The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-10 00:00:00

SAL4R.ES 01? ACTJ.R4.

Dowton's salary at Drury-'ane. in the season of 1801-
2, wa. 8/. per week ; he subsequently received 121., but
never more than 201. It is cori me to remark the _differ-
ence in the salaries paid to dramatic performers during
the last hundred Sears. In the better days of the drama
these salaries appear to be small, bu,, there can scarcelf'
be a doubt tbat a healthy action was then enj.)ye 1, which
the "star" system tended to impair. If we look into Gar--:-
rick's theatre we find the Roscius himself at the head, with
a stipend of 21. 15;. 6.1. per night ; B errs and his wife,
3/. ss. Bd. ; John Palmer and his wife, 21. ; King, the
unrivalled Sir Peter Teazle and Lora Ogleby, 1/. 6+.
Bi. ; Parsons, 1/. 61. Bd. ; Mrs. Pritchard, 21. 6s.
Bd. ; Mrs. Cibber, 21. 10s 0.1. ; Miss Pope, 13s. 4d. ;
and Signor Guestinelli, the principal singer, 1/. 13s.
4d. Succeeding the days of Garrick came a host
of distinguished performers, including Lewis, Quick,
Bannister, Munden, Mrs. Jordan, Miss Farren, cum ntultis
alii.s, not one of whom ever received " star " salaries.
John Kemble, as actor and manager, was content with
561. 14s. per week ; George Frederick Cook received
25/. ; and Mrs. Jordan, in her zenith, an average of 311.
10s. Drury-lane, in seasons 1812-13, boasted of an
excellent company, including John Johnstone, who was
retisined at 151. per week, and Dowton, whu received 161.
Covent-garden, at the came period, numbered among its
members Emery (whose highest salary during his career
was but 141. per week) Mathews, Fawcett, B'an-
chard, Liston, and Simmons, and their united
receipts from the treasury were fess than has since
been paid to one actor at a metropolitan
minor theatre ! Edmund KeAn's first engagement at
Drury-lane, in 1814, was for three years, ranging from
8/. to 10/. per week. This was subsequently converted int;
a contract at 501. per night. Eight years prior to this
great change in the fortunes of Kean-in the year 1806 -
he was playing at the Haymarket, unnoticed and unknown,
his salary at that time being 2/. per week. Twenty years
later, when wrung in heart and fame, physically and
mentally weak, he received at the same house 501. per
night. Who will say he was a better actor than he was
in 1806 1 As a contrast to the sums paid during the past
century, we may state that at Drury-lane, when under
the management of the late Stephen Price, the nightly
salary of Edmund Kean was 601., and that of Madame
Vestris and Liston 251. each ; whilst Farren received 351.
weekly, Jones 351., James Wailack 351., and Harley, 30/.
In 1838, Tyrone Power was receiving 961. weekly from
the Adelphi, and Farren 401. from the Olympic. It
was once remarked, in reference to the enormous sums
lavished upon " stars," that the President of Ame-
rica was not so highly paid as Ellen Tree ; whilst
the Premier of Great Britain had a less salary than Mr.
Macready. Madame Malibran was said by the same
writer to draw five times as much money as the Colonial
Secretary, and Mr Farren nearly twice as much as the
representative of the Home-office. There can be no
question that t,his extravagance of salaries has been one
of the means of the depreciation of the dramatic art,
alike fatal to the interests of managers and the prospects
of the profession.

MARKET NEWS.— (Ms Day.)

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE IN THE
MINISTERS.

