New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-29
NOTES FROM LONDON.
PERSONAL. LITERARY, ARTISTIC.


Admiral Nicholson was here in London for a few
DAYS and sailed last week for New York IN the steam
shin Spain He turned over his command to Admiral
BALDWIN a month ago At the same time he COM
Melted his fortyfith year of continuous service in
the United States Navy and thereupOn retres in
accordance with the law for such cases made and
founded He leaves. suppose, no more capable Oh
feer behind him; few or none who have served more
brilliantly and hOnorably OF had more yariee
career 1t happens. if may say so much of myself
that was with Admiral Nicholson for short time
on his FIRST command-the gunboat Isaac Smlth-ln
which sailed I'M Warsaw Sound WIN
him. now twenty-one years ago. went uoWn u
Southampton the other day, and on ooaio .ne
Lancaster, then flying his flag ana SO was WIN
him for an hour or two on his Ias' DIS "eii d. VI MS
first ship. In the interval hau never seen n'n'
but 7 knew his history. as hope all good Ameri-
oons tno, :, for il is bound up with the honor OF
the country r -.
os;oors lone of Them Captain Gherardi, had last
Known nj schooD heard accounts of what hap
nened last July at Alexandria when, as the story
ran in England. the Lancaster cheered the British
fleet on to the bOmbardment, and when, after the
fight was over the Admiral landed some OF has
bne-iackets and marines to help restore order I'D
the burning city. am not going over the story
now but there was single point whlch
will thir k make impression on others as III ala
on me. W hat was done by our ships and men
during those eventfuI days made its mark on Anglo
American history. Once more the English felt and
SAID that blood Is thicker than water. The two ma
tons came closer to each other The cheers from the
Lancaster, the little armed American force that
stood by the not much bigger British force then
facing an army ten times its strength, once again
reminded the English, and reminded us, that we are
after all one nation and not two Well, my point is
this: don't think that what may be called The
sentimental side of these transactions so much as
occurred to Admiral Nicholson at the time. From
his own story and from those of his officers, it was
quite clear that he understood himself to be in the
harbor of Alexandria to carry out his instructionsas
an officer of the American Government and did il.
If the blue-jackets cheered, it because they
felt like it. II the band played.
1t is usual for bands of ships of
war to play as they pass each other. If the Ad-
miral landed force. the object of landing il was
primarily to re-establish the American Consulate.
On the other hand. the cheering aud band-playing,
it is safe to say, would not have occurred il they
had been displeasing TO Admira BILE Nicholson. The
officer who commanded the American marines and
sailors on shore, whatever his formal instructions
may have been, perfectly understood that he was
to lend the British hand so far as he could,
and the services actually performed of that gallant
little company were of the most
practical and valuable character. And
30 il turns out that American Admiral
bent on doing his strict duty TO his own country
conferred an obligation on the country of his an
cestors and drew closer the ties that bind the
people of England and the people of America to-
gether to-day.
Perhaps it is not less characteristic of Admiral
Nicholson that he avoids even the natural occasion
for anything like English recognition OF his services
IIe passes through London on his way home, but
his coming has been quiet that the papers did
not fad il out. nor was it known TO the English
naval authorities or to his English friends. While
the Lancaster was lying in Southampton
water, the Admiral declined all invita-
lions. When he arrived in London he seems
to have called on nobody but his own country
men, He took up his quarters In private
hotel, in a quarter remote from clubs and the Of
fetal world Perhaps the state of his health had
something to do with this. for he was suffering, /
am sorry to say, from govt. But the suggestion
that any body III England might care to see him was
obviously surprise TO him. He dined at the Ameri-
can Legation, but the party was wholly American.
In short. a man whom the London world would
have been delighted to lionize mas slipped through
their fingers and gone quietly home. There is
touch of the dignity of other days about this which
makes it none the less interesting.
The Earl Of Dalhousie, young noDleman OF
whom you heard something as Lord Ramsay, and
will certainly hear by his present title, under
went last Friday a severe surgical Operati0n-seyere
enought TO keep him two hours etherzed lie IS
now regaiung strength, but will be confined To his
bed for some weeks HIS successful contest for Liv
erpOol in 1880 gave him position IN the House of
Commons which the death of his father few
months later. and his succession to the peerage,
deprived him of prematurely But he has become
known in the House of Lords as one of the few
really Liberal Peers whom that body contains; as
a man with power of thinking for himself about
politics and of looking beyond the precincts of the
Chamber or the interests of his order. In Scotland
too, where they know man of abilities when
they see him, Lord Dahousie has made
name for himself, and is looked upon as sure of
distinguished future. He can speak. heard him
deliver an address last winter IN Edinburgh full OF
good sense individuality, clear views, with way
of putting things which his audience found attrac-
tive and persuasive. This surgical business thoughof
grim nature is i understand, well over and fine
and lasting health to be the result of II; re-
snt sincerely hoped for by all sorts and conditions
OF men.
Mrs. Frances Butler Legh's "Ten Years on
Georgia Plantation" has been reviewed by the Eng
hsh press in various tones. The Pail Mall Gazette
to-day describes it as melancholy from every posi-
bic point of view. but instead of drawing from
It Mrs. Legh's intended moral. that the negro is
hopeless, infers that 1t is the exslave-ownug ars
tocracy of the South which is hopeless. The mem
bers of this arstocracy in other words have learned
nothing and forgotten nothing since the war. Mrs.
Butler evidently believed. after the fighting was
hiatt IN he IA H.
ion, with only few thousand freedmen the
more. Says her English critic in a striking SEN
tence:
An immense wave Of social revolution had passed
over the land a whole artificial system had been
dissolved by astroke OF Lincolns pen, followed by
Z IL Go..