Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-09-14
A Despotic Duke.

says: His Grace the Duke of Bedford
has been asserting his feudal rights with
a vengeance. This potentate, you must
know, the descendant chief representa-
| tive of the illustrious house OF Russell
| is the owner of what may not inappro-
priatey be called the heart of London. "
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 mile square, for
one of Its boundaries is theriver Thames,
and you find yourself far in towards the
city" before you reach its opposite
limit. His tenants would form the pop
ulaton of not inconsiderable town
Nor is this great quarter owned by the
Duke an obscure, much less a squalid
one. 1t is not, to be sure, the most fash
ionable of London districts; but it was
so not many generations ago, and it is
still very highly respectable. Men of
| little and large wealth still lnhabit the
stately Russell square, the most impo
sing of all the ducal possessions; and
all around this streets are owned by the
Duke, of thrifty, well-to-do appearance.
The present Duke is man of brains,
Liberal, good scholar, person of
many accomplishments and high attain.
ments, and this fact makes his recent
autocratic action the more aston
ishing. 1t seems that his tenants
need protection which is not
vouchsafed to the rest of the Lon
don world. The rolling of the midnight
cab disturbs them. Their delicate
nerves are shocked by the mournful
pessage of funeral professions. So the
Duke, most indulgent of landlords, has
put his lordly ban on cabs and funerals
He has erected huge gate at the en-
trance of Gordon street, leading out of
Epston road; it is needless to say that
Gordon street is one Of his streets, and
leads into the elysian retreats of his
squares and places" AT this gate he
has posted q Cerberean lodge keeper;
the lodge keeper is armed with strin-
gent ducal code of rules and regula.
tions No empty cab is to be allowed to
pass the gate. No nerve-shaking funeral
cortege is to pass the sacred barrier.
But the London cabmen have sometimes
provoking way of ignoring lordly
ukases They have the plebeian obsti
macy to consider that London street is
London street, and not ducal street
A few days ago some of these obstreper
GUS individuals insisted or 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 inhict injuries
mental and physical, upon one of the
cabmen, which proved mortal This cab
man was taken home to die; Cerberus re
tired to his kennel in bloodthrsty tri-
umph The next day the other cabmen
were summoned before the Police Court
for trespass; and were duly fined for
daring TO invade ducal property. But
the affair has occurred at rather uafor
tunate moment for the Dukes popularity
1t is the dead season for the papers and
the gossips, and anything Of this sort is
easily snatched up to talk and read
about. That the Duke has any right to
shut up streets which are pHblie, and are
kept and repaired at the public expense,
merely because they run between rows
of his houses, is of course absurd enough,
and his action is excitedly denounced on
every hand. II is certainly piece of
audacious autoeracy, and shows how lit
tie even the most liberal of the nobility
understand their position and dangers
in this modern age. The cabman's death
has added martyrdom to the event, and
there can be no doubt that Mr. Brad
laugh and Mr. 0dger will seize it as one
more argument in favor of abolishing the
aristocracy. The Duke of Bedford is
nephew OF Earl Russell, and before his
succession to the title and estates a year
or SO ago, was leading and highly
esteemed member of the House of Com
mons. Lord 0do Russell, wlD has
played so notable a part in the diplo
macy of the past few years, is his
younger brother. as7u-l