NEWS BY THE MAIL

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 379, 30 August 1875, Page 3

NEWS BY THE MAIL

{From a correspondent of the Press ) London, July 9, 1875. The Premier made his promised statement to the House last night on the subject of the Prince of Wales’ visit to India. It had been looked forward to with considerable curiosity. The Prince will sail on about the 17th October in the Serapis, accompanied by the Osborne. At Aden or Bombay a detached squadron under Admiral Lambert will meet him to give to the visit, as Mr Disraeli said, “ that pomp and circumstance which so much becomes the heir of one whom he hoped was still the sovereign of the seas." The estimated expenditure of the voyage to India is £52,000, which will be charged to the naval estimates of this and the following year. His Royal Highness does not go to India as the representative of the Queen, but as the heir-apparent of her Crown. While there he is to be the guest of the Viceroy, to whom a sum of £30,000, to be charged to the revenues of India, is to be paid for additional expenses. When the House goes into committee on the vote, however, it is probable that this item will not fall on India at all, and that England, as she should do, will bear the whole expense of the visit. In addition the Prince is to have a sum of £60,000 placed at his disposal for personal expenses. The total estimated expenditure is £142,000. The general feeling of the House was one of satisfaction at the Premier’s statement, but some hostile criticism and opposition were offered by Messrs Macdonald and Burt, two working mens’ candidates, and Mr Biggar, an Irish’ member. The two first gentlemen, though earnest in their protests, were temperate in speech ; but Mr Biggar was rather coarse, and remarked that if the Prince of Wales was going to make presents to the different native rulers in India, he should do so out of his own private purse, and not out of the pocket of the working men of England; I do not think this is the sentiment of the country. It is in his public position as the future ruler of India that the Prince is bound to distribute presents to certain native princes, and it would be hard upon him to have to make presents in his public and pay for them in his private capacity. £142,000 is not considered a large total for the object, and general expectation placed it at a much higher figure. The opinion of the press seems to be that the Government have erred on the side of parsimony,

The old bugbear, Russia iu Central Asia has again been frightening some of our politicians, The answer given by the Government to these alarmists was. i i ; > ! ain English, that they had their eyes open, and that there was no occasion to make a fuss about the thing. 1 1, is most unseemly in a nation like England that certain of her politicians should appear to think that lin=sia has merely to march an army upon India to call it her own. These views, promulgated by the newspapers, and copied by the Sr, Petersburgh press, must be very flattering to the Russian army. We seem to be verging on one of those vexatious little wars which cost a great deal and yield little glory. Our relations with Burmah are ticklish. Under very suspicious circumstances the king has refused to allow the passage of British troops through his territory to obtain redress for the recent murder of Mr Margary. The Under Secretary for India informed the House last night that he hoped and believed that the King of Burmah would yield to our just demands, and that no collision would take place.

The Sultan of Zanzibar is still our guest, and likely to continue so for some time longer. England is unfolding her wondrous riches to his astonished gaze. After “ doing” London he went to Birmingham, thence to Liverpool, and is now in Manchester, with the other great centres of wealth and industry to follow. To the Liverpool merchants he stated that henceforward his country should be as open to them as it was to himself, and that he hoped that the commercial intercourse between the two countries would bs of mutual benefit. As regards the abolition of the East African slave trade, ho promises his hearty co-operation. At Ascot he was very much pleased with the horses, but he thought the Arabs would have ridden'.them better than our jockies, I think His Highness was a little out of his depths here. The Arabs are doubtless splendid horsemen, but in a close finish between two animals of equal merit with Fordham, or any one of our “ cracks,” on one, and the best Arab light weight that ever threw leg across a horse on the other, I know which I should back. I should think it would be a “ monkey to a moustrap” on our jock. Before leaving for the north we gave His Highness areyiew at Aldershot, and he was astonished by the “ never-ending lines” of troops. Numerically our army is not in the habit of inspiring feelings of wonder in the breasts of foreign potentates. If Scyyid Burgash held up his hands in astonishment at Aldershot, what will he do if he goes to Berlin or Paris ! Cremation has gradually disappeared from the field of discussion. The country recoiled with lonour from the innovation, and now a new method for the disposal of our dead is brought forward under high auspices. Instead of, as is now the case, obstructing nature in her process of resolving “ earth to earth,” by means of oak, elm, or lead coffins, it is held that the sooner this process is completed the better it is for the health of the living, and with this object Mr Seymour Haden proposes a receptacle made of wickerwork. The Duke of Sutherland afforded Mr Haden an opportunity of exhibiting these contrivances by placing the grounds of Sutherland House at his disposal, and thither the fashionable and scientific world flocked to view. The wicker-work coffins are made in the old conventional form and lined with turf. The method is certainly I think, preferable to the old mode of interment, and I hope it will commend itself to the public mind. I hear a wicker coffin funeral company is about to be started.

