New-York tribune., 1886-05-09
NOTES FROM LONDON.
Mr. FORSTERS FUNERAL-MR sHAW-LE-
rEvRE-SOCIALISrS- LOWELL.

~,
Tho Gathering in Westminster Abbey last Friday
for the service In commemoration of MIR. Forster
was among the most numerous and distinguished
of recent years within those venerable waiS MI
and Mrs Gladstone were of the company ana ne
Times departing from Its usual STIFFNESS VII sue"
matters records how Mr.. Gladstone. pauSing III tne
procession, took Mrs Forsters hands and pressed
them in silence, while Mrs. Gladstone bent down
and kissed her. 1t will not soon be forgotten no"
scrupulously the Prime Minister has fulhlied since
Mr.. Forster's death, every obligation of courtesy
apd friendship TO his ex-colleague's memory. The
American Minister and Mrs. Phelps were among
those who assembled in honor of the stancb friend
of America.
OF the rest of that brilliant company can name
only Lord Granville Lord Sc borne. Lord Rose
berry, Earl Spencer Sir William Harcourt. Mr.
Goschen Lord Colerldge-al names well known TO
you, but hardly better known than many others
Masses of flowers had been sent and in the middle
of these WAS placed upon the coffin laurel wreath
inscrI bed A tribute of admiration aud of sorrow
from the Imperial Federation League in the Mother
Country Australasia, Canada. South Africa, the
West Indies. and throughout tho Empire served so
well by the Right Hon. w. f. Forster" Inc ser
vice was simple. as befitted the character of HIM
over whose body it said. Then the CONN was
taken TO the hearse and so by rail to his nome.
I3urlev-ip- Wbarfedale and there ne was buried on
Saturday. Many thousands of persons had come
from Bradford from Leeds from all the neighbor-
ing towns and many distant places. The cere-
mony at the grave was that IN use oy
the Society of Friends. for whom Mr. Forster
had never lost his at acbment lie had desired
to be buried la a plain grave and among his own
people, and his wish was strictly obeyed lhere
was PRAYER there we're few sentences OF homage
TO his nobility and steadfastness of character, and
then the earth tell upon one who was among the
truest Englishmen of his time.
The nomination of Mr.. Shaw-Lefevre at Bradford
will mis.ead those who have not followed the his
tory of the Bradford Caucus, and its relations with
MIR. Forster Those relations were simply hostile.
Mr. Forsters Independence of character was such
that he always refused to be dictated to by the
wirepullers He would not submit to the constit-
uency itself when he thought the constituency
wrong His idea of the duty of a representative
was that he should use his best faculties and judG-
ment for tho benefit of the country. Over and
over again be declined to go to the
House in the capacity of mere voting
machine to reflect the caprces OF his constituents.
The Radicals some Of wnom disliked Mr. Forster for
other reasons resented this independence They
tried TO discipline him and failed. They tried to
run him ont and failed. When Bradford was split
up by the Redistribution bill the same attempt was
renewed in the division for which Mr.. Forster elect
ed TO sit That too failed. and the Machine had to
come TO terms with the Man. and once more the
sturdy resoluteness of the statesman triumphed.
But it IS too much to expect that the authority
which Mr. Forster welded should survive him. His
influence his party in Bradford was a personal
Influence Hardly has the grave closed over him,
md already the httle politicians of the place
busy in rcasserting the cOntrol he so long dehed.
They mean to max Bra aiford turn its back the
IF for
borough in Parliament. They have nominated Mr..
Shawl efevre a Home Ruler to succeed the man
who thought Home Rule a delusion. Bradford is
to be asked stultfy ITSELF and for the respect
1t owes to Mr. Forster's memory. what is that in
comparison with the pressure of practical politics
MIR Shaw-Lefeyre Is very worthy and aniable
gentleman and much liked bv Mr. Gladstone, to
whom he has been very useful. lie would be IN
the Cabinet at this moment could he have found
scat in Parliament Reading rejected him at the
general election. Barrow would none of him. even
as a candidate, prefeuing and eecting Mr. Came. a
Liberal who stands on anti-Home Rule platform,
or something like it. Mr. ShawLefevrc, as you |
remember was Mr.. Gladstone's Postmaster General. |
and like other nominal chiefs OF that peculiar de-
partment the instrument of Mr.. Stevenson Black
woods will II he gets in for Bradford he Will be
nm ar lent champion of the present Home Rule
scheme and a most serviceable advocate. lie has
knowledge OF factS a ianlllarity WIFI StatiStIco
and profound conviction that questions of high
policy are capable of an arithmetcal solution.
Ipswich is not disaster. but it is a blow to the
Ministry which will be felt. Not disaster, bo-
cause although the Ministerial party lose two
eeats the majority waich the Conservatives had to
overcome was small one-sone sixty votes
blow nevertheless, since the Ministry is Ill that
stion where the least adverse wind from the con-
stituencies beats h-avly against It, People do not
20 into details. They say this is the first election
since Mr Gladstone has put his Home Rule policy
fairly before the country. and the result is Con-
servative gain of two seats in the House of Com
mons; counting four a division, the phrase
goes here. Votes in the House now reckoned on
the fingers of the whips, narrow Is the majority
expected for against the second reading of Mr.
Gladstones Home Rule bill. Then again, one of the
defeated candidates is Sir Horace Davey. wrote
Davitt and had to erase that intrusive name. Sir
Horace Davey is Her Majestys Sollcitor-G General.
SO that it is not only Ministerial candidate who |
has been beaten, but of the Government, and |
an official who cannot long remain III place unless
he can secure seat IN the House. 1p>wich-who |
can have forgotten 1t S-was the electoral home of
Mr. Jesse Ceilings, lately unseated fer an agents |
bribery. Presumably Mr. Jesse Ceilings who |
agrees with Mr. Cham berain on Home Rule gave
no active support to the Liberal nominees, and the
want OF ms support may nave spoiieu thelr cuances
Of success
The trial and acguittal of the Socialists indicted
for seditlon and other offences in connection with
the London riots sorry business. The prosecu-
tiOn was without spirit The Attorney -Ueneral
seemed TO doubt whether he wanted "a conviction.
The Judge laid down some of the widest doctrines
of law lately heard from the bench. He is reported
to have enunciated the very remarkable dictum
that the accused could not be deemed guilty III
citing to riot unless they intended to incite TO riot
What becomes of the principle that a man must be
held to intend the natural consequences of
his words and acts, is not clear Then