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

THE PRESS.

CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER : Because, to tell you the truth, I
have not the slightest idea of the way in which the thing is to be
done. More abolition clearly will not do, and then a carrying duty
which reimposes the tax—but, however, we won't talk of it now.
You make your speech, and some plan will occur to me.
PRESIDENT: Any law reforms to be promiesd?
Lord CHANCELLOR : I wouldn't, if I were you.
St. Leonards, and Brougham, and Lyndhurst.
Lord ABERDEEN (nodding significantly at Chancellor): I believe you
are right. But it is awkward that we have nobody in the Lords who
can take charge of such subjects. I really think, if Bethell—( Whis-
pers the Lord President.)
Lord CHANCELLOR : What's that about Bothell ? If you think that
I ought to resign in his favour
Lord ABERDEEN: Well ?

Leave all that to

Lord CHANCELLOR : I don't. That's all.
PRESIDENT : It isn't worth while making a change for the short
time that—never mind. Landlord and Tenant, Ireland— let me
see. Didn't Walpole give a sort of promise to look into that matter?
One couldn't take it out of hikt
Lord PALMgRSTON : No, it would be ungrateful, considering that he
put into shape the only Government measure you could pass last ses-
sion. An Opposition that first improves our bills for us, and then carries
them for us, is really a very considerate Opposition, eh ? Do you
mean to return the compliment, mutatis niutandis
Pazatnitta : Certainly not. It is not constitutional. But the " mu-
tation has not taken place yet.
Sir C. WOOD : No, don't be premature. It is a mistake to provide
for things a long way off.
Lord PALMERSTON : Wood, you were told not to defend the way in
which the war has been conducted.
Mr. S. HERBERT: Severe. But perhaps had Palmerston been in
my place, he would have found he had something to learn.
Lord PALMERSTON : And have learned it, I hope. For example, I
should have taken something from the Peninsular war, but not, I
think, the tents that were used in it, which Layard says you have
actually sent out to the Crimea.

TERMS OF

TOR

give their sanction to the marriage of the Ring, and
appoint the Regency, in case the throne should become
vacant. The Budget of the State shall be submitted to
the Cortes in the first eight days after their meeting. The
Cortes will fu the effective strength of the m-my, navy, &o.

Eighty-two officers and 2,053 rank and file of the
Imperial Guard embarked on Thursday from Mar-
seilles for the Crimea.

A letter from Bucharest, in the Preue of Vienna,
says :
The English Consul has remitted to Prince Stirbey a
note, calling upon him to repudiate the Russian protecto-
rate by a public act. The French Consul will send the
Hospodar a similar note.
The Hamburg News states that Saxony and Wur-
temburg have refused to accede to the call made by
Austria to place their forces on a war footing.
Bavaria, however, declares herself inclined to accede
to it, on condition that Prussia and Austria come to
some understanding on the proposition to be made to
the Diet on the subject.
An imperial edict was published in Vienna on
Thursday abolishing the punishment of death in the
Austrian army.

The postal arrangements for the Crimea continue
their ec'entricities up to the latest dates. Upon the
delivery of the mail from Constantinople at the Post-
office at Marseilles on Saturday last, nine bags were
found, which the way-bill only marked eight. Here
was a puzzle for the French authorities; but an
examination of the bags immediately taking place,
the odd one was found to contain letters for the
Crimea, which had only reached Constantinople by
the last outward mail, and bad been immediately
returned to Marseilles as the more direct route to
Balaklava. No wonder that our brothers and friends
complain that they never bear from us, when our
letters are taken such care of by the authorities.

The statement of a Paris correspondent of the
Times, that Sir De Lacy Evans has been offered a
staff appointment in India, is incorrect. The asser-
tion which has been put forward on several occa-
sions, and repeated in a oommunication in another
contemporary, that Lord De Ros had been thrust as
Quartermaster-General upon Lord Raglan by the
Government, is likewise unfounded. Lord Raglan
himself appointed Lard De Ros, and, if we mistake
not, held himself responsible for the appointment.—
Globe.
Lord and Lady Lyndhurst and the Hon. Miss
Copley have arrived in George-street, Hanover-
square, from Dover. The venerable ex• Lord Chan-
cellor has nearly recovered ftom his late indisposition,
and it is now understood his lordship will be able to
attend in the House of Lords when Parliament meets
on Tuesday next.

