Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-04 00:00:00

LITERARY AND MUSICAL GOSSIP.

Letters from Romc state that the Prince of Wales con-
tinues to examine all works of art in tne Vatican continually,
and the different artists' studios.
Although only just returned from Circassia, M. Alexandre
Dumas has already commenced publishing in the feailleton
of the Itfoniteur a history of an episode in the wars of the
Caucasus.
We may remind our readers that a subscription is on foot
for raising a testimonial to the late Mr. William Weir, long
and honourably connected with newspaper literature and
the Daily Hews.
Tenors would seem to abound in France. The Semaphore
of Marseilles states that, in the space of six months, not
fewer than twenty-four tenor singers have made their debut
at the theatre in that place.
We (Athenceum) understand that Mr. Tennyson's new
volume of Poems, which is nearly ready for the press, is
entitled " The King's Idylls," and that the subject relates
to the legend of King Arthur.
The issue of tickets for the Handel Commemoration at
the Chrystal Palace, in June, is said to have exceeded the
most sangnine expectations. The acoustic arrangements are
likely to prove most successful.
All lovers of letters -let them take the word in whichever
sense they please---will be glad to hear that M. Perrotin's
appeal to those who had correspondence with Beranger has
already called in 2,200 of his letters.
The site of the new Opera in Paris has been at last
decided. The building is to occupy the, spot upon which
the Hotel d'Osmond stood until recently. It is situated in
the best part of Paris, and upon one 'of the most open of the
Boulevards.

His Royal Highness the Prince Consort has consented to
patronise the performance of Haydn's celebrated cantata,
The Seasons, at Exeter Hall, on the 10th of May next, for
the benefit of the London Society for the Protection of
Young Females.
The conditional donor—after death, we suppose—of a
library of 17,000 volumes to the Literary Fund is Mr.
John Forster, author of " The Life and Times of Oliver
Goldsmith," and other books of permanent value in onr
literature. The conditional donor of £lO,OOO to the same
fund is understood to be Miss Burdett Coutts, but of this
we are not certain.—lllustrated Hews.

Dnring the seasons 1857-8 and 1858-9, Mr. Halle has
produced at his orchestral concerts, in Manchester, nine of
Beethoven's grand orchestral symphonies, four of Hadyn's,
four of Mozarts, and two of Mendelssohn's ; nearly sixty
overtures and nearly fifty piano-forte solos and concerted
pieces, in which Mr.*Hallehas taken part ; besides a long list
of miscellaneous and vocal pieces, and two oratorios—the
" Messiah" and the " Creation." This list is a very
interesting musical record.
A musical festival is to be held in Edinburgh, in com-
memoration of the Handel Centenary, on the 7th, Bth, and
9th of April. The performances will consist of Judas
Maeciaboeus, the Messiah, a selection from Samson, and a
selection from Adis and Galatea. The principal vocalists
will include Mrs. Sunderland, Mrs. W. Howard, Mr.
Perrin, Mr. Wilbye Cooper, Mr. Weiss, &c. The orchestra
will consist of 60 performers, and the horus of 150 voices.
M. Sainton will officiate as conductor.
In re the authorship of the " Vestiges," the Cede-
donjon Mercury has the following :—" To put an end to
this, now and for ever, I hereby affirm—and the proofs of
this affirmation lie before me fresh and incontrovertible as
they did a dozen years ago —that Mr. Robert Chambers is
the sole and responsible author of ' Vestiges of the Natural
History of Creation.' I say responsible' in a somewhat
qualified sense, leaving others to fix the amount of respon-
sibility they would attach to an ingenious compilation, but
very general misapprehension, of the scientific opinions and
discoveries of others.---I am, &c., DAVID PAGE:
It was the Marquis of Hertford who gave two thousand
five hundred and fifty guineas for the Sir Joshua portrait
of " Mrs. Hoare and Child ;" it was my Lord Ward wh?,
on the same day and in the same room, gave eleven hundred
guineas for the Sir Joshua portrait of " Miss Penelope
Boothby," Another thousand, it is said, would not have
stopped Lord Hertford. His lordship was determined to
have the picture. If Reynolds is up in the market, Turner
is going down. In the year 1853 the well-known Mr.Win-
dus, of Tottenham, gave £746 for Turner's " Dawn of
Christianity," and on Saturday last he only got 320 guineas
for his purchase. In 1853 the same gentleman gave £735
for Tnrner's " Glaucus and Scylla," and on Saturday last
thought himself fortunate in obtaining 280 guineas far his
over-estimated atqnisition.
The world of fine sentiment, says the Athenceum, has
been shocked by reports in the newspapers that the gentle-
men who have found the bones of John Hunter in one grave
and deposited them in another, " between the bodies of
Wilkie and Jonson," have been •tossing the skull that
shaped " Volpone" and "The Alchemist" from hand to
hand. The words on Shakspeare's tomb have natnrally
risen to every reverential and poetic lip. But we dare say
the skull of Jonson is as mythical as the body of Wilkie—
and, perhaps, the bones of Hunter. The body of Wilkie,
as Captain Joy' can testify, lies in the bed of the Mediter-
ranean. Gentlemen who 'know that Wilkie lies in a par-
ticular spot of Westminster, must be good authority (very
good) for any particular skull being that of Ben Jonson.

