The Sun. — London, England, 1867-01-16 00:00:00

THEATRE ROYAL DRURY-LANE. Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. F. B. Chatterton. THIS EVENING, A DAY AFTER THE WEDDING• To conclude with the Pantomime NUMBER. NIP; or Harlequin and the Gnome-King of the Giant M untain. Mesdames Lydia Thompson. Hudspeth, Bodenham, Seymour, Gardonni, and 11. Vandenhoff; Messrs. Tom Matthews, Baraby, Clifton, Robins, Se} ton, and Master Percy Roselle ; Messrs. Bolen°, Savi le, Lauri, Cormack, Barnes, and Morris ; Madame Bolero) and Millie. Marion. Commence at Seven. rINHEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET, Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. Buckstone, TO-NIGHT. A LESSON FOR LIFE. Messrs. Sothern, Chippendale, Compton, Howe, Kendal, Gordon. Rogers, Braid. Clarke, Vincent, &c.; Mesdames Chippendale, Moore, Wright, &c. Alter which, THE SERIOUS FAMILY. Messrs. Buck stone, Howe, Farren, Vincent, &c. ; Mesdames Chippendale, Moore, Burke, Hill, Sidney, &c. Commence at Seven. ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.- Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. Fechter. THIS EVENING. ROUGE ET NOIR. Maurice D'Arbel (a Gambler), Mr. Fechter ; Messrs. Emery, Evans, Moreland, Fitzpatricic. Dalton. Reynolds, Lom , s, Newbound, Andrews, Anderson, Vivian, Bennett. and Edward Price; Miss Hen rade, Mrs. Leigh Murray, Miss Grattan, and Miss Carlotta Leclercq. Preceded by THE TWO POLTS. Mr. H. Widdicomb. RROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE. Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. Geo. Vining. OYAL THIS EVENING, DELICATE GROUND. Hr. Vining, Mr. J. G. Shore, and Miss Katherine Rodgers. Followed by, at 8 o'clock, THE STREETS OF LONDON. Mrs. H. Marston, Miss Montagu, Miss Katherine Rodgers ; Messrs. F. Villiers, J. G. Shore, Calhaem, H. Forrester, and Mr. Vining as Badger. ROYAL STRAND THEATRE. Sole Lessee and Manageress, Mrs. Swanborough. THIS EVENING, NEIGHBOURS. Messrs. Parselie, Belford, and G. Murray ; Misses Swanborough, Johnstone, and Hughes. After which, will be produced a Grand Burlesque, entitled GUY FAWKES : Messrs. Thorne, James, Robson, and Fenton ; Mesdames Swanborough, Itaynham, Johnstone, Hughes, Newton, &c. To conclude with A SUIT OF TWEEDS. Commence at Seven. HOLBORN THEATRE ROYAL. Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. Sefton Parry. THIS EVENING, a new Farce, MY TURN NEXT. Mr. Belmore, Miss Foote, Miss Lennox. After which, Boucicault's drama of FLYING SCUD. Messrs. Neville, Belmore, Blake. Garden,Vollaire ; Mesdames F. Josephs, C. Saunders, B. Foote, Itaym nd. THEATRE ROYAL ADELPHI. Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster. THIS EVENING, Jan. -16, at Seven, A SISTER'S PENANCE. Miss Kate Terry, Miss Hughes, Miss Emily Pitt ; Messrs. H. Vezin, Billington, Ashley, Eburne, Romer, and Stephenson. To conclude with the New Grand Burlesque of THE MOUNTAIN DHU; or, THE KNIGHT, THE LADY, AND THE LAKE. Messrs. J. L. Toole. Paul Bedford, Ashley, H. Homer, and C. J. Smith ; Mrs. Alfred Mellon, Miss Furtado, Miss Hughes, Miss Emily Pitt. JEc. ROYAL OLYMPIC THEATRE. New Management. Sole Lessee, Mr. B. Webster ; Manager, Mr. H. Wi g an. THIS EVENING, LONDON ASSURANCE. Messrs. Horace Wigan, IL Neville, G. Vincent, Addison, D. Murray, and Mr. Charles Mathews ; Miss Milly Palmer, Miss_ E. Farren, and Mrs. Charles blathe s. After whi •h, the successful Burlesque of FAUST AND MARGUERITE. Mesdames E. Farren, Sheridan, and Stephens ; Messrs. G. Vincent, W. U. Eburne, D. Murray, ac. Doors open at half-past Six ; eommence at Seven. THEATRE ROYAL, ASTLEY'S. Under the Management of Mr. W. H. C. Nation. "The Pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Astley's, was completely successful in every respect."—Telegraph. " Is a decided success."—Sun. "Must be pronounced a decided success."— Standard. " The success of the performance was complete."—illus trated London News. "An unqualified success."—Sunday Times. "A great success, as deserved as it is fully justified."— Era. EVERY EVENING, the elegant Comedy, DELICATE GROUND. Messrs. Fernandez, Richardson; Miss Laidlaw. After which, the Great Nation-al Pantomime of HUSH- A-BYE, BABY. The Frogs and their Revels.—" The Frogs' Dance was ludicrous in the extreme, and gave rise to roars of laugh ter."— Star. " The Ballet of Ladybirds.—One hundred dancers, in elegant attire, elicited rapturous applause as they figured through the mazes of the ballet. '—Morning Advertiser. The Nation of Toys.—" The evolutions of the Toy Army is a capital bit of grotesque action."— Observer. The Three Favourite Children Danseuses.—" For chil dren, this Pantomime will prove a great treat."—Weekly Times. The Grove of Golden Palms.—"ln seeming prodigal abundance of gold, jewels, and fairies richly and fantasti cally attired, it realises the description of those scenes of enchantment given in the 'Arabian Nights.' "—Dispatch. The Harlequinade, with the Original Little Rowella as Clown.—" The Harlequinade is decidedly superior to many that have been witnessed of late years."—Morning Post. All the Best Songs, Dances, and Pantomime Tricks.— "The best Pantomime seen ou the other side of the water for many a long day."— Court Circular. MORNING PERFORMANCES every Monday, Wed nesday, and Saturday, at Two o'clock. I.IHE "SUN" NEWSPAPER.- G. R. GLENIE, Sporting Library, 4, Counaught• terrace, Ed. ware-road, is specially appointed AUbN I' to d •liver the LATE EDITION of •"I'H E SUN " at. the earliest possible moment alter leaving the press. He Is able to deliver copies i« Town, the Suburbs, and in many parts of the Country at a comparatively early hour the same evening, say 4o miles by 9 o'clock. Orders by Post punctually attended to. T HE "SUN" NEWSPAPER.- G. B. GLENIE delivers the LATE EDITION a Chelsea, 7.40 ; Kilburn, 8; Starch-green, 8; Woolwich, 7.30 Uxbridge, 9.20 ; Watford, 8.45. QPO RTING.—JOIIN ROBERTS supplies the LATEST EDITION of "THk SUN" as soon as pub ished.-4, Bath-street, City-road, E.C. .11HE LAST EDITION of " THE SUN" supplied as soon as Published, containing* all the LATEST NEWS and S2ORTING INTELLIGENCE, by H. W. 11A1C13.ES, Newspaper Agent, 4, Illacktriars-road, London, S. THE LATEST EDITION of " THE SUN" supplied, as soon as published every Evening, by W. ALEXANDER (late BROOKS), Newspaper Agent, 21, Old Cavendisti-street, Oxford-street. FOR THE LATEST POLITICAL and SPORTING INTELLIGENCE see the Late Edition of " The Sun" at Mr. Blake's, Queen's Ilead, Windsor street, Uxbridge. LATEST INTELLIGENCE.- Samuel SUIT 11, late of Chelsei, now of the White hart, Acton, Middlesex, begs to inform his friends and neighbours that the Latest Edition of "The Sun" can be seen at his house as above. LA TEST INTELLIGENCE.- -OL O SAM SMITH," late of " The Mail Coach," Shepherd's Bush, now of the White Hart, Acton, middlesex. begs to inform his friends and neighbours that the LATEST EDITION of " THE SUN" can be seen at his house as • above. THE LATEST EDITION of " THE SUN." J. HOLMES begs to inform his friends, and the pubiie Ftenerally, that he supplies the LATEST EDITION of "'THE SUN" as soon as published —No. 16, lip.mpstead road, N.W. