The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-10-08
A British AutOcrat.

tLondon Correspondence OF the Boston Times.l
His grace, the Duke of Bedford, has
been asserting his feudal rights with a
vengeance. This potentate, you must
know, the descendant and chief repre-
sentative of the illustrious house of Rus
sell, is the owner of what may not inap-
propriately be called the "heart of Lon
dom" Whole blocks and squares and
streets are his. His estates in the very
centre of this big metropolis must cover
an area of considerably over a mile
square, for one Of its boundaries is the
river Thames, and you find yourself far
on toward the city" before you reach
its opposite limit. His tenants would
form the population of not inconsider-
able town. Nor is this great quarter
owned by the duke an obscure, much
less squalid one. 1t is not, to be sure,
the most fashionable of London districts,
but it was so not many generations ago,
and it is still very highly respectable.
Men of little and oflarge wealth still in
habit the stately Russell square, the most
imposing of all the ducal possessions, and
all around this are streets owned by the
duke, of thrifty, well-to-do-appearance
The present duke is man of brains, a
Liberal, a good scholar, person of many
accomplishments and high attachments;
and this fact makes his recent autocratiC
action more astonishing. 1t seems that
his tenants need protection which il
not vouchsafed to the rest of the London
world. The rolling of the midnight cab
disturbs them. Their delicate nerves
are shocked by the mournful passage
| Go fhn 1,Ira "a
indulgent of landlords, has put his lordly
ban on cabs and funerals. He has erected
a huge gate at the entrance of Gordon
street, leading out of Euston road it is
needless to say that Gordon street is one
of his streets, and leads into the elysian
retreat of his squares and "places." AT
this gate he has posted Cerberean lodge.
keeper; the lodge-keeper is armed with
a stringent ducal code Of rules and reg.
ulations. No empty cab is to be allowed
to pass the gate. No nerve-shaking flu
neral cortcgc is to pass the sacred barrier
But the London cabmen have sometimes
a provoking way of ignoring lordly
ukases. They have the plebeian obsti.
macy to consider that London street is
a London street, and not ducal street
A few days ago some of these destroyer.
Gus individuals insisted on passing the
gate at the entrance of Gordon street
The Cerberus of the lodge insisted they
should not. A scuffle ensued, in which
the Cerberus managed to infict injuries
mental and physical, upon one of the
cabmen which proved mortal. This cab
man was taken home to die. Cerberus
retired to his kennel in blood-thirsty tri
umph. The next day the other cabmen
were summoned before the police court
for trespass, and were duly fined for dar
ing to invade ducal property. But the
affair has occurred at rather unfortu
nate moment for the dukes popularity
1t is the dead season for the papers ant
the gossips, and anything of this sort il
easily snatched up to talk and reat
about. That the duke has any right t.
shut up the streets which are public, anC
are kept and repaired at the public ex
pense, merely because they run between
rows of his houses, is, of course, absurd
enough, and his action is excitedly de
nounced On every hand. 1t is certainl,
a piece of audacious autOcracy, ant
shows how little even the most liberal o
the nobility understand their position
and dangers in this modern age. TIL,
claimants death has added martyrdom t,
the event, and there can be no doub
that Mr.. Bradlaugh and Mr.. Odger vii
seize it as one more argument in favor o
abolishing the aristocracy. The Duke o
Bedford is a nephew Of Earl Russell, ant
before his succession to the title and TIN
estates year or so ago, was leadin,
and highly esteemed member of TIL
House of Commons Lord Odo Russell
who has played so notable part in tn
diplomacy of the past few years, is hi
younper hrothnr