The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-28 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

Tuesday night Madame Frezzolini Poggi made herapi,;arance
at this theatre in Bellini's opera of Beatrice di Tenda. This
lady, who for some years has been the reigning prima donna
of Italy, does not come to us with all her professional honours
fresh upon her, or quite dans sa premiere jeunesse. She is,
however, in the full maturity of her powers, both as a vocalist
and actress, and may justly rank amongst the ornaments
of the stage. Her figure is rather above the middle
height, and graceful ; her physiognomy combining, in an
oval contour, eyes large and dark, a delicately formed
nose, in the slightest degree aquilit.e, lips in harmony,
and a pale olive complexion has every faculty for the pre-
possessing indic•ition of expression. Madame Frezzolini's voice
is of very agreeable quality, taking something of a middle place
between that of Persiani and Grisi, with more of tone than the
former, less of power than the latter. In brilliancy of execu-
tion it has not been as freely gifted by nature or accomplished by
art as either. It is, however, essentially melodious. Mad. Free-
zolini is also an actress of considerable power, but it must be
said that her style is strongly, obviously tit. ctured with the
artificial, and thus Rot a little enfeebled. She was received
with much warmth on her tirst appearance, and went through
the scena " Respiro io que" with much feeling. Her con_
eluding scena, " Ah ! se un urns," with its two contrasted
movements, was executed by her with a degree of spirit and
delicacy that made it quite a crowning display, and won a
most zealous recognition of its impression. On the fall of the
curtain, Madame Frezzolini had to come forth and ..ceeive the
usual tribute to which favourites on these boards are so familiar.
Signor Ronconi took the part of Filippo, and personated the
character with much e►tergy, if but little elegance.
The house was crowded. Her Majesty, els Royal Highness
Prince Albert, and her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent,
occupied the loyal box.

We extract the following from a letter from Oran,
April 11, in the Constitutionnel :—" In the late combat with
General Bedew:, Abd-el-Kader commanded about 5,000 men,
and had under his orders a chief renowned for his talents and
bravery, named Abdallah-Ben-Semoun. This man, who is a
native of Fez,*received larg.: sums from Abdul-Kader for join-
ing his party, as the Emir hoped by his means to effect a
rising in the west. The brave conduct of the French troops
put a atop to all these plans, and Abdallah-Ben-Sernoun de.
termined on retiring. He could riot, however, make up his
mind to depart without committing some robberies. He passed
over to the Beni-Hourni and the Ouad-Thaia, at the extreme
frontier, and pillages! those unfortunate tribes too weak to offer
him resistance. General Bedeau is now in pursuit of these
bands. Should our Government send to Sultan Muley-Abder-
Haman to complain of the conduct of his subjects, the fact of
these troops being inhabitants of the territory ot Morocco will be
denied. The chief, who commanded the K'abyles of Morocco,
not showing any distinctive mark of his country, it will be no
easy matter to prove the fact of his being a subject of Morocco.
But this is no new case. In 1836, just before the combat of
the Tarna, Abd-el•Kader was wandering about with 50 horse-
men, apparently abandoned by the tribes, when on a sudden he
made his appearance with 12,000 men, and forced back Gen.
Darlan.e with the loss of the tenth part'ef our troops. Hoer
did the Emir procure these troops? We learnt how after the
battle, far the men lying dead were nearly all from Morocco,
and the cartridges were all of English make. If on the late
occasion General Bedeau had been repulsed like General Dar-
lange, the consequences might have been disastrous, for the
conquest of the country, although far advanced, will not be
definitive until the last shot shall have been fired. A single re-
verse on our side would be qua° sufficient to re-establish the
fortunes of the Emir. If we were satisfied in 1836 with the
excuses made by Morocco, shall we be equally so in 1812? The
array hopes the contrary::

61.1A-NITE. The beautiful light tint and fine tex-
ture of the granite of Dartmoor, and the almost unlimited size
of the blocks in which it is procurable, together with the ft-
! edifies which exist for procuring and transporting it, are
ritpidly bringing granite into use in the place of stone of inferior
qualities. The ease with which the Fogginton p.,,rznite may be
worked, and .the magnitude arid regularity of form of the blocks
in u hich it is detached in the quarry, together with the economy
of its transit, often obtain fur it a preference to Scotch granite,
which had hitherto almost commanded the market. The
western face of London-bridge is of Dartmoor, and the eastern
face of Scotch, granite. Fine specimens of the firmer are to
he found in the basements of several importa'tt public buildings
an London erected of late years; it is employed in the new
buildings of the Fire-offices nowt in progress near the Bank of
England, and we understand that some of the 7anlte required
at the Royal Exchange is .11.16 'supplied from the Fogginton
quarry. The pedestal ot' the NelSbn column in Trafalgar-square,
is built of Fogginton granite, and the whole of the strueture is to
he of the same material. The slowness of progress of this
column, of which we hail thought the public had reason to
complain,_ Was occasioned by a strike of the quarry masons in
London against the eminent contractors who are engaged in the
arit material na
pedestal,teriaw
execution of the work; but this has now been obviated. The
sanf
byillforrn the statue of King William the Fourth
n
about to be erected itnhteheyocuirtigy. and fast-rising sculpt or, N ixon,