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. rms DAY.—Morning, 9h. 40m.—Afternoon,:10h. 16m, To-Bloßßow.-Merning, 11h. Om.—Afternoon, 1111. 34m. all * eZ.X417041:1 t 4 10J4) P 4. ` *NA, flu LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 16, 1867. It seems as if we were never to hear the last of the disturbance in Prussia, and the last intelligence is that Count BISMARCK has been very virtuously in dignant. We have heard a great deal of late as to the wonderful improvement that had taken place in this Minister's style and deportment in conse quence of the singular success he met with in all his desperate ventures. However, he seems soon to have got tired of this, and to have recognised the necessity of speedily substituting the fortiter in re for the suaviter in nioda. We are not surprised at this, because it is only in keeping with the whole style of Prussian policy of late years. The truth is that there never can be any real sympathy between the Government and the people on account of the insincerity that they so persistently display ; and as for the Cham bers they know very well that it is all nonsense for the Ministers to preach about their patriotism and their exertions in the popular cause. For the pre sent, nevertheless, the wily Minister has so far gained his point ; but this has only been effected at the cost of great trouble, and in consequence of acts of despotism which would seem inconsistent any where else but in Prussia. It has been the fashion with Mr. BRIGHT of late to laud and magnify the present state of things in Prussia ; but surely even he must see by this time that freedom of opinion is all moon shine over there, and that there is no real power in the States but those of the head authorities, and, despite the indignation of those most immediately concerned and affected, no heed is paid to their complaints and objections. Count BISMARCK'S speech to the Upper Howe is quite a characteristic one in every way. Ile plainly states that he will have his own way, and that they may please themselves as to whether or not they agree to it. The point in dispute was the bill for increasing the number of the members of the Chamber of Deputies, and the Court declared that if the Upper House refused to let the proposi tion pass into law, the Government would have to dissolve the Chambers and convoke a fresh Diet, so that their object could be gained of introducing the Prussian Constitution into the newly-formed States. After reflecting upon the manner in which this bill was passed, we may well turn to an appropriate survey of the benefits and blessings that accrue to these newly-annexed provinces and their inhabi tants. In the sitting of the Chamber of Deputies on the same day on which Count BISMARCK expatiated upon the necessity of introducing the Prussian Constitution into these States the Minister of Justice made a reply to a question put to him by Herr TWESTEN, which formed a curious appendix to the assertion of the chief Minister to the other assembly. The ques tion referred to the unfortunate position of Herr SouNTAG, a Hanoverian merchant, known to be un favourable to the Prussian annexation, who has been confined in the fortress of Minden. The Minister of Justice replied that he was the soul of the agitation in Hanover, and that an inquiry had been ordered into his acts. " The Government," said he, " will continue to apply exceptional measures in exceptional cases ;" and such questions as that put by Herr TWESTEN have only the effect of main taining agitation." This may be all very fine, but all we can say is that if such is to be the manner in which affairs are to be conducted there is not much to be afraid of on the one side, or to rejoice at on the other. It is the old story of oppression and might against right that it suits some to draw up in a new form, and to call by new names, over those of progress and improvement ; but there is no truth or foundation for the appellations. The agitators for the repeal of the Malt Tax are not likely to miss the opportunity afforded them for the enforcement of their claims upon the Go- vernment by the fact of a Conservative Administra tion. Accordingly, just upon the eve of the Session, a numerous and influential deputation has waited upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer to plead for the remission, or at least the reduction, of the obnoxious impost. The Chairman of the Central Association, Mr. PUNNETT, after reminding Mr. DISRAELI that he was the only statesman of the day who had, when in office, made a practical attempt to abolish the duty, declared that he believed there was a growing conviction in favour of the justice of their cause. Mr. GLADSTONE had, he said, made re peated concessions, and the agricultural in terest now looked hopefully to Mr. DISRAELI to grant at least a considerable instalment of their demands. Several gentlemen representing the farm ing interest then brought forward some practical arguments. Mr. FOWLER, an Aylesbury farmer, complained that he found the tax interfere with the natural rotation of the crops by restricting the use of the inferior qualities of barley, which could pro duce good beer, but which the brewers would not now take, as the same tax is levied on the higher and lower qualities. In rearing young stock too the lower kinds of barley would be very serviceable, while the effect upon the labouring poor was very injurious. In his own case he paid between £5O and £.6o' a year in beer to his labourers, and £2O of that went in duty. The same argument was used by other farmers, and by Mr. FIELDING, of York shire, a manufacturer, who showed that if the tax were removed the labourer could buy malt for the purpose of cottage brewing for 4s. a bushel instead of Bs., as at present. Cottage brewing he believed to be conducive to habits of morality and virtue among the poor. The Rev. 11. BAYLEY supported this view, and was anxious to point out the bad effects of the duty in a moral aspect among the working people of Swindon, where he lived. The beer shops were productive of a large amount of drunkenness and depravity. The labourers and their families would get drunk over their can of beer on their own table ; he believed that the remedy for ' much of the drunkenness that now existed was the free and untaxed access by the working classes to pure and wholesome beer, which was essential to their strength. Mr. PELL, chairman of the Central Chamber of Agriculture, spoke from considerable experience of farming, and said that he found among the labourers he employed that beer was really a necessary of life after field work. his men often asked him for beer, but never for a glass of gin or a cup of tea. These are strong arguments in favour of a reduction of the tax upon malt, and there is no doubt that if the benefit of the change can be given to the public instead of to the brewer, it will be a powerful counteractive to the temptations of the fatal gin palace. In the same way, if the benefit can teach the farmer instead of the landlord, no doubt the lightening of the bur den will be a great boon to agriculturists. The question, like many others of a kindred