The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-30 00:00:00

rnE Sul , LONDON, THURSDAY EVENtriG, MARCH 30, 186 s,

:robbing them. The destruction of the city of
Columbia is, indeed, an awful instance of the crimes
-which men may commit when once they have given
-themselves up to fury and revenge. When the
mayor had delivered up the place and entreated the
conqueror to show moderation, it was the acme of
barbarity to adopt such a system of persecution and
extermination. 'This passage aptly represents the
state of things, Your line of march can be traced
by the lurid light of burning houses, and in more
than one household there is an agony more bitter
than that of death." It is a lasting disgrace to
any General that such should be said of
him, and any man who is alive to the sentiments-of
honour will admit that these well-merited re-
proaches are far more damnatory to his reputation
than any defeats he may sustain, or losses he can
encounter through negligence or miscalculation.
General HAMPTON alludes to the treatment
of the female captives, and truly states
that the conduct of the Federal soldiers
is worse than that of the Indians. It is, indeed, a
sad theme to reflect upon this policy of the Federals,
and the more we reflect upon it the worse it is. How
can the Manchester school at all reconcile the policy
of their friends with the customs of civilised nations
and the usages of Christian people. Prejudice and
partiality can make people go a long way in
the pursuit of their purposes, but it must be
infatuation indeed that can sanction the perpetra-
tion of real atrocity, or tolerate the vindictiveness
of vengeance carried to such an excess and pushed
to such an extremity as we witness it in the Federal

EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS.

By Ford Madox Brown,
At 191, Piccadilly—opposite Sackville-street.

Another and a very welcome proof, this really
remarkable Exhibition affords of the fact that Mr.
Holman Hunt's example is in a manner contagious
—his good example, we mean, in displaying his
pictures, apart from those of a crowd of other artists,
in a gallery of his own. Mr. Madox Brown has
gone, however, we rejoice to add, yet one step
further. Instead of opening to public view, on his
own account, a single isolated picture, such, let us
say, as " The Presentation in the Temple "—nay, in
preference to displaying merely a couple of paintings
such as the " Afterglow" and " London-bridge on the
Night of the Princess's Marriage," in companion-
ship with a work of art from another hand, such
as "The Last Day in the Old Home," by a
brother artist like Mr. Martineau—the gifted painter
to whose genius and industry are attributable the
one hundred works of art now on view at 191,
Piccadilly, has gathered together the labours of a
life-time, in illustration of the bent of his genius,
and of the scope of his industry. More than
that, even, he has—simultaneously with the
flinging open of the doors of this gallery—
issued from the press a very interesting and tho-
roughly manly pamphlet or catalogue raisonee, in
which he volunteers the expounding and never
once the trumpeting of his aim or object, now in
one, now in another, of these widely-contrasted
productions from his easle. Foremost in import-
ance among these 100, or, to be precise, these 99,
pictures by Ford Madox Brown—last in the cata-
logue, farthest in the gallery—is one of them, tersely
and most significantly as well as symbolically
entitled " Work," in many ways a very extraordinary
picture and one that we earnestly trust may yet one
of these days be worthily engraved. So much is
there in it of its own title, that the reproduction of
it in the form of an engraving, in a suitable style of
art, would necessarily be a very costly undertaking.
Cela va sans dire. Yet—the picture is really
worthy of it, at once as a first-class work of art,
and as an arch-portraiture, as we may say, in a
typical manner of—

" The very age and body of the time,
Its form and pressure."
" WORK," Mr. Madox Brown's undoubted master-
piece, was begun, as he himself relates, as many as
thirteen years ago, that is in 1852, in the well-known
suburb of London, of the High-street of which the
picture is the vivid representation, namely, the
High-street of Hampstead. It was painted (as every
one may recognise) on the spot—the background
of the picture pourtraying the upper part of
the main street where it trails off towards the
Heath. Excavations, connected with the drainage
we may presume, are going on in the middle of the
roadway. A cluster of navvies make up the cen-
tral group—one of these navvies, a young fellow in
glowing health, glorious in brawn and muscle, in
stature and proportions, being the hero of the
scene, so to speak—certainly the very arch-type
of Work as it is familiar to men's eyes in the middle
of this nineteenth century. " Work !" as the
artist himself takes occasion to apostrophise that
Boon, not Bane, in a thoughtful sonnet prefixed to
his explanation of the painting thus entitled—

Work ! which beads the brow and tans the flesh

Of lusty manhood, casting out its devils !
By whose weird art, transmuting poor men's evils,
Their bed seems down, their one dish ever fresh.

