The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-19 00:00:00

ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA.

Mademoiselle Guerabella, the new Maid Marian,
has by this time honestly established her position.
That she has made a favourable impression on the
public is unquestionable, and, to employ a hack-
neyed phrase, she may be looked upon as a "decided
acquisition." On the first night of "Robin Hood"
Mademoiselle Guerabella had apparently so many
enthusiastic friends among the audience that, amid
the cheers and bouquets and recalls, we felt quite at
a loss how to adjudge her merits fairly ; but subse-
quent performances have vindicated her ability to
dispense with all such artificial aids, and to win a
genuine success without them.

Mr. Wallace's "Lurline" has been revived during
the past week, and presented in alternation with
Mr. Macfarren's opera. The music has lost none
of its grace, brilliancy, and charm, the piece none
of its grotesque absurdity. Miss Louisa Pyne, Mr.
Harrison, and Mr. Santley retain their original
characters of Lurline, her terrestrial lover, and the
River• King ; while Miss Thirlwall still keeps that
of Liba, who has to sing " Take this cup of spark-
ling wine" immediately after her mistress, On
the first night, Mr. Santley being indisposed,
the part of Rhineberg was undertaken at a few
hours' notice by Mr. H. Corri, who was himself
succeeded by M. Eugene Dussek in that of the
Gnome. Mr. Corri not only won an " encore" in the
ballad of "A father's love," but universal credit for
the very able and effective manner in which he
acquitted himself under such trying circumstances.
Mr. Corri, through the readiness and good-will thus
accidentally evinced, will stand higher than ever in
public esteem.
A new operetta, called " The Toy Maker," the
book and music by Mr. George Linley, is to be pro-
duced to-night ; and another, for which Mr. Tom
Taylor has supplied the words and Mr. Frederick
Clay the music, is in preparation. Meanwhile, those
patrons of the theatre who are pleased to see the
repertory of our national opera enlarged and varied
by contributions from new and competent pens,
will be glad to hear that Mr. Howard Glover's
" Ruy Blas," after a week's secession, has resumed
its place in the bills.

ADELPEI ThEATRE.

THE OCTOROON.

The long-promised American drama by Mr.
Bourcicault—" The Octoroon"—was produced last
evening, and, as might have been expected, an
overflowing audience was attracted. Many no
doubt imagines that another " sensation" drama,
similar to the " Colleen B awn," was to be pro-
duced, particularly as it was announced, in the
bills of the play, that " the novel effects
and mechanical contrivances " were the in-
vention of Mr. Bourcicault. Those, however,
who entertained such notions must have
been very much disappointed, and that feeling was
not at all lessened by the tragic end of the drama.
Another circumstance which, no doubt, led to much
speculation was the slight sketch given in the bills
of the law of Louisiana, touching the law of the
Slave States of America ; and for what purpose it
could have been put forth is not very clear, as it
tends rather to mislead, for assuredly it has nothing
at all to do with the now drama ; although,
for our own part, we honestly confess
we wish it had, especially as it is a cir-
cumstance highly dramatic, and in the hands
of so acknowledged an author as Mr. Bourci-
cault, it could have been worked out in a most
telling manner. The law, as mentioned in the bills,
interdicts marriage between a white person and
one in whom there is the slightest drop of black
blood. It goes on to say, that a young planter
having fallen deeply in love with a beautiful Octoroon
girl, opened a vein in his arm, and, in the presence
of two witnesses, infused three or four drops of his
lady love's blood into his own, and thus he was
enabled to take the required oath that he had black
blood in his veins, and marry the girl on whom he
had placed his affection. It cannot be denied this
would hove tormed a much hp+tei one tot
illustration than that selected by Mr. Bourcicault,
the more so as something very nearly approaching
the main incident in " The Octoroon" has been done
before in London. The piece we refer to is " The
Creole, or Love's Fetters," produced at the Lyceum
during the management of the Keeleys, and in
which Mr. Emery sustained a part very similar to
the one ho pourtrayed last night. " The Creole"
was certainly not an American piece, but we had
all the villanies of Jacob M'Closky, in the
" Octoroon," in the part of Latour, who eventually
meets his death by his evil designs to secure the
person of a beautiful girl supposed to be a sieve,
and of whom he, Latour, becomes the purchaser.
The plot of the new drama is briefly as follows :
The story is supposed to commence shortly after the
arrival at Louisiana of George Peyton, a young gen-
tleman who has been educated in Paris, and comes
to take possession of a plantation bequeathed to him
by Judge Peyton, his deceased uncle. The estate
has been brpught to ruin by the mismanagement
of two Yankee overseers, one of whom, Jacob
M'Closky, is a ♦illain, who has contrived to get
half the plantation into his own hands, while the
other, Salem Scudder, is a good-natured blunderer,
who has unintentionally wrought mischief by
the introduction of abortive inventions. Besides
tho estate, Judge Peyton has left behind him a
natural daughter named Zoe, who, although the
child of a Quadroon slave, has been brought up in
every luxury. She is loved by both M'Closky and
George, but her heart is given to the latter. While
examining the papers of the late judge, M'Closky
discovers that there has been some informality in
Zoe's emancipation, and that if the estate be sold
she must be sold with it as a slave. A remittance
is expected from Liverpool, which will prevent the
selling of the estate. M'Closky determines to ob-
tain forcible possession of the mail bags, which are
supposed to contain the letter of advice. Paul, a
negro boy, is sent for the letters, which he obtains,
and with his friend, Wahnotee, an Indian, on
their road home they fall in with Scudder's pho-
tographic camera. Little Paul sits down to obtain
his portrait, and tells the Indian to raise the cover
from the lens, run 50 yards, and return and recover
the glass, the reward for which is to be some rum.
This the Indian agrees to. Paul then arranges the
machine and takes his seat on the letter-bags. The
Indian lifts the cloth from the lens and rushes out,
when M'Closky, not thinking of the action of the
instrument, murders Paul with the Indian's toma-
hawk and then rifles the letter-bag and obtains the
packet he is in search of. The Indian returns, finds
Paul dead, and instantly breaks the camera, as he
believes his little companion's death was caused by
it. The sale of the estate is announced, and
takes place. M'Closky had made it known that
Zoe, with whom he is desperately smitten, is a
slave, and he accordingly becomes her purchaser.
M'Closky leaves for the purpose of obtaining the
money to make his purchase good, and on going
on board the Magnolia steamer he is informed
of the death of the boy Paul, and he instantly
accuses the Indian. This, however, is denied by
Scudder, who produces the picture taken from
the broken camera, in which the whole of the
murder is clearly shown, and M'Closky is sen-
tenced to death by Lynch law. He is confined
to the hold of the Magnolia, and here
he perpetrates another viilany by setting
the vessel on fire, vainly hoping by such
means to escape, but not before Scudder dis-
covers the stolen letters on his person. The
Indian sees M'Closky escape, and follows him
with the intention of revenging the death of poor
little Paul. Zoe, ignorant of the change that has
taken place in affairs, and fearful of the return
of M'Closky, provides herself with a vial of poison,
and taking tender leave of George, contrives to
swallow the contents of the vial in a glass of
water, which he administers to her while appa-
rently fainting. The arrival of Scudder with the
long-desired letter and remittance is too late, for
the honest fellow, who has always felt a secret
attachment to the Octoroon, finds her dying in
the arms of her lover. Dramatic justice, is, how-
ever, accomplished by the Indian, who kills
M'Closky on the grave of little Paul.
The audience were unprepared for the death of
Zoe, and made their disapproval manifest, but the
majority of the audience drowned the gonndm of,_

