The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-24 00:00:00

F. M. "THE DUKE'S" STATUE AND "MR.
CHECKS." - • •

(From our Finq-Axt Cononisiioizer,. in Xanche#er.)

SECOND • COMMUNICATION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN DAILY TIMES.

SlR,—The duties of our commission led us, yes.--
terday, to the exhibition of modern paintings, at
the Royal Institution of this 'city. It is not with
the paintings, however, that our preSent communi-
cation has to deal. You know, sir, the conscientious
manner in which we devote ourselved to " art," and
70111' service. You can understand; therefore, that
two hours of critical application somewhat wearied
us. We Selected a seat whence we could com-
mand a few ." renderings of nature," abounding iir
what an eminent (local) critic calls "greens."
.We
hoped to . find the greens" refreshing -to our
„jaded vision, and were not deceived.: Suddenly our
back was smitten by a vigorous hand, and our ear
by a brisk .i" Halo f' The double assault =he
from. Mr. CheckS. Starting, we beheld hith, look-
ing seriously lively, holding a newspaper in 'the
one hand,.and pocketing-L.--it is his cUstOrn—all be-
low the thum of the other. Oh ! he has got us at
last, has he? He has been looking fo'r us. If we
will" cast our eyes over the paper he holds, we shall
recognise the NORTHERN DAILY TIMES of Saturday
last

Who gave us permission to print his (Mr. Checks')
opinion on the Wellington statue ? or publicly com-
mit him to the defence of its selecto. Are we not
lords -and his Grace of. the 'ripper
house—he begs pare.... -^,-nmittee • are ins bad
odour just now, not only with many el Lio,
liCittse-he means committee—who hold the purse-
strings, but with the unrepresented" Mob,' who
hold; nothing,, not. even their tongues ?. Such being
the case, however private opinion :Might approve,
there. is but one public course for a sagacious and
respectable. Englishman—and Mr. C. "rather
thinks" he is one—to take, hide his opinion, to
wait and waver. Pooh ! we need not .look -sarcas-
tic: greater men than Mr. Checks have- done it.
Peel. and 'his pupils did it With-free-trade. So did
the-times arid our first-rate, that is, onr very first-.
rate.merchants. It is -an English and golden• rule
of Life : -Peel found it so': the tirraca and merchants
•firid'it 50 stilt. Why shOidd not Mr. Checks? He
protests against our premature exposure of his` re-
gard for hiS-noble neighbours and eXcellent dioce-,
sun : ,it .is calculated, to do him an injury. His
opinion on F. M. the Duke's statue .again, why
had we. blazoned it forth to Liverpool people? It
was. from .a :Manchester Lpoint view--L is -at
Manchester • connoisseur that •he apprOved.
of a' Manehester statue, and only to a pair of Man-
chester ears—he began to think long ones---was the'
approval spoken, 'Did we --suppose his peculiarly
local reasons for that. approval were intended for
general,. application.?
~,Then we neV.:‘l7 Were more
mistaken in our Hires. Cheeks., the commercial,
must
,be parochial and, practical; but Cheeks, the
esthetic,
„has.,themies on.art which areas little satis-
fied. by any .statues. our " leading men". are likely to
erect. in:front of the Infirmary, as- by the architec-
tural flour-dredger, plus pepperbox, they are
putting on the top of it. We have placed -him in a
" false position.' We have made hiM appear to
offer a rushlight for general illumination, which
was simply -Useful in a search for Out;eftlie-way.
excuses. We have " violated his confidence." If
he were an an M.P., he, would " call us out," or,
what is the same thing, get the sergeant at arms, to
prevent.him. If a man's words and opinions are to be
taken up,,,written.clown and published in this way;
Mr. Checks declares there will -be nothing left for
private life but " polite conversation," and public
life must,be reduced to iviiting• protoeblS'aitd
swering,- with marked candour, deputations.
',Mr. Checks, delivery of an inVectiVe
some_ to the 'above effect, is glanCing at us,.
Over us; and on every Side of us. Talking does
him., good', his irritation evidently expends itself
thronglijit. as a " Medium." One or two of his
later 'sentences reach us through the back of his.
head... He makes funnel.of his hand and quizzes
the Prize Painting.. With his.last words hcstrides
abruptly down upon it—apparently smells at- the,
foreground, and. is. 'backing away froM it in
an inipressiVely critical manner, when he suddenly
turns upon us and ejaculates; "Well 1"
What, sir, could, wo de? We sho-wed hirn that,l'w
ottr,capacity,pf," commissioner;" we had undoubted
precedent far telling everything, as for Withholding,
anything, we might discover. We remindecl_ hip
that private interests, unless rich , or...corperatei,
oust be. sacrificed to the public. good: .We hinted
at a certain "law of nature,7 commonly called
first;".. in fact, we told, him . plainly, .that • the main -
consideration for any " commissioner" is to keep'
himself' in• commission. • To des this, We 'must
either • report or invent ; and tho Ugh the fornier'
might at times disagreeably expose otherpeePle,
the latter, weuld, inevitably at. some tine eXpo4e
ourselves.'f We granted 'that the interest ie either
case would- be equal to the " reading, public;','hiit-
not to your commissioner, who, consequently,
preferred gaining his bread out of Mr: Cheeks
month .to-..a. chance of losing, it. by the injudicious
opening of his own. 71,
Checke :receives our explanation in very,
Food part. He supposes.."-a man must live,"
it* rather hard at times=ell ?—to Write " all out of ,
oneifriOlVn 'head." - But he begs 'diitinctly 'to be--.
" set„ript," with the people " not belonging to his
parish. 'it '"-is this' way' with him. He has
two faces
~under one .'hood..'--7-CheekS,,Mr: con--
veutional, and checks-Mr.: Exeeptienal are Of " ono
form," . but different partners in it.
Both "do business," and 'do it, he. believes, " to a.
profit;" but, each has a separate department. One
can tell you what will " take" in the Manchester
market, but for the- market of the world; yiiii.mtist
consult the " inner office."—Exceptional Cheeks
sits there.

