The Sun.
London, England, 1825-04-21 00:00:00

THE THEATRE.

COVENT-GARDEN.—Orestes in Argos is the
title of a new Tragedy, which was brought for-
and for the first time last night at this Theatre.

DRAMATIS PERSONIE.
- Mr. Bennet.
. Mr. C. Kemble.
- Mr. Cooper.
- Mr. Egerton.
- Confidant Citizens.
- Ley, Horlebow, &c. &c.
- Mrs. Ba. tI2Y.
- Miss Lacy.
- Miss Jones.
Mesdames Hamersley,
Vcdy, &c. &c.

/Egysthus - - -
Orestes - . -
Pylades - - -
Areas - .
Wood-cutter . -
Soldiers - -
Clytemnwstra - -
Electra and ( Daughters of Z
Chrysothemis 1 Agamemnon S
Furies - - -

The subject of this Tragedy is so well known
to classical, and indeed to, readers in general,
that it would not be necessary to detail the plot
if there were not some deviations from the ori-
ginal story, as related by the great dramatic
poets of antiquity. Agamemnon was murdered
by his wife Clytemnestra and her paramour
11:gysthus, and they ascend the throne. her son,
Orestes, had been removed in early life by his sister
Electra,lest he should fall a victim to the adulterous
pair. Arrived at manhood, Orestes determines
to revenge the death of his father, and arrives at.
Argos with hiS friend Pylades. In order to de-
ceive lEgysthu3, and to remove his fear of the
vengeance of Orestes, they bring an urn, which
they state to contain the ashes of Orestes. They
obtain an interview with lEgysthus, who, as welt
as Clytemnestra, are sacrificed by Orestes to the
manes of his murdered father. Such is the out-
line of the fable, as related by the Grecian Drab
matists. The chief deviations from the story in
the Play of last night is the total change of the
character of Clytenznestra, who, instead of re-
joking at the death of Agamemnon, is now made
to mourn for his death, to feel deep contrition,
and to be anxious fur the safety of her son, lest
he should fall a victim to gysthsts, who consi-
ders himself as not secure on the throne while
Orestes is alive. Another deviation is in making
Orestes kill Clytemnestra by accident in the flan-,
rishing his sword as he is hastening to destroy
./Eg,ysthus. These changes from the origina l story
are more suitable to modern feelingsand taste than
the destruction of a mother by the hand of her son.
This Play was written by the late Mr. BAILEY,
a gentleman and a scholar, who died in an apo-
plectic fit, in a coach, as he was accompanying
his wife to the King's Theatre ; and the Mana-
gers of this Theatre have liberally brought it for-
ward for the advantage of the widow. The play
is well constructed, and there are some scenes
which are peculiarly effective. We have a few oh-
jections: the introduction of the Furies, instead
of the choruses, as in the ancient drama, may
serve to prepare the minds for the ensuing hor-
rors, but their second appearance is of no use to
the interest of the plot. The sword by which
Agamemnon is destroyed is kept by Electra, for

the purpose of its being the instrument of vvn-
geance on his murderer, but she delays giving it to
Orestes, and consequently exposes him to the dan-
gerof being destroyed by the former. The dialogue
in several places is too long, and rather weakens
the progress and effect of the fable. We Con..
ceive that the play should have ended with the
completion of poetical justice in the death of
lEgysthus, only that we should lose the fine
expression of contrite madness in the acting
of Mr. CHARLES KEMBLE, who, however, was
much too long in his pause before he deliver-
ed it. The language is unaffected, and the
sentiments in general are animated a►►d im-
pressive. The acting altogether was admi-
rable and effective. Mr. CHAS. KEMBLE coo►-

pletely embodied Orestes. Miss LACY dis-
tinguished herself in Electra, and BENNETT far
excelled his former efforts in lEgysthus.—
COOPER, always respectable, was fully so in
P./lades, and Mrs. BARTLEY made full as
much of Cialemnestra as the character admitted,.
A Prologue, adverting to the origin of the stage,
and referring to the melancholy fate of the
Author, written by Mr. TAYLOR, was well
spoken by Mr. COOPER; and a lively Epilogue,
touching chiefly on the Joint Stock bubbles of the
day, was delivered with great spirit by Mrs.G►Bs;.
Report assigns the latter to Mr. JAs.
There was but a scanty audience at first, but the
merit of the play and that of the acting, with a
consideration of the humane Motives on which
it was brought forward will probably render
it attractive. The scenery in which the
usual skill of GRIETE was conspicuous, and
the general costume, were appropriate and splen-
did. The play was announced for repetition by
Mr. C. KEMBLE with the general and warm as-
sent of the audience.