character, is beset with difficulties ; but the Anti-Malt-tax party have certainly a strong case in their favour, and they have exercised patience during a good many years. Mr. DISRAELI, while promising full con sideration of their arguments, reminded them that they had not given very cordial support to his proposal of removing one-half of the tax in 1852. Had they assisted him then in carrying out that proposal most probably there would be none of the tax left now. However, he did not conceal his opinion that the tax was a bad one, and though with due official reticence he gave no intimation of his intentions respecting it, the deputation with drew, with the hope that he would at least endea vour to make some step in their direction. Very great and general was the consternation and regret expressed throughout the West-end last evening when it became known that a terrible accident had occurred on the ice in the Regent's Park. It has been for many days a busy and ani mated scene, full of life and fun, while the banks have been crowded with spectators resolutely brav ing the cold for the pleasure of watching the exhi larating sport which they could not or would not share. A melancholy termination came to the amusement—laughter was suddenly changed into agony and terror, and the sacrifice of many lives completed the tragedy. The scenes on the banks, as described by eye-witnesses, were indeed most painful. In many cases the friends and near relatives of the skaters were condemned to stand helpless on the shore watching their dear ones slowly perishing and appealing for the help which none could give. The immense number of persons suddenly and simultaneously immersed forbade the hope, almost the impossibility, of all being got out alive, and it is only fortunate, long as is the list of casualties, that it was not even longer. Very distressing was the search for missing relatives car ried on last night at the different receptacles for the drowned, and many a house, yesterday bright and happy, is to-day darkened with mourning and lamentation. Into the details of the melancholy story we need not here enter. It may, however, well be asked whether some means cannot be adopted to prevent this fearful au d unnecessary sacrifice of THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 16, 1867 life. Many of the victims in such cases are no doubt victims to their own recklessness and fool hardiness. But folly and recklessness are neither very uncommon nor very heinous faults in the class of young men and boys who generally form a large proportion of the company on the ice. Older and wiser persons may well censure and caution them, but they cannot really be surprised if their cautions are disregarded by vigorous and careless youth. It would, then, be very desirable to remove some of the risks attending the sport. In the ornamental water on our parks surely it would be possible, either by granting the assistance of the police to keep persons off ice known to be in the dangerous condition of the Regent's-park water yesterday, or else to reduce all our ornamental water to the depth of that in St. James's-park, which answers every purpose of ornament, and in which no accidents of a very serious extent are any longer possible. The fact is that it is some years since we have had an accident of this nature, and we fear that all parties have begun to lose sight of the danger. We should like to see the perils of skating, at least in London, to be re duced to the risks of a fall, or a concussion, and not as now to include the possibility of so great and melancholy a disaster as that which we record in our columns to-day. The Conservatives of Durham have given a great banquet in order to celebrate the accession to office of a Conservative Government, and also to compli ment the member for the city, the Right Hon. J. MOWBRAY, upon his re-appointment as Judge- Advocate-General. The Right hon. gentleman made an interesting speech upon those topics which at the present day engage most deeply our attention and regard. First, with re spect to foreign affairs, he considered that our relations with America were improved, and that Lord STANLEY had done wisely in resorting to refer to arbitration the Alabama claims. Lord CARNARVON, for his part, seemed likely to have the " craving glory of completing that great work of the Confederation of the North American provinces —a work so well begun and all but accomplished by Mr. CARDWELL." This is praise that is well de served, because there is nothing for which Mr. CARDWELL deserved more credit during his recent tenure of office than his management of this awkward business, and it redounds to the credit of Mr. MOWBRAY also that he should be ready to acknow ledge the services rendered by a political opponent. As for Ireland, the right hon. gentleman found matter for congratulation in the fact that this winter, which had been so dreaded there, was passing away without a single outbreak or the shedding of a drop of blood, and those who hurried over there to pro mote sedition are now hastening back to the West '• and crowding the steamboats in Euch numbers, that the proprietors are happily enabled to raise their fares." Further on, in referring to the question of Re form, he said, very truly, that the blame of the de lays did not rest with the Conservatives, and above all, that if the Bill of 1859, which was now admitted to have been a carefully devised and comprehensive measure, fitted to become the basis of legislation, never got into committee, it was because the Libe ral leaders were more anxious to regain office than they were intent upon reforming Parliament.' This so exactly coincides with the opinion which we expressed at the time of the introduc tion of the measure, that we are glad to quote the passage referred to. Another dodge of those who are jealous of the present Government was ably shown up by Mr. MOWBRAY, when he said that some agreed that the Conservatives might bring in a Reform Bill, if they thought it con sistent with self-respect to do so. "Those who climbed into power in 1859, on the programme we adopted at Willis's Rooms, and allowed the question to sleep for six years, were no great authorities as to self-respect; and had not Lord DERBY, one of the authors of the Reform Act of 1832, as good a right to take part in its amend ment as Earl RUSSELL." CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) PARIS, Tuesday Evening. n T t h h e e di f f o o l l n o i win teurg to-day is all th : , foreign r the ews adoptioncontainedithe Chamber of Deputies of Prussia of the project of law relative to the increase of the number of Deputies it was submitted to the House of Lords. That House proposed an amendment, to the effect that the number of members of the House of Lords should be increased by 80 members, to be chosen from the countries recently annexed to Prussia. We hear from Venice that the elections for the provincial and municipal councils are terminated, and that the result is very satisfactory. The coun cils will be composed in a fair proportion of the most honourable men of property, barristers, and men connected with commerce and