Yesterday some hundreds of persons assembled by
the side of the canal in St. antes's-park, but the ice
was not considered of a strength sufficient for skat-
ing, and the injunctions laid on the park-keepers
were fully attended to by preventing persons
chancing their lives.

SATURDAY,

Mr. S. HERBERT : It would be a very good thing if Layard would
mind his own business.
. Sir JAMES GRAHAM: Hear, hear.

Duke of NEWCASTLE : Hear, hear, hear. Deucedly mischievous
article that in the Quarterly, and very just, except where it reflects
upon me—in that part the reviewer knows nothing about the matter.
But he is very right about Herbert.
Mr. S. HERBERT: Luckily all he says against you is proved by no-
torious facts—he has mere conjectures in my case. And another thing,
Newcastle, you don't shew tact in telling your trumpeters to blow so
uncommonly hard ; while you only took credit for " industry" and
never•flagging zeal," it were all very well, but when they write about
your " genius" and your " prescience" is not that rather strong, eh?
Suppose they were to speak of Charley Wood's eloquence.
Duke of NEWCASTLE (haughtily): The eases are not parallel, sir.
(To President.) Have we anything more to do? Because I want to go
and pack a chest of oranges in separate papers to go out to the army,
and I have some string to sort, and a great many other things to do.
PRESIDENT: No, I don't know that we need keep you. We have
not made much progress, but somebody saust see the Attorney and
Solicitor-General, and beg of them to give us some idea of what it will
be safe to promise—we have only four or five days left. Another Coun-
cil to-morrow morning, don't forget. Will you see the Attorney and
Solicitor-General, Aberdeen ? _ _

Lord ABERDEEN ( coolly): If they call on me, and I am at
home, certainly.
PRESIDENT: But they won't do that. Cranworth—no—Wood--not
much use—l must go myself, that's the fact. If Sebastopol should
be taken and we should hear it before Wednesday nett
Sir C. WOOD: What a lark ! ( Exit, jocosely.)
Mr. S. HERBERT: "It is Miss Nightingale and not a lark," as
Juliet says, that we shall have to talk about. Well, we must make the
best of it, and that's bad enough.
PRESIDENT : Before you Ribbon
me have the pleasure of announcing
to you that the vacant Blue Ribbon ( sensation) is allotted. It is to be
given to Lord Aberdeen.

(The Council breaks up amid inextinguishable shouts of laughter.)

Enibusitg ntt.lligtna.

OXFORD.
Hilary terms opened on Monday, when the following
degrees were conferred :-
111.A.—Francia John Eld, St. John's.
B.A.—Hely Hutchinson Almond, HalHol ; John Parr, Exeter;
Alan Cornwall Blackstoua,Fellow, New; Stephen Dowell, Corpus
Christi ; Edwin Arthur Salmon, Wadliam ; William Scott,
Worcester.

