LOUDON LETTER.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1442, 30 September 1878, Page 3

LOUDON LETTER.

[Written Expressly kor the "Globe,"] London, August 18.

This very day brings to a close another year of London life. The annual exodus began more than a fortnight ago—as in fact it always does after the Duke of Richmond has entertained princes and peers at Goodwood for the race week—but the sesaion of Parliament, which began three weeku before its visual time, and has already run beyond its general length, will not terminate until to-morrow, and then all will be holiday for some time. At this period of last year, I •was -writing to you from one of the wateringplaces on the coast of the English Channel, and in soon as I have written this letter I shall be oil' there again, and to-morrow " by the sad sea waves " I shall read the Queen's speech, -which this year has something to tell, Not but what every English man and woman, and child, too, for the matter of that, knows all it has to say, for have we not all been doing the " high falutin " business of late ? Our Prime Minister and his Foreign Secretary have been made heroes both in and out of Parliament, ever since their return from the Berlin Congress. They have received from the liands of tho Queen the highest honour which it is in tho power o:' tho Sovereign of thiu Empire to bestow on a subject;, v'u ,the Order of the Garter, and now the Marl of Beaconsfleld wears the selfsame decoration which for yoine years adorned the breast of his political adversary the late Earl IltissolJ. Then the Corporation of Loudon always next to, if not before, the Crown to do honour to illustrious men, has bestowed on them the freedom of the city, a id entertained them at a grand banquet It ia the custom of the city, when giving the freedom, t > enclose the parchment roll in a handsome gold casket, but on this occasion the action so quickly followed the resolution that the ww artists had act tine to oreeare

these receptacles, which I believe are even now not finished. There wa3 another curious feature about this ceremony, of which no public notice could be taken in this country and was only known to a comparatively small number of thoje "behind the scenes." When the freedom is publicly conferred on an eminent man some biography, of course full of eulogy, has to be prepared and spoken by the Chamberlain, who docs for the city what the Public Orator does for the University. But the present Chamberlain is a Radical in politics and a Dissenter iu religion. I need not say what Lord Beaconsrield is in these respects, but Mr Scott acquitted himpelf very creditably, and although to the ordinary reader of the papers his oration seemed to contain noUing but words of welcome and praise, the initiated could find therein nothing at all inc„nsistent with Mr Scott's personal opiniors. I am glad to say, too, that amidst this exciting time of politics trade has become a good deal better. Although many people still shake their heads when asked if there is anything doing, yet there has been a much more active demand for money, and the Bank of England rate of discount which had for a long time remained at an almosb nominal rate, has rapidly risen until this week at an extraordinary [meeting in the Bank parlour, and at a much later hour of the day than usual, the announcement wa3 suddenly put forth that the rate had been advanced to five per cent. The joint stock bankers and the private discount houses that had for some time refused to take money on deposit at inte-est are this week glad to see a customer with a fifty pound not to invent, for the reaction has been so sudden that there i 3 no knowing to what extent it may go before the Bank is iu a position to cheek it by making both sides of its weekly returns show such a state of affairs that bills may be freely offered to it. So eager have our speculators been in trade that, although not a month has elapsed since the public knew that we had taken possession of Cyprus, several shiploads of goods have already been despatched thither, and many of the adventurous but unemployed are anxi us to be sent out.

