Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-08-14
CORRESPONDENCE of the Yorkyille Enquirer.

| CORRESPONDENCE of the Yorkye Enquirer.
LONDON, July 21.-If my memory serves
me correctly, I mailed letter to the En-
oUIRER on the 18th instant. At that time
I thought that would write no more until
I reached home. Tonight, however, I am
alone, and for the purpose of amusing my
self will ldotdoWn few rambling thoughts.
I promise in the outset, like long-winded
political speakers and some preachers that
some of your readers have heard of, if not
seen, to be brief-very brief. Twill make
another promise. Twill undertake to write
of nothing in particular and several things
in general
TO begin, / may say that the fact that 1
am, and have been for week in the metrop-
oils of the world, causes strange thoughts to
pass through my mind. How could it be
otherwise? Rome was proud and imperial,
the mistress Of the world in her day; but
what was proud and imperial Rome COM
pared with England? In many respects
England is the greatest and grandest king
dom on which the sun ever shone. AS a
nation, England has grown rich by utilizing
herresOurces and converting her chalk hills
into fertile fields. Not only so, but Eng
land is great on account of the moral and in
tellectual attainments of her people. Greece
alone, of all the nations of antiquity, pro-
duced Homer, and no nation but England
has given birth to Milton. In all the de-
partments of civilization, England has eX-
ercised controlling influence.
London is England. 1t is the largest and
richest city on the globe. It embraces ter
ritory of one hundred and thirty square
miles, or rseventy-eight thousand acres. This
vast territory is inhabited by 100000
of people. Its police force numbers over
10,700 men. 1t contains more Jews than
Palestine, and more Roman Catholics than
Rome. 1t requires 5O,OOO,OO0 gallons of wa
ter to supply the city for one day, and 49,
100000 cubic feet of gas is required to light
up the city during every twenty-four hours.
$500, 900 tons of coal are consumed by the
city of London annually The annual rem
tai is estimated at S100000,0O0. UT is still
growing rapidly. On an average, twenty
eight miles of new streets are made each
year, and 5000 new houses erected. Every
day sees about 100000 strangers enter the
city and one hundred and twenty-three per-
sons are daily added to its population; Its
foreign population alone is one hundred and
twenty thousand. These facts bewilder a
man, who, like myself, has spent all his
AS might be expected, there are multi
tudes of things in London which are in
tensely interesting. twill be remembered
that London is an old city. 1t was place
of some importance when Julius Caesar, fifty
two years before the Christian era, invaded
the island; will not, however, attempt to
Itmay be mentioned in passing that West
minister Abbey is place which is full of in
terest, amounting to the wonderful. In it
are deposited the bodies Of many of the
kings and queens of England. Here, too,
rest the ashes of England's mobiles, statesmen
translation Of the Bible now in general use
was made, and here the New Version, as it
is called, was finished on Thursday of last
week. 1t was in this Jerusalem Chamber
that the Westminster Confession of Faith
was written. 1t was here that the learned
Seldom was met in debate and vanqushed
by the STRIPPING Gillespie. But to write up
the history of Westminster Abbey would
be to write the history of England itself.
London is like no other city that | ever
saw. Everything is of such magnitude that
the mind becomes tired and beWildered and
refuses to act. No description can be given
of London as a whole. 1t would require
more time to see it all than is allotted to any
human being and strange to say there is
so much that is strange and marvellous, that
the marvellous faculty of the mind becomes
weary and longs for something OF moderate
magnitude.
It is said, with at least good appearance
of truth, that there is no night in New York.
The sun sets and darkness spreads its man
tie over the city, but the people keep NOV
ing continually from dark to dawn. The
same is true of London. During all hours
of the night, the rumbling of wheels and
| tramping of walking men and women may
be heard. The wear and tear on the nerves
in the case of those who have to endure the
noise for long period, must be very great.
London cannot be said to be a beautiful
city. The streets twist and turn in all di-
rections, and there are no two in the vast
city which can be said to be exactly parallel
to each other, and scarcely any two cross
each other at right angles. Such being the
case, it is not very difficult thing for an in
dividual to lose his reckoning in London.
In fact, an individual feels lost all the time.
In addition to their irregularity in their
course, the streets are, with few exceptions,
very narrow.
| In the city of London there are no such
things as blocks. There are quite a number
of squares which are full of, not houses, but
trees and flowers. These green squares are
q great relief to the eyes. AS might be eX
pected, there are a countless number Of pal
atial residences in London. Here many Of
the rich men of the kingdom reside. The
parks are many in number and beautiful in
appearance. Hyde Park is the great rem
devious of the nobility. Here, in the even
ing, the gentry turn out in force, and the
edges Of the walks are lined with persons
having little articles, such as punches of
| flowers and boxes of matches, to sell.
| For hours the "drives" are crowded with
vehicles of various kinds, drawn by richly
caparisoned horses. A few of these car
riages are drawn by one, and few by four;
but the majority are drawn by two horses.
The carriages are constructed as those of the
Southern States formerly were, with the
driver on the outside. Two servants--both
white men-accompany these carriages.
The one drives and the other seated by his
side, is for the purpose of rendering any SER
vice that the person or persons inside of the
carriage may require. Frequently there is
a servant behind on horseback. All these
servants are richly dressed-tar more so
than their masters. Many of the drivers
and other servants wear powdered wigs.
They are mere lOrdling' slaves. could not
but think of the inquiry af the poet Burns:
eff am born to be a lordling's slave, why
was an independent wish e'er planted in my
mind 2"
Here l cannot forbear the remark, that
the English, Scotch and Irish have, appa-
rently, soul-horror for slavery, and heap
all sorts of anathemas upon us Southern
people because our hands are stained with
slavery, while there has existed for centu-
ries, and exists to-day, in the United King
dom, system of slavery, in some of its
leading features, more humiliating than
ever existed in any State south Of Mason
and Dixon's line. Nominally, servant in
Great Britain is not goods and chattels; il!