industry." The Italie says that the Western Powers have taken up the Eastern question diplomatically. Turkey, it says, has addressed to them a Note com plaining of the policy of Greece, and Greece on her part has sent a counter-note, arraigning the conduct of Turkey, adding that if justice be not done to her she will adopt efficacious measure to defend her rights. Upon this the Italie remarks that it is more easy to make threats than to carry them into execu tion. A war against Greece would be the signal of the ruin of the Ottoman Empire. If the Turks have not been able to conquer the Greeks dur ing a war of six years, from 1821 to 1827, if in 1866 they had not the power to reduce the island of Crete, how can they hope to conquer Greece ? Europe would not allow them to do so. She would infallibly interfere, and the Ottoman Empire would emerge from the crisis she had evoked, if not ruined, at least very much weakened. The Russian Government has just appointed Baron de Meyendorff as Charge d'Affaires of Russia at the Grand Ducal Court of Saxony. By virtue of a royal ordinance, dated the 9th of this month, vessels from the Pontifical States win be admitted to free pratique iu Spain. Vessels from France, England, the United States of America, Hamburg, Holland, Sweden, Norway, and Austria, destined for Spanish ports, will in future be subjected to a quarantine of three days of observation at Cartbagena, Cadiz, and Santander. A letter has been received in Paris from Blidab, dated Jan. 5, which states that on the previous evening there had been several severe shocks of earthquakes, and that two of them were very vio lent. The earth was continually trembling, and great alarm prevailed from the indications that some more terrible convulsions would take place. A letter from Naples, datEd Jan. 7, in the Journal des Debuts, says " a fact of great import ance has been accomplished at Naples and through out Italy. All the monks have left their convents. If there be exceptions, it is only in small communes. They are resigned, if not indifferent, and say that it is the will of God. An account has been received of the death of M. Victor Cousin, one of the most illustrious members of the French Academy, which took place at Cannes. He was formerly Minister of Public Instruction and a peer of France. M. Cousin was born at Paris on the 28th Nov., 1792. M. Ingres, the renowned painter, has, as was feared from the first, succumbed to the violent attack of bronchitis which suddenly seized him. He was born at Montauban in 1781, and, although at this advanced age, he was in the full possession of all his admirable faculties. The number of his paintings is really immense. At the Universal Exhibition of 1855 a room was exclusively reserved for them. Only two evenings before his death he had a num ber of friends at his house on the Quai Voltaire, and he was in the best health and spirits. There was nothing to indicate approaching illness. This great painter commenced the study of drawing when he was only five y ears old. At 17 he was a pupil of the celebrated David, and after four years' study he gained the second great prize for painting. A year afterwards the first prize was awarded to him. Some of the pictures he sent from Rome were rather coldly received. He, however, remained in that city until he married in 1817. His picture, " The Vow of Louis XIII.," now at Montauban, - which he painted at Florence, was at the Salon of 1824, and created a great sensation. M. Ingres at once assumed the first rank among idealist painters. In that year he was appointed Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts. He began to paint pictures in great profusion, and some of them were so adversely criti cised that he decided upon leaving France, and was almost discouraged. He was appointed Director of the Villa Medicis, from which he sent more pictures to Paris. When he returned from Rome for the second time, however, his fame was placed upon a sure foundation. In the year 1855 he was named Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. His death has created quite a sensation in Paris. The Constitutionnel says :—" The Grand Duke of Hesse made a strong remonstrance to Prussia, with the view that the communes of Castel and Kostheim, situated within the radius of the fortress of Mayence, should not form part of the Confederation of the North. It is now certain that the Prussian Govern ment has not paid the least attention to his claim, for a Grand Ducal ordonnance has just been issued, which provides for the elections in those communes to the Parliament of the North." The frost continues. It has been very cold, dull, and foggy all day, with snow occasionally. Mr. Charles Dickens's Readings. (From the Daily News.) Readings by Mr. Charles Dickens are now looked for as a matter of course at this season of the year, and were they not forthcoming there is no doubt that a large section of the public would be grievously disappointed. For it cannot be denied that there is a strange fascination in hearing an author give dra matic life and form to his own creations, and the fas cination is certainly not diminished when the author occupies such a high position in general favour as Mr. Charles Dickens. " Mugby Junction," from which his selections were made last night at St. James's-hall, is but a minor contribution to the literature of the Christmas season, but it is the latest production to which his name is appended, it is fresh in the recollection of the public, and it is still the subject of com ment and of conversation in the domestic circle. It was sure, therefore, to excite interest, and to be listened to with as much attention and as keen a sympathy as the author's most popular works could have aroused. Mr. Dickens divides his reading into two parts. The first includes the chapters in " Mugby Junction" headed " Barbox Brothers" and " Barbox Brothers and Co." The second consists merely of the narrative in which the experiences of the Boy at Mugby are related. To say that Mr. Dickens reads these productions is, however, to con vey a very imperfect idea of the interpretation they receive at his hands. It would be more to the purpose to say that he recites them with drama tic intention and in a dramatic spirit. Nay, so careful is he that nothing shall bo wanting to give them full effeet, that he learns every word beforehand, and seems to regard his book merely as a resource only to be appealed to should memory fail. He is thus enabled to impart to his embodi ments of oharactor the facial expression and the gestures which give them a more distinct indivi- duality and a more vital significance. The power of doing this he evidently possesses in such abun dance that had he not been a popular author there can be but little doubt he would have chosen the stage for his profession and become one of its brightest illustrations. In his reading of " Barbox Brothers," the character which stood out con- spicuous from the rest was unquestionably the honest, simple-hearted " Lamps" of Mugby Junction. As in his literary portrayals so in his dramatic, Mr. Dickens is thoroughly_at home with eccentricity in humble