Morning journal and courier., 1885-09-12

doubt that they more easily submit to the |
 demands of a Conservative ministry than to
 those of a Liberal one If the news which
 comes from every capital in Europe may be
 trusted, Lord Salisbury has obtained an un-
 expected and decided diplomatic triumph.
 He has persuaded the Russian government that when it pledged itself to surrender Zul- fear to the Ameer of Afghanistan and per mitted the English to pass on the pledge of their ally, it committed itself to full sur render of the pass and its approaches. The Russians finding that Lord Salisbury makes r,, ',is mind, states his case clearly and does not fo11 bao,, f~om his contention, they ad mire his frmness ana sraigntlor"arohess l and grant him his demands. I-e Ahsio- Russian question is now probably settles-, and the Conservatives will once more appear before the constituencies with the old cry of l ''Peace with honor."
 Every true-born Briton seems to come into l this world with Q notion that, when any pub l lie nuisance wrong manifests itself, the proper way to put it right is to hold meet | ing about it. A few winters ago that old en- 1 emy, the London fog, asserted itself rather alarmingly. The Lord Mayor and few l dwellers in AIiddlesex said to themselves, l "We must put A stop to this" and accord | ingly held meeting over it. Whether they ! resolved to do something terrible to the old ! offender don't know, but what I do know | is that it still boldly shows itself with each l return of autumn. It would be difficult to l assign a reason for the great meeting in Hyde l Park last Saturday. The criminal law ! ant ct has haaIl VOnld 1 have been as well to let this ugly subject l drop, for undoubtedly the talk about it has | done great evil in polluting thousands of 1 pure minds. Whatever their object was, 1 however, the persons who assembled around the Reformers' tree on Saturday last looked
 very much in earnest and formed serious,
 l orderly crowd. Perhaps the only thing to l which exception could be taken was the l presence of carriage of little girls who had
 ! apparently been brought there to touch the
 l hearts of the mob, for the carriage bore the | device: "Shall we see the innocents slain?" l MT. w. T. Stead, editor of the Pall Mall l Gazette, was the hero of the day. He was ] much applauded during his speech, and later l on, as be was going towards the park gates, l workingmen pressed around to shake his I hands. There were many lady-speakers, one ! of whom sensibly advised the men assembled 1 around her not to vote for any candidate for l Parliament whose private character will not ! bear investigation. The demonstration re- I sembled other that has ever been held. l Never did so many women gather together. 1 Yet it is impossible to see what good this de- | monstration can do to any creature. To hold ! a meeting to protest against vice! They | might as well have held one to protest ! against lying, cheating, etc. The agitation 1 is doing great deal of good to the Salva- | ton army ard "General' Booth. Well, am glad to hear it.
 l Major Kitchener has declared just as ex- 1 pected, that the accusation brought against ! him by NJ. Rochefcrt of having had Olivier | Pain shot under his eyes is without the slightest foundation. In spite of that M l Rochefort yesterday held his indignation meeting to protest against the ''assassina- tion ot Pain by the English" Most abom- nable and gratuitous insults were hurled at the head of every member. of the English royal family. From the violence of the speakers attacks on their own government, it was evident that the main object of the leaders of the movement was to disparage tine present French government and to advo- cate the return of the Commune, for the French ministers were handled as roughly as Lord Salisbury and General Wolseley them selves. All the serious French papers treat the agitation with the supreme contempt it deserves.
 NJ. Ernest Renan breaches a delightful philosophy. He endeavors to inculcate the duty of cheerfulness. This is not the sort of gospel which is usually taught in Eng land. The English find life very serious and the world very sad To M Renan the world is not at all sad. The great French writer went into Brittany last week and was en- tertained at banquet in his little native place. Before his Celtic audience he preached moderation, calmness, toleration and cheer fulness. ''Fanaticism is above all to be avoided" he said to them. ''None under stand better than they true equality and lib erty, but they advocated liberty for others no less than for themselves. They were a very religious people, but were quite willing that everybody should compose as he pleased his romance of the infinite. They were even tolerant of the intolerant, provided intoler- ance was matter of opinion and did not extend to action. Brittany had at some pc riods seemed superstitious, but it had never been fanatical He much preferred super stition to fanaticism. All the old races of
 the West and North had been and still were superstitious. It was only the East that was fanatical Fanaticism led to lack of cheer
 fulness and it was for this reason that it i should be avoided" NJ. Renan is of the |
 same opinion Mir. Ruskin; he believes l
 that the cost of enjoyment in old age is in |
 great abstemiousness in youth. MT. Ruskln |
 said that he owed the pleasures which he en-
 joyed late in life to the paucity of toys in l
 his youth. M Renan said that he was cheer l
 full because he had very few amusements |
 when young, and that he had kept his illu-
 sions in all their freshness. '1 am not he |
 SalQ mOOeStly, "a man or leCCefS; l am
 man of the people. I am the outcome of l
 long obscure lines of peasants and sailors. ]
 I have profted by their mental savings. I |
 am grateful to these humble folk, who by |
 their intellectual sobriety have procured me l
 such enjoyments. There is the secret of our |
 youth. We are ready to live when every |
 body else talks of dying. All that is best |
 in comes from what went before us. A |
 race gives it's flower when it emerges from |
 oblivion. The brilliant intellectual develop
 ments proceed from vast foundation of un-
 consciousness, I would almost say from vast |
 reservoirs of ignorance. Do not be afraid |
 that have come to persuade you to culti |
 yate ignorance; that is plant which grows
 very we'll of itself. In spite of compulsory
 education there will always be enough of it. l
 But I should dread for humanity the day
 when knowledge shall have penetrated all it's | strata" M. Ernest Renan wants us to be l content to know little, to do little, to be lit |
 tie, in order that we may be cheerful He |
 wants to persuade people to possess that in- |
 valuable quality than which there is no high 1 CT intelligence for the solution of the great | problem of existence, which consists in pa
 tiently accepting ones fate, however hard it
 may be, and making the best of it. In
 word, he wants us to be cheerful that we may be happy.
 Madame Adelina Patti is now staying in
 her mountain home at Craig-y-Nos Castle, in
 Wales, where she has recently given grand concert m a1Q or the lOcal lnHrmdTy. NOG only did she give her services, but she organ ized the whole entertainment herself at great | trouble and expense. The concert was given in the little town of Brecon, and from miles and miles around the Welsh came to hear the | great prima donna. Triumphal arches were erected all along the roads with inscriptions of welcome. At the conclusion the Lord | Lieutenant of the county made most grace | full and grateful speech, and after three | cheers had been raised for the diva she was | escorted back to the little station by the May | or, the corporation and thousands of inhabi- | tantS.
 The lively and divine Sarah Bernhardt has been delivering herself of the following on the subject of the drama and herself, particu larly herself: "I never played Phedre with out fainting or my m@pth filling with blood, and can say that after the fourth tableau of Theodora, where kill Marcellus, I get into such a nervous state that go up sobbing to my box And If I do not weep l have nervous attack much more disagreeable for those who surround me, and more dangerous for the ornaments vases that may be with |