| Show I WHAT GOETH ON IN OLD LONDON But Little Sparkle or Gayety to Society INTERNATIONAL MATTERS DISCUSSED TO T EXCLUSION OF ALMOST EVERYTHING Queen Victoria Has Been Kept Fully Informed of All Questions Agitating the Foreign and Colonial Colo-nial Ounces Xew Baronets Created Cre-ated A PureBlooded Xegro HUM Been Knighted Great Britains Only Comfort LONDON Jan Copyright 1S06 byte by-te Associated Press Nearly all the sparkle and gaiety seemed to have been driven out of London this week by the serious foreign complications growing out of the Transvaal invasion and Venezuela dispute assisted by to warm wet cloggy weather and occasional occa-sional pea soup fogs peculiar to this busy metropolis SOBERING EFFECT There is no doubt that recent events have had a decidedly sobering effect upon the inhabitants not only of these islands alone but of the British empire generally TIe stand taken by President Cleveland regarding the Vtueauelan boundary dispute the excitement which followed the appointment of the Unit ed States boundary commission the evidence furnished Europe is the isolation iso-lation of Great Britain and of tne trouble in the Transvaal have caused even the most jingo minded Britain here to curb his words and actions ana reJect seriously the possibilities of the future I is doubtful If such a crisis in the most troublesome of times In the recent history of Great Britain was ever reached and therefore I I beginning be-ginning to dawn upon people here that they have an insignificant army compared com-pared with those of the European powers pow-ers or with the forces the Undted States could easily place upder arms and that the British fleet powerful a it is could not begin to successfully meet the combined fleets of Russia Franca and Germany even I the United States were only threatening trouble However it is in this very fueling of soberness tat the outlook is brtehtened for it may induce the British Brit-ish government to adopt tint commonsense common-sense policy advocated by Mr Gladstone Glad-stone and so avoid serious consequences QUEEN KNOWS IT ALL Queen Victoria has been kept fully Informed concerning the most important import-ant questions agitating the foreign and colonial offices and tne number of dispatch dis-patch boxes sent to her < a doubled The boxes are sent by Uhe various departments de-partments of the government to Buckingham Buck-ingham palace the London residence of the queen and from there they a I forwarded bv special messengers to I I Osborne house Isle of Wight where I her majesty has been spending the I Christmas and New Years holidays The royal dispatch boxes are black and have embossed on their lids the letters V R In addition to the official information received by her majesty the queen has been regularly supplied with the service I of Reuters Telegram company and I that of the Associated Press and will be supplied wherever she goes to I Windsor London or the southern part of Europe New Years day brought the anniversary anniver-sary of the proclamation of Queen Victoria I Vic-toria as Empress of India That day Is always observed with considerable ceremony The tribute of Indian shawls arrived opportunely with other presents pres-ents from the Indian chiefs ELEVATIONS The Prince of Wales on Monday next Is to visit Lowther castle where Lord Lonsdale has made magnificent preparations prepa-rations to receive him The party will go out shooting dally The new year honor list conta < ined two surprises Sir Frederick Leighton bart president of the royal academy belnS elevated to the peerage and Alfred Al-fred Austin being made poet laureate of England Both were well received The elevation of Mr Henry Hicks Gibbs director of the Bonk of England Eng-land and president of the British Bimetallic Bi-metallic association to the peerage has long been expected He was for many years proprietor of the St James Gazette Two of his sos are members of parliament and one of them married mar-ried a niece of the Marquis of Salisbury bury Among the baronets created in honor of the new y a are two distillers two cOler owners and one cotton spin Science Is recognized by the knighthood knight-hood of Professor Joseph Prestwyth the celebrated Oxford geologist But this honor is somewhat belated as Ihe is 94 years of age The list is also remarkable as forte for-te first time a pure blooded negro has been knighted He is Sir S Lewis was born in Sierra Leona was admitted ad-mitted to the bar here in 1871 and became 1892 be-came chief justice of Sierra LOa in 1892The The new act for the protection of married women went into effect on Wednesday last and on Thursday following fol-lowing there were six applications under un-der its provisions The justice to whom the applications were made explained that wives could leave their husbands I and claim alimony but the act afforded no remedy for women living with their husbands Among the applicants was I a married man seeking relief from a dissipated wife The magistrate explained ex-plained that the act was not parsed forte for-te purpose of relieving husbands ONLY COMFORT Great Britains1 only comfort lately has been the treasury report which estimates that the surplus at the end of the fiscal year In March will exceed ex-ceed five million pounds It is learned on good authority that the first purpose towhich the overflowing revenue is to be applied will be a great increase in the strength of the British navy There were successful novelties at the theatres during the week Sydney Grundys The Late Mr Cast Io at the Comedy and A Womans Reason by Charles Brookfield and F C Phil lips at the Shaftsbury The critics unanimously praise the latter and Truth pronounces It the best play produced pro-duced In 1895 The Duke of Yorks theatre is closed ose Tommy Atkins having proved a complete com-plete failure |
