OUR LONDON LETTER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 1246, 23 August 1875, Page 3

OUR LONDON LETTER.

[jebom'otjbown cobbesjondtsnt.] I Ldotjon, June 29, 1875. j ) \yj^n o lJa.«t.wrote..the,.Alert.an.<J Discovery b«d just sailed, from Portsmouth on their; ' Arctic Extieclittoni' : THe^Had been'the talk | of the country for many weeks, their .officers! •giloVcrtws had been feasted arid cheered' to, laWl**t e »fo their vessels had:been. inspected; by thousandaof, person^, i.ncludjng the chiefs. of the Adnliralty,' and 1 iio ado'seeined tooi much to he made, iif tEeir honor. This week ! «WeT r e"lias sailed ' aiibther 1 ' expedition - m I ith«3^hipi<Pandoro.' -Theefacf is generally . tnown^but.Btoajl notice has. .been taken of it. ! TThfa F vessel has gone' in' search of further ■ tijraoetf of' 'Franklin's : expedition. Lady ! s!rftjaklmi.iß._ > ,Qn her death-bed ; , Sir. Wijliani ; 6ulli"»nd her other.. medical attendants.: avow th^j»^?r? '? no hope : of -Jier- reqpvery : ' But she has Veen able to piye'a personal iutervie^tcCth'e Captain -'of 'the Pandora; and i to h^tLVOt^in*? 1^ 9 deligM of hia sailing for the regions.. which, have -filled so large a pUce iitlie'ririmd; 'and *ao ' greatly affected herlH&P"There" has : ,been tto , lack : or ; possip this month for' " idle" fojigues to talk. The star of the season is, the Sultan of ; Zanzibar, listf-yearjwe UeA tf-viait'from the' Czar of all the Rusaias ; the preceding ye.ir from M»eilßhnhjflf I dfeßßia»)i TheSnltan does! not attract so mucli , attention, perhaps, as either of his ! immediate fbrWunhers, but the jn'ode i oL' entertainment to which he has to Babmitjs much about the samt. The Shah '■wasifun'after far .'more'than any'bther Royal peraoftage' who baa visited : these' ahores : for U^ny^ea-rafi r;The L fizar, whose j.tytte <finger ia thicker than his rivals' thigh, was .nobody, to him, .m. the estimation of the 'ii ation'.il spirit of 'buribsity.- • BaVbaric dress and a rich, cploriaf akin go for much, no doubt. But $he -diamonds, the ogre-eyea, the air of Bel6Bh majesty, and the stories of absolute po.wer of liberty, and occasio.n»l . inclination to .whip off n man's ; head m a nioaient, these wiere. ;thg o - : speciaHties . which : made the " feiiriijanyObjecj^of .such eager pursuit.wherever he appeared.,. ; 'JiTo.w, the. Sultan of 2^nzibar doea^otlack the colored akin, nor

