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Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do nofm-ate laws -they interpret and try to enforce them . — EdinburgJt Meview .
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A ctfRCutAR , bearing the names of Dr . Hudson , the Chairman , and Mr . Hatchings , the Honorary Secretary , of the Lancashire and Cheshire Union of Mechanics' Institutes and Literary Societies , and addressed to the Directors of the Institutes and Societies enrolled in the Union » calls attention to certain features in the Act of Parliament recently passed for " the better regulation of Literary and Mechanics' Institutions , Bublio-Ljibraries , Museums , Schools of Art and Design , &c . " The complaint of the circular is that there is too much of the principle of centralisation . in the Act . It seems thab while the Act was going through Parliament ,, the Lancashire Association made earnest efforts to gel ? certain clauses in the draft-bill altered or abandoned—particularly , a clause proposing to take a ~ way from
the Directors of Institutions the power of matting bye-law ^; a clause empowering any single member of an Institution to prevent the eaforcemeat ofa . hve-law ,. by bringing the whole matter , and the Institution itself , under ; the control of the Charity Commissioners ., and through them , under the clutches- of- Chancery . They also . pressed the necessity of imaMng . provision in- the Bill for the total exemption of Institutions frota local . rategu Iheir eflbrtshad some effecty but not all that was desired . TOhe . matter of local rates was left unsettled in the Bill as it passed ; and the objectionable cl ^ us ^ s were only inodified , Thus , as , the B"l now stands , there is a clause to . theefieot that Directors of Institutions may make by ^ e-laws , and may by . those bye-laws impose fines , but ? with this proviso , that no fine imposed by
such bye-law shall be recoverable in a court of law , unless the bye-law shall have Been confirmed by the Totes of two-fifths of the members of- the Institution convened for the purpose . There is a clause , also , to the effect th ^ t for any alteration of the objects of an Institution , or for any amalgamation of q » e Institution with another , it shall be necessary for the manag 5 ? 3 g > -body , first , to call a-meeting of all the members at ten days' notice j th £ n , to , hft . their proposition accepted "by three-fifths of the members , then at the inteiv val of a , month to hold a second special meeting , and to have there also a similar-vote of authorisation . Lastly , there is a clause providing that if any members of an Institution , to the extent of two-fifths of the whole , number $ consider that a proposition carried in the above manner , is , calculated to
prove injurious to the Institution , they may , within three months , appeal the matter to the Committee of Her Majesty ' s Privy Council for Trade and Foreign Plantations , who shall have the power of annulling or arresting the proposed change - Now , the Lancashire Association tliink that -under this IJilli Institutions -will feel themselves hampered and inconvenienced . They do nob like the centralising character of the Bill * as it stands , and they still want tie vexed question of the local rates settled . They complain that the Society of Arts , to whose agency they trusted for a good Bill ^ h ave given
in top much to the centralising spirit which has been at work in . the concoction of the Bill , and tbat the Council of this Society " regards with indifference , if not with hostility , " any inquiry into the rates question ; and they look to Mr . Miivnek Gibson , Lord Stanley , and other members of Parliament interested in the prosperity of our Literary Institutions , for an ovei'hauling of the Bill next session . We have here simply reported thenopinions . The proper adjustment of the limits of centralisation and local authority , is perpetually presenting itself as one of the difficulties of our time ; and this is a case of that difficulty .
