The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-03-20 00:00:00

HAYMARKET THEATRE.

The name of Shakspeare operates like a talisman upon
the mind, and calls up a host of the most blissful and in-
tellectual associations. From him the brightest faculties
may derive • perpetual succession of new and expansive Ideas, in-
aainuch as his works afford a true transcript of the infinitely diver-
sified characteristics of nature, which, the more they are studied,
the more various, deep, and illimitably original they prove to be.
It was therefore with no unabated nest that we looked forward to
the oratorical and critical lectures of Mr. Thelon!! on Shakspeare
sad the Drama; the latimb of which was given by that gentleman
last night. The .abject selected for the eeteing's lecture was
" Shakspeare's and Garrick's "Richard the Third." contrasted'
with that of modem dramatists and actors." In describing
the several characters, which the mighty pen of the poet has
delineated, in the plays of Henry the Sixth and Richard, the
lecturer particularly remarked upon the peat difference between
those characters as they are represented on the stage, and as
they were really and is drawn by Shakspeare. The gar-
bled melange of the grein-room library, and the energy and
truth of the original, were well colossus& and forcibly insisted oa ;
and most justly instanced as a timpani violation of the text of
Shakspcare, and an abuse ail detanoration not only of that great
genius, but of the taste and litsratime of the age. To correct this
' injurious andmerverted system, is one benefit which must result
from the labours of the lecturer. The idea which the gene.
rality of us have of the personages of Shakspeare Is mostly derived
from the portraiture, not of the author, but of the actor. This
is evidently a source from whence many errors must originate,
when it is considered bow arduous • thing it is to sustain,
with full fidelity, any mie of Shakspeare's characters, and what
a combination of taste, deep penetration, justness of conception,
and energy of action and voice, are required to do so in any efficient
and masterly manner. The enthusiastic admirer of the great
dramatist would above all things be most anxious to impede and
altogether prevent this fatal and prejudicial mode of estimating
the merits and demerits of his master; and this is a further object
aimed to be effected by the lecturer. Mr. Thrlwall declares that
Richard the Third, as represented by Mr. Kean, is a morose,
cold-blooded, murderous, umatellectual villain, warped in his very
soul by the lowest and most vulgar passions, capable neither of
sympathy nor one light exhilarating feeling, but absorbed in a dark
and gloomy misanthropy, which rents itself through the medium
of the direst propensities. Mr. Thelwall's idea of the chit-
meter is quite the reverse. He maintains that Richard was,
and is, historically and poetically, cf • c attic turn—that his
pride, and consciousness of superior mental power over every one
around him, and capacity of making them subservient to his
purposes, burst forth in frequent ebullitions of exulting and tri-
umphant chuckling. at the weak and powerless resistances opposed
to his uncurbed and ambitious will. His was the very perfection
of self.love. lie harmed no one wantonly, or from a spiteful or
selfish motive. All his deeds bloody as they were, sprung not I
from hatred, but an overweening and excessive egotism, and a
grasping and insatiable ambition, which,. to aggrandise itself,
would annihilate the whole human race. such was the character,
he contended, of Richard the Third, and such was he represented'
to be by Garrick. Ala Thelwall, in the course of his Lecture,
gave, among other quotations in support of his opinions, Richard's
soliloquy in the third act—
.' Ale, Edward will use women honourably;"
and tho manner in which he delivered it was a most excellent coin.
meet upon the positions he had been previously endeavouring to
support. For an ambitious reatlessnes., an intellectual ovenower-
ing urging on, and a ruintrling spirit of buoyant confidence, the re-
sult of a conecioua superiority, which throws a degree of comic
feeling over the character • Blithest striking attributes of Richard
art,rnost conspicuously displayed in this fine soliloquy. We
will conclude our notice by expressing the great pleasure we
derived from the action and delivery of the Lecturer, combined as
these were with opinions which we sincerely believe must tend to
sustain the high reputation which the taste and literature of our
country haves° long enjoyed. The contrast between the different
actors of Richard is to be the subject of a future Lecture. The
audience was very respectable, and departed much pati:led.
——-- - - -

