The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-06 00:00:00

TO ROME.

Rome! Rome! thou art duce more what thou host been;
Thine eagle glance recall the days of old—
Mazzini ! Garibaldi I ye shall win
Laurels that never die! This age of gold
Hath need of manly virtue like to thine
To give us hope in battling for good,
And prove humanity is yet divine.
Rome! glorious in thy weakness, thou bast stood-
Th' assault of treachery, of forco, of guile,
Wooing the traitor's arm to crush thy hope,
And wearing still the ally's peaceful smile.
Earth's curses on the Gaul, who for a Pope,
Or worse—for selfish ends of private gain—
Would trample out the fire of patriot love,
And aid the serfs of Austria and Spain.

Rome! in thy moral power thou stand'st above
Thy puny foe ; his name will sink unknown,
Or known—accursed—while history's fair page
Will pourtray forth thy sighs, thy every groan,
As precious; in a freer, better age
Mankind will do thee justice—yet a while,
Oh! tyrants ye prevail, but God's dread giave
Is loosening from its scabbard; ye who senile -
List to the sounds that boom across the wave!
Liverpool, July 3. F. M. F.

THE PUBLIC AND LIFE ASSU-
RANCE—EVILS AND REMEDIES.
The growth of life assurance from year to year is a
matter which your true lover of his country must witness
with the utmost gratification. Through its instrumen-
tality, it is hardly necessary to say, an immense amount
of good is accomplished. Whole families, when
the heads of them are laid low, are snatched
from perdition by the timely stretching forth of its
saving hand. Indeed it has become an axiom, that
the man who assures his life does his country a service.
But unless the assured are satisfied, beyond the shadow
of a doubt, that their policies will be paid to the
uttermost farthing when they have passed away
—unless the parties with whom they enter
into so serious a compact as to provide for
their families when their help is withdrawn, whenever
that event may occur, are honest and solvent—the con-
tract is a " mockery, a delusion, and a snare," in the
widest acceptation of the term. We will go further and
say, if an assurance company, of an excellent plan,
and even with good intentions, but badly or extra-
vagantly managed, deficient in those securities
which are absolutely necessary for the proper
and honourable carrying on of an assurance business
(ready and undoubted means of meeting a maximum of
claims), induces parties to assure with it, it commits an
offence against society which cannot be too severely
reprehended. The majority of assurance companies,
more especially the ancient ones, would express the
utmost horror if it was proposed to let in the
;ight of day upon their transactions and their
profits—their capital and their dividends. Why is this?
When a man prates about his great success in business,
as these offices do, he is not backward in displaying its
nature and amount, his outlay and his profits.
Scarcely any of these companies will allow a reporter
to attend their meetings; though, in the pursuit
of his vocation, he must report to the world
the success which the dovetailed statements they issue so
loudly prcclaim. Suspicion and distrust are ever the
natural and inherent consequences of exclusion. We
therefore distrust these offices, and conclude that there is
something behind the scenes that cannot bear an honest
face to look upon it.
It is said, and there is some force in the statement,
that the proprietors, or members of these corporations,
sre the only parties interested, and that none, save them,
should be present. Why deny your shareholders in the
country or abroad the satisfaction of perusing an inde-
pendent report of the proceedings of a concern in which
they have an interest ? But have the general public
no interest in the matter? Before a man assures his li'e
lie is bound to know the condition of the parties with
whom he may be desirous to make a contract. The
question then arises, whether it does not, in such a
state of things, become the duty of the State to
act paternally over the property of the people
committed to its care. And where so much of
their money is locked up in assurance companies,
has not the State a right to look and see that all is fair ?
The supervision of the State extends to concerns rot
half so important as assurance companies—companies
in which simply the living have an interest; surely the
same principle should in justice be applied to those con-
cerns in which the survivors of the dead—weak, per-
naps,
and inexperienced in the ways of the world—
have an interest?
Writing rather to the public, and. pointing out the
treat benefits of life assurance, and how much it is
the duty of every man to assure his life, than for the
edification of the gentlemen connected with assurance
companies—not being ambitious to become a petty
chatterer of life assurance effice gossip, and not
being skilled in the use of the common instruments of
vituperation, it would be foreign to our present purpose
to go into the minute details in our possession, which led
us in our last number to lay down the following query
for solution in this:—" Is it not probable that the pub-
lic will look with distrust upon life assurance,
in consequence of the gross mismanagement of
certain offices, which bring discredit upon others which
are reputable in every respect and worthy of the most un-
bounded confidence?" Indeed it will be sufficient to say
that having ample means of becoming acquainted with
the doings of certain companies, and knowing that the
public were getting acquainted with them, and distrust-
ful—nay more, that companies of the higher class were
likely to be injured by the mismanagement of others,
we have felt called upon, for the honour of Life Assu-
rance, and for the common benefit of all, to demand, in
the name of the public, that all assurance companies
shall be placed under Government supervision, as much
as Joint-Stock or other Banks; that they shall be com-
pelled to publish quarterly statements of their condition,
duly certified; for instance, the number and amount of
their shares, the amount that has been paid upon them,
the number and gross amount of their policies, how
much has been paid upon them, the amount of their
loans, and the nature of their securities, surplus, and re-
serve funds, the claims paid during the quarter, and the
amount of dividend. This may appear offensive to
many of the companies, and we do not imagine that it
would be very palatable, but the majority of them we
know would not object to it. It may be urged with
Degbcrry, that " comparisons are odious;" that com-
panies with a small but good business would be thereby
injured, because they would stand in contrast with larger
offices not perhaps realising a very much greater profit
in proportion to their business. The joint-stock com-
panies urged the same argument; but it is obvious that
they have not been injured by the publicity which they
are compelled to give to their operations. Publicity of
this nature will redound to the credit of your bond fide
(Jams, whilst, on the other hand, it will crumble into
dust those of an opposite character—your mere " hand
to mouth" societies: we think the cause of providence,
economy, thought, and forecast will be served by their
extinction.
Again, supervision is necessary in order to detect and
expose companies started by mere adventurers. Any
body may start an assurance company, and the people
are not so well informed upon the principles of lite
assurance as to be proof against deceit. Such things
have occurred, and West Middlesex schemes may be set
on foot again, and life assurance thereby receive a
blow under which it will stagger, and which existing
companies, for their credit's sake, should not be slow to
avoid.— The Reporter for July.

