The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-08 00:00:00

Tne Irish Government proposed to grant them a retiz ed
allowance of 1501. a year each. The Treasury agreed as re-
garded the other professors, but suggested that Mr. Young
the professor of mathematics, was eligible for a situation
in the Queen's College. It was found that there was no
vacancy for him ; but in drawing up the minute far his
allowance 100/. was inserted by mistake for 1501. A few
weeks ago he (Mr. Wilson) had his attention drawn to a
memorial from Mr. Young, and on looking over the papershe
found that a mistake hid been committed. He hoped the
house would now remedy that mistake, as there was no
doubt Mr. Young had been unfairly treated. (Hear.)
Mr. CROSSLEY withdrew his amendment, as Mr. Young
Pas a mathematical and not a theological professor.
Mr. SPOONER moved to reduce the vote by the sum of
3004., the allowance to the two professors of divinity of the
non-subscribing association. He did so because ;t had been
sdmitted that the doctrines taught by these professors were
oppoiled to the principles of Christianity.
Mr. HADFIELD had intended to move the disall•w-
ante of these salaries, not on the ground stated by the hon.
member for Warwickshire, but because he objected to pay
the professor of any denomination.
Air. KIRK did not hold the opinions of these professors,
but he thought it great injustice to refuse their small al-
lowance, after the votes for other denominations.
The committee then divided—
For the amendment . . 49
•

Against it ........................... ......... 83— 46
Mr. CFIBETHAM moved to reduce the vote by 250/.,
allowed for incidental expenses of the General Assembly's
college at Belfast. He protested against the doctrine of the
'hon. member for Warwickshire that any man had a right
to set up his own religions opinions in that house ; but he
opposed the veto because ho (lid not see why the General
. Assembly should ask for public money when so many
other denominations in the three kingdoms supported
their own seminaries.

Mr. WILSON said this vote was an equivalent for the
salary of one professorship, which had been discontinued.
After a few words from Mr. HADFIELD and Mr. KIRK,
The committee divided—
For the amendment
Against it
The vote was then agreed to
On the question that 25,6431. be voted to defray the
fittings and buildings of the British Museum,
Mr. A. PELLATT complained that the estimates exhi-
bited no contrast '.vith those of former years, but he could
inform the house that a sum of 100,0001. was voted in 1814,
and 27,0001. in 1855. He highly approved of such institu!
tiona as the British Museum, and was glad to see that con-
-I,:iderable improvements were going on for the accommoda-
tion of the public. There was one matter, however, that
he had to find fault with, and that was the number of
&vs in the week that the British Museum was closed to
th e public.
Mr. WILSON said .there was another vote connected
with the' British Museum, and when that vote was pro-
posed would be the fitting time for discussing the points
rtised by the hon. member.

▪ 36
▪ 108-72

Mr. JAMES M'Gr'REGOR thought parts, though not
the *hole, of the Museum, might be thrown open to the
&Vie every day in the week.
Mr. GLADSTONE sail it was only right that he should
state, on behalf of the officers of the British Museum, that
the item of printed books was only a sum taken on account,
and they would have to come agaia for another vote on the
slime account.
The vote was then agree/ to.

NATIONAL GALLERY.
•On the vote of 17,639/. for the expenses of the Nationa'
Gallery,