• BRISTOL THEATRE.-A IthOUgh MISS FOOTE'S
re-appearance on our stage on Thursday was rather unex,
pected, the-house has been well attended, particularly on Fri-
day night, the bespeak of the Clifton bachelors: the same arch-
ness, naivete, and simplicity in her style of acting, and the
same eager kindness of the audience in applying any passage
or incident that seemed to bear on her own situation are the
distinguishing features of each night's performance. She
played Maria Darlington on Saturday night with great spirit,
anti was loudly encored in the waltz song. Her reception in this
city must have been peculiarly grateful to her feelings at a
moment when the public papers have been the medium of the
most malignant calumnies upon her reputation. A para-
graph, evidently drawn up by the young man, *hose in-
comprehensible weakness or wickedness has procured him
an unenviable notoriety, or by friends to whom he has
communicated so much of recent transactions as to ena-
ble them to graft a mere semblance of truth on a tissue
of the most atrocious and wanton falsehoods, appeared in
the London papers in the early part of the week, evident-
ly with a view to detach from this persecuted female that
portion of the public sympathy that has ameliorated the cruel
situation to which his imbecility or his profligacy has reduced
her, and that forms her only dependence for future subsistence.
We deprecate the heartless villainy that can first make the
feelings of an unfortunate woman, who has been much more
sinned against than sinning, the theme of his wanton sport,
and, when he has trampled upon his victim, can pursue her in
order to deprive her of the world's esteem, and of the means of
obtaining a future subsistence. The public will read the ex-
planation published by her solicitor, Mr. Gill, and will appre-
ciate the propriety of Miss Foote's conduct in every instance,
except that of consenting, under any terms, to renew a con-
nection from which she could never promise herself the slight t
prospect of domestic happiness.—( Bristol MereurN, April 18.)

KEAN performed the part of Richard at Man-
chester on !Monday evening, amidst great con-
fusion. The opposition to the Actor was very
strong throughout ; but when • - the curtain
fell, he was called for by a considerable part of
the audience, and after saying a few words which
were inaudible, he retired with applause.

THE LONDON JOURNALS.

DAILY
Extract? from the Morning Papers, April 21,1825.

[MORNING POST.]
We shall offer no apology for again reverting
to the subject of Catholic Emancipation. The
discussion to be resumed this evening in the house
of Commons embraces two distinct yet combined
questions. The first is general, and, as one of
principle, is ,paramount to the other. The second
assumes the first to be decided ; it takes for
granted that the Catholic Claims ought in the
abstract to be conceded, and refers to the time
and the mode in which the concession ought to
be made. It is thus obvious that many who con-
tend for the expediency of Emancipation may
nevertheless reject Sir Francis Burdett's Bill on
two solid grounds—namely, that at the present
juncture it would be unwise to carry such a mea-
sure ; and that if wise or expedient to do so, still
the Hon. Baronet's Bill is in outline and detail
radically not such an one as Parliament ought
to sanction. We shall not, however, stop
here to urge the numerous arguments which
suggest , themselves as fatal to Emancipation
on these last mentioned bases. Our ob-
jection IR to the principle of all proposi-
tions for admitting Papists to a further partici-
pation in our Established Constitution. That
Constitution is now, and was intended to be im-
mutably Protestant, and what the Catholics ask
is not to share in the civil rights of which the
Constitution guarantees the exercise, for those
rights they already possess, but to alter the
Constitution itself, and become partners in the
Government of the country. It would abuse the
sense and patience of the public to recapitulate
now the old and irrefragahle heads of opposition
to such an innovation. The advocates of the Ca-

tholie Claims seem themselves to consider success

hopeless, by continuing their attacks against those
impregnable bulwarks of the State, and they have
accordingly attempted a diversion, with the view
of effecting by stratagem what they could not ac-
complish by strength. We shall therefore proceed
with our remarks upon the conclusions which we
were aware would be drawn in favour of Email=
cipation, from the recent evidence before the
Parliamentary Committees. The impression
which that evidence appears to have made on the
ardent and unsophisticated mind of Mr. Brown-
low we sincerely deplore, although we are far
from despairing of his recession to those sound
and patriotic principles of which he has hitherto
been so able and eloquent a supporter. Mr. Brown.
low's mistake has very evidently sprung from the
honest directness of his own heart and judgment,

