OUR LONDON LETTER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5319, 13 April 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

OUR LONDON LETTER.

(from our own oorkksfondknt.)

IiONDON, February 28. After weeks of agitation and uncertainty, it seems likely that now at last the Government will be forced to take its line and show its hand. On Monday and on Tuesday evening the Foreign Minister and leader of the House of Commons were obliged to admit that Ministers were utterly ignorant of the nature of the negotiations proceeding in the suburbs of Constantinople, and whether there was any truth in the common reports of extravagant indemnities and enormous territorial cessions required by the Czar in compensation for his Christian efforts. Hate on Tuesday night, I have reason to believe, very important news visited the Foreign Office, and summonses were at once issued for a Cabinet Council to meet at 11 o’clock on yesterday morning. The immediate result of the Cabinet was the appointment of Hord Napier, of iVXagdala, as Com-mander-in-Ohief, and of Sir Garnet Wolseley as chief of the staff of a British expeditionary corps, which was yesterday afternoon announced on authority. The appointments are beyond any question the best that could be

made, and are received with universal satisfaction. Lord Napier would be regarded as rather an old general in any army but the English or the German. He is in his sixtyeighth year, but in point of physical and intellectual vigor he is a middle-aged man in comparison with the veterans of Wellington’s staff, who, after their swords had rusted in their scabbards for forty years, found themselves at the head of the army before Sebastapol. Lord Napier has seen all the service that was to be seen by an Indian officer from the Sikh wars to the capture of Pekin, and then became well known to the world at large by the simply perfect way in which the Abyssinian expedition was conducted. Since his retirement from the command-in-chief of the Indian army, he has been appointed (by Lord Carnarvon) Governor of Gibraltar, and there, it is said, has given most of his spare time to the study of the manifold recent developments of the art of war. Lord Napier, as every one knows, is an engineer, and he is the first engineer officer who has ever held a chief command in the English army, where the other arms have always been exceedingly jealous of the scientific corps. Things have changed in this respect. If Lord Napier had not accepted the command, it is almost certain that another engineer (Sir J. L. Simmons) . would have been chosen. Sir Garnet Wolseley is comparatively a young man—that is to say, he is a year younger than Napoleon and Wellington were when they fought the Battle of Waterloo; he is only 45. An Irishman, the cadet of an old County Louth family, he has made his own way by good service both with sword and pen, having so distinguished himself in Burmah, the Crimea, and the Indian mutiny, that he was Lieutenant-Colonel, without purchase of a single step, at 26.. He has since served in Canada, in China, and commanded the Ashantee expedition with all the success possible in such a barbarous business. He is supposed to understand the theory of war better than any officer of his rank in the army, and as InspectorGeneral of tho auxiliary forces ho has had unusual opportunities of ascertaining what the real military resources of the Empire are. A paper on the subject, contributed by him to the number of the “ Nineteenth Century ” which will appear to-morrow, is therefore exciting considerable interest. He declares that “ at no previous period of our history have we ever been so strong, in a military sense, as we are at presentnot when we drove Napoleon, Inch by inch, ont of Spain, and defeated him in stand-up fight at Waterloo. Yet these, too, were the days of Continental armies counting by hundreds of thousands. What we could actually do Sir Garnet estimates in the following way : —“Were war declared to-morrow, about 400,000 drilled men would fall into line, if required, supported by 372 field-guns manned and horsed by the Royal Artillery. That number would be roughly made up as follows -.—Standing army at home, 99,0C0 ; army and militia reserve, 40,000 ; militia, 85,000 ; volunteers, 180,000 ; second class army reserve, 10,000.” What wr are actually able to do at once he estimates thus :—“ We could at once take the field with two fully-equipped army corps of 30,000 soldiers each, having a similar force at home as a reserve ; ” while, if the militia were included, we could obtain more than the infantry required for four army corps. This estimate is sustained by Mr. Hardy’s reply to Sir H. Havelock two nights since, in which he said that the first army corps is ready and the second nearly ready. If necessary, therefore, we could occupy Gallipoli with a larger force than Sir Arthur Wellesley commanded when he drew the lines of Torres Vedras. But does England really mean, wish, or desire war ? It is a very difficult question to answer, the division of opinion is so complete, so minute, and so complicated. I believe if there ' be a man in England who abhors and detests [ the very idea of war as thoroughly as does ' John Bright, that man is Lord Derby ; if there be a man who believes as thoroughly as 1 Mr. Gladstone that the doom of the Turkish ’ Empire is sealed, and that it is the mission of ‘ the Russian Empire to put an end to it, that ' man is Lord Salisbury. Outside the councils of the Porte, on the other hand, there are ' hardly two men in Europe who believe so firmly chat it is necessary for the balance of power and the safety of the Empire of England to prevent the ascendancy of Kussia at Constantinople—not to speak of possession—as the Queen’s Prime Minister (Lord Beaconsfield) and her ambassador to the Sultan (Mr. . Bayard). The Queen herself is notoriously of the same opinion. The Prince of Wales declares, it is rumored, that should there be war, as he hopes and expects, he will insist on serving. What may be called “ peaoe-at-any-price ideas” have grown greatly among all classes,butespecially among the real governing, the middle and upper-working, classes since the Crimean war. Curiously enough, the most bellicose elements in society at present seem to , be the Stock Exchange and the roughs. Lord Beaeonsfield is guarded by constables, but it is to protect him from the too demonstrative affection of the mob. Mr. Gladstone has his house watched hy detectives for quite another reason, .and had his windows broken last Sunday. As a demonstration of the sympathies of the lower classes of London the demonstration in Hyde Park on that day was certainly very significant. The meeting got up by Mr. Bradlaugh and Lord Carnarvon’s not very sapient brother, Mr. Auberon Herbert, in the Pan-Sclavonic interest, was simply swept off its feet, and hustled, with its platform, bludgeons, banners, and other accesso- • lies,-like so much lumber, out of the way; ' while the triumphal Turco-Tory mob marched in procession down to Downing-street to tell ; Lord Beaeonsfield of their triumph over the : Radicals. The division of opinion in Austria, . our only possible ally, seems to be equally deepseated and complicated in its developments. Still day by day, as Russia throws off the mask and reveals her real designs, divisions tend to obliterate themselves, and wo hear less and less of that “ divine figure from the north ” who was so popular a topic on platform and in pamphlet only a few months since. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, who has succeeded Lord Carnarvon at the Colonial Office, is one of Lord Beaconsfield’s “young men.” . Everyone was surprised when, on the formation- of the present Government, ho was appointed Minister for Ireland. But under difficult circumstances, with great tact, good sense, and good humor, he did his work there admirably, and had already been promoted to the Cabinet in consequence, on the retirement of Lord Malmesbury. Whether he will suc- ■ ceed as well at the Colonial Office, in succession to such an exceptionally popular and distinguished a Colonial Minister as Lord Carnarvon, remains to he seen. It may bo doubted whether Mr. James Lowther, who goes from .the ,o'olonial Office to Ireland, will give quite tho same satisfaction there. I rather expect his Secretaryship will reproduce some of the,

