LONDON GOSSIP.

Evening Star, Issue 9770, 29 July 1895, Page 3

LONDON GOSSIP.

[From Our Special Correspondent.]

London, June 7.

The Whitsuntide holidays were for a wonder superbly fine, and the exodus from town was tremendous, most folks rushing off ou Friday directly the mail closed and forgetting to return till yesterday. Your correspondent and the Shahzida were not amongst these li'cky mortals. The former had to stay here and slice himself in two in order to bid farewell to Bishop Harmer and the Hon. J. G. Ward, who left us on the same day ami the same hour, but by different stations. The latter remained at Dorchester House in the hope of obtaining a little rest. I am rather sorry for this light brown gentleman, who poems in a fair way to ba killed with kindness. To the Occidental mind the amount of sight-seeing lie gets through does not appear much, but any Oriental would fiudit'diatincliy ovtupowoiing. What theShauzada thinks of us nobody knows. His suite ullage he has really enjiyed himself on oue occasion auce he lauded—viz ,at the Zoological Gardens on Sunday afternoon. He brightened up materially in the monkey house, smiling the grave smile which is his nearest approach to a laugh at the apish antics, and clapping his hands at the seals' clever performances. It is a positive fact, and not a joke of George R. Sims, that our distinguished visitor backed the horses of both the Priuce of Wales and Lord Roseberry at Epsom because, as he said, they were bound to win. Before Courtieu's race the Prince of Wales took pains to explain that his horse had no advantage over the others. "But it will win," said the Shahzada quietly. " Well, we'll hope so. But my horses don't often get home," sighed His Royal Highness. However, on this occasion, as yen know, the Royal colors vere, for the first time, triumphant at Epsom. The Shahs! Ida smiled. The idea of ;ht.*e European." trying to deceive him. Oi cruise the Prince's horse had won, and so would the Grand Vizier's. It would be very uncomfortable in Afghanistan for anyone who defeated a Royal or Ministerial candidate. And of course it was the same here. "Look here, friend of my soul, take my tip and bujk Laveno," said the Duke ot York. "And save on Le Var," said f/.id Ah'ngton. "With a b.t on Raconteur for a place, :i added Mr M'Calmont. " I fift\ gold pieces on the horse of the Grand Vizier," said His Highness ; and ten minutes later, when Lord Rosebery was sprinting down the stairs and through the iing3 and a tempest of smacks on the back, to greet and lead in his returning equine hero, probably the least surprised nirtn on ihe course was the Shahzada. "Aliah is gf'ai.! " he m .nnured piously. A KOVAL VISIT. The Shahzada visit.-d the City yesterday, and we had anoiher good look at His Highness us he passed beneath our office windows at Ludgate Circu?. Allowing for Oriental passivity, I shoald say he was decidedly wooden and unintelligent, and that the story which credits him with saying that a Punch and Judy show which he accidentally witnessed outside Dorchester House had been his most enjoyable experience in this country was probably true. Anyhow, the Shah'/a'da made the fortune of the luokystreet showman, who received a £5 note for his performance of the historic tragedy, and is to be convoyed to Cabul to repeat it before the Ameer. Of the Ameer's suite the Kotwal of Cabul impresses one most. He is not very well at present, owing to an excess of combined politeness and Brown Windsor. It seems, mistaking the intention of his hosts in providing soap in his bedroom at Dorchester House, the Kotwal felt bound to eat it, and after a gallant etlort disposed of an entire cake. His comments on the tastes of English people were forcible till the nature of his error was explained. He then became indisposed. Oscar's health. A very pretty story to the effect that when Oscar Wilde was transferred to the penal prison at Pentouville and his hyacinthine locks were shorn he went mad and had become practically imbecile is authoritatively denied. Those who know the man best are, however, afraid of something of this sort happening. On the other hand, it is just possible he may courageously " buck-up," and resolve to recover a position and a good name, as Valentine Baker did. The man has such unique talents—almost genius—that an attempt of tho kind would be far from hopeless. Besides, it should appeal to his poetic side. ' The Atonement of Oscar Wilde' has already quite a familiar sound. VICE CHANCELLOR UACON. Vice-Chancellor Bacoo, who died the other day at tho age of nearly 100, was a remarkable character, and, till he retired nine years ago, held a unique position on the judicial bench. He was then well into the eighties, and decidedly deaf, yet so acute, so caustic, so vigorous in his judgment, and so felicitous in his language that no one even suggested he should give up work till he voluutarily abandoned it. 'Twas a legend at the courts that his lunch consisted of bread and milk and strong tobacco, and that his memory was such a marvellous one that nobody had ever seen him take a Dote. One fine old crusted " chestnut " about him was to the effect that on the hearing of an appeal from one of his judgments the Lords Justices sent for his notes, which proved to consist of a sheet of piper decorated with a caricature of the appellant. Underneath was written "This man is a liar." "MR BAKKR " OF .101IURG. The Sultan of Johore, who died at Bailey's Hotel, South Kensington, of Bright's disease, last Tuesday, was one of those Oriental potentates who, having been brought up beneath the blessings of British rule, and having studied civilisation, aided by an English tutor, combined in a marked degree the tastes and weaknesses, not to say vices, of both races. He was specially fond of squeezing every penny out of the inhabitants of Jahore Bahru, and coming Home to spend the money on more or less harmless sprees in London and Paris. One of his delusions was that no one could tell him from a sunburnt Englishman. He called himself "Mr Baker," and cultivated an extensive acquaintance with the ornaments of the Variety stage. They all knew perfectly who he was, but found it profitable to call him " Papa Baker," and pretend to believe him English. Ultimately an artless young thing named Jeuny Mighell or Mitchell got hold of His Highness and tried to induce him to make her Mrs Baker. Ho entered on a temporary arrangement, and called the lady by the name for some time, but when she affected to find out his identity, and requested to be made an honest woman and a Sultana, the old gentleman smiled. Miss Mitchell thereupon sued him for breach of promise. The case was, however, dismissed, the law courts holding that as the Sultan was an independent potentate he could not be sued. In this connection it may be mentioned that His Highness was already a much-married ! man. Behind the Botanical Gardens in his beautiful little capital the visitor is charmed to find a fairy-like structure, which is the palace of tho Sultan's wives. Here live a hundred and fifty of Mr Baker's domestic ladies, under the rule of his chief consort—the beautiful Circassian, Inche Kitcga.

