TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Star, Issue 9721, 1 June 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

[From Our Special Correspondent.]

London, April 19. The Master of B&Uiol was one day conversing on ethics. His friend propounded what ho believed to be a difficult question. ''Do you think," said lie, "that a good man could ever look happy on the rack ?" " Well," replied Dr Jowett with a judicial air, " 1 think on the whole he might—that is, if he were a vory good man and it were a very bad rack. I have quoted the foregoiug bccuiwo it seema singularly dpropoa of the attitude oi the Press towards Oacar Wilde just now. Not content with comutaiuing that Wilde looks miserablo on the rack at tho Police Court, they invito us to infer hia guilt from tho fact. How they would have him look I oannot imagine. Even the mo3t blameless of beings might be excused for displaying considerable emotion whilst listening' to such infamous allegations as those of the self-confessed blackmailers Parker and Atkins. . One would not hang a dog on the word, of these unuttorable vermiu, and if the case rested on their depositions alone Wilde would soon be free. But there are many other witnesses—hotelkecpers, chambermaids, landladies, and fellow-lodgers of Taylor's protege's —who are welding together a chain of circumstantial evidence which Sir Edward Clarke (who will conduot the defence) may find it impossible to destroy. Unless forced to do so by circumstances, it is not the intention of the Government to drag Lord Alfred Douglas into this unpleasant business, though the evidence shows him to have been present at mo*t of Oscar's symposiums. The smart London tradesmen and hotelkeepers are even sadder than the aesthetes over the fall of the Apostle of Cul-* ture. He owed money everywhere, though earning a big income nowadays from his plays. But only a millionaire's resources would have stood such extravagance as his. A dinner at the Savoy seldom.cost him less than £4O, and 1 am told his small parties bill at the Holborn Viaduct Hotel tor the three days concluding the Queensberry trial amounted to £l5O odd. Three writs were found on him when he was arrested.