and the benevolent reluctance of an ingenuous
man to believe in the obliquity of an artful world.
The candid and immaculate creed in which the
Hon. Member for Armagh has been bred, would
not allow him to conceive the feelings or the con-
duct of others to be spontaneously different from
his own. But in this fact is the solution of his
error. A Protestant education has imbued Mr.
Brownlow with those high-minded and honoura-
ble principles ; but does he not know that the
bane of a Popish clerical education is to inculcate
a mean and crooked duplicity of soul—a casuis-
tical compromise of interest and conscience—
and a dark and treacherous self-justification for
seeking an assumed benefit through the tangled
and thorny paths of falsehood and evasion. Is it
not plain, then, that if the straightforward pro-
bity of the Hon. Gentleman's impulses makes
him believe humanity better than it is, the gro-
velling deceit which instruction has rendered
equally natural to Papists, will make them be-
lieve humanity worse than it is. Mr. Brown-
low, therefore, should not judge of the interest:.
ed testimony of Catholics, as if it were the
disinterested testimony of Protestants. And
yet he has done so, and, on that erroneous
hypothesis, publicly recanted the political faith
of his fathers. We shall not rest, however,
with mere general accusation against the in-
tegrity of the Catholic evidence before the
Committees. Let Dr. Doyle's ethics be es.
tirnated by the practical illustratiron which his
own examination supplies—and, as to the re-
- rnaining witnesses, ex uno disce °nines. In I:,e
first place then it cannot be doubted, indepen-
dent of the Rev. Doctor's own affirmations to
that effect, that he is most heartily desirous to
make oat the best possible case in support of
Emancipation. He repeatedly says throughout
his testimony, that this measure would funda-
mentally redress all the grievances of Ireland—
and in another part he deems those grievances to
be so monstrous, that he should " rejoice at any
event which would put a term to the existing
state of things in that country." Here then is a
full admission—a fervid or almost furious declara-
tion, that Catholic Emancipation, or a good casein
support of Emancipation, was the dearest and up-
permost object with the Bishop of Kildare and
Loughlin, during his examination. Let us next see-
when thepoctor has an object to attain, the sort of
plastic conscience which he brings to the task—
the suppleness of virtue which assists all the
efforts of this popish Prelate. " The Doctor"
was interrogated on the subject of a provision
fromthe State for the Popish Priesthood, and
" on principle " be strenously opposed and
denounced such a measure. Nay, he quot-
ed Scripture shew that the shepherd should
be fed exclusively by the flock Ile tended—
that the Priest should be paid solely by those
for whom he laboured. Now, in this case,
the Docicir principle is fortified by religion ;
the positive injunctions of God are, in his opi-
nion, superadded to the obligations of moral
duty—and yet, how fare both principle and
religion, conviction and commands, when op-
posed by our Holy Divine's object ? All vanish,
evaporate, are dissipated in a breath, to make
way for a matter of expediency, to gain Eman-
cipation, Dr. Doyle explicitly avows he would
consent to the Burnish Clergy being paid by
a Protestant State, instead of by their flocks,
as enjoined its Scripture! Is it rational to
suppose, we ask, that an enlightened person
of this stamp would, in other points, stick at
trifles " to gain" his object—would he hesitate at
means, provided they secured a favourite end ?
Well, then ; would Mr. Brownlow barter reason

and religion, Judas.like, for a few pieces of sil-
ver; and, if he would not, how can be safely
judge of Dr. Doyle, or the rest of the Papists, in
any particular by himself ? How can any Mem-
ber of the House of Commons venture to sacrifice
the birth-rights of this Protestant community on
the eely answers of a set of interested Papists ?

