in another, 700 in a third, 400 to 500 in a fourth; and
in the other 11 or 12 khans there were as many as made
up the number of 7000. Honourable mention is made
of the conduct of M. Lesseps, the French Consul, who
distinguished himself in his unceasing endeavours to
provide for the wants of the distressed, of whom he
received in his Consulate upwards of 200, and the
personal requirements of about 600 others he daily supplied.
An account three days later states that a reinforcement
of troops had arrived, that the fugitives were beginning
to return to their homes, and that an appearance of
tranquillity was restored, though there was still a strong
undercurrent of evil.
The latest accounts from New York are dated the
15th instant. The excitement caused by the operation
of the Fugitive Slaves Bill still continued, and serious
disturbances had taken place at Philadelphia and other
places. On the other hand, a great meeting had been
held in New York, at which leading citizens expressed
their regret that a measure regarded by the greatest
statesmen as a portion of a fair compromise, and declared
by them to be strictly constitutional, should now be
denounced as unjust and unconstitutional, and as
warranting resistance by physical force. A letter from Mr.
Daniel Webster gave his warm adherence to the
resolutions.
"The measure," he said, "is not such a measure as
I had prepared before I had left the Senate, and which,
of course, I should have supported if I had remained in
the Senate. But it received the proper sanction of the
two Houses of Congress and the President of the United
States. It is the law of the land, and as such is to be
respected and obeyed by all good citizens. I have heard
no man whose opinion is worth regarding deny its
constitutionality; and those who counsel violent resistance
to it, counsel that which, if it take place, is sure to lead
to bloodshed and to the commission of capital offences.
It remains to be seen how far the deluded and the
deluders will go on in this career of faction, folly, and
crime."
This demonstration at New York is said to have had
much influence on public opinion in the Northern
States.
NARRATIVE OF LITERATURE AND ART.
THE Laurel has been bestowed on Alfred Tennyson, and could not have had a worthier recipient. It
would be well if the detur digniori could be as certainly put in practice in every office. It is understood
that the offer was accompanied with an intimation that the usual birthday odes had been now for some
years discontinued; and whether or not this implies that they will not in future be expected, it is yet
satisfactory to feel that an ancient office which directly connects the highest person in the realm with its
literature is not altogether abolished. Certainly the salary was not worth saving. Originally it was a
hundred marks, which James the First raised to a hundred pounds and a tierce of canary, for poor old
Ben Jonson's sake. The tierce of canary is now commuted to some five-and-twenty pounds; but, nevertheless,
what with income-tax, land-tax, pension-fees, and other fees and taxes, the whole remuneration is little
more than ninety pounds. Another appointment of the past month has given equal satisfaction. Sir Charles
Eastlake is the new president of the Royal Academy, his talents and accomplishments having marked him
out without a competitor for that distinction.
The publication of new works has been more active
than usual, but very few books of importance are
discoverable among them. Not a small proportion have been
pamphlets and treatises connected with the current
agitation against popery, of which it would be a waste of
space even to transcribe the titles.
Miss Strickland has commenced a series of Lives of
the Queens of Scotland in the manner of her book about
the English queens, and with promise of an equal amount
of gossiping detail. A certain Baroness Von Beck
has published Personal Adventures in Hungary during
the late civil war, proving herself a heroine of some
of the most daring attempts and most marvellous
escapes on record. Another lady has given us a novel
of earnest and highly-wrought incident called Olive.
Nor will it be much out of place to conclude this list
of feminine achievements with the mention of a book
which Sir Francis Head has dedicated to the ladies, on
the Defenceless State of England. Its object is to show
what Lord Ellesmere formerly demonstrated, that if a
French army resolves to invade England, it can easily
do it; and when it reaches London, which there is
nothing to prevent, it will only have to walk in at one
end while everybody else is marching out at the other.
Lord Ellesmere himself has been meanwhile engaged
in the less alarming work of writing an agreeable
introduction to a translation of Michel Amari's War
of the Sicilian Vespers. Southey's Life and
Correspondence has been brought to a completion. A clever
little compilation of Narratives of Shipwrecks of the
Royal Navy, between 1793 and 1849, has been issued in
one volume. Another book has been added to the many
that may now be consulted for the terrors and enjoyments
of Sierra Leone. A treatise on the Distribution
of Wealth, by a Mr. Thompson, has been disinterred
from its sleep of a quarter of a century to show (which
was quite needless) that the French Socialists have
had English precursors. And from a profound rest of
nigh fourteen hundred years the Makamet of Hariri has
just been awakened by the translation of Mr. Preston, an
able English scholar. The design of this Eastern classic
was to display the vast resources of Arabic in a series of
rhythmical and metrical anecdotes containing all the
riches of the language, and illustrating its rare words,
proverbs, and figurative and enigmatic expressions.
From this the character of its interest may be estimated,
as well as those difficulties of translation which Mr.
Preston has mastered admirably.
The fact that the Keepsake has appeared once more
may still interest some readers. A sort of ghost of the
book of beauty in the shape of A Court Album which
visits us at the same time, and another volume of The
Drawing-room Scrap Book, are all of the once gay and
crowded ranks of "Annuals" which appear to have
survived the revolution in this kind of literature. Its
passing away leaves nothing to regret.
Mr. Macready is giving a series, or rather completing
the series which was interrupted by ill-health last year,
of farewell performances at the Haymarket Theatre.
He has appeared, during the month, in all his principal
characters, and has been received by crowded audiences
with the utmost enthusiasm.
The principal dramatic novelties produced during the
month have been Marston's play, Philip of France
and Marie de Meranie, at the Olympic; Slous's play,
The Templar, at the Princess's; Mr. Lemon's farce. The
School for Tigers, and Messrs. Brough's melo-drama,
Jessie Gray, at the Adelphi; and The White Hood at
the Lyceum.
Webster's tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi, has been
revived at Sadler's Wells, adapted to the modern stage
by Mr. Home.
The Marylebone Theatre has re-opened under the
management of Mr. Joseph Stammers.
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