The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-19 00:00:00

the meeting had been called. .11e moved a resolu-
tion to that effect.

The resolution having been seconded by Mr.
T. C. BRAY, some discussion ensued, in the course
of which several gentlemen expressed their
opinion of the desirability of such an insti-
tution as that indicated, but appeared dis-
posed to adhere to the original . proposition, that it
should be limited to the Australian colonies.
A resolution was next proposed by Mr. COOK,
and seconded by Mr. PEARCE, to the effect that a
deputation should be appointed to wait upon the
committee of the association, and carry out terms
of amalgamation. After some discussion, however,
the resolution was negatived, and the meeting was
adjourned for a month to consider the regulations
of the existing association.
A vote of thanks to Mr. Farmer for presiding
concluded the proceedings.

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.

King John, the bad hero of one of Shakspe
ar's
finest historical plays, is exactly one of
characters which only a great tragedian like. Mr.
those
C. Kean can raise to the proper degree of eminence.
Save when he utters the speech against Papal rule
—which at best has only the effect of a party clap-
trap, offending one portion of the audience as much
as it delights the rest—he is unquestionably an
object not of sympathy, but aversion. Nor does he
ever acquire the peculiar popularity to which a
villain of the lago school may lay just claim. He
is not a valiant cynic, like Richard 111., who sea-
sons murder with sarcasm. If his heart does not
command affection, neither does his head enjoin
respect. He is simply a prince, who wishes to
strengthen a crooked title to a throne, without the
slightest scruple as to means, and also without the
slightest ability to keep upon his head the crown
he has unjustly acquired.
Nevertheless, King John is a personage whom
all the histrionic artists who have been earnest in
attempting the highest tragic flights have delighted
to represent. What, then, is there in this meanest
of royal criminals that should awaken the ambi-
tion of those who seek the elevated and the sub-
lime ? On the surface all is uninviting. What
subtlety, so alluring, lies beneath the surface, that
the most towering ambition is tempted to call it
forth from its hidden depths ?
The only great scene for the actor that plays
King John is that in which the wicked monarch
gradually unfolds to his creature his morbid desire
to get rid of the innocent boy, who is the sole ob-
stacle to an uncontrolled possession of the throne ;
and the embodiment of the mental condition ex-
hibited in this scene demands the highest qualitieS.
John is a timid villain, who dares scarcely trust
his own thought, till he finds his evil aspirations
encouraged by the words of a too ready confidant.
He would not tell Hubert to kill Arthur, but be
would have him offer to perpetrate the foul deed on
the faintest indication of a word ; and for the ex-
hibition of this half-hidden, half-revealed purpose,
all the exquisite refinement of Mr. Charles Kean
is required. Though the voice is lowered from that
anxiety for secrecy, which scarcely allows the
speaker to trust his own ears with his frightful ima-
ginings, the intensity of evil desire is
distinctly
shown, and there is something of desperation in the
eagerness with which the King leaps from his sup-
pressed mode of utterance to the ejaculations of a
hearty friendship for Hubert. A great moral is
conveyed in the fourth act,
upbraids e instru-
ment of crime, and fiercely is the
revulsion delineated by Mr. Charles Kean; terrible,
too, is the death in the last scene, with all its com-
plicated agony ; but the scene which should be
witnessed again and again, studied over,
pon-
dered over, is that which we have end and
eavoured
faintly to describe. Here our great tragedian shows
himself a thorough master of all the profoundest
secrets of his art.
If the character of John is one revealed by hints
and faint suggestions, the emotions of the Lady
Constance—the other great character in the tra-
gedy—are displayed without reserve.
which this
The rage
and the still more impassioned grief by
unhappy lady, is actuated, spring from the holiest
source--she is a fanatic of maternal tenderness.
Thoroughly does Mrs. Charles Kean appreciate all
the capabilities of this wonderful character, and we
should hail the revival of " King John" as the great
event of the theatrical year, were it only for the
opportunity afforded to the first living actress of
giving an unbridled manifestation of her surpassing
power. That pride of grief, in which Constance ,
boasts, is grandly depicted, when she sits despairing
on the ground, with her imaginary companion, the
prescribed sorrow ; such a queen of awe has a right
to exact the homage of kings. Still more com-
manding are the utterance of her lacerated heart,
when despair is almost heightened to madness, but
nevertheless cannot subdue the tenderness of
the mother. Loud and indignant in the
assertion of her sanity, the passages in
which she recalls the imagetheti of her
the " pretcur-
ty
Arthur* interrupt most pcally
rent of her rage ; and as she leaves the stage
lamenting her " widow-comfort and her sorrows'
cure," a mingled sentiment of awe and sympathy
is left in the minds of all who have witnessed this
mighty display of grief.
These two characters, sustained by the greatest
actor and actress of the age, stand forward dis-
tinctly from the rest ; but the whole play is pro-
duced m a complete style, that shows the
archaeo-
logical manager in full activity. Those heavily-
armed
barons, with their strange-looking helmets
on their heads and netted chains about their shoul-
ders, with long shields, long swords, ~
look and long
surcoats—how immovable do they in repose,'
persons and how briskly do they intermingle with each
other when the cry of battle is raised
the Middle Age revive in
the
and baron, when the hostile armies
Angiers, and how sacred is the repose . How does
fet
moebefor
burgher
e
of Swinstead
Abbey ! How accurate, and how full of animation,
arc all the masses !
We cannot omit to mention the very effective
manner in which the scene between Hubert and
Arthur was sustained. Mr. Ryder gives a good
striking portraiture to his character; and little
Miss E. Terry drew tears
from many who sympa-
thised with her sufferings.
King John" is the first " revival" of the " fare-
well season," and from the exc'ellence of tke acting,
and the perfection of the m • en scene, it makes
zse
the word " farewell " more unmusical than ever.

