OUR LONDON LETTER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5210, 3 December 1877, Page 3

OUR LONDON LETTER.

(pp.CJI ODB OWN COEBE3PONDENT.) London, October 18,

The French political crisis has quite rivalled the war this month in the intensity of the excitement which it has occasioned. The result has profoundly disappointed both sides. M. Gambetta declared that the Left, who had gone to the country 363, would return 400. They return, according to the fairest calculation I have yet seen, 313; but they may muster, when the Chamber is complete, another dozen. The Government on the other hand expected a majority, and they are in a very decided minority. What then will happen? Will the Republican majority invalidate the seats of the Conservative minority wholesale on the score that they have been gained by undue influence ? It is in their power to do a good deal in that direction. Will the Marshal dissolve again or strike a coup cCetat ? It is rather risky to utter predictions in October that will not see the light until December. But one thing I believe the Marshal will not do. He will not take. M. Gambetta’a advice, and submit himself or dismiss himself. He will much more probably follow the American precedents in such cases, which are by no means few in number, and especially if he be supported by the Senate, the more important part of the Legislature in all Republics ancient and modern, govern with the Ministry of his choice to the end of his term. There arc somewhat similar troubles in store for President Hayes, and worse still, there is talk among the Democratic party' of' attempting to subvert bis election —but he has probably so far conciliated the South as to make any attempt of that kind utterly vain. The news reached London yesterday at midday of the remarkable victory in Armenia which has at last turned the tide of Russian defeat and disaster. In so far as we know what has happened, it is a really brilliant victory, showing not merely the stubborn valor which it is only just to say the Russian soldier has always exhibited, but strategic and tactical ability, in which his officers have hitherto proved themselves so lamentably wanting. The victory was the fruit of a aeries of far-extending and well-timed operations, and it seems as if the result amounted well nigh to the ruin of Mukhtar’s army. Had it happened in .Tune or July the army of the Caucasus might now be down at Sinope. But as it is it only leaves the road open for the investment of Kars, which has no doubt been well provisioned and placed in a most formidable condition of defence since midsummer.

You have no doubt heard already by telegraph the result, and you will receive by this mail the full report of the inquiry into the loss of the Avalanche. The decision of the Court gave general satisfaction here, in so far as such s, word can be coupled with so dire and lamentable an event. But it suggests gloomy reflections as to the state of our mercantile marine—with its foreign crews, undermanning,

imperfect inspection, and ill discipline. The opinion Tventured to express last month, that the bodies of those who went down m the ill-fated ship would probably never berecovered, hasbeen so far warranted. A body believed to be that of the pilot, a Gravesend man, was washed ashore four or five days ago, tut he would in all probability have been on deck at the time. , The Times on the 29th of September contained the following paragraph:—“We understand that steps have been taken by the AgentsGeneral for Victoria and New Zealand, _ m combination with the other for the purchase from the Eastern Extension and China Telagraph Company of the Submarine Cable from India to Australia, The details of this scheme of purchase have been settled by Sir Julius Vogel, as representative of the New Zealand Government, in conjunction with Mr. Michie, Agent-General for Victoria. The Australian colonies may be heartily congratulated upon this proof of unity and enterprise.” On the Ist of October it published the not so welcome contradiction of a report which every one in the city and elsewhere interested in Australasian affairs hailed as si non veto ben trovato; —“ Mr. Archibald Michie and Sir Julius Vogel, Ageuts-General for Victoria and New Zealand respectively, ask us to state, with reference to the announcement in The Times of Saturday concerning the purchase by the Australian Governments of the cable lines between Australia and India, that the Governments have in no way authorised them to settle the terms of purchase, or expressed any desire that the purchase should be made. At the conference held in Sydney in 1873, the representatives of all the colonies unanimously approved the following resolution; ‘That a memorial be transmitted to the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies, informing him that the several Australasian Governments are very desirous of co-operating with the Imperial Government in the acquisition or of through lines of telegraphic communication between Great Britain, India, and Australia.’ A memorandum on the subject was drawn up by the conference, but Mr. M chie and Sir Julius Vogel are not aware of any result arising from it. They add—‘Lately we had occasion to confer frequently on the subject of telegraphic communication with Australia and New Zealand, and we drew up two memoranda, the one relating to the views of the Indian Government in respect to restricting competition between the two companies which own the telegraphic fines between this country and India, the other expressing our strong opinion that the Australasian Government should buy up the lines between Australia and India, if the company owning them should be disposed to sell; and, if not, should construct fresh lines. We’have no intimation whatever of the views of our own Governments, or of the Governments of the other Australian colonies, on this subject.’ ”