SOUTH SECt COMPANT.—A general Court was held
yesterday at the South Sea House, Threadneedle-street,
for the purpose of hearing the usual half-yearly account
of the company's affairs. Charles Franks, Esq., sub-
governor, took the chair; and, after a few introductory
remarks, the secretary' read a statement, from which it
appeared that the assets of the company amounted to
818,677/. 12s. Bd., while their liabilities were
791,2941. 2s. 7d., showing a balance in the company's
favour of 27,3831. 10s. Id. A further " account of the
clear revenue and profits of the South Sea Company for
the half-year ending the sth of July, 1849, after current
payments for interest and other outgoings, charges, and
expenses are first allowed and deducted (made out pur-
suant to Act 6 Geo. II.), showed that the income
amounted to 156,429/. 7s. 5d., while the outgoings were
91,5111. 9s. 7d., leaving a balance of 64,9171. 17s. 10d.
The half-year's dividend on 3,622,784/. Bs. 6d. South Sea
Stock at 1:2 per cent. would amount to 64,098/. 14s. 6d.,
which, deduced' from the above, would leave a surplus
of 8191. 3s. 4d. The Chairman next proposed a resolu-
tion, which was unanimously adopted, that a dividend of
12 per cent. should be paid to the proprietors for the
half-year ending July 5, 1849, and (there being no more
business to transact) the court broke up.