ETHE TIMES.
The second reading of the Catholic Bill, on
Ttiesday last, opened with a circumstance curious
i❑ itself and encouraging to the friends of the
measure. Mr. Brownlow, Member for the county
of Armagh, and foremost hitherto in the ranks of
the Orange interest of Ireland, commenced the
debate by declaring himself a convert to the cause
of emancipation. II is argument was twofold-
-Ist, (what, indeed, we are astonished had ❑ot
struck the Hon. Gentleman sooner), that_ things

cannot remain as they are in Ireland ; and 2d,
that if a conciliatory system be adopted
he is now convinced of its safety, as well
as of its necessity. The latter change has been
chiefly wrought in Mr. Brownlovv's mind, as he
has stated, by the evidence offered to the
committees of Lords and Commons during the

...
few last.. weeks. Upon that evidence we-sh,all
just observe, that, it does appear to our judgment,
as a whole, to have gone to the root of many
prejudices. The Bishops declare upon oath,
that the Pope is but the executive officer of a
purely spiritual power—that his bulls are of no
avail whatever against the Canons of the Church,
against the Decrees of Councils, against the
ecclesiastical regulations and usages of - par-
ticular countries, or the prescriptive rights
of their Churches, which vary in diffe-
rent States, and even from one Province to an-
other of the same State—that as against the
allegiance due to Sovereigns, the Pope's autho-
rity is not worth a straw, and that if any demand
or attempt were made from Rome upon the minds
of the King's subjects, unfavourable to his lawful
power, the Priests would to a man be hound to
resist and preach against it—that the Pope can-
not, under any pretence whatever, levy a single
farthing from the pockets of any people in the
world, except only his proper subjects ef the (so
called, but foolishly called) patrimony of St.
Peter. And here we must be allowed. to express
our suprise that any person can now attach
any serious weight to the charge,. that the Pope
claims a right to cashier Kings, and to dispose
of their asuninions ! If such a prerogative were
real, how comes it that the Court of Rome—a
selfish Court enough, ambitious and grasping, and
persevering in its projects—has never helped
itself to any of those fine empires and king-
doms, of which it asserted (and of which it was
allowed by Papists, or the argument is worth
nothing), the positive and indefeasible domi-
-1 nion ? There stands the Pope—the ambitious,
domineering, all-powerful Pope, as he is term-
ed—of whom every kingdom where Catholicism
obtains a footing, is assumed to be held, as its
lord and master ; there he stands or sits down
for ten centuries—confining as well his insatiable
ambition, as his unbridled and acknowledged
power, within a pitiful dukedom in the centre of
Italy ; from no part of which Italy, beyond his
[-own Lilliputian territory, has he for ages receiv-
ed five shillings' worth in the way of tribute,
saving a white pony now and then from the King
of Naples, o hen his Majesty chanced to be in
the humour. This we take to be a toler-
able set-off against the alleged danger to dis-
tant Sovereigns, from the Pope's interference
with their temporal rights. But, in truth, whe-
ther Mr. Brownlow (whose change of opinion
we confess to be valuable, and his avowal of it
manly)—whether that Hon. Gentleman has been
induced to take up a more correct view of the
question from the Parliamentary evidence, or
whether Mr. Dawson, looking through a darker
glass, sees just what in conjunction with Messrs.
Peel and Goulbarn he has always seen in the cha-
racter and religion of the Catholics, we regard the
evidence as in itself of very little moment—in it-
self, we mean, apart from its iufluence upon the
public feeling. It is not the answers to interro-
gatories by half a dozen gentlemen, however in-
telligent and upright, that can affect the just im-
portance or the future bearings of a great
national concern. We hold it to be worse than
trifling with such a subject to waste the public
attention by striving to pick holes in the consis-
tency of two recitals of opinion—one designed
to unite and consolidate a popular interest, prone
of itself to fall in pieces; and the other to stand
among the most precious records of the empire,
given under the grave sanction of an oath, or the
solemn responsibility of individual reputation and
honour, in the face, of Parliament. With such
comparisons, or with the things compared, we
have little business. To us it appears that the
Catholic Qtiestion is in no degree a question
to he governed by this or that especial' creed.
We are above all, persuaded, that let the worldly
pretentions of priests and churches be what they
will, human nature and the great standing inte-
rests of political society must be the practical
rulers of mankind ; that, in fine, the minuter
diversities in modes of faith will have less
rower every day over the affairs of nations
while those expanded principles which may
be said to constitute the elements and the
outlines of all religion, will acquire a more
effective agency, and will co-operate more
harmoniously to the universal good. Common
interest is the grand argument for this great mea-
sure now before us. Differences in matters of
faith will seldom exasperate the minds of men,
when no
temporal sufferings can be traced to
them.
—,..—.

