TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Star, Issue 7875, 6 April 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

[Prom Oub Special Correspondent.]

The meeting in the Snowstorm—“ A frost” —The truth out at last about the Crown Prince’s death—How he died, and why —Le Caron alias Beach—Effect of his evidence on public opinion—Beach’s antecedents and boyhood—His motive for spying—The future—The price of Le Caron’s evidence—Nothing fixed— Davitt declines to cross-examine—The Major retires—Colonel North’s enemies —Mr Stead’s latest—Theatrical notes The Keudalo’ new pieces— The end of Tussaud s—Literary notes. , London, February 15. Another injustice to Ireland! Fine weather was essential if the people’s mammoth meeting in Hyde Park to protest against the unbreeching of O’Brien were to be a success, yet will it—can it—be believed that the Bloody Balfour, by unhallowed dealings with his master the Devil, persuaded the heavens to decree a heavy snowstorm. The result was naturally “ a frost.” A few thousand shivering Social Democrats, assisted by nearly as many policemen and detectives, did certainly assemble round the Reformers’ tree about four and make a feeble attempt to protest, but the driving snow and biting northeast blast soon drove them all home again. The snowstorm proved the heaviest known in London for two years; and, despite the thousands of scavengers turned on to the streets, their state all week has been deplorable. I hope, though, now the worst is over. TUE TRUTH ABOUT THE CROWN PRINCE, I am now in a position to tell you the real truth about the Crown Prince’s death, or perhaps I ought to say the version accepted at the various legations in London and retailed sub rosa to the clubs. The Prince’s behaviour had for some time given great offence to his father. Not only was he constantly getting into discreditable scrapes with women, but he drank far more than he should and affected low society, particularly that of a cabman, an amusing dog named Bratfisch. On the Sunday before H.I.H, died there was a tremendous family row, brought about through the Emperor’s discovering an intrigue between his heir and a court lady. In the course of the scene the Emperor threatened to appeal to the Pope and get the Crown Prince divorced from his wife and disgraced in the eyes of Europe. He cursed Providence for giving him such a disreputable son, and bade the young man go and never darken the palace doors again. The Crown Prince, angry and sulky, betook himself to Meyerling, and began a boozing bout with Bratfisch. On the Tuesday evening he should have gone in to Vienna to dine with his father, who wished to heal the temporary breach, but Count Iloyos couldn’t persuade him to do so. The young man sat all evening drinking with his two boon companions, the count and the cabman, and then pretended he was going to bed. Instead, however, ho betook himself to a cbfilet on the estate, owned by one of the gamekeepers, with whose wife he had an intrigue. The husband returning unexpectedly, the Prince had to leap from a window and make off. He was running when the gamekeeper let fly and shot His Imperial Highness in the back. Mad with pain and drink, and fearful of a public scandal, the unfortunate Prince a few hours later blew his brains out. The gamekeeper hung himself.