Even crime seems to have taken an active change and not the leaat remarkable feature of the past month has been the extraordinary number of deeds of violence that have been committed. If I had nothing else to write about I might fill the whole of this letter with some startling thing 3 in the way of murder and suicide, not to mention the circumstances under which, in the Bank holiday week, an unprecedentedly large number of young people were drowned in the Thames through accidents to boating parties. Perhaps the moat melancholy tale in all this long catalogue is an event that took place in the pretty little Kentish village of Crayford, which might almost be called a suburb of London. A most respectable man, who had been steward of a club at the West End, invested all his savings in the purchase of a public-house at Greenwich. He was naturally unfitted for such an occupation if it proved profitable, but as it turned out a swindle the poor man, in a few weeks, became insane Leaving his wife and infant child at home be took his three other children out for a walk, a<* was supposed. He walked with them to Crayford, where he murdered them, and when their bodies were found search was made for him. It was soon discovered that, after making a gash in his throat, he had himself in a pond close by. I think I mentioned in my last letter that the Bishop Metropolitan of New Zealand was staying in London, being one of about fifty colonial prelates that had been called hither by the meeting of Pan-Anglican Synod at Lambeth. One of the good deeds of your Bishop outside that assembly wa3 to attend a meeting on behalf of the proposed memorial to the late Dr. Selwyn, and at this meeting he had the pleasure of addressing the Earl of Powis, the High Steward of the University of Cambridge, the members of which are making the most praiseworthy eflbrts to raise funds for the building of a Selwyn College, where men may be trained, it is hoped, as missionary clergymen. Your Bishop expressed the thorough sympathy of the people of New Zealand with the object in view, and elicited much applause from those present, especially when he reminded his audience that Bieh-ip Selwyn's son is now in New Zealand, following in the footsteps if his father. Amongst the distinguished men present at this meeting was the Archbishop of Canterbury, who gave the promoters a timely, and not altogether unnecessary warning, against making Selwyn College a copy of the Keble College at Oxford, which has become a very different thing to what was originally contemplated. I ought to hav'" told you in my last letter that Mr Macdonald, who ha 3 been a member o' the teaching staff of the Edinburgh Jffoyal High School for eleven years, has been appointed to the rectorship of tho Dunedin High School. He leaves Scotland much to the regret of those who have been associated with him, in his report for the session just closed the Bector of the Edinburgh High School congratulates his late assistant on the honorable way in which he obtained his new and valuable appointment, and expresses his conviction that "he has done well in accepting an office in which his sound scholarship, his great tact, his rare power of organisation, and his intimateacquain • tance with educational methods will find full scope." I think that is a very handsome testimonial. Bijt it is not all. ' His intercame," continues the Sector, ". with us as his colleagues, has been very pleasant indeed, and we have" derived great benefit from the wise counsels and ready co operation of one whose ty-hoje conduct has been characterised by sterling honesty, by yreat generosity, by zeal in every good caua», and by an earnest desire to conciliate men and sweeten life." I should not have ventured to quote so much from an ordinary testimonial, but these words wijl remain as part of the records of one of the rno?t important educational establishments in Scotland, Mr Macdonald has been honored with fthe degree of LL.D. by the University of Edinburgh. Sir Charles Clifford presided at the general meeting of the shareholders of the National i Fank of New Zealand, but was not so well supported as ueual, owing to the illness of Mr Dudley Smith, deputy-chsirman, and Mr Macguire, one of the directors. He had, however, a very pleasant duty to fulfil, for tho balance of accounts showed an increase upon the late statement, although during the period to which that applied there had been important reductions of expenditure. He spoke of the difficulty which their inspector and manager in New Zealand experienced '! in establishing or aboli-hing branches, and expressed his approval of the system of agencies in preference to branch oinces, when the former cmki give the necessary facilities for the transaction of business with the bank. He added that all the accounts from the colony united to show it to be in a prosperous condition, and I may note that at the time Sir t harles i?aic'i this the telegram conveying an outline of the financial statement of your Treasurer in the Legislative Assembly had not arrived. There was some discussion on the directors' report, but in the result it was adopted and a dividend of 6 per cent, was agreed to. The fifteenth annual meeting of the shareholders of the New Zealand Irust and Loan Company (limited) has just been held at the London < ifices, also under tho chairmanship of Sir Charles Clifford. The directors reported that their recent advices from your colony show an increased demand for loans, consequent upon large purchases of lands from the Crown, and shis would eaacle tno directors to find employment; for vhe amount oii funds which they are authorised to ivase, aa had been anticipated by them. During the past year the profits have enabled th; directors to add £BOOO to the reserve fund, which now amounts to £Sp,QOO. Tho balance sheet shows that the company's investments in New Zealand amounted, at tho beginmng of this year, to £719,771, while nearly £17,000 was duo i-s interest Sir Charl-s Clifford made a very brief speech to the shareholders, for things wore so pleasant to ' them that he felt he need not spy much. The report having been adopted, hcinoved a special vote of thanks to the inspector, | manager, local trustees, and other Olivers of