CAMBRIDGE.
MATHEMATICAL EXAMINATION, 1855.
Modertitors.—Rev. Lewis Hensley, M.A., Trinity ; Rev. Peree-
val Frost, M.A., St. John's.
Examiners.—Norman Macleod Ferrers, M.A., Caius; Hugh
Callender, M.A., Magdalen.
Approved for Mathematical Honours:—
Agnew, Trin. Freeman, Calus. Okeley, Trio.
Alston, Trio. French, Queens' I'earse, Trin.
Bentham, Job. Godson, Petah. Pearson, J. 8., Job.
Benham, Sid. Gray, C., Trill. Phillips, Queens'
Baty, Sid. Green, A H., Calus Pigou, Queen's
Healey, Sid. Green, W. C., King's Pomeroy, Trin.
Beard, Job. Griffith, Caine Poole, Joh.
Beaumont, Magd. Grindrod, Trin. Prescott, Corpus
Beck, A., Cetus. Haigh, Christ's Propert, Trin. Hall
Beck, E.J., Clare. Hancock, Job. Puller, Trin.
Bennett. Corpus. Hutted, Pet. Randolph, Trio.
Bickford, Trig. Harrison, Trio. Ries, Job.
Bonham Carter, Tr. Headland, Caine Reynolds, Emm.
Boustield, Caius. Healey, Trip. H. Richards, Jesus
Bowen, Trin. Heeley, Trin. Roxhy, John's
Brakenridge, Christ Hoare, Caius Husby, Magd.
Brown, G. W., Ern= Holdsworth, Pet. Sanders. Emm
Brown, Jesus llooppell, Job. Savage, Job.
Browning, Queens' Hornby, Trin. Scholetield, Trin.
Browning, Cad). Hudson, Trin. Scowcrof, Itlagd.
Burrow, Joh. Hughes, num. Scudamore, Joh.
Burrow, Cath. Joceline, Corp. Shore, Trin.
Butler, Trin. Jones, E. H., Emm. Smethurst, Joh.
Butt, Jesus Lamb, Christ's Smith, W., Jests
Cashel., Caius Lander, Corp. Sowerby, Job.
Cayley, Job. Leurbes, Joh. Spurgiu, Clare
Child, Joh. Lenard, Magd. Straiten, Christ's
Christie, Joh. Lindsay, Trin. Summerhayes, Qs'.
Clare, Pet. Little, Joh. Thompson, T.
Clarke. Clue. Lobb, Trio. Tucker, R., Job.
Clay, Emm. Long, Corp. Vernon, Joh.
Conine, Cath. Loosernori, Cath. Watford, Trio.
Cooper, Joh. Lord, Jesus, Ward, A. H., Pemb.
Courtney, Joh. Lupkin, Joh. Ward, F.L., Trin.
Crompton, Trin. Machrsy, Old. Watson, F.F., Caius
Cuthbertaon, Corp. Merchant, Trin. Watson, R., Corpus
David, Christ's. Marsden, Trill. Webster, Trio.
Devenish, Trin. M atthews, Trin. Westerman, Queen
Dix, Caine. Meeres, Clare Whiteley, Emm.
Drewry, Pemli. Milward, Christ Whitlow. Sidney
Du Boulay, Trill. Molyneux, Magri. Wilde, Clare
Dumas, Joh Munro, Trin. Wilkinson, Christ's
Du Port, Caius. Moore, Job. Wimberley, Trin.
Edwards, Pezub. Mothersole, Trin. Wood. Cath.
Elsee, Joh. Muriel, Pet. Woolnough, Corp.
Etheridge, Caius. Ninuls, Clare Yeats, Joh.
Fitzroy, Trin. H.
Approved for the Ordinary Degree, so far as the Mathematical
Part of the Examination is concerned :
Bentley, Cetus I Fuller, Queens' Morris. Job.
Bewley, Cath. Hebden, Trin. I Pettit., Job
Parby, Joh. Knowles, Cetus Williams, *Clare
Dunlohood, Trin. I Lloyd, E., Trio.
Ayirotot.—Whitchurch, Joh.
William Bennett Pitte, scholar of Tr
has been elected aFellow of Downing

College, BA., 1853,
gei

Tat CABINET MANUFACTORY of Messrs. Jaques
and Hayes, one of the most extensive establishments
in Canada, was destroyed by fire on the 29th ult. The
loss was estimated at 40,0001., only one-tenth of
which was covered by insurance.

JANUARY 20, 1855.

Xittraturt.