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA.—The performance last
night was for the benefit of Signor Mario, upon which
occasion the Huguenots was performed in lieu of La
Donna del Lago, in consequence of the sudden indisposi-
tion of Mr. Sims Reeves, who was advertised to repre-
sent the part of Roderick Dhu. The Huguenots went
off with its accustomed effect, and the encores were as
numerous and rapturous as on former occasions. Mario
and Grisi were in fine voice, and were called before the
curtain amidst the cheers of the house.
SERIOUS ACClDENT.—Yesterday afternoon, between
one and two o'clock, Miss Amelia Janson, daughter of
Sherstone Janson, E'q., of the Grarge, Hackney-road,
was crossing Bishopsgate-street, opposite the end of
Threadneedle-street, hastening to get out of the way of
the passing vehicles; the pavement, which is of wood,
having been recently watered, WAS very slippery, and
unfortunately the young lady fell, sustaining a cotnpund
fracture of the right thigh, her right hand being severely
crushed by the wheel of a coal waggon. She was re-
moved to her parents' residence; she is not expected to
survive the injuries.

HER MAJESTY'S TIIEA THE. selves space to say that the other characters were ably
A new ballet, one of the most exciting. pleasing, and' supported, and that the house was well attended. We
original that was ever witness d, was produced here last hope that before Miss Cushman leaves us she will be
evening, under the title of Les Plaisirs d 'liven The induced to play a round of her principal characters.
lroagcem. '
scene of the ballet is laid in Poland, and the first tableau A Farewelln to any
e mnagnagentr.
if she could be induced to
represents the celebration of a Polish marl iage, amidst accept. one, could not but prove a most profitable spectl-
flowers in a Jardin d'llivcr—one of those new luxurit s, at
by means of which the richer noblemen of the
North console themselves for the rigour of their cli-
mate. In this tableau Rosati and the other chief
dancers of the troupe display their grace sad spiriting in
novel and piquant steps. There is a "grand Pas de
Deux, a la Hongroie," by Mdile. Rosati and M. Charles.
In this tableau likewise occurs the " Introduction a b.,
Fete," by Mdl!es. Marra, Themassini, Julien, Aussan-
don, Lamorcux, and Pascales. Having dis-
ported themselves w able , the gay votaries
join the country people without in another
pastime of their own. This occurs in the
second tableau. You behold the Danube, crowds ef
skaters throng the frozen wavers, attended by vend( rs
of every species of ornament as well as of refreshment.
On one side are seen ladies driven along in their fur
dresses on sledges; in another direction the men are
enj eving the Ilfer,tigne Russo. Presently, room is made
for the dances of the skaters. First comes the "Pus des
Frileux." The laughing, but shivering crowd, by the
execution of a peculiar Ilungarian step, dance them-
selves into warmth. Then cornea "Le pas (st la Hue-
garde," a curious, lieely, and varied step, peiferrned by
Madlle. C. Rosati and M. P. Teglioni, Mesdames Petit,
Marra, Thomessini, Aussandon, Julien, and Lemoreux.
This is followed by the most remarkable and character-
istic step of all, the grand quadrille Des Patincurs."
Of this prolonged, varied, and marvellous intricate pas
every detail is executed by skaters with the most re-
markable effect. B(twixt each figure there are solos of
mimic action—spirited episodes of the life of the
North, represented by M. Charles. But new tie
hour is cern() when the feast within must follore the
sports without ; the sun's setting marks the
hour of retiring to the hospitable tire-side ;
and the curtain descends amidst the fall of snow.
Such is the account given of the two scenes in the
hltjoei
sgei gn uaatl
meridiandt h
ye besrxpe
acl
eikt4edmaoneudnr t
waoidht
ahhvei
es lastst
hetetsi ern eigsni en.g
all
official programme, and certainly we never saw an) thing
of the '
dhtmeh eisrpasuiur)
Ittc,.
imitated by the electrical light. The Pas des
Patineurs is a most elegant piece of terpsichorean
comedy, and M. Charles is one of the most active,
graceful, and amusing of dancers. Carolina Rosati
danced her two pas exquisitely, and the Pas de
Frileux is one of the most amusing pieces f
eccentricity ever introduced into a ballet. The
following is the history of the ballet : " This
ballet was first performed at the Court Theatre of
Berlin in 184 S, under the title of Liebeslicendel. It is
composed by Paul Taglioni, the maitre ballet of the King
of Prussia. It was long reserved by its author for the
Court of his Royal Master, but the scenario was ulti-
mately lent to the old marshal, Prince Paskew itch, the
greatest amateur of ballets in Europe, who at Warsaw,
at the Imperial Theatre, possesses a corps de ballet the
envy of all the Sovereign Princes of the north. Last
year this ballet was imitated all over Germany, and
everywhere with remarkable success. Meyerbeer, the
great composer, in the same royal service, and
employed mostly in the same theatre at Berlin,
asked his choregraphic colleague, P. Taglioni, on
his way to London, to furnish the plans, models, and
suggestions to the Academie de Musique, necessary to
introduce the principal features of this ballet in the
Prophete. This P. Teglioni did readily and gra-
tuitously to oblige Meyerbeer, and the success of the
Pas de Patineurs has bet n immense in Paris." The
music, by Pawn', is excellent, and a more complete
success we never witnessed than that of this most de-
lightful of ballets. P. Taglioni, Madlle. Rosati, and M.
Charles, were called on, and then P. Taglioni was honoured
with a second call, as the author, a compliment which
be richly merited.