LE CARDS' ALIAS BEACH, The fact that Sir Charles Russell (the greatest cross-examiner in England) failed altogether to shake or even materially modify the damning evidence of the informer Lo Caron has had (as might be expected) a serious effect on public opinion in England, The Parnellites themselves realise this, and have sent to New York for counter evidence. Mr Parnell, it is said, is very ill, and may have to give up public life altogether. That he has lost much of his old nerve was painfully apparent on Friday afternoon, for he simply glared at the informer ; indeed, if glances could have killed, the Major’s shrift would have been short, T. P. O’Connor noticed this, and tried several times to divert his leader’s attention, but in vain. The “ military spy” himself seemed to me the coolest man in Court. Sir Charles Russell lost his own temper in the vain attempt to irritate and flurry his adversary. The Major was imperturbable. “ Either he possesses a phenomenal memory or he’s telling the exact truth,” said a barrister near me, “and I incline myself to the latter alternative.” The Major is the son of a Colchester rate collector named Beach, and his real name is Thomas Billis Beach, Old folk at Colchester remember him as a wild, troublesome lad, who ran away from home at sixteen, and was referred to by his parents as the bad boy of the family. People speculate in the wildest way anent the motive which induced Beach, or Le Caron, as he prefers to be called, to “ spy ” for long years on the Fenians, etc. I must say it seems simple enough to me. The man is a born detective—subtle, foxy, alert, and impenetrable. He enjoyed the feeling of power and the excitement which his secret profession gave him just as he now enjoys the sensation he is creating and the damage he is doing. The little man has plenty of pluck. He was asked on Tuesday whether he didn’t feel a trifle nervousapprehensive, perhaps, of ending a la James Carey. He said no, not particularly. He had carried his life in his hands for years. All sorts of stories were afloat as to the amount of remuneration ‘ The Times ’ promised Le Caron for his services, Mr Lucy even going so far in one of his London letters as to fix the precise sum at ten thousand pounds. On Tuesday the Major himself put an end to all speculation by denying emphatically that any promise of payment had been made. “Has anything been arranged as to your future ? ” asked Mr Reid, Q.C., who took the Fenian spy in hand when Sir Charles Russell gave up cross-examination in despair. “ There—has —never —one—word—been—said—on —the —future,” replied Le Caron, stopping deliberately between each syllable, and gazing fixedly at counsel. Mr Davitt, to everyone’s surprise, concluded discretion would be the better part of valor, and declined to cross-examine Le Caron. Sir Richard Webster thereupon proceeded to wind up this portion of the case by supplying a few missing links. Amongst other things he quoted from a speech of Parnell’s at Cincinnati, in which the Irish leader indiscreetly avowed his party would not be satisfied until Ireland took her proper place amongst the nations cf the earth, and they had destroyed the last link which riveted her to England. A few minutes after three on Tuesday Major Lo Caron’s lengthy examination came to an end. He left the witness-box as he entered it, effectively—bowed profoundly to the Judges, thanking them for their courtesy, smiled graciously at counsel, buttoned his coat, straightened his legs, and then tripping alertly down the steps was lost in the body of the hall. A DANGEROUS ENEMY. Mr Harry Marks, of the * Financial News,’ is not the sort of man I should care to make my enemy were I in Colonel North's place ; and if the nitrate king has not to pay heavily in more ways than one for the libels he published abroad at the Liverpool banquet on Friday evening anent the Hebrew journalist I shall bo much surprised, Mr Marks has never yet come off second best in his litigious enterprises. Colonel North dislikes the ‘ Financial News ’ because it has not prostrated itself before him like other city papers. Mr Marks was not actively hostile to the colonel, but simply hypercritical on the nitrate question. He wanted to know this and he wanted to know that, and the great man didn’t like it. At Liverpool he (needless to say after dinner) called Mr Marks names. They were instantly wired to that gentleman, who promptly issued a writ for libel, damages L 20,000, and promised his solicitors LI,OOO if they could serve it whilst the Galicia was in British waters. A tug was chartered and pursued the big vessel, but in vain. She calls, however, at Lisbon, and an attempt will be made to serve the colonel on board “ under the British flag,” In any case, Mr Marks is now the colonel’s open and avowed enemy; so if he has a weak place in his financial armor let him beware, WHO WROTE IT ?

Whether Mr Stead, with the assistance of Madame Adam and Mrs Crawford (of the ' Daily News'), did or did not write • The

Bismarck Dynasty,’ there can be no doubt he is for some reason or another much interested in “ puffing ” it. As a matter of fact, only the 4 Pall Mall Gazette’s ’ sensational “ pars ” and “ interviews ” could have kept the subject so long alive. The ‘St. James’s,’ of course (as Bismarck’s organ), is deeply interested in proving the article an ill-natured farrago of “flim-flams’' arising from Stead’s personal pique, but the best informed club men still credit it to Sir M. Grant-Duff. theatrical notes. Unless a desire to see how the heroine of the latest d’vnrce case (Miss Marie Tempest) looks should give a fresh impulse to the rua of ‘Dorothy,’ that tuneful operetta will shortly be withdrawn from the stage of the Lyric, and Mr Alfred Cellier’along promised ‘ Denise ’ substituted. I fancy nose of the company will be very sorry, as they aie by no means a happy family. Both Mr Hayden Coffin and Mr Ben Davis have had quarrels and cross-actions with their manager (Mr H. J. Leslie), and that gentleman himself figures at the Law Courts this week in a moat unenviable role.

Crowded houses fill the Opera Comique twice a day, and lucky Mrs Beringer is simply coining money. The present cast of ' Little Lord Fauntleroy' is not in my humble opinion nearly as strong as the one which played at Terry's Theatre last year, but it suffices, and some admirable new effects have been added. ' Tares' just misses being a good play, though the central idea is nasty. Hero and heroine are just about to marry, when the latter raises a scandal and excites her lover's suspicions by adopting a mysterious infant. He asks for an explanation, which is refused, and the pair park _ Years pass, and again the young man suspiciously asks his sweetheart whose tbe boy is. This time the real mother, a gipsy, appears on the scene and satisfies hi.° curiosity. She is an "old flame," and the child is his own. Moreover, the girl he has so basely suspected has always known it. A nice situation, truly !

Mr and Mrs Kendal commence their fare well engagements at the Court Theatre (prior to a tour of the world) next week, when Pinero's 'The Weaker Sex' will be produced for the first time in London. Mrs Kendal plays the part of a handsome widow with a lovely daughter of sweet sixteen, and the plot turns on the conflict which ensues in the widow's mind when she finds that the old lover, whose return she has for long years looked forward to with wearing hope and sickening anxiety is her young daughter's affianced husband The Kendals will also produce Grundy's ' White Lie' before their departure. In this Mrs Kendal, iu order to shield a beloved but erring sister's reputation, allows her jealous husband to suspect her wrongfully, and even to go the length of turning her out of doors.

