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    " equipollent . " We do not concur m the viewtaken by some journals , which aim at smartness rather than fairness , that Ihexich manwhobuvs sham original pictures is a . fool and a dolt , and being a fool and a dolt , that he is the proper prey of the knave It is fortunate for pictorial 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

    originals—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 <« Pictures is a special acquirement ; it can only be possessed by a painter , or by a d ealer who has served his apprenticeship to the trade . To common-place persons the difference between a wellexecuted copy and an oi-iginalis 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 , m a great truthlulness

    very much less than 50 , 000 / . was paid for forged pictures 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 , " Landseer ' s original is in the Sutherland collection . A second warranted original Linnoll 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 mortified collector to his visitor , to whose person he 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 matter 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—aud it will benefit , art and artists by rendering the rich patrons of art less suspicious of being defrauded in their gcucrons outlays .

    measure , depend on the judgment and 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 the public , they ought to have the same redress and sympathy which the law affords in all other cases of imposition . It appears that Mr . Peter laid out somewhere about 16 , 000 / . with these Barneses—a tolerably handsome sum—and we suspect , had the pictures really been what they were

    represented to be , not very far short of their market value . The price of pictures , however , is purely arbitrary : A painter may thankfully receive 50 / . for a picture , when not in fashion , which may fetch 500 / . or 1000 / . when in fashion . Ah old master may be neglected and go for an old song at one period , at another his works may be sought af ter 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 the Guildhall business . But we , do not desire to comment 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 monopoly 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 the mansions and picture-galleries or our gentry become stuffed with what the owners fondly imagine are first-class originals , and which"they have paid for as such .

    It is time that the 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 tho hands of some kindred Peter with more wealth than wisdom . A hond fide purohaser oannot entor one of these auction rooms but he is marked at once nnd victimised . The seeming bidders are all confederated with the mook auctioneer , and if a sale is effected , they receive a per-contago oil ooncUfioiTTf ^ t ^^ Mrn ^ "' ^ nnTi 1 o" ^ wiIIalor The unwary buyer ia not even permitted to escape with the first loss . He is watched homo , nnd then

    regularly beset by the gang . The same tiling occurs if ho visits one of the galleries of tho " duffing " dealer . Ho is watched to his residenco , besieged with visits , and bargains of warranted originals pressed upon him . Tho number of such viotnns is something- astonishing , and the vast sums they have been swindled out of would appear fabulous if mentioned . One case lins come to our noticethat of a rich , sugar-broker— -whore a sum not

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    RELATIONS WITH FRANCE . The English newspaper ^ the Leader , was seized on Sunday at the Paris post-office . —Paris Correspondents . The above notice appeared in the majority of oui daily contemporaries on Tuesday last . We are not surprised that the frankness of our commentarv on the recent speech of M . Pcrsiguy should have been distasteful to the French political police . Neither is it for us to complain of the means summarily resorted to for suppressing the -utterance of sentiments like ours within- the confines of the empire . M . Pcrsigny tells us that interference with the press and other measures of an exceptional kind arc 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 in France , as in England and America , to write and read every one what scemcth 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 last undertook to analyse its statements aud to expose its fallacies respecting the alliance between the countries , was seized by

    iu the Journal des Debats , who truly asks , Could English representatives find nothing better to say of what they saw at Cherbourg , nothing more worthy 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 Avar they came uninvited to see ? Had we the power , avc would not suffer a syllable to be written or spoken on this side of the water calculated to wound national susceptibility on the 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 mitraille itupitoyable of aspersion and abuse was kept up in semi-official pamphlets , speeches , letters , and journals against—not a neighbouring Government , but a neighbouring 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 he 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 and believed the alliance of the two nations rested on something far more solid than the diplomatic accord of Downniff-strcet arid the Tuileries .

    Two additional voices have made tlicir accents heard in France since that of M . Persigny . The one is that of Count Morny , who equally claims to know aud to be privileged , to speak the mind of his imperial master . The tone of his address sounds very like as if he were obeying a contrary signal , or if not , as though he felt it necessary to say something different , were it only to show the anti-English section , of which he . is perhaps the head , were not silenced by the oracular utterances of 31 . Persigny . 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 bur neighbours . Regardless of the equivocations and arriires jieiisees of courtiers and diplomatists , M . Chevalier assumes as undoubtable the assurances of peaceful views on the part of the 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 the 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 every day be a more hazardous ana more hateful policy

    to engage us again in deadly strife , lime was when no French orator would have deemed it prudent to allude in terms so magnanimous to the naval victory of La lloguc , which annihilated for a season the maritime power of France . Yet not only has this wise , gifted publicist alluded to such historic recollections without offence , but amid vehement aud unanimous applause , because he contrives skilfully to make the disaster of fornior days a text from which to preach against tho madness and criminality of those who would renew international quarrel for sake of envy or vain-glory : ^

    is consolatory to observe that tho Sil'cle—the organ of the more sober and reasonable republicansconcurs substuntinlly in the views expressed by the Uubats—the organ of the Orleanists—on the subjects of the alliance . Thus we have the candid avawfil of three important sections earnestly recommending tho Emperor to keep his word , and literally to adiicrc to what ho has so often theatrically promised . A calculator so cool will not neglect such items in forming his secret estimate of good ami evil to himself and his dynasty ; and , after all , it may come 1 o pass Unit ho will adhere to tho policy of ^ peace ^ wth-u 8-a // y < o ?^ ^ 4 io-sayBjxouyiJi .,, ^ izrr "

    Yachth . —Very few have any idea of tho numborand tonnage of ynohta in tho ports of tho United Kingdom . If wo examine the Universal Yacht Lint for tho present yonr , wo find tlmtthoro nro ubout 1200 . yachts registered us belonging to tho different yacht clubs , comprising vessels ranged from flve or six up to 800 to 500 tone . Tho nggregato tonmigo may bo taken at 08 , 000 tons . Out of tho 1200 craft standing on tho books of tho different yueht clubs , there are about seventy exceeding 100 tons . There are t \ vonty-tvy > dlfleroiit yncht club * , tho chief station boing Cowes , in the Isle of Wight .

    the functionaries of the post-office at the frontier . Conscious as wo are 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 ol bureaucratic palpitation which would be ludicrous were it not lamentable . 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 . ¦ Ib is said that a system of telegraphic communication has beon organised here , by whioh the political police on the other side of the Channel arc advertised of everything which appears in any English newspaper of influence , reflecting on tho conduct of the imperiul Government , within Mi 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 aud of duty 13 too plain to bo mistaken . Wo are not responsible for the blindness of those who keep tho ^ is * 0 " n ^ doin s ^ l tlrotightHiToxorHbly-btti < red--upon-U jroat and genorous people Of that people wo lave nothing to say that is not consistent with kindlinoss and respooL With tlie peevish criticisms like those of Mr . Roebuck on the oostumo of fishermen , or with ill-natured and ignorant boastings like those of Mr . Lindsay regarding tho comparative longevity of a French and an English linoof-battle ship engaged in mortal combat , wo Imvo no ' sympathy whatever . Wo iiuvo blushed as wo perused tho eloquent and munly reproof administered to gasoonados of this description by u writer

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    904 T H E LEAD EB . [ Na 441 , September 4 , 1858 . ">

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 4, 1858, page 904, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2258/page/16/