less amiable characteristics of Sir Robert Peel a period ofgoveruing in fcho Green Isle. I have mentioned Sir Garnet Wolseley*s paper iu the “ Nineteenth Century,” of which the present is au exceptionally brilliant number. I believe the next number will contain a paper in reply to Lord Blackford and Mr, Lowe on the maintenance of the unity of the Empire, by Sir Julius Vogel. Sir Julius has also undertaken to read a paper before the | Colonial Institute, next month, on the re- I sources of New Zealand. He presided last week at the dinner of the old scholars of University College School. The prolonged visit to England of the Imperial Crown X'riucc of Austria lias given rise to a rumour of au attachment between him and the Princess Beatrice, and of negotiations between the Queen of England and the Emperor of Austria, with a view to waiving the religious difficulties in the way of a marriage between the young people. The rumour is founded iu even less than the usual probability which gives rise to such reports, for Prince Rudolph has visited the Queen only twice I during his stay, the first time for a few hours, the second for twenty-four, and the Princess Beatrice is never absent from her mother. Of course, if such au attachment really did exist, or if such an alliance were considered advisable, it would bo quite possible to waive the religious difficulty, as was done in the case of the marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh with the daughter of the Czar. The Austrian prince is a boyish-looking youth, not prepossessing in appearance, and with the “ Hapsburg mouth” fully developed. The Empress, his mother, has been hunting “in the shires,” her health being now re-established, and has just returned to Vienna. In the stir and excitement of the political situation, Londoners have less leisure to think of the forthcoming Paris Exhibition than the dwellers in other cities ; but there is iu art circles a keen interest about it. The Prince of Wales has been very active in his department, inviting contributions, and stirring up artists in all branches to great activity, and

