OUR LONDON LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 3725, 30 January 1875, Page 2

OUR LONDON LETTER.

A gang of aristocratic land-grabbers have been trying to lay their fingers on Epping Forest, and, I rejoice to say, have got them burnt most consUmedly. Enclosures had been goiag.-on for some years, but at last the Corporation of London took up the matter hiid instituted actions against the would-be confiscators. Their claims of appropriation were as lords of the manor, acting with the consent of certain owners of Qommon ! rights; but the judgment \yhich has j list been given affirms that, to legalise the enclosure, consent must be given by the owners of common rights within' a much larger area. This there is no possibility of obtaining, so the conspiracy collapses All the land enclosed since 1851 must be given back ; and it is pleasing to add that the trespassers will have to bear the chats of the actions, which are terrific. > '

Great efforts have been made ,by the companies to induce •,the Midland' Railway ’ ter abandon its intention of abolishing the Second class and of reducing the first-class fares. A meeting of Midland shareholders has also been held, and resolutions passed adverse to the proposed change, but, as most of these gentlemen seem to have been shareholders in other com T panics, their action is not likely to have much effect. Some interesting statistics have, however, been elicited, which place in a striking light the relative remunerativeness of' the various classes of passengers. The average profit on the first class is 35 per cent,,, that on the third class 185 pet cent. , or more -than- five times as much ; nor is it difficult to realise that such should be the case, when you compare a third class carriage, crammed with its living freight with a first' class one, J containing 1 pgrhkps only three people, and involving nearly the same expenditure of coal to drag. It is ohly just now beginning to dawn upon railway companies that their best customers are the working classes,'-add th at their truq interest is to encourage that description of traffic. Hitherto: every conceivable effort has been made tb thwart it. . Originally the third-class carriage was a me.,’e cattle truck, without Vthei least shelter from wind or rain. • Then, when' public opinion grew too hot to tolerate that any longer, the thiW-class carriage developed ihtoa wild beast caravan, in every respect but its gay outward appearance. There were no seats arid the apologies for windows were small panes of glass, placed so high up in the side that it was impossible to look through them. The treatment generally of third-class passengers was such as might be proper towards condemned criminals—in fact there is JitJlp dopbt railway companies regarded anyone as guilty of serious moral delinquency who did not travel f}rst-okss All tills is changed now. Third-class carriages l as a rule, are attached to all trains, arid itf point of comfort, light, and, ventilatiop, are infinitely superior to the second-class of some'few years ago. The passenger receipts of the Midland Railway were published a little time ago when it transpired that JO per cent, of the whole was'derived from the third-ciass, 14 from the second, and Ifi from the first. By the intended change it is. hoped that, pome who now travel third-class will be tempted to the first, whilst it is confidently stated that by blending together the first and stcond class a saving will be effected in the haulage of empty carriages that will counterbalance ]bh© loss involved in - the reduction of fares. ‘

Mr Laud, of Birkenhead, the builder of the Alabama, is dead. To this gentleman we are indebted for the loss of three anda-half million of money, for the embittermbnt of our relations with America, for years passed under the dread of war with the power which, of all others, it most concerns our interest and our honor to maintain good relations with; and we have further more to thank him. for countless losses m the depression of trade which resulted from the complications with the United states. He was a member of the House of Commons, and is almost unnecessary to say. a Conservative! He; once took advantage of his place in that ; chamber, which plumes itself on being “the first assgmbjy of gentlemen in the world,” to say that he ww* jiqt in the least ashamed of himself, and that he would rather be the builder of a dozen Alabama than hold such sentiments as were enunciated by Mr Bright. He is said to have amassed a colossal fortune, which, in conformity with prevalent opinion, I suppose we mjist say was highly creditable to him.” When the Geneva award jyas given against us, and wb realised that we should have to pay the three millions and a-half, the Tory journals were furious against the Gladstone cabinet, which they declared had sacrificed the honor of the nation. It would almost appear that they expected the iiritish Government to repudiate its liability and refuse compliance with the dictum of a tribunal to which it had deliberately submited* Strange is it not, that all this indignation should be vented on those who endeavored to repair the mischtef, whilst not a word was spoken against its guilty duthoi-’ '■ Count Arnim, after being released under b £ d, I baß a ßam arrestejt,: and will shortly be brought to trial The ConservativeP,“f H nals ’ an . d ’ ind . e * d i a large section of our : 8tr k °. n £ “ denouncing the excessive ho has been treated; but, »everthel66B, there is a general feeling that he «fied retaining the dispatches -in ' question, or, indeed, a,ny documents which his I diplomatic superior might consider official i On ! that pomt, as well as the importance of the -i papers, they are clearly the right judges. Count ‘ Arnim, too. has not improved his position by a uj?, ia he endeavors to justify his ffig- 1 obedience of orders on the plea that he had i ceased to be a member of the diplomatic staff. ] and that the Foreign Office no longer had any r authority over him. That is all vtery well as « .♦ mhwwitibn, but it is dear that M ] nw&t be £bld accountable to that offwe t

tion, it is such beenapcompUfted by retalnm^sbpioa^hem. tuade a^^^akej^^B j the and yet he is treated justly iFne were.afi ordinary individual. Had he be3ft*fcmere drummer boy he could not have been dealt with in mors summary fashion. This is, of course, very hard; at the same time it is not difficult to see that discipline and implicit obedience are as nenossary in-the diplomatic as in tho militaiy service, for ambassadors, like army officers, arc to carryout their ins tractions, feSi fcot to",act on their own notions of what* is'proper. Our diplomatic relations with the Papal Court have always been of a special character.' For some reason it seemstto Mve been-deoided that we should not receive any ecclesiastic as an ambassador, fend, as the successive Popes , de- ,- dined to appoint alayman, we had to dispense .' 1 with a representative of the -temporal ,po\ecr. ' firom tins cause, probably, ’we were unable to send a full' fledged ito Rome; but Were represented in some fashion ,*by a gontleF? a * T r V r * ess , Now, however, that temporal power 'has passed rifitoWie hands of the Italian King, St has heefi' denied «^f^ e f?2w n ?? rrequirea B P ec ial representeaoc',rd - When I last wrote, the -~eleclTbh r fbr th 6 P-aS'.’ ' at 1° n e dwidad: The numbers at tue close of the ballot stood Bonapartist ... ... 70,000 / Republican ar mvi ’■ i i ; Royalist ... ’ 'i.V i mSrjffr.ril one J h eret<rre unified ja,dear majontymf the votes recorded, asecqnd election was necessitated, which has resulted as expected, “ a . Bonapartist success-M. Delissb Enirrand SS"S ffii 4oo^ 8 -’ 4ad ' M - BraßmelttSxfehcan), 74,181. This is great triutonhioe for - the de CaSs^Kbre' WFr?i^ Bon fHf t,Bt t . hatt any otherdifetrict rim^w£h ? v na,the now obtained is smaUer than- on any previous ocoaaidm 'i ': r *