Ah me ! For lack of it what ills in leash,
Hold us. It's want the pale mechanic levels
Tu workhouse depths, while master Spenthrift revels.
For want of work, the fiends him soon immesh !

Ah ! beauteous tripping dame with bell-like skirts,
Intent on thy small scarlet-coated hound.
Are ragged wayside babes not lovesome too ?
Untrained, their state reflects on thy deserts,
Oithey grownoisome beggars to abound,
Or dreaded midnight robbers, breaking through.
Around the British Excavators, in the middle of the
picture, there are varied groups enough,selected from
all ranks and classes of the population. Yonder
the picturesque tattermadalion with his basket of
groundsel and wild flowers! Here, leaning against
a tree, leisurely smoking his pip; on the look-out,
with half an eye, for employment, is the tramping
Patlander with his larry. There the London street-
boy, the genuine gamin de Londres, kept in order
(hardly !) by a motherly little sister, barely in her
teens, upon whom, nevertheless, in spite of her
youth, has devolved (by reason of poor mother's
death) the care of the younger children—one of theE e
latter enjoying a suck at a bit of carrot in the absence
of the more luscious luxury of a sugarplum. A wealthy
gentleman—Mr. Brown suggests, probably an M.P.
and a Colonel—rides within view, accompanied by
his fair young daughter (both of them well mounted)
in the background. The policeman is there ; the
orange girl is there ; a couple of middle-class ladies
(one of them a tract-distributor) are there—there,
too, in a wonderful portraiture--pencilled to the
very life—you can hear him bawling, " Beer,
ho !" with his hand clapped to the side of
his mouth, while ' you stand looking at the
picture—there, too, in a really wonderful por-
traiture, is the London Potboy ! Well to do,
comfortably dressed, sleek about his well-cropped
head, a hit of a buck in his slangy way, strong,
stunted, clean, though with the rainbow-tint-
ing of a late black eye, received, no doubt,
While preserving order in his master's tap-
room or bar drinking-place ! Finally—though
unnamed by the artist in his catalogue—
yet recognisable nevertheless upon the instant as
arch representatives of the intellectual workers of
the present age here in England—there are two
admirably lifelike portraits of the Reverend Mr.
Maurice and of Thomas Carlyle the celebrated
author—the man of letters and the working clergy-
man of the Church of England. Altogether, we
repeat, this is a remarkable picture, in the mere
purpose of it, as an exemplar of Work as it is,
nowadays. In the manipulation of his wonderful
art—in the working out, as we may say,of work—
the artist, moreover, has afforded signal evidence,
indeed, of his extraordinary powers of observation
and of reproduction afterwards in form and
colouring of the varied phenomena around him,
for which he has shown so keen an eye. The
mere dashing up of the shovel-full of lime
against the screen, or sifter, is shown there
precisely as he saw it—not something like it,
so to speak, but the very thing itself. And so with
the meadow-plants in the creel of the groundsel-
gatherer—the very material and texture of the pot-
boy's " waistcoat—the sun-flecks showered from
among the green leaves upon the black coat of the
clergyman—and all the rest of it ! Here, in fact,
is Work—not in a typical sense merely, but in an
artistic sense also—the work of a true artist, of a
genuine lover of nature, of truth, of reality—
the work, too, of a very keen and yet of a
very gentle and sympathetic observer of his
fellowmen Elsewhere than in this one remarkable
picture—scattered hither and thither in various
parts of the gallery—are evidences of the like dis-
tinctive qualities of the artist upon whose works
we are here commenting rare gifts many
of them-- yet hardly one among them a gift
but what he has also sedulously and most
laboriously cultivated, with a view to its wiser
and subtler application. How he has cultivated
those naturally fine gifts of his, the visitor may
see very readily in this Collective Exhibition of
the artist's works. He may recognise the course
of the development of the artistic career of the
painter. In Scripture scenes—in portraits large
and small—in hiStorical groups—in landscapes
some of thesd latter, one or two of them in particular,
being eminently beautiful. Instance this (No. 13),
a noble limning of " An English Autumn After-
noon." Instance, again, as affording accumulated
evidence of two or three of his qualifications, as an
artist true to the world as he sees it around him (No.
11) ,‘ The Pretty Baa-lambs." Speaking of which—he
says himself—very characteristically—that upon its
first. exhibition " I was told that it was impossible to
make out what meaning I had in the pictUre."
Adding thereupon—" At the present moment, few
people I trust will seek for any meaning be-
yond the obvious one, that is—a lady, a
baby, two lambs, a. servant maid, and
some grass !" Upon many others of the all-but
one hundred Pictures exhibited in this gallery we
-would fain have commented here at n incono-

