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904 THE LEABER. [No. 441, September 4,18...
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RELATIONS WITH .FRANCE. The English news...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Painting And Glazing. The Proceedings At...
" . equipollent / ' We do not concur in the view taken by some journals , which aim at smartness rather than fairness , that the rich man whobuys sham original pictures is a fool and a dolt , and being a fqoTand a dolt , that he is the proper prey of the knave . It is fortunate fofcpictoriat art- ~ a luxury born of superfluous -wealth—that the rich trader or the well-acred gentleman is disposed to create an outlet for his superabundant cash by the formation of a picture-gallery . If he discover , after having expended thousands in adorning his residence with pictures , that he has been cheated by the dealerthat spurious daubs have been palmed upon him for orisrinals— -surely he is not fairly open to censure or
abuse anymore than any ordinary mortal would be who had been imposed upon by a forged bank-note or a Bristol diamond . The knowledge of pictures is a special acquirement ; it can only be possessed by a painter , or by a dealer who has served his apprenticeship to the trade . To common-place persons the difference between a wellexecuted copy and an original is a sealed book—the distinction between a work of high art and a work of common merit , a mystery . Buyers of pictures for their own private delectation must , in a great , measure , depend on the judgment and truthfulness of others , and , if a naked fraud is practised upon them , instead of being held up to ridicule in the public press , and a verdict of " served him right" snapped from Ihe public , they ought to have the same redress and sympathy which the law affords in all other
very much less than 50 , 000 / . was paid for forged p ictures that would be dear at 10 , 000 / . Another is of more recent date . An artist , Mr . A ., was invited to view . the newly-formed picture-gallery of a rich millowner in the north . The courteous proprietor pointed out to his notice a warranted original " Landseer . " The artist quietly remark ed , " Laudseer ' s original is in the Sutherland collection . " A second warranted oiigiual LinneH was shown . " That is not a Linnell , " replied Mr . A . ; " the name of the painter is to be found in the corner . " This -was found to be the fact . " Then , " said the mortiGed collector to his visitor , to whose person lie was a stranger , " here is a genuine picture by A- . " "I never put a brush on the canvas , " was the reply .
The system , we trust , is now thoroughly blown , and will" be possibly extinguished . Those who are in pursuit of justice are on the right trail . Some half-dozen of the most notorious of the picture " duffers" are likely to take their place side by side with the Barneses . This prosecution is but the preliminary to several others , the beginning of a series . We trust the mutter will be well followed up . It will purify the atmosphere of the picture trade . It will serve the interests of the respectable dealers—there are many of the highest honour , judgment , and respectability ^—and it will benefit , art and artists by rendering the rich patrons of art less suspicious of being defrauded in their gencrons outlavs .
cases of imposition . . It appears that Mr . Peter laid out somewhere about 16 , 000 / . with these Barneses— -a tolerably handsome sum—and we suspectj had the pictures really been what they were represented to be , not very far short of their market value The pr ice of pictures , however , is purely arbitrary . A painter may thankfully receive 50 / . for a picture , when iioViii fashion , which may fetch 500 / . or 1000 / . when in fashion . An old master may be neglected and go for an old song at one period , at another his works may be sought after eagerly by collectors and fetch fabulous prices . The same master may again fall into neglect , and his pictures may be again only saleable for an old song . We have said thus much because we think that Mr . Peter has
been unfairly used by a portion of the press in tiie Guildhall business . But we do not desire to comj nent on the case at the police-court , but to draw attention to some facts connected with the business of picture-dealing . We set out broadly with stating that for years past there have been manufactories of modern old pictures and original copies constantly at work . Italy is the principal seat of this' manufacture ; the staple articles of export to the Continent are spurious antiques and copies of old masters . The monopolv has not been confined to Italy . We have added " this kind of skilled labour to our Catalogue
of profitable industries . Among dealers there would be no difficulty in procuring the addresses of half a dozen artists , English and foreign , whose sole occupation is to make copies of old and modern pictures by established reputations , such copies being ordered for the galleries of certain well-known " duffing" dealers and the rooms of certain wellknown " duffing" auctioneers . It is through these agencies that tho mansions and picture-galleries of our gentry become stufl ' ed with what the owners foudly imagine are first-class originals , and which they have paid for as such . 1
It is time that ' tlie picture-buying public should be advised that there is a gang of picture-dealers known as " duffers , " whoso whereabouts is sometimes in Regent-street , sometimes in neighbouring streets , sometimes in the City , all well supplied with sham originals , which they try by every possible scheme to get into the lianas of some kindred Peter ¦ with more wealth than wisdom . A bond Jide purchaser cannot enter one of these auction rooms but he is marked at once and victimised . Tho seeming bidders are all confederated with tho mock auctioneer , and if « sale is effcoted , they receive a pcr-centape jm ^ cojAditionof ' not " splitting " on tho swindle .
