WHAT THE “WORLD” SAYS.

Kumara Times, Issue 1037, 27 January 1880, Page 4

WHAT THE “WORLD” SAYS.

[atlas] I am sorry to hear that the ex-Queen of Naples lies in an almost hopeless condition at Vienna. It is considered by her physicians improbable that she will recover. Her Majesty has long been known to suffer from consumption, and with the present fall of the leaves her condition has assumed such an alarming character as to leave no hope whatever. The Count and Countess de Chambord have been telegraphically summoned to her bedside. At a dinner-party in St. Petersburg!), at which the Turkish Ambassador was present, the conversation turned on the social morality of different nations, and a young diplomatist rashly ventured a pleasantry on the subject of Turkish harems. The ire of. the Ottoman representative was immediately aroused, and he dumbfounded the company by a tirade against Christian immorality in general. In conclusion be said, with a bluntness which does not bear literal translation, “ I have four wives, and I have never paid attentions to any other females. "Which of the company dares tell me that his.relations with the fair sex have been similarly restricted ? Some rather noted Lovelaces who were present with their spouses felt a little awkward. I had occassion last summer to announce'that the Prince of Wales had commissioned L. Basfcien-Lepage to paint a portrait of himself. The picture, 1 understand, is bow almost completed, and only awaits the finishing touch on the; easel of the young master in his studio of the Impasse du Maine. During his slay in Paris His Royal Highness gave him the last of his sittings, which, together with seventeen others previously obtained in London, made up a comfortable total. The fact will astonish none of the devotees of art who have observed with what fastidious care M. BastienLepage treats all his subjects. But still, eighteen sittings are not a trifle, and Holbien, whom the rising French painter seems tp follow closely, only required half the number from King Henry. VIII. The portrait of the Prince of Wales is to be exhibited at the next Paris Salon, by the kind permission of„Hisßoyal Highness. Troubles accumulate to intensify the amiable temper of my Lord Cranbrook, He w likely to hear a little very unpleasant, of the ex-Prihce of Baroda, who is technically an exile from his dominions, but. really a very closelywatched State prisoner at Madras. The Prince has employed an agent, and a very able one, in England, to obtain from the Home Government some settlement of financial affairs affecting his family. But the agent is baulked at every step. Some time ago he left England for India for the sole purpose of having a quarter of an hour interview with the royal prisoner at Madras. He had the authority of the Indian Secretary to see the ex-Prince! if in accordance with the views of the Indian Government. In India he obtained the permission of the vice regal authorities at Simla; he presented himself at Madras, and was told that the Duke of Buckhingham and Chandos was the anthority at Madras, and he refused to allow the agent to see his employer. A reference of the matter to the Viceroy resulted in the declaration that he could not interfere with the duke, and the agent returned to England without having his quarter of an hour with the ex-Prince, Considering that no danger of conspiracy could exist—for the agent is an English barrister, allied by marraige with one of the oldret noble families in the land, a doctor of law, and a Cpnversative—the conduct of the Indian authorities is inexplicable. Lord Cranbrook will hear more of it next session of-Parliament, and will probably explain wha't object is to be gained by preventing a prisoner of State settling his private affairs. • As to the petty tyranny of the'sys’tem under which the ex-Prince is confined, it would be perfectly useless to ask the authorities to consider its iniquity; ' Last week Count Schouvaloff received a telegram, announcing that his letters of recall were in preparation- and probably before thia is : published .they will have arrived. The Count: last week had interviews with Lord Salisbury., and Lord Beaconsfield, The' five years during which-'Count-Schouvaloff, hasrepresented his Imperial master at the Court of St, James’s will be remembered in history as a' most 1 trying and critical period. • The Ambassor came here hoping to obtain rest, after a long discharged of important, and harassing duties at home; but shortly after his arrival the troubles in the Herzegovina broke out, and from that time to the present the relations between Russia and England have been so strained as: to require the utmost tact and discretion on the part of the Envoy from St. Petersburg. That matters have not been further complicated, is due in a great measure to the admirable temper and courteous bearing of Count Schouvaloff, whb will bear away with him the personal regard and hearty good wishes of very many English friends. Yet I. am told . by.,a. friend, of Count Schouvaloff that my Lord Beaconsfield and the Ambassador have been very polite to one another; that indeed the representations made by the Count on behalf of Russia were received with effusive friendliness ; that the Prime Minister took the whole subject out of the hands of the marquis ; that the marquis bore it like a lamb, and looked smilingly On while Lord Beaconsfield acted as Foreign Secretary ; and that the result of the two visits of the Russian Ambassador to'- Downing street is, that when the time comes for the Afghan coup dc grace, England and Russia are to settle the little difficulty in the friendliest way possible.