workings which have always been looked upon as something for the broken and unfortunate miner to fall back upon to get a few ounces for a fresh start, which, but for these Mongolian robbers, would have lasted fora consider able time, are now completely destroyed, and we have not even the satisfaction of knowing that the colony has been benefitted by them—at least by fair means. It is true that they devour provisions, but this only raises the price and is detrimental to the English miner. Very few of the gentlemen of the tail remain in Australia, for when any of them has amassed sufficient gold to satisfy them off they start back to the land of the opium smoker and make way for others ; thus droves are continually arriving and departing and the only chance of their riches ever being of any service to this country will be in the shape of compensation money to pay the expenses of the war. The continual excess of their ingress over their egress, and a natural dread lest the reply of a Chinaman when asked how many more of his countrymen were coming over, namely, the astounding fact, " Oh, they are all coming !" and the great dislike entertained for them by all classes even down to the aboriginal blacks who will not go near a Chinaman, and consider him altogether as an inferior animal, something of the monkey breed, believing firmly that he eats grass like a bullock, caused the government of Victoria to endea vour to mitigate the evil by stringent enact ments. They found that owing to the con tinual trouble poor John was getting into from the angry onslaughts of his rough neighbours, that it was necessary to give him some further protection than could be obtained from the warden of the gold-field or the local authorativos. So a Chinese protector was appointed and a tax of one pound sterling • per annum was imposed on each Chinaman besides his usual mining license ; and next, to check the influx, a landing-tax of £lO. But Jahn was not to be done in this way—to pay money down for no value re ceived—it was enough to break his heart and make his pigtail curl. No, no, he landed in New South Wales, and footed it over; the Sydney Go vernment by no means relished this plan, having quite enough stock of that kind on hand already, so they followed the example of their neighbour. Thus poor John was driven to South Australia, and the aborigines were thunderstrrck when they beheld one of the river steamers landing some 300 curious-looking animals on the banks of the river Murray ; for the Chinese had chartered the steamer to carry them up to a certain point near to one of the gold-fields at so much per head, and provide them with wood and water, which condition was not very difficult for the skipper to perform, seeing that he was navigating a river of clear, fresh water, run ning through a thickly wooded country. The immigration being still on the increase, the Vic torian Government lately imposed a capitation tax of £4 per annum. This was strongly protested against. The Chinese held meetings, made speeches, and got up a petition a PAnglaise, and a good many Europeans sympathised with them, when an untoward event took place. The China men in Bendigo held several puddling machines, many of which were mortgaged to a cer tain English usurer, who foreclosed on the failure of the mortgagers to pay his small interest of about 100 per cent. The Chinese did not like this, so cer tain_individuals amongst them:undertook to murder him, which they accordingly did. Had the mur derers been Englishmen and the transaction been among Europeans, the public would have taken little or no interest in the matter, or had John been contented to have killed one of his country men it had not mattered; but for a Chinaman to murder a European, why it was almost worse than for a nigger to kill a Yankee. We beg the slave dealer's pardon, a " Southern gentleman." A change came the ho'er the aspect of a ff a i rs , no thi ng was too bad for e cutthroat devil s , an d w h en it was found impossible to capture or identify the cul prits, more than one gravely advised that the best plan would be to hang a Chinaman every Monday morning until the right ones were given up. However convenient it may be for the Colonial Government to charge landing dues, and impose capitation taxes on one particular race, we do not think that it is altogether constitutional, Australia is still a British colony, and likely long to remain such ; but while we are demanding free access to all parts of China, one of our principal dependen cies is imposing all sorts of taxes and particular exactions on the people of that nation. The Chi nese of Australia fear and hate the English, and the numbers who have returned to China may have not improved the opinion entertained of the " barbarians" by the Chinese. Of course no sensible Englishman could for a moment desire any compro mise for the dastardly and murderous attack made upon our ships in the Peiho, but that a complete and decisive retaliation should be taken, and that the Brother to the Sun and Sister to the Moon, learn to his cost both in a political and pecuniary sense that he may not break faith with England's ambassador, or insult the British flag with impu nity. THE PRINCE OF ORANGE IN SOUTH WALES.