At a moment when European news is, I should suppose, not uninteresting to you, and when, on your side, there is a Ministerial crisis at Wellington, and a general election impending at Sydney, the cable has taken again to speaking by fits and starts. How long are we to wait for a duplicate cable ? Until the Governments make up their minds. I believe there is no hope of a company being formed to lay it, though there seems to be no limit to the supply of capital for Atlantic cables.

The winter dramatic season has opened with an event of more than usual interest. Mr. Hare, the manager of the pretty little Court Theatre, who is one of the most finished actors on the English stage within a narrow range—that of old men's parts,—has re-opened his theatre with a play entitled “ The House of Uaruley,” written by the late Lord Lytton. It is not known at what period of the author's literary career he wrote this play, nor is any reasonassigiaed forits never having been finished or produced by him. It is a comedy in five acts, of which Lord Lytton wrote four. His son found it among his papers, and entrusted the completion of the work to Mr. Coghlan, a very high compliment to that gentleman, but, as the event has proved, not an undeserved one. -A groat deal uf speculation about this play was indulged in, but only those who knew nothing of the requirements of historical or spectacular drama expected to behold Mary Queen of Scots or Henry Darnley step out upon the little stage of the Court Theatre. The house was crowded on the first night of the representation of the play, and the general verdict was one of approbation. Though, on consideration, most people admit that the interest of the authorship and the skill of the actors have more to do with the success of the play than its integral dramatic merits. The House of Darnley is a commercial firm, and the story is by no means a novel one, but rather a complication of several old stories, in which the misunderstood husband, the fashionable seducer, the foolish wife, the gross, uncompromising friend, and the cold, selfish aristocrat figure in the good old fashion. The splendid mise en scent elicited great admiration, and to the serious critics great satisfaction was afforded by the confirmation of the growing belief that in Mr. Charles Kelly we have a really fine actor—a man of intelligence, humor, sensitiveness, and taste — who will take any-amount of pains with a part, and nevers borders on vulgarity of tone or exaggeration. He plays Mr. Darnley, and Miss Ellen Terry, who owes a great deal of her success to her stage association with this really “sound” actor, plays the part of Lady Juliet Darnley, the foolish and frail wife. In the terrible" dearth of good actresses on the London boards, people leam to be thankful for moderately good acting, and that, but no more, they get from Miss Ellen Terry, who would have a good chance to parvenir, if, to quote the well- ■ known hon mot, she did not believe herself to have already arrivie. There is a good deal of the “ tall talking which passes for high thinking '* among the characters. This was a characteristic defect of the Bulwerian style, but the audience do not object to it,.perhaps even like the touch of old-fashioned romance which it lends to the play, and which is so utterly wanting in all the quite modern writing for the English stage. “ The House of Darnley” has been less warmly accepted by the Press than by the public ; it is not held by the former to be a particularly favorable specimen of the author’s ability as a dramatist, and is pronounced with tolerable unanimity to be inferior to “JMoney ” and “ Not so Bad as we Seem ;” but the latter testify to the practical success of Mr. Hare’s experiment by thronging the theatre and besieging the box office. “ Strongly cast and ably acted, but not much in it,” really sums up the critical view of “ The House of Darnley.” In the meantime the gem of London theatres, the Prince of Wales's—of which the Court may be said to be the outcome and offshoot, seeing that it arose from the secession of Mr. Hare and Mr. Cogldan from that exquisitely artistic little society which was the first revival of true acting in comedy on the English stage—contents itself with an old play, and wisely, for all London goes to see “An Unequal Match.” The Queen’s Theatre has hitherto been a singularly unlucky speculation for its successive managers, and so Mr. Henderson, who believes that there is a good deal in a name, has changed that of his new managerial venture, and, the Queen’s is henceforth to be called the National Theatre. It will shortly open witli a now piece and a new company, and as Mr, Hermann Vezin, an actor whose steady and instructed ability is only just now receiving the recognition due to it from the public, is engaged by Mr. Henderson for the season, there is at least one important element of success secured to the National.

