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PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS.
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^ ===== ^ LITERATURE.
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History OF the Restoration of Monarchy in France By Alphonse de Lamartine . Vol . iii . London : Vizetelly & ijO , Lam artine is no historian . He is essentiall y a poet and romancist , and it is to be feared , therefore , th at his interfer ence with history is a misfortune rather than a benefit for mankind . But m the present work this evil seems , to a great extent , to have been escaped , inasmuch as the author has soug ht rather to be a dresser of history than a historian He has taken the works of previous writersand clothed ' their
, uuadorned narratives in the language and style of the poet By thus throwing the charms of poetic eloquence over the dry details of history , Lamartine has aided in spreading a knowle dge of the past for ho has made history more pleasing , and attr acted to its study many , who would be repelled theFefrom by a dry and ummpassioned style . This third volume of M de Lamartme ' s work embraces the period between Fouche ' s appointment to the presidency of the provisional government and Bonaparte ' s death . Our space will enable us to give but two or three extracts . In many of M . de Lamartines ' s inions
op on the men and the events of the time whose history he recounts , we by no means coincide ; but in others he seems to be nearer the truth than French writers in general , the immensity of whose egotism distorts the clearest historical facts Lamartine altogether repudiates the coarse and improbable story of Napoleon being poisoned in his captivity , by order of the British government . The following extracts will sufficiently illustrate the merits of the new volume of the History of the Restoration of Monarchy in France .
THE EAGI . B IK HIS CAGE . The active mind sooner tires of repos e than of labour . The monotony of this life without any other events than his own thoughts furnished , soon wearied Xapoleon . The divisions , the rivalships , the discontents , and the murmurs of some of Ills servants , saddened and embittered his own mind . He suffered in seeing others suffer impatiently for him and around him . There was gossipping at Longwood as there had been in the palace of the Tuileries . Too close an intimacy produced antipathies and grievances . Wounded spirits are all the more susceptible , and overwrought sensibility makes us unjust . Kapoleon ' s temper , spoiled by this domestic uneasiness , excited him against a captivity which made even his friends seem importunate to him . He turned to poison the tolerance and freedom of his residence . He persisted with an affectation , which his flatterers consider heroic , but which history will judge as puerile , because it is a
misconception of his fortune , in exacting the titles of Emperor and Majesty , which England , never having acknowledged the Empire , was not officially bound to give him . He appealed to heaven and earth agaiust this breach of etiquette . He dictated notes on this trifle , as he would have done on the conquest or the loss of Europe . The child of his own works , he preferred his dignities to them . The islander , issuing from Corsica to distribute thrones amongst his family , forgot that h' e was greater as a man than as the founder of dynasties already crumbled to nothing , and that the only majesty of which he could not be uncrowned was
Ins name . After having debated , without exhausting it , this text of altercation for several years with the authorities of the island , he declined the recreation and respect which the visitors from'both worlds bore to him in his solitude , if they did not conform to this protocol . He soon after refused to . himself his rides to tho different parts of the island , that he might not suffer , as he said , by the presence , even at a distance of the officers of the governoi * , the appearance and humiliation of captivity , as if the island under his feet , the ocean before his eyes , and even the sky above his head , were not walls and witnesses of his banishment . He thus restricted with his own hands the circuit of his residence , and
changed by little and little his country residence into a prison . His health , ¦ wh ich required motion and horse exercise , as his mind did an extensive prospect , suffered from this change of temper . He pursued slowly and obstinately the suicide of his captivity . The arrival at St . Helena of a new governor , Sir Hudson Lowe , rivetted more narrowly his voluntary chains . This govez-nor—whom the myrmidons of Napoleon , and Napoleon himself , persecuted with gratuitous and violent accusations , such as the hallucinations of captivity only could inspire , treated by them as a sMrro and an assassin—was neither criminal in thought against his captive nor cruel in his heart to misfortune . But overwhelmed with the responsibility which weighed upon him , should the agitator
escape whom Europe had entrusted to his charge , of contracted ideas , suspicious mind , jealous of forms , awkward in manner , and odious from his functions to his captives , he annoyed Napoleon with restrictions , superintendence , orders , visits , and even with attentions . He imparted too much to the duties of the governor of an island , and the guardian of an European hostage , the appearance and harshness of a gaoler . He may , therefore , be accused of impropriety , but not of cruelty . He was the occasion , rather than the cause of the sad end of Napoleon . On reading attentively the correspondence and notes exchanged under every pretext , between the adherents of Napoleon and Sir Hudson Lowe , we are astonished at the insults , the provocations , and the invectives with which the captive and his friends outraged the governor at every turn . Napoleon at
tliis period endeavoured by cries of grief to excite the pity of the British parliament , and to furnish a grievance to the opposition against the ministry , with a view of effecting a removal nearer to Europe . The desire of provoking insults by insults , then to represent these insults as crimes to the indignation of the continent , * and to make of Sir Hudson Lowe the Pilate of this Napoleonic Calvary , is evident in all these notes . It is also evident that the goveror often irritated , sometimes inquisitorial , always unskilful , felt himself the victim of his responsibility . , England , which had claimed the odious part of chaining up this European Prometheus , had to endure the leprobation of his cries and maledictions . NAPOLEON'S DEATH .