derable length, as, for example, let us say, upon
(No. 14) " The Last of England," or upon
(No. 33) " Elijah and the Widow's Son," or
upon (No. 35) " Toothless." But—as it is
—our present purpose has been already ful-
filled, if we have evidenced, as we have here
striven to do, our recognition in Mr. Ford Madox
Brown of an artist true to his craft and to his country
—a painter racy of the soil, thoroughly original,
conscientious in his love of truthfulness and of reality
—one of those laborious, and gifted, and earnest cul-
tivators of art whom England ought to delight to
honour, the worth and value of whose career as an
artist Englishmen ought at the least to recognize.
Having said which, it is but justice to Mr. F. M.
Brown here to add, no less and emphatically, that
he is only known to us as an artist—that, in other
words, we know nothing whatever of him beyond
what any chance visitor to his gallery may there
learn about him from an examination of his works,
as they are now displayed to view at 191, Picca-
dilly.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

FALMOUTH, March 29.

The Diamond Company's steamer Eastern Pro-
vince has arrived here. She left Natal, 7th Feb. ;
Algoa Bay, 19th ; Table Bay, 23d ; St. Helena, 4th
March ; and Madeira, 21st.
The Eastern Province brings 42 passengers, among
whom are Dr. Cotterill, Bishop of Grahamstown,
and family ; Colonel Bissett and family ; 15 bags
of mails, and a full cargo of wool, hides, sugar, horns,
ivory, ostrich feathers, skins, &c., together with one
case of silver plate and seven boxes of specie, value
£8,700.

The mail steamer Anglian left Table Bay on Feb.
17 with a mail for England, via overland route, and
37 passengers. The mail steamer Cambrian arrived
out Feb. 15.

In the colony it was still rumoured that the long
contemplated annexation of the little territory known
as British Kaffraria was not to take place at present;
and, secondly, it was declared that the Home Go-
vernment seriously contemplated the conversion of
Kaffraria proper, the western boundary of Natal,
into a convict station. Such proceeding on the part
of the home authorities would, it was said, excite
the greatest disapprobation among the Cape
people.

The military scandal at King William's Town
had been further ventilated. The Supreme Court
had decided that the words alleged to have been
used by Lieutenant-Colonel White to Major Hare,
at the garrison ball in King William's Town in
May last, were not libellous as applied to Major
Hare.

The fall in the price of wool in the London
markets, advised by the last mail, was producing
disastrous results in the colony. One of the largest
shippers of wool in 1864 had stopped payment in
Port Elizabeth, with liabilities to the extent of
£lOO,OOO. Nearly 70,000 bales of wool were
shipped from the eastern province during 1864, the
loss on which is estimated at £200,000.
From Natal the accounts were encouraging. The
cotton plant had suffered, but was recovering.
The difficulty in getting bills had caused large
consignments of gold.

The Case of Dr. Pritchard,

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

ROME.
ROME, MARCH 26.
(Via Marseilles.)

Two numerous bands of Neapolitan brigands,
wearing uniforms, and supplied with arms and
ammunition, have penetrated into the Pontifical
territory. They have carried desolation into the
provinces of Frosinene and Velletri. All occupiers
have fled from their homes.

Count Paris de Frosinone having fallen into the
hands of the marauders, was compelled to pay
50,000 francs ransom.
The French troops, in conjunction with the Italian
soldiers, have adopted vigorous measures to destroy
the brigands. •
The Italian troops frequently pass the Pontifical
frontier. It is thought that the Papal Government
will remain inactive in the matter.

LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY, March 30.

The Inman steamer, City of Limerick, from New
York on the 16th inst., passed Point Lynas at 10
a.m. to-day. News anticipated.

ALLOCUTION OF THE POPE.

ROME, MARCH 29.

In the allocution delivered at the last consistory
the Popd expressed his surprise and sorrow at the
sad events which had recently taken place in
Mexico. His Holiness hoped that the Emperor
Maximilian would abandon the course upon which
he had entered, and satisfy the just desires of the
Holy See.
The Pope further thanked the bishops of the
Catholic world, and especially those of Italy, for
their zeal in defending religion and the liberties of
the Church, despite the decrees of secular autho-
rities.

