NOTES AND QUERIES.
Aeraotoeens were not altogether wrong in attaching great im- portance to the moment of birth. The young Emperor of Austria is delighted at the expectation that an heir will be born to his throne ; and we may say that the circumstance tends to throw a peculiarly propitious light on the birth of that illustrious—boy, of course. The father is young ; so far as human probability goes he will be able to guide the future sovereign through the earlier years of his tutelage, even as our young King "hereafter "—Al- bert the First—is trained by our own gracious Queen and her hus- band. But further, the heir of Austria probably will be born not under the auspices of a Russo-Prussian alliance, with Metternich in the ascendant, but under the auspices of the Western Alliance, with the empire raising the standard of justice and national inde- pendence and the more modern and rational statesmanship of Buol- Sohanenslein in the ascendant. Perhaps the future Emperor may be the first or the second monarch in the constitutional sera of Austria.
It is an ill wind that blows nobody good, but some winds that blow us down may bring us health. The fire at Newcastle will probably -uproot a bad neighbourhood, and be as fortunate for that town as the Great Fire was to London ; with the additional ad- vantage, that the rebuilding will take place at a time when such processes are better understood than they were in King Charles's time. The calamity of Newcastle and Gateshead has afforded the occasion for one of those spontaneous acts of generous consideration Which are rather numerous in the present year. An ample fund has been provided to compensate the sufferers ; but it is remark- able that, speaking generally, the sufferers have responded to that generosity in a spirit worthy of it. The modesty of the claims for compensation is a subject of remark. Those who say that the poorer classes are greedy may recognize in this fact that which is the generosity of the poor, moderation of demand, and something yet finer—a clear spirit of truth even when a money profit is in question.
Lord John Russell is so much in the habit of being before his day in speoulation, although sometimes behind it in action that he is the hest English parallel that we know to French finance, which ealculates its profits for next year and paystm its deficiencies for last year. Other states, the Lord President of the Council con- fesses, have risen to greatness and luxury, and have always de- dined after their zenith ; but England, he expects, will be exempt from that fide. And why P—Because we have secured to our- selves perfect freedom of discussion, thought, and opinion. No man suffers for his opinion, Lord John says ; and there is a certain degree of truth in the saying. In virtue of a very recent statute, no man is disqualified for the enjoyment of civil rights because he cannot take a particular oath ; but Lord John's own colleague is still refused permission to sit in Parliament, because he differs With Lord John and the Speaker on the subject of a great histori- cal fact and a theological inference from that fact. Baron Lionel de Rothschild is not kept out of Parliament because he holds his peculiar doctrine on that point, but because he sass he does. If Lord John could reduce his own assertion to a bill of rights for conscience, the fact -would conform to his picture of English free- dom in thought and opinion. It is something, however, to find one leading man of the Cabinet thinking that we ought to be able to dismiss opinions, and not to put them down by declaring them mischievous, before we know -what they are, or arrive at a com- mon conclusion as to their tendency.
Ought not societies "for the suppression of vice" to consider the question raised at the Middlesex Sessions in two cases of prosecution the other day ? An association calling itself the "Associate Insti- tute for the Protection of Women" prosecutes two persons for inde- cent conduct to children. The society has no interest in the subject, no moral responsibility, and in such eases is simply a society to pro- secute. Now, if the prosecutor be released from the liabilities which ought to exist in restraint of the accuser, who will be free from pro- secution on the clorge of any infamous woman? We may ask a fur- ther question : if prosecutions are to be levelled at any man whose inconsiderate conduct may make himself liable to this species of speculation, will the ultimate result be only a wanton injury in- flicted upon such persons by the odium of having one's name at- tached to an infamous charge ? or will the courts of law be brought into contempt by becoming instruments for the worthless prosecu- tion?
Does not this case confirm the oft-asserted need for a public prosecutor ? The society may reply, and justly, that many women are assailed who have neither the, position, the friends, nor the means at hand to defend themselves ; and the kind of charity extended by this society must often be more valuable than relief for hunger or destitution. If virtue and a good name are of any value, how blessed must be the champion that supplies the means of defending both P—The society, however, is incapacitated for undertaking the duty, since it cannot fulfil the preliminary duty, which consists in exercising a judicial decision upon the prima facie case. The society will move where the very first mo- tion is an offence. A public prosecutor, being a competent lawyer with experience and the means of applying tests to prima facie statements, would not be liable to this incapacity ; and at the same time, his public position would in itself constitute a very grave responsibility.
