New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-12-06
NOTES FROM LONDON.
MR.. STEAD AGAIN-THE THEATRES
nv ,vor1AR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE
yROM IA


pRoH ' LONDO>, November H.
A. Steaa-and this hope is my last reference 10
-. cosc-has now been transferred from CoIopa'n
Eo,ds IN Holloway Prison, and is enjoying Vne
oo,naratye comfort of secluslon IN thoSe nortnoin
,+udes He no longer has to wear prison garments
o. the patched boots of which MS lrlehuS CON-,
claimed so bitterly nor con6ne his diet 10 oreao anu
. okillvp He has decently furnished roon' wear
,is own clothes may order III his own mhals' Ioau
hooks and newspapers, and see MS lrlenuS, ,,-'
s;roumstances are, in short. those of which MI
Fdmund Yates has lately gwen us h'oi3 "0''''P
.ior based on personal experience.
Il ia the Home Secretary who has brought apout
.,;. condemnation in Mr.. Steads way OF lie. ana
A.. Hama Secretary is none other than that OH
picbard Cross whom Lord Beaconsheld. though he
Invented him. could never remember to speak ol ny
his proper title. Mr. Lucy disrespecttuiIy u"D'
bi, Grand Cross, in memory OF the 1act Vn"e NO 10
one of those Cabinet Ministers who on QUITTING
Office in 1850 presented themselves WIN inc "r"nu
Cross of the Bath, which made nun Oh
Richard He and Mr.. w. H. 0ul'n 'rU
the pair on whom Lord Randolph Church'n
bestowed the name OF the weh'khowh "S
goods firm Marshall & Snelgrove cannUV
recollect that Lord Randolph ever explained when
.t the nsir is Marshall and which Snelgrove nor
does it matter nor do see why 1T would not DC u''
nc GOOD Joke to call the partners III TINS hfih
Messrs Smith & Cross; surprising they deserved
The ridicule However, 1t is enough 10 say 'n"'
Sir Richard Cross has long been the lest oil the
Tonse of Commons. and that nobody has YET oeeh
able 10 guess why Lord Salisbury wanted nm IN Els
Cabinet lie has done many weak things as Homo
Secretary: none weaker than in yielding TO the
clamor of the Stead party for mitigation OF the
sentence upon their hero and martyr.
Mr. stead indeed would have been much better
I'D ant
assured his admirers on several different occasions,
tbat he should not dinch from any punishment that
might be awarded him. He said SO to the Jury. lie
said SO to the public in his paper. He hoped no
efforts would be made to set the verdict or sentence
aside--and much other vanglOrous swagger IN the
same vein might be quoted. But no sooner was he
lacked nm than The rail Nal Gd,ctte published
nitiful story of the horrors by which he was sur
rounded and the indignites he was compelled to
endure This was from the pen of one of his great
allies the Rev. b. Waugh. the gentle being who
observed in court that he would rather be Mt
Stead than the Judge who had sentenced him.
Meetings were held-one in Exeter Hall, whence
marched an excited mob, male and female, to
besiege the Home Office with prayers for the
release of their champion only to have the door
shut in their faces by Nh Vernon Washington.
Private entreaties were addressed to SIT Richard
Cross. and political arguments brought to bear on
his intelligence The elections coming OF. Mt.
Stead has party in the provinces, there Is
"social purity" organization. there ale vigilance
committees there are sbriekng wOmen,-young and
old and of both seNes.-there are platform orators
who enliven tho duness of mere politics by dis
QuisitiOns in the highly yored style OF the
Maiden Tribute; in n word, there are votes to lie
lost or won hy this new Jeukinss Ear question lost
if Mr. Stead is kept in Coldbath Fields, picking
oakum won if he is removed TO Holloway ana
permitted 10 indulge his private taste in the matter
of dress and food. And so the austere Sir Richard
relented, overIuled the judge who tired the case
and ordered that Mr.. Stead sh)uld forthwith
become what is called iirst-class mlsdemeanant.
This i'll timed and misplaced lenity has provoked,
naturally enough, remonstrance. The rem0nstrahce
does not spring from indicative feeling toward Mr.
Stead. Grevous as are his faults, his fanaticism
secures for hm something of that tenderness due
TO persons whose sanity is not complete. Many
WHO are not of his sect will tell you that the law
was vindicated by his conviction and sentence, anu
they care not how soon he IS let loose. Inc more
malicious who see in the favor now shown him only
another act of weakness in the Home Secretary put
their objections on ptinclpe-not always a very
cure basis in country where the Consideration OF
the abstract is confined to a minority They say
that indulgence to the convict lmpars tile sanitary
effect of the conviction. Instead of checking, it
among the partsans of Mr.. Stead. But these views
have been disregarded. 1t matters less perhaIs
bscause the Chief Director of the Secret Comlnis-
sion has publicly announced that he is going out OF
business "The work. lie says. which ] have
helped to begin must now pass into other hands
II is likely that anybody else will be found TO
carry it on as Mr.. Stead has carried it on. There
are not many men who unite TO his eccentric frenzy
q gift of gushing rhetoric and the control OF "A
sensational paper The ecstasy will cool down
when the author of it finds new subject.
Mr.. Justice Stephen perhaps the abIest criminal
Judge in England and the first authority on
criminal law, has described the country as still
suffering from the agitation which Mr.. Stead set on
foot. He is under no delusions as to the conse-
quences of a public discussion of the loathsome
vices which are the chosen TOPICS of The PdH MAI
philanthropist Nor. l may add,-though it is
doubtful whether any woman's name ought TO be
mentioned in connection with such subjoct,-is
the Queen. If the Government finally screwed its
courage to the point Of prosecuting the Chief
Director and Chief Offender in this business it was
because the Queen pressed for it. Her name stands
for everything That is most pure in social life and
her condemnation of the outrage on pnrty aud
decency of which Mr.. Stead has been guilty might
well put the whole sisterhood of Buffers and
Taylors and the rest to shamefaced silence might,
but will not
Mr.. Buchanan vouchsafcs no answer to the letter
OF the "Paying Pittite" who exposed the absurdity
of his cry about organized opposition Oh the first
night of Alone in London" 1t must be taken as
true, suppose, that it was not the opposition but
the applause that organized. Nor is there any
explanation of Mr.. Buchanans for falsiiying
the notices of his piece which he advertised, except
that it was done chiefly for brevity's sake. Alto
gether, the figure Mr.. Buchanan cuts in this
business is less credtable to him than his friends
might wish. He has suppressed. believe, the
deceitful advertisements but the public has dis
covered the trick, and the public is apt to resent
beng imposed upon So may the newspapers whom
he-wan Io4 IN. aar rrisnnn1el- He hin self il