The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-02-05 00:00:00

LOYAL DEMONSTRATION TO THE
QUEEN OF SPAIN.

A Madrid correspondent writing on Sunday said:
A bright sun lighted the leafless woods of the park
at Aranjuez and the banks of the Tagus as the Royal
train approached yesterday. It brought Queen Chris-
tina, the Infantas Isabella and Eulalia, the War
Minister, General Castillo, Marshals Campos, Quesada,
Concha, and Jovellar, and a brilliant staff of Generals
and Military Attachés. No member of the Royal
family had visited the place since King Alfonso so
gallantly went to comfort the cholera-stricken in-
habitants in July, 1885. The population and the
peasantry preserved so grateful a recollection of King
Alfonso's kindness, that they flocked in thousands to
give an enthusiastic welcome. Queen Christina alone
was in deep mourning amid this splendid assem-
blage, and in scenes full of recollections which
several times during the day caused the widowed
Regent to show signs of emotion. The station
was surrounded by large crowds, who
cheered the Queen and the Infantas. The Royal
ladies has come for a charitable purpose—namely, to
preside at the ceremony of opening an asylum for
orphans of infantry officers. The Cardinal Primate
came specially from Toledo to bless the new orphan-
age. It is a handsome establishment, where several
hundred children are domiciled. After the ceremony,
for the first time since the death of the King, the
4aeen presided at a banquet. Two tables were
pfead, one for the Royal personages, the Marshals,
he Primate, the Alcalde of Aranjuez, and the suite •
nil at the other table all the colonels of the Infantry
il Army were
e Regiments of the Spanish Arm
re
e guests of the Director-General of the Infantry.
,Ithe close of the latter the Queen appeared, and the
iector-General:of the Infantry proposed her health.
she raised a glass of champagne to her lips, all the
"ers cried "Viva Reina." At the stations on the
• back, and on her arrival at Madrid, the Queen
with further loyal demonstrations
‘wspa-

---
per vendor named Larnden was charged
onOtonday at Bow-street with attempting to commit
suipide. He was fished out of the lake in St. James's-
palk, and an emetic was administered, which had the
effect 'of causind.prisoner to bring,up fOur sliilings, a
siappence, and a halfpenny. He was ordered to find
sureties to keen the neace.

THE ACTION AGAINST A LADY
SUPERIOR.

Mr. Justice Kekewich delivered judgment in the
Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice on
Monday in the case of " Allcard v. Skinner." The
plaintiff sought to have declared void certain gifts
made by her in favour of the defendant as Lady
Superior of the Protestant Convent of St. Mary-at-
the-Cross, situate in St. Mark-street, Finsbury; and
also to have returned to her specified railway stock
which had been transferred to the defendant during
the period plaintiff was a member of the sisterhood.
In the result his lordship delivered judgment in
favour of the defendant, with costs.

Mr. Justice Kekewich's judgment in Miss Allcard's
action against Miss Skinner, the Superior of the Pro-
testant Convent of the Sisters of the Poor, seems
(says the Daily Chronicle) to be justified by the evi-
dence. As far as can be gathered he found as a
matter of fact that Miss Allcard made over the
money in question to the convent of her own free
will; that is to say, without the pressure of any in-
fluence which could be called illegitimate. If such
were the case there was neoessarily an end of Miss
Allcard's claim, unless women of her temperament
are to be treated like infants and persons of weak
intellect, who require some extraordinary protection
from the law. As a rule the women who lend
themselves most readily to such schemes as those
of Mr. Nihill are of a highly imaginative
and hysterical disposition. It may be that they do
require the protection of the law, but such is not the
general view of society. The tendency of modern
legislation is to place women as much as possible on
an equality with men. Miss Allcard had received a
handsome fortune from her father, she was of age,
well educated, and intelligent. It is impossible,
therefore, to say that she was not as well qualified as
other people to do as she liked with her money.
Imagination or sentiment does not disqualify people
in the eye of the law. It would have been very
different if she could have proved that the rule of
obedience had been so used as to induce her to
part with her money against her Judgment
or inclination. Mr. Nihill was Father in Christ,
spiritual director, confessor, treasurer, and apparently
auditor. He, in co-operation with the Superior, knew
more about Miss Allcard's money than she did her-
self. She had made large presents to the convent,
and made a will in its favour. It is true enough that
the rule of the convent was that sisters should pau-
perise themselves, but it must be observed that the
process of pauperising meant the enrichment of the
convent, and there is a danger in poor human nature
cf confounding the results with the object. For these
reasons it seems to be clear enough that if Miss
Allcard's money had been obtained by a rigid applica-
tion of the rule of obedience her claim would have
been good. As a fact, she seems to have acted of her
own free will.