The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-23 00:00:00

SHIP PRINCESS ROYAL.

Mr. W. WILLIAMS moved for a return of the name o 1
the captain of her Majesty's ship Princess Royal, who or.
dered 2,141 lashes to be inflicted on 53 of the crew of that
ship, who were flogged in the year 1857, as stated in a re•
turn presented to this house.
The return was ordered.
THE TREATY.
Onpply .the order being read of going into committee o.
su
Mr. GRIFFITH asked the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs whether he had reason to believe that there
is a provision or understanding in the late Treaty of Villa-
franca that the late dynasties of Tuscany, Modena, and
Parma are to be restored to those possessions, if necessary,
by military force; and, if so, whether her Majesty's Go-
vernment are prepared to take part in any Congiess, or
other diplomatic negotiation, having that object.
Lord J. RUSSELL said he understood from the Govern-
ment of the Emperor of the French that there was no pro-
vision or understanding that those dynasties were ito be
restored by military force, and he further understood that
it was not the intention of the Emperor of the French to
employ force for the purpose of restoring them.
THE NATIONAL GALLERY.
Mr. CONINGHAM, in moving that it was the opinion
of this house that the system of management which now
existed at the National Gallery was highly unsatisfactory,
and was detrimental to the public service, said the increased
expenditure in all departments of the Government was
matter of general observation. The people did not feel that
they got value for their money, and they were discontented.
The expenditure was so great, and the system, as a whole,
was so colossal, that no member could deal with it in its en-
tirety. But with regard to the expenditure on the National
Gallery he hoped to be able to show that in that department
a bad system had too long prevailed, and it ought to be abo-
lished. It appeared by the return which he held in his hand,
that during the last 12 years there had been an expenditure
of £90,000 for augmenting our national collection of pictures,
and he would boldly assert and appeal to those who had a
knowledge of pictures, whether the National Gallery as it now
stood, compared with what it was before it came under its
present administration, had not positively deteriorated. It
was not by the quantity of pictures, but by their quality,
that a national collection was to be judged. So large quan-
tity of inferior pictures had been purchased for the National
Gallery, that the masterpieces were lost sight of in the mass
of rubbish that had been collected around them. In
1857-8 the expenses for the National Gallery amounted to
£29,000, but the vote of this year was reduced to £9,000.
He was not actuated by any personal feeling towards
Sir C. Eastlake, by whom he had always been treated
with courtesy ; but a sense of public duty compelled him
to set forth the errors of his administration. Since 1845,
Sir Charles Eastlake had been attached to the National
Gallery in various capacities. He was appointed keeper
of the gallery, at a salary.of £2OO a-year, but he was soon
deprived of that office in consequence of the constant
attacks which were made on his administration. He gar-
chased a Holbein portrait which was a double counterfeit—
a counterfeit Holbein and a counterfeit work of art. This
picture cost £633. He also purchased a " Youthful Saviour"
and a " St. John" as Guido's, but they were described by
him (Mr. Coningham) as a disgrace to the National Gallery.
He also purchased for £2,604 a work as Titian's, which he
(Mr. Coningham) asserted to be spurious. The hon. gen-
tleman quoted extracts from the Examiner and the Westmin-
ster Review, in confirmation of his opinion of the bad admi-
nistration of the National Gallery under Sir C. Eastlake.
So much for the comments of the public press. He would
now quote Sir C. Eastlake against himself. On the 12th
November, 1852, he reported, " I approve of the result of
the cleaning of the Queen of Sheba," but in March,. 1853,
he wrote, "To my mind the Queen of Sheba has been too
much cleaned; the glaze or dirt has been taken off. It wants
dirt ; dirt answers the purpose of glazing, and is quite as
good." What was the opinion of Hogarth ? He said, "It
is absurd to talk of pictures being improved by time or
dirt." In May, 1853, Sir C. Eastlake recommended that
" The Annunciation" should be left without the glass, that
it might be improved by the dirt. He says, "I think the
dust will give it gusto." That was Sir C. Eastlake's opi-
nion of the cleaning process. As a specimen of his taste it
was only necessary to quote his remark that " early German
art was corrupted by the introduction of a classical taste."
Even Punch assailed the system ; he said, " Pictures care-
fully removed. Apply to the director of the National Gal-
lery., ' (A laugh.) Honourable gentlemen might laugh,
but it was their duty, as guardians of the public purse, to
look after this large source of expenditure. He would next
call attention to the eight pictures stated in the report to
have been purchased this year. The first was an Antonij
Moro, purchased from Mr. Nieuwenhuys ; that gentleman
was one of the most experienced dealers in London; and it
would have been easy to get a good picture from him instead
of giving £2OO for such a wretched vamped up specimen.
The next was :called a Moretto, purchased for £360; then
a Lippi and a Marco Zoppo, purchased for £2OO. The
next was a Marco Basaiti, purchased in Florence for £640
This was one of the results of the £6sopaid to the travelling
agent. There was not an inch of the original picture left.
The next a Zelotte, for £216; and last, was one called a
Palmezzano, which was nothing but a coarse, common -
place pictura by some tenth: or fifteenth rate artist. The
same system of management still went en, except that the
destruction of the pictures by cleaning had stopped—an
admission that the system was wrong. The management
made this country an object of ridicule on the continent.
When the agent arrived in any place the price of pictures
at once went up 500 per cent., and he never got anything
but the most indifferent specimens. £12,000 or £14,000
was paid at Venice for the Paul Veronese, and shortly
after an English amateur went over and purchased from
the same gallery several Titians and Giorgionis, each
of which was worth an acre of Veronese. The Paul
Veronese was] bought to cover the purcfigsn of
" The
Adoration of the Magi," which after being. handed
about for £2OO, was sold to the National Gallery for
£2,000. This subject was'one which would test whether
the Government were in earnest in their promises of re-
trenchment and economy ; and if he had made out his
case, the noble lord at the head of the Government was
bound not to oppose his resolution.
The motion not being seconded fell to the ground.
EDUCATION IN IRELAND.
Mr. HENNESEY called attention to the failure of the
system of mixed education in Ireland. He contrasted the
separate denominational sybitem in England with the mixed
system in Ireland, and showed that the latter had not ful-
filled the expectations formed from it, and had not identi-
fled itself with the spirit of the country. He adduced a
variety of facts to show that the results of the Queen's Col-
leges were in no way commensurate with the expense, that
their students
were attracted by an undue proportion of
scholarships
1 i oi‘rairti.olnvti
jo theiT Epjm
and rewards, and even with this inducement
had fallen off. He was, however, willing to trust for ame-
lioration Irish Governmment.
said that the College of Belfast,
with which he bad ,E 0
Derby
acquaintance, was not a failure.
The plans of Lord D this respect had not been car-
ried out. He entered hltOnseveral details to show what, in
hisMorp.inißronx,TtohNe sanystdemmroft
ot xtoort.
LD having made some
remarks.
Mr. ADDERLEY hopedttehamt tofheedtimucae wtionoulfdo
come
°r
theme t whenhre e
there would be a uniform sys
kingdoras.
Mr. MONSELL said that every person who had ffradu"
ated at the (queen's College had cost the country h-,--000.
Could any failure be more signal than this ?
Mr. LEFROY demanded that religious teaching should