History of British Guiana. By H. G. Dalton,
M.D. Loudon : Longmans.
GREAT labour has been bestowed on this book
to make it as complete as possible. Dr.
Dalton describes first the geographical posi-
tion of that portion of the South American
continent known as British Guiana ; then traces
its political and social history from its first
discovery by the followers of Columbus to the
close of the administration of Governor
Barkly ; notices especially the changes effected
in its industrial state by the Slave Emancipa-
tion Act and free-trade legislation; and gives
a particular description of its natural history,
with full statistics on the cultivation of the
island, its produce, the number of the in-
habitants, lc. The two volumes contain about
eleven hundred pages, with several plates, and
though, from its nature, the work cannot be
expected to interest any large class of persons,
it is only fair to say that it is conscientiously
compiled, and is the latest and most compre-
hensive extant on its subject.
British Guiana, lying just north of the
equator, is supposed to contain about 100,000
square miles, an ars a larger than the whole of
England and Scotland, but so little value is
attached to territory in that part of the world,
that the boundaries of the several States which
have settlements there have never been aster
tamed. Only a small tract of British Guiana
is under cultivation, and the estates have been
diminished by the violent and unjust legisla-
tion of the Imperial Parliament. That part of
these volumes which will be likely to attract
most attention is the first chapter in the
second volume describing the present state of
the colony.

The African race has, Dr. Dalton is con-
vinced, been very materially modified, not in
character only, but in physical qualities,
through its residence in Guiana, and its con-
tact with European civilisation. He writes :

Amongst the alterations that have taken place in the
social and political condition of the country, perhaps the
most remarkable is that which has been effected in rela-
tions between the African slave and his creole descendant.
Introduced into this colony about three centuries ago, the
slave has passed from a state of oppressed ignorance to the
position of a thriving and independent peasant. He has
gone through bondage, toil, and degradation ; he has been
brought into contact with several civilised races; and his
character and habits, his physical as well as mental
features, have been modified to a surprising extent. The
creole nation (for so we may now term it) stands midway
between its African progenitors and its European teachers.
The individuals of that nation are placed in a country
suitable to their health, their tastes, and their capabilities,
and may fairly be adduced as an example of a happy
peasantry, if the absence of want, and the means of enjoy-
mg remunerative employment, may be admitted to consti-
tute the happiness of that class. Inheriting the dark skin
of his forefathers, the deep black colour formerly so common
to the African has faded to a lighter shade. It is a subject
of common remark that very few black Negroes are now to
be met with. Formerly it was held, ceteris paribus, that
the deeper the colour the stronger was the constitution of
the African ; but it. does not appear that the present creole
race are more sickly or delicate than their progenitors.
They may generally be considered healthy, strong, and
active. Their features, too, have undergone a marked
alteration, approaching in the present day much nearer to
the European type; the noise is straighter, and less
flattened, the mouth smaller, the lips thinner, the hair less
crisp and woolly. Many of these ethnological changes
may be attributed to intermarriage with Europeans, but
even in those of pure black colour the seine transition
appears. I have repeatedly seen the most delicate and
regular features in a person entirely black, and sometimes
have noticed a Roman cast of countenance. The figures
of the men and women are in general very good: they
have finely•formed backs, shoulders, and arms. There is
a tendency to the curved shin in the men; and in general,
both in men and women, the legs and feet are defective.

The black population of this colony, and
generally of our West Indian possessions, are
now placed under the most favourable circum-
stances for ameliorating their moral and
physical state. They are free, but kept under
the restraint of Christian laws; their labour
easily procures them the necessaries of life,
and something more, as their rapid purchase
of landed property sufficiently attests; and,
above all, they are placed in contact with a
superior race and with the comforts and con-
veniences of civilisation. According to the
last census, the black population had possessed
themselves of 11,162 freehold properties, which
have been estimated at the value of nearly a
million sterling.

THE PRESS.