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Among forthcoming books are : —Thirty Years of Foreign Policy ; or a History of the Secretaryships of the Earl of Aberdeen and Viscount Palmer&ton , by the truculent author of the " Memoirs of Mr . Disraeli ; " Memoirs of James Montgomery . By Messrs . Hoi ^ and and Everett . The Autobiography and Literary Remains of Henry Fynos Clinton : a History of the I ? 'on Trade . By Mr . IIakot ScuivKN-pit . Rambles in Ireland . By Mr . Mjmbs . A Manual of Civil Law for the Use of Schools and of Candidates for the Civil Service ; by Dr . HuMPimEvs , Head-master of the Cheltenham Grammar School ; and a translation of a now work by the Jesuit Abbo Hue , entitled The Chinese Empire ^ and forming a continuation of Hue and Gabet ' s wellknown " Travels in Thibet and Tartary . " All theso are to conic from the
press of Messrs , Longman . Mr . Nrcwivr is to be the publisher , and Mr . R . MAnrwajsr , already known for his " Life of Sfivonarola , " the editor , of Lady Blesaivgton ' s Life and Correspondence , which is to be in three lurgo volumes , and to cost two guineas . Mr . Adam Black , announces a statistical book , on England since the Accession of Queen Victoria , by the statistical bookmaker , Dr . Micu / vmon , who has nlroady " dono" Turkoy in that manner . Mv . Gash advertises the successful / Viuti . Corn-Law League Priuo
Essay , by tin Eev . H . Dunckjuot , entitled Tlut Charter < j / Y * N * ti ° ns ; or Free-Trade and its Resulte—of -which work , we perceive the Council of the League have ordored & thousand copies to be handsomely bound , in ordov to bo presented to the Governments of tUo following countr-ios—tho United States , Mexico , Briusil , France , Belgium , Holland , Wenmwrfc , Sweden , Prussia , Russia , Auutrin , Spain , Portugal , Sardinia , prT' m ° ' ° ' Bavnvia > aml tho Neapolitan Statoe . ( la Sir ^ iiarlosi Napier to be olmrged with the presentation of the copies for
There is in existence an association called the Palestine Archeeolog ical Association , whose objects are th , e promotion of antiquarian research in the Holy Land , and the formation of a museum of objects illustrating the archaeology and natural history of that part of the East . The association was formed about a year ago , and held its first annual general meeting oa Tuesday last . It comprises ISO members , possesses the nucleus of a museum , and is sanguine of important results .
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The announcement of Lady Blessington' ' * Life awl Gorresponddnee- —rchic h is expected to include Count D'Obsaz ' s journal , so much admired by Byron thirty years ago—is reminding greedy readers of good raei&Q ® ies that at least three other " Lives and Correspondences' * of recently-deceased celebrities are due . First , what has become of Lord MfltBoaBNE ' s papers which wete left- to Loxd Biiqugwbam for publication ? Ne ^ t , what has become of the Pbel papers , which were similarly entrusted , with a biographical intent , to Mr . Ca « iw : ei . £ . ? Lastly , what is Lord Mahon doing with tfae
great Duke ' s papers , left in Apsley House for his discretionary perusal aad use ? People growl at the thought that these materials of history should be lodged up from the sight of the present age , a , nd tl * e . instruction they contain reserved for posterity . Lord Brougham , Hi . Cab ** well , andl ^ ord Mahoif , however , are probably not to "be forced . Seriously , the papers ought to he given to the world as soon as circumstances- will permit ; and above all , they ought not to "be tumblied out " anyhow , " a ? is the usuai custom iu . auch cases , but > ought to be cpmpetently edited and consolidatecl into rsadattle books . in to
Sine © writing * the aibove ^ we-have fotttvd a note a . n article ia , the irisU Quarterly Review the following passage : —» M Why is nofc : S ^ Biti ' s ; Mograrjhy written .. ? There are many men capable of the woik-o&compositiou who knew him intimately ; and it , would prove , if"fairly- and entirely :. written , a most interesting contribution to Irish biography , and , would ; l ? e a valuable addition . to our , Memoires pour Servir . We haye heard that Mr . TojfftBNS M'Ctjti-AaH contemplates such-. a life of ShieU "