GLASGOW THE•TRS.—We have had Mr. Macready
with its for a week, assisted by Miss Kelly. The per-
formances of each were excellent. After the play of
Virginias on Saturday, the petite comedy of Matrimony
was performed, when our astonishment was only equal to
our enjoyment. Miss Kelly will certainly prove as great,
if not greater, in the comic than she is in the tragic line;
and should the latter fail bim (which can never be the
case, so long as taste and natural feeling have any influence
on the stage), Mr. Macready will find few to surpass him
in genteel conictly.—Glavore Free Press.
Another information, ex-Ifficio, has been filed against
the Slur newspaper.—Delhi. Evening Post.
A ro EarNes.—lly a letter from Barcelona, dated the 6th
March, we learn, that a despatch had been addrersed to
the Commandant of Marine of that place, frem Blanes,
by which it appeared that the Captain of the Sardi-
nian vessel the Misericorde, receirily arrivA from Al-
giers, had been on shore with the American Consul at that
place, at whose house he met four Spanish Captains, who
had been taken by the Algerines. These persons and their
crews were treated with mildness by the Algerines, and al-
lowed the whole range of the city for their prison. When
he left they Bay of Algiers, there were eight Algerine
vessels of war in it, which were being dismantled.
When Riego was taken prisoner in Spain, there was'
with him an Englishman named Matthews, who held a
regular commission from the Constitutional Government.
Of this individual we heard nothing since his arrest with
Itiego. It now appears, from the letter of a respectable
inhabitant of Madrid to an eminent house in the City,'
with the perusal of which we have been favoured, that he
has been for months in solitary confinement, exposed to all
the uuelties and horrors which the refined malignity of
Ferdinand could invent, and that he was at one time kept
without food, in his dungeon for fifty-three boors. The
facts have been laid beferc Canning.

FIRST REPORT
FROM TEE SELECT COMMITTEE ON ARTISANS
AND MACHINERY.
The Select Committee appointed to inquire ioto the state of the
Law itt the enited Kingdom, sled its consequences, respecting
Artisans leaving, the Kingdom, and residing abroad ; also, into
the state of the Law, and its consequences, respecting the e•-
portstion of Took and Machinery; and into the state of the'
Law and its effects, so far as relates to the combination of
Workmen, and others, to raise wages, or to regulate their wages
and hours of working.

(Con(i:turd
....on, oar Paper of Thursday.)

We have already averred that it may he laid down as a
fundamental axiom that government ought at no time to
interfere with the natural right of any individual to employ
his industry in the best rnonocr he is able fur his MCllhfßefii.l
The skill of a mechanic is his capital ; and he has a right •
to employ it to the best advantage. If he can make it'
more profitable in another country than in his own, to that
country he is justified in taking it ; to et..tet a law that
shall prevent him from so doing, is to legislate without any
legitimate duty ; such a law is, In its principle, immoral!
and unjust. Merchants may transfer their money copii.d;
where they please ; they may remove it, if so ilisposed,!
from London to Labrador : why then prohibit the artificer
front carrying the capital of his industry to whatever spot
he can best turn it to account? There is no answer that,
on any principle of common justice, can be given to this.
The plain truth is, that arechtsaks, in the mom, are poor ;
they have no means of contending against the infiuenm of j
wealth and the advantages of permanent authority, The !
laws to which this Report relates originated in the spirit ofd
monopoly. The language held to Government b' the
manufacturers has always been this—" If you permit our
artisans to carry their skill and labour into another country,
the British manufacturer will be undersold in the foreign
market, our commerce will speedily stagnate, the revenue j
will fall off, and our prosperity will go to Bray. All this
cannot but sound terrific in the ear of a Finance Minister,
who is naturally not very anxious at any time to encounter j
the tumultuous opperri of a host of opulent capitalists. Ac-
cordingly,
by the nth Gee. I. c. v, any person who shall
be convicted of inducing any artificer, of or in any of the
manufiwtur et of Great Britain, to ko into any foreign parts,
in order to practise his trade, is nude liable, fur the first
offence, to be fined in any sum not exceeding one hundred.
pounds, and to three months imprisonment ; and for the
..econd, to be fined in any sum, at the discretion of the
Court, and to be imprisoned for tw:lvc months, and until
such flue be paid.
'lbis proscription, harshly enough enforced one should
think, was not however deemed sufficiently timorous to sa-
tisfy the manufacturing capitalists ; and by the 43 Geo. 111.
c. 13, this penalty for the first offence was increased to fire
hundred pounds and twelve months imprisonment, and for
the second offence one thousand pounds and two years impri-
sonment. If any artificer shall go beyond the sea, and it
exercising his trade, if he does not return within six months
after wanting is given to him by any of his Majesty's Mi-
nisters or Consuls abroad, he is from thenceforth deleted
incapable 0/ taking any legacy devised to bins within this
kingdom, et of being executor or administrator, or of tak-
ing any lands within this kingdom, by descent, devise, or
purehate. He likewise forfeits all his lands and goods to
the King, is declared an alien, and is outlawed. And all
this has hitherto passed for wisdom in the manufacturing
world ! It is rein siting, however, to observe the coming on
of a more enlightened season, and to witness the more in-
telligent among the master manufacturers coming forward
to bear witness against this monstrous and unnatural per-
version of legislative authority, to effect a change in
so erroneous and impolitic a system. It is gratifying
to see that we arc fallen upon times so good, in which the
day-star of freedom is rising, and the delusions of selfish-
ness are giving way : monopoly has had a signal triumph
and a long reign • it is time that right and wrong were
brought, as hereafter we trust they will be, to a more car-
met anduitable standard.
equitable
The following is the evidence given by Mr. JOHN
MANTINE•U to the Committee, with respect to the penal
restrictions we have just before detailed :
Does nut the letter of the law in fact prevent our artisans from
going out of the country P—Certainly.
To what extent do you think the number of artisans who emi-
grate would be Increased if the law was repealed?-1 thought the
question alluded to the possibility of theitleargsg_ the kingdom
my own opinioh is, that they go out in quite as greet numbers as
they ter:ad do if the law did not forbid them.
Are they enticed to go abroad both by Englishmen and forelga-
ers ?—Certainly.
What kind of workmen is it that are generally enticed to go
abroad ?—They invariably entice the best workmen; *considerable
risk and expense is incurred in getting workmen over from this
country; and, added to this, a large bribe is necessary, so that it
would not be worth while to incur all this risk and expense for the
sake of obtaining inferior workmen. .

