The Press.
London, England, 1854-03-18 00:00:00

SOHO.

Ox Wednesday Mr. Henry Nicholls performed Iago:
but, though he realised a clear and intelligent con-
ception of the part, we were not so favourably
impressed as with his performance of Hamlet.
Desdemona (Miss Powell) was a graceful impersona-
tion, and full of promise. Youth, beauty, and dm
capacity to express tender emotions, though she evi-
dently wants confidence, afford promise of a career.

tortign gert, *ittraturt, 6T.

THE PROSPECT OF WAR has given much alarm to the
French artists in St. Petersburg, and it is even said
that the Russian public had already given tokens of
coldness and displeasure at Mlle. Rachel's perform-
ances in the theatre there. In order to allay their
apprehensions, Count Adleburg, chamberlain to the
Emperor, summoned them together, and assured
them, in the name of the Czar, that they had nothing
to fear. "Whatever betides," his Majesty had com-
manded him to say, "tell the French comedians that
they remain under my immediate protection, and the
severest orders will be given to protect not only their
persons but their talent." The French artists have
written a letter of thanks to the minister, signed by
their whole body, in order to be laid before the
Emperor.
THE JOURNALS OF PARIS have had a narrow
escape. At a recent Ministerial council it was se-
riously proposed to suppress them all during the
war. MM. Fould, Persigny, Fortoul, and Marshal
St. Arnaud, voted for the suppression, and the re-
maining five members of the Ministry, MM. Dronyn
de Lhuys, Bineau, Ducos, Magne, and Abbattneci,
against it. It is understood that the Emperor's
personal opinion is hostile to the journals, but on
this occasion he thought fit to be governed by the
bare majority of the Ministers. The bringing such
a matter upon the Lapis, however, is the most terrible
" warning " the press has yet received. If the Em-
peror's own views be as stated, they can scarcely
hope for more than a respite.
THE GREAT VERON CAUSE has been brought at
length to a conclusion, and the doctor is cast. The
case, it may be remembered, is this :—M. Veron
having secretly, and, as the court has declared, ille-
gally, taken into partnership with himself, as manager
of the Constitutionnet, the Count de Morny, one of
the most powerful men in France, went round to the
shareholders and told them that the property was
worth nothing on account of the " warnings" he had
received, and so frightened them that they agreed to
a sale of the Constitutionnet for 720,(SX)f. to M.
Mires. The real price was 1,1100,(X)Of., of which M.
Veron pocketed 650,000 f. for himself, and gave
500,0001. to Horny. Of these sums he said nothing
to the shareholders. When the fraud was di.co-
vered he had the hardihood to justify himself in a
pamphlet in which lie advanced a legal argument
that the girance of a paper was a thing quite dis-
tinct from the general partnership property. This
allegation has been disallowed by the judgment of
the court. Veron and Mires jointly and severally
are ordered to repay the whole 1,180,0001. (Morny's
share of the plunder being included), to be divided
among all the shareholders. The court holds that,
the shareholders having nothing to do with Count
Morny, whose secret partnership it considers a
nullity, he is not directly liable to them. But, unless
M. Veron chooses to make him a present of the
half million of francs, he will sue him for contribu-
tion, and in that suit will probably succeed.
THAT portion of the Central Italian Railway which
is to pass over the Papal territory, in the province of
Bologna, was commenced on the 11th ult. Upwards
of 2,000 labourers are now at work on the lett bank
of the Reno, below the bridge, and in the direction of
Castel Franco and Modena. This small portion of
the important central line, the I'ia Latina line from
Rome to Frascati (twelve miles), and the line to
Civita Vecchia (forty-eight miles), jointly undertaken
by the companies of Messrs. Thil and .tampon, are
now actually and actively in progress ; but the line
of most consequence to the Papal dominions, from
Rome vid Ancona to Bologna, has not as yet been
adjudged to any of the contending companies.
THE Mmorial Bordelais states that. not far from
St. Sever there is living an old military man who
has a false leg and a false arm, both moveable by
means of springs, a glass eye, a complete set of false
teeth, a nose of silver, covered with a substance per-
fectly resembling flesh, and a silver plate replacing
part of the skull. He bears on his breast the cross
of the Legion of Honour, won in the campaigns of
Egypt, Italy, and Russia; at Friedland, Jena, Aus-
terlitz, Wagram, and Waterloo.
THE OPERATIC SEASON AT ST. PETERSBURG having
been brought to a close, Madame Medori has de•
dined accepting a new engagement which was
proffered her by General Guidenoff, and is at present
disengaged. This artiste during the season just
terminated had taken the principal characters in
Don Pasquale, Don Giovanni, Norma, Anna Doleful,
.Roberto,

I

260

lib.