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Such . are some of the latest promises or issues of the . British griQSs . Mr * JBentle * , however—who , by > the by , comes into tlie market , with ; a qb , e , ap edition "of Pbescqtt ' sConquest of Mexico— -makes , an announcement of an American republication likely to be of more , " thrilling interest . " He ad 1 * vertises as immediately forthcoming , in > fancy hoards , at half-a-crown , & book entitled Revelations of tite Slave-Trade ; or ., twenty Xwrs Adventures of Captain PanoL For some tinae past , there have " been pre-trunapetings of this work in America , as a work likely to have a , ran : equal to ihat o £ Uncle-Tom ' s Cdbin ^ and in a number of the New York Tinbune i brought over by the last mail , we find a long notice of it prepared in anticipation of thq day of publica . tion—the editor having been favoured-with an advance copy by the publishers . The title-page of the American issue runs thus .: — -CavJain
Canot- ; or Twenty Years of an African Slaver ; written out and edited from the Captain ' s Journals , Memoranda and Conversations by Brantz Mastek . Mr . Brantz Mayer is a gentleman of Baltimore—" a man not quite unknown to fame , " says the New York "Trio we , —known to us as the author of a tolerably interesting book on Mexico and its antiquities . But who is Captain Canot ? If he is not a myth , we suppose we must take him for what the book gives him out to be—a wild dare-devil character born in . Florence , of a French fa . tb . er and an Italian mother ; -who took to a sea-faring life in the year 1819 , as an apprentice in an American ship , bound for Boston , and so after adventures ipnumerablp , in the midst of which his erratic genius was always-performing miracles of heroic achievement , ended in being an , African slave-trader . Tho JSTew York Tribune , says : " Captain Canot is a model of transparent sincerity . He do ^ a not attempt to < lra , w a veil over the secrets
of his infamous pi'ofession . He makes no bones of recitals which atky one but a slave trader would wish to bury in oblivion . He is equally candid in regard to the horrors of his ' dreadful trade , ' and the scenes of license and debauch , of which ho was participant in African society . Native manners and customs the most extraordinary axe painted without disguise , —no blush crimsoning his cheeka at tho recollections in which he so joyouBly revels . " This passage indicates the two sources of interest on which , the book depends for its sale—its professed character as a book of revelations respecting the slave-trade , and the warmth of its episodical improprieties . From the extracts given in tho Tribune ^ wo infer that there is a good deal oi the latter element of intcreat in it . Here , for example , is one of them : Mr . Canot lms been dining with Mr . Ornmond , alias Mongo John , an African slave-dealer ; he loaves his ho-st drunk and asleep , and strolls out .
" I strolled to tho veranda to got t \ breath of irosh uir from tho river , but soon dashed o ( l in tho dnrknoHa to the sacred prcolncta of tho harew I I \ vi \ s not detected till I vouched nearly tUo centre of tUo Biinotuiury whore Ormond confined his motley croup of bl / iolc , mulatto , and miurtoroon wives . Tho ( irat daino who perceived mo was n uri ^ 'it mulatto , with rosy clioufca , Hloo-liko eyes , coquottinh turban , and moat voluptnous month , whom I ( vftorwnrds discovered to bo second in thochiofaiUFectiona . In nn inntunUho court resounded witli a chattering call to * her companions , bo that before I cowld turn , tho whole barm oi ' gabbling imrrote homtnod mo in witU a deluge of talk . F « iuo \ md prooodod moi My aawe-Ulo ot Uiotnieouy
nuruo was a servant of tho harom , and her vlttit to tho Bohooiior , with tho j supplied anecdotes for a lifetime . Everybody tois on the qtei vivo to soo tho win to » J ? Iltor - Kvepyboily wua crazy to feel tho ' > vhito Hkin ^ she had honbd . Thon will , a sndden , cMMIsh froak of caprice , they nvn oft' from ino a » if nfmltl , and at oiico rtwlwd l )« ok again Jilco n llocic of gUb-tonguod and playful monki-yo . I could nob comprehendl a wonl they mud ) but tho bevy squeatedwith m . il . e as much pleasure ««» if I did , nntl poflwd into my eyes lor « n » werfl , with iinplith devilry it my wo » d « rin K ignornuco . At l «« t my « aWo frwrnia « eomed aofc on y anxious to amuso thcmaelvcs but todoBomrth Ing for my ; eutortalnmcn also . A « n « a corner settled what it should bo . Two or three brought sticks , ^ ilo tiro or three «> to « ghl coale . A liro waa quickly kindlod i » tho centro of the conrtj and as » ts ilwncB lit * p the
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September 16 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 879
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 16, 1854, page 879, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2056/page/15/
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