The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-05 00:00:00

THE WEST-RIDING BOROUGH

ELECTIONS.
We will not attempt to conceal our deep mortification
and regret that the Ten Pound Constituency of Leeds
should have failed in doing their duty at the present im-
portant crisis. '.l2ie people of England looked to them fair
example and mffouragement, and they have sent to Parlia-
ment a Tory and a bread-taxer, instead of Mr. Hume,
one of the foremost men in the popular ranks in all Eng-
land. In the last Parliament Leeds was represented by
two total repealers of the Corn-laws ;in the Parliament
to come, it will be represented by Mr. Aldam, a fixed-
duty man, and Mr. Beckett a bread-taxing monopolist.
The position of Leeds in Parliament is therefore gr.atly
altered for the worse. Even at the best it will be neu-
trt.lized, and as it were, stand unrepresented in the great
contest
.11etween Industry and Monopoly. It will pos-
sess no influ.7lc7 by its votes, over the fate of the em-
pire. It is redu:ed to Parliamentary zero ; it will be
insufficient, neuter, iu.;9ling•
"We would have some ciifficulty in accounting for the
conduct of the constituency of Leeds on this occasion,
were we not aware of the vita amount of ignorance
which prevails amongst the present electoral class, to-
gether with the empty ambition which actuates most of
them, to ape, and emulate, and make common cause with
the aristocratic and plundering classes of this country
We know also that those of them who really arc honest,
stand in a fearfully unprotected situation ; they have
powerful influences to contend against, in the shape of
bribery, intimidation, and coercion, anti all the foul•arts
of corruption. The Whigs have left the fmnehige far
too restricted, and those who exercise it by far WO un-
protected ; the consequence has been, their present do*
feat and discomfiture all over the country.
The defeat of the Whigs at Bradford is to be attri-
buted to the same causes ; and to the extraordinary
exercise of corrupt influences by the Tory party. There
has also been a want of that union between the. Whigs
and Radicals which is now absolutely necessary in order
to insure success.
At Halifax the Whigs have run into the same error,
and treated their Radical allies as if they were merely
the passive and unreflecting instruments in their hands
of securing Whig ascendency and triumph.
In the meantime the game is up. Our only move now
is, to establish Radical Reform Associations all over the
country, and organizing ourselves for the next grand
battle between the people and the aristocracy. There
will be a speedy fusion of all the popular elements of
strength, immediately on the accession to power of a
Tory and monopoly Government.—Leeds Times.

A PARLIAMENTARY FREE
TRADE PARTY.

(From the Spectator.)
Mr. Villiers showed that he understood the capabili-
ties and exigencies of the time and circumstances, when
he told, in the House of Commons, that the result of
this election could only be to send some Members to Par-
liament, who would prepare public opinion to influence
the next election in a proper way. Mr. Cobden, too,
seems, from the postscript of his Dundee letter, to en-
tertain just notions of the present condition of affairs—
" We want a few good commercial men, to form a Free-
trade party in the next Parliament." There can be now
little doubt as to which party will have the majority in
the new Parliament. But even a majority in favour of
the authors of the Budget, would not alter the case.
Free-trade and Financial Reform, are mere words in the
mouths of the leaders of both parties. Any House of
Commons we can have at present—with the present con-
stitnency, in the present temper of that constituency—
will be found utterly worthless for great legislative pur-
poses. The only use it can be put to, is to make it the
arena of discussions regarding national policy, which
will be sure to be read by all—to make it the channel for
circulating sound lessons of political economy, finance,
and national policy, throughout the country—to speak
in Parliament, and through Parliament to the people,
with the weight which attaches to the character of' a
member of the Legisture. if Mr. Cobden bring to the
aid of Mr. Villiers, in what is to him the yet untried
field of the House of Commons, the same intelligence,
energy, and uncompromising character, which have made
him out of doors the acknowledged loader of the Anti-
Corn-law movement, he may be instrumental lit gaiter,
ing around them a "Free-trade party" which will be
powerfully efficient in the political education of the
community. But, to entiblv him and his coadjutors to
effect this desirable end, they
nu at not confine their
They
wir regular attendance in their places, by the
Pariismautary labours to that esPecial queg4l,l4i. •
must, by ti
evidence they gime that_ no part of the public business
escapes mikes even a- minority
their notice, and by efforts to attain that mastery
forms which
over ParlfonentarY
powerful in the nouse, gain the confidence of Oka rpsO-
lute and judicious is
who out of doors really form the
public Poling' that is expossed by the many. Above
all, the, ,004 throw themselves yiltbout reserve upon
the
popu.Yhu, synipas: VI and identify theectstes
ever)
thing, in Free rurrkuke, with the people at urge,