THE CONGRESS ON THE ITALIAN QUESTION.—It is
rumoured that Count Cavour has refused to allow Sardinia
to be represented at the approaching Congress on the affairs
of Italy.
Mr. DISRAELI. —No modern parliamentary champion
could have acquitted himself throughout a most difficult
and disheartening crisis better than Mr. Disraeli has done ;
and whatever may be the effect of the policy of Lord
Derby upon his party, his Chancellor of the Exchequer
has been a great gainer, and has accumulated a very large
amount of what in the slang of the day is called political
capital. Nobody ever doubted his genius ; and the absurd
scurrility. that affected to doubt it, answered itself. But
he has in these latter months shown so much patience,
skill, and forbearance, that it is matter of regret that no
re-arrangement of offices can prevent his services being lost
to the country for the present. I wes not a Disraehte in
other days—l am not one now ; nor an Anybodyelseite ;
but the man who withholds admiration from Mr. Disraeli
as Lord Derby's leader of the Commons, simply fails to
understand parliamentary warfare.—" Council of Ten," in
Literary Gazette.
SHIPPING CASUALTIES.—The Soskominereer, Neilson, of
and from Krazero, for Liverpool, with deals and battens,
has been picked up about mid-channel, water-logged, a
total wreck, and derelict, having been in collision with
the Iron Era, of Hartlepool. No tidings of the crew
of this schooner. The Rolla (barque), of Hull, bound
to New York with coals, has been abandoned, being
waterlogged in lat. 49 N. and long. 12 W. The Em-
meline, Brown, which put in at Stromness on the
27th March, was badly stove by the ice in a heavy
gale, from SE on the 20th March, snd saw eight sail of
vessels on the morning of the same day. No seals. The
Blakestone, from Shields to Harbin, foundered on 28th
March, in lat. 55 N., long. 4E. Crew saved by the Lady
Alice. The Sarah, of Liverpool, sunk near Rhyl, 30th of
March. Crew saved. A letter from Belfast, 31st March,
says, the Jane, of and for Belfast, from Ayr, in coming
up the river last night, was run into by the Prince of
Wales (steamer), for Fleetwood, and to prevent sinking
was run upon the land. The steamer proceeded. The.
Emmeline Brown arrived here 25th March, from Green-
land, being obliged to return, having sustained damage in
theice, and proceeded on the 26th for Hull ; she brings
no account from other ships. The Julius Schulat, from
Hamburg to Konigsberg, with merchandise, stranded on
the Scaw, about 30th March. A vessel waterlogged was
seen about 100 miles off Whitby, b,y the Great Northern,
arrived in the Tyne on 26th ult.• The :Lightning, steatn-
tug, and another steamer, proceeded in Search of the dere-
lict, but, after having been over twenty-four hOtir.B at sea)
returned unsuccessful.

