The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-10 00:00:00

THE

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

(THIS DAY.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
The SPEAKER took the Chair shortly after Twelve
o'clock.

PRIVATE BUSINESS.
The Lords' amendments to the tollowing Bills were
considered and agreed to:—
Cork and Waterford Railway.
Great Malvern Improvement, Police, Sewers, Water-
works, Gas, and Markets.
The following Bills were read a third time and
passt d
Farmers' Estate Society (Ireland).l
Manchester, Buxton, Matlock, and Midland Junction
Railway.

HARWICH ELECTION.
The following NI embore, appointed to determine the
validity of the return for the borough cf Harwich, at-
tended at the table, and were sworn:—Mr. Fergus, Mr.
Kershaw, Mr. Arkwright, Mr. Deedes, and Sir H. Wil-
loughby.
ERCH ANT SEAMEN'S FUND BILL.

Mr. WILCOX presented a petition from the trustees
of the Merchant Seamen's Society at Southampton,
praying that the Merchant Seamen's Fund Bill be post-
poned until next ties%ion.
The House then went into Committee on the Bill,
Mr. Bernal in the chair.

Clauses from 1 to 14 inclusive were agreed to.
On clause 15 a short discussion arose as to the mode
of NNiudilig up these funds.
Mr. LABOUCLIERE said it was very painful for him
to at,te that the Merchant S,.amen's Funds in almost
a

,he ports in the kingdom were in a state
neatly bordering on insolvency. This was to be attri-
buted not so much to gross mismanagement as to the
vicious and incorrect system on which they were founded,
it being clear to any intelligent actuary that it was a
fslse, and not a self-supporting system, and must one day
inevitably blow up. But the final blow given to these
societies was a provision introduced into a former Bill
by Mr. Pease, no doubt with the best and most libetal
ioteivion, and inadvertently assented to by the House,
enabling the widows and orphans of sailors to have
daubs on the funds to an almost unlimited extent. The
consequence would be that in a very few years
either the rate of pensions to which sailors were
entitled would be reduced to such a degree as to be
scarcely worth raceiviug. Cr that the trustees would be
compelled to sell out a portion of their reserve tunds.
He proposed by the present Bill to sweep away the
system altogether at the smallest possible expense to the
public, reserving at the same time all the rights which
the persons having claims upon the funds now pus-
sessed.
Atter a short conversation the clause was agreed to.
The remaining clauses of the Bill were then agreed
to without discussion.
Mr. II ARDCASTLE moved the following clause:—
" Provided always, and it is hereby declared, notwith-
standing anything herein contained to the contrary, that
all moneys now invested or standing in the name or
names of a trustee or trustees for any outport, pur-
suant to and under the provisions of the Act 4 and
5 William IV., c. 52, shall from and after the
passing of this Act be laid out or disposed of
in such way and manner for the benefit of the
masters and seamen of and belonging to the port, for
and in respect of which the fund and moneys were col-
lected or contributed, as the trustees masters, and sea-
men of such outport shall, at a meeting to be called by
a notice in writing under the hands of the treasurer of
the fund, or the receiver for the port, direct, such notice
to be affixed on the outer door of the Custom House of
such port for at least ten days prior to the holding of the
said meeting, and such meeting to be held within three
months from the passing of this Act."
After a few words from Mr. J. CLAY in support of
the clause,
Mr. LABOUCHERE said the proposal of the Hon.
Member was certainly plain and simple, but was quite
as monstrous as plain. It was neither more nor less
than to devote the whole of the assets in any particular
port to the benefit of the sailors of that port, and leave
the Lund to be wound up by the public Exchequer. The
assets amounted to no less than 180,0001., and this saw
it was proposed to take without any of the liabilities ex-
isting with it. He hoped that the representatives of the
ports in that House, and the sailors themselves, would
see the injustice of such a proposal.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER thought
that, under the circumstances, the Bill proposed by the
Board of Trade was the best that could possibly be
adopted. He had agreed to charge the public with
520,0001., in order to have the fund wound up, and
more he was sure could not be expected from the Go-
vernment. He must, therefore, object to this clause,
which would have the effect of throwing an additional
burden of 180,000/. on the national Exchequer.
(LEFT SITTING.)

