LONDON GOSSIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5485, 10 February 1896, Page 2

LONDON GOSSIP.

THE ARMENIAN HOEEORS. RELIGIOUS TEACHING. IN SCHOOLS. JABEZ BALFOUE. [from our own correspondent.] Why is it the public remain indifferent to the Armenian atrocities ? Mr Gladstone lashed Great Britain into fury from Orkney to Penzance over the Bulgarian horrors. But neither politicians, preachers, nor even poets, seem to be able to do more than arouse a negative sort of sympathy for the Sultan's present-day victims. Great efforts are being made this week to stimulate the popular and, more particularly, the Nonconformist conscience. There was a huge meeting of the City Temple on Wednesday evening, at which Dr Parker, Dr Guineas Rogers, Mr Albert Spicer and others surpassed themselves in invective. Mr William Watson, too, has written a bitterly reproachful sonnet : — THE PUBPLE EAST. Never, O craven England, nevermore Prate them of generq is efforts, right'OU3 aim ! Betrayer of a People, know thy sh ime ; Summer hath passed and Autumn's threshing floor Been winnowed ; Winter at Armenia's door Snarls like a -wolf ; and stillthe sword aiul flame 1 Sleep not ; them only sleepest ; and the same Cry unto Heaven ascends as heretofore ; And the led stream thou might' 8 1 have staunched yet runs, And o'er the earth there sounds no trumpet's tone • To shake ihe ignoble torpor of thy sons ; But with indifferent eyes they watch and see Hell's recent sittiug yonder propped by thee, Abdul tho Damped, on his infernal throne. ANOTHER PRINCELING. Whilst the Queen and the Royal Family, were assembled at Windsor Castle commemorating in the usual fashion the melancholy anniversary of the Prince Consort's death, the Duchess of York was adding to the already respectable number of Royal Princes at Sandringham. The direct succession to the throne in the male line is now, of course, safer than ever, and centuries will probably pass ere another Royal lady is called on to assume the mantle of Elizabeth and Victoria. Therefore, let us, says an old courtier, cry with greater enthusiasm than ever, " Long live our gracious Queen." sala's funeral. The accident to the Prince of Wales during a great slaughter of pheasants at Sir Edward Lawson's took place curiously enough on the day of George Augustus Sala's funeral. It was a slight affair, painful for the time being, but not dangerous. Still it completely spoilt the day's pleasure and the eclat of the royal visit. People were naturally not wanting who hinted that the contretemps was a judgment on the proprietor of the Daily Telegraph for shirking the funeral of the man who had largely contributed towards making him a millionaire. Sir Edwin Arnold went down to Brighton for" the occasion, and Mr Le Sage represented the Lawsons. The gathering at the grave-side was respectable, considering that most of the deceased's friends live in London, and there were numberless wreaths from all sorts and conditions of journalists, litterateurs, actors and Bohemians. ANOTHER CONVICT. There is a sturdy virility about the rascality of Jabez Balfour, which despite all his sins makes him a pleasanter object to contemplate than the cruinpled-up sensualist Oscar Wilde. I last week met several of the junior bar who sat through the Liberator trials, and they spoke quite affectio'iuitely of the old man and tho treniendisds fight he made against overwhelming &Jds,.,; v "Long John" O'Connor, his counsel, got U<he N credit ; but he was closeted for. hours, each ni^ht. with Balfour at Holloway, and the latter pirom^d^him constantly. At the close of the case "aiS. unreported incident occurred which displays " the stony-hearted robber " in a novel light. When the judge passed a sentence of four months' imprisonment on Theobald, that unfortunate gentleman broke down and began in broken whispers to— inaudible save to his fellow defendants — bemoan his shocking fate. Whereupon Jabez Balfour turned to his old friend and almost cheerily bade him pluck up heart. "The doctor," he said, "will take care you come to no harm. You won't really find it very bad. And it will soon be over ; so pull yourself together old fellow." There was true kindness in each whispered syllable. "I think," added the advocate who told me this, "that a man who within a few seconds of ' being sentenced to f oxirteen years' penal servitude, could give a land thought and helpful aid to a fellow culprit let off with four months, cannot be wholly, bad." After all, who in this world of strange mixtures is — wholly bad ? MEANS OF GACE. There is still a glorious rumpus going on between the High Church Piirty and the Progressives over the "religious education lin Board Schools" question. Apparently, having been beaten all along the line in fair fight, the Athelstan Riley party are now trying what can be done sub rosa. Amongst the most objectionable of their weapons is a very " High " formulary known as " Gace's Catechism," which even the Low Church and Broad Church parties have protested against being used in their own (i.e., the Church) schools. How offensive it must be to Nonconformists may therefore be guessed. Recently, the Progressives allege, Board School teachers have been secretly encouraged by the Riley party to inculcate this highly objectionable catechism " whenever opportunity arises." To test the matter thoroughly, a Shoreditch teacher, wrote to " Father " Gace, author of the catechism, asking the best way of instilling " Catholic teaching " without getting found out. The holy man replied: — "The best way of teaching the Catechism when the book cannot be conveniently employed, is to write down as many questions and answers as may be required, for the day on a piece of paper, which can afterwards bo destroyed." Interesting, isn't it ? " A Christian life," Mr Gace wont onto explain, "is not a mere moral existence." Apparently not, indeed. The Rev Mr Gace, when discovered and invited to explain his singular advice, failed altogether to recognise the least suspicion of underhandedness in it. " Circumventing the Devil," is, I understand, the usual name given to these tactics. When you are fighting the father of lies and deceit you must apparently utilise his weapons and lie and deceive too. Morals and religion have no connection, and charity doesn't begin at school. The Anglican schools by way of 'inculcating a practical lesson of love are teaching their infant scholars a song, the chorus of which runs: — " I hate the horrid Board School." YANKEE DOODLE. The Jingo craze in America has been healthily checked by a panic on the Stock Exchange, whereby several firms were ruined, and the country is said to be 200,000,000 dols the poorer. American securities have simply been pouring back there, and Lord Rothschild's little draft for four millions of gold on account of a trifle owing his firm, helped to still further emphasise the situation. Altogether, Yankee Doodle is beginning to wonder whether the President's game of "bluff" is worth the candle, and how in the world the authorities at Washington are to climb down with dignity. The worst feature of the fiasco to the small-minded, blustering, middle -class western folk who really do honestly detest England with a hatred begotten of envy and ignorance, is the inability to rile us. In vain has the glorious American eagle screeched its loudest in the British lion's face. That intolerable beast declines even, to get up and shake himself, much less to roar. He has not so far done more than wink a wary eye at the noisy fowl. And what can be more contemptuous and disconcerting than that ? Evidently the lion knows perfectly well the eagle means nothing but screeching. The Irish leaders have, with one exception, resisted the temptation to take a hand in this delectable round of " brag." It does them great credit; as the situation is one eminently suited to bring into play tho most striking characteristics of O'Brien, Healy and Co. Mr Johnny Redmond is the Irish hero of the episode. The World (the New York World, of course, I mean) having telegraphed to him as a "leader of one of the great parties" for a pacific