life. " Lamps, " with his poetical tendencies, his cheerful philosophy, and his tendency when agitated to give himself a " rounder," that is, to rub his face with his oily handkerchief, was brought so to speak visibly before the audience. Every little feature which the author had delineated was reproduced by the reader, and had Mr. Dickens put on fustian and really greased his face, the portrait could scarcely have been more complete. The commencement of the second division of the first narrative, where Barbox Brothers holds the dialogue with himself at the inn window and recalls the experiences of his past life, was given with much impressiveness, and the innocent prattle of the lost child Polly was rendered with admirable effect. All were able to appreciate the concluding portion of the entertainment, "me Boy at Mugby." This was given with a distinct ness of utterance and a breadth of humour which directly appealed to every one present. As sen tence followed sentence, laughter followed laughter, the whole room joining so heartily and with such good temper in the merriment that the truth underlying the Mugby Boy's rather highly seasoned satire obviously mot with general recognition. (From the Morning Post.) Mr. Charles Dickens gave Jest evening at St. James's hall a public reading of some choice selec tions from his latest Christmas story, " Mugby Junction." Notwithstanding the extreme severity of the frost which, as the managers have found to their cost, makes many people regard the fireside as the pleasantest place of entertainment, the hall was crowded to excess. The peculiar attractiveness of the occasion accounted for the satisfactory result. Apart from the not unpardonable feeling of hero worship which is gratified by the mere sight of a man of the first celebrity, whose genius has contributed to the sum of intellectual happiness, there is a manifest advantage in hearing an autho r g i ve his own interpretation to his works. Turner used to say that the critics often mistook his pictures, attri buting to them a meaning he had never intended, and finding in them more than he had ever put into them. When painter or author undertakes to be the exponent of his own creations this unfortunate misconception of purpose is out of the question. It is both pleasant and profitable to hear a good story told by the man of all others the best quali fied to understand it. He best knows what he meant in writing it, and, presuming that he has dramatic utterance and histrionic power, with both of which Mr. Dickens is largely gifted, he can always give the true local colour to the dialogue, and in every case present faithful por traits of his ideal personages. He can impart to them the very form and aspect with which he de sires them to be invested in the imagination of his readers. All this Mr. Dickens does with excellent effect in his reading of "Mugby Junction." He cleverly adapts his voice and manner to the various characters of the story, and, having a parental fami liarity with his book, he is under no necessity to keep his gaze fixed continuously upon the page, and is therefore free to enforce the text with suitable ac tion and appropriate play of features. Mr. Dickens has his story o ff b y h ear t, and so seldom refers to the volum e b e f ore hi m th a t his performance is not so much a " rea di ng " as a spirited recitation richly illust ra t e d w i t h d rama ti c s ketches. Ilis viva voce description of " B ar box Brothers," of the scenes that eccentric traveller visited, and of the various personages w h om he encountered on his travels, especially " Lamps," his daughter , a nd the precocious P o lly, i s excee dingly life-like and characteristic. Th e M ug by Boy's slashing exposé of the railway re f res h men t s ystem was keenly relished by the audience, not only on account of its abundant truth and humour, but as affording full scope for the display of Mr. Dickens's comic powers and his surprising diversity of facial expression. On Tuesday, th e 29th i ns t., the reading will be repeated. BENEVOLENT BARBARITY.--We are glad to hear that, thanks to the beneficence of the rich, a great many poor people have bean thoroughly coaled during the re cent inclement weather.—Fun. LATEST INTELLIGENCE, (REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.) AMERICA. (By Atlantic Telegraph.) NEW YORK, Jan. 15, Evening. Gold, 1351. Exchange on London, 1091. Five twenty United States Bonds, 1071 ; Illinois, 120 ; Erie, 65g. Cotton—Middling Upland, 341. The North German Lloyds' steamship Bremen arrived out to-day. THE HUNGARIAN DIET. PESTI!, JAN. 15. The draft of Address proposed by Herr Deak, in reference to the Imperial patent, was almost unani mously adopted by the Diet to-day. The additional proposal of Herr Madaras that the House should declare the Imperial patent to be null and void, was rejected as inexpedient. Herr Tissa expressed apprehension that the Government would not re-establish the Constitution of 1848. ITALIAN FINANCE. FLORENCE, Jan. 15 (Evening). An appendix to the Budget for 1867 was laid be fore the Chamber of Deputies to-day, in which the public revenue is stated at 865 millions lire, and the expenditure at 1,024,000,000 lire, leaving a deficit of 159 millions. By this statement a reduction is shown of about 27 millions, upon the estimated ex penditure of the Budget presented in December last. The Chamber has approved, with some modifica tions, the bill upon parliamentary disqualification by 147 against 79 votes. VIENNA, Jan. 16. On the occasion of the celebration of the Greek New Year's Day the Russian Ambassador to this Court forwarded numerous invitations to a banquet to the Greeks residing at Vienna. Count Stackel berg proposed the toast to the prosperity of Greece. FRANCE. BOURSE, Jan. 15, Two o'clock.—The market is busy with the bi-monthly reponse de primes (option) which has been answered at 54f. 25c. on Italian Stock, and at 506 f. 25c., on Credit Mobilier shares. Quotations are firm, Italian Fives and Comptoir d'Escompte have advanced—the former 25c.—at 54f. 40c., and the latter Bf. 75c.—at 840 f., whereas French Threes, though steady, show no improve ment, remaining at 62f. 60c. General Ottoman Debt have risen 40c. to 33f. Nothing noticeable in Railway shares, which are quoted without any variation. Three o'clo , :k.—The market has closed firmly as 'chows : 4j per Cents 99 Do. end month — 3 per Cents. 69 60 Do. end month 69 Go Credit Mobilier Do. end month Credit Foncier — Do. end month 1415 'RAIL' Bank Shares 3590 Italian Loan 54 50 Do. end month 54 471 Mexican Loan — Do. Bonds — Spanish Threes Home Debt Deferred r A. 1113. For Account. Orleans Northern llB2 50 Lyons and Mediterranean 912 50 Southern 568 75 Western Eastern Sardinian 543 75 Austrian Lombard 3BB 75 North of Spain Saragossa Ditto to Barcelona Roman. 