A PHILOSOPHIC MORAL. There is a philosophic moral to the Wilde case which some of us would do well not to overlook. Oscar was not always the combination of artist and brute he is to-day. Walter Pater was his evil genius. It was that accomplished stylist's gospel of epicureanism (carried to excess) which has landed him in the dock. Wilde's case i 3 the natural and regular physiological result of a literary and luithetie effort. It demonstrates the influence which the deviation of certain literary faculties in the direction of a refined sensualism can exercise over the intelligence and over the morals of men undoubtedly gifted. Fatal degeneration will ensue when intellectual effort is made the result, and not the principle, of sensations. Finally, for Heaveu's sake don't let us be humbugs about this Wilde trial. Mr Jerome points out in his own pleasant fashion that, whilst everybody has been loudly eulogising the ' St. James's Gazette' for not reporting the Wilde case, nobody has been observed reading that rigidly virtuous journal. It was just the same at the time of the ' Maiden Tribute.' We howled with horror at Mr Stead's filthy narrative, and eagerly bought every fresh issue of the ' Pall Mall Gazette' containing it. Moreover, (Society will do well to remember that there may be such a thing as over-reticence. In our desire not to touch pitch and get defiled we decent people have speechlessly conspired together not to see the facts which have led at least to this (.sclandrc. In doing so we absolutely protected the gang. What Society now demands i 3 the absolute extinction of the Oscarian cult. This can only be achieved by putting deadly fear into the hearts of two or three hundred well-known characters, and to manage the work efficiently a certain amount of publicity is imperatively necessary. THE. NEW Sl-KAKEII. Perhaps the greatest compliment the House of Commons could have paid to the late Speaker was the scene—almost amounting to serious disorder—which occurred during the election of his successor. Tiie Chair stood empty for barely two hour*, but that was quite long enough to emphasise the loss of the strong guiding hand. And here let me say a word or two regarding Mr Peel's farewell. Mr Lucy's account (which I sent you last week)' does justice to its matter, but scarcely gives a fair idea of its admirable manner. The speech was, in the first place, judiciously brief, and couched in excellent taste and felicitous language. Its delivery was perfect. Mr Peel inherits from hi 3 father the beautiful and exquisitely modulated voice which enabled the repealer of the corn law 3 to—in the words of Disraeli—play with the House of Commons as on an old fiddle; and this voice was never heard to greater advantage than in his valedictory address. The disturbance on Wednesday was due entirely to Mr Balfour, .vhose tact, temper, and self-control for once entirely gave way. Till the Tory leader, contrary to all precedent, intervened, the election of the new Speaker had progressed on conventional lines. Mr Whitbread proposed Mr Gully. And who, I hear some of you colonists ask, is Mr Whitbread 1 In the words of those two diametrically opposed authorities, " Tay Pay" O'Connor and the 'St. James's Gazette,' "probably the most respected man in the House." Liberals, Tories, Irishmen, and Freelances alike have long recognised his sterling worth and capabilities. Offered office on many occasions, he has always refused it, aud eleven years ago the House would—but for the lion, member's slight deafness—have unanimously elected him Speaker. In appearance the personification of grave dignity, and blessed with a regularly gracious manner and considerable oratorical powers, Mr Whitbread yet seldom speaks. When he does his influence falls little, if ao al', short of a party leader's. I commend to your notice the simple, earnest, self-restrained sentences in which the veteran parliamentarian proposed Mr Gully. It could not possibly have been better done. Mr Augustine Birrell's little speech was also in quite good taste, aud Sir John Mowbray and Mr Wharton, in proposing Sir Matthew White Ridley, likewise showed to much advantage. Then the two candidates submitted themselves to the House, Mr Gully making the best speech and looking a more ideal Speaker than the stout and short Sir Matthew. Up to this point harmony had reigned, aud what demon of mischief prompted Mr Balfour to defy precedent and interpose no one could imagine. His speech was so unlike him, too. He made no direct attack on Mr Gully, but managed to suggest he was an undesirable man for the post. That might have passed. Wheu, however, the right honorable gentleman went on to accuse the Government of reducing the question of the Speakership to a party fight the Chamber rang with cries of " Courtney ! Courtney ! . Courtney !" This of course signified that so far from having made a party business of the Speakership the Government had suggested the obviously suitable Mr Courtney—though a Liberal Unionist—for the post, and Mi Balfour himself had joined Mr Chamberlain in persuading that gentleman to withdraw. For once Mr Balfour was completely knocked over, and—sat down. The cheers and howls which greeted Sir W. Harcourt'e rising showed that the blood of the Ho'use was up, and quieter souls gazed with melancholy foreboding on the empty chair. Sir William was in great form, and danced a sort of break-down on the Opposition Leader. Mr Balfour's objections to Mi Gully were confuted out of the mouth of his own side. In the ' Pall Mall Gazette' oi the previous night appeared an article by that clever young Tory Sir Herbert Maxwell, who showed conclusively that in ISB-I Mr Peel was as unknown and as severely criticised by the Tories as Mr Gully is (oi was) now. "It is," says "Tay Pay." (oJ whose description of what followed I musl even at the ri«.k of repetition quote a bit), " the peculiarity of an orator—and especially of an orator of the impressionable temperature of Sir William Harcourt—tc rise with the rising tide, to grow stronget with strength, more successful with success. And soon it was felt that Sir William was about to make a weightier, stronger, even more emphatic attack on Mr Balfour. In other words, he was approaching the name of Mr Courtney. The reader will

have already Been what a frightful opening Mr Balfour had left on this question, When, he charged :the Government with making the Speakership a party question „by bringing forward one of their own follower*Who had made it a party question, asked Sir William Harcourt, with linger pointed at Mr Balfour—and in a loud and almost) menacing voice—and with all the. force of a pile.driver, giving the huge block of wood its last stroke home.. '.the. Chan, collor felt all the passion he expressed. aa<4 aroused j for it is well known ptiat he had; put forward the candidature of Mr CottStney, with great and almost desperate eagonwßß,. and in spite of some opposition from ttia CWi friends, if Mr Courtney, who was nob supporter of the Government, had nob been olected, whose was the responsibility. Again Bir William pointed at Mi- Balfour; and so fierce and loud, and prompt, was the storm of cheers that came up from the Liberals and the Irish that Sir William was unable more than once to end his sentences. All the sense of the

ingratitude, the betrayal, the meanness with which Mr Courtney had been hustled out of the Speakership by the Tories came back to the memory of the House. Never was a man so deeply avenged, never was a mean intrigue so' meroilessly exposed. Mr Chamberlain i 9 always pale ' t and in these later days he nearly always looks sour, depressed, baffled, uneasy. He was positively and palpably miserable during this exposure of—shall I call it an intrigue or a defeat ?—in which he has played-bo ignobk a pari; and what must have added to hit discomfort was the fact that Mr Courtnej sat beside him self-restrained antV decorous, but still unable to conoea? tin natural smile of triumph at his tardy but emphatic vindication after the knifing bj his foes and hia treacherous friends. But the effect on Mr Balfour was more striking than even this. 1 have seen him go througl many scenes of storm and difficulty ; I haw watched him all through the dread unc hostile struggle over coercion; and for th< first time I saw him lose nerve and courag< and all readiness on this occasion. Whei Sir William Harcourt sat down he rose. H( uttered only a sentence. But it was cer tainly sentence. He deniec that Sir William Harcourt had accurately described'my share' in the knifing of Mi Courtney. There was an unmistakeabli emphasis on the 'my.' What does i

