The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-15 00:00:00

LINDoN, MONP,XY-, DECMIBER 15, 1856

General Prr,ReE has delivered another message
to Congress as President--positively his last ap-
pearance in that character on any political stage,
or, considering the locality, we should say "plat-
form." He.uses the power conferred on him by
the Constitution with an unsparing hand—striv-
ing to the beat of his al)ility to elevate the party
by whom he Was repudiated without any scruple
as to the facts of the case. Bit, unfortunately,
the "glory has departed from his house." It is
the tendency of To„ •kl ,
au to look chiefly to the
rising sun. Political gratitude has been very ac
curately defined to consist ~
of • a lively sense of
favours to come," and our transatlantic brethren
general rule. He is no
form no exception to the
more thought of than a Lord Mayor of London on
the eve of the fatal 9th of Nov., when his last
given, the turtle
banquet has beenduly digested,
and the fumes of the last champagne and curious
old wines completely evaporated. A single
twaddling be tolerated,
speech may but that is
all ; while every hint from his successor will be
he most flattering

consideration.
He has, however, remained " faithful to the
end." He speaks of the late Presidential election
as "the explicit and sole act of the popular will,
the sole sovereign authority of the Union." For
hie own purposes he chooses to ignore the powerful,
although unconstitutional, influences that have
been brought into operation, and to disregard
the unquestionable fact that, notwithstanding all
these notorious transactions, Colonel FRB3IONT,
the Republican "standard-bearer," had a very
considerable majority over the successful candidate,
despite the FILLMORE decision in his favour ;
addin,"lt is impossible to misapprehend the great
principle which the votes of the people have sanc-
tioned and sustained. They have asserted the
constitutional equality of the States, and of the
citizens, in whatever region they dwell, or
wherever they received their birth ; and they
have proclaimed their determination to maintain
the rights of all the different sections of the
Union !"

Now, with all deference to Mr. PIERCE, this is
precisely what has not been accomplished. Were
it so, the vote of a Northern freeman would be
equivalent to that of a Southern slaveowner ! But
such has not been the case—or FREMONT, who
received the votes of the absolute majority,
would be " the coming man"—the future Presi-
dent, to have directed and controlled the affairs of the
Republic for the next Presidential term of four

years. He, however, takes a very one-sided
view, regarding matters with coloured glasses,

which have been framed in accordance with an
exclusively Southern aspect. Like NELSON, when
the signal of recall was displayed, the telescope
when directed northwards wa3 placed to the
damaged eye—while to the opposite point of the
compass every appearance was minutely in-
spected.

He also speaks of the People having " empha-
tically condemned the idea of organising in the
United States any mere geographical parties."
Is he oblivious of the fact that every Southern
vote was given to BUCHANAN, and that it was to
the differences of the Northerns that the new
President is indebted for his election ? It was
the favoured district that recognised the " Geo-
graphical" distinction, and had the Freesoilers
been similarly united, the Planters would not
have had a chance, despite their well-disciplined
organisation. Had he directed his attention to
the other side of the picture, he might much mere
graphically have depicted the formidable conse-
quences of such an " organisation." But, while
dwelling forcibly on the Northern " mote," he is
apparently insensible of the beam that obstructs
the Southern vision.
But he does not even rest there. He himself
enters into the " geographical" point with a keen
gusto, making it completely his own. He feelingly
dwells on Southern wrongs (!), or what he is
pleased to term " the long series of aggressions
against the rights of one-half the States-Ist, In
reference to negro emanuipation ; 2d, the proceed-
ings relative to the extradition of fugitive slaves ;
and 3d, the proceedings relative to the organisa-
tion of the territorial Government. On this latter
point he rides off on the Kansas difficulty, vindi-
cating so far as possible his own partiality on that
interesting subject. This, however, will scarcely
bear the test of unprejudiced examination to
which it may be safely left.
The other matters referred to are of compara-
tively trivial importance. Financial affairs are
stated to be in a satisfactory condition. The
Central American difficulty has been happily got
rid of, so far as Great Britain is concerned. He
should indeed have been fastidious, if discon-
tented with the concessions already made. But
there is a little cloud displayed in reference to the
Sound Dues that may lead to a future tempest in
the political atmosphere. On the whole the Mes-
sage is what might have been anticipated, consi-
dering the antecedents of the outgoing Presi-
dent. He does all ho can for his party, but
fortunately on the present occasion the power is
by no means equal to the will. It is a display of
.petty spites and impotent malevolence.