97i -1- The Rev. C. Kings'ey on the Ancien Regime Yesterday afternoon the Rev. Charles Kingsley commenced a short course of lectures at the Royal Institution, " On the Ancient Regime as it existed on the Continent before the French Revolution." He commenced with a definition of the term ancien regime, which he explained to signify a " caste" of society distinguished from " class" and different from aristocracy. The members of this caste, presuming on a supposed superiority over the other-portions of the community, whom they affected to control, re fused to intermarry with any one not belonging to their own privileged set. The ancien regime took its rise after the Thirty Years' War, and flourished during the 17th and 18th centuries ; and Mr. Kingsley at tributed its origin to the reactionary conservative feeling which followed that devastating war, when the people, disgusted with constant turmoil, sought anxiously for rest, and were inclined to reverence the forms and practices of a bygone ago when those forms and ceremonies were associated with honour able acts and useful works. It was an attempt to restore chivalry without the spirit that gave it vitality, or the benefits it conferred. It was, Mr. Kingsley said, like mounting the empty suits of armour in the Tower on wooden horses and endeavouring to make them pass with the multitude forliving knights on their chargers, ready to redress the wrongs of mankind. He attributed the immediate origin of the ancien regime to Louis XIV., who invited the principal nobles of France to Paris, where they passed their time in frivolity and idleness. He con demned in no measured terms the institution of this caste, founded on pride and idleness ; those who were included in it having neglected all the duties belonging to them as nobles and landed proprietors, endeavouring to grind down and keep under the people whom they were bound to help and succour. In England there never was an ancien regime. The natural freedom of the people resisted it, and the love of liberty inherent in them was transplanted to America, whence it was reflected back to France, and bore its fruits in the French revolution, by which the ancien regime of that country was destroyed. Mr. Kingsley contrasted strongly aristocracy with caste, and, taking an en larged view of aristocracy, he attributed its creation and maintenance to the possession of superior merit rather than to superior wealth. It would be an evil day for this country, he observed, were the aristo cracy destroyed, and in his beau ideal of such an institution it should include every one who is by his deeds noble and meritorious, and should extirpate from its ranks all who are base and ignoble ; though he feared it would be many years before that opinion was generally accepted and acted on. He repudiated the notion of equa lity, as being contrary to experience and common sense; and at some length Mr. Kingsley proceeded to show how, even on the assumption of the unity of the human race—which he was not inclined to dispute—differences would arise which would place some men and some classes of men above others. Thus, for example, the invention of the bow and arrow would give immense advantage to those who first possessed it ; and he considered the invention of riding on horseback to have been of equal im portance in its time to the invention of locomotion on railways in modern days. The consequences resulting from it he pointed out in many ways, showing how the people who rode on horse back had conquered and ruled over nations numerically much more powerful. The invention of breaking in horses to draw, and the construction of carts with wheels, were also noticed as giving governing power to those who first contrived those appliances; and in this manner the growth of aris tocracies was traced to their elementary principles. Mr. Kingsley did not fail to enforce that the duty of governing bodies of men is to endeavour to raise those below them to their own level, for if they did not he said they might be sure that in the course of time they would be dragged down to the lower level of the populace. TWO LADIES DROWNED AT LEAMINGTON.—On Monday a sad accident happened at Leamington, by which two young ladies, Miss Emily and Miss Emma Place, were drowned in the river Learn. • About 4 o'clock, while skating with some other friends, the ice suddenly broke, and tho whole party were precipitated into the water. Tho son and daughter of the Rev. J. 11. Smith struggled to the shore with groat difficulty, and another young lady was rescued by means of a rope. The deceased wore buoyed up for some time by their clothing and by holding on to the rope, but at last disappeared beneath tho ice. There bodies were not recovered until life was extinct. Tho deceased were sisters, and related to most respectable families in Leamington, LITERATURE. The Journal of a Playgoer. From 1851 to 1866. By Henry Morley. One Vol. Pp. 384. George Routledge and Sons. A valuable and most interesting addition to the History of the English Stage has here been produced by the London University College Professor of English Literature. It is a work, too, that has grown up, if not from small beginnings, at any rate most unpreten tiously. It has budded leaf by leaf into existence almost imperceptibly under its writer's hands—by reason of his acting in its regard upon much less than the old scholiast's axiom, dictum, principle, however you may like to term it—nulla die sine linea. Contributing intermittently (that is, at very uncer tain intervals, and not by any means regularly from week to week) theatrical criticisms to his own weekly newspaper, the Examiner—whilom iu suc cession Leigh Hunt's, Albany Fonblanque's, and John Forster's Examiner—Professor Morley has at length, very judiciously as it appears to us, collected together his fragmentary criticisms and published them collec tively for the first time in this exceedingly readable volume, under the modest title of " The Journal of a London Playgoer." And a Journal it is, as his title-page specifies at the very outset, extending over no more than an interval of fifteen years alto gether. The fifteen years, that is to say, com prised between the two years of grace 1851 and 1866. Nevertheless, jotted down though these sketches of the London Drama between 1851 and 1866 have been quite unpretendingly, simply by the way, almost par parenthese they con stitute when grouped together in a consecutive series, as we have already indicated in so many words, a valuable and a most entertaining addition to the annals of our National Theatre—meaning, of course, no one theatre in particular, but the Theatre as an InstitUtion. So valuable, in its way and of its kind so really invaluable, is it in our estimation—regarding the book as a whole, as a record of dramas and of actors during one spe cial epoch, and that the latest or most recent—that we cannot hesitate to attach to the fact of this little volume's publication a value of almost his torical importance. And we do so for this one simple reason that unless we hunt elsewhere very discursively indeed for some data in regard to the rise, growth, and development of the English Theatre as an In stitution, we shall have to restrict our attention to three Books, to three Writers, to three Annalists, for the acquisition of anything like a broad or ccm prensive outline (between them) of the Expansion or Variation of the English Theatre as a National Institution. And of those three books we