THE POLITICAL CRISIS.
The Times says it was stated ex Friday night, that, in
a very high quarter, there existed a very strong feeling that
a general election was the proper solution of the difficulty.
The plea may be that the Parliament which reforms itself
should be elected for the express purpose, and that so great
a responsibility should be thrown on the constituent body ;
but thus the present House has shewn itself quite as com-
petent to discuss and settle the question as any other House
that might be returned. A general election is always an
evil. It will be a great evil now, without a necessity—
without a reason—with hardly a pretence. It is stated,
indeed, that giving way apparently to resentment, Ministers
are resolved to stand their ground till placed in a minority
on a direct question of confidence, and in that case to appeal
to the people. In other words, that they will not resign
without a dissolution.
The Daily News says that a meeting of Lord Derby's
supporters had been summoned for one o'clock on
Saturday. It conjectures that her Majesty must have
assigned some special ground for hesitating to accept the
resignation of ministers, as there are probably few things
which the court is less disposed to view-with favour than a
dissolution of parliament on any great party questions. The
Daily News asks if Lord Derby is prepared to tell his
followers that, on the morrow of his defeat, he placed his
resignation in the hands of her Majesty ; that, for reasons
he will in due time disclose, he has consented to reassume
• the reins of power ; but that to do so with di,,rnity, he must
have an assurance from them that they would support him
in a second attempt to legislate on the subject of reform,
with a view to which certain modifications of the, existing
cabinet will be indispensable ; and finally, that, should he
be again intercepted, he is prepared at once to, appeal to
the country.
The Morning _Post thinks it probable that Lord Derby
has not yet resigned office, and equally probable that if he
has suggested a dissolution to the Queen, that his proposi-
tion has been deemed undesirable in the present state of
affairs. _ _

The Post says it will not be surprised if the noble
lord makes an appeal to his party to continue their support
to him, and if he deem the critical state of Europe a suffi-
cient justification for not hastily relinquishing office.
The Morning Star presumes it is scarcely possible, after
Disraeli's speech, that the present Government would
undertake another Reform Bill, framed so as to
satisfy the condition of Lord John Russell's resolution,
unless the House be contented to take the course of supper-
ting a Government without any reform at all. It cannot
see that their retention of office is possible for the present
ministers. The members of the Carlton Club are said to
have already declared against a dissolution, and it may be,
perhaps, upon, this point, that the views of the Conservative
member§ are to be consulted at Lord Derby's house.
The Herald does not furnish any semi-official accounts of
the crisis, but dwells. with gratification on the fact, that
against the various factions ranged for a few hours under
one banner, the Conservatives, on Thursday night, mustered
in the division 301, including tellers and pairs, while half-a-
dozen leaders, including politicians of every line, by dint of
extraerdinary efforts, only managed to bring into the field a
majority of Chitty-nine over a single party,
More than one journal states that Her Majesty
has sent for the Marquis. of Lansdown to advise
Her Majesty as to what course she ought to adopt.
Of the 105 members for Ireland, ninety-seven were
present, and took part in the Reform division. Of these,
fifty-six supported the Government, and forty-one were in
favour of the resolution of Lord John Russell. The fifty-
six Government supporters consisted of forty-five Conserva-
tives, and eleven declared Liberals. The names of those
eleven gentlemen are—Blake, Bowyer, Brady, Corbally,
Gregory, Hassard, Heard, Lever, McEvoy, Maguire, and Sir
D. Norreys.
(From the Press.)
They may, it appears to us, under these circumstances,
without any
.infringement of constitutional usages, elect
either to resign and leave it to others to form an adminis-
tration, or they may ask the sovereign to give them the
opportunity of making an appeal to the country, or they
may remain at their posts ; at all events, till such time as
they can bring to an issue the present alarming complica-
tions in Europe, standing, from a sense of duty, in the mean-
time in the position of challengers against all comers, and
awaiting the brunt .of a direct vote of censure upon their ge-
neral policy. The first of the three courses would, no doubt,
be the one most in consonance with the feelings naturally
excited at the moment by defeat, and it might not impro-
bably be the most embarrassing to those politicians who
have combined to effect it It would be consistent with
political usage ; and no one could deny, should such
be the determination of Lord Derby's Cabinet, that
they had laid down with dignity the power which
they assumed with disinterestedness and patriotism. At
the same time, if Mr. Disraeli's eloquent representation
of the present condition of the European difficulty be correct
—and we see no reason to doubt it—the government have
a duty other than that which they owe to themselves,
founded upon higher and more important considerations—.
a duty to the civilised world and to humanity. It rests with
them to decide to which they will give the preference. In
their breasts is the feeling, and to their judgment we leave
the determination.

