National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-01-01
OUR LONDON LETTER.
INTERESTING NEWS AND GOSSIP.
The Queen-SilVer Cast Of the Albert Memorial
Death of the Lord NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Observation-Disclosures Abbey
Other Places of Note.

| LONDON, December 15.-The English as people
are essentially lovers of case and comfort Their
motto is " Ourselves first and business afterward.
| The Queen forms no exception to her subjects in
this particular, and, she advances in years, be-
comes more and more indOlent, making her con-
venience paramount to every other consideration
| Public business and even council meetings must
await her pleasure. There is a growing disap-
probation ON the part of the people at her want OF
zeal in matters pertaining to public welfare. They
want sovereign of whom they may be proud, a
| sovereign who is interested in what Interests
| them. Her last sin of omission was that she did
not present herself at a council meeting which
was to have been held at Windsor, November z
| She was repeatedly telegraphed to, that her
presence was imperatively necessary, but the
telegraphing ayailed nothing. She did not and
would not come. The council meeting must be
| held and in her presence. Therefore the various
members left their places of business and rushed
in undignifed haste, through snow and ice, to the
| Queen to the Highlands of Scotland. few days
after, the Queen, now being fully ready, returned
to Windsor where she is at present. She will leave
| on the 18th instant for Osborne She spends very
little time in London or vicinity, only making her
appearance when it is necessitated by Parliament
or State duties Her Royal Highncss, the Princess
Louise, is under the ban of her Majestys dis
| pleasure because she had the temerity and daring
to leave Canada and come to England without the
Royal permission. The musical world is indebted
| to the princess for new galop of her own COM
posin g. which has just been published.
SILVER CAST OF THE ALBERT MEMORIAL.
| To the ordinary beholder who has anything of
the artist in his composition 1.-THE Albert Memo
rial to be rather gaudy bizarre affair, with
more of loud" than an artistic effect. How
ever, the SiameSe ambassadors looked at it with
| wondercolored glasses, and were Immediately
seized with a desire to possess something similar.
Marble and gliding being rather to heavy for i'm
portatiOn, they decided on having it modelled in
silver The cast is now finished and on exhibition
in Old Bond street. In some particulars 1t is a
great improvement upon the original. 1t is seven
feet high, and the largest and most wonderful
piece of architectural plate constructed. The
figures at the base which in the original represent
the four quarters of the globe, have been changed
(tosuitthe Buddhist reliion) into white elephants
| while the figure of the Prince Consort has been
changed into that of the King Below the picture
of the king is the picturesque group of the embassy
| The east is intended as present to the King of
| Siam from the embassy.
| DEATH OF THE LORD CHIEF-JCsTICE
| The Right Honorable Sir Alexander Cockburn,
Bart, died at hsresidence November 10, at the ad-
vanced age of seventy-eight He graduated at
Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and commenced to prac-
.tice at the bar in 1929. He was a member of Par
| lament for eight years, and afterward held the
| Offices of sOlicit0r-geneTal and encouragement.
! He became lord chiefjustice of England in 1889.
He had many titles He was a e. c. B., an Hon.
| D. C. L., and Ii. D. of Cambridge. He was a man
possessed of great versatility of talent and would
| have made his mark in any walk i'll life He was
well known in the literary world, having written
many poems and essays of unexceptional merit.
| In appearance he small and insignificant, but
his manners were courteous, urbane, and polished.
| He was essentially man ofsociety-am man who was
posted in and familiar with all the details of
fashion and points of etiquette, as well as of law
| In his demise the law has lost bright ornament
| and the world a friend.
RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.
From the long imprisonment of the Rev. Pelham
Dale rector of St Vedasts, it would seem as if the
| spirit of religious persecution which drove the
Puritans out of England is still extant. the
whole matter is rather middle, which it is diff
| cult for outsiders to understand. The Rev. Pei
| ham Dale, rector of st. Vedasts, had ideas of his
own in regard to the ritual and vestments, and
when the latter were to be worn. His idea did not
conform to the established rules of the church and
| he was therefore demonstrated with. He con-
tinued in spite of remonstrances, to carry out his
| own ideas. This resulted in his being summoned
| before an ecclesiastical council. something of
the sort, for trial. Refusing to obey this summons,
| he was imprisoned in the Holloway goal for con-
| tempt. 1t has been several months since he was
first incarcerated, but there he still remains i'm
prisoned in this nineteenth century for carrying out
his religions ideas. His wife and children are al
| lowed to visit him, and he is supplied with COM
FORTS but that does not alter the fact of his being
prisoner The great part of the congregation of st.
Vedasts side with their PASTOR but some few Of the
| trustees are actively engaged against him. These
few have appropriated the sum of eighty pounds in
money which belonged to q relief fund for the des-
titute the parish of which their pastor was joint
trustee with them, for persecution of said pastor.
There is Just chance that some of the trustees will
also land in JAIL and it is the opinion of your cor
! respondent that they ought to do so. England has
had feathers enough plucked ont of her wings for
religious intolerance to stop this nonsense, and to
| vouchsafe to her citizens freedom of thought.
| WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
| otis hushed at last the tomb q bove-
| Hymns die and steps depart"
! Westminster Abbey What holy, sacred thoughts
cluster around its aged portals, breathe through
its chapelS naves, ransepts, and chorS, and inger
| sadly by its monuments and tonbs stand with
uncovered head. Ofwhat kingly pomp magnifi-
| cenee and glory has it been the scene! Here
| kings and queens have been crowned and ban
| aueted and here, too with their earthly crowns
laid aside they sleep their last long sleep. West
| minister Abbey stands at the left of Parliament
House. 1t is an irregular pile of buildings, with
| architecture which seems in its completely to
point to no particular styles or era. There are
turrets and towers all striving to equal each other
bit in spite of this attempt of them fall short
| of their destined glory. When we go back and
trace the architecture of the building from its be-
ginning, its inequalities and ncongruities do not
seem strange. 1t stands on the site of a church
commenced by King Sebert in the year Clio. In go
the edifce was completed by King Edgar. 1t &C
qrired its eOf Westminster from the fact that
il was the first church ormnSter west of st. Pauls,
then the most famous church of London.
In 1850 Edward, the confessOr caused a
large building to be erected in the Norman style
Portions of this building are still to be pointed out
in the Westminster Abbey of to-day. In 1220
Henry Ill rebuilt the portions of this church
which had fallen into decay in the pointed style
of architecture. His work, however did not re-
main as a monument to his glory, as it was very
soon nearly all destroyed by fire. Edward l. Ed
| ward H. and Edward III, and Henry VII success
siYely added to and made alterations in the
original building. From the time that one mon
arch builded and altered until his successor was
seized with like fancy, various portions fell into
decay, and required a master hand to restore them
to their primitive beauty. Finally Sir Christopher
Wren was appointed architect to complete the edi-
fee He finished his work in IVA. Wren cared
nothing for the tastes and fancies of by-gone days,
and, having a strong imagination of his own, as
well as artistic skill, he completed the building
according to his own caprice and desire. With all
its faults of architecture, Westminster Abbey is a
noble structure and one of which the city of Lon.
don may justly be proud 1t is crowned with the
dignity of age. 1t is replete with the history OF
past generations 1t is the tomb of kings, of poets
and of the illustrious dead.
Many years ago the Abbey was an asylum and a
secure restng-place for the prosecuted and op-
pressed. Once across its sacred portals, the trem
bling victim was safe and the pursuer vanquished.
The queen of Edward ". fed to this asylum and
gave birth to Edward V. in 1870, where her hus
band had been imprisoned by Warwick.
| CoRoNATIoNs.