— His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange arrived at Raglan Castle on Friday last from, Troy, near Monmouth, one of the seats of the Duke of Beaufort. The prince was met at the castle by Lord Llanover and Mr. Herbert of Llanarth ; and, after inspecting the ruins, his royal high ness accompanied Lord Llanover to Llanarth, and thence proceeded to Llanover, where the prince passed the night. On Saturday the prince, accompanied by Lord Llanover, paid a visit to Merthyr Tydvil, and inspected the iron works for which that place is celebrated. Returning to Llanover in the evening, his royal highness was present at a banquet and ball given in his honour. On Sunday the prince attended Divine service at Llanover Church, and on Monday his royal highness took his leave of Lord and Lady Llanover, and proceeded with the members of his suite to Hereford, and thence to Chester and Bangor. The Count and Countess Nicholas Laschevsky have left the B runsw i c k Hotel, Jermyn-street, for Pads. Sir E. Gro gan , M.P., and Mr. Ayshford Wise, M.P., have arrived at the Burlington Hotel. Colonel and Mrs. Long have arrived at the Burlington Hotel, Cork-street, from Bromley Hall, Kent. Lieutenant-Colonel Ricketts and Mrs. Ricketts have arrived at the Queen's Hotel, Upper Norwood, from Loughborough. THE SUN, r" LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 23, 1860. LYCEUM THEATRE? An amateur performance of a somewhat extraordi nary character is announced to take place at this theatre:on Wednesday, the 7th of March, for the benefit of the widows and families of two literary gentlemen lately deceased. At the head of the en terprise is a body of amateurs calling themselves by the ferocious title of the " Savage Club," and the list of performers comprises the names of Messrs. J. R. Planche, F. Talfourd, G. A. Sala, R. B. and W. Brough, H. J. Byron, J. Hollingshead, Albert Smith, and several other celebrities. The entertainments will consist of the " School for Scandal," in which Miss Amy Sedgwick will sus tain the character of Lady Teazle, and of a new burlesque, based upon the story of the " Forty Thieves," and written by Messrs. J. R. Planche, F. Talfourd, H. J. Byron, L. Buckingham, Draper, Halliday, Lawrence, and the Brothers Brough— that is to say, by nearly all the burlesquers in London. That room may be afforded for even the most modest display of professional talent, every one of the marauding forty will be represented by an amateur. SURREY TBE4TRE. A new drama, entitled " Cause and Effect," was produced on Monday night at this theatre with great success. The piece is said to be an original work, and the scene is laid at Marseilles. The plot turns upon the machinations of a cer tain Manteuffel, a swindler, thief, and assassin, and the counter-machinations of Estelle, a dancing girl, who, while seeming to aid the ruffian, foils bis plans, and at length denounces him to the constituted authorities. Full of incident and situation, " Cause and Effect " moves briskly along, and thiugh the author occasionally bursts out into fine writing, the dialogue as a whole is close and pointed. The weight of the drama is sustained by Mr. Shepherd and Miss Sarah Thorne, both of whom are fully up to their work. In Manteuffel the former finds full scope for a display of his talents, and he enters con amore into his part, presenting a bold picturesque portrait of a scheming scoundrel whose ingenuity is never failing, whose audacity is boundless, whose eoolness cannot be upset, and whose rascality is unfathomable. Miss Thorne, as Estelle, has to assume many disguises, and to each impersonation she gives a distinct in dividuality, while spirit and point distinguish her acting throughout. The drama is most admirably placed upon the stage; the new scenery is exceed ingly well painted; and a general view of Mar seilles and the bay is one of the most effective "sets" ever seen in a theatre. ROYAL GENERAL THEATRICAL 1' UNI) . The annual general meeting of the members of this corporation was held in the saloon of the Lyceum Theatre yesterday—Mr. Buckstone occu pied the chair. The business commenced by the Secretary (Mr. Cullenford) stating the nature of the proceedings to be gone through. He would read