The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-01-18

PLn>r ia the Cn~e.
fMeCauhy's Letter 60 The y. y. MaHl
We have u somewhat new Kind Of IcrIpatct!C
agitation going On heze, IT which the central figure
l. the famous and fat claimant {" the IichbOrnC
barOnetcy. This man u TO be tried IN NOyem-
her on n charge of perjury and forgery. and as
the government IL To spend something like S2tu,-
600 in the prosecution, the claimants friend.
appeal u the general public 10 furnish funds ioE
tie defense. Having Obtained = good deal OF
money through advertisements IN the newspaper
they then took 10 holding public meetings IN the
provincial towns, and now they have transferred
the campaign to London itGelf. This week they
have held two great meetings IN a music hall IN
Oxford street, charging prices of admission vary
ing from twenty-five cents TO one dollar. | was
present at the first meeting and the room
was densely crowded. The huge claimant ha-
still contrived TO retain some devoted friends
and Tartisans. Chief among them are Lord
7 River, Mr.. GuilfOrd Onslow "a member of Par
lament and heir ~presumptIye TO an earldom) and
Mr.. W haley, the well known nO-pOpery member
of Parliament, whose name l dare say, IS well
known even across the Atlantic, and l ought ~
add that Mr.. Whalley has undertaken, if needs
be, To cross the Atlantic and stump the States on
behalf of his friend. Now. Whnlley Is a weak
headed, absurd sort of a man, at whose nO-pOpery
( crOtchets the House has never done laughing.
But GuilfOTd OnslOw is an able and sensible man
q gentleman of undoubted position, and on whom
one would think no vulgar Australian butcher and
horse-thief could possibly pass off rs n poor arts
tOcrat. Yet OnslOw is devoted 70 the claimant.
and speaks AT the meetings day after day, stump4
England, in fact, in bis behalf. Mr.. Onslow was
a Close friend of the mother OF Sir Roger IichbOrne.
who, you will remember. died IN the full coGvic-
ton that this claimant was her son. Well, YOU
are tired, of course, of the TichboIne case, and |
don't mean to give you any Of it. But there
was To- me. for a long time, something ~inexplica-
bic about the faith which these men seem to have
- - - -
myself, except thIs-that the fat claimant, who
ever he is or is not, is a gentleman. | say this
despite his occasional mistakes in grammar and
his misplacing the fatal letter . H." Mr.. Onslow
explains this by saying (what every one adInits)
that the young Tichborne as a boy hardly knew
any English, being the son Of Il French woman
and brought up in France that he . finished his
education " in English under the rudest tutelaee
in Australia, and that thus he got his mispronun-
citation and his bal grammar. But he certainly
has all the ease, the quiet self possession and the
dignitied courtesy of Il well-bred English gentle
man. Despite bis mountain of fat there is even a
certain grace In his manner. All this, of course,
does not prove him to be the rightful heir, but it
would seem to dlsparage the theory of the other
side that he is the Wrapping butcher who went
out to the Australian bush. lie is noJ an ILL
looking man the photographers give no idea
whatever of his expression, for they make him
only Il heavy, fat faced stupid fellow. The
man, whoever he is, has wonderful ewes,
scmewhat languid and sleepy until their owner
grows a little animated, when they CLEAN with a
strange depth in them. His expression is grave
and even melancholy. His articulation is de-
iective, and he appears to have some difficulty in
breathing; but hc addresses his meetings with
the most perfect selfpossession, and with that
peculiar and imperturbable cOmposure which in
England is held to be Indispensable to good
breeding. His colossal arms are terminated bv
small and well-shaPed hands Zone of the witnesses
Gn his behalf depOsed that she identified him by
his hands, those of Roger Tichborne being like
the hands of a fair and plump woman), and he
wears the daintiest kid gloves. L saw the claim
ant for the first time tine other day, and l confess
that he puzzled me. [ had expected to see Il
vulgar and sinlster-loOking rulian, and l saw the
kind of q person 1 have tried to describe to you.
AT all events, j begin to understand how men
Lord Rivers and Mr.. Onslow may have been
led TO believe in him.