• •
The mountains In Scotland have agrips the
st week been capped-with snow. The once joynns
past been capped- with snow. The once joyeps !ul
sultry 4th of ;June was truly Siberian, but a beneficial
chimp seems at hand.—Newcastie Journal.

MEMOIR. OF MR. POWEIt,
COMEDIAN.
The continued absence of the President steamer,
among the passengers by which vessel was the gifted
subject of this Memoir, having caused one universal feel-
ing of heartfelt sorrow throughout the empire, a brie;
notice may not be 'quite unacceptable at the present pe-
riod. Mr. Power, whose brilliant talents as a comedian,
And honourable character as a gentleman, made him the
idol of the public and companion of the nobles of the
Land,: was born in the town of Waterford, in the year
!798: We give this from his own statement, though it
'ias been contradicted by some. Of his family little is
known beyond the fact that his mother was an actress,
and that from his earliest years her son was attached to
the profession which in after life he so much adorned.
In the year 1813 his mother was engaged in the coin-
pany of Mr. Williams, in the town of Cardiff, in Wales.
and Master Power was also an actor in-such parts as his
age permitted. At this period an opportunity pre-
sented itself of placing our hero as- an apprentice in the
0;lioe of Mr. M'Leod, a printer in the town, which
his mother, with a praiseworthy regard for what
she considered his future interest, gladly embraced,
preferring for hint the prospect of obtaining a track
to the precarious profession of the stage. The and son consequently were then separated,
she to • pursue her theatrical engagement with Mr.
sl'Leod's company, which quitted Cardiff at the end of
the season, and he to remain in the town to learn his
trade: Though he had left the calling of an actor, tin.,
spirit of his first profession was strong within hint' and
in 1814 Mr. Masterman to whom his indentures had been
made over, consented, on the return of the company to
Cardiff, to permit him to. appear on the stage in that
town for a limited period. During his engagement he
played Romeo, Norval, Jaffier, Macbeth, and Murtoch
Delany. The three former parts, with others of the
same class, technically denominated the juvenile tragedy,
occupied his study during a considerable portion of his
riper years. Shortly after this lig quitted his employer,
and, abandoning the compositor's stick for the trage-
dian's truncheon, resumed his career as a disciple of
'rhespis, seeking in the various small towns of the prin-
cipality that practice in the various branches of his art
that so materially assisted in placing him ultimately in
the highest rank of his profession. In 1815 we find him
engaged in the-theatre, Newport, Isle of Wight, under
the management of the well-known Mr. Thornton, where
he appeared in the character of Alonzo, in the tragedy
of Pizarro. Here
_he remained during a season,
_