His friends and servants—wearied , not with duty , but of patience , tired of separation from their families , of the climate , of sickness , and of inquisitionquitted him , or tried to quit him , under pretence of being torn from him by the persdcution of the governor , or of rendering him more useful services in Europe . Physical debility broke in upon him wth despair . He felt increasing attacks of the malady which had shortened his father ' s life . " I sometimes have a desire to quit you , " he said to his last companions , Montholon and Bertrand .
" That is not difficult . I should escape from you the more easily by suicide , since my religious principles do not at all trouble me . I am one of those who believe that the punishments of the other world have only been imagined as an addition to the insufficient attractions we are promised there . After all , what harm is ittOTeturn alittle sooner to God ? " Hesuffered from pain , from debility , from want of sleep , and from failing strength , which made the light of day as disagreeable to him as darkness . His mind alone was never enfeebled . He witnessed his
slow destruction firm and impassible . His thoughts always dwelt upon himself , and he prepared to die gracefully . " I vegetate , I no longer live , " he said to his servants . Nature , however , prevailed at the last moment over the cold philosophy of his approaching end , in the numerous testaments and codicils he dictated to bequeath legacies to men and women who had left traces of affection , of service , or of gratitude in his life . His mother , who still lived in Rome , his brothers , his sifters , the companions and servants of his exile , his generals , their sons and daughters , those who had protected him in childhood , his college friends , his first military companions , and his favourites when in power , received sums of money from him , out of the millions he had left on quitting Paris in the coffers of M . laffitte , his banker ; and the statues , the pictures , the arms , the furniture , the manuscripts , the vases , the ar ; icles of domestic furniture ,
consecrated by the use lie had made of them , a distribution from his heart , wherein the most distant reminiscences were sought for with tenderness at the bottom of his memory . Even his wife , who had forsaken him , was neither accused nor aecrated . He recollected that she was the daughter of the Csesars , and that the protection of Austria would be withdrawn from a son whose mother lie might iave insulted . This son , a prisoner like himself , in the palace of Vienna , was the only great sentiment through which he survived himself upon earth , his pride , his love , his dynasty , his name , his posterity . He never shed a tear but for him . Whether it was a return of the dying man to those early impressions fhich revive towards the close of life , and bring us back to the practice of our boyhood ' s worship ; or whether a political precaution of the founder of a dynasty , affecting to die in official communion with the national faith , of which he had been the restorer , Napoleon , who never spoke of religion but as a political
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alwStSrdt ^^ ' ! ° Vernments ' » **» ofd , in 8 aS EHSSISSkSSS E ^ FSSSSSS hnMf if 1 J Iast words he st * ered out were army and France but it could not be ascertained whether it was a dream , delirinm , or adfeu . '
EXECUTION OF NET . The hour which brought no pardon at length sounded for the execution The P isoner who had read in the features and heard in the nmrmurs of he Cham fl 1 T' « inex 01 ' a ^ vengeance of party spirit , had expected no h ^ l ? Jf , ?? ° I W 1 S ! md Children ' " f 0 V her sake a " ' ^ eirs that he had affected to-hope . He dressed Wmself , therefore , to appear with propriety be ove the last fire he was em to face . He wore a military frock coat on S occasion . The no 1 S e of the troops , who were stationed from the gate of he Luxembourg to the railing of the avenue of the Ob ^ rtory ^ LCCJ a carnage in the court yard , apprised him of the hour of departure and the ™ tt , ^ S ? T * ™* COn ( ! Ucted t 0 the ^ <> f Crenelle , to the spot marked bthe blood of
y Labedoyere , the ordinary place of execution . His door opened ; he understood the sign . He descended with a firm step , a serene brow , and a lofy look , his lips almcst wearing a smile , but without any theatrical affectation , through the double ranks of the troops drawn up on the steps of the staircase , and in the vestibule of the palace , like a man happy once more to see he uniform , the arms and the troops-Iris old family . On arriving at the bottom of the flight of steps where the carriage awaited him with the door open , he stopped instead of mounting , through politeness to the priest who accompanied him , and who was yielding him the precedence . Taking the curate by the arm , " No , no , " said he , with a manner at once playful and sad , in melancholy allusion to the object of his journey , «< Go in first , Mr . Curate ; I shall still arrive above there before you ; " indicating with a look the haven of his rest . The
