NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 449, 22 November 1875, Page 2

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

OUR LONDON LETTER.

(From a correspondent of the Press.')

London, October Ist, 1875,

Perhaps the most important question at present is our position in the Far East. The China difficulty has assumed a grave aspect. The most strenuous efforts of our minister at Pekin, Mr Wade, to obtain redress for the outrages on British subjects at Yunan and Manwyne have been met by the usual evasion and subterfuge of Chinese diplomacy. We have this afternoon received a telegram from Shanghai, dated yesterday, September 30th, to the effect that Mr Wade had intimated to the Chinese Government that if his demands wore ..not complied with by yesterday, he would leave Pekin; and if some satisfactory arrangement has not been made ere this, a declaration of war will be the immediate and

inevitable result. An order for the reinforcement of the naval squadrou in the China seas has been issued. It is to be hoped that this step will have a salutary effect. The war would probably cost about twenty millions, and the unpromising aspect of the negotiations exercises a depressing influence on English Government securities. It is an ill wind, however, that blows no good, and a China war would immediately benefit the shipping trade and also the tea and silk market. The approaching departure of the rnnee of Wales for India creates much interest. The Serapis has started for Brindisi, at which port the Prince will embark on the 16th instant, instead of at Venice, as previously contemplated. In the fitting up of this magnificent ship for the reception of Ins Royal Highness, no expense has been spared to ensure his safety, comfort, and enioyraent. In fact, on the two last points there appear to have been a great deal of useless expenditure. The descriptions of the luxurious arrangements on board sound Sybaritish, for all their pomp and splendour are not to impress the native mind, but merely to administer to the ease and pleasure of the Prince and his companions on the voyages out and home. Twenty picked men from the Marine Band with the bandmaster, ten thousand pounds worth of plate, and enough ice to form a very respectable iceberg, have been shipped on board. The furniture of the Boyal saloon and apartments may be feebly imagined when I tell you that the awning draperies of the Prince’s barge are of damask silk, and the tiller is made of electro-plated metal with an ivory handle. I think it is highly probable that the worthy blue iacket who grasps this elegant little article for the first time will be so bothered by the newfangled toy as to bump his Royal Highness vp against the first obstacle that presents itself in his course. I saw the Royal bed before it was shipped. It is a most sumptuous-looking contrivance of polished brass and gorgeous embroidery. Its counterpane was altogether beyond my masculine understanding, and I had to solicit an explanation from a lady, who informed me that it was cretonne flower work on a ground of pale blue satin. “ The bed itself was made with a double swinging action, so that, in direct opposition to what we learnt in our childhood,” “ when the wind blows the cradle will not rock.” This is right enough, The man who can mitigate the horrors of sea sickness and does not do so is wanting in sense; but I do think the "cretonne flower work and pale blue satin” counterpane might have been dispensed with. I am rather astonished at the Prince, for in manner and appearance he is a hearty, jovial, genial Englishman, and, moreover, he is a good sportsman. He is a very fair shot, and from personal observation I know that he rides to hounds straight and hard. It has been thought desirable that he should have a body guard composed of household troops, and twenty horseguardsmen with their “horses will proceed to India with him. On the 27th ultimo, and the following days, Darlington was the scene of a jubilee on a grand scale to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Darlington and Stockton railway, the first ever constructed for public traffic. The most interesting part of the proceedings was an exhibition of locomotives, amongst which was the Locomotion, the engine that drew the first train, and which was built by Stevenson at Newcastle, in 1825. By the side of this showing at a glance the strides we have taken in the improvement of our iron horse, was a splendid new engine, just four times the weight of the Locomotion, and intended to run the Saltbarn and Leeds express, Apropos of the event the limes published a retrospect of our railways for the last thirty years. Some of the facts will be peculiarly suggestive and interesting to you, busily engaged as you are in the rapid development of your own railway system. The total mileage for the United Kingdom amounted at the close of last year to 16,44!), of which 70'6 per ceut belongs to England and Wales ; 16 4 per cent to Scotland ; and 13 per cent to Ireland. Of all the passengers during the last year, the English lines carried 88'54 per cent; the Scotch 8 per cent, and the Irish 3-46 per cent. The English railways cost on an average, per mile, £43,777 ; the Scotch, £26,417 ; and the Irish, £14,030, The enormous excess of the English over the Scotch cost is mainly due to the higher price of land, and to the fact that the proportion of double to single lines is twice as great in England as in Scotland, It has been calculated that had the English railways been constructed as cheaply as the Scotch, the saving would have been equal to the indemnity paid by France to Germany. The English railways yielded last year an average dividend of percent. During the last fifty years locomotives have increased in price from £SOO to £3OOO. and in weight from seven to thirty tons more.

The court-martial on Captain Dawkins, the officers, and ship’s company of the Vanguard for the loss of their ship by collision with the Iron Duke whilst sailing in the reserve squadron, off the coast of Ireland, has just been concluded. The Court find that the collision was caused by the high rate of speed at which the squadron was proceeding whilst in a fog; by Captain Dawkins leaving the deck of his ship while an evolution was being performed ; by the reduction in speed of the Vanguard without a signal from the Vice-Admiral in command, and without the Vanguard making the proper signal to the Iron Duke ; by the increased speed of the Iron Duke during a dense fog; by the Iron Duke improperly Steering out of line ; and by the want of any fog signal on the part of the Iron Duke. The Court was of opinion that Captain Dawkins exhibited want of judgment and betrayed an absence of resource, promptitude, and decision in the means he adopted after the collision; that Navigating-Lieutenant Thomas was guilty of neglect of duty in not pointing out to his commanding officer that there was shoaler water within a short distance; that Commander Tandy showed great want of energy as second in command; that Mr Brown, the chief engineer, showed want of promptitude; and that Mr Tiddy, the carpenter, was also to blame for not offering any suggestions to the captain for stopping the leak. The Court adjudged Captain Dawkins to be severely reprimanded and dismissed from the Vanguard; Commander Tandy and Navigating-Lieutenant Thomas

