OUR LONDON LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 1674, 22 December 1883, Page 30

OUR LONDON LETTER.

October 19. The times are dull. If there is a tide in the affairs of men it is now at low water. To be sine, the sparring match between France and Spain has caused some talk, and it has led to the destruction of the Sagasta Ministry, and the resignation of the Spanish Ambassador to France, but there the matter will probably end. France has already nijre enemies than she knows how to deal with, and the Spaniards are not in a position to uphold their dignity in the way most agreeable to their temper and traditions.

I hear from a private source, which I believe i to be trustworthy, that a good deal of the bad feeling that has lately shown itself between JTrance and Spain is due to the intrigues of the Due de Montpensier. This nobleman is th& fifth sou ot Louis Philippe, and is mareied to the sister of ex-Queen Isabella. Driven from France by the Revolution of February, he wont t© Spain, and was appointed 1 <>&ptain-ganera!l of the Spanish army. His a is to be a king, and failing that, to ?'„. •<$ the direction of one. On the dethronelTy nt of hi» sisfcer-in law, which he helped to vainer o tjout, nfl was one of the candidates for ?he Span **> Orowa, but only polled 2J votes, Amadous ! *» vin B soon afterwards abdicated, Mrmtrmnsier succeeded in getting the place for fhe meßent Xi> 9 , Alfonso, whose first wife was a daughter ofth? -Duke. Mercedes died within a year of her manage, and Alfonso took another wife and ne^ advisers. His occupation being gone in th<?t quarter, this modern kingmaker is now bent orf getting France into trouble in the interests of his nephew, the Comte de Paris, who is also the husband of his dauehter. Should Franca meet with fomfgSdifa'ster, like the defeat of 1871, it is just possible that the French may try a king I again, and the Comto de Paris now unites in himself the claims of bofch branches of the House of Bourbon. The prospect is very slight, but it is euough for a political garoester like the Due de Montpensier. He is very neb, and 1 am assured it was his money which paid for the late revolt in Spain.' He is unpopular in Spam, but respected for his military talents and his conduct in the affair with Henri de Bourbon. The said Henri was cousin to (Jueen Isabella, and a reckless, scatter-brained individual. He published a letter addressed to the Montpensierists, in which he spoke in insulting terms of the Due's action against the Queen. A hostile meeting between the two took place near Madrid on the 12th of March 1870. Montpensier fired first— into the air. Bourbon then fired straight at his opponent, but tho bullet glanced off the butt of his pistol. Seeing that the other meant business, the Duke quietly unbuttoned his coat to get at his eyeglass, adjusted the glass with perfect sangfroid and deliberation, and then dropped hia man dead on the spot. My informant uad these particulars from ope

of the surgeous who was present, and as they seem more probable than the contemporary accounts of the eveut, I put them down here although the story is au old one. They illustrate the character of one of the men wiio is now troubling the peace of France.

! On the Ist of Ootober, at the annual audit of the books of the London and River Plate Bank (Limited), it was necessary to verify the entries of certain securities deposited in the Bank's safes. The secretary (Mr George Warden) volunteered to go down stairs and fetch them. He did not return ; and on examining the Bank's treasury it was found that securities were missing to the value of £110,000. Of this sum £70,000 represented stock placed in the Bank for safe custody. The remainder consisted of securities for money lent by the Bank to city firms. The directors published a circular stating that Warden had been speculating on the Stock Exchange for some months past, and having lost at the beginning he increased his speculations in the hope of retrieving his position. Continuing to lose, he paid his debts by securities taken from the Bank. Warden had been in the service of tho Bank almost siuea its foundation, and enjoyed the entire confidence of his employers. The directors express surprise that such a robbery could have been effected, considering the precautions that are taken to prevent anything of the kind occurring. It appears that the Bank's treasury cannot be opened without two keys, one of which is kept by the secretary and the other by a director. How Warden got possession of the other key is still a mystery. His operations on the Stock Exchange were so extensive as to seriously affect the market, and one broker who was concerned in the transactions has become bankrupt.

Although Warden had but a short start of the polioe he contrived to reach Havre, and might have escaped altogether if he had been so dispesed. But seeing from the newspapers that a confederate named John Davis Watters meant to lay all the blame on Warden, the latter returned on the 6th, and surrendered himself. Watters also was arrested. The matter has caused great excitement in thd City. I can only give the substance of the case, which is reported at length in the daily papers. About 18 months ago Warden " made a loss," as it is termed, on the Stock Exchange, and employed Watters, who was an outside stockbroker (not a member of the Stock Exchange), to raise a loan on securities which Warden took . from those deposited in the London and River Plate Bank. About a fortnight afterwards Watters himself made a large loss, and applied to Warden for help ; the amount required was £6000. Though not actually stated, it is reasonable to infer that Warden did not consider it safe to refuse this application. At any rate he agreed to find the money, which he did by pledging more securities of those entrusted to the Bank. From that time Warden and Watters continued to speculate on joint account— that is, no commission was paid to the one, and no acconnts were rendered to the other. The speculations were disastrous, and losses were regularly made good by pawning securities to various stockbrokers in the city. When the losses reached £40,000 Wai den suggested they had better Rtop, but Watters persuaded him 'to go on, with the gambler's hope that luck would turn. A few months later the losses were £100,000.