MR balfour's stranoe case. Amongst Tories as well as Liberals the question "What has come to Balfour?" is the most urgent of the hour. The general impression seems to be that he has not got over the influenza, and that his health is so broken he has lost courage for his work, and may have to take a long holiday. We kuow, too, the alliance with Mr Chamberlain is strained to breaking point; in fact the ' Spectator' this week threatens that he also may in disgust throw up public life. BITS OF I'EEI.. Mr Peel is said to have given his successor the same advice which Mr Brand gave him when he took the chair. "You'll make," said the ex-Speaker, "errors like other people, no doubt— humanvm est —but whatever you say, mind you stick to it t" During the period when the Commons were utterly disorganised by Irish obstruction it was assumed Mr Speaker must be personally on bad terms with Parnell, Biggar, and Co., but this was not so. He had one private "brush," and one only, with Mr Parnell. The Irish leader had been extra adventurous, and the Ghair had interfered. The incident being over, Mr Parnell was passing Mr Peel's seat later in the evening, and said as he walked by : "I think, Mr Speaker, that you dealt excessively hardly with ine just now." Mr Peel drew himself up and his eyes blazed. "How dare you, sir," he cried; "how dare you address such remarks to me." Parnell, surprised, walked away ; but ever after in private spoke with great iespect to Mr Peel. 31R SPEAKER (iUIJ.Y. The doubt with regard to the new Speaker seems to be whether he will possess the necessary qualities to dominate the House iu moments of great excitement. Mr Mellor appeared likely to make an admirable Chairman of Committees, yet proved, when his hour of trial arrived, a melancholy failure. Mr Gully's successes have been principally in arbitration and as leader of ihe Northern Circuit. A very fair sketch of him in the ' Weekly Sun' says : Arbitration, in its frequency and its succcs?, is one ot the signs of timc3 of great business depression and straitened incomes and expenditure ; and Mr Gully was the very embodiment of this change in our methods of settling business disputes. His fairness, his spotless integrity, a temperament so incapable of being ruffled as to be almost angelic, and a perfectly judicial mind—these are the things which made suitors with all their fierce passion and their conflicting interests gladly submit their disputes to his arbitrament.

At the Bar, and when he appeared as an advocate instead of a judge, there was another quality which came out, and which will havo an opportunity of revealing itself in his new position That is his grit. Quiet but tenacious, h°. never flustered and worried the solicitors who instructed him with those moments of depression and "funk"—to use a familiar phrase —by which some of our greatest advocates now and then paralyse a stirring and hard fight. Whatever case and whatever view Mr Gully took up he stuck to with equal mind through good fortune aud evil, witti judges who were fair aud judges who were adverse. This is one of the reasons of the strong hold he has always maintained over the folicitcra as a class. And now what manner of man is this, and what has been his method of life ''. I don't kuow that there is in London a household move typica'ly English in its highest and purest development than that of the Gully family. It is presided over by a woman emphatically (f the old school in maternal tendencies and wifely absorption and devotion. You remember that beautiful tribute which Thackeray pays in oue of hi 3 novels to the tenderness, the purity, and the sanctity of the women of this country. I often wish that Thackeray had had" an opportunity of seeing the girls of the Gully family. In succession they grew up—tall, fair, with peifecc regularity of feature, with beautiful complexions, and with the nameless softness and gentleness and sweet shyness of the young English girl. . It is, perhaps, part of the refinement that belongs to them, that is the characteristic expression of their faces, that they are a musical family. The musical evenings at the home "of the Gullys, in Harley street—that street of large, somewhat gaunt, but spacious and comfortable and central houses—were a pleasant social landmark in their circle of acquaintances. Every player was an amateur, and I have heard that on some occasions no less a person than Lord Chancellor Herschtll might be seen playing the violoncello under the vigilant eye and the harmonious ear of the gentloman who conducted the little orchestra. Mr Gully's character is written in his face. He is tall, slim, erect, and wonderfully youthful-looking for a man above the sixties. White hair surmounts a face that still retains the ruddiness of youth. His physique i 3 fine. The nose and the mouth are beautifully chiselled ; he is emphatically a handsome and a dis-tinguished-looking man. He has rather a low voice and a very quiet manner ; altogether gives the impression of that evenness of temper and that spontaneous self-control that can belong only to a sweet and tranquil nature. He has not taken a very active part in the House of Commons, but there is one little legislative achievement of his which is characteristic. By a curious omission in the law the imputation of unchastity against a woman was not a punishable offence, civil or criminal. In an outline Bill Mr Gully soughj to remedy the evil. He was violently opposed by Captain Verney on the ground that no such distinction should be made between imputation on the chastity of a man and a woman. Bnt I believe the Bill, after being destrayed in one session, passed in another. Woman—the new and the old—has a warm friend in the new Speaker of the House of Commons. I wonder to how many people the name of Gully suggests a famous cause celebre which just nineteen years ago set London by the ears, and was known as the Balham, mystery. The new Speaker's sire, Dr Gully, was unpleasantly mixed up in it, or rather dragged into it by an unscrupulous woman. The prosecution failed altogether to connect him in any way with the catastrophe. The victim, Mr Bravo, was a well-to-do gentleman of considerable private fortune, residing in a large house standing in its own grounds at Balham. He had married shortly before tho widow of Lieutenant Ricardo, of the Guards, a young woman of considerable personal attraction, but cursed with a violent temper and liable to outbreaks of intemperance. These outbreaks were tho misery of her husband's life. He had tried his best to cure the woman, and failed. One night shortly after dinner Mr Bravo was taken terribly ill, an( j after some hours' violent sickness died. He had, it was presently proved, been poisoned

