New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-04-18

iRY TRrBUSE.i
oVpyrght 1883, BY The EsV- York Tribune.
london April l7.-Seldom has any week opened
more anxiousy than this, or with SO many clouds
sn the horizon. The German Emperor is dying
In Charlottenburg; Russian troops are again NOV
Ing toward the Austrian frontier; General Boulan-
ger, witt. his sinister chprlaian 6sure, IS borne
the wave of ignorant fanaticimn in France; and
here In England her most attractive and delightful
writer is dead
What has befallen the German Emperor is what
those who best knew the real facts Of the case
predicted. / asked in Berlin, What will be the
end? % His Majesty" was the answer, will
take cold, matter what precautions OBJ
erved, and bronchitis will supervene or nfamma-
lion of the lungs. Either must be fatal in no
long time" This is what seems now to have
happened. Perhaps the gravest symptom of all
Is the freedom with which the existence of grave
ymptoms is admitted. The afternoons news is
wen worse than the mornings though the bulletins
Are confused that it is impossible to discover
whether the doctors think that the cancer is ex-
tending or pneumonia is threatened.
The first effect of General Boulanger's tremendous
victory in the Nord is happy Republicans
closing their ranks in the presence of common
enemy. No such spectacle has lately been seen
in that conflict Of selfish ambitions called French
politics NJ. Ferry, the undisputcd chief of the
mOSb uoucIsilC HlOSb powerful sSctOu VI tlc
Republican party, has offered his support to the
Radical Cabinet. That Cabinet is the creation Of
hc man who invented General Boulanger, and there
some fear that N. Clemenceau might come to
terms with General Boulanger; or that Nj. Floquet
night think safer to compromise than to resist;
even that NJ. De Freycnet, who is all things to all
men, might offer him place Chief of Staff.
Any Of these courses would have meant surrender,
and France would have General Boulanger
at the Eysee in a week.
But whatever hesitations there may have been
in the Cabinet, NJ. Clemenceau is a man who sees
clearly and has the courage of his opinions and
force of character enough to make his will law
TO the body over which NJ Floquct presdes. His
penetration was at fault, no doubt, when he first
took up General Bouanger. lie believed him to
be coed Republican good soldier, and above
al, a good administrator "Tkat" said NJ. Gle
menceau, is what want most of all, a good
Minister of War, Now General Boulanger is
more hcstilc to NJ Clemenceau than to anybody
else. That is omen Of good. There is no
evidence that he has any important following
in the Army, or that q single regiment would
support him in coup d'ctat. And Paris Is
against him. If the French once lose their heads,
any thing may happen. BIT if the Floquet Cabinet
and NJ Clemenc1au with them welcome NJ. Ferrys
help as loyalty as it is offered, they ought to be
strong enough to deal with anything and If
General S.,ussier understands that he is to keep
order in Paris, what can General Bouanger with
neither army nor mob behind him. do?
/ regret and shall never cease to regret, that
Mr.. Matthew Arnold's last article should have
been harsh criticism on America, and that the
last thing which / said about him and which he
read should have been harsh answer to it.
thought him unfair to my country. He
thought me, says one OF this mornings
papers, unfair to him. Perhaps we were both
right But this collision did not shake our friend
ship. have letter from him written but two
days before his death, convinced ever, but
kindly as ever. What / have to say, however,
Oh that and other matters, l postpone. 1t would
outrun the lin Is of this dispatch
To-day / need only record the singular uni
versatility Of grief in England for Mr.. Arnolds
less singular, because his attitude always that
of one aoof from the generality. 1t was above
T.. all men Of letters who might have been expected
to be his chief mourners. But all, or nearly all,
that is best in England mourns him. If there
be an exception to the rule it is among the Evan
gelical Nonconformists. They have never forgiven
him his d.sdain for religious dissent or his crti-
cism upon established formulas OF religious belief.
They have a daily organ in London which oddly
enough opposed to political dissent but in favor
Of religious dissent This daily organ to-day once
more expresses even beside an open grave, some
of the rancorous dislike which poured out
upon Mr. Arnold again and again durlng life.
There sneers at his theological disquisitions,
at HIS Ignorance, for these profound students
call it, OF scientific theology and at his inudiclous
fippaney in handl ng religious subjects All the
critical part of this article is example OF that
phiistine pcrversity which Mr.. Arnold himself
SO often depored.
As a rule, however, the English papers do him
something like justice. They contrast the con-
dition of criticism and Of general Literature also
as it was thirty years ago and as it is to-day
and justly award to Mr.. Arnold the credit OF the
change. They see how much lucidity and sanity
what new critical methods and what new
standards of judgment he introduced. Probably
he is still too near for his real greatness to be
fully seen. But in his lifetime was there
such an effort toward full acknowledgment Of it
as now. England knows that she has lost poet
Of rare gifts, q critic Of unequalled sagacity,
student thinker and writer with whom, in all
his varied capacities and excellences and
in genius for literature as whole,
she has meme left to compare. There
is, TOO, something like adequate recognition
Of the charm and dignity Of his personal charac-
ter Men who knew him best come forward to
say how simply and honorably he lived his life,
how he was beloved by friends and oven by ac
Quaintances in every class. He will BE- buried
where he was born at Laleham, near Staines.
g. w. S.