have here one in this unpre tentious Journal of a London Playgoer. F rom Colley Cibber's Apology for his Life, and William Hazlitt's Criticisms on the English Stage, and Henry Morley's Journal of a London Playgoer —from those three books alone it is practicable, without going anywhere else for assistance or infor mation, to obtain a broad and general knowledge, here and there worked out with wonderful detail, of the. Dramatic Art in this country, and of its more conspicuous cultivators or illus trators—from Betterton to Garrick, from Gar rick to the Kembles, from the Kembles to Edmund Kean, and from Edmund Kean down to the actors and actresses of nowadays. Not but what, apart from the three delightful books we have just now particularised there have been other critics of note besides Cibber and Hazlitt and Morley who have dedicated their powers to the illustration of the alternate advancement and declension of the English Theatre—of the .Dramatic and His trionic Arts there combined. Our meaning being simply this, that nowhere else can we point to individual productions marking out certain easily-defined or definable epochs in the History of the Stage of England —a country which, thanks to the peerless genius of one man, has a Dramatic Literature taking precedence of all others. There is this significant peculiarity, how ever, in regard to Cibber, and Hazlitt, and Morley, when their several works, which are annals of their own times, are brought into comparison, that whereas the hero of Cibber's time was Betterton, and the hero of Hazlitt's was Kean—it would, be difficult indeed to specify any one individual among Professor Morley's immediate contemporaries who could safely be pronounced, morally or artistically speaking, as taller than his fellows even by a head and shoulders. Another peculiarity distinguishing Professor Morley no less significantly as a dramatic, or more strictly speaking as a theatrical, critic, from either Cibber or Hazlitt, is this, that very seldom, indeed, we might almost go so far as to assert that never, can he get up even the show or semblance of anything like enthusiasm. Betterton could carry away his audience, could carry away even the critics among his audience, as the phrase is, "by storm." Kean, meaning obviously Edmund Kean, could do precisely the like by his audience and his critics-..and this not simply upon rare or isolated occasions, but habitually. And no wonder—when a man like Byron could be thrown (as Byron was) into a fit on witnessing one of his performances—when an actress like Mrs. Glover could be carried faint ing from the stage (as Mrs. Glover was) under the malediction of his King Lear—when, to use Kean's own phrase, the houses were wont to " rise at him."—when, speaking of his acting, a poet such as Coleridge could without extravagance de scribe it to be, " like reading Shakspere by flashes of lightning." But—of whom since Betterton and Garrick, and Siddons, and Kean, could the like be recorded without exciting in those who might read such a record the sense of anutterl3; incongruous and even intolerable exaggeration Notwithstanding all which, by the sagacious exercise of his own sound judgment, and of his many rare, and some of them very remarkable, qualifications as a critic, Professor Morley has con trived by the judicious and dispassionate employ ment of the materials that happened to come to hand as he watched and listened while jotting down these his records of a London Playgoer during the fifteen years intervening between 1851 and 1866, to pen a really charming and delightful, and, more than that, a perfectly reliable record of the stage as it has actually been during that not wholly colourless interval. His own opinions in regard to the actors and actresses of his time (meaning of this our own time) he entertains very strongly—but those opinions while they amount to nothing less than convictions in his own mind, he never thrusts pragmatically upon anyone's ac ceptance. He has a lively appreciation of the force of the quot homines tot sententite considera tion. He thinks so-and-so himself, and, thinking it, expresses the same with all the force of his energetic language. But—he never looks for an universal acceptance of his own convic tions when so thinking or so writing. Himself re garding Mr. Phelps as an artist of very considerable powers, he takes occasion to notify, in his very Pro logue, that he is perfectly conscious at the same time that there are others who are by no means disposed to coincide with him in so thinking. " A critic," he says, " to whom 1 look up, holds Mr. Phelps to be no actor." Professor Morley, again, fails altogether to recognise any genius at all in Miss Bateman—yet, quoth h?, upon the same occasion and in precisely the same spirit, " A veteran man of letters, who has a clear judgment, has astonished me with glowing admiration of her Juliet"—that is, of the Juliet of Miss Bateman. Professor Morley (to give yet one other instance) protests, quite em phatically, that he fails altogether, for his own part, to recognise the poetic insight, with which he nevertheless acknowledges that intellectual men have accredited Mr. Charles Kean in his most honourable career as an actor and a manager. Outspeakingly, fairly, frankly, manfully, thus, does this skilled and honest theatrical critic speak through out. And, precisely in this manful outspeaking lie the main value and interest and excellence of his JoUrnal as a London Playgoer. it is a book to put upon our shelves within easy reach for frequent reference. Our one only regret in regard to it, as a book of reference, is this—that ,it lacks, what would just perfect it as a record of the English Stage from 1851 to 1866, a full and comprehensive Index, alphabetically arranged. (d rant 11mult HER MAJESTY, &c. - a .-- OSBORNE, Jan. 15. The Queen, accompanied by Princess Christian, drove out yesterday afternoon, attended by the Dowager Duchess of Atli°le ; and her Majesty walked in the grounds this morning with Princess Christian and Princess Louise, attended by the lion. Emily Cathcart. His Royal Highness Prince Arthur arrived at Osborne yesterday afternoon from Buckingham Palace, attended by Major Elphinstone. Prince Arthur and Prince Christian went out shooting this morning, attended by Col. Ponsonby. Prince Leopold, Princess Beatrice, and Prince Henry of Prussia walked in the grounds. The Hon. Emily Cathcart has succeeded the Hon. Flora Macdonald as Maid of Honour in Waiting. The Duke and Duchess of Argyll and family aro expected to return home from their tour in Italy the week preceding the opening of Parliament. The Duke of Buckingham arrived in town Yes terday from Stowe. The Marquis and Marchioness of Kildare and family arrived at the Duke of Loinster's residence on Carlton-house-terrace, yesterday morning, from Carton House, Maynooth. The Earl and Countess of Bessborough are enter taining a succession of visitors at Bessborough nous°, Kilkenny. Lord Straithnairn, commanding tho forces in Ireland, has joined the party. The Earl of Lonsdale has arrived at his residence on Carlton-house-terrace from Ventnor, isle of Wight, for the season. The