GENERAL SUMMARY.

Thames Star, Volume XVII, Issue 5179, 22 August 1885, Page 2

GENERAL SUMMARY.

The Standard of July 31sfc made a savage attack on Lord Randolph Churchill, saying "If his pranks be encouraged much longer, he will smash the Government and the Conservative party j we will follow Lord Salisbury, but we will not follow his overgrown schoolboy, who is without knowledge sufficient to fathom his own ground of statesmanship. The House of Commons rejected by a vote of 108 to 62 the Postmaster-General's amendment to the Sixpenny Telegraph Bill. The Bill of the late PostmasterGeneral, making the cost of twelve word telegrams including the address sixpence, was passed. > The Chairman of the Committee appointed to inquire into the condition of Irish industries presented an informal report to Parliament, which states that all Irish industries with the single exception of linen manufactures, are in a deplorable condition. The report recommends the improvement of the railway facilities of Ireland, the introduction of the teaching of a course of sciences relating to industrial work in all national schools, and a comprehensive system of drainage, without which, the report declares, proper cultivation of the soil in Ireland on a sufficiently extensive plan is impossible. Radical papers are abusing the Prince of Wales for going in for a racing stud, and refer to the many scandals which have recently* been exposed in connection with the English turf. Owing to a depression in the trade, thousands of colliers at Merthyr Tydvill, Wales, were idle in the latter part of July.

Mr Gladstone writes on July 28th to a Manchester elector expressing his belief that nawly enfranchised electors will show their preference for liberal men and liberal measures ; he looks forward with assured confidence to the result of the general election.

A dispatch from London July 25th says the popular interest in politics has been again transfered from Parliament to the hustings, many members of Parliament have left London and have gone to their respective boroughs, to arrange for the coming struggle. AH indications, show that the next battle of the polls will be by all odds the severest and most closely contested that has been waged in England since the famous campaign of 1836. Tory political agents in the provinces continue to send promising reports of the party's prospects; nearly every report received from them by the Central Association, contains confident assurances of victory in the farming districts, and mining boroughs over the Radicals, as the Liberals are now called. The Conservatives have decided to contest every constituency in Great Britain where there is a chance of success. An enormous fund for defraying election expenses has -already accumulated. The hostility shown by political leaders towards each other is intensely bitter. The Irish question has thrown party lines into confusion, and speculation is rife as to the aspect of this question in the next Parliament.

A fearful wave of heat extended over tho United Kingdom on July 24th to 28th. In London the effect of the long' spell of torrid weather was appalling, and everyone is more or less affected. Children died by hundreds, scores of men were prostrated by sunstroke eaoh day, and the roada were often blocked by horses falling dead. New terror was added by the presence of hydrophobia, indeed the streets were absolutely unsafe owing to the number of innd dogs running at large, and many persons who never carried weapons before, bought revolvers.

A movement has started to organise Burns' Clubs throughout the world for the purpose of holding a centennial celebration in honor of the Scottish bard at Kilmarnock next year.

A despatch received in London on July 2lst states that the King of Dahomey, with a large army, had massacred the /French in unprotected village's. The King had also captured, according to the same despatch, 1000 French persona, and he and his followers proposed to eat them. The steamer " Hecla " collided with the Liverpool and London steamer " Cheerful " in a fog ; the latter foundered and thirteen persons were drowned.

The Liberals are alarmed by the report of the doctors who have examined Mr Gladstone's throat, to discover the cause of the failure of his voice. "He is pronounced to be suffering from obstinate catarrh of the larynx, and entire rest is enjoined. His partizaus are afraid he will not be able to take part in the election campaign.

The police stationed around the London Law Courts were largely increased on the 22nd July owing to information received by authorities that an effort to destroy those buildings would be made.