THE EXTRAORDINARY PROCEEDINGS
AT NEWCASTLE.

'A special sitting of the borough magistrates o
Gateshead was held at the town-hall, on Saturday
at two o'clock, the mayor (Bryan J. Prockter, Esq.)
and Mr. Alderman Smith being the sitting magis-
trates. The Viscomte F. de Maricourt, who had
been apprehended at Blyth (North) by Mr. Seberen
the superintendent of police of the borough of
bench
Gateshead, under a warrant issued by the
two days previously, was brought up in custody,
charged - with having assaulted. Mr. J. Bolivar
Manson, the editor of the Northern Daily Express.
The defendant, who is a slight made but active
young man, with a small light moustache and im-
perial, bowed to the magistrates on entering with
a courtly air equally removed from the ferocious
ruffian or the crack-brained young soldier who
might have been expected in his person. Mr.
-George Reed, clerk to the magistrates, read the
charge, and Mr. Edward Glynn, a solicitor, of the
firm of Laws and Glynn, Newcastle, was sworn as
£2OO,
interpreter, and explained the substance of the in.
formation to the defendant. The bench decided to
hold the defendant to, bail, Mr. Manson, who was
present, offering no objection. The defendant was
the bench, h
then bound over, himself in the penalty of
Count
tbeedines
each, for
and two sureties in the penalty of £lOO
his appearance at the usual sitting of the borough
magistrates fe-day (Tuesday). The defendant uex-
pressed, through the interpreter, to
thanks for the courtesy with which he had
by the
treated, and both parties left the court with their
friends.
Mr. Sterling, of Westgate-hill, the tradesman
alleged-to have been influenced
Maricourt, has published a letter, wherein he, ine
count ever
the most positive terms, denies that th
canvassed him for his vote, and so the extraordi-
nag( -affair stands.
...,,

The suspension has taken place of Messrs.
Arnold Willi and Sons, of Billiter-street, hemp mann-
with liabilites amounting to about £B,OOO. A
facv
favourae bi liquidation is expected.
The general business of the port of London still
remains inactive. The number of ships reported inward
during the past week was 176, while 111 were cleared out-
ward, including 17 in ballast. The exports generally have
not been large, and those to China in particular are very
limited. Of the ships now on the berth loading outward,
54 are for the AuAtralian colonies, four for Vancouver's
Island, one for San Francisco, and three for China.
THE HOMEWARD AUSTRALIAN MAILS.—The
heavy portion of the mails from Australia, New Zealand,
Bce., arrived at Southampton yesterday morning, by the
steam-ship Cambria, Captain James Anderson, chartered
by the Royal Mail Company, which left Alexandria on the
sth and Malta on the 9th inst. The Cambria encountered
a strong gale from the eastward off Gibraltar, and passed
some deck gear, such as hencoops, doghouse, &e.,
,6nffstalice_
Rock. Off Lisbon she passed several wine mihelmaila
cordance with the custom adopted on this T
ship's Post-
came home in charge of a clerk from the
ulonentehreal office, and were all sorted ready for delivery
ge (of whom 24
arrival. The Cambria brought 46
were first-class, 10 children,
Australians 4l
ser-
vants, and five invalids from the
four I'7:nd-class, three
packages of Specie, value
cellaneous merchandise. £166,649, and 326 packages squadron,mis-