TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7872, 25 May 1891, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

O»a .of those quarrels whioh ever/ now Bad then amuse U'cerary circles in liondon was going oa when the laet mail left England between Mr Frederick Harrison, the well known author, and Mr Xnowlea, editor of the Nineteenth Century. The former gentleman, aome month* ago* contributed to Mr Snowies' magazine an article in which he urged that the Elgin Marbles now in the British Museum should be haaded back to the Greek Government. Three months later Mr Enowlea wrote an article in hie own magaarine, making fan of Mr Harrison's arguments, treating them as if he thought the whole ibiag was » hoax «a the part of bis eontribator, and, se the Bt immt' GhuttU pute it, "aiifarfw odabnarOum of

Badicat parly. l ' Mv offered t*> p*plyfcotbie ofitioiam of hi* vl««» ia-aa article with the oonoUJatory heacUn ß "Editorial Hora^lay,* , an offer whie| was naturally declined, and Mr Harrison thereupon metaphorically shook from his shoes the dust of the Nineteenth Century to which he has long bean a contributor* and transferred bis allegiaaoa to tha Fortnightly Review. In the course ofhfo remarks on Mr Snowies' conduct in t&a affair Mr Harrison deals that geatlemaa some rather hard knocks. llj opens with the following anecdote;—

" Years ago I chanced to be ona after noon in the grounds of thu Crystal. Pal a« OQ a day which by ill-luok was aa Odd fellows' fete, and I witnessed the follow in? scene:—There waa seated on, the bencfi neap mc au inoffensive parson tranquui. contemplating the beautiful view o ?er Kent. Bohiud him stole up, with comic gestures to the bystanders, a moat hilarious Oddfellow, wliom the gaudy emblems of hia order proclaimed to be W A Noble Grand.' This singular 'Noble Grand' with many winka to his oojaradM. and a final bound and whoon broueht down his fist full on the crouV' of the contemplative person's hatz who* as aoon aa he could recover from the ' bonneting,' sought to ascertain, the meaning of this unprovoked MeaniiWhereat the • Noble Graad ' built Sto inextinguishable guffawe, aad rapidl* t Z treated, shouting, •It is only a joke oVA man !' This little ecene came buck to m« when I found myself unexpectedly th« object ot a piece of horseplay on the nlrt Of the editor of the Ninelunih Oea&r»i He assures mc that it is only •hi 4 cjJLjif» and that I 'may like to chaff him back' But, as he doclinea to allow mc to do en in the pages of hie own review, « cepD ™ the very doubtful condition of hi» a n proving of what I may say in Np i y X mus( oravo the hospitality o f &C A a lLj; pocary." rW

Mr Enowlea, it appears, told Mr Hawi»a that kti whole article waa a farrago of inverted foot, inverted eenne and inverted sentiment. Mr Harrison not unaatiiJußt thinks this is rothevodi U( laowl^b w«»rtd. the at "b*ael«is9 <>»ie?.

eion," "direafc miesfeateoaent." aaJ "misleading gush " which he thought good wougb for big atibioriberg, tud a> y* i>»primaSur. Ho <a£c Harrison) thiake'it JB anew view of an oditoVu duty feU v 13 a mere pqa,6 oftoa, bound to QUOfc late whatever is dropped into hie bsw, Mr Harrispa must know that thia.is just what the duty of aa editor of & modern review amounterto, $Jway» providing tb&ti, the contributions (ire written (torn the point of view hold by the paifcioul&c periodical they are meant for, mi tfo*B they are interesting. The Nineteenth Century, aa edited by Mr Knowlee, has no point of view, it is to all intents and purposes an Eclectic, only that the articles are original and paid for—very veil paid for, some of them—and therefore the editor haa only xo consider whether the articles submitted to him are of intereaf, People do say that Mc Kqowlw 1» guided in his choice of the wherewithal to all hia bulky magazine by the names of writera rather than by what! they write, and the toll of contributors certainly gives some color to this, aa it includes mat* titled authors than any other periodical in the world, Bβ this as it may, mi we, do noj deny that many of the articles in the Nineteenth Century are quite worthy of the brilliant names of their, authors, fin Kaowieß' conduct Iβrather inexplicable, and teema to warrant Mr Hwrison'a etrictucee. It certainly seems queer for aa v editor to allow a contributor to write what he aimself thinks noosenee, and then to maire •' humorous attack on it. If he takes to aub> editing, aa it were, his coutributora' artiol ci in this fashion he may expeob to loae others besides. Mr Harrieoa and Mr Buskin, the latter of whom he estranged in something like the same style some time ago.

