The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-24 00:00:00

PHILHARMONIC HALL.

A SECOND ME'NDELSSOHN FESTIVAL,

AT
THOMAS'S CONCERTS. THIS EVENING,
the 24th instant.

Etbcrpoot tanbarti.

FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

MONDAY MORNING.

Ting prevailing dulness of the week was, in some
stieasmt, relieved on Saturday afternoon, by the communi-
cation of the answer of the CZAR to the four powers, hold-
ing -the Vienna propositions as incompatible with his
dignity, and serving only to divert attention from the
real question at issue--consequently their rejection. The
middle clause of the EMPEROR'S answer reminds one of
a couple of duellists : he hands over the four powers to
his friend GORTSCHAICOPF, as referee, if the Porte should
feel inclined to negotiate. The quarrel, moreover, is
declared by Nicsoeas to be one entirely between Russia
and Turkey, and must be settled by those two powers
alone. The EMPEROR wants a firman from the PORTE to
this effect. There is, apparently, little in this ; but it
means a great deal; so, at least, was its value considered
on its receipt, for straightway telegraphic wires communi-
cating with palace and club-house were set in action. It
led to much consternation in the evening, and the univer-
sal feeling was and is, that a hot war is now inevitable.
Among the on dits was the departure of Baron BauNow,
He is still among us; but those best acquainted with
every phase of the present state of affairs, in connexion
with the all-absorbing question, will not guarantee the
presence in England of the above-named celebrated diplo-
matist another week. Formerly the Baron was "the ob-
served of all observers." I may safely assert that he
never dined alone; the parties at the Embassy were all
but continuous, being seldom or never broken, save by
the absence of the noble lord and his beautiful and ac-
complished wife, at the table of PALMERSTON or MALMES-
minor, when that minister was in office, or some other
distinguished functionary. Now, and for some time past,
matters have been changed : Baron BRUNOW is seldom
heard of, and more seldom seen. It is very true that
neither park nor play-house have had much inducements
for such a display on the part of so distinguished a member
of haul ton. These, however, do not account for his
seeming seclusion. Furthermore, his name is never
mentioned (aloud) in Downing-street.
I remember in one of these communications referring
to that extraordinary man, Admiral NAPIER, and men-
tioned how close he kept in the Portugal affair some years
ago ; and how he went over and played the deuce with the
adverse party. Lord Joss RUSSELL, in no measured
terms, long after that affair, and indeed having no refe-
rence to it, spoke and wrote of the gallant admiral's want
of discretion—undoubted valour, to be sure, he could
eiahh as his own ; but he was indiscreet, quoth Lord Join(
•—disclosed too many sores, referring to the Whig Board
of Admiralty, which " Nappy" had at his fingers' ends.
As a sop, they gave him the superintendence of the build-
ing of that huge, bellying steamer, the Sidon, now known
among sailors—as I think I have stated before—by the
soubriquet of " Drunken Charley," from its rolling so.
NAPIER has been quiet for a long time—a long time for
him, or indeed for any NariEn, for they are all one in
regard to impatience under imputation, however ground-
less. I rather imagine I have good authority for stating
that at this moment we have an example of Admiral
NAPIER'S discretion, for they say a fool is accounted wise
when he holds his peace. The comparison is not by any
means intended to apply to Sir C. NAPIER ; but if he
would speak at present, he could give some information
touching operations and plans contemplated with reference
to Turkey and Russia. In fine, is it true that he has had
orders to hold himself in readiness to aid Admiral DUNDAS
in the Black Sea ? The Sunday papers are all silent on
the subject, though it is whispered among two or three
who ought to be in the secret, that NAPIER is really on
the qui vire once more. In naval circles, the other day,
the command of the combined fleet being ceded by
Dermas to the French Admiral was the theme ; it ap-
pears that etiquette is stringent—the Frenchman Admiral
is the older sailor, hence precedency gives him the position
of leader. Ministers are now really preparing for en-
connter—they find that " a peace at any price" must no
lower be the motto, hence it may be that NAPIER is airing
his cocked hat, which he has not had on for a long time.
Happily for our sailor officers, when they attend a levee of
the First Lord at the Amiralty, they are not very strict ;
and you may be sure that " the old Commodore" goes as
seldom as he can to levees in that direction, and when he
does that he is not very scrupulous about costume. A few
days will let all out. What I have stated may interest
your readers.
I met old Sir JOHN Ross the other day. He is creeping
about. Sailors are droll fellows, and Ross is of the
number. I verily believe that, though apparently still
frost-bitten by his Arctic detention, he fancies that he
could help to settle the Russians as soon as most men.
He was absolutely with the Prime Minister a day or two
ago ; poor fellow !—to whom is the phrase applied, ABER-
DEEN or Ross ?—" whichever you like," as the showman
said. Sir Jouw one would take as belonging to any pro.
fession but that of the navy, if I except the wonderful
development of the upper process of the os frontis, which
characterises all sailors of any experience or service ; they
eye far back, the pent-house brow, beetling above it,
and puckered forward, caused by frequent and intense
" looking out," are very conspicuous in Sir JOHN Ross.

