LONDON TOWN TALK.

West Coast Times, Issue 7193, 15 September 1888, Page 4

LONDON TOWN TALK.

In 'he event of the authenticity of the lett rs and 'he truth of the cbarges pub* liahtd by the Times being established, it is obvious that Mr Farnetl would be una le for the futnre to lead the I iih party ii the same ia to continue in alliance with English Home Bole Liberals. It is no secret that the Qiadstonian leaders are not quite easy it to what may corns out during the enquiry, and in the trent of Mr Psrnell not emerging successfully there* from, they wonld be prepared to recognise Mr Dillon aa the leader of their Irish allies. Mr Dillon enjoys a high reputa tiniL for conscientiousness, moderation, and iMlity, but his olaim to the succession to Mr Farnell would be contested by severae of bis colleague!. In the present placl there is Mr Sexton, the present Lord Mayor of Dublin, who is admittedly the xaost eloqaent orator in the House of Commons nnt to Mr Gladstone. Mr Healy, too, though during the s«.osion he has been busy with his pract'ee at tbe Irish Bar, has eye upon the leadership of the Nationalist party, and leatly there is Mr William O'Brien, who of late has b en rising rapidly in esteem aa a Parliament man, and before whom there an pears to be a brilliant future, so brilliant indeed that Mr Parnell honors him with ha jealousy and dislike. Mr O'Brien's gnat fault, however, is his hot-beadednes, and it requires all the efforts of his colleagues to restrain him from rushing to extreme* such as would greatly damage the Nationalist cause.

Lord Randolph Churobill'a astuteness in scoring at the •xpcee of Mr Conybeare is much admired. It Is indeed one of those pieces of emart generalship in wbicb the noble lord excels. The hon member for the Cambourne division of Cornwall who has achieved the unenviable notoriety of being the first English member to be suspended ftom the Uon*e of Commons, li fond of alluding to himself as a good ■tout-hearted Radical ; but those who frequent the House of Commons are wont to describe him with more accuracy than politeness aa an "uncouth fellow." He if a man of independent nvan", was cduoated at Chttstcburch, Oxford, is a member of tbe Bar, belonts to a good family and poseeJses all tbe c Bentials of a gentleman except the one qualification of good manner 7 . Since he entered Parliament he has diitinguished himself by conduct very lik? that of Dr. Tanner, the pnncpal element of difference being that I)r. Tanner is genial and obitreporou*, while Mr Conybeane U cantankerous and obstreporous. Late at night Mr Cony bcare was closured by the Fpeaken tie •obmitUd to the doiure at the moment ; bnt at a subsequent period of the eveniog's proceeding be got np ' and de« nounced tbe Speaker's conduct fn clo» raring him as a '• public scandal.'* For this offence "gainst parliiraeotary i