Their moral and intellectual condition is
less satisfactory. Out of the 127,695 inhabi-
tants of British Guiana only 12,952 could, by
the last census, read and write ; 11,460 could
read only. Morality is so little cared for that
in the rural districts marriage is rather the
exception than the rule. "In England and
" Belgium," says Dr. Dalton, " one child in
" 15 is illegitimate ; in Prussia and France
" one in 13 ; in Austria one in 9 ; in Bavaria
" one in 4 ; but in Guiana more than half the
" children are illegitimate." Some amusing
notices are given of Negro manners:—
Unable, as yet, to appreciate the advantages of liberty
and industrial independence, they affect to illustrate their
condition by their self-pretensions to good breeding and
gentility. A black woman, carrying starch or any other
article about for sale, is hailed, when required, by such
expressions as, " Ho, lady with the starch !" while an un-
pretending fisherman, vending crabs or other fish, is ad-
dressed, Stop, gentleman with the crabs I" Servants in
search of situations are introduced to your notice by a
statement, that a gentleman or a lady down stairs has
come to see if you require a butler or cook. When two
persons in the position of servants or labourers meet one
another, the first inquiry generally is, " How is your lady ?"
" How is de fumbly I" The term wife is considered rather
derogatory than otherwise ; in fact, a married man will re-
pudiate the vulgar appellation, and declare, " She no me
wife, she is my lady."
In cases of christenings, marriages, and burials, it is not
considered genteel in town to attend on foot, but as many
as possible are crammed in hired carriages, where they sit
as much at ease, and apparently as self-pleased, as it is
possible to be. Printed cards of invitation, and embossed
note-paper, are habitually sent round among servants and
others for suppers, dances, and prayer-meetings. The
latter ceremony is a favourite with many of the townspeople,
who, dressed out in full costume, assemble to spend the
night in monotonous and dreary " hymn singing." On
Sundays a great many of the old people spend positively
nearly the whole day in the several churches. After the
morning service is over, they continue inside the building,
having a little quiet gossip until the next service occurs in
the afternoon.

The industry of this fine colony has been
reduced to a pitiable state through the opera-
tion first of the Slave Emancipation Act in
1835, and next by the free-trade sugar duties
in 1846. The surest test of the prosperity of
any country is the progress made in bringing
new or waste lands under cultivation; but in
Guiana, and through the West Indies gene-
rally, the estates under culture have rapidly
declined. "In 1829 there existed in British
" Guiana 230 sugar and 174 coffee and cotton
" estates, while on 31st December, 1849, the
" colony numbered but 180 sugar and 16 coffee
" estates, even nominally carried on." The
diminution in the crops of sugar, coffee, and
cotton between 1829 and 1849 may be seen at
a glance by the following figures :

lbs. sugar. lbs. coffee. lbs. cotton.
1829 103,898,617 .. 9,230,486 .. 1,696,171
1849 60,811,854 .. 91,056 .. nil.
This decline was the direct result of legisla-
tive enactments. Estates which had formerly
been worth 10,0001., 20,0001., and even
50,0001., had to be abandoned after 1835
and 1846 ; the proprietors were reduced to
ruin, and the labourers thrown out of employ-
ment. Had slavery really been diminished
through these acts of our Legislature we
might have regarded the sacrifice with some
complacency, but just as slave-labour has been
abolished in British possessions it has in-
creased and thriven in other countries. In
the very last number of the Southern (Charles-
ton) Quarterly .Review we read how sugar culti-
vation is extending in Florida, and how profit-
able the labour of the slave is found :

A hand usually tends seven acres will
, therefore a hand
make 420 dollars. We were told by a planter in Marion
county that he generally cleared 350 dollars per hand after
deducting all expenses for the year.

The 350 dollars would about represent the
prime cost of the unfortunate Negro, so we
need not wonder that land in the southern
States of America is brought into cultivation
as land in our own colonies returns to
waste, nor that the slave population of those
States so rapidly increases as it does. The
slaves in Florida in 1830 were 15,501, and in
1850 were 39,309. The increase has been much
greater in other States : in 1830 the slaves iti
Alabama numbered 117,549 ; in 1850 they had
risen to the astonishing number of 342,899.
In Louisiana the slaves in 1830 were 109,588 ;
in 1850 were 239,021. But the State of Missis-
sippi showed a rate of increase far more rapid :
the slaves in 1830 were only 65,659, and in
1850 were 309,898, showing in the short space
of twenty yearn a rate of increase nearly five•

fold. Under the most favourable circum-
stances but a small portion of this increase
would be due to natural causes, and hence
we must attribute it to the renewed activity
of the slave trade, directly encouraged by
British legislation. To have given a fair trial
to the Slave Emancipation Act, commodities
produced by slave-labour should have been
excluded from our ports ; but to admit, as we
have virtually dono by the act of 1846, the
produce of slave-labour on the same terms as
the produce of our own free labour, is to
fling away all the sacrifices which the
Slave Emancipation Act has cost us, and to
encourage in other countries the slave-labour
which we have put down in our own posses-
sions. A passage quoted in this book shows
what was the immediate effect of our free-trade
legislation of 1846 in encouraging planters in
slave States :