Apropos, the London Gazette contains a melancholy
announcement which might, it is considered, be deferred a
little longer—so the sailors say—that if intelligence be
not received before the 31st of next March, of the officers

and crews of her Majesty's ships Erebus and Terror being
alive, the names of the parties will be removed from the
Navy list and the parties be considered as dead. Pay
and wages then to cease. lam not saying that the an-
nouncement causes any other feeling than one of sorrow
among our gallant tars, of whom, by the bye, there are a
considerable number now in town. If hostilities in real
earnest do occur, and of which the sailors have no doubt,
they the hostilities will be essentially of a naval
character.

Talking of sailors, reminds me that at the Admiralty
there is much apprehension caused by the continued ab-
sence of accounts of the Madagascar. It is now going on
for seven weeks since a word has been heard of her.
To matters of a civil character—the handful of ballot-

admirers who belong to the Reform Club—they are to be
found nowhere else—were by no means tickled at dinner,
on Saturday, with Mr. COBDEN'S delectable speech at
Sheffield; his "ringing the changes"—l give you the
phrase used upon those places not first, certainly

—with the exception of America—in an intellectual
point of view—l mean America (which I have kept
out of the category),—France, Belgium, Spain, Sar-
dinia, &c., as examples of the efficacy of the ballot, is
looked upon as anything but happy illustrations. His hit
at Sheffield may have been smart. Was it judicious to

praise the countries mentioned, or one or either of them

at the expense of the morality—the intellectualities, and
so forth—of the " Sheffield blades ?" Mr. COBDEN ven-
tured to say that there has been more violence and more

loss of life at elections in Sheffield since the last Reform
Bill than there have been in the United States since the
formation of the Federal Union seventy years ago. How-
ever, ballot, which Mr. COBDEN will never see, is to cure
everything. Some gentlemen who were compelled to be
at the banquet consoled themselves with a beefsteak after
it was over. Tea, and fruit, and sandwich at a banquet !
It was a reform banquet, perhaps that was the reason.
Of a very different description was Rinwita liirrxoN's
speech at Edinburgh, so too were the auditors, I admit.
As we are going to have the literary baronet's speech pub-
lished, let me not anticipate, or impair. Sir LYTTON is
becoming every day a living example of the truth of LEIGH
lIHNT'S observation, that polished diction is the character-
jstic of old writers. The Baronet has certainly made
more than a name by his labours of love in the field of
literature. I believe I speak his sentiments when I state
that he would not accept £lOO,OOO for the "good will"—
a out and out"—of his works. He has already touched
£6O,
000• He is looking thin, but otherwise well. I think
he has left off water and taken to a better cure. 31ACAULAY
has been very secluded during these holidays—literature
he says is the business and pleasure of his life—nothing
seems to keep down the obesity of his remarkable wing.
Switzerland a month or two ago seemed to have thinned
him down a little, but he again thickens apace.
You may depend upon it, we shall soon hear of £O,OOO
or £30,000 being asked—if the Coalition remain in power—
for divers and sundry additions to the British Museum.
" Visto have a taste"—Proh Pudor!
The Earl of ABERDEEN, the head of the Cabinet, was long
the
certainly of the Antiquarian Society, where the fine arts
Par re not either much studied or cultivated ; he is
excellence the " travelled Thane," and really knows
something
about
architecture and so forth. Happily .for
him, IAIAELBS 'R
new palace at Westminster,
the architect of the never-ending
the public may rest ster, is the noble earl's friend, and
he ass as I have indicated, that there
is something in t
national edifice. I know
forth ? as feelers.
tl:e:7Fing to the above-named
e is' Why those nice draw-
onoY 100 k remarkably pretty
paper ; but it is something ta neat and showy
elevation on mill-board, like a schoolboy—another
in bricks and
morti—another to deal
with the real thing r, Additions are

