OUR HOME LETTER.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3448, 13 January 1880, Page 2

OUR HOME LETTER.

(fbom oub own cobbespondbnt.)

' London, December. 1879.

We hare certainly had to give a gentle reminder to the Sultan that the often and long promised reforms in Asia Minor, for which we were made responsible by the Treaty of Berlin, have not been carried out. The reminder consisted in ordering our ironclad fleet to the Bosphorus, but the order was countermanded, on the j assurance of the Pofte that the reforms really should begin, and as an earnest of its honest intention, it appointed Baker Pacha, once one-of the smartest cavalry leaders in the English service, to the appointment of head of the gendarmerie of that district, and who has exceedingly large powers conferred upon him. He is considered to be a very capable and energetic man, but it will require all his abilities to produce order in his new Government. This much is certain, that Great Britain is not going to believe in promises any longer, and if the Forte will not do as it is bidden, so much the worse for the Porte. But really, to get money anyhow and to spend it, appears to be the sole notion of., governing -that the Sultaa,, and his advisers possess. Foreign politics have been very quiet during the past month. Germany and Austria keep firm to their new bond of friendship, and Russia in vain looks over Europe for a friend, and not being able to find one it appears more probable that peace will now be preserved for some time. Not, however, that Bussian policians will be quite—oh dear no! They are already, working.ia the newly-formed Balkan States, and although beaten by Prince BismaVck^and let me add, Earl Beaconsfield, yet they are ever on the alert to take advantage of circumstances. How wonderfully astute and clever the Buisians are at diplomacy 2 What nation can equal them? India is now in direct telegraphic communication with London, and the Ind an authorities are choosing the route for a railway to Candahar. What doubt can there be after these two facts being stated, of our having a firm hold upon the country P Civilisation in the shape of telegraph? and railways ought to be able to conquer those hitherto unconquerable tribes of the hills, and let us hope that they will see that is better for thorn to earn a living by trading than by plundering, but that must be a work of time, and a long time too. There is a rumor pretty current that is the intention of England to occupy Herat in the spring, and the Bussian papers are very bitter thereat. It may or may not be true, but one thing is certain, that we can do it if we like, whilst Russia, after preparing a large and coitly force to move upon*Merv iv

order to keep her reputation equal to our. own in Asiatic eyes, has suffered a great defeat, if not disaster, at the hands of the Tekke Turcomans, and been obliged to retreat to the base of her operations. This defeat has emboldened other tribes to join the Turcomans should Russia persevere in her attempt, and at the same time English influence is decidedly gaining the upper hand in the Court of Persia.

Such a row in Ireland! Mr Parnell, M.P., Home Euler, Obstructionist, &c, has been telling the people they ought not to pay rent, that they ought to govern themselves, have a parliament at Dublin, &c, &c., and the seed has fallen on good ground and is now bearing bitter fruit. Other popular orators turned up, as usual, and went further until the Government thought there had been quite sufficient of such talk, and secretly arrested three of the leaders, Messrs Davitt, Daly and Killen, and they are now being tried for sedition. It is needless to say that the whole of the " beautiful isle of the sea" is in a tremendous ferment from north to south, that the above-named gentlemen are patriots of the first water, and that the brutal Saxon is not to be allowed to insult the Celt with impunity. Fenianism too has also shewn that it is not stamped out as we hoped it had been. These periodic risings and upheavals in Ireland are a great evil. The country itself has so much improved of late years, absentee : landlords had become rather the exception than the rale, bad trade and bad harvests had been borne with patience and resignation, and yet a few score speakers seemed to have hit the scent somehow, | and set the warmhearted, impulsive nation in motion; or it may be' atter all, that it will be confined but to few, and that the matter may as suddenly subside as it has risen up. We may truly hope so, for a grand future is discernible tor Ireland, if she will only see that England loves her well, and knows and recognises the fact of the many Irishmen there are in the Imperial service, doing duty nobly and grandly, none better, all the world over. The distress there is certainly great, and the Government are about to proceed with certain public works as one means of affording relief, but hopes being entertained of better trade, this relief may not have to be applied long. Prince Bismarck, that "man of iron" is out of sorts, and seeks relief in his mansion of|Varzin. So many have been the letters of sympathy, and letters containing " infallible cures for his complaint, that he has had to answer and thank the writers, collectively, through the medium of a newspaper. After Germany, he appears to have more friends in England than anywhere else. I wonder how his English friends would like his rule! >

Parliament is not sitting, bat there has been lots of political talking, and by the very biggest of the big guns too. The Earl of Beaconsfield, at the Guildhall banquet, was expected to gratify public curiosity on foreign matters generally. The Earl of Beaconsfield made a nice long speech, expressed his opinion that trade was reviving, gave his usual peroration, and sat down, and piblic curiosity was not altogether satisfied. Now Mr Glad--1 stone, who is going to contest Midlothian against the Earl of Dalkeith, Las been having quite a princely progress in the " North Countree." Fancy the labor of giving a long speech day after day for a week; Monday's took him two hours and a quarter to deliver. Is he not a wonderful orator ? v But it is a farce to consider he is not the Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition. ' A speech, by Lord Harrington, the nominal head of the Opposition, is put on the placard of the-daily papers, a pretty sure sign of what people require, in moderate sized letters, but a speech by Mr Gladstone is put in the largest possible type that can be got into the space. Now, as the Earl of Dalkeith is a good man, and the Con* servatives are strong, there ia a chance of a real good fight when the election does come off; but when that is to be no one knows, but.that both parties keep well on the •• gui vive." Besides the two real leaders mentioned above, a host of others have been stumping away at full steam in different parts of the country, so many in fact that the names thereof would make this paragraph too long. Her Majesty and Princess Beatrice | arrived at Windsor on Wednesday last. On the afternoon of the same day, the Earl of Beaconsfield had an interview; ! on the day following the Earl of Salisbury had an enterview—result: a paragraph in some of the papers relative to the early resignation of the present Prime Minister in favor of Lord Salisbury, timed before the dissolution takes place in order that the latter nobleman may be officially recognised by the Conservative party as their chief. Don't believe it.

