TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8622, 25 October 1893, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The death of the Maharajah Dhuleep Dhuleep Singh removes from Singh. the world a somewhat romantic

figure. The circumstances under which he became a pensioner of the British Crown are briefly narrated, in the obituary which we publish in another column. His father, the famous Runjeet Singh, was a warrior and chieftain of the highest order, who welded the Sikh conferacies into a formidable military power. At his death he left an army of 124,000 men, drilled by French officers and animated by a martial spirit all the more formidable because it Was largely permeated by religious enthusiasm. This force, in 1845, invaded British territory. Four years of hard fighting, in which the names of Sir Hugh Gough, "Fighting Bob" Sale (killed at Mudki) and Sir Henry Hardinge stand out prominent on the British side, followed before the Sikh power was finally crushed and the Punjaub became a part of the British dominions. The infant Maharajah Dhuleep Singh was provided for by a pension of £40,000 a year, became a naturalised Englishman, and settling on an estate in Norfolk adopted the rdle of an Euglish country gentleman, as if to the manner born. He was, in a sense, a neighbour of the Prince of Wales, was a frequent visitor at Sandringham, and was looked upon as a subject ot unimpeachable loyalty to the English throne, Suddenly in 1885 he presented a claim for an increase of pension, and this being disallowed by the English Government, he exhibited signs of high dudgeon and disaffection. He set off for India, and there were pretty open threats of an intention on his part to raise the Sikhs in rebellion. He had got only as far aa Aden when he was informed politely, but in the firmest possible terms, that be would not be allowed to stay in any part of India outside the Madras Presidency. After this the Maharajah gave a further exhibition of his spleen by touring Russia in a somewhat ridiculous fashion in company with Mr Patrick Carey, bitterly denouncing the British Government. This strange couple were made the. objects of many attentions on the part of the Panslavists at Moscow. Dhuleep Singh's proceedings, however, evoked no sympathy among his countrymen in India. On the contrary, the Sikh priests ,of the golden temple at Uriiritsur, having learned of the Maharajah's Russian intrigues, showed their disapproval by discontinuing to offer the customary prayers for his welfare. The British Government showed their disapproval by stopping his pension, and-there is reason to believe that the Maharajah found this the more serious infliction of the two. After sulking for some time he at length found it expedient to acknowledge his mistake, and tendered a humble apology. He then re-. ceived a pardon from tho Queen, couched in very gracious terms, and was restored to his former emoluments and honours.

Manchester, which The Longest threatens the commercial Aqueduct . power of Liverpool so in the seriously with its ship World. canal, iv putting the Liverpudlian nose out of joint in other respects. Up to now Liverpool— which draws its water supply from the river Vyrnwy, in Wales, a tributary of the Severn—rejoiced in the possession of the longest aqueduct ever built. The water, before it reached. Liverpool, has to be carried through tunnels, pipes and syphons a distance of about seventyfive miles. The longest of the Roman aqueducts—the Anio Novus—constructed in the time of Antoninus, was, as the Daily News reminds us, only sixty-two miles. The Manchester City Corporation has eclipsed both. It has tapped one of the Cumberland lakes, Thirlmere, for its water supply. The aqueduct from Thirlmere to Prestwich, where the reservoirs are, is ninety-six miles in length, and Prestwich is three and a-half miles on the north of Manchester, so that the water has to be carried altogether about 100 miles. Still the Liverpool undertaking possesses some notable features peculiar to itself. There was no lake to draw upon, so one had to be made by the erection of a large dam across the Vyrnwy. This lake, we are told, submerged in it 3 depths a village, a parish church, with its burial ground, as well as a number of farms and houses." Such are the sacrifices made to utility in these matter of fact days. However, if it were a question of choice, no doubt the inhabitants of Liverpool would have been very well content to spare the submerged buriai ground, which sounds romantic, but will not tend to make the water supply more wholesome or palatable. For beauty of situation, the source of the Manchester supply could not be surpassed. Thirlmere, standing at the base of Helvellyn, is one of the most famous of tbe Cumberland Lakes. The cost of the undertaking is £2,500,000 and the works, which will be completed next year, have been six years in progress. The Ship Canal has absorbed in its works i_15,000,000. To add to the self-glorification of the Manchester people, their Mayor is now a " Lord Mayor." There ought therefore to be nothing wanting to complete their gratification.

Among the conventionalities Dying on of the stage it appears that .Che Stage, there is nothing more unreal than the act of dying, as it is usually pourtrayed on the boards. We know how it is generally done. The actress who is dying of unrequited love or some Lingering disease, is careful to pose in a

picturesque attitude and, after making a series of long and touching speeches, interrupted by gasps, but othorwiso surprisingly lncid and fluent, she gives asuddeu stat t or an extra gasp, and then either falls forward on her face or sinks back, taking caro to close her eyes and preserve the picturesqucness of her pose. The actor who is shot or stabbed flings up his arms aud falls prone on the stage with a resounaHnc thump. The louder tho thump tho more realistic is the acting regarded by the pit. Now all this, according to Dr. Edson, is far from holding tho mirror np to nature. In reality there is nothing dramatic about the act of dying as it actually occurs :—

" Nothing is more common than to hear from the pulpit pictures in words of excitement, of alarm, of terror, of the death beds of those who have not lived religious li'-cs, yet, as a rule, if these pictures are supposed to be those of tho unfortunates at the moment of death, th«y are utterly false. In point of fact, ninety-nine of every hundred human beings are unconscious for several hours before death comes to them ; all tbe majesty of intellect, the tender beauty of thought or sympathy or charity, the very love for those for whom love has filled all waking thoughts, disappear. A3 a little boy just born into the world is but a little animal, so the sage, the philosopher, the hero, or the statesman, he whose thoughts or deeds have writ themselves large in the history of the world, become but dying animals at the last. A merciful unconsciousness sets in as the mysterious force we call life slowly takes leave of its last citadel, the heart, and what is has become what was. This is death."

As for cases of sudden death from a shot or gun-shot wound, a man does not fall to the ground like a stone. On the contrary, there is an intense muscular spasm pen ading the entire body, which causos the victim to jump high in the air and occasionally to run at top speed for a short distance. In one case mentioned by Dr. Edson, where a man was shot through the heart by a bandit, he turned two somersaults in the air aud then fell. This would be striking, but it would have to ho very carefully done, or the audience might take it for burlesque. The double somersault would, no doubt, commend itself to the pit. It ought to produce a double allowance of " thump." Quietloving playgoers., however, would be quite content with something a trifle less realistic.