playing the range of character comprehended under
the term of light comedy and juvenile tragedy,
which in companies such as that of the Newport
Theatre are always undertaken by the same actor. In
1816 he joined the Canterbury circuit, then under the
management of the celebrated comedian Dowton, in the
same position as he had occupied in that of Newport.
In the towns of Canterbury, Chatham,- Rochester, and
Tunbridge-wells for two seasons he continued to per-
sonate the parts before enumerated, and became thoroughly
studied in that department of the drama. In 1817,
through the instrumentality of Mr. Sims, the only thea-
trical agent at that period, he obtained an engagement at
the Theatre Royal, Crow-street, Dublin, then under the
direction of Mr. W. Farren, and presented himself be-
fore the critical tribunal of a Dublin- audience, in the
character of Romeo, Miss O'Neil, who was then fulfill-
ing an engagement as a star, sustaining the character
Juliet on this occasion ; and in the farce of "Raising the
Wind," on the same evening, he was the Jeremy Did,.
dler. The letter is now before us in which Mr. Sims •
introdnces our hero to Mr. Frederick E. Jo;,-,es, the
patentee of the Crow-street theatre, as " ^..-young man
studied in youthful tragedy and ligti 'comedy, and
possessing a good wardrobe,' an iln,aitiable acquisition
to a young actor. His success during the first season
was not very brilliant. The manager imagined that .
tragedy was not exactly I*.is forte, and he gave no indica-
tion of the distinguished position he was afterwards de-
stined to hold. A circumstance occurred at the close of
the first season that gave a different tone to the director
of the theatre, and in some degree led to Mr. Power's'
subseqtient success. in the metropolis of England. Miss
Kelly, who had been engaged for a short time as a star,
chose for her benefit the comedy of .She Would and She
Would Not. By some chance the part of Trappanti, the
principical comic character,, was unfilled, there, being no
• actor in the theatre studied in it. Miss Kelly, however, •
was unwilling to change the play, it being by command
of the Lord Lieutenant, the Duke of Rutland.- In • this
dilemma Mr. Power was applied to, who .instantly under-
took to perfect himself in the character. The result was
most satisfactory. The audience were profuse in applause.
The manager perceived that the new actor had more ta-
lent than he was at first disposed to give him credit for,
and Miss Kelly gave him an assurance of her best recom-
mendation whenever he visited London. This promise
was afterwards kept to the letter. During the next season
he had gained considerably on the goo graces of the
Dublin audience, and the following year he was estimated
as a very available comedian. The changes incidental to
the management of a theatre induced Mr. P. to. quit Ire-
land, and, anxious for a wider field of action, he bent his
steps towards London, and having obtained an introduc-
tion to the monarch of Drury-lane, the late Robert Wil-
liam Elliston, he appeared in the season of 1821 as Tris-
tam Fickle in The Weathercock, Whether from a want of
appreciation on the part of the manager, or a refusal of
the terms proposed, he did not appear again during the
reign of Mr. Elliston ; and shortly after at the Coburg
Theatre, for the benefit of Mr. Amhirst, he acted Young
Wilding in the comedy of " The Liar." An offer from
De Camp, manager of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne thea-
' tre, . induced him to visit the North. Here he played
the Frenchmen, fops, and melodramatic parts. The, play
of "John Bull" having been chosen for a bespeak, Mr.
Amhirst, the stage-manager, cast him the part of Den-
nis Brulgruddery. This led to a serious misunderstand-
ing between Mr. Power and his friend, the manager,
the former considering himself personally insulted by
being selected for a part for which he had no qualifica-
tions, and insisted on playing Tom Shuftleton. Mr.
Amhirst, who foresaw his rising excellence in Irish
partsi remonstrated with him and succeeded in inducing
him to study the character. At the conclusion of the
country season he returned to London, and at the end
of 1821, under the management of the late Mr. Reeve,
the composer, he performed for a short time at the
Olympic, in a version of " Tom and Jerry" (adapted
by T. Dibdin), the parts of a Frenchman, a fop,
an Irishman, and a Yorkshire fox-hunter. The Easter
Monday of 1822, Mr. Power appeared as a member of
Astley's theatre under the. management of Mr. Davis,
in the part of Corinthian Tom, the piece being written
to suit the peculiar style of the Amphitheatre, intro-
ducing a mail-coach, horses, a real fox-bunt, &c. &c.• A
difference arising at the end of the second week between
Mr. Davis and himself, he instantly broke his engage-