Mr. OT WAY rose to move that the vote be reduced by
6501. The reasons which induced him to do so were, be-
e-muse he believed, first, that the appointments to the post
of director and travelling agent were bad ; and, secondly,
that'the sum of money was not only unnecessary, but po-
sitively unnecessary. As regarded the two gentlemen who
keldthose appointments, he had no personal acquaintance
with.thetn. His only knowledge of them was founded
-upon the manner in which they had discharged their duties,
and leis only motive in opposing the present vote was, that
he firmly believed that their appointments to the positions
which they occupied was prejudicial to the public service.
In the year 1353 the administration of the affairs of the
National Gallery had given rise to much conversation, and a
committee of that house was appointed to inquire into the
whole subject. Subsequently to the report of that committee
the constitution of the National Gallery was altered, and
in a Treasury minute, dated March 27, 1855, the following
passage occurred :—" My lords propose to appoint a direr.
tor of the. National Gallery, with a Salary of 1,000/. per
annum, such appointment to be for a term of five years,
but the director to be eligible for reappointment, which
appointment, however, may be at any time revoked by the
Treasury. My lords consider it a fortunate circumstance
that-they are able to select for the first appointment to this
important office a gentleman of such high attainments as Sir
C. Eastlake, who is president of the Royal Academy, and
has shown qualifications of the highest order for the office."
Now, to that statement he took exception, and he could
show to the committee that the entire press of the country,
and hot only the newspaper press, but periodicals to which
gentlemen on the Treasury bench had been contributors,
entirely disagreed as to the justice of it, and the opinion of
the press was confirmed by that of persons* holding high
p )sitions in the profession, and by di tinguished amateurs ;
and, indeed, he should be able to condemn Sir C. Eastlake
out of hie own mouth. In the Daily Sews of Feb. 6, 1856,
it was stated,—" In spite t.f the many unpleasant matters
which have occurred in connection with the National
Gallery, we know of no incident of the kind of so
p tiefnl a nature as that which the selection of the ` Ado-
ration of the Magi' presents. If Sir C. Eastlake be so dull
as to suppose this to he a fit picture to place in our na-
tional eolle&ion, let him hasten to the gallery, and learn
in the countenances, gestures, and remarks of the visitors
to the gallery the lesson be stands so much in need of."
The Times, in a leading article of Jan 7, 1850, stated—
" Mr. (Sir C.) Eastlake is, we think, rather unfortn-
netely selected as a representative of picteriel art." Tice
Slim stated— " The Adoration of the Magi' is a huge
canvass filled with as little regard as possible to colour,
•or drawing, or composition. And for this, for this
thing, we are coolly informed that 2,0)01., in round num-
bers, has been paid out ef the public purse, in obedience
to the advice of Sir C. Eastlake, President of the Royal
Academy—A truly wretched evidence of evil taste, a
blender that ought to preclude him henceforth from the
possibility of squandering again the public money." Si-
milar articles had appeared in the Advertiser, the elfoeninee
Poet, the Globe, the Atlas,.Beles Weefdy Messenger, the
A ateet(eunt, the Brifanaki, the Civil Service Gazette, the
Examin-r. the Empire, the Era, the Illustiytted
John Bull, the Leader, the Lancet —(a laugh)—the Ob-
server, Punch —(a laugh)—the Sunday Times, in which he
eves called, the _worst men ire the best place ; the IVeekly
_Dispatch, BlacPcood's Mreiazine, the Church of England
Quarter-Iy, the Edinburgh P.ev:ezo, Tait's Edinburgh Maga-
zine, and the Westminster Review. That was the opinion of
the press, and noanan cool 1, he thought, goto the National
Get lery without perceiving that the arrangements were not
ad vaete,geoue to the pnbl fa service. Whet, " The Adoration
of the Magi," by Paul Verenose, would not be appraised
by a picture appraiser atabeVe 1001., and yet it had cost the
country about 1,9771., besides some other expenses. Why,
Sir Q, Eastlake stool condemned out of his own mouth.
With regard toe picture, falsely attributed to Holbein, Sir
C. Eastlake said--" I wish to state as plainly as possible
that; with due care, I might have prevented the purchase of
that pictUre, and my not having done so implied a want of
knowledge of the master ;" and, in a subsequent part of
his evidence, ho said, referring to the purchase of the same
picture —" In the first 'place, I can hardly assume that
such a director as I think fit for the National Gallery would
in dm such a mistake ; and, in the next place, I would say,
as seine excuse for my share of the mistake, that I was
fortified by the opinion of a person whom I considered a
competent, judge." And yet my lords of the Treasury