Tan reception, accorded to the Hiapref* Frederick during 1 ( her viaifc to Padkr hm drawn forth an article in a London paper on " The Paris mob* by o»a who haa seen it at work,*" and the pioture pourtrayed il a hideous one. A. Pftria mob is acknowledged to be of quiokar percepfcioa bhft| A London one, and therefore more dangaifdusj and whereas the latter whan it gets it* head emaahea windows, pioka pockets, and poasibly m»Ura»te a few people, the forfliei cuU throata or teara anylwdy that ,jW'**i» handy limb irom limb. The EogUslx rough is simply a brute? the Fcanch dtfe an incarnate fiend. The writer of Jh* article meatiioa«d says the P«tf v .ffl£ have something ■>* eomebeSlf' to morally hate and denounce, in defetttt of somebody or something to materiailj rend <w deetroy, and he 4uotee. lt<> i°* stances in which he hmmn it work. Th« first time waa at the heighc o£ Jol<M Ferry's unpopularity. Hβ had be«» forced to roaign the leadership of tla; Government, owing to the failure of th« French expedition in Tonkin. That »M one cause of the hatred with whioa he [ was regarded, by the mob, and appftWfltlj another was that he wore aida whiilte* Whatever fcheoaoea of the diaUfce ia whioh he wu held, the following incident 6eetifi«

to it* thoroughness t~~ " - / "Taming one afternoon from *,*}« street into the Avenue de I'Ojwrm -I *« eurprieed *o ccc a cwi* o£ haB SS tnoogh sober, appearance btiwllag f*W alone, foUowed, WWOttnded, aad even preceded by a shrieking geetiouUtmg eon.. The iaetinofc. ol the joarniiMeb•;.#«•»s atronjf frithin, mc. byme*o« of a •P*'.*"* football raah, I bore straight dowii «P» the rehioje, and beheld sitting motioaleee, with brow oalra and I W**wt eibly oontemptoQua Up, M. Few?. A»J»J wry inet«nb .a butoUer.iooking blue-aproned, chattered the «W of the coupe with a movement o£ w elbow, and with a howl of blind rage au«l8 a enatoa a* the ex Premier's whisker, aa being the eaaieeb pat for. It was a very cloee eh i| eeoee for M. JPerry., Hie. whwker e«« e ra and in coneequenoe, doutitlesa, he tooj bat the street, and it has been observed that wwi lottjf tteeete lined with tall baUdiairs have a, peculiar effect in damp>»i the ardour of moba." ' *

The carriage, however, fortunately &** Ferry, was not stopped, and to this »« writer think* he owes hie life. T&* other manifestation which he witaefWp was against the oharnuog prime ooftfl* Mademoiselle Marie Van Zandt, whom he says the most bitter hase waa by a crowd at; people who had never seen or heard her, for tn« reasons that she was * saccessf&l singsr, & foreigner (American) and ebe attended th< receptioni of the finaoeial arUtooracy* $ hs pretext for the mob's lu*te of this/ooni lady was that she had brofcen dowa oae night .at a dif cult and trying revival Weea she re appeareAafter a ehorSaio^ 1 a mob o* several thoßsanda blooi:e4 <** flucronadings of the j theatre and vowed vengeance on her. A moat brULwßt applauded ccc tinging ia " h9SmS to the echo, hat » few of h«»,-.«p#«li" * 6 laflft noM«de4 in matiD* a disturb»»e*

Jfttahoad'a visible effect on her. The goes on to cay t— ."Outside the excitement of the mob Increased; and when we got into the Sreet after the curtain had descended on »he last scene of the last act, there was notweaple anuW the orowd pressing densely around the stage door on $be left •idei of the theatre that fell silence with deep whispers stirring; it oocasiocally as SL- rising wiu< * ? fcira t .^ e eurface of / rt*£ curdling sea, that" bespeaks more than any other symptom the fearful icßginge for cruelty and for crime of aiontaleiijbert's well-named/ouie obscene. There was to even a loathing witness like iie author of these lines, a certain hideou3 fascination in the scene wuen a thousand i T es were turned towards the prreen baize tiuing door, whence every minute a fragile • female figure was expected to come forth. «Sbe come," they were sayipg all around mc; " for there is her carriage waiting for k er «" Mosb fortunately for w— and for the good nam* of the ■Jjljy i B which ehe will never fiiaz i Q public a^ain —she did not come; the private carriage opposite the ftage-door was a blind, and sue meanwhile, muffled closely from head to foot to escape - KCo«nifci° H » was being conveyed to her tpjjie ia a conveyance belonging to some btber person. But such was the'effect of the agitation, excitement, and alarms of that evening on Mdlle.-Marie Van Zandt, tii&t for three years this young lady, little Jore than twenty, was in grasp of one o f tbose grave paralytic affections chat are jjjjdly ever experienced save iv more or jgsj advanced a#e."