ADELPHI THEATRE.

An adaptation of the well-known L'Alnianach des
25,000 Aoresses was brought out at this theatre last
night, under the title of Web.ster's Royal Red Bcok.
The version is nearer to the original than that which
was a year or two ago produced at the Lyceum, by
Mr. Angus Reach, the three acts being retained, and the
progress of the incidents being nearly identical with
those of the French piece ; but the colour locale is, of
course, of a totally dill', rent hue, while the sketch of the
hero is filled up by Mr. Wright, who avails himself of
his usual licence, and indulges in that broad vein of
humour which Adelphi audiences know and love so well.
There is no plot of any moment, for Wright is simply
the victim of a party of roystering medical students.
who mystify him as to the address of one " Briggs,"
and drive him into a variety of comic dilemmas
in consequence. Wright made the most of the oppor-
tunity that was afforded him, and from the first
moment when he comes in in a state of red-hot indigna-
don at the extortionate charges of a street•porter, down
to the catastrophe, when he is smothered with flour and
half roasted over a stove, kept the house in a continued
roar of merriment. His extravagance in the third act,
when, loaded with pistols, blunderbuses, and cutlasses—
which bristle about him like a porcupine—he meditates
the assassination of the mischievous authors of his diffi-
culties, was grotesque in the extreme, and the folks aloft
never laughed louder in their lives. Paul Bedford had
a prominent hand in the fun, as the peccant gentleman
of Bloomsbury, who goes to Vauxhall unknown to his
wife; but the more stolid humours of this weighty per-
sonage were comparatively ineffective by the side the
amdacious vivacittes of his comrade. There was no mis-
take as to the question of success. A " tag" was spoken
by Wright, who held an extempore colloquy with some
delighted gods in the gallery; and finally his coadjutor
announced the repetition of the piece for "every evening
until further notice." The house was crowded in every
part.

'MARRIAGE (SCOTLAND) BILL.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sin,—The Bill for altering the Law of Marriage
which has existed in Scotland since the Reformation is
to be read a third time to-morrow night. As it is of
the utmost moment to the morality of Scotland, and as
Scottish affairs seldom obtrude th:reselres upon your
notice, I trust that you will make room for these remarks.
And first, it is a Bill against the stomach of the
Scottish people, as the almost unanimous petitioning
against it shows. _ _

It is a Bill upon the policy of which we have the
evideuc of only three English lawyers, the Committee
by a majority refusing to examine a Scot lawyer
at all.