qnette he was named by tbe Speaker, bat ' on his withdrawing the expression the ' ona'ter w*snoTcanieHurthtr The text < day, however, be wrote a li t'er to t*ie Nur, the organ of the I ish pa ty in to do^.in which he snd 'ha* he hail only withd awn the phrase as a ma ter of form, and that tu'sid the House he adlieed to find re p ea'ed it. Th.s was a delibe a»«- n-ult to , t c ' hair which could not be allo «ed to pas* off <ltho'it notice. Tie proper person t'» h*Te take t action «i U tpgsr « »o 't was Mr W. H. -mt-, tho lea erof the Hou*e. Bit Lord Ran lo p!i hurob.lt was be re» han 1 w th biro, and, har ng come d 'wn to thr House • arly •. nFV dsy a crn, > n, proe eded in a t i>e «>f erear dignitt to c - la rgenp>-nr genp>-n h dis-e^peo t tha Home a d . its "pa ercho* 1 ' by he bun. member fur ! C»mb rue, winding up ni« p«? eh by mo*» ing fcb t • bat R*'"tle''>a b- su pc »ded from , »he service of the H us- 1 1 re • c ren»inder of the se sio». A very ac monious deb *o c -u*»d. *ith fhe »c ult 'h« a corapromise was effe"'ed by «lr'ueof hichC >nvbeare was -u-pended f ram «»th, or u itil 'be end of 'he se-S'oo, whichever >uH fi'sfc happen. Lord Randolph tbua took the lead of the Hove completely out of the hands of Mr m »h,and onc-^ ore brought himß.lf into the forefiont of public notice. Mr J. O'Kelly, member for N»ith Roaoimmon, who was arrested in London under tbe Crimes Act, for a speech delivered at Boyle will perhaps be best remembered for his having sent a challenge some few years ago to Mr M'Coao, another Irish, member, to fight a duel. He is a man who has had a very adventurous career, and has been imprisoned in three coun'rieN He acted as wtr correspondent for the New fork Herald daring ai insurrection ia Cuba, and, having strayed into the enemy's lines, was seiied and sentenced to be tnot as a spy. By some means, however, he managed to eeoape. Be fought throagh the Fanoo* Prussian war. and attained the rank of captain in the French army. He has done some fighting against tbe Indians ot America and tbe Arabs of Algiers. At the time of the oudan war he «cted as war correspondent for the Daily ;\ews. end set out wi'h the ''atentioi of obtain* ing a perronal int rview with 'he Blahdi, but was Btopped aud turned back *i Dongola by the English authorities, who, rightly or wrongly, suspected him of a desiie to communicate to tbe Artb leader information whion would be ngeful to him in hit operators against the English troopi. Since th:n Mr O Kelly has kept very quiet and taken soarcely any part in tne work of the House of Commons. Dr Cowie, Bishop of Auckland, has just published through Messrs Kegin, Paul, Trenob, and Co , a book entitled " Our Last Tear in New Zealand." It is a jou sal which he kept during the year 1887. with tbe nhjeot of putting on record information such as would enable him to answer any queßti< ns which nvg it be addreDsrd to him while at'endi'g the tjamhetb Conference upon the positl n of church wo kia New Zealand, He giv^s an account of a visit he paid to the Bi-hop <>f Sydney, en route for th s country, and sp ak np mo c particularly of Dr Berry, sajs. <( Wherever I go 1 near the Frioaa.K spoken of with the e'eate-t nvereoce, end described hs facile princess among the able men of the c lony, «-.a smo< g^t >h me most dtvo ed to itn adv«"ceiu»n- in marten re igiou?, mnra 1 , iutel ectuai aot •colal."

An article vrhioh appears in the current issue of the Quarterly Review, entitled "The fhineae in Australia," will no doubt attract some notice in thr colonial. It deserve- to be perused with atten ion, beoau c it embodies the official view, Chinese and B xtish, upon the Chinese question. A good deal of its obvions inspiration was supplied by tbe C inese Leg tion, and Lord Salisbury was c»n« suited be ore it a>pe red in print. The article criticises the conduct of Sir Henry Parkes with great severity, and altogether t eats as absurd the no ion that Australia has anything to tear from a Chinese invasion. At the same time it admits the existence of a Chit.ene difficulty in Aus« tralia, and declares hat the Australians themselves are the best, and, indeed, the only judges of bow it should be dealt with. It, ho ever, suggests a method by which the influx of Celestials might be stayed without the necessity of entering into a formal treaty with the Pekln Government for that purpose. The Australians, it aays, should make certain repulsions against tde imm gratio'i of foreign pauper hboreTs wbicb would be applicable nut to Chinese al me, bnt to the subjects of all nations. Such a regulation, it avows, would be practically in* operative against Europeans bnt very operative against Chinese ; and the Peftin Government, finding that tbere was no discriminatory restriction against Cbiaese as such, would not only have no objection to offer to it, but would rather be pleased at the removal of a temptation to their countrymen to leive China. The British Gorcrnment on their pan chould stot> the emigration of Ch nese from tbe ports of HoDgkong and Singapore, for it is ftom these two places that the emigration takeß place. In this way the Quarteily Review thinks tbe difficulty might easily be settled. If, however, it should be necessary to arrange for a treaty with China, that Power, knowing tbe strength of her position, will ask for a substantial quid pro quo, which it might bs inconvenient for the Empire to give. Miss Minnie Palmer will shortly bring out a piece In Loidon entitled " Her Father's Sake," and that, after running here, the samo will be prodaced in the colonies. Miss Palmer declares herself well pleased with her Australian tour, and allows it to be understood that her profits amounted to something like £30,000. Mr and Mrs Eendal, who have jost brought their ten years' partnership with Mr Hare in the St. James's Theatre to a close, are ittated to have accumulated about £80,000 during that time. The Duke of Newcastle denies that he has any intention of joining the Church of Rome. The Right Hon. W. H. Smith, M.P., contradicts the statement that he is negotiating for tbe purchase of Powderham Castle, the aeat •£ tbe Eirl of Devon.