(tUllUCia U(»«D UCCU ULUU££ UIL LUC »» IUU3UI Tapestry Works, to ensure the adequate representation of England in this revival of artindustry in which we are to compete with Paris on old-established and famous ground. The exquisite “cottage” which has been specially constructed for the use of the Prince of Wales during the great show at the Trocadera is to be entirely hung with tapestry on which the workmen at Windsor are now busily engaged, and which is made from designs by Mr. Henry, an artist who has recently come to the front in a remarkable manner. Whether the English tapestry will ever bo brought to such perfection as the continental time only can prove ; but the excellence which has already been attained, especially in the softness and depth of coloring, is very great. The workmen are especially proud of a portrait of the Queen which has recently been executed, and which is a very fine specimen of their execution. Portraits, however, as they are only imitations of the art of portrait-painting, are much less interesting than the designs in which the artist proposes and the workman developes an idea or a scene: and it is in achievements of this kind that we must look for the success of the new art-in-dustry, which is capable of application to the [ purposes of decoration to an extent which might prove very prejudicial to the present style_ of room-papering and imitation tile hangings for halls, passages, and staircases. The old and the new English houses, even those of the moderately rich, may present a resemblance to the French chateaux and hotels of the pre-revolutionary period, of which one finds some shreds and relics still remaining in the roomy old inns of the old towns in France which lie out of , the beaten track, and have not yet been completely dismantled by the brie el brae hunters. The most remarkable books which have recently been published are Mr. Lecky’s “ History of England in the. Eighteenth Century ” and Mr. McCullagh Torrens’ “ Life of Lord Melbourne,” The latter work everybody, in the present feverishly unrestful state of things, has found time to read and enjoy ; and the former adds largely to the author’s reputation. The death of the venerable artist George Cruikshank has recalled the recollection of his early triumphs in art and carricature, and given rise to several pleasant anecdotes and reminiscences of a man who was as estimable as he was gifted. The old story of his having claimed the inspiration of “ Oliver Twist ” and “ Jack Sheppard ” has been repeated, and has set people thinking how very much of the hold which both these works of fiction gained upon the public mind was, in reality, due to the artist who illustrated them, and who must have deeply impressed his own- views upon their respective authors in their preliminary consultations with him. People have been comparing notes on these points, and are agreed in rendering a large meed of the praise, which was too exclusively claimed by Dickens in the one instance, and by Ainsworth in the other, to Cruikshank, for they all recognise that the Bill Sykes of whom they think, the Jew, the Artful Dodger, and the dog, are the pictures, not the descriptions, and that Jack Sheppard carves his name on the beam, Abraham .Mendez flourishes his torch over the well in Jonathan Wild’s house, and Wood the carpenter saves Darrell during the storm on the Thames, not in the turgid and yet bald narrative of Ainsworth, but in those wonderful black, grey, and white drawings which one has seen first as a child and remembers all one’s life. As a caricaturist no artist’s fame is long-lived, the essence of caricature being its actualite ; but Cruikahank’s fame will be more lasting than that of Gilray or Gavasier, and his grotesque and humorous works have already acquired a historical value.

The taste for amateur theatrical performances, which is one of the recent revivals of fashion, and a historical repetition of society, has recently taken a new turn, and the result has been a very successful amateur pantomime, in which Mr. W. S. Gilbert, the wellknown dramatic author, appeared as harlequin, and four practised writers of burlesque contributed the libretto. The fable selected for treatment was “Ali Baba or the Forty Thieves.” There was immense competition for the rflles of the thieves, and “everybody” went to see the performance, which took place at the Gaiety Theatre. The house was crammed, a great number of theatrical celebrities were present, large prices were cheerfully paid for places, and after all expenses had been paid, the sum of £IOOO was handed over to the Dramatic and Literary Bund, for which charity the performance was given. Mr. Gilbert has not found his ewn practical combination of the dramatic and the literary of happy augury, for he has just brought out a new piece at the Olympic, called “A Ne’er Do Weel," which has proved a complete failure.

Again Mr. Irving, whose hold on popular favor is as firm as ever, is about to try the romantic historical drama. On the oth of March, at the Lyceum, Boueioault’s version of. Casimir Delavigne’s “Louis Onzo” will be produced. Louis XI. used to be a favorite character of Charles Kean’s, and it will be interesting to see what Mr. Irving, who is so exceedingly unlike his predecessor in the part, will make of it. The composition of the drama is exceedingly poor, even in the original, and it is essentially a one-part play, quite as much so as Bulwor’s “ Richelieu.” Its success or failure must depend entirely on Mr. Irving, and although we may anticipate his making great use of his extraordinary powers of facial expression, for which there will be more demand than in his Richard the Third (for the belief of the Breach King in his religion was perfectly sincere, and the expression of absolute faith without the smallest accord in conduct is infinitely more difficult than that of cynical hypocrisy), the experiment is certainly the most doubtful which Mr. Irving has attempted. Wo are expecting the debut of a new Othello. The distinguished foreigner is a German this time, one Herr Moritz. Ho makes his first appearance on Saturday next, at a morning performance. Mr. Hermann Vezin plays lago, and is expected to make a success in the part, which will at events find iii his acting the subtlety and the refinement with which it must have been the original intention of Shakspere to invest a man capable of influencing and deceiving as his lago influences and deceives.