LONDON LETTER.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1833, 7 January 1880, Page 3

LONDON LETTER.

[fbom the peess correspondent. J LONDON, November 21

November is the month of meteors, both celestial and terrestrial. Of the celestial ones, I have nothing to say. Since, although we have this month been blessed with both days and nights of weather exceeding in fineness and clearness, and surpassing almost anything either on record or handed down b-» tradition, no one seems to have noticed anything in the ordinary period at which these momentary luminaries appear, while the extraordinary period, that at which we are told the earth will be passing through the tail of the comet which was discovered by Biela, has not arrived at the time of writing, though perhaps I am not many hours in advance of it. My business is rather with those terreatrialjmeteors which blaze and fizz for a moment or two on the political firmament and then leave it in a darkness more Cimmorian than before.

The chief of these, I must Bay, is the Prime' Minister, who, as hia predecessors hare done for time out of mind, went down to the Guildhall banquet on Lord Mayor's Day, and spoke—in this case it is no exaggeration to 8a y—to an expectant world, for it is the simple truth to declare that, both at home and everywhere abroad, his speech was awaited with the utmost anxiety. His speech was made ; it has been telegraphed and printed all over Europe, and has disappointed everybody. And why ? it may be inquired. When the Hebrew multitude of old were asked what they went into the wilderness to see, one of the things it was suggested to them that they sought was a prophet. People now-a-days are Btill seeking some one who. can pretend to be gifted with the power of foretelling the future, but such an ono is not the Earl of Baaconsfield, who contented himself with telling his expectant audience only what they might have found out for themselves had they been as observant a 3 he, but telling it to them with an air of novelty, and a charm of the narrator's art that left behind them no keen sense of disappointment. Eor many days before this 10th of November —the 9th has this year fallen on a Sunday, the Prince of Wales' birthday could not ba celebrated until a day later — there had prevailed the most intense belief that from tne Lord Mayor's table would be heard words that would tell the public for certain whether there was to be a dissolution this winter, or whether the existing Parliament was to be allowed to die a natural death. The Premier has spoken, and only in one enigmatical sentence, which was drowned in a shout of laughter, has he alluded to the possible length of his political existence, though it may uow be safely stated that the period of this year has gone too far for us to entertain any expectation of an ■ immediate dissolution. There are, however, not wanting those who still believe that the present House of Commons will not meet again, and who are sure that in the early days of January we shall witnes3 a dissolution in time for the new Parliament to meet a very little later than the ordinary period for the commencement of the session in February. Then only in the week before the Prime Minister spoke, the utmost alarm had been occasioned, not only in this country but throughout Europe, and especially in Bussia, by the sudden action of our Government towards Turkey in our demand for the immediate execution of the promised reforms in Asia Minor. Thero was Admiral Hornby at Malta with his squadron, refitting such of his ships as wanted repair, and all hands, it is [ eaid,b:ing held in readiness to proceed on short notice to the Gulf of Smyrna. Why this subject was not even distantly mentioned, to the surprise of the " unspeakable Turk, and to the great chagrin of the wily Buseians who have been prompting the Sultan and his puppots —for yon cannot call Sawas Pacha and his colleagues either Ministers or advisers ; to a sullen resistance which can only have i one result, the destruction of themselves and . the whole official class in Turkey. Eoreign 1 affairs indeed received scarcely any notioe from the Prime Minister, who contented himself with a dissertation on the improving prospects of trade, a subject which afforded