carnage proceeded at a foot pace through the broad alleys of the Luxembourg , and between the silent ranks of the soldiers . An icy fog crept along the ground , yielding only glimpses of tho leafless branches of the lofty trees in the royal garden . The priest mm-mvired by the side of the soldier ; spiritual consolation and resignation to death . The marshal listened to him with manly attention , and expected to listen still longer , when the carriage suddenly stopped , midway between the railing of the Luxembourg and the Observatory , in front of a long wall of a black and fetid enclosure , that bordered an alley leading out of the avenue . The government , ill advised even in the choice of a place of execution , seemed desirons of making it more abject and contemptuous , by striking down this illustrious enemy like some unclean animal , on a cross road , and at a few
paces from a palace , the name of which will for ever be stained by the memory of so foul a deed . Ney was astonished , and looked round for the cause of this halt half-way , as he supposed , when the carriage door opened , and he was requested to alight . He felt that he was never to return , and gave to the priest who accompanied him the few ' articles he had about him , with his last remembrances to his family . He emptied his pockets also of some pieces of gold for the poor of the parish ; he then embraced the priest , the last friend who snpplies the place of all absent friends at tin ' s final hour , and marched to the wall towards the place indicated by a platoon of veterans . The officer commanding the party advanced towards him , and requested permission to bandage his eyes . " Do you not know , " replied the soldier , " that for twenty-five years I have
been accustomed to look balls and bullets in the face ? " The officer disturbed , hesitating , undecided , expecting perhaps a cry of pardon , or fearing to commit a sacrilege of glory by firing on his general , stood mute between the hero and his platoon . The Marshal availed himself of this hesitation , and of the immobility of the soldiers to cast a final reproach upon his destiny . "I protest before God and my country , " he exclaimed , " against the sentence which has condemned me . I appeal from it to man , to posterity , to God ! " These words and the countenance , enshrined in their memory , of the hero of the camp , shook the steadiness of the soldiers . "Do your duty , * ' cried the commandant of Paris to the officer , who was more confused than the victim . The office "! stumbling , resumed his place beside his party . Ney advanced a few paces , raised his hat
with his left hand , as he was accustomed to elevale it in desperate charges to animate his troops . He placed his right hand on his breast to mark well the seat of life to his murderers . "Soldiers , " said he , " aim right at the heart . " The party , absolved by his voice , and commanded by his gesture , fired as one man . A single report was heard ; Ney fell as if struck with a thunderbolt , without a convulsion , and without a sigh . Thirteen balls had pierced the bust , and shattered the heart of the hero , and mutilated the' right arm which had so often waved the sword of France . The soldiers , the officers , and the spectators turned away their eyes from the body , as from the evidence of a crime . During
the quarter of an hour which the military regulations required that the corpse should lie exposed upon the place of execution , no spectators , except a fewpassers by , and some v < fcmen from the neighbouring houses , looked upon the body , or mingled their tears with his blood . Some groups demanded with a low voice , who the criminal was , thus abandoned on the public highway , and shot to death by soldiers of the grand army . None had the courage to reply that it was the body of the " bravest of the brave , " the hero of the Beresina . After the legal period of exposure , the hospitable sisters of a neighbouring convent claimed the body to bestow funeral honours upon it in private , had it carried to their chapel , and watched and prayed alternately around the forlorn coffin .
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OUR PEN MD INK PORTRAIT GALLERY . DANIEL WEBSTER . Daniel Webster was born in the town of Salisbury , New Hampshire , January 1 G , 1782 . His father , Major Ebenezer Webster , was one of the pioneers of the settlement in that quarter , and had served with credit as a soldier in the Old French War , and also in the revolution . The early opportunities for education with which Mr . Webster was favoured were of course very limited , and when quite young he was daily sent two or three miles to school , in mid-winter , and on foot .