tho dear barbaric dress, but unfortunately ho is luimnne, gentle, courteous, an opponeut of the ul.ive trade aud other common-place things, which tike from him much of the interont that wniiiil .itfc^ch to some others of th« African I'l-lucsa. Nevertheless, his Highness bus had pl.mty found him to do m this country. He has visited the General Post Office, and — where at laafc, after much trouble, a pen had been found that he could write with — he wrote his name m the book of autographs which Lord John Mauuers, as chief otlicer of that establishment, m pleased to keep and produce, on such occasions. At St Martin le Grand, tho Sultan heard from his consular agent at Allan the hitest new* of Zanzibar. On the 19th, his Highness gave an audience to a distinguished deputation from the Anti-Slavery Society, and to these gentlemen aUo he presented his autograph, preceded by words which are thus translated—" Written m the preserved (!) city of London, 14tli of Jamd/les, a.h. 1292." Later m the day he went to a garden party at Sir Bartle Frero's, and m the evening to the Crystal Palace. Here he was entertained ia the usual manner. A concert by 2500 per- | formers opened the proceedings. Then came a display of the groat fountains ; then " an interval for prayer ;" then a dinner, and afterwards fireworks, or, as people prefer to call them now-a-dayg, a pyrotechnical display. The Sultan was immensely pleased with the pyrotdohnicalities, there could be no doubt of that for he was heard to mutter — "There ia no God bub Allah" — words which m hit Highness's mouth mean a great deal more than might be supposed. But the Arabic words "V& Fattfth," written backwards and forwards m letters of firo, "fetched" the Sultan more thau anything else at the Palace. Tho translation is, "He who opaueth the way," they are tho Sultan's own motto. They were written over the organ at the time of the concert, and seeing them there he was pleaßed ; but when they reappeared m flames of Qre outside the Palace he was moved beyond measure, rose up from bis seat, and turned to Dr Hadger to ask m toneß of awe and gratitude, " Oh, Fakir, is this your handiwork ?" The other doinga of the Sultan are ' too loug to relato. lie has called ou the Queen ; dined with the Lord Mayor and with th« Fishmongers Company ; visited the Bunk of England, Drury Lane Theatre, the Globe Theatre, Sfc Thomas's Hoapitai, and the -Woolwich Arsenal. The naivuto of his observations is truly charming, but with one short quotation from, a report that appeared m tho Pall Mall, I must bring my notice of him to a close The Pall Mall has it from a well informed correspondent that the following observations were made by the Sultan with reference to his visit to Queen :— " I have now seen with my eye 3 what I hare so lonjx desired to see. My father, who has been taken to the mercy of the Merciful, used often to talk to us of the Queen Victoria: but he died without seeing her. I now tell you why I have so often said that it was the summit of my ambition to see tho face of her Majesty. It was this: — I hare met many Englishmen m my time, not only' of the Royal navy and army, but also oivilianß, merchants, and travellers, and wondered why they all. spoko of thoir Sovereign, not m a formal way, as did the people of other nations, but with entlimiatmi mid affi-clion. This made me menliillr liken her to thiit mountain of louil.styno niouLioued m the ' Thousand and one nights,' which drow the nails out of the sides of t.ho ships Mint passed that way. Even so did the hearts of tho Englishmen I have hitherto met seem to be drawn 8B by a magnet to her Majesty." The Brighton Aquarium question, which was al.tmel.ing so much attention last month, is not yot disposed of. The Company received an unfavorable decision of their cnao for opinion whether they would bo liable to a penalty if they opened on Sunday ns a sciontific institution without-musical performances. Consequently the aquarium has been closed on Sundays for a month or more, to tho groat detriment of tho Brighton Enilway Company and the annoyance of many quiet holiday makers. Tho Home Secretary will try to remedy this absurd state of affairs by bringing m a short provisional Bill, which shall .prevent private persons from prosecuting undor the obnoxious Act without the concurrence of tho Attorney-General Tho harsh operations of the Act will thus be prevented, and at the same i.imo it may remain a terror to evil doers', and a(f persons who keep hoiiafide disorderly establishments open on Sundays.- ' .. " Tho burial question has been kept bofore Hio public by tho kiud aid rf'th'e'Duko of Sutherland, who has . invented, from hints supplied by Mr Seymour Harden, a now kind of polite, entertainment. At Stafford House about a fortnight ago there wa9 au exhibition,: under the Duke's distinguished superintend dence, of various kinds of baskot work coffins. Any lady or gentloraan who could produco a yisithig card, was permitted to onter' the., grounds and enjoy this pretty sight. The beauty and fashion of the West End wcro not slow to avail thomselvcß of his Grace's eccentric offer, and assemble m butterfly gaiety round those neat little, emblems of death. The Illustrated News has sketches of tho, i.coffmß this "wook, and thoro no doubt -your, readers will be able to see them. ' ; :

A morbid lovo of tho horrible Beems to be growing among the most cultivated of mankind. The exhibition at Stafford Houao is an example of tho attractiveness of horrors of fact. In horrors of faucy we havo an example m the new po<?m just is.«ued by Tennyson. "Queen Mary" is the title. Not Mary Queen of Scots, but Tudor Mary, otherwise^ known by the euphonious title of " Bloody ."i The opinions of (ho Press are very!f>ivorablo, ; and (hero can be no question that the poem,, which takes t,he form of a drama, is a wonder-' ful work. The diction is elevated, and" the' characters well drawn j and a masterly skill', is shown m the way tho story is put together.; But. one isforood to regret the choice of soj melancholy a theme for the work, as the lifo! of an odious woman, and her still more odious j husband, m- times when cruolty and bloodshed' wove .Mi.c order. of the day. > .; ; j Sunday last witnessed one of the strangest] Ritualistic vagaries that has proceeded even ■ from Mackonachie's congregation. Mr'j Mackonachio himself has bepn suspended by; I the Court of ArcWes for irregular proceedings, m Church. The.. legal consequence :is thati pro. tern., tho Bishop of London is Vicar of ; St. Alban's, Holborn. As suoh vicar,' lie has • forbidden the-. curates of St. Alban's to continue their uso of strango vestments at the; celebration of the Holy Cummunion. Neither will lie ollow them to use wafers or other, peculiar material m the sacrament m lieu of ordinary bread. In consequence of these, not j unreasonable Injunctions, the senior' curate, ; Mr St'anton, preached an impassioned sermon on: Sunday morning,. telling 1 his: congregation that ho could not, no he really could not, perform tho sacred duties of tho altar m a simple choir vestment, it would bo too awful, aud thoreforo. thoro would be no celebration »t St. Albnn's; but if his follow sufferers would coibo with him m orderly - array aoross the viaduct to St. Vodast's Church m tho city, there they might witness the colobration of the sacrament m a becoming manner. Thus the whole congregation, headed by the curate?, who walked m their cassocks, marched over tbo viaduct. a,nd entorod a crowded neighboring church, in' order to see that done which tho bif>liop of both churches had forbidden them to do at St. Alban'B. The papers add that tlicso enthusiastic people did not go to St: Vodsst's to pilrtuko of the sacrament; But only to be present at its celebration, without wlifch they deem it impossiblo' to spend Sunday iv a proper- religious manner.