The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-08 00:00:00

Of the generosity of Madame Catalani's disposition many
instances are remembered. When she performed for the
benefit of musicians, she frequently returned the whole, or a
large portion of the sum for which she was engaged; and she
often acted in the same way towards public charities. When a
great musical performance took place for the benefit of West-
minster Hospital, in 1821, she transmitted to the Committee
the result of her own concert, amounting to about 300/.
Kelly, in his " Reminiscences," writes thus charmingly of her
goodness and affability :—" I could relate numberless traits of
her goodness ; no woman was ever more charitable or kind-
hearted, and as for the quality of her mind, I never knew
more perfect child of nature. At Bangor she heard the
Welsh harp for the first time. The old blind harper of the
house was in the kitchen ; thither she went, and seemed de-
lighted with the wild and plaintive music which he played.
But when he struck up a Welsh jig, she started up before all
the servants in tilt kitchen; and danced as if she were wild.
I thought she never would have ceased. At length, however,
she finished ; and on quitting the kitchen gave the harper two
guineas."
Catalani was almost entirely uneducated, even in music.
Her want of literary attainments, joined to her vivacity in
conversation, sometimes produced ludicrous scenes. When at
the Court of Weimar she was placed, at a dinner party, by the
side of Goethe, as a mark of respect to her on the part of her
Royal host. The lady knew nothing of Goethe, but, being
struck by his majestic appearance, and the great attention of
which he was the object, she inquired of the gentleman on the
other side what was his name. " The celebrated Goethe,
Madame," was the answer. "Pray on what instrument does
he play ?" was the next question. "He is no performer,
Madame—he is the author of Werter.' " " 0 yes, yes, I re-
member," said Catalani, and turning to the venerable poet,
she addressed him, " Ala, Sir, what an admirer lam of
Werter !' " A low bow was the acknowledgment for so flat-
tering a compliment. " I never," continued the lively lady,
" I never read anything half so laughable in my life. What a
capital farce it is, Sir !" " Madame," said the poet, looking
aghast, " the Sorrows of Werter ' a farce ?" " 0, yes, never
was anything so exquisitely ridiculous !" rejoined Catalani,
laughing heartily as she enjoyed the remembrance. And it
turned out that she had been talking all the while of a ridicu-
lous parody of " Werter," which had been performed at one of
the minor theatres of Paris, and in which the sentimentality
of Goethe's tale had been unmercifully ridiculed. The poet
did not get over his mortification the whole evening; and the
fair singer's credit at the Court of Weimar was sadly impaired
by this display of her ignorance of the illustrious Goethe and.
the " Sorrows of Werter."

THE NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE

PRETENDED FRAUDS.

There are few of our commercial readers, and still
fewer in the manufacturing districts of Yorkshire and
Lancashire, who will not remember that immense sei-
zures of British manufactures (principally woollens)
have been made in the New York Custom-house, during
the last two or three years, on the alleged ground of
attempts on the part of the importers to defraud the
American Government by false statements of their
value and quality. These seizures have been in the
whole to an immense amount, and the effect of them
has been to produce an unfavourable impression in the
United States, with regard to the character and con-
duct of the British merchants and manufacturers. It
now appears, however, from the evidence given at an
investigation which has been going on for some in New
York, before Governor Poindexter and the other members
of a Commission appointed to inquire into certain al-
leged frauds in the custom-house in that city, that
most of these charges were founded in falsehood. The
whole of the evidence has not yet been published ; but
it will be seen from the following statement, signed by
the three principal appraisers to the Custom-house at
New York, that no mis-description of goods has been
practised by British importers of woollen goods, and
that the charge of false valuation was made by persons
who were not the legal appraisers of the Custom-house,
and whose valuations they pronounce to be false. The
following is the Report of the legal appraisers of the
Custom-house on this matter :

To the Hon. the Investigating Commissioners, now
sitting at the City Hotel.
Gentlemen,—The undersigned, late principal ap-
praisers of the Customs, for the port and district of
New York, beg leave to submit the following Report,
and respectfully solicit that it may be considered as a
part of their testimony, viz. :
From lone and careful observations and examinations
of merchandize at the Custom-house, they are fully satis-
fied that there have been no frauds of any consequence
practised on the revenue in the under-valuation of cloth
and cassimeres at their entry.
Because there has been in all English fabrics of that
kind a great uniformity in value, on the invoice prices,
when of similar quality, whether imported by American
or foreign merchants.
Because most of the woollens, particularly the mid-
dling and lower qualities, have not been subjected to
duties according to invoice value ; but have in most cases
been subjected •to increased duties through prejudice,
caprice, or false valuation by those acting as appraisers,
who were not the legal appraisersin the New York Cus-
tom-house.

Because there has been no motive to undervalue the
goods, on invoice, since it was not taken as the criterion
of value on which the, duties were to be computed, and
consequently the merchant on the other side of the water,
could not consider his invoice as a guide to the duties to
be unposed here.
haveßecausecomplaints
neither in our official capacity, or otherwise,
ever been made of any instances of sus-
, petted undervaluation, either by importers, or by per-
sons engaged in
'
the manufacture of domestic goods, and
had there been anysuch undervaluation, the vigilance of
rivalry and prom
Ptangs of interest would have made the
facts known.
Because in the
sales of cloths and cassimeres, when
• they have been made
after seizures, by consent of parties
and without prejudice,theylarge , evenandwhen made under the most
voice cost and charges,have rarely brought the in-
favourable circumstances
cases they have not brought to exceed
in a
t wmo a_ jt
ho ri
rdi tys o
off
thethe
Custom-house valuation.
That there were frauds by smuggling committed dur-
ing the last term of Swartwout's incumbency
can-
not be a doubt ; but these were brought
ab there
colu-
sion of officers of the Customs with certaiuut
certain importers,
and whether by undervaluation or otherwise,
the under-
signed not having seen the goods, are unable to say.
We have confined these remarks to cloths and
cass i
meres solely, because no allegations of fraudsi n ;
other descriptions of merchandize or manufactures have
ever been made by .the American manufacturers to our
knowledge ; but it is due to the public to state, and we
do it with great deference and respect, that among the
numerous cases of evasions and frauds that came under
our observation, when acting as appraisers of the Cus-
toms, whether by false invoices or undervaluation, or
otherwise, much the greatest proportion, both in num-
bers and amount, were others than those in which woo'
was a component part.
(Signed)

JEROMUS JOHNSON,
A. B. VANDERPOOL,
A. B. MEAD.

Nothing more thoroughly infamous than this has
ever come before the public, and we do trust that the
severest punishment will be inflicted on all the parties
concerned in this vile conspiracy against the property
and characters of the manufacturers and merchants of
England.—Liverpool Times.

- -
HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.—OR Tuesday
night Madame Garcia Viardot appeared here for the
first time (as announced by the bills) during this 'sea-
son, and in La Cenerentola. She gave with great sim-
plicity and expression the ballad-fragment " Una volta,"
&c., and afterwards in the exquisite duet with Rubini,
" Un soave," &c., acquitted herself with a delicacy and
finish of execution that, together with similar merit on
his part, drew from the house "a rapturous encore.
.In
her concluding " Non pin mesta," the perfect stillness
of a crowded. audience olf?,red to'her the most.unequivo-
cal evidence of her success over bath its judgment and
feeling.