New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-02-03
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
| nus1NEss AND PLEASURE CHECKED.


0rrsJNEsS AND PLEASURE CHECKED.
INV METROPOLIS PAkALYzED BY AJANUARY B1'z-
zARpn-TRAvEL AND THE MAILS AND rELE-
. GRAPH LINES IMPEDED-THE THEATRES SNOW
BOUND AND RMPTY-sAD TALES OF seFfEhlNG
AND LOSS.
svpoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF rHE rRIBuSE.l
LONDON, JAN 20.-1he storm constitutes the
sll.absorbing topic of conversation and comment
From every quarter one hears of trains showed
up and of every degree of hardship endured by the
passengsrs-a Princess among them. If they reached
London they were not much better off, for there
were miles of snow and seet to be traVerScd IRON
station to home or hotel. and no cabs. saw more
than one strange caravan of such pilgrims; whoie
family, children included on foot. and small army
of street pOrters shOulderng the pilgrims luggage
So depressing and demoralzing was the effect OF the
unknown severity of the weather that yesterday
when the Omnibuses began TO Iun they ran for the
most part empty. 1t mattered the less to tho
tradesman whether his saleswomen came or not
because there was nobody to sell to. In Regent
at and Bond-st. Oxford-st. and the Strand
places of business open. but no business
could be done. All day long the stagnation
was unbIoken. The losses of the tradespeople must
touch very high figure, but nobody who has had
much to do with the London tradesmen Will feel
called upon to waste any large share OF his dspOs-
able compassion on them. They belong in the
Scnptural catalogue OF the extOrtiOnors and the
unjust and for greed and systematic trickery may
hold their own with any baud of knaves anywhere
in the world. Hindrances to commercial and hnan-
cial transactions were equally numerous and with
much more serious results. RemttanceS to meet
bills due and pay able did not come tOnand. Bankers
got no letters and few kilograms, aud nobody could
say what calls were to be made upon them or what
balances were available. Brokers' were not on hand
to execute yesterdays commissions. The Post Office
held as one writer remarks greater proportion OF
the floating wealth of the country than ever III any
one day before. Railway stocks went down, partly
for want of buyers partly from the knowledge OF
interrupted traffic aud heavy expenses ~ be incurred
for clearing and repairing lines
ADJUSTMENTS of all kinds suffered as well as BUSH
ness At the ball mentioned a moment ago. TO
which 800 had been asked, about fifty put III an ap-
pearance and were rewarded for their trouble by
having spacious to themselves and clear floors
for dancing and the supper OF the utner 2oO to eat
30 long as their appetites held ont not to speak OF
their hostess's announcement at the end OF the cve
ing that the ball had been postponed and would DO
given on the Tuesday following. Dinner parties
inuumerable we're broken up, OF what was often
worse. guests sat down to table with melancholy
gaps between them. and the wrong people went
down to dinner with each other which more
distressing still. At the theatres there dismay
in the morning and desOlatiOn Ill the evening, not
tOal III uOst oaSss. but the STORM must have made
q deep hoe in their treasures. Mr.. Booth was to
give iaGo on Tuesday for the first time His mana
ger sent to hm IN the morning to say that he must
not be disheartened If he had TO play to pit and gal
lery only. He was not dishcarened. but when he
was ready leave his hotel his carriage had not
pearcd aud no cab procurablc. Nevertheless lie
was there and played-to how many admirers l
have not heard. Some of the more popular theatres
whose patrons do not depend on wheels To take
them to their diversions were toleraby well filled
Az rule the stalls and boxes were almost without
tenants, and the Globe Theatre closed. pla-
card OH the door announced on account OF the
Indictment weather"-cod comfort To tho enthnsl-
asts who had braved the cold to he present. fancy
that no small part of their Audiences was made up
of those who could not get home and whO whether
they would or no. had to make night Of it. There
were hundreds brave enough 10 try even outdoor
skating and parts If the Serpontno. the Long Water
in Kensington Gardens, tho ornamental water in
St. James's Park, and even region 80 remote as
Regents Park, we're lighted up with torches and tho
WAITS of society who exc out living Ivy tying on
skates were not without clients who pad Literally,
one hopes.
That there was widespread and severe suffering
from cold is only too true, and accounts OF distress
and even deaths numerous 10 make things
the height Of the gale No high tide expected
This was not one of those dread conjunctons when
the moon and OF her evil influences combine 40 leap
ND the waters and pour a resistless food INTO the
lOw-yiDg streets of Lambeth and Southwark. The
gale did the mischief. and the gale was not forcod
with 80 much precision It's effects pl udeutly
anticipated as to lead to precautions being taken.
In fact, the tide was the highest ever known, say
those learned in tides. Tide and gale together over
set or swamped 100 barges at Woolwich alone, and
did other damage in that spot variOusly com
puted at from one to two millions sterling In some
of the streets of South London the river ran two
feet deep during the afternoon. and nobody knows
how many houses had their lower floors submerged,
or how many thousands of poor families-;or these
neighbOrhoods are pOOr--had to dy with ruin he
hind them aud their only outlook in life a hurricane
of sleet and snow. in temperature marking ten de-
groes OF frost.
That way of describing registering cold may
give you roughly the difference between the
temperatures Of London and-i won't say New-YOrk,
but Boston. So many degrees of frost means 80
many degrees below the freez g point of water, |
800 Fahrenheit. Now IN my tue-I mean when I
lived 10 BOstOnwe used always in winter to talk of
10 many degrees above or belOw-and often below |
zero Nobody here would have known what you |
meant IL you talked about zero whence infer that
Boston is not perhaps 322 but at least half that
colder than London. Nor would Bostorian think |
100 below freezing point cold enough to be making
fuss about and dare say he, in the plenitude Of
his superior Intelligence and endurance OF rigorous
weather, wonders that Londoners should be 80 ef- |
Terminate and actually presume to suffer from cold !
when the mercury still so high IN the tube But
there is cold and cold. met a Russian at dinner |
last night who averred that he had never endured
such misery in his country as during the last two
dovs hasa IN bar non o.