In the meantime the audit day was approach ing, and the securities had to be produced on pain of exposure. Only those stocks on which money had been lent by the London and River Plate Bank had to be checked by the auditors; those deposited merely for safe custody did not come under their notice. Of the first kind about £40,000 worth were wanted. Watters was pretty confident that the brokers who held the stocks would lend them for just long enough to pass the audit. To release some he appears to have given his own cheques for large amounts, although his bank balance was only £75. The cheques being crossed they had to pass through the clearing-house, and therefore could not be presented tor payment until the following day. If the stocks were returned within a few hours, the presentation of the cheques would be stopped and all would go on smoothly. A large portion of the bonds were released by these expedients, and some were obtained by leaving in their stead £27,000 of Egyptian preference shares that had' already passed the audib : tho theft of these is the specific charge on which Warden is being prosecuted. One lot, however, was still wanting. They were held by a broken named M'Micking. Warden sent M'Micking his cheque for £29,000, but the canny Scot would neither accept the cheque nor lend the bonds. The game was up !

When Warden left the Bank he went to Waiters' office and told him he was a ruined man. Walters gave him £200, and he started for the Continent. In his private safe were found the labels of the stolen bonds and a letter to the Cha'rman of the Board of Directors, in which ha stated that he had no property, and begged for charity's sake that his sisters and invalid brother should not be molested, as. they had not benefited by his frauds, and had very little property of their own. Warden is 44 years of age. He was in receipt of a salary of £1500 a year. The most of these particulars came out in the examination of Watters' case, in which Warden appears as a witness. This examination is still pending, but Warden has already been committed for trial in November.

The question is being discussed as to whether the London and River Plate Bank is liable to make good the whole of the loss in this instance. As regards the £40,000 worth of stock received as security for money advanced, that, of course, must be replaced when the loans are repaid. There is no means of evading that responsibility. The Bank, however, is not obliged to make good the loss of the bonds received for safe custody, provided ordinary care has been taken for their preservation. This was the decision given in 1861 in the analogous case of the Union Bank of Australia. It is thought that the London and River Plate Bank will not insist on its legal exemption from responsibility, but on this point the shareholders must first be consulted.

Yesterday week Mr Henry Irving and the Lyceum company started from Liverpool by the City of Rome, for a sevon months' tour in the States. The party numbered 70 persons, and tbe properties, which had been Bent on in advance, were insured for £25,000. It is probably the largest undertaking of the kind that has ever been made. It beginß auspiciously. A New York correspondent telegraphs that in the first six hours the sale of seats for tho Irving performances realised 80,61)0 dollars. Sweet are tho uses of advertisements! Some buyers had waited continuously in lino since the previous Saturday. In London, people have been known to take fiamp-Btoola and provisions to the pit entrance of the theatre, and wait there from early morning till the hour of opening, which was wittily cajled a morning performance of Patience at the Lyceum. But in America they apparently take their beds also, and play patience all night. Just before starting, Mr Irvine was invited to lunjj cheon by the Earl of Derby, for the purpose of meeting Mr Gladstone and other great person*

