The Press.
London, England, 1853-05-14 00:00:00

TURKEY.

Letters from Constantinople of the 28th ult. state
that the Holy Places question is on the eve of receiv-
ing a solution favourable to all parties. Three con-
ventions will be signed: ono between France and the
Porte, a second between France and Russia, and a
third between Itus,ia and the Porte. By this simple
arrangement all possible antagonism regarding this
difficult question is annihilated. The basis of the
convention is the present static quo, and a slight
modification of the concessions made to France. The
tone of Prince Mentschikotf has softened considerably
since the arrival of Lord Redclitre.

MRS. H. B. STOWE AT STAFFORD-HOUSE.
A grand reception was given to the authoress of
Uncle Tom's Cabin " at the Duke of Sutherland's
mansion on Saturday last. The Duchess of Suther-
land, with a large party of those ladies who signed
the celebrated " Address of the Women of England"
against Slavery, assembled to welcome Mrs. Stowe to
England, and exchange expressions of personal re-
spect and of sympathy in the cause they had respec-
tively advocated. After Lord Shaftesbury had pre-
sented a suitable address, and Dr. Beecher had read a
letter from Mr. Clay, the American statesman, re-
freshments and conversation occupied the remainder
of the visit. Mrs. Stowe stated that the feeling ex-
cited in the States on the subject of slavery was
much stronger than English people imagined, and
could not be tested either by the rejoinders sent to
the " address," or by the statements in the news-
papers. There was no bitterness between the ladies
of the two countries, but those of America could not,
because of their husbands' personal and political
feelings, stand forth and say exactly what they
thought on the subject. For the future the practical
question was, what could be done to further the
work? She looked first to God, but man also could
do something. Sympathy must continue to be ex-
pressed. British subjects in Canada must be edu-
cated ; the use of free-grown ootton must be encou-
raged ;—such are the ways in which this great work
may be aided by the people of England.

GOVERNMENT EDUCATION BILL. YORKSHIRE
CHURCH UNION.—At a meeting of the committee of
the Yorkshire Church Union, held at Normanton, on
Wednesday, the 11th of May, it was unanimously
resolved—That, whereas the 10th clause of the Go-
vernment Education Bill of 1853, by making it a con-
dition that in all schools to be admitted to the benefit
of the act the children shall be at liberty to withdraw
from any religious instruction given in such schools,
and from attending any place of religions worship,
thereby practically excludes from aid all those schools
which require their children to be educated in the
doctrine and discipline of the church ; and whereas
a great portion of municipal taxation is levied on the
property of members of the church : This Union do
protest against the injustiet, of this bill, which thus
arbitrarily excludes churchmen and church schools
from their share in the distribution of municipal
rates set apart. for educational purposes. That a
copy of this resolution be sent to the Right Hon.
Lord John Russell and Mr. Secretary at War, the
introducer of tl 0 bill, the Right Rev. Prelates the
Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Ripon, the
members of Parliament for the Universities of Ox.
ford, Cambridge, and Dublin. and the ridings and
boroughs of Yorkshire. Signed by the Resident on
behalf of the union, and be communicated to the
secretaries of all other church unions, and published
in such manner as the committee may deem expedient.

SATURDAY,

Xittraturt.

AZ-We are unavoidably compelled by want of space to postpone
our second notice of Lurd Grey's "Colonial Polley," in
which we propose to consider hie views ou the subjecta of
Tranaportatiuu and the Legialation for Australia, New
Zealand, and the Cape.

Memorials and Correspondence t? 1 Charles James
Fox. By Lord John Russell. Bentley.
IT is recorded of Swift, that in the decay of
his faculties he was overheard muttering to
himself, with a copy of the " Tale of a Tub"
in his hand, " What a genius I must have
had when I wrote this book !" Bet4e he is
much older, Lord John Russell may well cry,
" What evil genius possessed me to send forth
these depreciating views of the Whig party,
these detracting details about the most im-
passioned of Whig orators !" George the
Fourth, imitating the saying of Johnson to
Bozzy, said that " Moore had taken the life of
Sheridan." Mr. Fox's fame as a British
statesman suffers as much depreciation from
these volumes as Sheridan's character from
the poniard of Tom Moore. It is certainly
very strange that two Whig celebrities, com-
panions in renown during their lifetime,
should be victims to the posthumous severity
of incriminating biography !
Apart from political views, we are sorry that
this should be the case. In the first column
of the first page of our journal (vide PRESS
ante, p. 1), it was said that " the annals of
English party form one of the noblest chapters
in the history of man"—a fact proved by the
stirring deeds of two centuries, and brilliantly
illustrated by the classic works of Clarendon,
Bolingbroke, and Burke. We could desire
that all the lives of those towering natures
that swayed the passions of the first senate in
Christendom should be narrated in a style
worthy of the laud, which " will not willingly
let the" their names. There is scarcely
amongst them all a finer subject for an ar-
tistic pen than the career of Fox, with its
picturesque contrasts and romantic episodes.
But, when we turn to these " memorials," how
great is the disappointment ! We have been
promised a literary monument to the memory
of the great party chieftain, and in place of a
great work, nobly planned and brilliantly
executed, some bricks and mortar are hastily
huddled together, and we see little more than
the scaffolding of a structure which "was to
have been" raised.
The work, such as it is, may be described as
a compilation, arranged upon "Coalition"
methods. Lord Holland contributes some
pert and hasty notes on one portion of the
theme. The late Mr. Allen, of Holland-house
notoriety, interweaves within brackets [thus]
some feebly-written passages to clear up the
awkward brevity of Lord Holland. Then the dia-
ries and letters of Horace Walpole are copiously
quoted, and passages of them printed at great
length. Next Lord John Russell offers com-
ments and remarks between asterisks * *, and
chapters are printed in extenso from the
" Rockingham Memoirs"—the Duke of Buck-
ingham's " Courts and Cabinets"—and " Grat-
tan's Memoirs." The result of this literary
mixture is as amorphous as a " Church Re-
form" scheme from the present Cabinet. We
know of only one precedent in authorship for
the confusion, the clumsy arrangement, and
the awkwardness of design visible in every
chapter of this olla podrida. The noble com-
piler must have taken his own Reform Bill of
two years ago as the pattern of his present work.
It is ominous, therefore, for the success of his
present literary venture that its precedent was
stillborn.
At the same time we are bound fairly to
state that we have read with much pleasure
Lord John Russell's own contributions to
these motley volumes. Of the part exe-
cuted by Lord Holland, Mr. Allen. and Horace
Walpole it can he truly said as of phrenology-
by Abernethy, " there is much that is true,
and much that is new, but the new is not true,
and the true is not new."' In the noble lord's
part we recognise some proofs of that " thought-
' ful mind and gallant heart" which an adver-
sary attributed to Lord John Russell at the
time when his present colleagraes were con.
mining wholesale larceny of the noble Lord's