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.
A musical prodigy made his debitt here last even-
ing. The young Paul Julien is only ten years of
age, and already he i 3 one of the first violinists of
his day. Tne son of a French mechanic, who pos-
sessed, however, some knowledge of music, Paul
Julien in his infancy dieplayed a great
taste for musical science, and on a small
violin made for him by his father he,
at the age of seven years, wasin the habit of perform-
ing at various provincial concerts in France, where
he obtained great applause and a scanty supply of
money. After undergoing all the hardships which
attend this wandering mode of existence, the little
Paul came to Paris, where Alard heard.him and pro-
posedpHlnedomestic3r,np
gbp ei
hsairamsedatanribiauselfsfaioptcitneeuc
manufacture, sod
ena a
ntedh before
eump lo
oiatsrtteee
miserable
be
hee Conservatoire.hlad
and
commencedv
violin
nrlof
finished it he was admitted unanimously : this was ony
the 24th December, 1849, and on the 21st July,
1850, Paul Julien carried off the first priz.;
he bad seventeen competitors, two of whom
had carried off second prizes the year preceding,
and he performed on a miserable violin which he had
purchased for twelve francs. Since then his career
has been one of uninterrupted success ; his youth
and his genius have made him the universal
pet of the Parisian salons, and last evening
he made his first appearance before an Eng-
lish audience at her Majesty's Theatre. He
performed in the most perfect and brilliant
style imaginable a fantasia on airs from Linda di
Chamouni, and the contrast between the child-like
appearance of the performer and his wonderful exe-
cution formed a contrast which heightened the plea-
sure that every one felt from listening to his mar-
vellous performance. His manner, too, is most
graceful and Elegant. Paul Julien is a wonder, a
marvel even as was Mozart ; even now he takes rank
among the very first violinists of the age.

FRENCH PLAYS.
ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.
Valeria, the last new tragedy produced at the
Theatre Fran said, was performed here for the first
time last evening ; Madlle. Rachel sustaining the
two characters, or to speak more correctly, the
double character of Valeria end Lysisca. In writ-
ing this tragedy, MM. Auguste Maquet and Jules
Lacroix have managed to accomplish three things
dear to the heart of every French dramatist—they
have managed to fit Rachel exactly, and thus
to secure the representation of their play
so long as she shall remain on the
stage ; to falsify history ; and to present
as a paragon of virtue one whose name has
hitherto been a synonym for the most diAgusting
debauchery. The tragedy is neither more nor less than
an attempt to whitewash the character of the Empress
Messalina, and to represent her as the virtuous victim
of a calumny which for eighteen centuries has been
received with implicit belief. Valeria, the heroine,
is in fact no other than Messalina herself, the dignified
wife of that fou grotesque et sombre, the Emperor
Claudius, who is led by the nose alternately by the
virtuous Valeria and his sister the vicious Aggripina.
Aggripina discovers that in Rome there is existing an
abandoned courtezan, famed for the recklessness of
her profligacy, a Greek,
by name Lysisca, who bears
a most remarkable resemblance in feature, form, and
voice, to Valeria (in fact she is Valeria's sister, who
had been stolen when a child). This Lysisca is,
-hrough the medium of Narcisse, a freedman of
Aggripina, supplied with the means of indulging her
passions, is introduced into the palace where she in-
dulges in an orgy with Menester, a dancer, and
who escapes ; whilst the unfortunate
in the midst of their banquet Claudius is inteo-
iohne should betray
duced, condemning his wife to death, mistaking
for her Lysisca
as Lysisca and
ALI;
sni es
cs tae r ,
only,wh kw
inse
the secret. Valeria, in the meantime,
sthaibsbecdomlpeaset
has
fled with her son Brittanieus to Bat cc, to
join Silius, who having been condemned
for libelling her, is by her saved from death
and then becomes her lover. Be is in command of
the fleet at Baim and on her arrival with her son
proclaims Britunnicus Emperor, but on the arrival of
Cecina, who it appears had had a liason with Lysisca
at Smyrna, and who persists in identifying
Valeria with Lysisca, Silius rejects her,
notwithstanding her protestations of innocence,
and her supporters abandon her. She returns to
Rome, determined to vindicate her honour, and then
Silius discovers the truth, and offers to restore her,
when Cecina rushes in and announces that Valeria
has been put to death by the Emperor's order,
but to his surprise he sees Valeria standing before
him. He is followed by Aggripina, who, having
caused Lysisca to be put to death as Valeria, now
comes with the Emperor's edict for the execution of
the real Valeria, who, seizing a dagger from the
hand of Silius, stabs herself ; and with her last words
thus announces to Aggripina her own fate ;
"Ton fits Domitius—ce vainqueur ephen e -es
Tons fits sera Neron, tons fits tuera sa mere."
The great attraction of the piece is the appearance of
Rachel in two characters, so essentially dif-
ferent as those of Valeria and Lysisca, and whe-
ther as the dignified Empress, or the impudent,
abandoned, voluptuous Lysisca, she was equally great;
it was scarcely possible to imagine that she who as
the tender mother was watching over and soothing
her sick child, and by her exquisite pathos and ten-
derness was melting all hearts, should a Lucie