to lie severely reprimanded ; and the chief engineer ami the carpenter to be reprimanded. 'l'he other officers and the ship’s company are acquitted of all blame. In naval circles the sentence, especially on Captain Dawkins, to whom it means professional ruin, is regarded as unexpectedly severe; but by the public—though there is a general feeing of sympathy with Captain Dawkins and the reprimanded officers —it is looked upon as merited and unavoidable. The whole occurrence, viewed by the light thrown on it by the evidence before the court-martial, is humiliating to us as a great nav 1 power. The Admiral of the squadron who ordered so dangerous a rate of speed in a dense fog, and the captain of the Iron Duke who increased his already high rate of speed, improperly steered out of his course, and used no fog signals, stand arraigned at the bar of the nation; but whether the inquiry into their conduct will take the form of another court-martial, or merely of an Admiralty minute, is, I believe, not yet determined on.

Whilst their subordinates have been thus “ exhibiting want of promptitude and energy,” &c, the Lords of the Admiralty themselves have been conspicuously displaying their own fallability in issuing a circular to the navy requiring naval officers to surrender fugitive slaves to their owners. For the last century one of the most cherished of our national sentiments has been that a slavedirectty hestepson British soil oron board a British man-of-war is free, and the indignation of the whole country has been awakened by the action of the Lords Commissioners. Meetings, principally amongst the working classes, are being held in London and all the large towns to protest against this violation of Great Britain’s humane policy, and the obnoxious circular must be cancelled, or at any rate considerably modified. My Lords have brought ridicule as well as indignation upon themselves. Was ever a more absurd instruction issued than the following clause in the circular;—" When surrendering fugitive slaves, commanding officers should exercise their discretion in endeavoring, according to the circumstances of each case, to obtain an assurance that the slaves will not be treated with undue severity.” This is just about as sensible and humane as handing a mouse to a cat with a strong recommendation to rnepay. A bottle was picked up a few days ago on the beach at Olonakilty, in Ireland, containing a scrap of paper on which was written in pencil:—" On board the Alert, three days ftom Disco, broken by an iceberg, sinking, 18th July. God help us.” To allay the alarm of the public and of the friends of those serving the Arctic Expedition, the Admiralty have announced that “ The Alert was seen on the 17th July by the Valorous all well, and the bottle, if thrown over board on the 18th July, must have been carried 2300 miles in sixty-eight days, or at the rate of nearly thirty-four miles a day. As there are no currents running at such a speed in the track between Disco and the Coast of Ireland, it is quite impossible that the statement can be authentic, and it is therefore evident that a silly attempt has been made to perpetrate a disgraceful hoax.” As something stronger than silly or disgraceful I should stigmatise the dastardly act. Despatches, dated respectively March Ist and May 15th of the present year, have been received from Mr H. M, Stanley, the leader of the African Exploration Expedition, organised ajjd maintained by our Daily Telegraph and the New York Herald. He had reached the shores of the Victoria Lake, having accomplished, since we last heard of him, a distance of 720 miles in 103 days. He passed through a totally new country, much of it thick jungle, and suffered great hardships and losses during the march. From sickness, desertion, and conflict with fierce tribes, he lost one hundred and eighty-one of his fo lowers —more than half, —and amongst those who succumbed to sickness were two of tho Europeans accompanying him, Edward Poccck and Frederick Barker. Of these two Mr Stanley speaks in terms of unbounded praise and regret. His little vessel, the Lady Alice, after being successrully carried through all these difficulties, was put together and launched on the Victoria Nyanza, and in her he has made a complete survey of the Great Lake. He writes that he is well equipped for two years more of good work, and that his party Is perfectly trustworthy. He considers the most hazardous portion of his toil isj accomplished, and is sanguine of ultimate success. Sir Julius Vogel is at present in London, and will, I believe, start for New Zealand this or the following month. Mr M. Chevalier, the artist, has had the honor of snbmitting’to the Prince and Princess of Wales his sketches of New Zealand scenery, which were much admired. A new postal contract has been entered into by tho Governments of New South Wales and New Zealand with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company of New York for a monthly service each way between San Francisco, Sydney, and ports of New Zealand. Tho first mail for conveyance under the new contract will be made up in Loudon on the evening of Thursday, the 2lat instant, and subsequently on the evening of every fourth Thursday, and will be conveyed to New York by the packets of the Inman line. The first brick of a new Opera House worthy of our metropolis has been laid by Mdlle. Titians. Next to the San Carlo at Naples it will be the largest theatre in Europe, and it is to be built in the form of an elongated horseshoe, after the fashion of La Seal a at Milan, It is to be completed in eight months, to be ready for the next operatic season. This seems a very short time, but San Carlo was built in six, and our own Govent Garden in seven months. The great theatrical sensation is Mr Irving as Macbeth, and all the town is crowding to the Lyceum to see him. A banquet of the remnant of the " Six hundred” who rode into the “Valley of death” is to take place in London on the 25th, the anniversary of the Battle of Balaklava. About fifty of the officers and men who took part in the memorable charge are still living, and nearly all, it is expected, will attend.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh hare returned from Russia, The Duke of Connaught proceeds to Gibraltar on the 14th to fill the duties of Brigade-major in that garrison.