Seldom has the death of any artist created so deep and lasting an impression as that of Mademoiselle Tietjens. Her funeral, which took place at Kensal Green, was attended by an immense crowd of people of all ranks, and the demonstrations of regard and regret were universal and warm. The great prima donna assoluta of her Majesty’s Theatre was much esteemed and beloved in private life, and the relations who mourn her have all the consolation which wide-spread sympathy can afford. Of course, the inevitable fictitious memoirs and anecdotes have been freely circulated, and the great singer’s bereaved sister has had to contradict several absurd stories respecting the parentage and the early artistic career of Mademoiselle Tietjens. In the

Belgravia magazine for November will be found an authentic narrative of the youth and professional career of the gifted artist, whose piace must remain long, if not for ever, unsupplied. In 1875, just before her departure from London for the United States, Mademoiselle Tietjeua related to a lady friend all the leading incidents of her life, and the narrative, whose publication was for some reason deferred at the time, has now gained an additional and melancholy value. A movement has been set on foot to raise a public subscription for a Tietjens' memorial; the object to be a marble bust of the great singer, to be placed in the vestibule of her Majesty’s Theatre. The reply to the proposition will probably be given in the subscribing of so large a sum that the original design will have to be much enlarged. The publishers’ lists for November—the season at which we always look anxiously for the literary consolations of the winter of our discontent just at its most discontented period—are full of promising announcements ; but of books in the “novelty” category there are not many of special interest. The success of Captain Burnaby’s “ Ride to Khiva, which was rather a success de circonstancc than one due to the solid merit of the book, has induced him to write two big volumes entitled “A Ride through Asia Minor,” which have not taken with the public, who may be trusted to discern when a writer s ability is of the accidental or of the normal kind, and have much disappointed the publishers’ expectations. On the other hand, it is long since so interesting a volume has been placed within the reach of the reader as Mr. Bryce’s “Trans-Caucasia and Ararat.” This gentleman achieved celebrity by bis first historical work, “The History of the Holy Roman Empire” and will assuredly consolidate his fame by his present work, which, in addition to being a narrative of extreme and never-flagging interest, written in a style which is at once lucid, modest, cultivated, and brilliant, contains the record of one of the most wonderful feats of mountaineering ever performed. Mr. Bryce, in 1876, made the ascent ot Mount Ararat from 12,000 ft. above the level of the sea to the snow platform which forms its summit, upwards of 17,000 ft. above the sea level, entirely alone. No guides to the Mountain of the Ark exist. Neither Kurd nor Cossack has ever crossed its snowline. Ihe intrepid Englishman tells his story very simply, but with fervor and skill, which render it fascinating to the imagination in the highest _ degree. Another book of move than ordinary^interest, and ot lasting importance, is the “ Life of the late Colonel Meadows Taylor,” edited by his daughter, and published by Messrs. Blackwood. The intimate and extensive knowledge of India which Colonel Meadows Taylor possessed, knowledge which aided his vivid and poetical imagination in the production of the wonderful Indian works which have become standard works and are as much manuals for the student as exceptionally delightful recreation for the lover of fiction, rendered him a valuable servant of the State during his lifetime, and lends to his records of his official experience weight and interest which it would be difficult to exaggerate. Messrs. Tinsley Brothers announce the first number of a new magazine entitled “Mirth” for November, and as Mr. Bernard, is to have the lion’s share of the contributions, and to occupy the editor’s chair, we may reasonably hope “ Mirth” will be less melancholy than are most professedly “ funny” publications.

Mr. Waterhouse has returned from Germany much benefited in health by bis visit to the land of spas. Mr. Levin returns to the colony by the present mail. The directors of the Colonial Bank of New Zealand give a grand banquet at the Albion on the 31st, to which, I heir, the Agent-General, Sir Julius Vogel, and the principal colonists now in England, have been invited.