New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-12-11
BRITISH AFFAIRS.
cvpp1rs EDISON THE TIMES.

TINES.
fyRoN THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TErBUNE.l
LONDON Nov. 1O-SIr Garnet Wolseley has writ
ten a private letter for publication, which Is
duly pubHshedin the November number Oh Nac"''
LaDs Woqq-ipe It's avOwed object is to counteract
the statements unfavOrable 10 Cyprus which nave
appeared in England, and which the English public
have certainly believed. Whether they will accept
Sir Garnes testimony to tho contrary sincere as u
doubtless is, shall see by and by The island Is
not says its Governor, an earthly hell. AS Me'l-
terrauean stations 60 it is by no means a bad one,
If NOT as believe it to be, the best OF any OF them
He admits there has been a great deal OF light
fever and that there is still some" and he hopes
that by and by " when the men are well lodged IN
GOOD barracks in we'll selected positions, the troops
will be healthier here than the garrison OF Malta
He personally feels as well as if be were IN Eng
land which everybody will be delighted to near Tor
Sir Garnet Wolseley is popular with everybody ex-
cept the rather numerous body Of army officers VINO
think he has been unfairly put over their heads lie
predicts that Cyprus Is gong to be great success
afIirms that soldier ought TO take the rough-ot
which he admits there has been great deal since they
Ianded-wth the smooth and winds up by recon-
mending his correspondent to laugh at any body
whose opinion does not agree with Sir Garnet
Woseley's.
The obvious comment on all this is that it con-
tradicts nothing which has been said Of the actual
and recent condition of Cyprus, but is simply a
statement of Sir Garnet WOlseley's hopes OF good
time coming His confidence is all or nearly all ID
the future tense while his admissions amount to
condemnation of the reckless improvidenoe
shown in the dispatch Of force five times
as large rs was needed before anything
was ready for them. Sir Garnet himself
is GOvernorfor FIVE years and must mako the best OF
Il, and does So But if Cyprus be the paradise he
would have us believe, why has he kept Lady
Wolseley out of itf When he set out, it was ar
ranged that she was to join her husband almost i'm
mediaely. Their house in POrtman-square, its fur
nture and all its belODgings-nay, even Lady
Wolseey's wardrobe-were announced for sale, and
are still waiting for a purchaser. But Lady Wolse-
leys journey has been twice put off, and is now said
to be fixed for next February Sir Garnet him
self is believed to have had the fever so
badly as to require sea voyage, which
became, officially, a voyage of inspection round
the coast. OF the officers Who first landed, a
large proportion have come home invaded, while
the light fever, which has kept nearly quarter
of the whole force in hospital is followed by re-
lapses, and leaves its victims with weakened con-
stitutiOns though it does not commonly kill them
outright.
Let us hope that Mr.. w. H. Smith and Colonel
Stanley who are expected to arrive in Cyprus this
week, may escape the malady altogether; even at
the price of sleeping on shipboard during
their stay. This precaution is which
the whole army can hardly adopt, but no.
body viii think that the First Lord of tho
Admiralty or the Secretary of State for War of
Great Britain ought to the risks which Sir Gar
net WOlseley expects the soldier to endure cheer
fully.
Mr.. Edison fairly divides the attention of the
British public with Shere Ali, and is, on the whole
much more fairly treated. Everything about him
d; 20
letter in which Shere Ali has replied to Lord Lyt
ton is still withheld and all sorts of vague, but
catering accounts of it are given. watch was
kept on the Patent Office for Mr.. EdisOn5 appica-
tOn IN respect to the electric hight, and cha
grin was expressed at his delay in supplying an
exact and full definition of his discovery. Recently
the leading journalistic 80 called for want
Of successor-devoted two columns in large
type to "EdsOn's Tasimeter." The merits both
Of the instrument and its inventor are ungudg
Ingy recognized. and the writer-eyidenty scien-
tiic man" ventures to predict that before many
years have passed. the Tasimeter will be ranked
among the most effective of those Instruments by
which science has endcavored to solve the mys-
teries of molecular physics" In fact, nobody any
longer pretends to disparage Mr. Edison, or to
doubt the practical value of his genius Nobody
unless it be a Tory Baronet Of Devonshrc, Sir
Lawrence Palk, who sneers at Mr.. Edison
as Yankee" and thinks gas shareholders
may still sleep soundly in their beds. Yet
there was never a more remarkable tribute
to the reputation of an inventor than that which
these same gas shareholders. and the rest of the
public paid Mr. Edison on the first announcement
that he had succeeded in dividing the electric light
If any other man had been mentioned the
author the world would have waited for him to
demonstrate the merits of his process. But
the most sceptical and the most interested gave
way as soon as they heard that 1t was Edison. The
experiments now making all over England are
made of course, Quite Independently OF Mr.. Edi-
sons discoveries. A good deal of money is spent
on them spite of the probability that they may all
be speedily superseded. The Times itself has
adopted the Rapieff light, which will soon be On
trial in its press and composing rooms.
In writing recently of Mr.. James tombstone, the
deceased owner Of The Standard said nothing Of the
staff he had gathered about him on that able paper.
Like most English Journalists they are for the most
part unknown to the general public, and apparently
content to remain so. But there can be no harm in
adding that the editor to whom NJ. JOlnstOne gave
his confidence was Mr.. Mudford. 1t takes nothing
from the credit belonging TO Mr. tombstone to say that
the paper never reached its present position till Mr.
Mudford was made its editor; and that it owes
great deal 10 his capacity and knowledge. Mr..
tombstone never, 80 far as know, undertook to be
his own editor 1t was one of his many sensible
characteristics to know good man when he
him; and TO trust him till he had proved himself
unworthy of trust. 1t is stated in weekly paper
that one of Mr.. JOhnstOne's last acts was to ex-
press wish that Mr.. MudfoTd should remain in
charge of the paper. The same authority
SAYS that he was originally taken from his
duties as Parliamentary reporter and transferred
to the edtorship-ln-cbief at once.
Reports touching the management of The Times