SUN,

~

LONDON,

ment after come on as the profligate, revelling,
voluptuous Lysisca, drinking and singing, and shout-
ing "Mmes.' This is one of the most extraordinary
of the performances of Mdlle. Rachel, it is unique of
its sort, and should be seen once at least by every
admirer of fine acting. The house was crowded to
suffocatim. _ .

We understand that Male. Rachel will repeat the
character of Valeria on Saturday and Monday ;
that on Wednesday next she will repeat the charac-
ter of Camille for that only time this season, and ap-
pear in a new character—that of Lydie, in Horace
et Lpdie for Mr. Mitchell's benefit; and that on Tues-
day, the 22d, she will appear in a morning perform-
ance at Willis's-rooms, and deliver passages from the
most celebrated of the French classical dramas.

THE QUARTERLIES..
THE WESTMINSTER AND FOREIGN
QUARTERLY. IVos. CIX. and XCIV.
Notwithstanding a recent change in the editorship
of this double Quarterly, there appears to be no dimi-
nution of excellence in the contents of the current
number ; on the contrary, a yet greater anxiety being
evinced to impart interest and variety to the contri-
butions. Foremost among the articles before us, both
in position and importance, is the one relating to the
"Enfranchisement of Women," a paper curious in its
character and thoroughly independent in the tone of
its argument. As may be conjectured, the review of
the question here indicated has been suggested not by
the now nearly forgotten theories of Mary Wolstone.
craft, but by the agitation lately excited by certain
enthusiasts in the United States of. America. Hence
we find the article itself introduced by reference to
the .New York Tribune for Europe. Atj the very
outset of the discussion of the subject in the West-
minster it is candidly avowed that the subjection of
the fair sex is attributable solely to a custom, and
thereupon, of course, it is earnestly maintained that
the evil complained of at once admits of remedy.
First of all, the world being governed by physical
force it came to pass clearly that the weaker sex fell
under a certain law of subordination. Wars of con-
quest, however, according to the judicious reasoning
of the reviewer, have latterly been superseded by
democratic revolutions. A new phase of society has
therefore begun to develop itself, and injustice has at
length begun to be dissipated. "We deny," says the
critic, " theyight of any portion of the species to decide
for another portion, or any individual, what is and
what is not their proper sphere." Further on, it is
insisted upon that "it is neither necessary nor just to
make imperative on women that they shall be either
mothers or nothing; or that if they have been mothers
once, they shall be nothing else during the whole
remainder of their lives." Rather coarsely we think,
but at the same time very correctly no doubt, it is
remarked that " there is no inherent reason or neces-
sity that all women should voluntarily choose to de-
vote their lives to one animal function and its con-
sequences." One pithy and emphatic observation is
deserving of remembrance : " Surely," says the West-
minster, " weak minds in weak bodies must ere long
cease to be even supposed to be either attractive or
amiable." 'I he sentence is anything but gallant in