The school , which was kept for only a small part of the year , was of an indifferent character ; but under these disadvantages he showed a great eagerness for learning . In May , 1796 , Webster was taken by his father to the academy at Exeter , which had been endowed in 1781 by the Hon . John Phillips . In this celebrated school he enjoyed the advantage of only a few months' instruction ; but , short as the period was , his mental powers were thus early developed , and he exhibited to his instructors evidence of his superior intellect . After a few months at Exeter , he returned home , and having passed his 15 th year , was placed by his father with the Rev . Samuel Wood , of Boscawen . In
six months , from February to August , 1796 , he completed his preparation for college , under » the instruction of Mr . Wood . This preparation was , of course , very imperfect ; but the standard of classical literature stood very low in America at the close of the last century . In 1797 Webster entered Dartmouth College , at Hanover , New Hampshire , where , after four years of assiduous application to his studies , he graduated in August , 1801 . He was not only distinguished for attention to his collegiate duties , but devoted himself to general reading , particularly to English history and literature . He took part in a small weekly publication , to which he contributed selections and original articles . He also delivered addresses before the college societies . He persuaded his father to send his brother Ezekiel to college , and
during the vacations taught school to aid in furnishing means for the preparation of his brother for a collegiate course . Immediately after leaving college Mr . Webster entered the office of Mr . Thompson , of Salisbury , as a student of law . Mr . Thompson was a lawyer of high standing , and represented New Hampshire at various times in both houses of Congress . While in the office of Mr . Thompson , Mr . Webster accepted an offer to take charge of an accademy , at Fryeburg , in Maine , where his salary was a dollar a day . He was able , by acting as assistant to the Registrar of Deeds for the county , to earn enough to pay his personal expenses ; and , therefore , his salary was all saved as a fund for his professional education , and to help his brother through college . During his residence at Fryeburg , Mr . Webster borrowed , and , for the first time read Blackstone ' s Commentaries , In September
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1802 , he -returned to Salisbury , and resumed his studies under Mr lnompson , m . whose office he remained for 18 months , extending his knowled ge of law , besides giving much time to general reading , especially studying the Latin classics , English history , and Shakspeare . He also read Puffendorf s History of England in Latin . Being desirous ot witnessing a more enlarged course of practice in the law , Mr . Webster went toBoston , and took up his residence there in July , 1804 . Previous to entering upon practice he mirsued Ins Wai RWia * far « v
or eight months m the office of the Hon . Christopher Gore , a distinguished advocate , and afterwards Governor of Massachusetts , who soon T ^ t ^ M ^ affly of the talents of his pupil . In the spring of 180 a , Mr . Webster was admitted to the bar of the Court of Common Pleas , Boston , and soon after returned to his native State , and commenced practice at Boscawen , near his father ' s residence , Judge Webster died the Mowing year . In May , 1807 , Mr . Webster was admitted attorn
as ey and counsellor in the Superior Court of New Hampshire ; and m September of that year , he removed to Portsmouth , m conformity with his original intention . Here he remained m the practice of his profession for nine successive years . He soon , with such men as Smith and Mason , eminent in the profession , appeared in the leading cases in all the courts . His practice in New Hampshire , however , was never lucrative , and , although exclusively devoted to his profession , it afforded him only a bare livelihood
-During the excitement which prevailed previous to the declaration of war with England in 1812 , Mr . Webster participated in conventions , ot his political friends , and in his speeches and essays displayed suclt extraordinary ability that many of the prominent men of the Statewere anxious to see him in Congress . At the election next ensuing : after the declaration of war in 1812 he was brought foTward as a candidate for Congress , and elected on a general ticket , in November , 1812 . He took his seat at the first session of the 18 th Congress , which was an extra session , called in May , 1813 . A presentiment o £ his ability had proceeded him , and in the organization of the House he was placed by Mr . Clay , the Speaker , upon the committee of foreign attairs , which was the leading committee in time of war
. t On the 10 th of June , 1813 , Mr . Webster delivered his maiden speech in Congress , on a series of resolutions moved by himself , relative to the repeal of the Berlin and Milan decrees of the French Emperor . I \ o full report of this speech was preserved , but it took the House by surprise , from the vast amount of historical knowledge and power of illustration which it displayed . In 1816 , Mr . Webster removed from Portsmouth to Boston , where he at once took the hi ghest rank as a lawyer . In 1817 he made a long speech m the Dartmouth College case , before the bupreme Court at Washington , which produced an astonishing ; effect at the time , and fully established his reputation as a jurist and advocate . In 1820 he was elected to the Convention which was called to