Earl of Harrington has arrived in town from Elvagton Hall, Derbyshire. A marriage is arranged between Colonel the Hon. Frederick Augustus Thesiger, of the 95th itiegirCiOnti eldest son of the Lord Chancellor, and Miss Heath, daughter of Major-General J. C. Heath, commanding th° Scinde division, Bombay. REPEAL OF THE MALT DUTY. IMPORTANT DEPUTATION TO THE CHAN' CELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER. Yesterday afternoon a very numerous and influen tial deputation of members of Parliament and other gentlemen, representing the Central Anti-Malt TO Association and the Midland Counties Association/ had interview by appointment with the Right Hon. B. Disraeli, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at his official residence in Downing street, for the purpose of urging upon the right hon. gentleman the neces sity of taking steps for the abolition of the malt tax. Lord Cuizzox, M.P., introduced the deputation/ and in doing so said that the object of the deputa tion was to urge on the right hon. gentleman that the present was a fitting time for dealing in some measure with this most important question. He be lievedthat the malt tax repealers had a very strong' case, and they had confidence in the intentions of the right hon. gentleman to dealjustly with their claims. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER expressed his extreme regret that as he had to attend a Cabi net Council at three o'clock he was under the neces sity of requesting the favour of the respective speakers of confining their remarks to as brief a term as possible. Mr. PUNNETT (of West Kent), as chairman of the Central Association, expressed the pleasure wit h which himself and colleagues waited upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the present ocea' sion, the right hon. gentleman being the only states man of the present day who had, when in office , made a practical attempt to abolish the duty. Th e members of the deputation were grateful to him fo r what he did on that occasion, and they believed that all that had since transpired still tended to strengthe n the case for the repeal of the malt tax. Mr. FOWLER, of Aylesbury, complained that be as a farmer found the tax seriously to interfere with . the due and natural rot a ti on o f crops b y res t r icting the use of the inferior qualities of barley—whic h were well qualified for the production of good beer __which, in consequence of the weight of taxation/ could find no market with the brewers in compariso n with the higher qualities of barley, upon which only the same amount of taxation was levied. lie als ° , urged the conside ra ti on o f t h e serious question o' rearing stock which was involved in the malt -tag. Young stock was growing more valuable, and it was well known amongst dealers that no better article of diet could be given than malt, but its use Was practically denied by the existence of the present duty. Another reason which brought the deputa" tion there was that the consumption of beer by th e labouring poor was greatly restricted by the duty In his own case h e pa id i n b eer b etween £5 O a nd ; £6O a-year to hi s l a b ourers, an d o f t h at amo unt some £2O or £25 went for duty. Upon one of his farms there was a heavy clay soil, which he was unable to turn to the best advantage, because b e , found it unprofit a bl e t o grow certa i n d escr i pt i o nsot barley which but for the tax now levied would b e most valuable for conversion into beer.. Mr. PELL, as chairman of the Central Chambe r of Agriculture, and a considerable farmer, said tha t he found amongst the labourers he employed be er was really a necessity of life and essential to the re storation of their strength when it had become hausted on the field or by other work. He hoped that as there had been very beneficial changes .113 the legislation of the country with regard to the i duties on the gr ea t necessar i es o f lif e, j ust i ce woul d not be allowed to stop at malt. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, having heard the arguments of th e var i ous s p ea k e rs, sai d he need scarcely assure the gentlemen present of the pleasure and willingness with which he had tre ceived the deputation. The case had been ably and fairly put before him—he might indeed say 11 ,1 quite an artistic manner. His sympathies, they ar i knew, were deeply with the culti v ators of the s ° and the labouring classes of the country generallii; He had never concealed his opinion that the 1113 duty was a bad t ax , an d h e h a d shown that by the proposal which he made when Chancellor 00; the Exchequer in 1852 t o re d uce th e am ount the tax by one-half. But he must remind the e , that when that proposal was made it was not r e e ceived with any enthusiastic support from t il t agriculturists themselves. Th e opponents o f tha t measure told him that his proposal was not sufael ea . , to be appreciated by those w h o m i g ht h av e be% expected to feel the grea t es t amoun t o f intere .o 5 in the question ; an d h e was a l so t o ld that the repeal of one-half of the amoun t o f th e malt lie would not meet the exigencies of the case. Bu t o f (the right hon. gentleman) would tell them la e „ that if they had then assisted him, and the recblu v , tion of one-half the d u ty b a d b een e ff ec t e d, DO 1 3 1 % 0 tion of the tax would now have remained. , To Government of that day, however, did not rec eiv e support where they m i g ht h ave ex p ec t e d it ; but sine then the malt duty h a d b ecome a ques tion which c i doubt excited a very l arge amoun t o f i n t e rest a t ' bo anxiety throughout th e coun t ry . H e assured., o gentlemen before him that a ll th a t h a d b een said well that day would have the be s t a tt en ti on of Majesty's Government, and would be fully rea le bered and considered. Lord CURZON having thanked the. right , gentleman for their courteous reception, the deP tation then retired. Two IMPORTANT LITERARY' ANNOUNCEMENT S made by the Messrs. Routledge. First and f °l- ,4 most that they about to publish is a new edition of I.°o Lytton's novels, at ls. each ; and secondly, that the '`tu s , Wood is preparing a companion book to his large ,11 trated Natural History, under the title of " Routl e 7 t i l e Illustrated Natural History of Man," in all countries c". st world. The work is to be issued in 32 monthly lo st6 ;:io ls. each, and will be embellished with designs illusfr3,tss, of the manners, customs, religious rites, superstitions, d/'-oo habitations, weapons, instruments, implements, 30., among the inhabitants of every part of the . Part I. is to appear at the end of March. tii ° A Cabinet Council was held yesterday. at official residence of the, First Lord of the Treas,",-.,1rl Downing-street. The Ministers present were —the ;10, of Derby, the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Buckiegill'O. the Earl of Malmesbury, the Right Hon. Spen, 8 Spence.„ Walpole, Lord Stanley, the Earl of Carnarvon , 11 Peel,Viscount Cranborne, the Chancellor of the E011.,e4,100 Sir John Pakington, Sir S. Northcote, Lord John the Eight Hon. Gatkorne Hardy, and Lord Naas.