them the financial statement, which he was glad to say was highly satisfactory. From this statement it ap peared that up to Feb. 20, 1860, the receipts were £1,382 17s 7d.; the expenditure, £1,061 2s. 21d. ; leaving a balance of £321 13s. 41d. The total showed balances in favour of—March 8, 1859, £10,855 11s. 2(1. ; Feb. 20, 1860, £321 13s. 41d. of reserve or annuitants' fund, £125 3s. 01d. ; al together amounting to £11,302 7s. 7d. This, the congratulated secretary said, was th e sum tota l of wh i c h t h e cor poration stoo d upon it. t possessed,(uear, hear.)fre e fromuoall claims at present them on the increase of the receipts of the corpora tion. They had been gradually on the increase, and he hoped they would continue to progress not less satisfactoiily. Tie might instance the happy fact that, after paying the Dramatic College £250, they had £41 6 15s. sd. left over for the purposes of the institution. And, although they had lost ten members by death and other causes, they had ad mitted a like number, so that there was no loss on that head, and the number still remained as last year—HlS. The re-election of officers, and the usual votes of thanks, closed the proceedings. Mr. Pugh, M.P., and Mrs. Pugh have arrived at the Albemarle Hotel, Albemarle-street, from their seat Llanerchydol, Montgomeryshire. CAPTAIN M'CLINTOCK.—Captain M 'Clintock, R.N., will have conferred upon him the honour of knight hood by her Majesty, at the next levee at st. James's Palace. LATEST :~ ~~ NEWS. PARIS, FEB. 22. France and England are on the point of signing a convention relative to the prices which may re sult from the approaching expedition against China. This contradicts the rumour that the two Powers would postpone the expedition.—Morning Post. The following telegrams have been received at Mr. Rcuter's office : PIIES, THURSDAY. Prince Metternich remitted yesterday to M. Thouvenel an explanatory message containing the answer of Austria to the four points of the English proposal. The Vienna Cabinet expresbes its regret at not being able to give her adltetion to the said pro posal as a basis for ulterior negotiations between the great Powers. VIENNA, THURSDAY. The courier bearer of the definitive answer of Austria to the English proposal left here on the evening of the 17th inst. for Paris and London. The reply of Austria explains the reasons why the Court of Vienna could not accept the English proposal as a basis for an arrangement to which the concurrence of Austria would be given by her signature. Count Rechberg explains that the proposal does not only essentially alter the basis of the European equilibrium which was founded by the treaties of 181.5, but it is also in open opposition to the funda mental principle upon which the legitimacy of governments in general, and especially the Aus trian Monarchy, is founded. In the third instance, the said proposals destroy the rights of the Italian Princes, which were placed under the guarantee of Europe, and which the Emperor Francis Joseph has the sacred duty to protect in his quality of chief of the house of Hapsburg. If, induced by all these motives, Austria declines the proposed negotiations, she declares, neverthe less, that, for the present, she will not endeavour to undo, by force of arms, that which she cannot prevent, although reserving to herself full and en tire liberty of action for the future. The tone of Count Reehberg's answer is exceed ingly moderate and polite. BERLIN, FEB. 22. Negotiations between the great Powers in re• ference to the treatment of the Italian question are being vigorously pursued. The basic upon which a conference is to be held is not yet agreed upon. PARIS, FEB. 22. The Russian Government has expressed a wish to propose jointly with Prussia a Conference of the five great Powers. It is asserted that Prussia with certain reserves has consented to join in this proposal. The Patrie declares itself authorised to state that the rumour respecting the intention of the Govern ment to establish an income tax is without any foundation whatever. FLORENCE, FEB. 21. The Electoral Committee recommends annexa tion to Piedmont as the only programme which the candidates should profess. Baron Ricasoli has forbidden the distribution of Guerazzi's democratic protestation, the views con tained in which are refuted in an article in the Government journal, La Nazione. The journals publish accounts of anti-Pontifical demonstrations in the Nlaroties. FRANCE. PARIS, WEDNESDAY. The decoration of the Annunciada, among the most ancient in Europe, and much sought for, has been conferred by King Victor Emmanuel on Mar shal Randon, Minister of War. A similar decora tion is to be conferred on Marshal M'Mahon, Duke of Magenta, and on Marshal Niel, who so much distinguished himself at the battle of Solferino. THE BOURSE, Feb. 22.