revise the Constitution of Massachusetts , in which body he held unquestionably the leading place . In 1822 he was chosen a representative to Congress from Boston , by a very large majority . He took his seat 111 December , 1823 , and early in the session made his celebrated speech on the Greek Revolution . In the autumn of the same year he was re-elected almost unanimously , receiving every vote but ten in five thousaml In 1826 he was again elected with not a hundred vote $ against him . In 1827 he was elected to the senate of the United btates , where he occupied , for twelve years , a most prominent and influential position . In 1830 he made in the Senate his famous speech m reply to Col . Hayne , in which he nobly defended Massachusetts from the ungenerous assaults of the South Carolinian . In
18 o 9 Mr . Webster visited England and France , in both of which countries he was received witfc the hi ghest distinction . In 1841 he was appointed by President Harrison to the office of Secretary of State * winch he held for two years . During this period he negotiated the treaty at Washington , by which the disputed boundary line between Maine and the British Provinces was finally settled . In the spring of 1843 Mr . Webster left the Cabinet , and in 1845 returned to the Senate of the United States , of which he continued a member until the death of President Taylor in the summer of 1850 . On the 7 th of March , 1850 , he made in the Senate his epeech in support of the Compromise measures . In December 1850 , as , Secretary ot btate , he wrote the famous Hulsemann etter .
On the Tuesday previous to his death not the slightest danger had been apprehended from Mr . Webster ' s illness , which was disease of the bowels , accompanied by dropsical affection of the stomach , and his physicians anticipated that he would be able to resume the duties oi : his office in a few days , butontha jj afternoon the disorder unexpectedly assumed a more menacing aspect , and he gradually grew worse and worse , and finally expired at 22 minutes before 3 o ' clock , on Sunday morning , October 24 th , 1852 .
The American Union has sustained a heavy loss in the death of Daniel Webster . Though he had reached the age of 70 , he still occupied so large a space in the attention of his countrymen , and so prominent a position in the service of the Republic , that his demise will he felt throughout the Union as a public calamity . The newspapers are filled with expressions of grief , and at all the towns which the sad news had reached , meetings had been held and measures adopted to evince the sorrow which such a loss had inspired . He was a great and patriotic statesman . For thirty years he upheld the cause of human freedom against the vile doctrine and practice of slavery , and although the last two years of his life somewhat tarnished the lustre of his previous reputation , in consequence of their being spent in defending the infamous Fugitive Slave Law , that course seems to have been dictated soley by the patriotic fear that the abolishion of slavery would lead to the distraction of the Union .
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Adelphi Theatre . —The melodrama of the Flowers of tlie Forest has been revived at this theatre ; and although very much inferior to the Green Bushes , has been received with ° great favour . Oh the same evening as i \\ Q Flowers of the Forest revived , was the farce of A Wife for a Day , which met a most favourable reception Soho Theatre . —This little theatre , constructed b y Miss Kellv for her project of a dramatic school , has been lately occupied occasionally by amateur associations for the purpose of theatrical representa tions . One of these , the Vanburgh Club , had a performance on
Wednesday evening , very creditable to themselves , and satisfactory to a crowded audience . The entertainments consisted of the Rev Mr White ' s historical play , Feudal Times , followed by the afterpiece ' The Captain of the Watch ; and the farce of Box mid Cox . The play was got up with a care and completes which did great honour to the amateur management . The costumes of tha old Scottish court and nobility were tasteful and correct , the scenic decorations were rich and elegant , ami the whole stage business was well conducted . Some of the actors evinced considerable talent . All parts were creditably filled , and the piece , in its ensemble , was effectively represented , and received with the warmest applause .
Marylebone Theatre . —Oii Tuesday night a large and highly respectable audience witnessed Mr . Buchanan ' s Virginius , which was a vigorous portraiture of the noble Roman father , and elicited the enthusiasm of all present . Seldom , indeed , has so much applause been bestowed upon the Roman hero . The other characters were well represented , and received their share of approval . Mr . Frazer ' s Icilius and Mrs . Lingham ' s Virginia were especially worth y oi commendation . li "
Public Amusements.
PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS .
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November 13 . ] m 1 TTI . ^ . ' == fi 4 llTT ^ 221
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 13, 1852, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1704/page/13/
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