It is a Bill on the policy of which we have the evidence
of no one peculiarly able to estimate its moral (ilia,
the Committee having refused to Examine any clergy-
man, or indeed any other than the three English lawyers;
and Lord Brougham, when asked the moral Effect of the
law as nt present existnig,-, answering_ candidly (p. 18),
" I really profess to have no competent opinion upon that
subject." Yet that is the whole point in issue.
It is a Bill which is on the face of it a mistake,
for it is forced to provide for the very great
inconveniences it produces a remedy of the most
ludicrous kind—to create a registrar at Edinburgh,
with papal power of dispensation, upon the payment of
the sum of three pounds, a scheme of legal indulgences,
placed in the uncontrolled and unguided discretion of
nobody knows who he may be.
It is a Bill carried through Parliament upon the faith
of cases which had no peculiar exist-,nce under the Scot-
tish law: the Lord Advocate not knowing, as it would
seem, that bigamy exists elsewhere than in Scotland, and
no less frequently; and Lord Brougham not knowing
that there were cases as painful in English law as that
stated in his ninth answer; Mr. M'Neill, with subtle
irony, asking if it was a Scotch case.
It is a Bill changing, in Scotland, marriage into se-
duction. Dr. Lushingron, speaking of England, says in
the 78th answer:—"l am satisfied that in this country
a great many of the calamitous instances which we have
of seduction arise from the promise cum copula. It is
very true that that cannot constitute marriage by our
law, but the promise produces the same effect, for the
woman relies upon it as if it were an actual marriage."
This is a marriage by the law of nature; it is at present
a marriage by the law of Scotland; you now create it a
seduction.

It is a Bill making the judgments of the law clear and
easy by negativing whatever does not come up to a certain
standard, and thus working a wrong for the convenience
of the lawyer, instead of shaping the law to enforce
every contract.
It is a Bill in this way creating bastards by refusing
to acknowledge what is a marriage by the law of nature
a marriage by the law of Scotland.
. .

LYCEUM THEATRE.

It is alillwhich sacrifices the innocent offspring in
protecting a seducer from the consequent inconveniences,
giving him a chance of slaking his passion without fear
of " a rash disposition of the largest estates and the
highest honours."

It is a Bill which, in place of bringing the law as
close as possible to good morality, which is the law of
nature, carries it away as far as possible from it. Adul-
tery is a crime by the law of nature. Seduction
is none. Look at the Decalogue; is seduction there?—
it is not, because by the law of nature seduction is mar-
riage. Seduction is a creature of the civil law, and
especially aggrandized by this Bill.
Look at the vexatious clause, compelling a constant
residence in one parish for a fortnight before marriage.
Look at the requiring a certificate from the the registrar,
v.ho may have no personal knowledge of that fact. Look
at the fact of the registration being conclusive evidence,
which, if it means anything, means evidence that caw
never be rebutted—and then say whether our successors
will revere the wisdom of their ancestors.
I am, Sir, &c.,
Temple, July 5, 1849.

JAMES BROWN.

THE CITY* ELECTION.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sin,—The triumphant and glorious termination of the
City election, in the return of Baron Rothchild, has
given the livliest demonstration of admiration to my
Christian brethren in this locality, who hail it as tho
death• blow to the bigots of the 19th century, and adds
another laurel to the imperishable wreath of the citizens
of London, and will convince mankind they are not de-
generated, but aro still, and ever will be, the champions
of Civil and Religious Liberty, as well as the defenders
of their Queen, Constitution, and country ; and remain
Sir, your obedient servant.

A BRITISH BORN JEW.
Cardiff, July 4, 1849.