being contemplated—designed for the British Museum,
now externally more resembling the facade of a Rajah's
palace, with those huge golden rails in front, than the
quiet abiding-place of literature, natural history, and the
arts. The trustees of the Museum are the cosiest men in
the world, as they are unquestionably of the highest ;
few of them attend, and then only on visits—'`few
and far between." The room in which they hold
their sittings is befitting their dignity ; they rarely
visit the public rooms—never the cellars—these recep-
tacles, or their contents would—if they could—tell
a startling tale of smut Megatherium, or huge Iguano-
don—huger Megalosaurus ! But to my purpose more
immediate. Ido not agree with the sharp and taxing wit
of WASHINGTON IRVINE, who puts the readers a beg
Pardon, students,) in the library of the Museum as so
many pirates ; and asking them what they would think,
were the real departed authors, whose works were being
nibbled at, to look down upon them—living on the Elk's
brain ! There are no works worth mentioning, now pub-
lished—comparatively speaking—which partake much of
rifacimento—rechauffe—hash—warmed up again. Time
was, and not far removed the period, when we had capital
elementary books so concocted. A series of them were
written by a clever untiring writer, now no more, on the
earth, the heavens, the waters under the earth, birds,
beasts and fishes thereon and therein. These are valuable
collations. The Library of the British Museum is now
referred to for dates and references —no copying —no
adaptation of former and defunct writers, in ideas. The
BENTLEYS and BLACKWOODS, the HIIRSTS and BLACK-
ETTS, the CHAPMAN and HALLS, -the whole Row, in
short, won't touch compilation, however skilfully dis-
guised, or cleverly served up. Writers now must deal
in the original articles, and draw chiefly from their wit
and learning. By so much the more ought the otherwise
magnificent apartments to be madewholesome ! Take every
public building I am aware of—know anything of—from
below the level of the Thames, including Somerset House
and the Tower of London, and there are nasty places in
both there is not to be experienced such unqualified
stench—heated fetor—as that which pervades the read-
ing-rooms referred to, and swallowed at every inhalation
by hundreds of studious people, great numbers of whom,
if I judge by hectic glow, or pallid cheek, are valetudina-
rians. They sigh, and turn over the page of some burly
writer of ancient days—cry shame, go away—apprehensive
of syncope—eat their dinners they can't. Why is this ?
Because everybody's business is nobody's. Let me direct
attention to the duplicates. What is done with them, is
a question a thousand times asked. At no period of the
history of English literature has there been so many
issues of the same work • how many, for example, of
Uncle Tones Cabin 7 One of each is sent to the British
Museum, otherwise Mr. PANIZZI is down upon the for-
getful publisher. Then again comes the coin arrange-
ment : who sees the coins ?—the minerals ? Are they
arranged after the manner of BERZELICS, the Swedish
chemist, whose system not one English scholar out of a
million understands ? I put the questions, and might
answer them. However, we are going to have another
grand and expensive job.
Sir ROBERT PEEL—the man of many monuments to his
memory—among them the income-tax !—was a farmer
after a sort. When he refused land relief, be eulogised—
bulls, not of Bashan, but one of Tamworth—bragged of
science agricultural—of how much it could achieve—abro-
gation of corn laws—Pooh! Reduction of prices would be
more than a hundred-fold compensated by culture—
science, phosphates—the latter word first time ever heard
in the English parliament ! Phosphates ! manure of
penguin and penguin feathers commingled—dead yet
fructifying guano ! These and other dirty details the
right hon. baronet dealt in—potent antidotes to poverty
in purse, and scant in barn-yard. They have failed, and
distress—the like of which has not been known these forty
years—is somewhere, though all but in Devonshire,
unspoken of. Great-hearted, long-suffering poor of Eng-
land ! I have seen the income-tax Sir ROBERT PEEL
have handed to him a score of goodly ears of wheat at
the table of the house, when he was Minister, and backing
up RICHARD COBDEN, the quack—nicely exposed by the
lad who whistled at the pIough—SOMERVILLE ; Sir
ROBERT felt the ears of the golden produce; he knew they
were of more importance to him at the time than as many
divisions against him. No Minister was aware of the
value of a good harvest better than Sir ROBERT ; however,
he is gone, and though we have scientific farming—
though Mr. Miccui irrigates and makes his acres smell
strong—though Mr. Pm Lir Pu SET presides at the Agricul-
tural Society, and the Duke of RICHMOND looks on,—we
are all paying war prices for our porridge. We have not
now a single farmer in our Ministry ; time was when they
were all of that class. ALTHORPE, Chancellor of the
Exchequer, took the prizes for his short-horns—Tnuso,
Lord Chancellor, a Virgil in farming, though he knew not
a word of the old man's bucolics—say Georgics—
.

