Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

15 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

LONDON CORRESPONDENCE.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

LONDON CORRESPONDENCE. 'rHE words we know not what a day may J_ bring forthr are emphatiotlly applicable to an anxious crisis like the present when the ques- tion of peace or war is trembling in the balance. The political situation undergoes such sudden and rapid transformations that comments on events, though only a few days' old, seem flat, stale, and unprofitable. A ringle de- spatch, consisting of a dozen lines or less, may instantaneously change the entire aspect of affairs. By far the most im- portant of the recently published de- spatches of Lord Derby was also the briefest. It informed Lord A. Loftus that, in a conversa- tion with the Russian Ambassador, the Foreign Secretary had told him that any movement of troops to Gallipoli, or of such a nature as to threaten the communications of the English fleet, would be regarded as compromising the safety of the ship3; apd it was significantly adied by Lord Derby that, in the actual state of public feeling, he could not answer for the consequences, which might be most serioas. Count Schouvaloff could have no diffioulty in understanding what these few words meant, er the critical situation in which they placed the relations of the two countries. It is jfut at a time like this, when Cabinet meetings are being held every day, when de- spatches are being constantly wired to and from the Foreign Office, and when there is universal anxiety to learn the latest news, that the evening papers and the day editions of the morning papers command the largest sales on the streets. The vendors, by fussy movements and loud bawling, attract as mush attention to themselves as pos- sible, in the leading: thoroughfares, when the news possesses more than ordinary importance; and they are rather unscrupulous at times in inventing sensational cries, though they render themselves liable thereby to be ushered into the presence of a police-court magistrate. One even- ing lately some gullible people were taken in by shouta of Abdication of the Queen! Abdica- tion of the Queen!" and the fvening papers, supposed to contain this alarming and astound- ing intelligence, were actually being sold to simpletons at double and triple their proper price. The Globe advises intending purchasers to take the precaution of demanding a sight of the bills, with which vendors are, or ought to be, provided. Paris, which sets an example in many useful things, has done so long ago in the matter of kiosques for the sale of news- papers in the thoroughfares. It Is thought that London would be all the better for similar institutions, and a question on the subject has been put by Sir E. Wilmot in the Heuse of Commons to the Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works. Sir J. M. Hogg, in his reply, stated that the thoroughfares were under the control of Vestries and district Boards, and ex- pressed his belief that they would be happy to give their best attention to any proposal for the comfort of the sellers and convenience of the purchasers of newspapers. The kiosques would certainly be a desirable improvement upon the street vendors, who bawl alarmingly loud, and whose importunity often goes the length of impertinence. In wet weather, besides, papers purchased on the streets are apt to be uncomfortably damp. Ladies when they take up a newspaper are said to make straight for the list of births, marriages, and deaths, leaving the telegraphic news, even In anxious times, for leisurely perusal af terwards. It is quite natural that ladies should do so, as they generally take a greater interest in social than political life. But the fact is, apart from the special interest that may be taken in individual births, marriages, and deaths, there is food for reflection in such lists of notices of the kind as appear in the Times every day. On two consecutive mornings last week the notices leading off the obituary lists struck me as giving a vivid impression both of the world-wide extent of the British Empire, and of the many different parts of the globe in which English families have resident friends. Following each other, in the one list, there were notices of the deaths of the daughter of English parents at Walhalla, North Gipps Land, Victoria; of the wife of H.B.M.'s Consul for Tientsin and Pekin at Shanghai; of the widow of a Lieut.-Governor of Natal, at East London, British Kaffraria; of a gentleman at Colonarie Vale Estate, St. Vincent, West Indies and of a Cf dearly beloved daughter" at St. John's, Antigua. In the other list four deaths, also suc- ceeding each other, were reoorded as having taken place at Gealong; at Melbourne; at Libertad, Nicaragua and at Sylhet, India. Let it be re- membered, too, that all such noticea, which are cursorily glanoed at by thousands of eyes, make tender pulls at heart-strings at home. In the last issue of the Illustrated London News there is a full-page picture showing Mr. H. M. Stanley in the act of addressing the members of the Geographical Society and some distinguished visitors in St. James's Hall; The illustrious traveller may now be con- sidered as having cleared himself pretty well of the stigma of having practised unneces- sary cruelty upon the natives of Africa in the course of his explorations. Commander Cameron -who formed one of the audience—can congra- tulate himself, as Livingstone could also do, that the retrospect of his discoveries is not darkened by recollections of violence; but as these two travellers were not accompanied by a formidable force like Stanley's, their presence did not have the same effect in rousing the passions of warlike tribes. The widespread interest taken in Stanley's discoveries was evidenced by the fact that, in addition to the members of the Geographical Society, he had among his auditors the Prince of Wales and the Prince Imperial of France, the Chinese Ambassador and Midhat Pasha. The English Prince and the French Prince, who sat side by side at the meeting, have been a good deal togetherof late, and this circumstance serves to recall an incident mentioned in the third volume of Theodore Martin's Life of the Prince Con- sort "-namely, that when the father of the Prince Imperial was at Windsor in 1855 he wrote in Bertie's Autograph Book some lines in German which had been originally written for himself, and of which the following is a translation: Youth, of soul unstained and pure, Innocent and fresh in feeling, Choose and ponder, but be sure, World's praise never sways thy dealing! Though the CTowd with plaudits hail thee, Though their calumnies assail thee, Swerve not; but remember, youth, Minstrel praises oft betray Narrow is the path of Truth, Duty threads 'twixt chasms her way." On three days last week there was exhibited at the studio of Mr. William Day Key worth, jun., the sculptor, In Buckingham Palace-road, a re- oumbent figure in marble of the late Dr. Hook, Dean of Chichester, which is to be placed in the parish churoh, Leeds. The figure, which is an admirable piece of art-the result of two years' careful and conscientious work-represents the dean recumbent in his ecclesiastical vestments, with the placid impress of sleep, rather than of death, resting upon his well marked and familiar features. The head rests grace- fully on the figure of a cushion, and at the feet there is another cushion sustaining two volumes which may be regarded as representing The Lives of the Archbishop of Canterbury," which was the dean's greatest and most elaborate literary effort. Though Dr. Hook was Dean of Chichester when he died, he had filled for a longer term of years the Vicarage of Leeds, and therefore it was appropriately arranged that the monument, with the recumbent figure, should be erected by public subscription in that town, where the broad and advanced opinions of the deceased, especially in educational matters, were warmly appreciated by intelligent people of all olaase?. D. G.

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FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.

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STEAMBOAT COLLISION AND LOSS…

ALEXANDRA PALACE. '

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THE EASTERN QUESTION.[< .......-

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

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PA m J AM &NTARY jm: LLIGENCE.

ANOTHER ATTEMPT^

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