TAKING THE STARCH OUT OF
'EM—A COLD WATER SKETCH.
A knot of idlers stood upon the end of a pier which
ran out into the Hudson River, in one of the smell
towns near Albany, a few days ago, amusing themselves
with hurling stones into the broad stream, each
vieing with his neighbour in the endeavour to pitch
a missile to the farthest distance from the shore,
when a tall, rugged built Vermonter, direct from the
Green Hills, suddenly made his appearance in their
midst, and for a while remained a quiet observer of their
movements. He was a very brawny, strong-looking
Yankee, and was very decently clad. The efforts of the
little party had been exhibited over and over again, when
the stranger picked up half a brick which lay near him,
and giving it a jerk, it fell in the water a long way beyond
the line which had as yet been reached by the foremost of
the crowd. At the conclusion of this feat a loud "bravo!"
went up from half a dozen voices around bim. It was
a cold, clear day in October, and the men, determined
not to be outdone, renewed their attempts; but the Ver-
monter, without saying a syllable to any one, continued
to pitch the pebbles far out into the stream, whieh
seemed to annoy one of them in a green jacket, the ap-
parent leader of the gang, who declared he would'nt be
beaten by a " fellow right and straight out of the
woods, any how;" and sliding up to the stranger.
he determined to make his acquaintance. " Where do
you come from neighbour?" inquired the other. " Me?
%Val, I hails from Vormount, jes now, friend." " Haint
been in these parts long, I reckon?" "'Val—no.
Not edzactly yere—but up and daown, sorter." " Yis,
so I 'sposed." " Yams," continued the green 'un,
carelessly, and seizing a big billet of wood, be
twirled it over his head, and it landed several
rods from the shore in the water. "You've a
little strength in your arms, neighbor." "Some
pumpkins—is them flippers, stranger, up in our taown,
mone'n a month ago, I driv them are knuckles rite
strait thur a board more'n a ninth 'naff thick." " Haw,
haw," shouted the hearers, the man in the green jacket
laughing loudest. ")flay be you don't believe it."
" Not much," answered the crowd. " We-aint very green
down here in York—we aint," said the fellow in the
green jacket; " we've been about, you see." " Wal, jet;
you look yere, friend," continued the Vermonter, in
the most plausible manner, " up in aour county, we've a
purty big river, considerin'—lnvun River, it's called, and
may be you've hearn on it. Wal, I hove a man clean
across that river t'other day, and he came down fair and
square on t'other side." "Ha, ha, ha," yelled his audi-
tors. " Wal, naow, you may laff, but I can deu it agin."
"Do what ?" said the green-jacket quickly. "I kin
take and hove you across that river just like open and
shot." " Bet you 10 dollars of it." "Done."
b;alk)oenne." said
Down-East
bank)
fel-
ler?" " Like a duck," said jacket;green-
further wi out
' bYaanikik)ehea, aanadverderdawthinegsfLrpth.jaa(tuepro. n
‘,Kin
youDsowwi
swim,
i
stoutly by nape of the neck and the seat of his pants,
the Vermonter seized the knowing Yorker
ifurrktehderiepimartlthe'ryeom his foothold, and with an almost super-
humane effort, dashed him heels over head from the end
of the dock, some ten) ards out into the Hudson River '
A terrific shout rang through the crowd as he
floundered into the water, and amidst the jeers and
screams of his companions, the duck loafer put back on
the shore, and scratched up the bank half frozen by this
sudden and involuntary cold bath. " I'll take that ten
spots, if you please," said he, shivering rapidly to the
stakeholder. "You took us for green-horns,eh ? We'll
show you how we do things here in York," and the
feller claimed the twenty dollars. " Wal, I reckon you
won't take no ten-spots jest yet, cap'n." "Why 1
You've lost the bet." " Not edzactly. I didn't kalki-
late on deuing it the fast time; but I tell yeu I Ain deu it"
—and again, in spite of the loafer's utmost efforts to
escape him, he seized him by the neck and the seat,
of his over-ails, and pitched him three yards farther
into the river than upon the first trial !
ils
Againi
green-jacket returned, amid the shouts of
tmimatees,
nwe'hveor enjtaoyilesd,,, thseaids
off his coat ;
victim. " ye.
And I
44 I kin des' it, I te I ye.
Yankee
" Hold on!" said the almost petrified
port
the immensely.,. set7rilpphiinrd
it up!" shouted the suffercb;
remarked, " We aint much acquainted
badger's—"
n7tbari:sientiet I:m, whichlo gi v
ney.
ekrsydsown here 'n York, but we some-
cooly pocketed the stakes, and as
nowwill dcel:atitte—redf llikterya tellma dto;mdaboreerrtwo,
with you am
the starch out of 'em up our way—and p'raps
times take
to their reflectionsl—Flay
r(won't try it on strangers agin. I reek n you mount,"
31ucontinued, and putting on a board grin of good
rat etyr.fovl
hTehetuVr turned away.
1 humour, he left the company
of our Union.