Attention is drawn this week to the rise in the price of corn ; a movement not peculiar _in its cause to the present week. As
soon as the harvest was gathercd in, it was discovered that it was not in such condition of haldnees as to -do without some old wheat for mixing, and hence the old wheat on hand rose in price,—the first cause for somewhat abating the anticipation of extreme cheap- ness. Secondly, stooks had been exhausted, and not in this country alone but abroad : it has always been known, 'when a plentiful harvest succeeds a deficient harvest, that the blessing of plenty is not fully or positively felt, because deficiencies have to be made good and stocks have to be renewed. Thirdly, there was the ex- aggerated report of the deficiency in America, which is now known to have been partial, and has probably been compensated by the increased breadth of land sown with corn' especially with wheat. Are the other causes of uneasiness that accompany the rise of price peculiar to the week ? No; the American pressure upon us through Liverpool has not increased, the " stagnation " of the manufacturing districts has received no new cause. Over-pro- duction for the Australian market was equally known before and under free trade these mistakes will gradually be rectified by the natural recovery of trade.
Must we then revoke our thanksgiving for the abundant harvest, on discovering that the reduction of price will not exactly compen- sate the war expenses ? Far from it. The reduction of price from the rate which would have been, had the harvest been again scanty, will more than compensate the war expenditure in the mere cost of corn, besides the ease given to the trade of America, and the fa- cility lent to commerce at large. We can scarcely measure the boon in money, and the most impious miser would hesitate to re- voke his thanks.
The Americans have certainly struck out a totally new idea in the class of expositions. Commodities, works of art, specimens of produce, constructions of science—the entire fruits of human in- dustry—have hitherto been exhibited; but America proposes hu- manity itself, and begins at the beginning, with babies. Probably, the idea of a human exposition was suggested by a commodity with which Americans are familiar in the market. The babies are said to have been eminently successful; so we suppose that our friends will not stop at babies. What will be the next class of Yankees brought up for prizes?
It is a subject interesting in anticipation of the Paris affair in 1855. The descriptions current in American novels induce us to think that the most picturesque specimens of the community do not always cross the Atlantic hitherward : ought there not to 'be 's preliminary exposition on the other side to collect the finest speci- mens to represent America in the exposition of 1855 ? England will be fairly enough represented by Queen Victoria and scores of John Bull in all grades of society ; but the American is the article wo wish to see.
Practical men get up expositions for prizes ; poets get up ex- positions of examples ad evitanda ; and we suspect that this exposition would be a useful auxiliary to the other. Let 11B in England get up expositions of babies, say, from the poorest dis- tricts, the most ignorant hamlets, the lowest streets, the hardest- worked classes,—the progeny and its parents. It would be a startling display. If the other points to the objects -to be attained, might not this enable us to measure the distance -of the whole journey that we have to traverse, and hasten our steps ?
Is it possible to find the master passion which can govern that desperately erratic race the actors and actresses ? Is there such a power ? We suspect there is. The prosperous actor comes gaily before the smiling and applauding audience in a brilliant light night after night, their "slave." Like the illustrious re- presentative of the class, Roscius, be is brought by the tyrant power to his gay duties after his faculties have ceased, and -when display becomes exposure. Nevertheless, the actor has his im- pulses, he will at a moment's notice make a sudden rush to Aus- tralia; and as suddenly, "at request of friends" who print flaming requisitions in the papers, he will with all the dignity of a public statesman surrender his voyage, and not abandon a faithful country. He will place himself, even as if he were a prize horse, in the hands of a contractor. The daughters of the race are not less flighty. Rachel,' affer promising to perform a new part, and make the fortune of an admirer, discovers that she has not yet exhausted the classic repertoire, and will not be able to do so be- fore her powers depart. Cruvelli, who fascinates whole regiments of youths by one stroke of eye and may have the pick of hearts in the theatric parterre, suddenly bolts in pursuit of con- jugal retreat with a young Count—but then he is a Count. Is there, then, any master power which can command this capricious crew ? The French seem to have discovered the talisman. 'When an actor wanders from his duty, whether it be under the inspiration of fame, the dictate of love, the hunger of avarice, the desire for travel, the impetuosity of quarrel, or force of requisition, the French court knows how- to bring him to ac- count; it imposes a fine, apparently with some idea of rendering the forfeit equivalent to the particular object attained by the sally, thus compensating the loser and reading the defaulter a practical lesson in morals.
Is it possible, however, that even a French court can always find the money equation of actors' objects? What jury could ap- praise the fame of a "great tragedian"; how price a young Count husband ; how assess the genius of a Wagner in cur- rent coin ? Here lies the difficulty. Radhel may be fined for saving the reputation of an author anxious to damn himself; and Cruvelli may be mulcted for having incurred the most terrible punishment that an impulsive and independent soprano can invite.
Previous page