WEST INDIA, PACIFIC, AND

MEXICAN MAILS.
SOUTHAMPTON, MARCH 30.

The Royal Mail Company's steamer Atrato, with
the above mails, has arrived here with 138 passen-
gers $2,274,809 in specie, and 1,100 packages of
cargo, consisting chiefly of cigars, jalap bark, indigo,
and silver ore. Amongst her passengers are Gen.
Buanaventuara Baez, ex-President of San Domingo,
and Admiral Riestra, of the Peruvan navy, from
Callao.

The Atrato left St. Thomas's on the 15th. She
experienced during the first five days head winds
and a heavy sea, but since then fine weather.
The steamer Hayti from Liverpool arrived at
St. Thomas on the 10th.

The steamer Palays arrived at the same port on
the 13th, with news from St. Domingo to the 11th.
The Spanish authorities were anxious to prevent the
intentions of their Government from becoming
known, but their manoeuvres had tended to show
that the Spanish troops intended to quit the island.
The Spaniards were massed in Ports St. Domingo
and Puerto Plata, and the Dominicans profiting by
their inactivity were strengthening their forts, and
preparing for another campaign if required. No-
thing appears left for the Spaniards but to carry on
a war of extermination or to abandon the island.

Trade was very languid, and every branch of
business in the island paralysed. Several families had
emigrated to Porto Rico in consequence of the high
price of provisions.

Her Majesty's ships Duncan, Aurora, and Steady
were at Trinidad ; the Aboukir, Fawn, and Cor-
della, at Jamaica ; and the Wolverine, Bull Dog,
and Petrel at Sacrificio. The Tribune had sailed
from Esquimault for the South Pacific.
The excitement which pervaded all classes in Peru
had quite subsided, and a fortnight prior to the sail-
ing of the mail everything was dull and quiet.
Ex-President Castilla had been_ sent away in a
Peruvian war vessel, where is not publicly known.
His influence is ended for the present.
One vessel of the Spanish squadron had sailed for
Valparaiso, and another for Paita, others remain in
Callao bay.
Heavy shipments of cotton had been made from
the Peruvian ports, and from Callao alone nearly
4,000 bales had been shipped. Exchange on Lon-
don, 37 pence per dollar.
The press of Chili lamented the solution of the
Hispano-Peruvian question as derogatory to the
honour of the whole of South America.

In the Southern provinces of Conception and
Valdivia gold mines had been discovered, and new
coal mines were to be opened in the south. Fav-
ourable reports had been given of the quicksilver
mines lately discovered in the hills about Valparaiso.
The arrivals of vessels at Valparaiso were few.
Business was quiet and money scarce. Exchange
being quoted 4s. 74d. to id. per dollar, checked
transactions.

The journals of the different republics of Central
Africa were still discussing the question of the right
of Costa Rica to afford asylum to the ex-President
Barrios.

The States of Nicaragua, Salvador, and Guate-
malahad cut off all relations with Costa Rica, both
commercial and diplomatic on this account.
The volcano of Turcalba, in Costa Rica, con-
tinues the rain of ashes, and the heat resulting
therefrom is almost insupportable.
The coffee crop averages from 80,000 to 100,000
quintals.
The weather at Barbadoes was dry, and the sugar
crop rapidly progressing. Cotton was arriving from
the interior for shipment. Emigration was going on.
Fever and cold were prevailing. Exchange-90
days, $4BO.

At Trinidad the weather was unfavourable for
crop operations ; the yield, however, was good, and
the shipments .of sugar were proceeding slowly.
Manufacturing operations on the sugar estates of
Grenada were proceeding favourably. The yield
was good and the weather was propitious for cotton
picking cocoa curing. Purchasers of both articles
were actively competing. There were considerable
shipments of both commodities for Europe. Ex-
change-90 days, $4B.
Trade was dull at Jamaica, and a severe drought
continues throughout the island, and was severely
felt by the stock.
Diphtheria and small-pox was very virulent in
several districts.

Coffee, ordinary, 50s. to 535. ; mountain growth,
545. to 60s. Rum, 24d. to 27d. ; proof, 18 in
bond. Sugar, dark to middling, 15s. 6d. to 17s. ;
fair quality, 19s. to 21s.
Exchange, 90 days, 14 per cent. premium.

SPAIN.
MADRID, MARCH 29.

The Epaca of to-day says the Minister of War
has tendered his resignation. It is asserted that
General Lersundi has refused to replace him.
Marshal Narvaez will probably retain the port-
folio of the vacant Ministry.