The complaint made has been that the Arrow
had no right to hoist Englieh colours. Her date
of registration is September, 1855, so that s .me
days before this outrage took place her register was
said to have expired. Mr. Besley here quoted ex-
tracts from s,•veral other despatches from the Bri-
tish representatives at Cant ).n, and said that no
doubt whatever could b • ent-rtained thrt the Chi-
nese had acted towards British subjects with studied
insult. He proceeded to ask what vveuld have been
saiu if any offic-r en rusted with her Majesty's com-
mission, whose business it was to protect the com-
merce of England, if hi had been cogidsant of
such transactions as these, and had not at once
asked for permission to repress them ? With re-
gard to the trans tction wider our more immediate
notice, two hours were given for an apolpgy. No
apology was, hlwever, made, but a quibble-was
set up that the lorcha bad no right to have English
colours. This, therefore was a premeditated insult
offered to the British managers, and L hold that
those men wou!d have been traitors to their coun-
try if they. had not used the force at their disposal
to punish it. (Cheeriu.) Suppose that-Mr. Con-
sul Parkes had pocket d the affront ; the very men
who opno-el the Government on Tuesday n'ght
last would h the b-,en the very first to condemn his
conduct. (d• ar, hear.) • A French newspaper, the
Univers, speaking of oar Parliament, says :
" What do these sol.ion debates a.orl philantnropic de.
clamations really signify I One soh obyct. The poli-
tical adversaries of Lord Pal:net-stun wished to Ohtani
his place ; and w!)13 the Porliarnetit of Ifoglaud is gravely
disrms,ing the jiistice or kgalit.y of this war, the Chinese
are setting a price upon the heads of Europeans, an 1 are
surrounding them with as,assins, incendiaries, and
poisoners. The Bishop of Oxford, in his speech, evi•
dently list sight of all that Christian nations have suf-
fered. from China. The English ora'ors are realty too
considerate when they invoke the right of nation.,
justice, and humanity in favour of a popuiation which,
by every act, places itself beyond the right of nations,
and systematically violates all the laws of humanity and
justipe."

(Hear, hear.) Now, my Lord Mayor, I believe it
to be our leDonden duty to back up Lord Palmer-
ston with-gall o strength. (" Hear, heir," aril
"No, no.) Loid Palmer- on, oil the pres git oc-
casion, has stood up b defence 01 the r.ght4
of the people of Engla , and I hope .thw he may
be generously, and he triAly, and vigorously sup-
ported. (Loud chet ring.)
Mr. Deputy DAKIN seconded the motion, and
expressed an earnest hope that the resolution would
be carried by a large maj.lr ity. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. ABRA_HAMS proposed the following amend-
ment :

"That it is not expedient for this municipal body to
interfere in a party and political question."
(Rear, hear.
Mr. DE I.SE said he rose with very consider-
able pleasure
nEreotosseco
second the amendment.
said it was the bounden duty of
the Court to_ depart from the ordinary routine of
their bus dto ress, in the-strongeA and
most determinbelmanner, that the conduct of the
Coalition had
as not only to justify large
meetings in the coußut'h but that that municipal
body (the Corp,r totpinoinnliToo'nf London) were a so botuad
to express their
beenupoiin the same subject.
Lord Palmerston had
t'eaiued uponlen tcithetakhoenotuill-
reins of Governmentat a,
and interests of the country vfe.._l:f
were lu most eictrenie
jeopardy, and was just), enti led to the b.2st thanks
at large.
and consideration of the community
(Cheers.) '
Alderman SALOMONS said he ail not
reason .ft,r wit drawing confidence •8' any
In Lord
Palmerston. '
After a short discussion the amendment was pot,
and after.a show, of hands was taken, tie Court
divided, when there appe .red in favour of ti e
amendment 13 • an 1, agatrist it, 39 ; majority, 26.
Mr. GILPIN ;11-nll2ov:A the previoui criostion as
en amendment •
Deputy GODSON seconded the amendment, which,
upon being pip, vas negatived by
a consid, rable
majority. ,

The original motion was then put and carried,
amidst loud cheers, and. the Court adjourned.
.••••••••••••=..11••

The amount paid into the treasury .f the East India
Rouse for bills on India from the 25th of February to
the 9th of March wet. 82,628/.

The departures from the port of London for the Aus
tralian colonies during the past wp.-k have cornpri.led
four vessels to Sydney and one to Hobart Town, with
an aggregate capacity of 3,656 tons. The rates of
freight continue to exhibit heanuess.

