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Leader (1850-1860), 7th May 1853, Edition 1 of 1, Page 441

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      ¦ us that on questipns of English interest he can speak as if" native and to the manner born" was most noticeable among the speakers . Speaking of the prospects of English arfc he was fresh and cheerful : During the many years that I have enjoyed the privilege of spending some happy hours within these sacred precincts of the muses , breathing the genial air of humanity and of peace , I have had a growing conviction that art , as art , is becoming more and more appreciated in this country , and that the standard of art has been rising both among artists and the public in a most striking manner . All I have seen to-day has confirmed me in this conviction , and I wish you , and the Royal Academy , and the country

      joy for it—particularly , because I believe that this rising appreciation of art has a very sound foundation—that is , it rests upon a greater and more general acknowledgment of the real basis of all genuine feeling for art . But art must be true—that is , must not spring from fashion , or from certain conventional rules—that every work of art must be produced and admired for its own sake . The necessary consequence of such a growing general feeling must be , that a greater liberty is granted by the public to the artist in expressing his artistic thought . And , indeed , if the artist is led by this principle , he will steer his way between the conflicting cries— " Imitate nature and imitate the old masters . " Thero is no absolute truth in either of

      these maxims . First , as to the imitation of nature ; well , the sun does that in our photography ; but what a poor artist he has turned out to be ! ( Hear , hear . ) Whenever he is bid to reproduce the noblest object of art , the human face , he fails—the life is wanting ; he only succeeds when the human face has passed through the creative mind of the artist . He can copy a work of art , but not artistically reproduce a work of nature . And now as to the old masters ; if those of classical antique art are meant , they are undoubtedly the models for all ages ; but have we not proofs without end that they may be copied without life

      and spirit ? Agfain , as to the masters of tie great historical school of painting , which begins with Giotto and ends with Haphael , is it not still more the same case with them ? Imitate the one model as well as the other , as far as you feel them your own , with truthfulness , and you will work in then . ' spirit . To enter deeply into their unaffected simplicity , into the purity of expression , the grandeur of composition—that is what Raphael did , and even Michael Angelo , that Titanic , original genius . It is because I perceive a marked progress in that direction , that I am particularly delighted with the present exhibition .

      The Lord Chancellor , praising the aim of art , quoted lines novel from a lawyer ' s lips" The world is too much with us : late and soon Getting and spending , we lay waste our pow ' rs ;" and referred to a fact well known to our rising artists : " With the most unfeigned satisfaction we should learn that the patronage of art was not now confined to monarchs and to nobles , but that the manufacturers of Manchester and Glasgow , the merchants of Liverpool and Belfast , felt as deep an interest in , and contributed as largely to , the patronage of works such as adorned those walls as the ^ highest in the land . "

      The health of the Premier was proposed : " one whose name was quite as familiar to the lovers of art as to the political world ; even in early life he occupied a prominent place among those to whom we are indebted for a just appreciation of Grecian architecture . " In a few words Lord Aberdeen spoko his thanks , mentioning as remarkable that for fifty y ears he had attended these annual meetings with scarcely the intermission of a single year . Mr . Charles Dickons followed the Dean of St . Paul ' s in speaking to " Tho Interests of Literature . "

      Alluding directl y to Sir Charles Eastlako himself , who filled a chair richly covered with crimson velvet , behind which Stanfiold'a lino picture- of tho Victory was placed , Mr . Dickena Hiiid , laughingly , that "ho was unable to recognise in this toast tho President ' s usual disinterestedness , since English litoraturo could scarcely bo remomlx . 'red in any pluco , and certainly not in a school of art , without a very distinct remembrance of his own tasteful writings —( cheers)—to Hay nothing of that other and bolter parL of himself , which unfortunately was not visible upon thoso occasions . ( llonewod choers . ) If , liko tho noble lord the Commander- in-Chief , M r . Dickons might

      venture to illiiHtmto his brief thanks with ono word ot xoforeneo to tho noblo picturo painted by n very dear friend of his , which wus a littlo eclipsed that evening by that radiant and rubicund chair which the President ; now ho happily toned down- - ( laughter )—ho would beg loavo to mv t hat , as literatim ) could nowhere lio moro appropriately honoured I him in that place , ho he thought she could nowhere fuel a higher gratification in tho ties that bound her to the sister arts . ( Cheers . ) He always felt in that place that literatim ) found , through their instrumentality , always a new expression , and in a universal language . ( Cheers . )"

      " Success to tho Dublin Exhibition , " was briefly responded to by Lord DuUbrin . The guests were more than is usual composed of Ministerial ' mtH . Tho Cabinet was there almost en masse : Lord Carlisle , Mr . T . Daring , and tho Governor of tho Bunk of England were among tho other gucsta . Tho Sardinian Minis tor was tho only foreign diplomatist who accompanied Chevalier Hanson . Wo must not omit to mention , that Sir Charles Knstlako and tho Prussian Minister both paid high compliments to tho Marquis Massimo d'Azoglio , who was ulso present , for lua merits in art . literature , and fltatoumansliip .