Whatever advantages may attend the possession
of duplicate copies of any given work of literature,
it would be difficult, we imagine, to point out any
in having two streets with but one name between
them. On the other hand, the disadvantages of
such possession are so obvious and so great that
the meat ordinary understanding must readily
perceive them, and concur in the propriety of
greater liberality of nomenclature, and consequently
variety in our streets. You have business to tran-
sact with some one in George-street—naturally
you enquire where George-street is, and having
the locality pointed out, and being provided with
the required number, you set about your task as
the easiest in the world. So much time you
allot in your arrangements for the interview, and
any possible disturbance of these arrangements is
probably the last thing in your thoughts. You
' arrive at the number in the street pointed
out to you, and to your chagrin, no such
person is to be mat- with. ~ lu the course of
inquiry it is suggested that there is another
street bearing the same name, and probably you
will find him there. Off you start, and after a
mile or more walking you reach the given number
in George-street No. 2. To your intense sur-
prise the individual you are in search of is not to
be found there either. To add to your provoca
tion, if not to your bewilderment, you are informed
the George-street you want is probably at some
distance from either of the streets you have been
beguiled into visiting. Who shall picture your
indignation if on reaching George street No. 3 you
are as much at a nonplus as ever, and ascertain
of streets bearing the time-honoured name of the
champion of England there are not less than
sixty. You have wearied yourself and spent
your valuable time so far in vain, and the chances
are greatly iu favour of your giving up your task
as hopeless, and with it all intention of prose-
cuting a business transaction which might have
turned out profitable to both parties had it been
carried out, as it would have been but for this
unexpected multiplication of George-streets.
Again—imagine a country cousin, confident
in the possession of your address, on arriving at a
late hour at the railway terminus being informed
there are a dozen streets of the same name as that
ho seeks fur—how painful must be his perplexity ;
if a female, her position under these circumstances
would be such that the very porters themselves
would pity her ! Again, imagine a letter ad-
dressed to an individual residing in a duplicate
street. The chances are greatly in favour of its be-
ing carried to the wrong street, in which case it
will be carried bask to the distributing office, and
much delay and needless labour and loss of time
will be the consequence. Possibly there may be
an individual of the same name in the street the
letter is first carried to, in which case he may in-
advertently open it,, and thereby become ac-
quainted with circumstances of a private and con-
fidential nature most unpleasant to have revealed.
It is all very well to say more precise information
should have been sought for—these are events
which will happen under such arrangements, and
the obvious course is to have them altered. Were
it only for the sake of the authorities at the Post-
office, whose efforts to facilitate rapid and certain
communication are most praiseworthy, this course
cannot anywhere be too soon adopted. Well, in
the metropolis alone—the evil we know to have
existed elsewhere—there are upwards of sixty
George streets, and no fewer of each known as
Charles,
John, King, Queen, Church, New,
1 William, Mgt), Union, North, Duke, James,
York street ;
while the same fact is predicable of
Park and York
places. What an infinity of con-
fusion, annoyance, waste
of valuable time, and
varied injury
to individuals, does not this revela-
tion suggest ! The
wonder is that this state of
things has been allowed to continue so long as it
attentionNc4 '
when
to a t
the
e
head office, calledhas. of Years
go
the ago Viscount Canm
Post-office,
evil, and now we find his present able successor
thing. Surely this time the
rdeocionmgmtehnedastaionae nof the Post-office will be attended
1 to. So far the Me tropolitan Board of Works
manifests an inclination to do something, if it be
only to get rid of duplicate names of streets in
the same districts. More, perhaps, is not to be
looked for at its hands, but there should be DO
difficulty about this—the Board possessing ample
powers to effect the required change. Unfortu-
nately, between talking about a thing and doing
it, there is a wide interval—and no public body
has stretched that interval further than the Board
—but having done nothing, and the present task

being easy, weincline to thehope that the Board will
commence doing something with the undertaking
of this necessary work. As to the msthetical por:
tion of the task, it is to be hoped some enlightened
ADAM will be found to supply the Board with new
names, which will neither offend the ear by the
want of euphony, nor the understanding by con-
veying the notion of flunkeyism or servility.