—The market has been buoyant, and business active owing to a rise of on the English Consols. Threes, after having been done at 68f 15c, declined to 68f Sc., and again rallied to 68f 30c. Mobilier varied from 750 f to 755f—Austrian, 502 f 50c to 507 f 50c—Lombard, 550 f to 552 f 50e—Lyons, 892 f 50e to 895f—Orleans, 1,377 f 50e to I,3Bof—Southern, 500 f to 502 f 50c — Northern, 917 f 50c 920 f. The following are the last quotations :- 41 per Cents. .... 98 Credit Fonder 740 Do. end month .. 97 90 I Belgian 41 — 3 per Cents 6B 30 Piedniontese (.5) .. 80 50 Do. end month CB 25 itoman BO Bank Shares 2BlO Austrian Crtldit Mobilier .. 757 50 Spanish Throes - Do. Account - RAIL' PAYS. Cash. Account. Orleans Northern ... 922 50 .. 922 50 New ditto 827 50 .. 832 50 Lyons and Mediterranean 897 50 .. 895 Geneva 5OO .. 500 Southern Western .582 50 .. 585 Eautern Sardinian 395 .. 400 Austrian Lombard .... ... ITALY. It is stated in a letter from Turin, in the Ado petulance, that the manifesto to be published by King Victor Emmanuel, on the subject of the an nexation of the States of Central Italy, was agreed to in a Council of Ministers held in that city on the evening preceding his Majesty's departure for Milan, and that a copy of it was immediately despatched to Paris. The letter adds that the in tention was to publish the manifesto at Milan ; but that a delay has since been determined on. A Turin letter, of the 19th, says :—" By order of Count Cavour a statistical return is now being prepared at the Ministry of the Interior of the refugees from Venetia, whose numbers are daily increasing in an extraordinary proportion. The Minister's object is, in the first place, to devise means for the reliefof these persons, most of whom are entirely destitute ; and, secondly, to prepare a document which may at a given moment be hurled at Austria as a formidable diplomatic missile. The King on his departure from Milan, which is axed for the 28th, is expected to go to Genoa, whore brilliant fetes will be given, if no political events occur to prevent them. Meanwhile the Milanese are enjoying themselves to the utmost. You may imagine the pleasure anticipated from the marvel lous spectacle to be offered for three days by the celebrated Lombard Carnavalone, from th e fact that a balcony on the Corso della . Porte Orientale has let for as much as 40 napoleons." The Milan Gazette of the 18th states that Mar shal Vaillant had visited his Majesty on the pre vious day, and remained some ti me in friendly con versation. A letter from Ancona of the 16th says :—" More Austrians have arrived here by the San Giovanni steamer, in addition to 240 who landed a day or two before. Austrian officers have come to Ancona to fetch away the war stores left there when the Aus trians retreated so precipitately last June, and 40 cannons have already been shipped. The garrison consists of 2,000 men, a mixture of Swiss, natives, and Germans." SPAIN. Most of the Madrid journals of the 17th are op: posed to tho conclusion of peace, and demand the occupation of Tangier. The Gazette states that an General 13uceta, Governor of Melilla, in making the recent sortie from that place against the Moors, violated orders given him by the General-in-Chief, he was to be placed under arrest, and brought to trial. In the sortie, the Spaniards were surrounded by the Moors, and had, not 182 men killed and wounded, as stated by telegraph, but 200. The Correspondancia says that the Spaniards, in their reconnaissance on the road to Tangier, found a female, who represented herself to be one of the wives of Muley Abbas, and to have been cruelly abandoned by him in his flight. She is described as fifty years, and of "enormous em bonpoint ;" and it is said that having been three days without food she literally devoured the food offered to her. The Spaniards took charge of the poor woman. It is said that the Spanish legation in Mexico is to be raised to the rank of an embassy in consequence of M. Pacheco, formerly President of the Chamber of Deputies, having consented to take the post. Congratulatory addresses to the Queen on the capture of Tetuan continued to arrive. A letter says that doubts were entertained that the Emperor of Morocco would accept the propositions of peace which are to be made to him. THE PENINSULAR MAILS. The following telegram has been receiTed. at Mr. Reuter's office:— SOUTHAMPTON, THURSDAY. The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer Tagus, Captain Hall, has arrived with the Peninsu lar mails, 20 passengers, £4,060 in specie, and a full cargo, consisting of fruit, eggs, &c. The Tagus left Lisbon on the 17th. She encoun tered