disapprobation by loud applause. The acting of
the piece was in all respects excellent. Mr. Boar-
eicault's Salem Scudder was a highly finished and
natural performance, and Mr. Emery's Jacob
M'Closky was one of those rugged and villainous
characters for the performance of which he has
no equal on the London stage. A Mr. George
Jamieson, from the Winter Garden, New York,
made his first appearance as Pete, an old body
slave, and a better actor than this gentleman has
not crossed the Atlantic for years. His delineation
of the half humorous, half pathetic, nigger was a
performance of the very first order, and the audience
testified their approbation of his efforts by the most
enthusiastic applause. Mr. Billington, of course,
was Zoe's lover, and Paul Bedford's little part in
the drama tends very materially to lighten some of
the heavier scenes. Mrs. Bourcicault, as Zoe, acted
with great tenderness and pathos, but a much
greater effect would have been produced had she
been a little more sparing of her tears.
With respect to the scenery, it is in all respects
very good, but nothing out of the ordinary stage
effect. The great scene of the drama is the slave
sale in the house of Mrs. Peyton. It was very effec-
tively arranged, and deserved the applause it elicited.
The only circumstance that militated against the
success of the drama was the death of Zoe, and if
that had been avoided the triumph of the piece would
have been unmistakeable.

SIR DE LACY EVANS ON THE
VOLUNYBER MOVE,VEN7I

The member for Westminster, in his recently-
issued address to his constituents, makes the
following allusions to the Volunteer Movement,
strongly advocating its extension to Ireland:—

" I believe I was the first person who had the
honour of presiding at a metropolitan meeting for
the formation of a volunteer force. The progress of
this spontaneous movement has been most interest-
ing. At first the Government were faint-hearted,
or disposed to throw cold water upon it, the least in-
telligent of the aristocracy feared it, the Peace
party ridiculed or disparaged it, and yet the volun-
teers have already done more for peace than the so-
called Peace party will probably ever do.
" Before the Crimean war, this party despatched
a mission of peace to the Emperor Nicholas. The
mission was most amiably intended, and had a re-
ception the most gracious and flattering ; but we
all know with what species of success it was at-
tended. But now European tranquillity and
national rights are more seriously menaced from
another quarter than they ever were from the banks
of the Neva. And the device recently hit upon by •
our esteemed pacific friends is that of diminishing
our means of resistance to foreign cupidity or am-
bition by setting treaty limits to the navy of Eng-
lane—Engin d, whose existence depends on an ab-
solute maritime supremacy. But the Premier unan-
swerably explained, with his usual good sense, that
this unwise proposition was far more likely to bring
about misunderstandings and war than security or
peace.

