LONDON.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1913, 23 June 1869, Page 3

LONDON.

(From our own Correspondent.) (continued from our last.) 23rd April, 1869,

One feature of the month is its catalogue of banquets to distinguished individuals. Of these I may mention the following : That to Lord Stanley at Glasgow, in the City Hall, where the first symptoms of a change of tactics on the part of the Tory party were disclosed. His Lordship, there is no room for doubting it, is Liberal at he >rt, but through his family connections with the Tories he finds himself trammelled. He had a grand reception in Glasgow. Then the Archbishop of Canterbury has been banquetted in Fishmongers’ Hall, where a very brilliant assemblage met to do him honor. No less brilliant was the splendid affair in St. George’s Hall, Liverpool, in honor of Charles Dickens, who has been giving a series of farewell readings there. Between 600 and 700 ladies and gentlemen, including many well known in the literary world, eat down on that occasion, and the guest of the evening made one of his characteristic speeches. The Lord Advocate of Scotland (Mr Moncrieff) has also been the guest of a distinguished company in St. James’ Hall here. There was a good deal of Scotch talk on this occasion, and the gathering was in every way interesting and gratifying. Prince Arthur is having a good time of it in Ireland. He has been feted, banqueted, and otherwise honored, in a manner which reminds one of the enthusiastic manners of the Irish people last year on the occasion of the visit of his eldest brother and his illustrious spouse. By the way, after thoroughly doin<r tlgypt, Constantinople, the Crimea, &c.,°they are now en route for Home via Athens. Prince Leopold still suffers a good -deal from loss of blood. The annual review of our Metropolitan Volunteers on Easter Monday was something between a success and a failure. Neither term is applicable. It happened to blow a hurricane at Dover that clay, and hail and snow fell heavily, making everybody and everything miserable and miserable looking. After mustering, the authorities on the spot dispersed the men, as it was useless to go thron'd! the appointed evolutions. The m n °obeyed the order very willingly, but His Eoyal Highness the Duke of Cambridge shortly afterwards rode up, and ordered the programme to be gone through. This order, the men also obeyed with great alacrity, and a good many of them were got into line again about two-thirds—and then they had the march past, and the attack on the castle. This latter, was a brilliant affair, the success of which was greatly enhanced by the effect of the proceedings of the ironclads The attack was the redeeming point of the whole affair. Had it not turned out BO successfully, no doubt the Duke would have been severely handled for his interference. As it was, his conduct turned out to be the proper thing, and it brought out the p l uck of our volunteers, while their officers must hide their diminished heads. It will interest you to know that the U.S. Minister, Mr Eeverdy Johnson, has sent in his resignation, and further, that the Alabama convention has been all but Unanimously rejected by the Senate, only one voting in its favour. This is the lamentable end of all Mr Eeverdy _s confident assertions as to a settlement of tliis question. However, it is to be hoped that Great Britain will let the matter rest as it is, until the States make a “move.” We have done all we can, and more than we ought, as many believe. . . , , , „ , The Wigan district is as noted for its colliery explosions as any American river is for ’those of steamboats. I have another dreadful catastrophe to report, which happened at the Park Lane Colliery. There appears to have been .about 80 men at work in the pit at the time of the accident, which is believed to have occurred at a blown out shaft. Fortunately, the result was pot so disastrously fatal as •was anticipated, but the deaths have already come up to the large number of 36. Many had surprising escapes in rushing through the choke damp. We have had rather an extensive fire in Kentish Buildings, High street, Southwark. The large block of buildings (which have been thoroughly gutted) were occupied as a seed and hop warehouse, and the total damage is set d->wu at L 30,000. At one time there were seventeen engines at work in extinguishing the flames. Higgs, a subordinate clerk in the Great Central Gas Company’s office, has made himself famous or infamous, which you please. This fellow had a salary of LISO a year, but he lived slightly beyond his means, a practice which induced him to embezzle and forge p,way to such an extent that L 150,000 will, it is thought, scarcely cover the amount of his defalcations. The fellow lived in a grand style, and had entered into contracts for the building of a new mansion stables, &c., and £]je beautifying of his extensive grounds, which would cause an expenditure of some L 50,000 or L 60,000. He was very charitable ; the poor have reason to revive his memory now that he is—many would like to know where. He d’d everything in the first style; his dinners were A 1 ; his carriages, horses, his everything in short, bespoke the man made of money. He accounted for it all by saying he had money by his wife, which was doubtless true to a certain extent, and that he was a chief shareholder in the company, in which he occuped his inferior position, only to see that his interests were properly looked after. His forged debentures and embezzlements were most c’everly managed. His estate will realise about L 30,000, and this the creditors have sou Jit to appropriate for the benefit of all concerned ; and the Gas Company, it is said, are willing to abandon criminal proceedings, and go in with the other creditors and share the L 30,000. But here, alas, they are foiled by the absurdity of Lord Westbury’s Bankruptcy Act of 1861. The 70th clause of that Act provides that if any person not being a trader shall, with intent to defeat or delay his creditors, depart the realm, or, being out of the realm, remain abroad, &c., ha shall be deemed to have committed an act of bankruptcy ; but before any adjudication in bankruptcy shall be made against the debtor, lie must be served personally with a copy of the petition ; or, if the creditors are unable to find out Irs whereabouts, they must prove to the Court that every reasonable effort has been made to serve the debtor, and that the attempts to serve the petition came to the knowledge of ijie said debtor, and were defeated by his conduct. The result of this truly absurd state of the law is, that about L 39,000 worth of property is being scrambled for by the creditors and the wife of Higgs, and there is no legal power under the Bankruptcy Act to touclcoue penny of it. It is beheved that sought refuge in Spain, with England has no extradition

We have disastrous news from the Cape of Good Hope, Intense heat had prevailed there for some weeks, and parched the earth in all directions. On 9th February the heat was greater than ever, and on that day fire broke out in several places, and rapidly spread over millions of acres. It is said that a tract of country 400 miles long, and varying in breadth from 15 to 150 miles, has been desolated. Many persons lost their lives, and those who saved themselves did so by going into the rivers and water courses. Of course, great distress is the result.

( To he continued.)