[NEW TIMES.]
Perhaps the question of the Catholic Claims
was never taken up in Parliament on fairer and
broader grounds than at present. The mass
of evidence produced before the Committees
of the two Houses on the state of Ire-
land has put the Legislature in possession of
more facts than were ever before brought to
bear on the question. We are,
however some
what surprised,
that among these facts is not to
,
be found the exact numerical proportion which
the Catholics bear to the Protestants. This pro-
portion differs very widely in different Darts
of Ireland: and it is quite surprising: to observe

how very variously it has been stated by writers'
of no mean celebrity. Dr. Hussey, formerly
Roman Catholic Bishop of Waterford, stated that
the Catholics exceeded the Protestants in the
proportion of ten to one ; the late Dr. Duigenan,
a Protestant, contended that the Protestants
were above one-third of the population of Ire-
land. Common report states the Irish Catholics
at six millions, and the Protestants at one million ;
and some recent estimates have given the relative
numbers at 4,900,000 Catholics, and 1,900,000
Protestants. It would; certainly, he highly de-
sirable that this point should be accurately deter-
mined ; and it would seem that nothing would
be easier than to determine it, for the whole po-
pulation has been numbered and found to amount
to 6,800,000. The Established Clergy could,
with ease, return the number of their flocks,
and the Protestant Dissenters would have no
difficulty in doing the same. Whatever may
be the exact proportion of •the different Com-
munions, two facts seem certain, that the Roman
Catholics are the great majority of the popu-
lation in Ireland, and that they may form a mi-
nority (perhaps equally disproportionate) in the
empire at large. The first of these considerations
affords a- motive for conciliating and tranquil-
lizing them by reasonable concession ; the second
obviates the alarm that is felt at the idea of their
ever obtaining an ascendancy in the Britisl
Empire.

EIMITISII PRESS.]
By accounts received yesterday from Madrid,
it appears that the general expectation in that
capital is, that the Duke de l'lnfantado will
certainly replace M. Ugarte in the favour of the'
King. He is with Ferdinand constantly, and his
refusal of the embassy to Paris is ascribed entirely
to his confidence in the 'success of his intrigues at
home. When the retirement of the French troops
from the Peninsula was announced to the King
by the Charge d'Affaires, Ferdinand is said to have
expressed his wish that the French Government
would grant him the use of a fleet to prevent the
landing of parties of Constitutionalists on his
coasts, and to put down the extensive system of
smuggling which is carried on to the great detri-
ment of his revenue.—The negociation respect-
ing the Loan has not yet arrived at a definitive
conclusion, with regard to the amount for
which it shall be contracted. That alone,
however, we can repeat, is • the subject of
discussion. In all other respects the terms
are settled. A. considerable difference has
always existed on the Stock Exchange in the
price of what are called the Old and New Bonds,
the latter being those which were issued by Ad-
miral Jabat, under peculiar circumstances, when
the dominion of the Cortes was confined to the
Isle of Leon. We understand, however, that no
difference will be made in the terms on which the
Bonds will be received,under the arrangements now
making for the New Loan. The disinclination of
Ferdinand to admit the New Bonds is not greater
-than that which he feels towards the Old Bonds;
in this respect he is, at least, the friend of equal
justice, if there can be any justice in cancelling
the claims of his creditors by a composition of 30
per cent.

[MORNING HERALD.]
Though we are no great admirers of the wis-
dom or utility of many of the proceedings of the
Civic Body, we are glad when they happen to
take up a subject in which they are likely to be
really useful. This, we think, is the case
with the allusion made the other day in the
Court of Common Council to the negligent at-
tendance of Commissioners of Bankrupt, at
the Court in Basinghall-street. This is an in-
convenience which has long been felt by mer-
cantile men, and by all who, in addition to their
loss by the insolvency of their debtors, have to
seek redress by attendence before most of these
Commissioner. Of the eager thirst for fees we
would say but little. The' liberal" and " learn-
ed" professions are no followers of virtue or of
science for their own sake; and as long as the
tc panis ematur" lasts, that which " makes the
mare to go," must have its Influence with every
description of rider. But surely the public have
a right to expect from these gentlemen, that if
they condescend to accept the office, they should
perform its duties, and among these that they
should be punctual hi their attendance at the
hour appointed ; and that no more than one com-
mission should be proceeded in at the same time.
None but those whose avocations have led them
to witness and experience the evil we complain
of, can form any idea of its nature and extent.
Those whom it concerns (and they are not a few)
will be glad that the Court of Common Council
have taken up the subject ; and which we hope
they will not abandon till they have
procured
redress-for so large a portion of their constituents,
and of the public, as are affected by this shame-
ful and intolerable grievance.