Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-11-17
OLD WORLD ECHOES.
BRITISH DIPLOMATS AT WASH
INGTON, PAST AND FUTURE.
Bloodhounds off the SCENT Thieves
Candles"-Aerial Tramways-
The Lion" Sermon-Etc.
written for the RECORD uS1os. !

Sackyille is a member. His error must by
no means be taken to reflect on the aver
age astuteness of English diplomats, few of
whom would have fallen into the trap so
artfully laid for his Lordshlp The truth
of the matter is, that the post at Washing
ton needs but second-rate abilities, and is,
therefore, never filled by frst-rate man.
Petty Greece and tiny Bulgaria offer
really larger field for the exercise of diplo-
matte abilities than the United States be-
cause of their superior capacities to breed
those political troubles which it is the
provice of the Embassador to anticipate.
A brilliant aspirant ike Condie Stephen
or sophisticated veteran like Sir Robert
Morier would be stiAed at Washington.
hence the cream Of the profession is seldom
sent there. The only qualities really
necessary for the British Minister at Wash
ington are, that he must be q gentleman,
good entertainer, and possessed of sufficient
private means to be able to support his
position with dignity.
No Importance is to be attached to the
rumor which points TO Lord Dufferin as
the successor of the outgoing British Min
lister at Washington, for the very cogent
reason that Lord Dutierin is better pro-
vided for elsewhere. In physical sense
the late Canadian Viceroy realizes the
ideal of the diplomat as pictured in
novels. A dapper man, with strildngly
handsome delicate features dandified in
dress, and aristocratic to his glove tips, he
is a great charmer when it pleases him.
The appointment of Lord Duferin to
Washington would be widely popular in
America, but it is hardly within the
bounds of possibility that the British For
eign Office would ask their Italian Embas-
sador to accept post, which from diplo-
matte standpoint is decidedly inferior to
the one he is occupying.
While it is true that diplomatic genius
of the first rank has not for many years
been in request at Washington, time was,
when the British Minister'S office there
was no sinecure, but involved The discharge
of duties important, difficult and danger
Gus Of all on the list, Embassies not ex-
cepted." 'If" wrote Lord Canning, in
1916, "you can succeed in keeping those
schoolboy Yankees quiet, and saving us an
other hundred millions Of debt, you will
be England's magnus Apollo, and come
home in the course of five years a G.. C. B., !
with handle to your name" These
words were addressed by the British Pre-
mier to his nephew, Stratford Canning, on
the latter's being appointed to the fourth
class mission at Washington. The dIsci-
pline of discomfort at the American Capt.
tai of which Canning complained, subse-
quently proved invaluable TO him, and
paved the way for the most splendid diplo-
matte career that has ever been trod |
Washington proved the stepping-stone to
Constantinople, where the genius of the |
future Lord Stratford de Radcliffe was des-
tined to blaze in its fullest orb. In the BIZ
ography of the octegenarian ambassador, !
which has inst been published, Americans
viii find much to amuse them in the Wis
counts "reminiscences of society at Wash
ington during the Presidency of Adams.
An ofshoot of the "hand of glory i'm
mortalized by Ingoldsby, are "thieves
candles" necessary ingredient of which
Is human fat procured from the entrails of
murdered persons. The Illuminating vir-
tue of these candles resides in the phe-
nomenon that on whomsoever their light
falls, the latter has the effect of sending
him into deep sleep. Anyhow this is
current superstition in Gallicia, and so late
as 1910 a man was executed at Madgeburg
for having a stock of them in his possession
with intent to provoke breach Of the
peace" Some have suggested that the
Whitechapel murders have been perpe-
trated with the utilitarian object of pro-
curing a supply of human stearine to make
thieves candles out of.
Things have come to pass in the great
est center of civilization, when as an alter
native to women prostituting their bodies.
they are offered the use (gratls) of a sci
enti6cally-appoint asphyxiating cham
Der, where, under the influence of lethal
gases, the virtuous but tottering may make
away with themselves painlessly. Can
Londons culture. London's clergy, and
London's wealth do nothing to rescue their
tempted sisters but offer to end their ca
reers by the fumes of charcoal?
Another murder has been added to the
long list of nocturnal butcheries which for
weeks past have terrorized the inhabitants
of Whiteehapel, converting the streets
Which lead out of that thoroughfare into
veritable human shambles. On the last
occasion, the experiment of using blood
hounds was resorted to, but with a success
which plainly demonstrates the utter use
lessness of these animals in paved cities
Despair of other means, and that alone
seems TO have moved the police to the
adoption of this plan, whose failure could
have been predicted from the outset. The
impervious granite pavement of London is
fatal to the retention of scent, which, even
if it would lie, would be speedily dissi-
pated by the feet of passing wayfarers.
Moreover, dogs are but canine, and with
their well-known weakness for "prime
cuts" might be depended on for following
the trail no further than the nearest
butchershop. 1t is one thing to track a
fugitive through a swamp or a canebrake,
and another to trace him through the con-
duits of big city, the stones of which are
unreceptive Of scent, and the sights and
noises to the application of the ruling in
stinct.
An aerial tramway is the latest novelty
in London, 1t consists in pleasure car
suspended by gibbet framework to an
overhead cable, on which two small pulleys
run which communicate the motive power
The cable is of steel, and, having a slight
"dip7 in it, the force of gravity which
serves TO carry the car down for one-hah of
the journey furnishes the momentum to
carry il up the incline which constitutes
the other half The motion is said to be
very easy and pleasant, and going down
hill attains speed of fifty miles an hour.
The germ of the idea is to be found in the
overhead tramway in operation at the
Folsom Water Power Company's dam at
Folsom, where blocks of granite are trans
ported by an aerial platform across the
American river to the place in the dam
where they are needed.