Can you state any cases in point ?—I have myself had repeated
instances of attempts to entice away my own men ; about three
years ago I had a considerable number of my men enticed away for
the works at Chaillot ; they were of the best description of workmen,
and men employed by me on work which I wished for a time to keep
private, for it was the subject of a patent.
Have you any late examples where any attempts have been mode
to entice your men ?-1 have received within these few days a letter
from Parts, stating, that two Englishmen had conic over, aid that
one of their objects in London was, to entice men from our manu-
factory In particular ; I immediately sent this letter into the manu-
factory, in order that the men might ace, if any of them were dis-
posed to go to France, that an opportunity offered itself, and Mat
I did not intend to prevent their going; the consequence was, not
a single man Left nie, though I had reason to believe that the terms
offered were very high, and very, advantageous to them.
You have stated that, under the present circumstances, your best
men are enticed away ; is it not a great loss and inconvenience to
have your best workmen, accustomed to your factory, thus enticed
away ?—Certainly.
Suppose the law now existing to be repealed. what description of
men would be the most likely to go abroad ?—I have no doubt but
' that the inferior Woool4'lB would be the first to go ; those, in fact,
who jollied i; difficolt to get employment in this country ; I am
persuaded that our superior class of workmen would never leave
their country, if attempts were not made, under tkc existing lows,
to entice them away by high bribes.
Do you think that many of the best workmen who go abroad now
from a freak, or perhaps to see the country, would be disposed very
soon to return, but fur the penalties of the law which now prevent
them ?—I think that very few would leave ;he country, but that
those few who did leave it from the circumstances referred to, would
be very glad to return.
Do you know, of your own knowledge, that such would have
been the case with many who have gone abroad ?—Yes. I am aware
, that mutt are at Mis limn wishing to reborn to England.
' Would not perfect feeedmn to go or stay, render the men more as.
tisfied, and less likely to make a permanent emigration than now ?
—1 am persuaded, if the law were repealed, very few of them, or,
at any rate, of such as are worth keeping here, would go ; from
my knowledge of the habits of the men, 1 tun persuaded they would
be quite satisfied, if they only had the right to do ea.
flare you any fear that the country would suffer by the rivalry of
other countries, if perfitet freedom were given to the artisans to
Al, abroad ?--I am *untied that d would not surer, for the reason
I have already given; viz, the inferior workmen going instead of
the superior.
Have you seen any men who have returned, and can you state
what report they made of the establishments abroad, or ot their lik-
ing the situations they are in ?—Not of my own knowledge, but
my partner was residing at Paris about two years since, and, had
opportunities of conversing with English artisans there, and most
of those he saw expressed a strong desire to return to England, but
their passports were refried to Own.
By whom 7—By the interference of the masters with the French
police.
Would not they, on application to the British Minister, have ob-
' tained a passport?-1 am not inclined to think that the British
Minister would interfere in a ease of that sort.
You state, that the increased emigration of artisans, consequent
on the repeal of the laws in question, would probably reduce the
wages of English workmen in France ; would not that reduction
tend to keen our artisans at home ?—I certainly think it would
have that ettect.

