Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-28 00:00:00

LONDON KNOWLEDGE OF LIVERPOOL

FINE ARTS.

We last week gave an extract from the London
Atheneum, manifesting an extraprdinary amount of
ignorance on the part of the conductors of that journal of
tke Fine Arts, upon the essential matters with which it
professes a connection. It hes returned to the charge,
and committed itself still farther with respect to the Fin e
Arts in Liverpool. Having received letters from Mr.
Herdsnan and Mr. Pelham, among others, it says :

Before giv:ng these letters to the reader, wa may very usefully
c/11 attention to the circumstance, that the dissatisfaction has
p.ssed beyond the newspaper and the club into regions rarely
trtNb!ed by discords of foreign growth. The several Learned
Soc;eties of which Liverpool is the active centre, has! tai-en the very
usual step of discussing and condemning t management of the
Academy. The Arclueolog.cal Society led the way with a vote of
cen The Literary and Philosop ical Society have busied
themselves with tie question, at the instance of Dr. Thomson and
Prof. Archer. Mr Boult has brought the suhjec: before the Liverpool
Architectural Society. Such facts weigh heavily agatnst the Academy.

The blunders and mis—statements comprised in the
passage we have put into italics are ludicrous in
the extreme. " The several learned Sacieties of which
Liverpool is the active centre " (whatever th it may mean),
have not " taken the very usual (query gen isual) step of
discussing and condemning the management of the
Academy." "Tne Archm )logical Society" did not lead "the
way wi h a vote of censure." The Literary and Philoso-
phical did not " busy themselves with the discussion," but
powponed it upon the polite pretext that they had not

- -
time. Dr. Thomson and Mr. Archer alone stirred in that
society ; and Mr. Boult brought his resolution before the
Liverpool Architectural Society, which is identical with the
Arcbiu'logical above named, an] which not only did not
vote a " censure," but refused to entertain Mr. Boult's
resolution by a majority of 18 votes to 6, " Such facts
do not " weigh heavily against the Academy, but such
mia-statements and blunders do weigh heavily against the
Atheneum," and fully justify Mr. Frank Howard's chsrge
against the Athencruhb of writing " nonsence" en the
subject, in spite of Mr. Boult's comment in a local cotem-
porkry, under the head of " Odd Though's on Sayings and
Doings of the Liverpool Architectural Society," which, in-
stead of being signed " Eye aid Ear," should have b-en
signed "I. Molt." It may help the public to a better
appreciation of this discussion, if we say that the writer
against the Academy, under the name of " Fides," is Mr.
Samuel Huggins, who presided at the Architectural Society
when Mr. Boult brought forward his dog-in-the-manger
resolutions to deprive the Academy of the use of the rooms
in which the exhibition is given.

The self-satisfied conclusion of the •article in the
Athenceum mi;ht have been written by Mr. Boult himself,
so indifferent is it to having its statements contradictel—
Mr. Pelham, as will have been seen, corrects one unimportant (!)
error in our statement, namely, that the Liverpool Academy has
acquired for the town—as well us owned fo: the town—certain pic-
tures, an error which Mr. Millais also empowers us to correct so far
as he is cincern,ll. But all the essential facts of oar statement st,ind
as het rtocontradicted. These facts remain, or appear to remat, after
this explanation : —l. That the conductors of the Liverpool Academy
have gone over to the Pre-Raphaelite heresy. 2. That by doing so
they have dissatisfied the artists and the pnblie. 3. ''hat, neverthe-
less, they have continued to expend public money in fosterin,- a sec-
tarian heresy condemned by all true judges. 4. That the Annual
Exhibition has fallen off in interest and attraction. 5. That di.tensian
exists within the Academy, which has led to public protcst and repu-
diation. 6. That the viieral feeling in the town has been RO far
offended as to provoke and justify rebuke from the Learned Societies.