With the foreign slave-driver, cheap sugar means cheap
slaves. I spent the year (1847) in Cuba, with a view of
ascertaining the preparations which were being made in
that island to meet the opening of our markets. To an
Englishman coming up from Grenada and Jamaica, the
contrast between the paralysed and decayed aspect of the
trade of those colonies and the spirit and activity which
your measures ( Lord J. Russell) had infused into that of
Havannah was most disheartening. The town was illumi-
nated when I landed in consequence of the news of high
prices from England. Three splendid trains of De Rogues'
machinery, costing 40,000 dollars each, had just arrived
from France, and were in process of erection ; steam
engines and engineers were coming daily over from America;
new estates were forming; coffee plantations were being
broken up, and their feeble gangs of old people and chil-
dren, who had hitherto been selected fur that light work,
were formed into a task gangs, and hired out by the month
to the "new ingenious" then in full drive. It was crop
time ; the mills went round night and day. On every
estate (1 scarcely hope to be be believed when I state the
fact) every slave was worked under the whip eighte4 n
hours out of twenty-four, and in the boiling-houses from
5 a.m. to 6 p.m., and from 11 a.m, to midnight the sound
of the hellish lash was incessant ; indeed, it was necessary
to keep the overtasked wretches awake. The six hours
during which they rested were spent in a barracoon—s
strong, foul, close sty, where they wallowed without dis-
tinction of age or sex. There was no marrying amongst
the slaves on the plantations ; breeding was discouraged ;
it was cheaper and less troublesome to buy than to breed.
On many estates females were entirely excluded.
In 1835 public sentiment triumphed ; in
1846 public interest; and the British planter
was sacrificed in both cases. But we may
hope that the worst of those changes is now
over. Since the immigration of free labourers,
the industrial condition of our West India
possessions has improved ; the produce of
sugar has, on the whole, increased; and, with
such fair encouragement as it is the duty of
the Government to afford to those yet
struggling interests, together with the appli-
cation of capital and the introduction of more
labour, we may reasonably hope that they will
show their ability to compete with slave-labour
in the open markets of the world.
The chapter devoted to the aboriginies of
British Guiana (i., 59-88) contains much
curious matter. Their skill in boat building
approaches much nearer to instinctive sagacity
than we have any example of in civilised
life:—

From the useful timber-trees which grow in the forests
they manufacture canoes and corials of considerable size
and strength. Some of these are large enough to carry
upwards of 100 men, besides cannon. They are constructed
on the best model for speed, elegance, and safety, without
line or compass, and without the least knowledge of
hydrostatics; they have neither joint nor seam, plug nor
nail, and are an extraordinary specimen of untaught natural
skill. These boats are frequently used by the Spaniards
as privateering launches. A canoe forty feet long, six
broad, and three deep in the centre, capable of carrying
twenty-five men, besides baggage and material for two
months, was bought by Mr. Hillhouse for about ten pounds
sterling. He describes it as traversing falls, sailing
through rollers and being hauled over rocks and sands,
and capable of fasting for ten years without a patch, and far
superior to any European craft for such purposes. The
knowledge they display in this particular species of handi-
craft naturally leads to the inquiry who imparted it to
them? How did they acquire that combination of
mechanical powers indispensable to the production of such
a proof of ingenuity as a well-built boat, so unlike the rude
canoes of the surrounding tribes ? It appears reasonable
to suppose that they must have obtained this knowledge by
admixture with some Old World race, of whose intercourse
with them no trace remains.

Mention is made of one custom so ludicrous
that we imagine it must be confined to this par-
ticular part of the South American continent.
After childbirth the mother soon gets abroad,
and returns to her usual duties

The husband, however, is not let off se ally; the
etiquette of savage life requires that be shod& hike to hi.
hammock Yer several dap) where, with WNW 111411MMIIIINI

64

and an appearance of suffering, he receives the visits of
his acquaintances, who either condole or rejoice with him
as the case may be.
Without pretension to literary merit, Dr.
Dalton's work is well composed, and affords a
complete exposition in all respects of the past
bisitory told present state of the colony.