110

• Scarcely has it fallen to our lot to record the departure from
this busy' scene of affairs of Senor Aguado, the celebrated' fitian-
cer of Spain, than the decease of M. Humann, who was
equally wdi known as the chief actor iii a similar sphere in
France, compels us to repeat the melancholy intelligence.
M.- Humann was born in Alsace, which, at the time of his
birth, was accounted a province of the empire, but by the
recent division has been • split into two departments. M.
Humann passed his early da)s on the banks of the Rhine, which
traverses that country, and occasionally made visits to the
borders of Switzerland and Lorraine.
A spirit of traffic and travel seems early to have inspired
him, and leaving the corn and tobacco-'rowing districts of his
native place, he proceeded at once to the capital of France to
exercise his talents as a me. chant.
He soon became the master of a large mercantile depot,
which, while it advanced his pecuniary interests, tended also
to bring out, by the nature of its affairs, the quick and stirring
abilities requisite for a creditable accountant and negotiator.
By a variety of circumstances, M. Humann formed for him-
self a large aNuaintance with the" Ministerial men of the day.
His talents as an able financier because more and more ac-
kaowledged, in the advice and guidance which he not unfre-
quently rendered them ; and finally he himself had the ambition
to aspire to, and at length to gain, a seat in the Cabinet in this
capacity.
•I'he uniettled state of affairs in France towards the eose of
the year 18:32, and •the Inistile discussions in the Chambers,
caused at length a change of Ministry, which ended in the entry
into office on the I lth of October, of the first 'niers Ministry,
and of which M. Humann wa's first appointed Minister of
Finance ; and his tables and treasury accounts on this oceasion,
and on all hands, were allowed to be ably and satisfactorily
drawn up.
In the same capacity, M. Trumann continued to appear in
the Cabinet of the 25th of December, and in that of the 4th of
April, during the Ministry of 1834. It was on one of these
occasions, when great changes were about to be introduced as
regarded the economy of the nation, that his usual silence gave
nay to an excellent display: of 9pitech. He had laid the ex-
penses of the budget on the table, Which had been prepared by
commissioa, and expressed his conviction, that in the actual
state of things it was impossible to suppress more than ten mil-
lions of francs of the budget; and after commenting on the
possibili:y of change, added
" Yes, gentlemen, cue could say in 1789, when it was neces-
sary to destroy the feudal edifice ; one could say in 1800, when
it was necessary with the ruins of the feudal edifice to construct
a modern edifice ; and one could say daily with ease, we must
change these systems.' But to-day, after so many wars. after
the Revolution, after Napoleon, after five years of representative
Government, it is iniquitous and absurd to think of further
change of system. Isio, gentlemen, our Constitution is at
present formed, and our labour must be to perfect its structure,
and it is for this, that, after months of labour, a con.mission of
conscientious men, working under my superintendence, have
found it neither possible nor advisable, to economise at the ut-
most more than ten millions of francs."

The measure which brought M. Humann as a financier most
before the publ c, was that which occurred in the January of
1836, when the violent agitation in the Cabinet, which his
measures produced, brought on some very decisive effects :
On the 14th of that month, M. Huniann made his annual
statement of the national accounts, and in doing so, though he
did not propose any measure, he expressed a strong opinion in
favour of reducing the Five per Cents. to a Four per Cent.
Stock, by paying off those •who might dissent from the reduc-
tion, and he considered it a favourable opportunity and time for
so doing. The economical results of the plan were at least
palpable,, but hie, opponents urged against it considerations
which, though in a certain degree descrying of attention, were
perhaps such as should not be allowed to predominate over the
• gre tt interests of the country.
This expression of opinion gave great offence to the Prime
Minister and to some others of 2.1. Humann's colleagues.
Ministers knew that the Five per Cent. Stock was princi-
pally for investments ; its holders were almost all to be
be found in Paris, in the class of shopkeepers and
others who formed the National Guard. There was
a strong disinclination, • therefore, in the M nistry, to
do anything which, by touching the pockets, might cool the
patriotism of that numerous and important class. It had been
agreed in the Cabinet that no plan for the conversion should
be proposed; but M. Humann, who on every occasion had
openly declared in the Chamber the propriety and urgency of
the measure, thought himself bound to state now that his views
had undergone no change. The President of the Council,
hewever, and the majority of his colleagues blamed him highly
for having gone so far in mating his opinion, without having
previously informed theni of his intention. M. Humane,
hereupon, immediately tendered his resignation, which was
accepted, and on the 18th of January, Count d'Argout was
named Al inister of Finance in his place.
But further explanati,ns regarding this occurrence were
called for in the Chamber of Deputies, and this measure did
not merely turn out a finance. Minister, but immediately gave
.1.1. Humana ample revenge by turning out the whole Cabinet.
The proposal was too reasonable and useful rot to be a general
favourite. A hot debate of:two days ensued, and on a division
of the Chamfer the Government was left its a minority of two,
192 Members having voted for adjourning the ques-
tion, and 194 against it. All the Ministers immediately
repaired to the 'Tuileries and placed their resignations
it: the hands of the King. On the formation of a
new Ministry Count d'Argoutstillcontinued Finance Minister.
A long black of tire years then occurs, in which he was totally
out of office, till the 29th of October, 1840, when he came in
with the new Administration. By the above enumeration,
therefore, it tell appear that M. Humana has been Minister
of Finance in seven Cabinets out of the nineteen which have
been formed and dissolved since 1830.

M. Humann's sup,,ort of the pretensions of the French Poe-
office, brought hint within thew few days prominently before
the public. Two successors are spoken of in his place, Al.
Lacave Laplagne, and M. Duchatel.