The opera of Guy Manneriny was revived at t his

theatre last evening, for the benefit of Miss Kathleen
Fitzwilliam, who made her first appearance in the
character of Lucy Bertram, and achieved a complete
success, earning for herself a well merited encore in the
ever delightful ballad " Oh! slumber my darling." The
piece was very strongly cast, Miss Cushman appearing
as Meg Merrilies, Mr. Donald King (who introduced
the beautiful ballad of " John Andersom my Jce," and
sang it exquisitely) as Harry Bertram, and Har-
ley as Dominic Sampson. The great at-
traction of the performance was of, course, the
Meg Merrilies cf Miss Cushman, and, frequently
as we have been delighted by the performances of this
lady, never have we seen any of her creations so mar-
vellous as is this of Meg Merrilies. Her Bianca, terrific
from its ensrgy, stamped her at once as an cv tiste of
genius; her Lady Macbeth proved her to be far and away
the greatest Shaksperian actress on the boards on either
side of the Atlantic; her Rosalind proved the versatility
of her genius, and was as wonderful for its playfulness,
its humour, and its thorough high and ladylike feeling,
as her Bianca was for its intensity, and her Lady Mac-
beth for its power. Then came that most wonderful of
all her performances save one, her Romeo—
she, and she alone, of all who have ever trodden the
stage in our days, has thoroughly entered into the
spirit of the vehement Italian boy, whom love, by its
magic, in one hour transforms into a man, a man in
thought, a man in:&ms and aspirations, but still a boy in
impassioned feelings. We remembsr the Romeo of
Charles Kemble, a gentlemanly, well-studied, careful
performance, but too lull of care, too manly, too old fur
Romeo. It was left for Miss Cashman to show us the
Romeo that Shakspere intended. Untramelled; by
traditional' stage conventionalities, she, in fact ,
created the part. We have spoken of her Romeo as
tho most wonderful of all her performances save
one, and that one is Meg Merrilies. In Romeo she bad
but to follow Shakspere's teaching, and never had
Shakespere pupil more apt, but in Meg Merrilies she
had to do that which the author ought to have
to the char
her, to compose the part, to discover the
thate ke-
which was e
racter, to develop in action and mannerand with the few aids
not; set down for her in words,
and hints which she might gather from Walter Scott to
etothe the mere skeleton which the dramatist had made
of the part with real flesh and blood, to ani-
mate it with feeling and passion, and to raise
that which her predecessors had made a mere melo-
dramatic exaggeration into a character of the very
highest order of tragedy, and this Miss Cushman has
done, and by doing has shown how true genius com-
municates a portion of its own power to everything it
touches. The first thing that strikes us in the Meg
Merrilies of Miss Cushman is the utter abnegation of
self; this is apparent even from her make-up of the part—
there is no attempt to avoid the :squalor and the
rags of ,e the old gipsy, no little under-
current of female vanity apparent in the shape
of a particularly neat apron or coquettishly-
disposed bit of ribbon, as we have seen
frequently the case with other actresses who have to
appear in squalor and rags, but there she stands the very
identical gipsy that appeared to Henry Bertram and
Dandie Dinmont on the moor. Until we saw Miss
Cushman we were inclined to consider the character of
Meg Merrilies as an unnatural character. In her
hande, however, Meg is anything but unnatural. That
fiery eye, that intent and earnest gaze, that hollow
voice, those grand and queen-like gestures, made more
sublime from the strong contrast they form with the
attire and station of her who uses them, all proclaim
that she has faith in her own mission, and not a barren
t
faith, but one calculated to create a like faith in allassaw
come near her; awe-struck at her own powers., which
believes to be supernatural; she creates a like awe
all those with whom she comes in contact,
n
' desire to
not at all astonished at Dandies
findsnihni ram°self in danger of
memor-
able n. th
re-
member a prayer, when hewe
are in
of the very highest order;
e
Cusl man was su ime ; it was
having
scene
e an ne intervieww i
twith
Dandie with
an her.d Throughouthenry erbt Bertram,
t.al
dorttroMaogiwessdays her appearance on th© rock,
back, and for-
' • er gipsy subjects
moree
sto ed
queen-
like indeed-
ftorureetatgheedayc,tianng
to harm Henry Bertram. She
grandtien ~ahned:com majesticm
ands n
in rags, but in her rags queen-like—ay!
like than, in her royal robes., Semiramide.
for-
bids them
The last act was a perfect triumph, ending
iu the climax of her martyrdom, for martyrdom indeed
it was when she sealed her tstimony by her blood; and
then her dying scene—it was beautiful, tender, pa-
thetic, such as words cannot describe, albeit
the heart throbs and the throat chokes, and the
eyes become suffused even with the recollection of it.
It was a thing to be seen, not de.seribed, and once seen
never to be forgotten. As we stated on a former oc-
casion, we believe Miss Cushman is about soon to quit
our shores, we trust not for ever. We hope she will re-
turn to us after having paid her native land
a visit ; indeed we claim her as ours, 'for
genius is of language, not of country. Shakspere is
American as much as English, and Miss Cushman is
English as much as American. We have been so led
away by our enthusiasm that we have only left our-