"In 1807-8 General Sir Arthur Wellesley was
Chief Secretary to the Irish Government. The fol-
lowing are from despatches of his to the then Secre-
tary of State for War, which have been recently
published by the present Duke of Wellington ;
The enclosed papers will show you the success with
which the measures have been carried into execu-
tion which I proposed for prevailing upon the yeo-
manry companies to exercise together, and act in
battalions throughout Ireland, and those I propcsed
for ascertaining the number of men who could
march out of their counties in the event of invasion
or rebellion. I have now proposed that the bat-
talions in each county should be numbered, and
hereafter a power may be given to the lord lieute-
nant to name officers to command them when
exigency may require such an arrangement. I wish
you would let me know as soon as you can to what
extent you would wish to carry the yeomanly force
of this country. We have now from 40,000 to
50,000 effectives, which we could with ease make
60,000 effectives ; but I doubt whether any force
ought to go beyond that number. According to the
existing system, the captains of yeomanry are mid-
dling gentry or agents to absentee landlords, and
all resident, who for their own sakes take care that
their corps shall be well composed. In respect to
the other points on which you have called for my
opinion, I have to tell you that I have a very good
opinion of the yeomanry of Ireland in general.
They say that there are some disaffected persons,
and even corps, among them, but I have seen
no proofs of the truth of this assertion. They
are disciplined as well as corps of this description
can be expected to be, and I doubt very much the
policy of attempting to make any improvements in
their discipline. I think that both in England and
Ireland we have attempted too much in the way of
teaching parade discipline to the yeomanry and
volunteers. In the event of operations in these
countries we should be greatly in want of light
troops, particularly infantry of the description of
these troops. The parade discipline which they
receive in large bodies would be entirely useless,
nay, would embarrass them when they would be
called upon to act as light troops, and I would,
therefore, leave them as they are, in detached com-
panies of various strength throughout the country.'
" Such, then, above half a century back, were
the opinions on Irish volunteers of the late illustri-
ous duke. He had no distrust of such carefully-
chosen volunteers. 'We could with ease,' he says,
raise this force to 60,000 effectives.' Since that
period the great question of Catholic Emancipation
has been carried. The wages of labour are now
doubled or trebled in all parts of Ireland. An ad-
vancing prosperity has awaited her, such as she
has not enjoyed for centuries. Her Majesty has
just made a tour throughout that portion of her
dominions, and has been received throughout
with an ovation of enthusiastic loyalty. And yet
we have in effect been told that, of all her sub-
jects, Irishmen alone are not to be allowed to
acquire a knowledge of the use of arms for
their own and the Queen's defence. I did my
best in the Commons to assist to rectify this
blunder of the authorities. It is true, indeed, that
in a few localities a few broken heads or broken
limbs have been occasioned in sectarian riots, and
this has been the paltry pretext set forth for the
injudicious distrust adverted to.
"In England and Scotland the more public-
spirited of the nobles, gentry, middle classes, and
others, have induced the Government to acquiesce
in, and even give some support to, the patriotic
armament which has thus sprung up throughout
the length and breadth of Great Britain. The
people of Ireland have not been hitherto thought
wanting in valour, good faith, or military aptitude.
In my bumble opinion it is now the duty of the
same classes in the sister island to emulate the
patriotic conduct in this matter of their fellow sub-
jects on this side the Channel. I venture to believe
that, instead of sectarian differences being the real
cause of this affronting exclusion, it is more likely
to be attributable to the bureaucracy of the Vice-
regal Government. whose repugnance to deviate
from their habitual routine, as is usually the case
with other bureacracies, led them to thwart this
movement.

Sir Robert Peel, however, I am glad to find, at
present fills the office formerly held by Sir Arthur
Wellesley. I conclude that he has duly weighed
the statements on this subject of his great predeces-
sor ; and I have too high an estimation of his intel-
ligence and vigour to doubt of his setting this
whole matter right, by which he will free his col-
leagues from deserved reproach, and inaugurate
advantageously his own official career."

Her Majesty the Queen will hold a Privy Council
to-morrow (Wednesday) at Windsor Castle.
The Duchess of Athole has arrived at the St.
George's Hotel from Scotland.
The Earl of Winchilsea has left the St. George's
Hotel.
Lord Methuen has left the St> George's Hotel,
charged with a mission from the Queen and the Prince
Consort to his Majesty the reigning King of Portugal.
At Lloyd's on Saturday 10 guineas per cent. were
the offered to effect fresh insurances on the mail steamer North
Britor, which is three days overdue from Montreal. Fifteen
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