Madame Tussaud’s famous waxworks are about to be turned into a limited liability company, and the exhibition remodelled to suit present day requirements. A syndicate has purchased the concern (as it stands) from Mr Henry Tussaud for L 170.000. The original Madame Tussaud was a Swiss, and earned a livelihood by teaching modelling in Paris. In this way the came to know Rousseau, Lafayette, Mirabeau, Robespierre, and many other famous personages. In ISO2 Madame Tussaud migrated to London, bringing with her a large collection of the notorieties of the great Revolution in wax. She had been imprisoned for some time herself, and only by great good luck escaped the guillotine. Travelling about the country with a caravan of wax figures was troublesome work in those “ good old times,” and many and various were the adventures the indomitable little Swiss woman encountered. Once her whole collection was lost at sea. Instead of despairing she sat down and carefully remodelled every figure. In 1833 Madame Tussaud settled permanently in London, and ever since the Exhibition has been growing larger and larger year by year. The relics of the great Napoleon are now of themselves worth a small fortune, and, as a portrait gallery of great criminals, the Chamber of Horrors is unequalled. LITERARY NOTES. The veteran * Times ’ war correspondent. Dr W, H. Russell, accompanies Colonel North on his semi regal progress through the nitrate country, and has been engaged to write up the history thereof for publication in book form. The doctor’s honorarium was fixed at the modest sum of three thousand guineas. Sala was first of all asked to go, and might have made his own terms; but he couldn’t, as he said, “ cotton ” to the job. Money can’t buy everything. The publishing business of Tinsley Brothers was once second to none in London, but the Tinsley who really made it died, and the surviving members of the family mismanaged matters somehow'. Now they hardly do any business at all. Mr William Tinsley, who is “reminiscing” in one of the magazines, throws a light on the firm’s decadence. They appear to havo been always quarrelling with their authors. Mr Tinsley at any rate describes differences with Ouida, Wilkie Collins, and William Black. Black’s first novel, ‘ Love and Marriage ’ (never republished by the way), was a failure, and his second, ‘The Monarch of Mincing Lane,’ only a succes d'estime, r lhe young man persevered, however, and ‘ Kilmeny ’ (published anonymously) hit the mark. Tinsleys gave Ouida LSO for her first book, and Mr William Tinsley promised the lady the same terms for ‘ Chandos.’ His brother Edward, however, took up a prejudice against the lady, whom he described as a feeble imitator of George Lawrence (author of * Guy Livingstone’), then at the zenith of his famesuch as it was, Tinsley also mentions that his firm sold 2,000 copies of ‘The Moonstone,’ in three volume form, and that this was considered very good indeed. He also says this novel and‘Great Expectations’ were the only ones published in ‘All the year Round ’ which bustled up the circulation at all.

The publishers of that capital Australian story 'Robbery under Arms' are much disappointed that Mr Gladstone has not mentioned it (as they fully expected he would) in his paper on ' Noticeable Books' in the current 'Nineteenth Century.' 1 told you some time ago the G.O.M. voluntarily sent Remingtons a post-card expressing the gratification reading the book had caused him, and that they meant to facsimile it in the cheap edition. It was first intended to bring out the six-shilling issue at once, but the three volume copies continued to sell so well the publishers have postponed ifc. Another Australian tale, • Uncle Piper's Hill,' by " Tasma," has been favorably reviewed in the course of the last few days. Mr Philip Mennell's collection of tales by Farjeon, Haddon Chambers, «' Tasma," and Edward Perkins is also just out.

Mr James Stanley Little has dedicated his new shilling shocker to Mr fladdon Chambers, the Australian dramatist. Messrs George Routledge and Sons have taken advantage of the "sensation" anent Mr John Boyle O'Reilly to publish that worthy's clever novel of Australian life 1 Moondyne.' O'Reilly, you may remember, was one of the Fenian prisoners sent to Western Australia, whence he escaped in an open boat. After drifting about for a day aud a night he was picked up by the reseuiug vessel sent to save him, and safely landed in Boston. He is now a partner and editor of the ' Boston Pilot,' and worth L 40.000 or so. Besides being a Fenian, O'Reilly is a poet'

editor, novelist, boxer, politician (American) and leader of society. He is equally well acquainted with J. L. Sullivan and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

The large paper" copies of the new edition of Ruskin's ' Modern Painters,' pubashed last week ut ten guineas, are already selling at sixteen guineas. No more can by any possibility be issued, as the plates have i>y the maestro's own orders been destroyed and the type distributed. George Meredith's new novel, «The Jourwill be published next month. On (lit it contains portraits of Mr Button (of the Mr Greenwood (of the 'St. «Th S ) ; n an i 1 L other well-known Pressmen. Ine Truth About Clement Kerr,' the s V tri^r e H e \ ab , le St ° r r of a conscience! ghos . t - ha " nted . opium-eater, which appeared originally in . The Wo man's ala 1 " hi W h PUbl ll hed .* Arrowlith at a shilling. The author is George Fleming (Mrs Fletcher), whose delightful 'Nile Novel you have of course read. How she came to write morbid, gruesome stuff like Uement Kerr one cannot imagine.