Are these laws often enforced by the wasters against thr work-
men i—They have been in various instances lately ; there are some
instances in the neighbourhood of Tipton, in Staffordshire, at the
present (hue.
Would the French manufacturer have the same motives for offer.
log high wages to our best workmen to come and establish them-
selves in France if the Gies were repealed, which he has now ?-1
think not; because France would be supplied with the inferior
class of workmen, and would probably be satisfied with them, so
that they would not have the same inducement to bribe our better
clams of workmen ; but if they were to attempt it, my opinion is,
that they world not sacred.
Your opinion is, that the indifferent workmen flocking to France
would reduce the wages so much, as to render the temptation held
out to the good artisans nugatory I—That is my vitslon.
Can you inform the Committee whether there are, in any other
country, any laws now existing of the nature of those in England.
which prohibit artisans leaving their country 1-1 am aware of none.
unless it be Resale : I believe there are laws to that effect in that
'country.
Thus we see that these penal statutes not only defeat
their own purpose, but aggravate the evil they affect to
retneily, by making it the most profitable policy for
foreigners to tempt away our best workmen. kvary end_
gala artificer is moreover placed in this extraordinary pre
dicament, that should he, from whatever cause, be in.
clincd to return within the period 'inscribed by the

the statute Which arisib Aim With such ruinous ewm
city, ha is prevented by the refusal of a passport, and
is thus left at the mercy of his
.foreirr employer. The,
resident British Alf haste- trill not isteVire la obtain
for him that pompon without which he cannot ale, the
very law which, air we have sees, pernishes his disoSedielete
by depriving bim of all pry diaposalwaittp him of
all the rights of a British Ltd mating. him upon
the world as an alien and an outlaw !! And -in the teeth
of all this, we are told, that our aandribleform of (Myrrh.*
went furnishes a degree of protection to the subject
Unknown in any other country ! We sincerely hope that
Ministers will, by the speedy repeal of these laws, not leave
this assertion in future so open to the contndiatien si
cep-rioter.
The questions put by the Committee to Mr. ALT:dribs'
OA 1.1.0"/ A v ire answered With the same manliness and nut,
• dour as by the last witness.
What is the elms of men diat we at firmed enticed Shot ate
they the best, or the ordinary ?-6enerally spealthiLlier ate
, cenainly the belt ; we have always found cons'i ty id
Men going to North America, because they hate helm, gesetally
' tweaking, called to undergo examination at the stitichm • otter.
at tirantend, and the captains of every Vessel are under a penalty
of 200 t. for taking any person who has est bean so mtatnined i Ml
what guarantee have we that a man who is sii estorsimeerholi
call himself a laboorrr or a farmer ? they take his ash
from himself, and he will take especial cate to pre hiseseli;W;
description as the law cannot take cognisance of.
You have stated, that at present your best herds ale pettemlly
enticed away; is it not often attended with very great inorisneniencs
fora factory to lose their bout men, in the wag which has Lady
taken place ?—Coniiderable t there is nd evil equal to it, by the
disappointment it occasions.
Supposing the law to be altered, do you thibk lie mime dam of
then would chiefly go abroad I—l do lot Mb& They wwwid. mid I
• will state why ; the principal men in every sloop
better known than the inferior ones, and all perae Waft
' wish to entice men away, will neceeseeilf •
der
superior; but if it was free for every an to go,
keep our superior, but lose our infen .ot Iseekglae tie
will not enter into any engagement to lease the . ho
• receives very considerable wages, therefore thchtenit I no
meat to the superior men t whereas half the money wee
very great inducement W the inferior and aa they de ask wag ht
I France that kind of directing at st*ribt- capability now, dist they
did sonic years ago, I should consider they would be dispelled to,
take,if any at all, our inferior men; besides, out infealert men
Would be On the lark-mit fur Curb engagements.
Why do not they seduce the inferior men now ?—netirose the
ditylettity and dancer with the cost of these engagement*, are sit
I well known, that foreigners do not like to ingot them tot
frrior men.
What is the comparative rate of wages In Paris and in London,l for men capable of doing the same work, or for the situ, men
should think, as far as my knowledge extends, that French
workmen in France, and English workmen in England, it would
be in the proportion perhaps of twrsty.hro to thiitruir T 1 should
think the same man in Paris would receive a guinea er 2:ls. a wale,
while a similar workman "mild receive I. London thinywix au.
tiv.; yet English workmen in France *mild, if sasenigagad, it.
eelre two guineas a week, or double the wages of a ditlve,illse was
lived workman.
Y ea. DJ - yon mesa that wages are higher in London than in Paris lc-.