north-westerly gales with heavy seas on the homeward voyage. On the 21st she spoke the Ceylon with the outward mails for India. The ships Asia, Amnesty, and Orontes put into Lisbon on account of bad weather. The steamer lonia, from Liverpool to Palermo, and the Maria, for Constantinople, had also put into Lisbon short of coals. The intelligence from England that Portuguese wines would have the same reduction as French wines gave general satisfaction to the Portuguese, who, however, were dissatisfied with the English for expecting a reduction of the Portuguese tariff in favour of cotton and woollens. Large quantities of false paper money, manu factured for circulation in the Brazils, had been discovered at Oporto, which it was reported com promises many in this country and the Brazils. On the arrival of the Euryalus with Prince Alfred, the Court prepared to receive him at the Arsenal, where the Royal carriages were waiting, but the Prince landed incognito, and went on foot to the Palace. Exchange on London, 30 days, 531; 60 days 53Z- ; 90 days, 54. Rentes, 3 per cent., interest of the present year, 47t 47i ; coupons, 4G 47. In the harbour at Lisbon were her Majesty's steem-frigate Euryalus, two Dutch frigates, and the barques Lady Alice and Neptune. LII'ERATURE. The Man of the People. By William Howitt. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett. This is a remarkable book, which refers to event ful times, and brings prominently before us some important persons, who belong to fact, though they hero make striking the pages of fiction. The author has exhibited singular ability in the con struction of this book, and many passages present eloquent descriptions and elevated ideas to the notice of the reader ; therefore, those who do not agree with the one-sided arguments that sometimes appear, may delight themselves with the perusal of a brilliant work, and derive the satisfaction there from that never fails to attend the contemplation of superior attainments. There is a mournful pathos in the short and sad sketch of the father of the hero, the gifted and ill-fated Hugh Stanton. This man was peculiar in his views, but he erred on the right side, and he was also as different from those around him in genius as in the motives that actuated them ; as so often happens, the hard and cruel society around him eagerly decried his faults, but overlooked his rare merits. He died after a melancholy life ; but, although prevented from achieving what he might have done, ho left behind him a name that lived in the recollection of many. Philip inherited much of his father's talent, but he possessed other qualities more available in every day life. Had be been under fostering auspices ; had he been blessed with one prudent and yet sym pathising friend ; had he been placed in a sphere that would have drawn out his better and softer qualities, and kept in abeyance those sterner attri butes which he, unfortunately for himself, shared in common with his parent, then the son of Hugh Stanton might have been indeed a great man, a dis tinguished luminary in that Church he desired to enter, or a bright ornament in the literary world. However, a man can but work as he has opportu nities, and it appeared Philip's destiny rather to be compelled to hide his gifts than to find a way to make them of service to himself or others. This to a man who knew that, if he had had opportu nities he might soon have increased his ten talents a hundredfold, was indeed a hard burden to bear, and a bitter infliction to sustain. He therefore had every excuse in his many mistakes, and, indeed, serious errors, for nothing hardens or irritates the mind more than to feel that one is not in his right place in the world. The various persons of note with whom Philip came in contact in the course of his career are ably delineated; and the many sad, serious scenes in which he mixed are also most vividly depicted. The time at which these events occurred was an eventful epoch in the history of the country. Alen were divided into two danger ous extremes: on one side was the tyranny and exclusiveness of the higher orders, and on the other the excited conduct and extravagant demands of the multitude. We now live in happier days, when reason and justice for the most part sway the voice of public opinion, and the most grievous wrongs are sure in time to be redressed, not by riots and rebellions, but by fair representations and searching inquiries. Those, however, whe would like to retrace in fancy these stormy incidents in the civil history will be pleased with this clever work, in which no pains has been spared to bring before them all the important ques tions then discussed in rage, and demanded in clamour. Philip was no agitator, but