its application to the sex, while at the same time,
fortunately enough, its truth is in a multitude of in-
stances contradicted, a fact that, we conceive, cannot
be very readily denied in an age adorned by the
genius of such a woman as Mrs. Somerville.
Further reference might be made with some
effect to the rest of the arguments comprised
in this very able contribution, but a lack
of space compels us perforce to turn our regard upon
the other papers which follow, and therefore it is
that we must content ourselves with directing the
attention of the public to the article itself, as the ex.
ponant we have recently seen in favour of a general
female enfranchisement. Additional doubts are thrown
upon clairvoyance by the writer of the paper which
follows immediately afterwards on " Electro-Biology."
An examination of it will repay the curiosity of those
who happen to be inquisitive in reference to recent
progress made in the developement of mesmerism.
Thereupon we have a generous article upon "The Ex-
tinction of Slavery," a subject which can never be
exhausted so long as a single mortal remains upon
the face of the earth, demanding the blessing of
manumission. In an interesting and well-timed
chapter on the "Industrial Exhibition," occurs the fol-
lowing admirable paragraph in illustration of the
inalienable rights of inventors, and their direct claim
upon the sympathy and assistance of the community :
" There exists in the community a considerable num-
ber of original-minded men, upon whom the onward
progress of the nation wholly depends. By the very
constitution of their minds this class of persons is the
reverse of accumulative. They discover and give con-
tinually, to all mankind, whether is philosophy, litera-
ture, art, chemistry, or mechanics. Their knowledge is
above all price, and they cannot hire it out. They
ought to be essentially a leisure class, pursuing labours
01 love, giving books and arts to the world, for which
there is no direct payment. A discoverer in optics, it is
clear, can be better employed than in becoming a manu-
facturer of spectacles. We do not want a Liebig to
' keep a farm end carters,' or a Dalton to retail soda
water or chloroform. We may talk as we please of the
duty of all men to be frugal and saving, but it is not so
frequently the want of power to save, as want of the
strong cupidity, that insists on obtaing leave to work,
that is the difficulty. A certain refuge from positive
want, giving time to work, is frequently the one thing
needful. ommor.ly they need little bodily sustena-oce,
but they need mental sympathy; the want whereof-
frequently drives them into difficulties. There is needed
a metropolitan college for these original-minded men,
where they may assemble together without trouble or
expense or loss of time, where they might mutually
benefit by each other's many attainments, and draw
around them all the intelligent men of the community
set king to become their disciples. The groves of
Academia might be revived; the poets, painters, sculp-
tors, musicians, rhetors, chemists, and mechanics might
thercia walk and lecture. bocratea and Plato might re-
appear."
Speaking of the Crystal Palace, the writer insists
that its construction is traceable in a very great de-
gree to the advances already made by our national
railways.