MR. AND MRS. T. GERMAN REED,

AT THE GALLERY OF ILLESTRATION.

We enjoyed the privilege on Saturday evening
of attending at the above Gallery, among a select
circle, to witness the private performance of Mr.
and Mrs. German Reed in their new and very
sparkling Entertainment. An entertainment which
will be publicly inaugurated this evening—and
which, we doubt not for one moment, will rival its
predecessor in popularity and success, if it does
not actually eclipse it altogether by at once ex-
tending and enhancing the reputation of the two
artistes, artistes as lively and amusing as they are
versatile and indefatigable. The scheme of the
new Entertainment is soon told. It resembles in
some measure the old and laughable stage-equivoque
—known far and wide as "TheManagerin Distress.'i
That capital bit of affected reality so bewildering
to every one not " up" to the secret at the first
moment—bringing the Manager apologetically to
the footlights—arousing the indignation of an
irascible gentleman in the Pit—kindling the ire
of another irascible gentleman in the Boxes—and
waking up at last the dormant wrath of a third
still-more-irascible " gentleman" (in his shirt-
sleeves) up in the Top Gallery ! Until the House
rings with their wrangling voices—and there is
a notion at last among the uninitiated part of
the audience that the Police will have to be
called in to put a stop to the disturbance. When—
lo, and behold ! an explanatory whisper somehow
gets abroad ! People begin to look at one an-
other with a gradually dawning consciousness of
having been "played upon," or "Sold," or
" Roasted," or " Hocussed," or whatever else you
may like to call it ! Those who have been all
the while laughing in their sleeves—now fairly
laugh outright ! And the jest comes to an end,
at last, in the midst of very general hilarity with
the edairicssement that the Abusers of Mr. Mana-
ger are after all really and truly among the Stars
of his Company—that the gentleman in the Pit
is Mr. So-and-So, the Light Comedian ; that
the gentleman in the boxes, is Mr. What-d'ye-
call-em, the Tragedian ; and that the gentleman
(in his shirt sleeves) up in the three-penny
gallery, is Mr. Thinggummee, who sang the comic
song just now (in a red wig), and danced the
frog-dance with the lady's-maid at the tail-end
of the interlude ! Well, the old old joke of
" The Manager in Distress," it seems, has
furnished a capital notion of a new entertain-
ment to Mr. and Mrs. German Reed. The
last mentioned—better known by her familiar
name as Miss Priscilla Horton, or, best of all,
indeed by the mere initial of it as Miss P. Horton
—after a moment's pause, on the drawing up of
the curtain, suddenly appears upon the stage
or platform (the said stage or platform being de-
corated, as usual, after the fashion of an elegant,
gilded, armolu'd buhl-adorned apartment), with
an appearance of considerable "flurry," "worry,"
" hurry,'' and general puzzlement. The Murder
comes out in a minute or two through divers
gasps of apology—Mrs. Reed incoherently
hinting to her audience her extreme regret
that her husband's unexpected non-appearance
upon the scene prevents the forth-corning of their
newly projected entertainment—" The Lady of
Lucerne." In the midst of these stammered ex-
planations, on comes Mr. Reed, to be dragged
into them, as it were, neck-and-heels, in due
course, to his apparent bewilderment ! Mutual
explanations of another kind then take place
before the footlights as to the cause of
this general want of punctuality—when the
lady annodnces to her astonished lord the
magnificent proposal held out to them both by
some new Gye or Lumley, Bunn or Barnum—
tempting them with a promise of 60,0001. (and
all expenses paid) to a world-wide tour like that
recently made by Miss Catherine Hayes, here,
there, and everywhere ! A young-lady-Ward is
the only incumbrance calculated in any way to
preclude them from at once snapping at the pro-
position. With a view to the ridding them-
selves of which incumbrance, Mrs. Ger-
man Reed, it then appears, has inserted an
advertisement, in that day's Times, for a Gover-
ness. Having explained which preliminaries
with delightful volubility, and handed to her still
rather bewildered mate a copy of the paper con-
taining her advertisement—Mrs. German Reed
hastens away to the City in the hope of com-
pleting her negotiations with the aforesaid
G. L. B. Barnum, Esq., leaving Mr. German
Reed, Times in hand, seated before the open
piano, with a look of comic surprise in his eyes—
to await the arrival, there and then, of the pro-
bable candidates for the office of Gouvernante.
There is the " cue" of the whole Piece ! Au
obvious " cue" enough. Mrs. German Reed
that is—Miss P. Horton that WAS—appearing, of
course, anew upon the scene in all sorts of novel
disguises as the applicants for the filling up of the
" vacant-place " advertised. A Proteus in Petti-
coats ! A Chamelion in Crinoline ! A Female