he was so mixed up in their affairs that he was taken pri soner with the rioters, and only escaped an igno minious death by the intervention of friends. He finally succeeded to his uncle's title and lands, through the sudden death of his cousins, when tra velling abroad, but this elevation to the pleasant places of life did not obliterate from the mind of the wanderer the lessons he had learned in the days of adversity. He looked on the existence of toil with a gentle gaze since he had once studied it atttentively, as he wandered a lonely outcast on the broad highway of the world. He sought out sorrow and suffering, to be the means of alleviating and removing them with renewed ardour, as h, remembered the days when no one had come for ward to cheer or solace his calamities. He did not isolate himself though, as many who have come down in life so often do, but he made friends with all he could, and thu s he often passed a pleasant hour in the midst of misfortune , and tasted of th a t peace which the misanthrope can nev er enjoy, nor the desponding discover in his melancholy wan derings. The complex affair of the inter cepted letters adds, of course, to the inte rest and heightens the mystery of the tale, but to some it will appear extravagant. The sketch of Archdeacon Freemantle is admirably drawn. The man seems to stand before u s i n his duplicity adroit subterfuges. Too many like him and are extant now-a-days who take a tyrannical advant age of the immense power they possess, and work out ill to all who offend them. It would be discomfiturevery satisfactory if all such characters me t with the finally annihilated the wily deceiver. that eeeiver. Jeremiah Sterland is a man o f a fine dispositi on , and despite his peculiarities, he attracts • interest the more striking individuals to himself that do not inspire. Honesty was hi s ru li ng sentiment, and he never cringed to the mighty The ladies d o not figure ve nor spurned the mean. conspicuously in these f pages, but th ey are bothry pleasing their seve ra l s t y l es. There Isa e dignity i spec im ens aa o li a and a gra ce i n H elen that sems tostamp i them l at first sight with a charm that subsequent scru tiny does not deprive them of. On the whole, ' this new work is asu •production • superior in its way, and it is one which in its varied descriptions, and vivid pictures will not fail to make a powerful im pression on the minds of its readers. It is not often that so complete a sketch of political events is met with in a work of fiction, and for this, as for other reasons, " The Man of the People " may fairly be expected to attain a great success. Those whose views of public life vary widely from those which actuate the ss riter of these volumes will not refuse to bear their testimony to his skill and judgment, while the mere lover of literature will admire the eloquent style and spirited tone of these pages. History of the Reign of Henry IV., King o f France and Navarre. By Martha Walker Freer. 2 vols. Hurst and Blackett. Miss Freer has already done good service in the cruse of historical literature. With a degree of patience and application not often found among feminine writers, she has explored the tedious me moirs and voluminous correspondence of the middle ages, whose very language is now intricate and obsolete. The weighty piles of State papers have no terrors for her, but she resolutely applies her self to the study of every document that can serve to throw light upon the epoch she is discussing or to illustrate the motives and actions of the rival parties of the time. She has chosen for her sub ject a very important era in French history, and one which can well afford additional consideration by English readers. Though most persons are, of course, acquainted with the outline of events: and the names of the chief actors, yet few general readers are familiar with the secret workings of a time which affords much matter for instruc tion and reflection. Commencing with the me moirs of Marguerite D'Angouleme, Duchesso D'Alencon, and Queen of Navarre, the sister of Francis 1., whose beauty and virtues form a pleasing contrast to too many of her royal rela tives, Miss Freer then proceeded to the life of her heroic daughter, Jeaune D'Albret, the ruling spirit of the Hugenots, whose somewhat stern and harsh disposition may be readily forgiven for the sake of her firmness and high principle. The biography of Elizabeth de Valois, daughter of Henry 11., and Catherine do Medicis, and wife of the gloomy bigot, Philip 11. of Spain, although con temporaneous, was somewhat of a break in the chain of French history. Nevertheless she was a fair and graceful subject for a feminine pen to delineate, although she might be wanting