CHATHAM, JULY 4.—Private James Brown, of the
17th Company of the Royal. Marines, who was tried
last week by a general court•martial for disobeying the
lawful orders given by Colour-Sergeant Michael Rogers,
his superior officer, and found guilty, received corporal
punishment of fifty lashes in the presence of the batta-
lion, and the prisoner is further to undergo imprison-
ment with hard labour for 168 days in the military pri-
son, Fort Clarence.

THE LONGITUDS.—It being considered interesting
and important to the commercial marine of the United
States atid of the United Kingdom to ascertain with
correctness the difference of longitude between the Ob.
servatory at Cambridge, Boston, and that at Liverpool,
it is proposed by the United States' Government to ac-
complish this object by means of marine chronometers to
be transported across the Atlantic to and from Boston in
the British and North American royal mail steamers;
and, for this to be effected, arrangements will be made
with the authorities in this country that when the chro-
nometers arrive at Liverpool on their return from Bos-
ton, they may be transmitted with all possible care and
dispatch to the Liverpool Observatory.
CHESTER AND BoLTHEAD RAlLWAY.—Traffic for
the week ending June 30,1849 :—Coaching traffic, 1,6621.
13s. 10d.; parcels, 291. 12s. 4d.; goods and cattle, 145/.
13s. Od. ; steam-boats, 166/. 6s. Bd.—Total, 2,0041. 55.
10d., exclusive of toll from Shrewsbury and Chester Com.
pany, and payment for conveyancaaf mails.