La Conscience. By Alexandre Dumas. Paris :
Taride.

NOBODY but Alexandre Dumas could, or would,
have produced this work. Nobody but he
could have had the. astounding impudence to
take three well known German plays, Yerb>•e-
oho*atw Eirgoix, Row, and Siihsung, to meltthem
down into one, and to bring out that one as
his own original production, without saying a
single word of, or making a single reference
to, them, or their victimised author, Iffland.
Nobody, on the other hand, could, out of the
huge mass of incidents they presented, have
had the skill to evolve a play of such great
interest and such really remarkable dramatic
power as this one, have transformed as he has
done their heavy talk into dialogue always
effective, occasionally brilliant, and here and
there studded with thoughts that breathe ex-
pressed in words that burn, or, with his
wizard-like touch, have changed their sickly
sentiment* into those sterling natural emotions
which draw floods of tears from the eyes of
women, and create a commotion in the stern
breasts of men. Nobody assuredly but he,
whilst giving to the world a drama of which he
has reason to be proud, would have placed at
the head of it a dedication of such grotesque
absurdity as this :
It is to you, my dear Hugo, that I dedicate my drama,
Conscience. Receive it as the testimony of a friendship
which has survived onile, and which, I hope, will survive
even death. I believe in the immortality of the soul.
A. DUMAS
Nobody but he would have run the risk of
getting himself laughed at by indulging in the
outrageous vanity of saying in his preface
It is only, practical dramatists who can understand the
immense difficulty of my subject—three acts devoted to
the qcoomplishment of a crime, and three to its chastise-
ment and ezpiatinn. But that difficulty I have triumphed
over ! practical men alone can understand the resources
to be drawn from the opposition between three acts of a
drama passed in a bourgeois family, and three amongst
the highest aristocracy. But these resources I have turned
to account !
Nobody, finally, but he would put his name to
such a prose-gone-mad description as this :

Laferriere, who played the principal part, was admirable,
prodigious, complete as Edward. Never was an actor—
And 1 speak of the greatest actors, do you hear?—in a
Aggie evening more overwhelmed, more feverish, more
(Wm, more poetical, Mere loving, more deepening, more
(tetirious, more joyogs, more excited, more crushed
(eerasi), than was Laferriere. He alone bore the weight
of the play, and to the end he bore it without stopping,
witliont bending, without being out of breath. It is true
that in the interval between each act I went to hica to
o him by the hand, and to pay him the compliments
of Madame de Girardin and George Sand. A man goes a
long way, doesn't he, Laferriere, with such refreshments
(tie) on the road? The consequence was that Laferriete
went as far and rose as high as it is given to dramatic
Went to do l
W, have often woodered whether the name
of Dumas will dewend to posterity. In his
works there is talent and genius enough to
make them live, and there is trash enough to
eitilit them iti the gulf of oblivion deeper 41,93,1
ever plotornet sounded. tot if they should
live, the New Zealanders—who, as Mr. Ma-
caulay tells us, are to be our posterity, and of
ei;)tple hs knows—will, we should fancy, take
1;747 great interest indeed in Alexandre
Itas. If, for example, they should, as for
om twe can tell they may, estimate the value
ofbooks by weight or by the space they cover,
as the puke of Newcastle (loci; army medi-
cines and VIA, they will give hint the tbreniost
place in litera%ure, for no man, hying cr dead,
ites written ao many volumes ; they amount
to hundreds already, and are constantly on
the increase ; whereas Voltaire and Walter
Scott, the most voluminous writers of renown
hitherto, cannot boast of a hundred volumes
eAch, though every kiCIV they penned is thrust
into the editions of their "complete works." If
the Zealandera should have some regard for
quality as well as quantity, they will be
pleased to And that none of his contemporary
couotrymen have displayed iu light litera-
ture more dash and brilliancy, more wit,
MC*e iertilAy vi invention, mere power of