ages. They afterwards had a long walk in Knowsley Park. Think of that ! With such a consecration Mr Irviuo can hardly fair to be wall received by the Americans. They love lords above all things. The mere odour of nobility that clings to Henry's garments will be precious in their nostrils. That and his minense fama will carry him through the coming ordeal. But the experiment is making is not a little riaky. 1 doubt whether as an actor he will please/the American public; and if he does not they will very soon let him know it. American criticism is swift and trenchant, like the stroke of a hatchet. When an English poet lately produced a bad play in America, it was pronoun cod "dramatic rot," and there was an end of it. Here the Genius ot Criticism ia an old woman, who is for ever whispering in our ears—" Hush, hush, you must not speak like that about people ! " Of all the offices which hungry humanity undertakes to earn its daily bread, that of common hangman seems the most repulsive and degrading. Yet England alone could supply hangmen enough for the whole world, with a remainder lor the planets. Not men who are driven thereto by^ want, but men who admire ' ' tho bad eminence " of the office, and who are willing to exchange respeofcablo occupations for that of strangling malefactors ! The statement would be incredible if there were any room to doubt the_ truth of it. More than 1200 persona have applied for the office left vacant by the death of Marwood. The sheriffs of London and Westminster have had quite a difficult task in making a choice irom such an embarrassment ot riched. The successful candidate is called Bartholomew | Binas. He is described as being stoutly built, about sft 6m in height, and of fair complexion, with light whiskers and moustache. Binns should adopt a professional name. Calcraft and Marwood are sinister enough already (or is it only the force of association ?), but Binns suggests nothing worse than a drunken butler in a comedy. The following letter was received [ by the sheriff of the city of Chester :— "The Fox Inn, Wem.— Honored Sir,— l j writes this to you for the apintment of exicutioner for Chester county, having a grate wishe to be employed in the noted office of the law's last finisher. I would undertake to give you every satisfaxun and do my work in a proper and steady maner. I have had some experienche with corpses, as I used to work for a undertacker in Birkenhead, and often put them into coffins. Honored Sir, I would undirtake the first job for noting if you would find the rope and fixings, and you could gudge for yourselfs weather I would do for the office. I would give them the long drop or the short one, as you wished. I likes the long one, for then your certain to do it. Honored Sir, I have come over to Chester in hopes of seeing you persunally, and you could se weather I was up to the job or not.. lam 40 years old next birthday, belong to the Salvatioh Army, an*i have nine ■ children, having married young. Honored Sir, my wife is a Chester woman, and knows you, so I ' hope we shall have your approval. Honored Sir, a letter of messuage will find me if sent to Joseph Mindle, at Robert Thompson's, No. 42, Crane Bank, Crane street, Chester. — I remain, honored Sir, your humble j servant, Joseph Mindle, sawyer." ! The Marquis Tseng, Chinese Minister, has been complimented by a public reception at the Town Hall, Folkestone. He has taken a house for some months at that interesting wateringplace. The proceedings opened by a speech Jrom Sir E. W. Watkiu, M.P.. after which the town clerk read an address of welcome to bis .Excellency from the Corporations of Folkestone, Hythe, and Sandgate. The Marquis' reply was read by the Secretary of the Chinese Legation, It contained warm thanks, expressed in graceful language, for the kind welcome he had received in England. He rejoices at the near appr >ach of closer relations between China and Great Britain. These relations ought, he thinks, to be primarily of a commercial character. " Platonic unions are seldom lasting; seatiments become perverted, wax warm, and then grow colcl again ; but it is not so with unions which depend upon material interests, for, fed by the development of new interests, these become stronger, ■ closer, and more indissoluble from day to day." These very utilitarian views are somewhat modified by another passage in his speech. Tea and cotton are not the only things that may be exchanged between China and England. In science and art the Chinese have much to learn from the British, but haye we nothing to learn from them — from a nation which was old when the pyramids were being built? His Excellency thinks we have. He feels confident that when the antiquities of China come to be explored by Western scholars, they will be found to contain mines of wealth perhaps undreamed of in our philosophy — missing links of knowledge, whose absence has hitherto rendered many a problem of humanity unexplained and inexplicable. That really excites one's curiosity. What an opening for an enterprising scholar, to bring within the reach of European minds the treasures of Chinese wisdom I We have pretty well used up those of Greece and Rome and Judea.

Messrs Blaekwood are the publishers of Anthony Trollope's autobiography. It appears in two volumes, with a portrait of the author. He describes bis experiences with great frankness, and some of them are very sad. His school life was miserable. He was poor and awkward, and, as a matter of course, bullied. For many years he held an appointment in the General Post-office, and he was 10 years an author before he derived a regular income from his writings. In course of time his novels became very popular. He paints with great correctness the lives of respectable, unromantic English people. His characters are well-bred, and sometimes very dreary. His style is sweet and soothing— like a good cigar or the ripple of a brook. There are times of languor and disgust when nothing pleases one like these gentle restoratives. Apparently the number of languid and disgusted people is very considerable, for Trollope's novels realised in 20 years about £70,000. - ■ • Both the Church Congress and the Social Science Congress have been trying to decide whether museums, libraries, and art galleries should be opened on Sundays. Strange to aay, the lay Congress seemed on the whole to be against the innovation, and the clerical Congress in favour of it. Such is the impression made on the reporters, who say the arguments were so evenly balanced that it was difficult to determine which had the best of it. This question is not one which can be decided by argument. Each individual gives his vote for or against, according to his temperament and education. No one whoso mind has beßn touched ever so little by tha ideas which it is the province of art to express, would admit that anything but good could result from making these ideas as prevalent as possible. Those, on the other hand, who want that superior sense, will not be convinced by arguments which are as foolish to them as a lecture on colours to a blind man. The stock objection to the rational use of Sunday has been smashed and pulverised over and over again. # The Calvinistic Sunday is not "a Christian institution, but a survival of Judaism, and is no more binding on Christians than is the worship of Odin. But even

though Christ had commanded the Sunday to be observed as a day of prayer and eating and sleeping and yawning, we should still be justified in spending it otherwise if it appeared to us reasonable so to do. Our Christianity is not the Christianity of Christ, but a greatly modified form of it, adapted to our peculiar nature and circumstances. A real Christian,, as understood by Christ, could scarcely exiat among us, unless he kept himself very quiet indeed. Take, for instance, the Christian doctrine of non-retaliation — that we should or* no account resent injuries or insults. A person who had to mix among men, and practised that precept consistently, would find himself in the workhouse or in a madhouse in a very short time. He who does not defend his rights when they are challenged is considered in the wrong, and loses " by default." That is a principle of jurisprudence, and the experience of ages has proved it to be a perfectly wise and just principle. But it is flatly unchristian. The Quakers profess to be absolutely non-retaliatory. Try them ! Seeing, then, that we find it necessary to' disobey the express command of Christ on such an important point, it is difficult to understand why we should bear tho burden of the Sabbath, which Ho neither bore Himself nor imposed upon others.