ment 'and quitted the theatre. 'rho same year, at the
Olympic Theatre again, where he was engaged as the
stage-manager, Mr. Power obtained considerable popu-
larity in afarce written for him, called A Race for a
Wife, in which Mr. Elton sustained the other principal
character. This season he occasionally-acted an Irish
part. Mr. Russell, then lessee of the Brighton Theatre,
offered him the situation of principal actor and. stage-
manager, which was accepted. Previous to his departure
for Brighton, the lamented death of the late John Emery,
on July 24th of that year, occasioned a• benefit for his
widow and children • and the season having just termi-
nated at Covent-garden, a company was formed for the
occasion from the various theatres then open. • The play
of The Rivals, having been selected by the committee,
at the head of whom was Mr. George Robins, Mr.
Power made his first appearance before a Covent-garden
audience as Fag. Mr. C. Kemble, who :performed Cap-
tain Absolute, was much struck with his style
of acting Vie part, warmly congratulated him in
the green-:oom, and expressed a hope that lie should,
ere long, meet him in the theatre as a member of the
oorps dramatique in the usual season. The result of this
beuafit, through tht: great exertions of the Committee
and the indefatigable seal of Mr. George Robins, was
-such that a sum of nearly 4,000/. was realized for the
widow and family. Brighton was Mr. Power's next
scene of action, and here he was the representative cf
Lod Tpinket, Rugantino, Macbeth, Doricourt, Three
Fingers d Jack, cum inultiß ails, On his return to Lon.
don, Miss Kelly's recommendation procured bins au en-
gagement from Mr. Arnold at the English Opera ; and
in 1623 he made his appearance in the part of Teague,
in the "Honest Thieves ;" and Mr. Arnold's opera 'of
" Broken Promises" obtained him much fame in the par,.
of Corporal Driscol, an Irish corporal. The nuisieal
fiu'ee of "Love laughs at Locksmiths" was revived
during tioi 54'4'6,11111; and Risk was assigned to Mr. Power.
The music of this part being gam! whitt • difficult unless
the actor be a musician, caused the leader, Mr. Moun-
tain, to declare during the last rehearsal that it was ins-
possible tiy_farce could,bc played that evening, in conse-
quence °Mir, Power being so deficient in the music ,
he was, however, mistaken ill this
ratrtlou
theatre,
after at:ideare
:he,
s, then [telln
of Looney g in thepiece was produced, though with indifferent success.
Time Alt h cs
.M‘Twolter
aml Murtoch Delany, seriously urged on him the policy of
'aTimea witnessingtelir.
his Performance
applying himself exclusively to the study of Irish charac-
ters.. To this friendly suggestion, which was also in accord-
ance with the opinion of his other theatrical brethren, he
dissented, °inn:sing a doubt whether any actor could
become popular in that line of character, while the re-
collection of the late John Johnstone's excellence was so
fresh in the memory of the London playgoers. In the
winter season of 1824, under the direction of the late
Aodwell, brother to the present popular composer
and author, Mr. G, 11, Itodwpil, he joined the Adeiphi
company. and appeared in the popular hurletta of The
Young Widow. He increased in public favour in the
Character of Mandeville, Wrench playing Splash, and
Miss S. Booth the young widow Oreha. The drama of
Valmondi was next got up in a style never before wit-
nessed in a minor theatre. • The piece was written to suit
the taste of the public, who were then charmed with the
horrors of the Der Fole/Ho; school,
.and the part of
Valmondi, the hero oe the piece, was sustained with
great-effect by Mr. Power. The next summer he re-
turnpd to his former situation at the English Opevaluable
where lie continued to enjoy the reputation of a v
actor until the conclusion of time season, when an
(dm: from Mr. intrcxlacho Vollano to
the
boards of Covent-garden Theatre, as
n
The' Honeymoon, on Wednesday-, July 4, 1 806. At
e range of Irishmen
• session of Mr. R. Jones, and the whole this period the principal line of comedy was in the pos-
session
9gfuw, 01'0 swidvillY rtAaralwr
of the latter gentiewati, 11111 -1 . I
dby Charles Connor. The lamented death
• rk on Saturday, October 1,1826,
honie through Hy
"at once placed Mr. Power in his proper sphere.* His per-
rO'Toole, originally acted by Mr.
formance of Doctor de Pa
f O'Stitingline6sy, in the
Connoyi wtia MSI
followed in rapid succession. The
in time Invineibles,
£lOO Note; Pliehm 0 ,cud, Teidy the Tiler, aud O'Slash,
whole class of farce writers then discovered in him a
friend 4/r. pewer!s, that only require 4 wo,rkuag, and
of Monlits the year 1880,
ofi ispreseatiiori as a
he continued
disciple
at ocii:evipltla,creaerilaZtwatom jyplilllssehaido
lon of
at,
I the s Royal Ha ?market, Bir-
mingham, Dublin, &c. On Mr. Charles liemble resign-