The last statement, as has been shown, is utterly untrue
against the first. The conductors of the Liverpool
Academy might plead, in justification, Mr. Ruskin's
authority, lauded by all the London press, and the ex-
ample of the London Royal Academy, in giving pre-
Raphaelite pictures prominent situations. They might
also plead the praise of these pictures bestowed by Lon-
don papers, and the high prices paid for them by certain
collectors. They might aiso demur to the judgment of
the press, or the public, or the learned societies, on pic-
tures, being considered better than that of the m iority of
a body of painters who at one moment are charged with
judging by conventional rules, and in the next, as ire the
present instancs, are attacked for violating cmoventional
roles in their recent judgments. They may also fairly
deny expending public money, or having anything to do
with it. They have the use of certain rooms, rent free,
to provide an exhibition La. the Liverp iol pubic,
which they do, and in aid of that osoject give
a prize of £5O of their own money to attract
competitors. Whether they give the prizes to the best

or the worst pictures, iv, of course, open to criticism ; but
neither Architectural, nor Archaeological. nor Literary,
nor Philosophical Societies are qualified to lay down a
law thereon, nor would they be justified in interfering,
eve❑ if they coul I prove their qualifioation.

The Illustrafed London News states that the diaries o
the late Mr. Croker ere vary nuinerour, " full of mysteries
of state, and matters of moment in politics and literature."
When the public is likely to see any pertion of these
memoirs left in MS., Mr. Crokei's executors have not yet
decided.
The Zeit of Berlin haspublished the arrangements decided
on relative to the journey home of Prince Frederick
William of Prussia and the Princess Royal of England after
their marriage. Their Royal Highnesses will embark at
London on the 2nd February, en board the royal‘yacht, for
Antwerp, and will pass the 3rd at the Court of Brussels.
They will sleep on the 4th at Cologne, on the sth at
Magdeburg, and will reach Potsdam on the 6th. Taey
will stay at Hano►er a few hours. From Potsdatn they
will proceed to the Chateau of Charlottenbourg, whence
they will make their solemn entry into Berlin on the Stb.
1311IGWAM YOUNG AND IGNATIUS LOYOLA.—A CURIOUS
PARALLEL.—Brigham Young is the Ignatius Loyola of
Mormonism. The points of resemblance between Yoang
hod Loyola, as developed in their respective systems, are
acre shown. Each adopted a secret form for the guidance
and control of his followers, as has been adopted by diffe-
rent political and religious holies, bat never has this form
been so prostituted as with the Jesait and the Mormon.
The " mysteries of Mormonism," through which the
novice was conducted, were then revealed. l'hoy consist
of ceremonies at once awful and absurd. The neophyte
is conducted into a room, and stripped naked, and a name
is whispered in his ear, which he is to remember at the peril
of his salvation. In another room he is clothed with
a robe which makes him look half like a Beahm'n, and
half like a Jewish priest. In an adjoining room a dramatic
blasphemy goes on. G 'el is personated. The incidents of
Genesis—the creation, the garden of Eden, the appearance
of Satan, Sec., are represented. The initiated then per-
forms the circuit of four other rooms, covenantng and
vowing as he goes. In one he swears to chastity, in
another polygamy is accorded with the sanclon of Brigham
Young, in the third a t rrible adjuration to secrecy is
administered, the awful preparation for the fourth, where,
amidst horrible surroundings, the initiate is sworn to
eternal enmity to the United States of North America !
This is the •' Mormon endowment," through which 50,000
of our fellow•croatures have passed. All that I hold most
dear o❑ earth still cling to this rar a: horrible system. My
wife and child remain at salt Lake, My wire has been
forced, by her devotion, to them things—to forego even her
heart's own yearnings, aid utter prayers which shape them-
, selves into curses. Some of you (continued the speaker)
may have come here to gratify nn idle curiosity. Ido not
' come here to pander to a prurient taste, but to teach you
what Mormonism is.—Ztettre by 4 Conterted Mormon
l Elder