in force of intellect or character. Not long after the memoir of Isabel de la Paz, as her subjects fondly styled her, Miss Freer attempted a mole ambitions and arduous task. hitherto her works, though political and historical in character, had been exclusively devoted to female subjects. Now she adventured on the life of a king, and gave us a narrative of the Court and Times of Henry 111., King of France and Poland. Though some things rendered this reign an especially difficult one for a female historian, Miss Freer acquitted herself of her arduous task with judgment and ability. The brief and inglori ous reign of that monarch being concluded, she brings us now to the glorious career of— " Ce 11,, , r0s qui regna sur la France - Et par droit d• conqueto et par droit do naissance." The volumes before us form only the opening por tion of the history. They are entitled " Henry IV. and the League," and relate the storms and contentions which intervened luring the troubled period between the murder of Henry 111. and the triumphal entry of his valiant successor into Paris five years later. This gloomy and troubled time of civil war, when the unhappy land was torn and desolated by the recklessness of selfish factions, occupies the whole of these pages ; it remains for the future volumes (to show us the happier time which followed the general recognition of the rightful monarch, who, happily for his turbulent subjects, was no less clement and magnanimous in the hour of triumph than valiant and persevering in the time of darkness and defeat. The following passage aptly pourtrays the condition to which the enemies of Henri Quatre found themselves re duced in 1594 : " Bitterly was Madame de Montpensier disabused of her wicked and ambitious speculations. Ruined in fortune and repute, Catherine de Lorraine knelt to implore the clemency of 'the execrable Navarrois.' Her brother, Mayenne, who at the commencement of the troubles she had so successfully incited to rebel, was an exile from the capital, impoverished, and in his reverse mecked and de ludod by the Papal and Spanish Courts. The Duke de Guise, shut up in Rheims without troops, or money, hum bly waited the favourable moment to make submission to the victorious king. The League, inaugurated by the crime of regicide, had brought woe and desolation on the roe: of Lorraine. All the principal perreus who had pare taken in the crime which hurled Henry 111. from his throne, were now by a singular instance of retributive judgment, in their turn overthrow'. Many had lost both life and fortune, even to the utter extinction of their race in the desolating warfare which ensued. The chieftains of the League were either dead or miserable exiles. The power of the Holy See received a blow, from which, in France, it never recovered. Spain lavished her treasures in pursuit of the shadowy claims of Donna Isabel ; and by the diver sion of her troops from her Flernishiterritory so strengthened her rebels of the Netherlands, as to enable them eventually to emancipate themselves from the Spanish crown. The war with Franco, so recklessly waged by Philip 11. was never thoroughly extinguished until the great-grandson of Henry IV. sat on the throne of King Philip, after the dynasty of the Emperor Charles V. in the male line had become extinct." There is a slight error, no doubt accidental, in the last sentence, since Philip V. was the grandson of Louis XIV., and consequently one generation further removed from Henry IV. In conclusion, the authoress writes as follows : " Thus Henry IV. overthrew the power of the Holy League. Its chieftains were proscribed ; its confederation. dissolved ; its influence extinct. Tho victories, and, above all, the supple temper of the King, which enabled hi m to mould his religion to his interests, and to choose his friends according to his circumstances, combined to achim this grand result. Neither had the expedients of diplomacy been neglected by Henry. He had indited lay. letters to Queen Elizabeth ; passionate appeals to the Pope • remon strances to King Philip ; exordiums to the Sultan Amu r:lth, and practical homilies to the Seignory of Venice and to the Italian potentates. Never depressed by reverses, the joyous buoyancy of Henry's temper cheered; while his courage in battle, his presence of mind and his fortitude, rendered his soldiers heroes." Miss Freer deserve% great credit for the care and research with which she has written this work. Copious references to varied and standard authori ties, to State papers and documents, are given in the marginal notes, with a brief account of the genealogy of each celebrity of the time. She tells us that her work is drawn from the MS. documents in the Bibliotheque Imperiale and