Bravo had done tbe'deed fri<anger after a viole^.qua^rel^ittfher ; ;hWM >^winV: fs3P£ denied, but ?* av fadmitting aid tabuiVed to speech©f^thopoor J to prove their contention.: At tHocoroner's itiquest, which lasted Mrs Bravo confewed _to 4a intrigue GuUy be * fore hoc marriago' with Tier "ftisband.to' whom, however, Jhe had Obrifeagomhe toofe dent..- Neverthelesß M jwjas; she «&$, very !«t^°i' D iJ «>Wton% threatening »«isiM. The. fay, after a i»olonged iiJfluiry, &*&¥ s?*& lob ' w^torltiS. affair ended, the.Crowa.ixpiodaMderinithe evidence., against Mw Brivo /nutScient to justify a>roaedutioh.~ Somß-^eara-after Jirt' Bravo died, Jt was .stattdr of intern, perance,-and her . miid "declared • star had confessed to the "murder. - But" this report never received practical confirmation. Vc Gully, I fanoy, lived dawn the Bcandai; and died-.comparatively' recently. He had a big reputation as a nya*ropathio expert, and was an immense favorite with the fair sex./,- ; ■ -■• ■• ' Another and eveu more notable relative of the new Speaker w.aß John Gully, the famous prize-fighter, who developed into a leviathan bookmaker, .entered Parliament, became a pillar of the turf, and won the Derby once or twice early in the century.

TWO DUCAL MARRIAGES. bir Albert. Rollit "contradicts with as. much emphasis as politeness: permits the rumor ..of his pending marriage to the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland, commonly called "Duchess Blair." Such a match would undoubtedly do more than anything else to make "society 1 ; forget Her Grace possessed a past, and I can perfeotly imagine that so far she has a say in the matter. 'Barkis is willing," Bat what Sir Albert would gain by the union-runless in his old age he fell in love—l confess I can't see. The Duchess is, no doubt, richly gilt and not b;id looking, but remembering where her money came from only a very tough conscience would, I should imagine, oare to share it. o