Her Majesty has sent Major Chard, the Eorke's Drift hero, a handsome diamond ring. Lord Giflord has bifen made Brevet Major for his exertions towards capturing Cetywayo; others officers have got promotion, and now perhaps the stream of rewards, banquets, swords of honor, &c, may cease to now. I gave you in my last some particulars of the Orient steamship that I thought worth noticing, but, large and magnificent as that vessel is, the celebrated Cunard Live hare ordered one larger for the American traffio, from Messrs Thomson. This vessel is to be called the Sahara, and io^ size will only be exceeded by the Great Eastern, in other respects she is the finest vessel afloat. She will be of 7500 tons register, and lu.ooo horse power, 500 feet long, 50 broad, and 41 deep, she will have 38 furnaces, and 1000 feet of effective fire grate surface, cargo capacity for 6,500 tons, besides 1,700 tons of coal and 1000 tons of ballast, will carry also 450 first-class, and 600 steerage passengers,,. and accommodation' for a crew of 2QO officers and men-. Are not the above figures calculated to make you lift your eyebrows ? Most people have heard of, if they have not seen, the fagade of St. Mark's, Venice, which' is considered one of the first architectural beauties in the world.^ The Italians aire proposing to " restore "■> this fagade, and as " restoration " nowadays means almost invariably the substitution of mediocrity for genius, the whole art world of England is horrified at the idea. Public meetings have been held to petition the Italian Government, and other measures taken to try and preserve this noble work untouched, bat it is a v«ry delicate matter for barbarians, I suppose we are considered such, to instruct the most refined people living, viz., the Italians, what they should or should not do with; their own property, so we may almost consider that one of the finest glories of Venice is doomed. Newspaper editing may have its plea* sures, and that is doubtful, but there is no doibt' about its dangers as Mr Morti-

mer of the London Figaro, has found out. In my last letter I wrote about the libels contained in one of the London socalled society newspapers^ and the just punishment meted out to the writer of them. Public opinion was very much excited on the question, and unfortunately for Mr Mortimer, he allowed a Mr Weideu to write in his paper, and on January 29th, during his absence from home, his editorial substitute allowed some remarks to pass into print constituting a libel against Mr Welden and Sir Henry de Bathe. Now, Mr Mortimer never saw the remarks in question until the number bad been in circulation some time; he had previously revised and suppressed remarks that he considered libellous, yet he has been sentenced to a fine of £100, to be imprisoned for three months, and find security for his good behaviour for nine months. This is very very hard, as the Figaro .has always been well conducted and Mr Mortimer was not the kind of man to offend in that way, but I suppose strong measures were considered desirable to stop the kind of writing which appeared in the other paper. Of course libel should be punished strongly but "circumstances alter cases/ and an innocent man should scarcely have such "a punishment awarded to him as that given above.

Good news for the cattle breeders amongst you. It has been found oat that beasts in some respects are like men, (please don't quote the converse, we know that) and one of these is, that after bejgg shipped on to the briny ocean^ thefar? very ill and sick, but when they hare got over that illness, they improve and grow fat and particularly healthy, so that a long sea voyage reaily does them good. Now we in England think so much of a glass of ale that has been to Australia that we are willing to pay such a price for it as will pay to send it there and back, and so doubtless Hew Zealand beef and mutton in a few years will be con* sidered "extra prime." You have my good wishes my friends in the breeding line, and trust yet to eat many a juicy steak or chop from over the,sea. Is trade really reviving or are we only having a spurt? Railway receipts are much better, the total increase^ for the first week in November being £20,000 over the corresponding week last year, the Board of Trade returns are better, iron and coal companies shares are quoted much higher, shipbuilders are very busy, furnaces are being blown in, lead, tin and copper are rising rapidly in price. Surely these are signs that' the worst is past. Trade in America is better beyond doubt, the wave has now reached us, better reports are received from the Continent, and we only wait to hear the same from your quarter of the world, and then we can say emphatically " Traders better." King Alphonso of Spain was married on November 29 to the Archduchess Marie Christine of Austria, and. the new queen was enthusiastically received by the people. The trousseau was magnificent, I would give it in detail for the benefit of my lady readers, but the space would be too great, suffice it "that it contained 25 dresses of the most recherche description, and that precious stones abounded in profusion. . Better ' times appear to have come''to Spain of late years. The king is very popular; and he obtained a deal of sympathy when he lost his firßt wife —to_.whora _he£ was" very fondly attached—after a short married state of a few months. True, disturbances have arisen again in Cuba, but strong reinforcements are being sent out, and it is hoped that the insurrection will soon be quelled. After marriages, the deaths; and these have been very numerous daring the month. Poor young Prince Alamayn, son of King (Theodore of Abysinia, who was being educated at Eton, has sue* cumbed to our vile climate; Mr Delane, editor of the Times from 1841 & 1877; Mrs Dickens, wife of the great novelist* the Earl of Durham, Sergeant Cox, the Bight Hon J. A. Roebuck, Member of Parliament for Sheffield,, are ampngit the principals, and the poor ex-Empress Eugenic has lost her mother, the Countess of Montijo, who died at Madrid on the 22nd November. Throne, husband, son, and mother, all gone—does, she not need the sympathy whicH is felt for her throughout England.