The unwary buyer is not even periv < i'ttM ^ to ^^ c 7 rper with the first loss . He is watched home , mid then regularly beset by the gang . The same thing occurs if "ho visits one of the gaUorics of tho "dulling " dealor . He is watchea to his rosidenco , besiegod with visits , and bargains of warranted originals pressed upon him . The number of such victims is something astonishing , and the vast sums they have been swindled out of would appear fabulous if mentioned . One case has come to our noticeihtit of a rich sugar-broker—wlicro a sum not
904 The Leaber. [No. 441, September 4,18...
904 THE LEABER . [ No . 441 , September 4 , 1858 .
Relations With .France. The English News...
RELATIONS WITH . FRANCE . The English newspaper , ' the - Leader ^ was seized on Sunday at the Paris post- office . —Paris Correspondents . Tite above notice appeared in the majority of our daily contemporaries on Tuesday last . We are not surprised that tlie frankness of our commentary on the recent speech of M . Eersigny should have been distasteful to tlie French political police . ¦ "• Neither is it for its to ' complain of the means summarily resorted , to for suppressing the utterance of sentiments like ours within the confutes of the empire . M . Tcrsigny tells us that
interference with the press and other measures of an exceptional kind are justified by the sense of selfconservation . The status quo , though blessed and brilliant beyond all compare , could not be secure against domestic agitation were all men permitted iu France , as in England and America , to write and read every one what secmeth good in his own eyes The Paris journals have consequently not been permitted to discuss in detail . the pregnant topics of the ex-ambassador ' s address to his department ; and The Leader being almost the only English journal that on Saturday lust undertook to analyse
its statements and to expose its fallacies respecting the alliance between the countries , was seized by tlie functionaries of the post-office at the frontier . Conscious as we arc of the utter absence on our part of any desire to weaken or undermine the existing Government of France , we can only view the apprehension thus manifested as an evidence of bureaucratic palpitation which would be ludicrous were it not lumentable . But fear proverbially wears magnifying glasses , and suspicion sees awry . Where silence is the rule , and the spirit is ill at ease within itself , the hastily caught and half
understood accents of remonstrance .,, however calm , or rebuke however mild , cause perturbation and alarm . It is said that a system of telegraphic communication has been organised here , by NVWelji the political police on the other side of tho Qhannol arc advertised of everything which appears in any English newspaper of influence , reflecting on the conduct of the imperial Government , within an hour after its publication ; and that by this means its circulation within tho confines of the empire is easily prevented . What a confession of inherent weakness and self-distrust is here !
