OUR LONDON LETTER.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 818, 5 February 1877, Page 3

OUR LONDON LETTER.

avritten for the "Globe."] Pall Mall, 13th December, 1876. The political life of the Government is just now particularly active. The work of the Cabinet during the past fortnight has not been light, and the frequency of its meetings has given rise to many uneasy conjectures. The fact is that Lord Salisbury has reported progress day by day, and certnin of his despatches have thrown such an entirely new light upon foreign politics that their discussion has been long and serious. In addition to the Eastern question, the troubles in Dahomey and South Africa have of late assumed threatening proportions. I have good reason to know that while our Government does not indulge in bravado, or mobilise our armies, or raise war loans, they are yet wide enough awake as to what may at any moment happen, and are quietly making the most efficient arrangements for it. In obedience to orders, all soldiers in camps and barracks are being medically examined, in order to ascertain the number fit for service in the field, and daily practising in carrying wounded off the field, &c, has been added to ordinary drills. It is said also that the clothing due to the men on the Ist of April next is to be supplied immediately.

All this shows that our "War Office authorities are not to allow themselves to be taken by surprise, should it be necessary for England to throw the weight of her sword into the coming struggle. On the reassem bling of Parliament, now dxed for the Sth of February, Mr Ward Hunt is promised a lively time of it; it being understood that his administration of naval affairs will be directly challenged by Mr Childers, soon after Parliament meets. I am told that a series of astounding revelations concerning the extravagance, inefficiency, and want of system which has characterised the present regime are in preparation. The tender of an Australian mining engineer for the hull of the Vanguard is said to have been accepted by the Admiralty, and if the conditions are carried out, the operation of raising the vessel will be commenced early next summer. Should the hull be brought safely into dock the Falvor will make "a nice little profit of £150,000. If raised' the vessel is to be brought to London for exhibition purposes. Your readers will recollect that we were promised that the title " Empress of India" should never be used in this country, but the promise has already been broken. In St Paul's i Cathedral last week the new Bishop of Calcutta was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the letters patent which were read aloud, ran in the names "Victoria by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India." Dr Milman's consecration was witnessed by one of the largest assemblages ever seen in St Paul's. Affairs in France have of late been causing considerable uneasiness, butl see by this morning's papers that the aspect of things is considerably improved. For several days past there threatened to be a serious dead-lock between the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. M. Dufaure who recently resigned is seventy-eight years old to-day, and it was scarcely likely that he would resume office. The names of the new Ministers will have reached you long before this letter. The innumerable mishaps which have occurred lately with new ships are now being followed by a series of catastrophies to older ones, and one might almost be inclined to suspect that our boasted seamanship and shipbuilding are becoming lost arts. Hardly a week since, we heard of the total loss of the Lapwing off the coast of China. Now we have in quick succession the loss of the transport St Lawrence near Cape Town, the grounding of the troop ship Tamar on the reefs off Bermuda and the grounding of the Narcissus off Shanghai. The recent courtmartial in the Tenedos case showed that she also escaped destruction with the loss of all her crew, only by the merest chance. Swimming seems likely to compete with rinking as a favorite amusement. There has of late been a considerable increase in the number of swimming baths in London, and only a short while ago the parish of Paddington spent no less a sum than £48,000 in erecting very fine baths, where a swimming master is always in attendance, and more recently a new swimming club, under the presidency of the Earl of Cadogan, and supported by a host of amateur athletes, has been established at Chelsea. As it is the fashion for the Christchurch people to slavishly follow the "manners and customs" of the mother country, it is to be hoped that they will adopt this among their other habits, and by judicious pressure compel their municipal authorities to aid their efforts in providing a building for the purpose. Before the American workmen had begun to demolish the Philadelphia building, the. French workmen had commenced their erection for the 1878 Paris Exhibition. There are over 500 men at work in the Champ do Mars, and I hear that the build ing is to be lighted up by a monster lighthouse. Among the objects of interest will bo international competitive concerts, a collection of coins, a number of models, and above all, the monster captive balloon. This last will be sixteen feet higher than the Arc de Triomphe; will be strong enough to carry a railway locomotive and its driver; will hold fifty persons at a time and can raise them to an elevation of more than 1600 ft. It will be constructed of alternate layers of silk and india rubber, which will be joined together by more than three and a half miles of cotton, and altogether about twenty-one miles will be used. The baloon will be held captive by cables capable of resisting a strain of 10,000 kilogrammes, and will be strong enough to resist a typhoon. Among the "hits" promised for the ensuing London season is a young American Princess, with an eccentric name and a highly romantic story. She was born at Baltimoie, and formerly boasted the name of Leclerq, and when premier dansexise at a Mexican theatre she ravished the heart of Prince Salm-Salm, the too susceptible aidede camp of the Emperor Maximillian. Twice during the terrible war in Mexico did she save her husband's life, and accompauied him to Germany, where he obtained a high appointment in the Prussian army. He was killed at and buried without name or memorial. The widow, however, spared no labour or expense in the search for his body, and having discovered it, a monument was erected over his grave. She has lately married an Englishman of considerable fortune. Whether Egypt be flowing with " milk and honey" I cannot tell, but that it is "the land of Goschen" there is no doubt. That worthy Hebrew financier, Mr Goschen, has clone good service there in the interests of the Egyptian bondholders. So far as paper can bind the Khedive, he has tied him down most effectually, has put the Oriental on his allowance, told him what he will, and what he won't get, in short has taken possession of the whole revenues of the country, and placed them under European control. The practice of insurance companies allowing property to be insured above its value, and when an accident occurs refusing to pay the amount insured, but tendering a smaller amount than the actual Io3S sustained by the insurer, has its inconveniences which are well illustrated by the following anecdote which I cut from a contemporary:—" A certain Dutchman, owner of a small house, had effected an insurance upon it of £BOO although it had beeu built for much less. The h mse got burned down, and the Dutchman then claimed the full amount for which it had been insured, but the officers of tin company refused to pay more than what they considered its value, viz., £6OO Tht Dutchman expressed his dissatisfaction in powerful broken English, interlading his remarks with Borne choice Teutonic expletives. "If you wish it," said

the company's actuary "we will build you a house larger and better than the one burnt, as we positively know it can be done for even less than £600." To this proposal the Dutchman objected, but at last was compelled to avcept the .£6OO. Some considerable time afterwards he was called upon by the agent of the same company who invited hirn to take out a policy of life insurance on himself and hi 3 wife. "If you insure your wife's life for .£2000," the agent said, " and she should die, you will have that sum to console your heart for your loss. " No, no," said the Dutchman, "you 'surancefellows ish all tiefs. If I insure my vife, and my vife ties, and if I goes to the office to get my £2OOO, you will say to me she vas not vorth £2OOO, she vas vorth about £6OO, and if you don't like the £6OO ve vill gif a piggcr and prettier vife."