universal gratification to the publio, but ws» not what they expected to hear. Since that evening no member of the Ministry has opened his mouth on a public platform, and so the latest views of the Ministry are now nearly a fortnight old. We have, however, either by ftroa of diplomacy, or by show of an intention to exeroise our power obtained from the Sultan—l don't think from the Porte, for the Turkish Ministry seems out of the affair altogether—some small amount of concession ; that is to say, we insisted on the immediate oxecution of that part of the Treaty of Berlin whioh related to the reform of Asia Minor, where the most revolting cruelty is still inflicted on the Christian population. Well, our demand was made, 'and the first thing the Sultan wanted to know was why our fleet, whioh was then at Malta, was under orders to be able to move eastwards on the receipt of a telegraphic order. Some explanation was given of this, and while Sir Henry Layard was having daily interviews with the Sultan, the Turkish Ambassador in London was driving down every day from Bryanston square to the Foreign Office to see Lord Salisbury. Neither our Ambassador nor his own seems to have been able to influence tho Sultan so much as the Russian representative, Prince Lobanoff, who, while the crisis waß pending, undertook a journey from Constantinople to Livadia to ascertain personally the views of the Czar on the situation. Russia, not being able to help the Sultan, advised him to give way. So his majesty has again promised reform in Asia Minor, and has issued an Imperial statement on the subject, and has appointed an Englishman, Baker Pasha, to report to him on what is necessary. There can be but one outcome of all this shuffling : if the Conservative Government remains in power it will enforoe a British protectorate over Asia Minor. There has been a very pretty quarrel this week between the Marquis of Salisbury and the Duke of Argyll arising out of the intemperate and undiscriminaticg language whioh the Duke, in common with all the other leaders of the Liberal party, who have of late been launching their thunder against the Government, used at a meeting in Leeds last week. It is a very rare thing indeed for a Cabinet Minister to rush into print to correct his political opponents, but in this instance Lord Salisbury probably feels that neither he nor any of his friends of sufficient weight will have for some time to cope the opportunity of correcting a blind misstatement as to a fact of which the Duke himself might have made himself perfectly acquainted. But in this instance the Duke has been singularly unhappy throughout. After the great Manchester meeting about which I recently wrote, the Liberals of Leeds deemed it necessary to hold a "demonstration" against the Government. They invited their Bradford neighbor, Mr W. E. Forster, to attend the afternoon meeting, at whioh he made a speech, the dullness of which was in proportion to its inordinate length. But Mr Forster, though an ex-Cabinet Minister, is only good at domestic topics, and"aß the Liberals have chosen to run amuck at the foreign polioy of the Government, i 4; was necessary to have another meeting in the evening, at which some competent person should have the opportunity of delivering an oration on foreign affairs, and so the Duke of Argyll, who had not previously spoken during the recess, was invited to attend. The great mistake the promoters of the meeting made was to put the Duke in the chair, whioh compelled him to make a speech in opening the proceedings, and before the audience had either settled down into quietness or warmed up into political enthusiasm. I only mention this circumstance as in some measure excusing the Duke, who, though as a rule somewhat fiery in debate, is yet generally fair towards his opponents. You will recollect that he was Secretary for India in Mr Gladstone's Cabinet, and, therefore, should have been particularly careful in speaking on the affairs of Afghanistan. However, in this instance he was no more correct than any outsider might have been. Having made quite a long string of complaints against the present administration, and particularly against the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, he added . —« If you want to hear more of the way in which the people of this country are misled by the Government, I will mention two more mistatements by Lord Salisbury. First of all, he says that the Ameer refused, because if he aocepted a British Embassy he would be obliged to accept a Russian. There is not a word of truth in that statement." Now, Lord Salisbury could not allow "the lie direct" to pass unnoticed, so he has written to the principal newspapers _ in London to point out that he based his original statement on the reports of the Native Agent at Cabul, a summary of whioh had _ been printed in the blue book on the affairs of Afghanistan. Nor did the case rest on that Bingle piece of evidence, for in another page of the same blue book there is a despatch from the "Vioeroy and the Government of India containing this declaration of the Native Agent, of whom they do not express the slightest doubt. The Duke, who had retired to the solitude of Inverary, replies this morning, maintaining that he alone is right, and referring to his own book published ten months ago, in support of his statement. Great exoitement has been caused during the last two days throughout Ireland and in all the towns of Great Britain which contain a large Irish population, by the action of the Government, which early on Wednesday morning arrested on the charge of sedition three men who have made themselves conspiciouß in the present land agitation in Ireland. The several bad seasons whioh the farmers have suffered have had much to do with helping forward Mr Parnell's crusade against rent paying, and now it seems to be the deliberate intention of a small gang of those who a few years ago would have been ca'led Fenians to deter people by intimidation from meeting the claims of their landlords by the payment of even a moiety of their rent. Prominent amongst the speakers at recent meetings was one Michael Davitt, who having been convicted of Fenianism some years ago and sentenced to a long term of penal servitude was released before half his punishment had been fulfilled, and was, without any appeal to the clemency of Government, summarily discharged with a ticket of leave, the conditions of which he has neglected to observe. His leading doctrine is that, rent is "an unjust and immoral tax on the industry of the people." One of his associates, who has also been arrested ia a Mr Killen, a barrister living in Dublin, who at a recent meeting at Gurteen, insisted on the necessity of the land being "restored" to its cultivators, and said he should be glad to see every tenant farmer carrying a rifle, and knowing how to uie it. The third of the prisoners is Mr John Daly, -the proprietor of a email newspaper which advocates the Nationalist cause. He, too, used violent language at this meeting at Gurteen. The diatribes of the speakers at these gatherings had been rapidly increasing in violence, and it is only to be wondered at that the Irish Executive should have so long from putting the law in motion, particularly when it was obviou3 that all this seditious language waß not slow in producing its natural result — a great iocrease in crimes of violenoo towards landlords and their agents, and the most barbarous treatment of any tenant who was supposed to be willing to pay his rent. So three of the ohief offenders find themselves prisoners iu Sligo j ill- It was generally believed that other arrests would follow, but I understand it is not contemplated to proceed further until it has been ascertained whether the present proceeding has failed to have any effect on the anti-rent agitation. The Home Rulers, of course, are much excited by the event, and they threaten great demonstrations in London, Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow, against this " oppression." They never yet met with any sympathy from either the English or the Scotch, and the latest proceedings of these Dublin Communists will not improve their position. The agricultural classes in England feel the pinch of the times, but they have not yet come to cutting off the ears of a rent-payer, as has happened this week in Ireland.

In spite of the temporary hardening of the money market, many new colonial ventures are being brought before the public. Ono of the latest is the Australian and New Zealand Mortgage Company, Limited. Its proposed capital is £1,000,000, of which half is to be issued now in £lO shares. On these shares £2 will be called up, the balance remaining in the usual way as additional security for money borrowed on debentures. The purpose of the company is to make loans on mortgage, and it is Btated that the company will not buv or speculate in Und or other property. This proposal has only been before the public for a few days, but it has been received with much favor. The " Times " remarks that "If not used as a mere instrument for enabling Banks to get back money which they hare sunk in real estate, and which is not otherwise recoverable, business of this kind may be good enough."