Morning journal and courier., 1886-01-02
MAX O'REI'S LETTER.

Unjust Parsons Exhibitions Stu
 dents i'm England, Germany and
 matic.
 Special Correspondence of the JOURNAL AND CouE-
 HER. All Rights Reserved.l
 LONDON, Dec. 19. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 doubt very much whether John Bull will spend happy Christmas this year, for his plum-pudding will be rather highly spiced. Trade is in a dreadful state, the greatest un- certainty prevails in political circles, Ireland is on the eve of being divorced or recon quered, third expedition to the Soudan is
 n contemplation and things are looking very gloomy all round. The country has hardly recovered fl om the electoral fever and there is already talk of a possible dissolution
 within six months. I cannot say that I re-
 member any period when England's lot was less unenviable than it is at present.
 His Serene Highness Prince Hen-y of Bat
 tenberg, now royal highness and a Knight of the Garter, was presented with the free dom of the borough of Windsor last Wednes- day. This young man had only just returned from deer stalking in Scotland. Re must fancy himself in Wonderland The Queen
  subjects from having peep at her. At the beginning of the we ek she paid flying visit to London to call on her old intimate friend the Duchess of Cambridge. The stations were ordered to be cleared even in the loyal town of Windsor and guarded by mounted police. I am afraid the Queen is doing her best to make royalty unpopular. A queen is an expensive toy, but she could make Lon don lively and he the cause of great revival ok 41 .1.11, 1~o fond of their Queen as they are at bottom, to read in the papers how the King and Queen of Italy were received in Rome on their re- turn from pleasant holiday! No hindrance whatever was put in the way of the elusive inhabitants. Neither guards nor police were to be seen, and the crowd swarmed about the royal carriage so closely that more than once it came to 8 standstill; and the sympathetic Queen, almost in tears with joy and excite ment, threw kisses at the people. She had no sooner reached home than she started alone with friend on pleasant expedition, visiting shop after shop in search of New Years presents. The more think of it the more I am persuaded that John Bull is good-tempered, cheque- drawing animal, who gets very little for his money
 Lady John Manners, the talented wife of the English postmaster general, has advised her compatriots to offer the postmen temper ancs gifts at Christmas such cup of tea, coffee or cocoa and something to eat. Now this is very kind of Lady Manners, but 1 should like to hear what the public, impa- tient for it's Christmas letters and presents, would ssy to have to wait for them while the postman breakfasted at every house on his route. The postm doctor might also be useful1y asked to give evidence on this inqui- ". think the Daily News is right in sug gesting that there is nothing better than the old fashioned shilling or half-crown, convert ible into gifts in kind by the postman him. 1. IL T1,o Christmas cards are becoming pest, new tax quite as bad as the inevitable box of iced-chestnuts so much dreaded by French bachelors at New Years day. If this odious taxation is allowed to go on it will develop subterfuge. At Christmas we shall have to be seized with sudden indisposition or called out of town by pressing message urging inn mediate departure. A few years ago these cards were on sale week before Christmas; now you see nothing else for six months ill advance and every other article of stationery ! has to yield the ground.
 l The walls of Exeter Hall, that hitherto have resounded mostly to hymns and halle l 1ujahs, last week resounded to braves and cheers accorded to some muscular members of the Young Mems Christian association, who positively used the place to hold an ath | letic meeting in. Indian clubs, dumb bolls and the vaulting horse were introduced into | those precin it's hallowed by many May meet l ings meetings which I was once irreverent | enough to call 'sEngland's annual spring | cleaning of souls." The venerable walls | have stood the shock even of the football | match. Everyone who remembers the ap- pearauce of the English Christian young man. of few years back with his knock
 knees and long pasty face will be pleased to | see that he is now going in seriously for ra- | tional and invigorating pastimes that will do | him good and make him useful member of l society.
 I ic fo 1a 6a6 and another pair of gaiters will soon be l available for pcnics and routs. Many more l bishoprics may be founded many more | churches may be built, but the old mother l Church of England will not be saved from | an imminent danger of disestablishment it l her staunchest supporters allowed to have l their own way much longer. The danger
 does not arise from platform oratory, but 1 from crying injustices committed by parsons. | MT Joseph Chamberlain is a friend of the | Church of England compared to the Vicar | of Shoreham, who has just seized some forty thousand hop poles, the property of his pa | rishioners, in lieu of payment of that odious l impost, the extraordinary tithe, and is going ! to sell them at auction. Another clergyman
 has just forbidden a mason to erect a monu- l ment in the cemetery unless he received l twenty guineas. Being told the people could
 not afford it he said, 7'Well, then, say five l guineas," and ultimately accepted ten gui-
 neas. the other day a London magistrate l charged a tradesman with dishonesty because l he had told one of his shop assistants that l certain articles could be charged according | to the appearance of the customer. Now l where is the difference between this dishon- | est tradesman and that honest clergyman? l A canny Caledonian has somewhat non 1 plussed the authorities of Stornoway. He | was summoned to appear in an action | brought against him at the Borough court,
 but he cited all the magistrates of the neigh \ c1,yify, hat haTa yyQG | left to try the case, which of course did not come off The magistrates are bound to obey 1 the citation; but, on the other hand, should l they refuse to attend, there is no other l magistrate to issue warrant for their ap- l prehension. There is doubt that this man by his ingenuity has for a time ren- l dered it impossible for his trial to take 1 place. It is said by the Scotsman that such conduct amounts to contempt of court, as the magistrates summoned have no l knowledge whatever of the case, and have l been call ad as witnesses simply to obstruct | the progress Of the action. Whether it be 1 the case or not, state of affairs has been l created for which there is probably no
 precedent.
 Exhibitions are springing up over here like mushrooms. We are threatened with no less than five exhibitions for May next
 year. First Of all there is to be inter
 national exhibition at Liverpool (the "ship- 1 peries'') Then are to have the Edln-
 burgh International exhibition (''the Scotch
 eries'O and the Indian and Colonial exhibi-
 ton at South Kensington, London, for
 which suitable name, according to the
 fashion set by the fisheries, the healtheries md the inventories, has yet to be found.
 In May will also be opened at Addison
 road, London, mile from South Kensing-
 ton, the American exhibition, the machin- cry of which will on the opening day be
 set in motion by President Cleveland from
 Washington by electricity. Finally we shall
 have a national exhibition of art treasures at
 Folkestone. The annual exhibitions which
 have been held at South Kensington for the
 last three years have been very successful
 but the English, who have the bad habit oi
 always spelling things by overdoing them
 will soon discover that in the way of exhibi. tions they have too much of a good thing In no country students supposed to live in the lap of luxury unless perhaps ir England, whose old universities are not re
 markable certainly for the asceticism of the
 lives led by their young frequenters. It is
 said that to be able to five at Oxford ol
 Cambridge young ma.. must have at least
 two hundred pounds year, and at Oxford
 very few can manage it under three hundred | IL. z.