" For," says he, " without railways, the uses of iron
and glass in buildings had not been in such a state of
progress; their manufacturers, without the large demand,
could not have constructed the means of supply. With-
out railways, the mass of objects would scarcely have '
been transported to the scene of exhibition; and without
railways, the mass of the world's denizens could not
have been collected together to commence the era of
human brotherhood, to show practically that God hath
made ail men of one blood,'—to show the remarkable
tact, that whilst almost all Europe is ruled, and kings
and princes protected by soldiery, here in England the
love of order practically suffices.
It might have been added that without railways the
mere notion of the enterprise would have probably
never entered into the Prince Consort's imagination.
There is one capital sentence in behalf of the princi-
ple of humanity a little further on in this same con-
, tribution ; we mean where it is said that, " Lead I
don't drive," is the cry of all nature, " from the ex-
periment of the carrot•persuaded donkey, down to
the atmospheric railway, wherein the drawing out of
the air, and not forcing it in, is the efficacious method."
Altogether,' the article here quoted is singularly
clever and very ingeniously elaborated. Next to this
we have a vigorous protest against the management,"
or rather mismanagement, of the " Royal Academy.
Among other tokens of this, we are rejoiced to
see mentioned in the Westminster the circumstance
that Danby, incontestably one of the most illustrious
artists of our generation is still—in the autumn of his
life—merely an associate. The fact of his not having
been long since named R.A. is disgraceful—and we
say this deliberately, we, who have no knowledge of
Mr. Danby whatever, having not the remotest notion
even of his personal appearance. An ethical treatise
on "The Creed of Christendom," is followed by poli-
tical papers on "Organic Reform" and "Explanations
of Education." Such are the contents of the West-
minster, and its supplementary Foreign Quarterly
is mainly composed of criticisms on M. Romien's
" Spectre Rouge," on M. Pretre's, " Souvenir d' un
Voyage dans la Tartaire, &c.," and on F. W. Bar-
' thold's " Geschichte der Deutschen Stadte and des
Deutschen Burgerthums." These rather elaborate
I reviews are succeeded again by minor notices, critical
• and miscellaneous.

THE SELF-ACCUSED MURDERER AT MANCHESTER.
—A youth from Dublin, named Eugene Keenan, gave him-
self up to the county police at Manchester as the murderer of
a fellow-clerk in the Government Valuation Office at Dublin,
by mixing oxalic acid in his porter, and has been proved to be
insane. He had exhibited symptoms of madness for upwards of
three months past. It appears that, in consequence of his state-
ment, the bedy of his late fellow-clerk, Conellan, had been
exhumed, but no trace of poison was discovered. The imme-
diate cause of death had been a rupture of the aorta. He
was given up to his father at Manchester on Saturday last.
SIR FRANCIS SIMPKINSON, KllT.—During yester-
day the bell of Lincoln's Inn Chapel tolled for about an hour,
in consequence of the death of Sir Francis Simpkinson, Knt.,
one of her Majesty's counsel. The Learned Gentleman for-
merly enjoyed an extensive practice in the tithe causes, which
before the Act of 1841 were heard on the Equity side of the
Exchequer. He was not latterly much before the courts of
equity, but was constant in his attendance upon his duties
as a bencher of Lincoln's Inn. Sir Francis was highly es-
teemed for his kindliness of disposition, his uniform vivacity,
and for his classical attainments. He was very partial to
ecclesiastical
nhT:
i 1151
13i
books
otookry .
s_exhibit andTo wt hne
as
el:inNosd'u,ot
slf
attyhi tefhoers .
the study of antiquarian lore, especially in connexion with
csao3lArs:telV)RoEtt five years, in the various p
apaedrls,eof r sarsaparillastii he I mn at
thene
d,
lying,
States of 800,000 dollars. He saysdfor six months he cut off
all his advertisements, to see it his medicines would not go
on their merits, just as well as by advertising. He lost 30,000
dollars by it. Sales dwindled right down to nothing, for his
competiwrs seeing him drop off, they went on advertising
heavily, and got the start of him.— Great Western, American
Paper.
LICENSED DISTILLERS.—According to a return to
the House of Commons, printed on Wednesday, there were
11 distillers in England allowed to send out spirits before the
dy
1a p2s
12s
oi Tiblee
highest
aet uaamlloss toof
dt hu et i
erse voenu user,
spirits
owing at any one time by the distillers to whom credit was
given was 95,3364 165. 2d.