(From the Saturday Review.)
As might have been expected, "the dodge" has succeeded.
The heterogeneous elements of a a disunited opposition have
been combined for a moment to defeat the cause which they
profess to espouse. Sir E.llulwer Lytton, in one of his novels,
has very profoundly remarked that it is apopular error to have
fixed upon night as the season of conscience and remorse. It
is the next morning," as he well observed, when the
sense of an irretrievable fault overwhelms the slaves of
passions with the sentiment of black dismay at the conse-
quences of deeds which they can no longer recall, Of the
330 gentlemen who have been constrained, by various and
inconsistent considerations, to shatter the last chance of a
reasonable and speedy settlement of the question of reform,
we believe that a very considerable majority already look
back to the work at which they have assisted with no
very complacent reflections. We suppose that in the history
of parties a more unwilling majority was never marshalled
by a whip in a division which their conscience condemned
and their patriotism dissuaded. We must wait till Mon-
day night to learn the whole consequences to which the
obstinate selfishness of an unscrupulous faction has devoted
the country. _ _

(From the Spectator.)
Our contemporaries are noting the usual three courses
which lie before ministers—to dissolve, to resign, or to go on,
simply dropping the bill. As a temporary expedient, the
last course would not be inconvenient to any party ; it
would facilitate the passing of some business which rather
presses upon the House of Commons and the executive,
such as the budget. A dissolution would lay the grand
question before the public in an aspect most injurious to
the present government, and that in many ways ; for
instance, boroughs to be disfranchised would feel no favour
for the authors of the bill; on the other hand the liberal
party generally would find that they could obtain a larger
measure from Lord John Russell, Mr. Bright, and Mr. S.
Herbert, while the most prudent as well as earnest portion
of the liberal party would discern in the indication given
by Sir James Graham, triat measure which would be the
favourite.

(From the John Bull.)
The best way of solving the difficulty, as it seems to us,
is to carry on the session to an end, and despatch the
necessary business required, on the understanding that the
country shall be appealed to at its close. At all events,
England demands of Lord Derby that she shall have an
opportunity of making her voice heard in a matter of such
vital importance. • * * * We have some reasons to believe
that should a change of ministry be unfortunately forced on
her Majesty, the Duke of Newcastle is the statesman who is
most likely to be summoned to her councils. In that case
the people of England would not be sorry for the oppor-
tunity of making some reparation for the injustice which
was done to the noble duke at the time of our Crimean
disasters.

(From the Sunday Times.)
Lord Derby must be convinced that, with his party, he
alone can stem the torrent and avert the tempest which, once
let loose, would sweep over the land like a devouring con-
flagration. When ministers have before abandoned the
helm, the property and working classes were not in that
antagonism in which we now behold them. Does Lord
Derby wish to prevent a rising of " the fustian jackets," as
the Times designates the working classes---does he wish to
check that fearful movement which would bring ruin to the
castles, without giving happiness to the cottages ; in a
word, does he wish to preserve order at home and peace
abroad ? Then let him act as the national voice, wherever
it can be ascertained, dictates ; let him do his obvious duty,
and remain at the helm.

(From the Weekly Dispatch.)'
The Derby Reform Bill is defeated by a majority of 39.
This is the first move, and a very good one. It clears the
ground of " rubbish." Notwithstanding Mr. Disraeli's
lament, we do not think the peace of Europe at all compro-
mised by the loss of "Mr. Harris," or that Lord John
Russell in the least compromises the dignity and influence of
this country in emphatically separating both from any
identity with " Lord Malmesbury in office." We hope to
see an English foreign policy now.

COUNT CAVOUE.—The gossips of Paris recount the fol-
lowing little incident :---Monday evening M. de Cavour
went alone, and in the strictest incognito, to take a cup of
coffee at the Café Cardinal, at the corner of the Boulevard
and the Rue Richelieu. But, as many Italians meet at this
place, he was immediately recognised. The crowd collected
in the cafe immediately rose and took off their hats. The
Minister, not a little embarrassed and moved, returned the
salute, took hie coffee hurriedly, and withdrew as quickly as
possible, to escape geimal attention,