the company in New Zealand for their past services, to which he attributed much of the satisfactory results of the company's operations. This was accorded by the shareholders, who were grateful for receiving an extra dividend this year, and was responded to by Mr Harper, the company's solicitor in the colony, in a brief but businesslike speech. One of our colonies, the Dominion of Oanada, has been selected for a high honor. The Marquis of Lome, at present the only son-in-law of the Queen who is not a Prince, has been selected to succeed Lord Dufferin as the Governor-General of that fine country. As soon as his preparations can be completed he will go out to his new post. The Princess Louise, his wife, goes with him, and both will be very popular in their new home, which, however, they can only occupy for a limited number of years There are. many reasons why we should be glad of this appointment. In the first place it re ! eases the Marquis himself from a most unpleasant position. Ordinarily a son-in-law is regarded as one of the family, fcbut this does not apply to the Knglish Court, and except in the most private of gatherings Lord Lome is never recognised as having any concern whatever in the Boyal Family, and in public ceremonials is separated from his wife in what may be a necessary manner, but which is a very invidious one, and must be a very unpleasant one to the object. Then, again, although Lord Lome has been married several years, there is no child to succeed him in the dukedom of Argyll, to which he is the heir. The Marquis is a member of the House of Commons, and has for some years represented a Scotch county in which his ancestral estates lie ; yet, although he is a good speaker and an uncommonly intelligent and clever young man, he never op°ns his lips in that assembly owing, it is generally believed, to his being the husband of a Princess. However, they are g ing to a new land, and they will carry with them the best wishes of all who have known them at home. Their departure mggests whether any other colouies would be the better for being placed under the rule of some one personally J connected by some tie to the Crown. One can hardly call Ireland a colony, yet it has been several times suggested that the Duke of Connaught, whogby the way is going to be married to a pretty Prussian Princess, should be made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and I think the appointment is not unlikely when our new Duchess shall have acquired some experience of the ways of the English Court, for Dublin is very particular about ceremony at the" Castle. Of late it has been several times hinted that the Prince of Wales may visit the southern colonics of Great Britiin, and I think it not improbable that at some not very distant date he may pay a flying visit to Australia and New Zealand. But he has not another brother-in-law to be made your Governor-General, and if I may be allowed to hazard an opinion, I don't think he is likely to have one from the ranks of the English nobility. As is usual for the few weeks preceding the Long Vacation of the lawyers very few of the Courts have been sitt ; ng, most of the judges having been away at the assizes. The Court of Chancery, however, never goes on circuit, and amongst the cases which have come before it is one in which Vicc-Ohan-cellor Malins wa3 called upon to decide a matrimonial difference between Mr A garEllis and his wife, both of whom belong to " the upper ten." When Mr Agar-Ellh was a gay young bachelor he became enamoured of a Miss Stonor, who was a suitable match in every respect but one, viz., that the lover was a Protestant and his mistress a Roman Catholic. 'I he lady was willing to many, but before she would "gently whisper

•yes,'" she required Mr Ellis to promise that, if they had any babies, the little Ellises should be brought up to believe in the Pope and not in the Archbishop of Canterbury, This was a stumbling block to Mr Fllis, but the parties went on a visit to the Duke of Sutherland, who appears to have removed the conscientious scruples of his Church of England kinsman, and accordingly the. lady's friends obtained from the Vatican a dispensation which enab'ed the wedding to take place. However, this was but another proof of the trnth of the words which the poet put into the mouth of Chamont in the old play of "The Orphan" : When a man talks of love, with caution trust him ; But if he swears, he'll certainly deceive thec.

So it proved in this case. Babies did come, and they were brought up in the Roman Catholic faith. But with advancing years Mr Ellis became more Protestant than over, and at length reaolved to send his children to be educated by a clergyman of his own way of thinking. Mrs Ellis resisted ; hence this report to the Court of Chancery. The Vice-Chancellor told them it had often been decided thu t a man could not be compelled to perform such a promise when it was made before marriage, and then, laying aside his law, he told them that throughout the world, both heathen and civilised, as well as in the Bible itself, it was the rule that in all matters the wife should submit to her husband, and so it must be in this case. We are sure to hear of this matter again when the gloom of November has brought back the lawyers to their wigs and books. Sir Richard Malins' sentiment is undeniable, but as far aa society goes in this half century I fear that few wives ever wish to bear the words of St. Paul on this subject, after having assented to them on the wedding morning. We have had another " claimant " appear in a court of law, alleging tb,at ho was the true heir to a fine estate. This time the scene was laid in the county of Norfolk, and it is only fair to say at the outset that the plaintiff was not an utter impostor, but really had some claim to be considered a member of the family to whose estates he laid claim. Some of the older of my readers may recollect that in 1848, amidst all the political convulsions whicb/abtraied Europe, wo in England wero shocked by »he murder of a Mr Jenny, of S ta.v< field Hail, near Norwich. His murderer was a man namod Rush, who ended hia days on the gallows outside the castle of that old city. Well, it appears that the Jenny family has two branches, one of which obtained possession .of the estates, and has quietly eDjoyed them ever since. Lately, however, another Jermy, who has been for a long time a guard on the Great Eastern railway, found out his pedigree, ;ind was advi-gd to<tt he had a nearer claim, to. the property, Vi e,c.'.;ruo a iiiW/e* took up the case, and on an action being brought, Mr Bui we r, Q. 0., a nephew of the famous novelist, was retained as counsel for the plaintiff, but on the case coming for trial he was obliged to admit that he could not struggle against t&e title the defendant had acquired % more than twenty yei»rs undisturbed •possession, and he therefore gave up tne case,