Woodin ! Anyhow you may like to express it, so
as to afford the most vivid notion conceivable of a
series of total and rapid transformations. Mea-
-1 sant, charming Mrs. German Reed, no longer—
our artiste, steps'forth from behind the side-scenes
entirely and almost distressingly "transmogri-
fied." Dowdyfied acidulated and prag-
matical, as one Miss Lucretia Mint, a drab-
dressed spinster, with a poke bonnet and a
green veil, and the reddest imaginable tip to the
leanest possible nose ! Altogether spiteful, waspish,
and in every way, as Dogberry hath it, " very
tolerable and not to be endured." Another while,
Mrs. German Reed is hocus-poeus'd before the
footlights, in the rather more portly and decidedly
more agreeable, though at the same time be it
said, the horribly vulgarised....itawdry—free-and-
easy character of Mrs. Carrickfergus O'Connelly.
Speaking with a brogue of preternatural breadth !
Clad in chintz of the very loudest pattern ! Help-
ing herself to wine, to a chair, to anything and
everything, with a relish of delightful self-
possession ! And yet after all quitting the scene
when she finds she has altogether failei in win-
ning from Mr. Reed the covetted place of
governess (for her daughter) with a snap of the
fingers and a general insolence of demeanour
worthy to the full, we might say, either of Bil-
lingsgate or of Donnybrook 1 Afterwards, on
cometh—sweepingly, sailingly, a walking balloon
of petticoats, or rather it should be said a veritable
moving parachute in crinoline—Claudine Delacour,
in the Extreme (literally) of the Fashion ! Scarcely
able to squeeze in at the doorway ! Unable to
find room for herself in an ordinary chair ! En-
sconcing herself at last upon an ample settee, and
hiding it entirely by the sweep of her portentous
apparel ! Claudine Delacour, who is up to every-
thing—makes herself perfectly at home with
everybody—has been, in a manner so to speak,
everywhere ! "Been up Monte Rosa? Thought
you hadn't—l have !" " Climbed to the top of
the Great Pyramid, before breakfast ? Thought
you hadn't—/ have 1" " Gone down in a
diving-bell 7 Thought you hadn't—l have !"
And so on, in regard to all sorts of cur-
prising situations ! At last she too goes off
in spite of the narrow doorways—sweeping away
with her, as she goes, a gold watch and a feW
other trifles of that kind—proving herself, in point
of fact, a Prig, both in her proceedings and-in her
deportment! Yet another adventurer (husband,
of the last-mentioned) is presented to view a
few moments afterwards by Mrs. German Reed,
under the extraordinary half-length disguise of
One Al. Le Viscomte Fanfaronnade—voluble in
French-English as we might fancy M. de Florae
would be if suddenly changed into a sort of in-
dignant demirep of a Prince de Moncontour !
After the withdrawal of which same M. Le Vis-

corate de Fanfaronnade re-appears upon
the scene Mrs. German Reed herself,