The progress of Johoro during the reigu of the late Sultan has been prodigious. With tho single exception of Siam, Joborc is now the only independent kingdom remaining in Southern Asia. In 1819, when Sir Stamford Rallies purchased Singapore from the father of the late Sultan, the royal palace was a palm • thatched bungalow, the country an unbroken jungle, and the inhabitants pirates and fishermen by turns. The Straits of Malacca were infested with swift pirate praus, and the snake-like kris menaced the merchant marine of the world. Now tho Attap Islana or palace has given place to a series of palaces that rival those of many a much - better • known country ; tho jungle is transformed into plantations of gambier, tea, coffee, and pepper; the few elephant tracks and forest paths into a network of macadamised roads and projected railways; and the Native praus to English - built barks and deeply-laden cargo steamers. Two hundred thousand hard-working, money-making Chinese have been added to the 30,000 Malay aborigines, and the revenue of this remnant of an empire is far greater than was' the revenue of the original State. The Sultanate of Johore, as it now is, has au area cf about 15,000 Gcjudre miles, and. a population, of bttwoea

250,000 .and. 300,000 souls. The .capital, » Bahru, half Chinese, half Malay in j architecture, with its attap-roofed ball or hal), its Mahomedan mosque, Chinese josshouse, and Buddhist, temple, its public buildings of brick, spacious gambling farms, and its well-paved streets filled with the representatives of all the races of the Far East, is a sight to gladden the intelligent tourist. M. Alphonse Daudet would not complain of it as a " silent city," for the din of running rikishas, rattling gharries, and the confused babblo of twenty thousand voices in a dozen different languages perpetually salute the ears. The personal appearance of the late Sultan was dignified and pleasing. He was five feet eight in height, well built, with clean-cut, kindly features. His color was nearer the Spanish' type than the Indian. His hands and feet were small, forehead high and full, lips thin, and nose aquiline. His hair and moustache were white. He spoke good English, and waß al le to converse in French and German. In everyday dress he affected the frock coat, to which he added a narrow silk sarong and a brimless black cap. At unofficial dinners he wore a tuxedo jacket, a white, low-cut vest, all with diamond buttons, black pantaloons, and grey sarong. In the front of his cap was a plume of diamonds, and in his buttonhole a diamond orchid. On his wrists were heavy gold bracelets of Malayan workmanship, and his fingers were cramped with almost priceless rings. In official dress, including his crown, His Highness wore £2,000,000 worth of diamonds. His collar, epaulets, belt, cull's, and Orders of all the monarchies of Christendom, blazed with diamonds. The handle and scabbard of his sword were a solid mass of precious stones. Besides being a lover of jewels, he was a connoisseur of horseflesh and a lover of yachts. His stud comprised 200 horses, and twice a year he offered a cup at the Singapore jockey races, and entered half a dozen of his own horses. His yachts were built on the Clyde, and are the finest procurable of their size. He had also very pronounced artistic tastes, and his palaces, which are lit by electricity, are full of interesting curios. A recent visitor to his home thus describes the reception hall: "In the centre," he says, "is a massive table ornamented with a golden urn, filled with maidenhair ferns and dragon orchids, that requires two men to lift. The table is set with a service of gold and silver, one course of which is the famous Elienborougli plate, which the late Sultana purchased in Scotland for £40,000 as a present for His Highness. A little Arabic character on the edge of each stands for her initials. Across the reception court a marble flight of steps leads up to the corridor that surrounds the grand salon and the throne room. Heroic sized paintings of Mr Gl ulstoneand Lord Beaoonsfield standagainst the walls at the first landing. About the corridors are Malay krises and limbiugs, Dyak spears and shields, Japanese katauas and suits of armor, Indian daggers and weapons of war and the chase." The late Sultan is succeeded on the throne of Johore by his son Ibrahim, who was born in 1877.