Nec fuit indignum superis bis sanguine riostro
Emathiam et tacos Hcerni pinguescere Campos.
Enough science is good,—culture either of mind, body, or
acres, good ; it has done nothing for us this year, notwith-
standing what repeal of the corn laws and the Agri-
cultural Society say to the contrary. Great complaints
are laid at the door of certain " rogues in grain" not far
from Mark-lane. We shall see.

The theatres remain in statu quo—BucrsToNE work-
ing hard at the Haymarket, only drawing tolerable houses,
and to-night he tries his hand at
" High tragedy sweeping by,"

Fazio with Miss CIISIMAN, and Hows as the hero of the
play—a clever actor in his way, but he has not the seve-
rity of style, so to speak, which I apprehend is necessary
for a proper rendering of the classic drama. Young VAN-
DENHOF F, it is stated, refused the role. The entertain-
ment that appears to be most profitable, least expensive,
and most popular, is the literary, musical, and pictorial
illustrations : the Mont Blanes, Constantinoples, Songs,
and Sayings, &c. SAX LOVER'S, for example, the other
evening, was thronged by thousands ; and to-night young
KENNY, son of the well-known dramatist, now no more,
makes his first bow as a lecturer, with pictorial illustration,
in a new exhibition touching eonstantinople ; the spoken
part written by ALBERT SMITH and SHIRLEY BROOKS.
This is kind of these two thriving litterateurs towards

the son of an old friend, who did not leave us very rich.
It may be remembered that he died on the evening of a
benefit got up for him, and before the performances were
over. 1 learn great things of the forthcoming opera sea-
son at the old house—Her MAJESTY'S in the Haymarket.
Much is hinted at sub rosa, for even those immediately
connected with the establishment are mum. I shouldn't
be surprised to hear JENNY LIND there again; all the
world knows that she is a warm-hearted creature, and she
owes a turn to the late impresario, who has suffered much
in his campaigns in this house. JENNY is improved in
health, and it may be will be able once more to stand the
excitement of dramatic singing, the effects of which had
more than once frightened her friends, on her retiring
after sustaining an opera; hence her confining herself to
the execution of concert music. They say that great
musical declaimer—she is not a singer—Viennox--is not
coming here; and SONTAG is far up among the woods of
America, making her notes tell. COSTA, a great orchestra
favourite, it is also stated, retires ; and it is not quite cer-
tain that the illustrious gros de Naples, LABLACIIE, will
make the welkin ring with his glorious voice. LiBLA.CRE
pere is well to do, oldish, fond of ease and of good roast
ribs of beef—at least, when here I can vouch for the
wholesome fact, and, though his voice was as sound as a
bell, notwithstanding what musical cynics said to the con-
trary, he may retire and with him the last of the great
school. Poor English opera seems doomed; its professors
also are pretty nearly all away. JOHN BARNETT has taken
up his abode in Paris, and WILLIAM BALPE is even fur-
ther away.