Manchester-buyerS. who" intend -to " operate in
statues, will do well te-Thae-n. to Mr. Conven-
tional's recommendation of the quiet and corn
mereiabio4ing old gentleman, SeleCted by " his
respeCted neighbours," the committee but
strangers. and citizens of the, world may find_ it
more profitable " to lay in . their stock" of opinions
through Checks. Mr, Excep
We. interrupted our friend at this juncture, and
flatter ourselves in a timely manner, by assuring,
him, that --if . his lucid exposition of the
_peculiar
duality of his mind would. set him right with yetir'
readers, sir, he should be set right" very soon.
indeed. He grasped
.'our 'hand with an impetuous
cordiality, at'oace painful and pleasurable. " That
was a good fellew.' Thank us!
-1-w.nds. said ,he, in doing or saying a.
thing, to. whom you an.,
Difforent
markets —.different styles. , , (John -Tell,
" you know,". modeller of. NO. 3,) should • have
thought of this.. If 'to the, _genius of a sculptor,
he had- only added the discrimination of a
trader,' and -known-the ''",Manchester lake," he
might have "
pushed
the ;trade' farnetnily,l espe-
cially on an f 4 assorted variety " St‘MPies—suCh
as house7aqist l mews, . sent in.
whg,-,,,18eU" did, it. is, clear as the, nose on his
(Mr,,Che4s') or .the 'statues face, the,
he was
equal-to any. amount of ad. gentlemen with more
or leas Alressi ng-gown and inclination of head; -and,
considering the high position- and " able efforts"
to-gaimour-approbtition, it is a pity, Mr. Cheek§
thinksii'that-he " lost the order." •
These:-sculptors, -Mr: Cheeks says. "five. "
rell6ll-3." afraid Joh' reads
toO•much notions
about " merchant princes", in. relation:to 'art, too •
highly, appyeciatiye, ko, be -pkofi tabler„ Inemorieu of
the energetic and refined__men of Florence and
13olognaha,ve .throvkatitti mind. into _lv. temporary
" obfuscation" on the realities. of Manchester and

Stittybridge: He ,has foigottem 'that-the ' Shuffle
bottoms are' the. first of their race, whilSt the
Medici were "-fined" iindrefined-Ihrough several
genciations of wealth 'and'ethicatien. Our " mer-
chant . priliees" have only lived- long enough to
P a second i;en;eiation,' devoted to "
" ggiatjeneu's Ekud.clubs. Theirs a:q11-i:oy,9,4_,:i
a ,Lorenzo the MagUificent-4rsigner of ..palaces.., '
friend, of .artists,guvernor 'of men. • Our. merchant
princes have as yet but the taste of a merchant
with the wealth of a prince, and e*en .more of the

former:than of. the latter. = Of course theyfknow
this, .acid, rightly, Fire •not ashamed to acknowledge
it. They make no beast and-deserve rio'blame.
When heroism appealecr:l6lheni!l'or a tatife, and',
coUld'not be." put af,"lit6ir " good eon-n(loff sense"'
strove hard to escape the penalty ,of:avt mexperi,'
ence and ancestral destitution. They chose qql.4e.
lords"-to in
Choose fer.the, and "thre,w in" ..µa :ex-.
eellent, bishop. to , pg.° " fair . play." Grantingi,thatc
the :light.. ileverend , gentleman .saw 'with tlie)
eyes of Mr. (Conventional) Cheeks, he deseg fair
play; and Manchester' was as fairly played. with as
could be expected. Mr. Checks reiterates that,