The usual summer manoeuvres of our army are now taking place in the vicinity of Aldershot. There are about 20,000 troops in the field, which are equally divided into an attacking and a defending force. Compared with continental armies each of these corps d’armee is a mere handful, and yet on more than one occasion during these manoeuvres our commissariat has broken down under the very small strain, and whole regiments have been sometimes without their supplies for a day. That 10,000 men three or four miles from their base cannot be fed with the regularity of clockwork must surprise some of S our foreign critics, and make us rather ridiculous in their eyes. It is not the fault of the officers and men of the control department ; the means of transport allowed them by Government is utterly inadequate. To teach the Control its duties of feeding soldiers in war time is as important and vital a military lesson as to teach the soldiers themselves how to fight; and to try to afford practical instruction to a Control officer without means of transport is like teaching a soldier how to shoot without giving him a rifle. The Prince Imperial is taking part in the manoeuvres as a lieutenant of artillery, and it is noticeable that, according to the newspaper reports, whenever he brings up a gun or two, even if he is too late, there is always something exceptionally “ smart,” or “ dashing,” or “ workmanlike ” in his method of doing it. To give him his due, however, and not more than his due, I believe he is a promising young officer, and several artillery officers with whom I have spoken recently tell me that he is unquestionably a smart youngster. France may some day in gaining an Emperor deprive England of a smart “ gunner,”

The great annual volunteer picnic at Wimbledom is now commencing. Several corps are already (ncamped, but the real business of the meeting begins next week. The proceedings will be stimulated by the presence of the “ American Rifle Team,” who, having been victorious over the Irish, are to try conclusions with a United Kingdom eight on the 17th instant at Wimbledon. There were great rejoicings in New York on the receipt of the telegram announcing the victory over the Irish ; but if on t be 17th the united Britishers are “ whopped there will be no holding Jonathan. V tether our guests obtain a victory or not, f ere thing they are certain, and that is three hearty English cheers at the conclusion of the struggle. A sad scandal has been for the last fortnight, and is still, the talk of the clubs and of society at large. Colonel Valentine Baker, of the 10th Hussars, stands committed for trial on a charge of criminally assaulting a young lady in a railway carriage. For about five miles, momentarily incurring the risk of instant death, the young lady in question rode on the steps of the carriage, into which position she had managed to struggle, before her cries attracted the attention of the guard, and the train was stopped. She is well connected. Her father is a man of property, one brother is an officer of the Royal Engineers, another is a barrister, and the third a rising doctor. The 10th Hussars has long been looked upon as the “ crack” cavalry regiment of the service, and it wag through Baker’s brilliant'military qualities that it was raised to this eminence. The Prince of Wales is its honorary chief, and in

the uniform of full Colonel of the 10th Hussars, ho usually appears on State occak" s. Between him and Colonel Baker ilo m existed a strong private friendship. I n military circles “ Yal Baker” was looked upon as " the coming man,” and in general society he was regarded as the smartest cavalry officer of our service. So valuable were his services considered by the Horse .Guards, that on the departure of the 10th hussars for India, a year or two ago, he was kept at homq to assist in carrying out certain staff reforms. At the time of his arrest on this charge he was filling the important military position of Quarter-Master General at Aldershot, in the discharge of which duties he has been promptly suspended by the military authorities. It is sad to contemplate a career which in the past may be termed brilliant, iu the future might have been glorious, thus foully blasted. Whatever the result of the trial may be, a charge of such a nature as this one clings to a man for ever. He is to be tried at the Croydon Assizes on the 28th iust. Mr Hawkins, Q.C, of Tichborne trial celebrity, is retained for his defence. Colonel Baker is a brother of Sir Samuel Baker, the well known explorer and writer, who, with Lord Valentia, an old brother officer, have stood bail to a large amount. Cricket is now in full swing. The three most interesting matches of the year are Oxford and Cambridge, Gentlemen and Players, and Eton, and Harrow, The bad weather marred the enjoyment of the first, but the finishing was as close and exciting as anything iu the annals of cricket, Oxford winning by only six runs. In the second match, which took three days to decide, the Gentlemen were victorious over the Players by 262 runs. This is rather a turning of the tables. Twelve years ago so much were the P’ayers iu the ascendant, that it was proposed to handicap them by giving them a wider wicket to defend. In the second innings the Gentlemen scored this year 4-14, the highest score but one ever made at Lords. To this Mr W. G. Grace, the “champion,” contributed 152 in his best form. The Eton and Harrow match was to have been played to-day, but owing to the wretched weather it will most likely have to be postponed. Up to two o’clock, though the elevens and large crowds were present, play had been impracticable. Eton is the favorite in the betting. This is the fifty-first match between the two schools. Up to this time victory has been very evenly balanced, Eton having won twenty-four, Harrow twentytwo, and the remaining four matches having been drawn. An extraordinary, and I believe unprecedented, feat of swimming has been accomplished by a Mr Webb, a captain in the merchant service, who swam from Blackwall to Gravesend, a distance of twenty miles, in four hours and fifty-three minutes. To swimmers it may be interesting to learn that Mr Webb performed this feat in the oldfashioned stylo, lying on his chest, only now and then resorting to the side position for a brief period. It is said that a swim across the Channel will be bis next attempt. A general subscription is being started throughout the country for the relief of the sufferers by the terrible inundations in France. The sum subscribed to the Mansion House fund, presided over by the Lord Mayor, amounts to £9OOO, Her Majesty contributed £2OO. Mr Vogel is at Wildbad, in Germany, for the benefit of his health.