message, -what more natural than tiiflt ho should retort with a splenetic and pugnacious one. Home Rule having been denied to the distressful country, every pinchbeck patriot would be found fighting on the side of America, without, of course, the faintest regard to the grounds or the justice of the struggle. THE DUKE OP LEEDS. Members of the Osborne family have, considering their numbers, wealth and influence, emerged but seldom from decent obscurity. The late Duke of Leeds was absolutely unknown outside a narrow social circle. Grenville Murray once referred to him in the notorious Queen's Messenger, as a "ducal myth/ and announced that when he had time he meant to write a monograph with the title "Speculations as to the existence of a Duke of Leeds." His Grace's relative, Lord Sydney Godolphin Osborne, was far more familiar to the public; indeed, his cultured essays on every conceivable topic over the initials S.G.O. formed a frequent feature in the Times under Delane. The Duke never took any part in Imperial, municipal, or even county politics. One cannot, so far as I know, say a word about him — good, bad or indifferent. The first Osborne was an industrious apprentice, who lived with his master* then Lord Mayor, in a house on London Bridge. One day the latter's daughter, leaning too far out of the window, fell into the river. Osborne, who appeara to have been con--1 veniently adjacent, plunged into the swirling stream and rescued her. After this the pair naturally fell in love and were wedded. Osborne inherited not merely the ex-Lord Mayor's money, but added much thereto. He was knighted and himself ruled at Guildhall. In 1674 the Sir Thomas Osborne of the period became Lord High. Treasurer and Earl of Danby. Twenty years later he was created first Duke of Leeds. Most of the subsequent Dukes dabbled with sport, and one of them introduced the famous Godolphin Arabian.