II

THE vicissitudes which attend the career of a
journalist in Spain are portrayed in a letter by Don
Mariano de Castilla, who has taken the direct►on of
the Tribuno, in place of Senor Galilee., now on his
way to the Canary Islands. lie thus sums up the
situation of that journal :
" HA director has been banished to the Canary Islands
by order of the Government. Its editors have hidden
themselves, in order to escape from the dangers which now
threaten Opposition writers. The responsible editor is in
prison, in consequence of the denouncements established
by the fiscal of the press. The 6,000 dollars of deposit-
money are embargoed through the denouncements. The
civil governor has not thought fit to give the orders for the
qualification of the new editor, in spite of his having been
approved of by the provincial council. And, finally, the
fiscal of the press oppose.; the publication by the Tribuno
even of the banishment of its director, because he qualifies
that as political news."
AN INGENIOUS SWEDISH OFFICER, Captain Yon
Vegesack, well known for his cartographical labours,
has completed a most interesting military piece, a
map, thirty square feet in size, of the seat of war in
tho principalities. It is in relief, and shows all the
inountains, rivers, towns, fortresses, dm. This work
is suspended in a public room in Copenhagen, and
all the military operations of the contending parties
are minutely exhibited thereon by moveable figures,
which are changed every post-day according to the
intelligence received. There is a separate relief
map of Kalafat and its neighbourhood. Admission
is open to the public on payment of a small sub-
scription sum.
A NEW OPERA, called Marco Visconti, has been
given at the San Carlo in Naples by Patrillo, a maestro
of extraordinary promise. It is full of pleasing
melodies, but appeared to want dramatic force, after
Verdi's Trovatore, which has been played with great
success throughout the season.
MR. THACKERAY is in Naples, working hard for his
many monthly readers; and Mr. David Roberts is also
in that city, sketching Italian scenery.
NOTHING can be prettier than the new gold five
franc pieces, now daily issued from the Paris Mint in
large quantities. With the ladies, especially, these
Lilliputian coins are in great favour ; and one of the
ingenious artists who abound in Paris has invented a
porte-ntonnnie, of correspondingly small dimensions,
to contain them. It is attached to the finger by a
ring, and stows away fifty or sixty francs in gold in
the same space that would be occupied by one silver
franc.
A PORTABLE TELEGRAPH has been invented in
Switzerland. At a place about two miles from Berne,
where no telegraph station exists, the portable tele-
graph was applied to the wires for Bale, Zurich,
Geneva, and Lachauxdefonds. A question put to a
federal officer staying at Lachauxdefonds was imme-
diately answered.
MADAME BERLIOZ, formerly Miss Smithson, the
wife of the celebrated composer, died a few days ago
at her residence at Montmartre. On her marriage
with M. Berlioz she retired into private life, from
which she never afterwards emerged.
THE WORKS OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH from
Madrid to Saragossa are about to be commenced.

Two HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN CONCESSIONS OF

MINES in Spain were granted in the course of last
year : of these ninety-one were in the province of Al
meria, and eighty-seven in that of Murcia.
A CONCERT given a short time since by the King
of Prussia, at Berlin, derived much éclat from the
presence of Jenny Lind, who executed several mor-
ceaux, among them the air with accompaniment of
two flutes from the Camp de Silisie which M. Hey-
erbeer has also introduced into L'Etoile du Nord.
Her success was immense. Mlle. Clauss was also
present, and was greatly applauded. This young
lady has lately been giving concerts with great suc-
cess in Berlin. She is about to come to Paris, after
visiting Weimar on the invitation of the Grand Duke.
THE ITALIAN PAPERS announce the death of the
once greatest of tenors, Signor Rubini, which took
place on the 2nd inst., at Romano, in the province of
Bergamo. He was sixty years of age.
M. Srvonz, the eminent vocalist, has just received
from the King of Sardinia the decoration of St. Mau-
rice and St. Lazarus.

THERE is, perhaps, no part of the world which
stands so pre-eminent in conchological riches as Ja-
maica; and, although only two-thirds of that inte-
resting island have been explored, yet upwards of
400 species of land and flnviatile shells have been
discovered within the last five or six years. This
number is altogether exclusive of the many varieties
of the same species which those collectors have
added to their cases who have turned their attention

and laLour to this branch of science. Well-arranged
and rare specimens of the Jamaica land and fluviatile
shells already possess the most honoured places in
the noble conchological museum of Amherst College,
Massachusetts, United States ; and similar suites
have been presented to the Ashmolean Museum at
Oxford, and to other of our great public institutions
In the United Kingdom. But the most entire and
superb suite of land shells which probably was ever