Yesterday a Con, t was held in consequence of a
requisition numerously .signed, "to express the
opinions of the Court up in the con- equenci,s likely
to arise to the coineieree of the con'', 'a' from h
-a
decision of the Hou-e of c. m wins on Tue lay la t,
awl to take suet steps !!s they titiy !link ,ry."
There was a large wt,m,lance of the nv-_,nhers of
both Ceur's of the Corp ra on.
Mr. BESLEY Prooo,ed, amid cheers, the fell() w-
ing motion :
"That her Majesty' servants in China have, in the
trying sit,aation in which they were placed, meted in a
manner to sustain the honour of the British flag, the
commercial interests of the country, and the cause of
truth and ju,tice.
"That this Court have l-arred, with feelings of deep
regret, the decision of the Honourable House f Con,-
mons against her Majesty's Ministers for supporting her
Majesty's servants in the discharge of their duty.
"That this Court presits its ihanks to Lord Palmer-
ston and her Majesty's Minister-, fir the course they
pursued in that occasion, which justly entitles them to
the confidence of the coto:try."
Mr. BESLEY then said—My Lord. Mayor, I ap-
proach t with some feelings of regret. I
certainly do regret it will be my hudeess to ask the
Court to pass a vote of censure upon m-n with
ant::ced-mts I have been frequently disposed
to be pleased. I regret exceedingly that sacred
principles have been made the staltiing,-hor-,-e of
faction. Ido feel come pleasure that I think the
shock which the late decision in the House of Cem-
mons has given to the feelings of the p .ople of
England—c,,ll them prejudices, if yon like—will
be sufficiently p overfill to arouse their sleeping
energies. One of the gre itest banes of this country,
for the last t:.-n yea's, has been the indifference of
the people to rnattyrs of great national import. I
hope that inliffe!-ence will cease to exist, and that
we shall have the people of England attending to
their own affairs. The late Sr R. Peel—than whom
we could have hardly a better authority in Parlia-
mentary particulars—set down as a maxim, that
when Parliamentary opposition, un tssociate l in
principle, at variance with the principles of the
Executive, and that Parliamentary opposition re-
ceived the support of a majority of tie House of
Commons, that it was the duty of the Executive
to resign office, and allow the Parliamentary oppo-
sition to act upon the Got-eminent on their own
principles. (Hear, hear.) Now, I ask any reason-
able set of men to lo >k ar, the division-lists, and see
if by any po,sibiity they can cou,plain of the con-
duct of the Government for the part they have taken
in the recent debates ? (Hear, hear.) It is not my
intention to detain the C,,iurt by reading copious ex-
tracts of proceedings contained in this blue-hook—
(referring -to the blue-book con aming t'!e papers re-
lating to the operations at Canton)—but I neverthe-
less feel i, my duty to teal to you one or two of
them. I will red you a despatch from Lord Clar-
endon respecting altransaetion on the 22d of March,
1856, and which is addressed to Sir John Bow-
ring :

" Sir,—l have received your despatch of the 22nd of
November last, respecting the steps which you took, in
consequence of the refusal of the Chinese authorities at
Canton to surrender, when required to do so by her
Majesty's Consul, two lorchas bearing the British flag,
and which bad been seized by them on a charge of being
engaged in smuggling salt ; and I have to state to you
that, having consulted the law officers of the Crown, her
Majesty's Government are of opinion that you
acted
properly in calling in the ail of the naval authorities,
and in rescuing the vessels so improperly detained."
Now, I find that there are other transactions of
the same sort to be found detailed in this volume,
which assume the character of a premeditated series
of insults to the British flag up to the 10th of Octo-
ber, 1856. (Hear, hear.) On the Bth of October,
1856, Consul Parkes addresses Commissioner Yeh
in these terms :
"This morning, shortly after eight o'clock, a Chinese
war-boat boarded an English lorcha, the Arrow, lying
at anchor in the river, near the Dutch Folly ; and, re-
gardless of the remonstrances of her master, an English.
man, seized, bound, and carried off twelve of her Chinese
crew, and hauled down the English colours, which were
then flying. (Hear, hear.) Hesitating to rely solely on
the master's account of so gross an outrage, I at once
despatched people to make inquiries, and found that the
facts were as he bad stated, and that the war-boat was
said to be under the command of Leang-qno-lung, a
captain in the Imperial service. After leaving, the lorcha
had dropped down the river, and was lying off Yung-
tsing gate, with the crew of the lorcha still on board
as prisoners."
In another despatch, thted Oct. 10, 1856, Con-
sul Parkes reports to Sir John Bowring :--
"I should mention that the Arrow is sailirg under
a colonial certificate of registry, renewable annually,
bearing the date Hong Kong, 27t.h September, 1855,
and the number 27. She is ti.erein said to belong
solely to Fong-a-Min2, of Victoria, Hong Kong, Chi-
nese trader, hut the pl tee and date of her bills are not
given. Her master's name is Thomas Kennedy, a
native of Belfast, and a very respectable man of his
class, who informs me that he was engaged by Mr.
Block, Dani:h Consul at Hung Kong, a nominal mas.
ter of the lorcha, which he has hitherto believed to
belong to Mr. 13!ock's comprador, and he supposes that
it is the compridor's name which appears in the regis-
ter."