New fir would that difference in the actual payments be made up
to the men by the greater cheapness of provisions In Paris P—l can
only say from what I hare heard from Englishman who WWII
there, that the difference is not so great in the *Xmases of Nieto& if
they indulge in English habits.
Have you known many men Who have been abroad and hare re•
turned, and it so, what report do they make of their service memo
rally P—l do not know many who have returned ; they have,arwer.
been afraid to retire ; and those who have returned, haws totted it
prurient to keep their own counsel.
Would not many of your best workmen, who. go *Wed now fuel
freak or to see the country, return P-4 think many would; I have
a man shorn I hays employed lan week, who hat bees, I artier.
stand, 'lira years is Fromm s he returned on an tiodennandirg
that his return to England *mild be kept per:redly secret, and t Ist
he would be employed :Mama being known; Ps yes, ie feet, Wens:.
to ask employment in • shop, where he hid never before worked ;
he states to me, that lee should have tainted tiWeke months ago, if
he could herr fused the same means of returning that that he has
Now done.
Would not perfect freedom to go or stay reader the as much
more 'seabed, and much less likely to make pit.irrit stederw,
tine I—l believe that the mere tact of their ksowssg that they
world hare a right of going, would almost preontt its exercise.
Is it not generally the rase with workman deny dam, when tke
fancy themselves to be under resttietione, to basiggdus to remove
them N.-Ittourial4; I believe every regulation canes is the
shape of a restraint, cantos in moat of their mind*" constant desire
to break through the restraint; but When the frotritios has been rt.
moved, there has been no great dispdsition to okay ihat which wad
no longer prohibited t they are a peculiar clam, and am governs I
by those considerations Which do not biluniesnust of toottenlarged
minds in this country.
Do you know in what manner them with animus a-
dmit Ahmed have bean keps.ia France O.- keno known iostancei
on the continent, where four and five guineas a week have been pro-
mised in England, and the men have left it fa the expectation of
ecit Lag have lbw •or fire guineas a reockoind sifter they \weberm
abroad fur a few months, and after, in fact, they had instructed
their employers and gave them peosass.an of their knowledge, par-
ticularly as regarded the instruction or fhe native workmen, tiwir
employer: Aare had the isifesticr turd *Vein. to redact their essery
to two gnineas a week or less; and them Ensile% work-new have
been obliged to submit to such reduction, from Me difficulty end
danger tf grtangback; this is a fact within wry men knowkd,gt.
have you any fears that the country would sutler by the rivalry
of other countries, if perfect freedom wan given to the artisans to
go and return ?—I am perfectly persuaded that if the Art
.11,r tiro
prohibition of machinery were repealed, then would be hardly en
instamee of is 014111 being indsced is fuser this cowntry ; nor shoeild
I be afraid( the wv, honied exertions of my (vestry while we
hate scope fbr oar tokat and indastry.
You think, almost uniformly the workmen who have been
duced to go abroad, have found themselves so much worse off, to r
they have been prevented returning only be the difficulties P-1
not say that they have been much worse oft, but that the expecni•
don of considerable increased advantage has not been reality';
that their comparative conditions have been Minty needy the saino,
much lets improved than they expected.
Are the Committee to understand, that is mootguence of that
failure of engagement, if the laws were now removed, those merz
would generally be disposed to return to their own country ?—r
should think it weak, hare the certain eftel of bringing break
numbers qf the most rateable wets—valuable not only from their
own.knowledge and exertions, but particularly valuable for their
example, upon the rest of our men.
From your expetience of thirty years with artisans of every kind,
is there not a very great indisposition in every man to leave h..
home, unless some very extraordinary inducements are held out ?
I certainly think they are a body of men very little dispond to
emigrate, if they hate the meows rye ordinary comfort at hornet if
I want to send a man even to ha a maclolne, to who
inve two
week
guineas a here, he will not ga avian I give him three ess:
I had to give two men I3ot. a year, together sith provi them
with board and lodging, to induce them to go to a foreign country
to tit up some machinery I had manufactnred.
There is no doubt but the repeal of this law would be
measure as salutary in its effect as it would he sound in
its principle. Ministers cannot better pave the way to that
I five of trade which they seem well inclined to pstro-
nine, than by ridding the statute book of that perseentilg
spirit which it has an long exercised towards the great body
of mechanics and aetiarns, without whose skill anal in-
dustry they, would have no trade left to protect.
We shall reserve the evidence on the Combination Lao A,
with our observations thereon, till our next.