A far more suitable marriage, and one that Ert.i.T'S off > t IOO . is. the union of Lord ' Bill'! Beresford to the Duchess of Marlborough. This lady was originally Mi ß s rr l S\, au S hter of Commodore Price, of the U.S. Navy. The belle of her first season, she carried off a great parti in Mr Louis Hammersley, a millionaire, who had the good taste to die in a few years, leaving her large life interests (only) in his property, the Duke of Marlborough, in the character of a rather dubious divorcee, visiting the States, fell in love with Mrs Hammersley and her life interests, and transferred both to Blenheim. The lady's money had much improved the Churchills' family seat and built some fine houses, when His Grace incontiucntlycxpired unexpectedly. His widow has now, however, so many English friends that, though of course obliged to leave Blenheim, she stayed at this side. Latterly Her GracO either bought or leased Deepdtne, the beautiful country seat Lord Francis Hope squandered on the fascinating but expensive divinity now his wife. Lord " Bill" Beresford has been secretary, guide, philosopher, and friend to three Viceroys of India, and is the most popular person in Hindottan. He now, I imagine, means to rest and relax a tit. THE THEOBALD VERDICT. The Theobald case, of which I sent you the story last mail, ended in a verdict'for the defendant. The jury, after hearing the evidence on both sides, came to the conclusion that Mrs Theobald's plebeian first husbind Algar was dead when she married Mr Theobald, M.P., and that the man whom her greedy relatives represented as that individual had a totally different identity. Isaac Dunham, the brother who claimed the late Mrs Theobald's fortune on the ground that she was not Theobald's wife, and that he (Theobald) could not in conscqueuc3 be her heir-at-law, cut a wretched figure in the witness-box. The deceased gentleman had, Dunham was forced to admit, been most generous to all his wife's poor relations, yet here they were trying to rob Mrs Theobald of her good name, and Mr Theobald's heirs of the money he had, it was admitted, merely for form's sake settled on his wife as dowry. AT LAST! So Jabez Spencer Balfour is really cominc to England—is actually on board the good ship Tartar Prince, now some ten days out from Buenos Ayres ! Unless Reuter lies, these are facts, and within a week the ' Great Liberator" will be safe in Holloway. " Jabez," says the cable, "is entirely without funds," and this sentence explains amply why Balfour has been yielded up to the British authorities. So long as his fellow-directors were at liberty they could remit him money wherewith to bribe the Argentine officials, but the moment the Home authorities laid hands upon the directors of the Liberator in Eugland Jabe2 : s power to bribe ceased, and the difficulties in the way of his extradition simultaneously disappeared. In a written statement supplied to the limes of Argentina ' Balfour asserts that he is fully prepared to meet the charges brought against him. He maintains that they are "all based upon an erroneous assumption." Likewise he complains bitterly of the "hostile attitude of the British Press and public authorities, whereby he was induced not to return to London at the beginning of 1894, as he had originally intended." Jabez, of course, only went to Argentina for a holiday, and all the chatter about the brewery at Salta and the Argen tine citizenship, etc., was mere invention. He wanted to come Home, but the British Government and the Argentine authorities began to fight about him. He was put into gaol, and could not do as he wished. Very hard on Jabez, iudeed.

GENERAL. The United Kingdom Alliance and other leading temperance bodies have been girding on their armor to fight for the Local Option Bill under the banners of Sir Wilfred Lawson Lady Henry Somerset, Rev. Canon Wilberforec, Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, and other doughty champions of the cause. At a, crowded meeting in Exeter Hall resolutions in support of the measure were passed iinanmously, of course, though Sir Wilfred Lawson, while favoring the'principle, regretted the necessity for imposing legislative restrictions. The Alliance have also issued a manifesto in support of local option, which they declare, " is the speediest method yet suggested of overthrowing the liquor traffic.' 1 This is plain speaking. It is just as well for the trade to know that local option is merely a stepping-stone to total prohibition. The new Bill allows a bare majority instead of a two-thirds vote to repeal the veto. There is also a clause providing that where a reduction in the number of licensed houses is ordered all applications for renewals shall be, treated as being for uew licenses. The compensation clauses are practically cut out. Lady Henry Somerset, whose activity in the women's suffrage movement and the establishment of women's clubs has been very great, thinks the female vote will have a very decisive influence in turniDg the scale in favor of local option. On the other hand, many old parliamentary hands believe that the Bill is doomed, and that' Sir William Harcourt is riding for a fall. At present the Government count on a majority I of 11, but this may be more than neutralised I by the defection of at least eight Liberal brewers. 1 It is certainly'not reassuring to the advocates of total abstinence to learn on high authority that claret-drinking in England is rapidly falling away owing principally to the increased consumption of whisky and water. Last year the imports of wine from Bordeaux into the United Kingdom showed a falling off of 200,000 gallons, while the shipments of claret to other countries exhibited a large increase. However, as one person's misfortune is another's opportunity, the wine-growers of Australia will be consoled by-the fact that many of the French vineyards have suffered from that disease of the blossom which the French call "colure," while the old enemy phylloxera appeared in many districts. The supply of sardines and smaller fish from the Continent is being reduced to a j minimum. These fish have almost entirely disappeared from the Froßch,Spanish, and Portuguese coasts. What fish have been taken are large and unsaleable, and fancy prices were realised for medium Bizes. It is

Vohttnept is practically eitinot; Now* the nshof ; all varieties; and thereis no reason whyv if amount of-enterprise were, shown, ; the irozen'fish -trade' should not develop into an important industry, f