British Immorality. General Booth made a grand parade of the Salvation Araay ou July 16; his object was to influence Parliament in view of the revelations made by the Pall Mall Gazette, to pass the Criminal Amendment Act. The social ostracism of several well

known nobleman has followed the Gazette exposures. Her Majesty the Queen has personally written to Mrs Booth wife of the Salvationist leader conveying the strongest sympathy with tho reform work. Mr Spurgeon addressed an audience of 4000 at Bremerton on July 27, his subject being thetraffic in young girls and the iniquity of it. In consequence of these revelations of vice in London, meetings were being held all over the country in favor of the Criminal Law Amendmeut Act, raising " age of consent" to sixteen years. The provincial papers give elaborate reports of these meetings, some of which are notable from the eminence of the speakers, and high character of the audiences, but the London Press com pletely ignores them. Several eminent divines have protested against this silence, arguing that ignoring facts furnishes encouragement to evil doers. The out-come of the meeting of members of Parliament, which was presided over by Mr Samuel Morley, and the attendants at which pledged themselves to rernaiu in London to support the Criminal Amendment Bill, is the approval of the bill by Sir Ashton Cross, Home Secretary. The Queen's letter to Mrs Booth, referring to this bill, says she feels deeply on the subject, but, acting under advice, must refrain from expressing an opinion on the subject, because it is a matter before Parliament.

On Tuesday, July 21st, Sir Ashton Cross, Home Secretary, with a large party of followers, made a tour of slums of Shadwell and Holborn, distributing sixpences and advice with great prodigality, and an official account of the tour was sent from the Homo Office to various newspapers in London. Liberal journals call this posing to win the masses. Titled Blackguards. A sensation was created in London in fashionable circles of July 22nd by the report of a fistic encounter between Lord Lonsdale and Sir George Chetwynd. The fight took place in a well known resort in Rotten Row, and lasted ten minutes. A woman was at the bottom of it; the men were jealous of each other, as both were paying attentions to Mrs Langtry, the actress. Mrs Langtry explained to a correspondent of the Sun that the men quarrelled because one of them possessed a portrait of her painted on china, which the other thought he ought not to keep ; adding at the same time " Their quarrels are [nothing to me." The World's cable says the trouble arose out of an experiment on Lord Lonsdale's part to divert Mrs Langtry's affections from Sir George Chetwynd, her lover of half a dozen years precedence. The actress left the town to avoid the consequences of the scandal. London Vanity Fair denounces in effect both Lonsdale and Chetwynd as unworthy of toleration by gentlemen; the article calls them titled blackguards, and declares they are worse than navvies, and'that their conduct is a disgrace to modern manners; it laments in this instance the abolition of the code duello, which would have put the fighters on equal terms, and have given hopes to the World of the riddance of one or both of them. Radical journals are making great capital out of the affair. Another Aristocratic ScandalThe New York Sun's London special correspondent writing July 31st says that the scandal involving Sir Chas. Dilke has been settled, so far as the Courts and English Press are concerned. The settlement was completed to-day by cashing Sir Charles' cheque for £25,000 in favor of Crawford, the aggrieved husband ; this puts it out of the power of the papers to mention the right honorable gentleman's name in connection with the subject without incurring heavy penalties for libel, and the British moral sense is appeased because the sinner although guilty of the awful crime of beiDg found out, has paid handsomely for suppressing the truth, and thus shielding the sacred circle of society. Royal WeddingThe marriage of Princess Beatrice and Prince Henry of Battenburg took place at St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham, Isle of Wight, on July 23rd. The whole j Island was crowded with Royal personages, foreign Ministers, and German princelings, assembled in honor of the occasion. The inns were crowded with tourists and suites of nabobs, and in the town of Cowes and at Osborne House there was a tremendous amount of noise, bustle, and confusion. At the Palace guns were fired almost continuosly in honor of the arrival of more or less august personages, and the church bells were rung all day to express popular joy. The Isle of Wight Volunteers made Prince iienry their colonel, and gave him a silver sword. The weather was lovely, a gentle breeze tempering the heat. Flags of all natious floated from the houso tops, and tlio river and bay were full of yachts brilliant with bunting, and presenting from the laod an encbantiDg appearance. The Royal yachts stood out prominently from the rest of the fleet. The Prince and Princess of Wales landed from their yacht, and drove to Osborne. The bridal processiou was received with enthusiastic shouts. All ladies present wore dresses of white gossamer silk. The Queen entered the-church on the bride's left, and Prince of Wales on her right. The Queen wore a minature diamond crown. The marriage is regarded with disfavor at the German Court, and the Cr«wn Princess protested that no invitation was sent to the German reigning family. The Prince of Wales and Duke of Edinburgh preferred remaining on their yachts during the stay at Cowes, only going ashore for the ceremony. The Oxford University crew started at 10.15 a.m. on July 25th to row across tho Channel, and they reached Calais afr 2.42 p.m. the same afternoon.