other unpub lished sources ; and we must commend her care and fidelity in composition. Sh e d oes no t i n d u l ge i n many original observations or criticisms, but her work flows on in unbroken narrative. There is, how ever, a considerable advance perceptible on her former works. There is more freedom and decision in her style ; and we have no doubt, with the addi tional advantages of time and practice, she will acquire an eminent place among the female histo rians of England. Tuscany in 1849 and in 1859. By T. Adolphus Trollope. Chapman and Hall. The olLee by thectofth people of T the author isto us s c h a o n w y i t a theg re at he a t ad vance o to moral self-government d ur in l g un t d h e e rs la a s n t d ten ex y ce s s a s r ea s. The greater part of the work is devoted recapitu lating the history of the b which distinguished the revolution of 1848. how the populace were excited to rebellion by the op pression of their rulers, and the stinging satires of the poet Giuseppe Giusti ; and how the kindling spark was given by the outbreak in France. After re viewing all the causes which led to revolution, the third chapter winds up as follow s permanency of supremacy A n d so the year 1846 cam e t o a close, amid symptoms of coining storm and trouble su ffi c i ent to alarm the blindest things devil eN , ir believers ia ndi conjuredn the th eunfailingu up by the of es b ta r b u l t i e sh f e o d ro. order ll o o f Cy Pius the Ninth was already re fusing all obedience to the further conjuring of the alarmed pontiff, and was claiming to be himself a master spirit, that could compel popes and kings to bend to his will. At length the war of independence fairly broke out, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, as a last hope of maintaining his rule, put himself at the head of the movment. But it would seem that his conduct was by no means honourable, for while pretending to join heart and hand with his subjects, he in reality was holding co rres p on d ence w i t h the Austrian General, Itadetzky : It is asserted, then, that a quantity of papers, correspond ence chiefly, which had belonged to Radetzky, was pur chased for a very considerable sum in Milan ; that among these papers was a letter from the Grand Duke to the Aus trian general, telling him that he sent him twelve thousand "canaille," which he hoped he—the general—would rid him of. The Pope having yielded to the storm, finding it impossible to restrain the military ardour excited in Rome by the insurrection in Tuscany, soon began to cry back. He suffered his troops to advance to the frontier, under General Durando, but would not give his sanction to their crossing the Po. Thus, what with treachery in the pretended leaders, want of unanimity and disorder amongst the people, and Austrian bayonets without, the struggle for Italian independence was abortive. Peter the Great of Russia once said, after sustaining a defeat by Charles XII. of Sweden—" Let us have patience, the Swedes will in the end teach us to beat them selves." Even so was it Tuscany ; ten years of subjugation under a galling despotism has taught the Tuscans the value of moderation—the force of which has been proved by late events—aud that t• succeed, it is necessary to trust to themselves, rather than to those who, having once tasted the ques tionable joys of high command, will stoop to every artifice rather than forego their power. The free dom of the pecple must emanate from themselves ; it is a grave mistake to expect to obtain it by the aid of crafty rulers, or b y th e i nterpos i t i on o f grasping foreign despots. It is needless to call attention to the author's confluents on the conduct of the British Government, swayed as it has bees of late years by German influence ; all sensible sad disinterested people can have but one opinion ill the subject. The book is written in a bold and fearless style, without favour or affection to any party, and is well worthy the attention of thlot' who take an interest Italian affairs. The Queen of England and the Prince Consort have presented to their grandchild, the son of Prince and Princess Frederick William, an exceedingly costly, beautiful , and artistically manufactured cup and cover in gold, in re' membraneo of their having been godfather and godmother to the young prince. The whole of the jewels used as omit ments are valuable diamonds, and the cup bears an inscrip tion in English as follows :—" Queen Victoria and Fri". Albert to their grandson, Frederic 'William Victor Albert,in remembrance of the sth of March, 1859." The da te that of the baptism of the young prince. The cup 15 °t London manufacture, and is a worthy specimen of the g el smith's art, L qi at th iglu im Ea kal cH bit Dit