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      LETTERS FROM PARIS . [ From our own Correspondent . ] Letter LXXT . Paris , Thursday , May 6 , 1853 . Life returns by slow degrees to the regions of politics . After a long lethargy , the pulse begins to beat again . Persigny complains and wonders that not a single man of the old parties has rallied to the new regime , and Bonaparte is alarmed at the void that broadens and

      broadens around him . Many even of his once devoted adherents now begin to abandon him , as- rats forsake a crumbling house , and skulk away to steal their fortunes lsewhere . Even so it is with this imperial edifice . All the fidelities of accident ( les devouements de circonstance ) begin to turn their backs on the object of an hour ' s homage . A gene ral feeling of disquietude and unrest prevails . Every one has the presentiment that such a state of tinners cannot last . The more timid

      grow bold , and almost show their teeth . Even the very Legislative Corps has t his week shown symptoms of firmness , and of a firmness which has made the Government recoil , and twice recoil . The Commission of the Budget began by demanding all documents necessary to a searching examination of every head of receipt and expenditure . Their demands were made with great decision , and the Government , which only last year tossed these deputies about , in pursuit of information , from Herod to Pilate , and from Pilate to Herod , has shrunk this time before the gathering storm , and instead of manoeuvring , communicates at tho second summons all the documents required .

      Accordingly , tho Commission has set to work to sift the Budget clean , and by way of a first stroke , it discovers a duplicate entry of two millions of francs ( 80 , 000 / . ) , to the profit and behoof of St . Arnuud and Pcrsigny : it insists , besides , on a further reduction of a similar sum . It has beaten hollow , on these various points , the Commissioners appointed to support the propositions of the Government . It has formally interdicted tho Ministers any « ort of supplementary credits for 1854 . Nay more , it lias compelled them to renounce the credits they had considered necessary for

      tho current year . " The Emperor , " says tho Commission , " has declared that the Hudget should he a reality : it is for us to insist upon the reductions not being a farce , as they certainly would be , if the Ministers wen ; left in facultative possession of supplementary credits . " Thus have the Ministers been cnught in their own trap . Again , in tho first discussion , lust Saturday , on tho Bill to regulate the Prudhommcs , the opponents of tho measure attacked it vigorously , oh conferring an absolute power on tho Government . TIicho attacks were seconded bv the evidently sympathetic attitude of a

      great number of silent deputies . The Counjjjlorn of State , who acted as Government Commissioners on tho question , and notably , the ex-liopublican Maroche , who had supported tho absolutist measure , left tho sitting visibly moved at this new aspect of the Legislative Corps . In the ranks of tho deputies it was the general impression that a division would result in sixty black balls for tho Government—an enormous opposition in u body compoHcd of members nominated to a man by the Government . Sunday came , however , and wm profitnbly employed by tl \ e authorities in summoning their opponents individually to tho Tuilorles , urid thoro

      bamboozling the resolute and terrifying the timid , with such effect , that the next day only ten black balls were found against the bill . We may affirm , nevertheless , that a majority of the deputies unreservedly condemn , the arbitrary clauses of the bill . They made the law , and they condemn it . This one fact may serve to give you an idea of the false situation in which everybody is now placed . The same opposition has declared itself on the occasion of the new Jury Bill . The proposed law fixes the proportion of eligible jurymen at the rate of one in a thousand , and disposes of the

      nomination of juries as follows . The Jvge de paix of each canton , assisted by the mayors ( all functionaries of the Government ) , draws up a list ^ of about thirty names to a canton . This makes about 300 to an arrondissement . Then the juge de paix and the subprefect meet and reduce this list to about 100 names . By this system only the agents of the Government are invited to take part in the preparation of the jury lists : in short , the Government becomes absolute arbiter in the election of the juries throughout tho country . It admits only its creatures , and admits as many as it will .