For us , meanwhile , the path of honour and of duty 13 too plain to bo mistaken . Wo aro not responsible for the blindness of those who keep the prison doors of thought inexorably barred upon a gvea 1 r aud ^ gcnei'ous ^ peoplGt--jQiUU » G ^^ have nothing to say that is not consistent with kindliness and respect . With the peevish criticisms liko thoso of Mr . Roebuck on the ooslumo of fishermen , or with , ill-natured and ignorant ) bpustings liko thoso of Mr , Lindsay regarding the comparative longevity of a French anann English'lino * of . battle ship engaged in mortal combat , wo have no ' sympathy whatever . Wo have blushed as wo perused the eloquent and manly reproof administered to gasconades of this description by a writer
in the Journal des- " JDebats , who truly asks , Could English representatives find nothing better to say of what they saw at Cherbourgj nothing more worth y of the just pride of England in her . maritime preeminence , or more worthy of the rival with whom they profess to desire peace , but whose rumoured preparations against the contingency of war they caine uninvited to see ? Had we the power , we would not suffer a syllable to be written or spoken oa this side of the water ^ calculated to wound national susceptibility on tlie other . But far less would we tolerate a double-faced system on the part of our Government , Whereby , while ' officially
professing confidence and amity , a mitralUe hii pitoyable of aspersion and abuse was kept iip in semi-official pamphlets , speeches , letters , and journals against—not a neighbouring Government , but a neighbour ing nation . It is because we find Louis Napoleon carrying on this double game of fair speech in the salon and bitter recrimination in the brochure and the barrack-room , that we are constrained to distinguish between his personal loyalty to peace , and that of the country lie governs . And it was because we found in the highly artificial language of Count Pcrsigny
specious protestations of ¦ inoffensive , emulation with England , while we remembered but too vividly the bullying tone of this very same man when the Conspiracy " Bill was pending , six short months ago , that we took the liberty of hinting that we hoped aud believed the alliance of the two nations rested on something far more solid than the diplomatic accord of Downiugstrcct and the Tuileries . Two additional voices have made their accents heard in France since that of M . Persigny . Tlve one is that of Count Morny , who equally claims to know and to be privileged to speak the mind , of'his .
imperial -master . The tone of his address sounds very like as if he were obeving a contrary-signal , or if not , as though ' . he felt it necessary to say something different , were it only to show tlie anti-English section , of which he is perhaps the head , were not . silenced by the oracular utterances of yi . Persign'y . More genuine , more generous , and we will add " more truly eloquent is the speech just delivered by M . Michel Chevalier , the eminent political economist and head of the Free-trade party . among our neighbours . Regardless of the equivocations and arricres pwisees of courtiers and diplomatists , M . Chevalier assumes as undoubtable the assurances of peaceful views on the part of tlie
Bonapartist regime . In his view no other view is defensible , or worthy of the name of statesmanship . Far from thinking national feelings so hostile as that it will require infinite care on the part of tk governments to prevent a blaze ; he proclaims aloud that the popular sense is daily becoming clearer and stronger , that the true interest of both countries is identical ; and consequently that it will everyday be a more hazardous and more hateful policy to engage us again in deadly strife . Time wm when no French orator would have dcemccl it
prudent to allude in terms so magnanimous to the naval victory of La Hogue , which annihilated fora season the 'maritime power of France . Vet not only has this wise , gifted publicist alluded to such historic recollections without offence , but , nmid vehement and unanimous applause , because lie co » - trives skilfully to make the disaster of former ilivys a text from which to preach against tho . iiuulnesa and criminality of those who would renew international quarrel for sake of envy or vain-glory . It
is consolatory to observe that the Sieclc—tho orgfw of the more s ' obcV' iind reasonable republicansconcurs substantially in the views expressed by the DJbats- * - \ . hc organ of the Orleanisls—on the subject of the alliance . Thus \ ye have the candid avowij l of three important sections earnestly recommending the Emperor to keep his word , and literally to ad'hero to what ho has so often theatrically promised . A calculator so cool will not neglect . sucli items in forminc his secret estimate of L'ood i » ud
evil to himself and his dynasty ; ami , after al , it may come to pass that ho will adhere to tlie pulicj of peace with us although he says ho will . ______ rrf iy ^ Ifc ! 3 . ~ V ^ : ' ^ —_ tonnage of yachts in tho ports of the Unituil King dom . If wo examine tJio Universal Yacht Llrt for tho |> ruaoii yonr , wo llnd that there are about 1200 yachts i ^ btoKii ua belonging to tho different yacht oluUf , oomiirisMfe ycaeelH ranged front five or six up to 000 to fluu ton' . The aggregate tonnage may bo taken at 8 : ) , < HM » torn . Out of tlie 1200 craft standing on tho boolta of tlio unfcrent yacht clubs , there aro about seventy uxcouuiiih 100 tons . There are two » ty-t \ vo different 3 ' ncllt , 7 " ' the chief otation being Oowos . in the lulo of ^ H
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 4, 1858, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04091858/page/16/
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