Morning journal and courier., 1885-05-23
MAX 0'RELL'S LETTER.

MAX U HELL , LEI EEK.
 Peace Talk-In the Soudan-Jfngofsm
 and Chauvinfsm-Henry Irving and
 Ellen Terry-Tyvo Beautiful Women
 Louise Michel-The Exhibition at
 South KensfngTon-How Jules Clar-
 etfe Works. Special Correspondence of the JOURNAL. AND CouR-
 All Rights Reserved.l :.
 LONDON, May g, 1885. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 The dark spots on the political horizon are slowly dispensing. Rumors of peace be- tween Russia and England are ahoat The Bosphore Egyptien incident is settled. The Soudan is being evacuated by the British troops, and nothing more is heard of the struggle between France and China. This must be melancholy state of things to con template for such irresponsible takers as MT. Ashmead Bartlett. They had been dreaming of war with Russia about few miles from barren land, >War with France about the suppression of paper in Egypt, war with the Mahdi about poor Gordon. Young Lord George Hamilton, speaking at banquet ssthe other night, said that he was convinced that the continuance in office of the present government would mean the an initiation of the British Empire. He might have added that the music halls, which had all started patriotic songs, should prosecute the said government for raising false expec- tations. It is really too bad.
 Bitter complaints reaching England from the Soudan The few war correspon- dents who went out have left; but the letters from the officers to their friends show the state of affairs to be almost unendurable. With the temperature at 120 degrees in the shade they are marched about drilled and uselessly harnessed from daybreak till dark, though there is not the remotest fear of an attack. After patiently bearing the priva- tions and suferings which were unavoidable when there was an enemy to fight and cause to fight for,. the poor British soldiers seem to think they might be treated with little humanity now that there is neither the one nor the other. Their wretched little bell tents, which are no protection against the sun, are to give place at once to mud huts though the natives never use them for at least year after they are built, because of the poisonous exhalations the fresh mud gives off Numbers are i'll of fever, and if the summer is to be spent there, they say their ranks will be more thinned by disease than by the Arabs. All this will, I am afraid tend to make Lord Wolseley still more un- popular with the army than he is, if that is possible.
 The cockneys are warmly applauding every evening, at the Empire theater, new patri- otic song de circumstance, the first verse of which runs thus: s'What though the powers the world doth hold were all against us met; We have the might they felt of old, and Englands England yet" For my own taste, I am bound to say that prefer Jack Tar's appreciation of old England's powers. 1.-Two puny Frenchmen, one Portuguese, Ons jolly Eng1ishman'll beat all three." It is strange not only expressed in the same manner, but by the very same words. The above sentence "England's England yet" reminds me of an anecdote which I do not suppose is known in America, as, even in Paris, it never spread outside limited literary circle. M. Labiche, the witty French dranatist, once laid & wager with friend that, at the end of a formed in one of the Boulevards theaters, he would get an encore for the following patri- otic quatrain:
 Napoleon, tra la la Ia Ia la
 Napoleon tra la la la Ia lair,
 Les Francais serout toujours les Francais." | It brought down the house, and NJ. Labiche won his bet.
 NIT. Henry Irving and Miss Ellen Terry made their reappearance at the Lyceum
  | Their reception was probably unique in the ] annals of the English stage. The people rose | to their feet and cheered the wanderers again and again with overwhelming enthusiasm. l The end of each act was the signal for a new outburst of applause from the immense audi | ence, which comprised the most distin- | guished members of literary aud artistic | society. When the play was continued, MI. Irving gave short address; but touching, at | the end, upon the question of the numbered seats in the pit, he was greeted with such g hubbub from the partisans of the old and the l new systems at once that it was in vain he | tried to find out whether the majority was for or against the new arrangement. The | great actor retired, without a definite man date from the people, and will probably be l for some time to come, like his admirer and ruler, Mir. Gladstone, in search for policy | It is said that 8 French woman who ls l beautiful always avoids being seen neal l other beautiful women, preferring the neigh | borhood of her sisters less favored by nature l and when possible, provides herself with | foil, in the shape of plain companion, calico | in French repoussoir. The two most beauti
 full women in London, Mrs. Langtry ane l Miss Mary Anderson, were both to be see, at the private view of the Royal Academy and people of course had an opportunity o1 | comparing their several attractions. Botf l were handsomely dressed, Mrs. LaHgtryh gown being of green velvet of most trying I shade, trimmed with peacock's feathers. He l lovely complexion stood the ordeal perfectly l and most people agreed that she is seen to mor advantage off the stage, whereas Miss Ander son is not. So the Londoners say. In m, humble opinion the two beauties are so total 1y different that comparison between then l is odious indeed. Miss Anderson seems tt have lost her way from Olympus and to b. 1 almost out of place amidst nineteenth cen tury surroundings; but, if I might make tn
 remark without the fear of being misinter preted, I should say that Mrs. Langtry doe not strike one as being too good for thi
 world.
 Some of your readers may remember tha ! Ia cheyenne Louise Michel was condemned
 six months age for melting the Parisian pop
 u1ace to sack bakers shops to two years i'm prisonment. On hearing that her pardo1
 was going to be signed, Louise Michel refused
 it in advance and announced her fixed deter
 imitation not to budge from her cell until al
 prisoners for political offences are released Few prisoners wait to be told twice that tn 1 prison doors are open, but the cheyenne
 nothing if not heroic. A martyr she was l and is and means to be. Louise Michel is n doubt well sustained character, but you ! consistent people are sometimes an awfu nuisance President Grevy was about t grant pardons to score or so of political ot fenders but now, owing to the attitude take up by Louise Michel, it is more than proba
 ble that he will do nothing of the kind. Tn poor fellows will doubtless exclaim: ssHeay
 en save us from our friendsn
 I am hoping that, whether she likes it c not. she will receive notice to quit, just see how the prison officials will set about CT already received a few suggestions as to th