      The Legislative Corps was struck at the excessive arbitrariness of such a system , and rejected it in favour of a more genuine elective element . It proposed to give the Presidency of the Cantonal Commission to a member of the Council General instead of to ajtige de paix , and that the Commission of the arrondissement should be composed of members of the Council General , to the exclusion of these same juges de paix . These amendments were rejected by the Council of State ; and the Commission , finding itself deprived of the possibility of amending the Bill , voted its rejection unanimously . This vote is remarkable . The

      explanations which preceded the vote were not less significant . Members of the Commission complained very bitterly of the impotence to which the Legislative Corps had been reduced , more especially since the Senatus Consulte of December 25 . They said that at the time of the re-establishment of the Empire they had no reason to anticipate the reaction determined by that Senatus Consulte . On this point the members spoke out freely ; they recalled the words of the Emperor , pronounced at St . Cloud , on December ll , on the occasion of the Leg islative Corps presenting him with the plebiscite which proclaimed him Emperor .

      They cited his own words : —" The more power gains in extent and in vital force , the more need has it of enlightened men like those by whom I am surrounded every day ; of independent men lilce those to whom I now address myself , to aid me with their counsels , and to restrain my authority tcithin just limits , in case it should ever be disposed to transgress them . " They added , that the moment seemed to them to have arrived to make those warnings heard which he himself had provoked , and to " bring back his authority to its just limits ; " that to fulfil that duty they were bound to declare on their conscience that the Government was

      imprudently advancing towards too absolute a power , and that the ford was too violently strained . They signalized the perils of un excessive policy to the Government and to the country . Finally , they signified their resolution to warn , and , so far as in them hiy , to arrest the Government on that dangerous incline . It was in pursuance of this declaration that being iinablo to amend the law which they regarded as one of tho grave symptoms of the tendency which alarmed them , the deputies , members of the commission , decided to propose its rejection to the Chamber . As soon as he wus iiwiire of this determination , the Minister of

      Justice called together a certain number of the deputies , whose devotedness to the regime was notorious , and exerted himself strenuously to arrest the commission in this movement of independence and resistance into which it was seeking to precipitate the Legislative Corps . He tried to calm the excitement , and to obtain the renewal of the vote which rejected the ; law , even if subject , to a few concessions . The result of these negotiations , and the nature of these concessions , are not yet known .

      Another conflict has lately arisen between the Corps Legislatif and the Government , and on this occasion it burst out in full Bitting of tho Chamber . It was about the proposed niensuro on the superannuation fund ( Caisscs < I « retraile ) for nged persons . The commission appointed to report on tho bill had proposed amendments , which the Council of State rejected . It htuck resolutely to its amendments , which had been seriously considered and matured , and refused to admit , the modified articles . The Government

      Commissioners then invited the Commission to send three of its members before the Council of State for the reconsideration of its amendments . Tho Commission refused point blank ! It expressed " itn rofasul in n doclurution " that it did not appear compatible with tho dignity of tho Legislativo Corp ^ , an iiBBcmhly olected by

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      LAW AND LITERATURE FEASTED AT THE MANSION HOUSE . The Lord Mayor entertained the Judges , on Monday * There was some speechmaking , of the usual interest * Mr . Ingersoll , the American Minister , politely coinpli " mented the Cityof London . The Lord Mayor praised the judges ; the Chief Baron accepted the praise , and referred to America : — " The manner in which the judges of England discharged their duties and their labours were known to the world , and they were known especially to their brethren on the other side of the Atlantic , with whom they were now exchanging legal authorities , and who , he was afraid , largely surpassed us in the production of philosophical and comprehensive forms . "

      Vice-Chancellor Wood excused " Chancery : " it is now much improved . Charles Dickens spoke to " the literature of the Anglo-Saxons / ' and referring to Mrs . Stowe , who was present , observed , " that , in returning thanks , he could not forget he was in the presence of a stranger , who was the authoress of a noble book , with a noble purpose . But he had no right to call her a stranger , for she would find a welcome in every English home . " He added , that he " delighted to hear from the Vice Chancellor Wood that the Court of Chancery would not in the future be what it had been in the past . He had reason to hope that a suit which had been going on for some years past , and in which he was interested , might , by the learned judge ' s intervention , he brought to a satisfactory termination . "

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      _ Mi . ? f , l % i 8 . ] the Leader . 441

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 7, 1853, page 441, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1985/page/9/