congratulated the country upon having the opportunity
of selecting such a man for the office of director. Notwith-
standing that expose Sir C. Eastlake was raised to a more
responsible office, and hie salary Was increased to 1,00 )1.
a-year. Sir- C. Eastlake hal offered to purchase the
picture, and, in another case a picture which had been
purchases! for the National Gallery was bought by a pri-
vate indivi lual, and he thought that such proceedings
wore very irregular. Then, again, the evidence of Sir C.
Restleke on the subject of cleaning, proved that he was by
no !Mans qualified for such a position as that of director
of the Nation d. Gallery. The notions expressed by Sir
Charles Eastlake were really so absurd that any person
having the slightest knowledge of art must have seen that
they were entirely false. What was required was to get
the cplours and the style of the master ; but Sir Charles
Eastlake seemed to think that the restorer's art was to
glaze over the picture, instead of restoring it to what it
been before. Everybody knew that such a process was
only interfering with and spoiling a great work of art. If
the opinions of gentlemen of high testa —if the opinion of
all the eminent men connected with the National Gallery
—nay, even if the opinion of Sir Charles Eastlake himself
was not wefficient to convince the Government of the bad-
ness of the appointment, he thought they would be con-
vinced when they heard the evidence of Mr. Hurlestone
and Mr. Stevens—the former the President of the Incorpo-
rated Society of British Artists; and the latter who, having
been professionally educated in 'ltaly, had since been em-
ployed as a teacher in the.Schopl of Design. These gen-
tleinee, and particularly the latter, had written in the
newspapers iu terms of strong condemnation of the pictures
purchased for the National Gallery. There was Mr. Cun-
ningham. too, a gentleman--well known as a judge of high
art in this country ; he had equally condemned the pic-
tures purchased by Sir Charles Eastlake. The whole cur-
rent of evidence was condemnatory of the management of
that gentleman. He had on a former occasion objected to
the salary of Mr. Otto Mundler as travelling agent. The
hon. gentleman (Mr. Wilson) defended the appointment,
and said that Mr. Otto Mundler was the very best person
that could be appointed for the perfortnence of the duty re-
quired: He rather 'thought that Mr. Otto Mundler was
not very favourably known in this country. By an effort
of imagination that gentleman had persuaded himself to
believe that helad .discovered a Correggio, and he tried to
induce the trustees of the National Gallery to purchase it.
The transaction, he must say, appeared to him to be enough
to raise, some suspicion as to the propriety of the appoint-
ment. 10 (Mr. Otway) was not contending for anything
so impoesible ree the attainment of the perfection of art in
this country- Re bad uo objection to Italian or to German
artists. But' when they were considering the state of Eng-
lish art and of English artists, he thought they would do
well to inquire whether they could not find some English
artist who might travel on the continent, inspect the gal-
leries there, and become the purchaser of pictures for the
National Gallery, with quite as much judgment and taste
es any ,foreigner. Ho contended that it was a positive dis-
"van tov to the country that these two gentlemen—Sir
Cherles Eastlake and Mr. Otto Mundler_—should be tra-
velline about the continent to purchase pictures. What
would be the effect of its being known that there were
aa
two persons travelling abroad for the purpose of
purchasing a certain pieturef
gentlemen en
National Italian
n G
nral a-
'cry ? 'The arrival of these
German town would create a sensation, and the first effect
would be to excite the attention of the vendors of the pic-
ture, and its price would be raised ; while, in the second
place, the suspici,et or the Govern men t of the country woeld
also he excited, and the exit of the picture prevented. HO
honeyed that by the system pursued this country had al-
ready been prevented from obtaining many good pictures.
That was in itself a reason for contending not only that
the appointment of a travelling agent was unnecessary,
but that it was positively mischievous, 'He was prepared
to show that, so far from its having been the means of pro-
curing for us any great work of arc the only thing it had
procured was that miserable Paul Veronese. He was aware
that if he were to propose the reduction of the salaries this
year he might be met, with an argument similar to that
which was urged against the redaction of the votefor agrit
cultuial schools in It eland—viz., that the gentlemen had
been already engaged, and that-they could not be dismissed
this year. He did not not, therefore, now propose to touch
the salaries, bat the travelling expenses-were perfectl
clear of any, such. objection.. He would therefore, movey
that the present veto biirectiicul by the sw4 of 6504,