The morning call., 1893-08-20
Mr.. Chamberlain and His
Nerve.
CALLING TO ARISTOCRATS.
By Sheer Force of Will He Rides
Upon the Necks of England's
PrOudest Statesmen.
Special to THE MORNING CALL.

NEW YORK, Aug. 19.-Harold Frederic
cables the Times from London: Fully two
months ago Englishmen believed them
selves to have accumulated grievances
| against the weather clerk too great for
/ polite language. and when these arrears of
wrath went on increasing throughout
! July we tried to cultivate Stocal MOOD,
| and even ioked feebly. while waiting from
day to day for that break in the Sickening
| record of sunshine which seemed newt
| able. Now instead of a break there has
been an unin terrupted fortnight of the
most terrible tropical heat that England
| has ever known, and people recall with
regret that pleasant July which at times
was so fiercely cursed.
The pa apers for the week have been re-
cordng considerable lists of deaths by
sunstroke, thing which was heretofore
practically unheard of on these islands.
Equally unprecedented is it to see men,
| bers of Parliament in the lobbies and even
on the sacred green benches wearing fan
| nels. straw hats and the Cummeerbund of
the tropics instead of waistcOats. One
Minister last evening actually displayed
| and used a palm leaf fan on the Treasury
bench. a daring innovation which stag
gered the serge ant-at-arms and his
naughty liveried retInus of f1unkies.
1t was firing session. with a great deal
of excited sparring and numerous notable
home tbrusts which provoked roars of
approving cheers and laughter; but the
most uproarous If not momentous episode
of all was when Tim Hea!y, decorously
fastening his vest as he rose on some
swift point of order to address the chair,
was discovered to have buttoned the
bottom of one side to nearly the TOD of the
other. The House has not been so happy
before since the weary. acrimonious home
rule ordeal began.
Chamberlain's excess of impertinent
autocracy last night in brusquely ignoring
BalfOur's nominal leadership and announc-
ing pompousIy off his own bat the tel ms
Of the vote of censure he proposed to make
has given vivid impetus to the chronic
stories of Tory dislike for him and of an
impending Tory revolt agaiDt his petty
despotism. 1t is true enough that the
Tories dislike Chamberlain-they would
be less than human. or more, if they did
not-but while others than their own
leaders are nicer men. better bred. better
educated ard greatly his superiors. he is
strong en- ough to grind them all into tooth
powder if they dare mutiny.
To see the cultivated patrican, Balfour,
sit in pale meekness under the contume-
lious domineering of this coldly malignant,
audacious. square-jawed screw manufac-
turer, who ten years ago was stumping the
country for the annihilstion of aristocrats,
and is now ruthessly forcing himself uron
their necks as their boss. is great and
moving object lesson in modern British
politics.
This constancy of the supply of big.
masterfui personalities to fight one another
at close quarters in that little rectangular
cockpit of the House of Commons, and
command the attention of many millions
of world-scattered people for every detail
OF their Titanic encounters, seems the
unique speciality of British politics.
| They order things differently in France.
| Their crop of principal statesmen who
went down so dramatically last winter
under the Panama scythe were not them
| selves very big fellows. Those who stand
now In their place. however, are many
! sizes smaller.
There are just over 1000 candidates in
to-morrow's elections Of the new French
! Chamber, and of these partisan ingenu-
ity can hardly discover more than hand
full worth talking about or keeping track
of in type.
! If any one accepts Clemenceau's savage
struggle for life with his back against the
wall down on the torrid. pestilen tial lit
toral and couple of contests in Paris. the
whole extensive struggle seems an imper-
sonal affair. Even these exceptions are
not very inspiring. The only, or rather,
chief battecry against Clemenceau is the
preposterous charge that he paid an Eng
lish agent and hired ruffians to go to his
meetings to shout "Oh, yesF and "Ros-
| bifW two exclamations which sum up his
constituents knowledge of the English
language. and are intended TO convince
them of his reasonable Anglomania.
This Is the nearest approach to test of
statesman's strength which the morals of
the elections afford. Yves Guyot and
Loekr0y enlist certain interest In their
fights aud will be returned because they
are wellknown Parsians and have close
seats. 1t Is interesting 10 note that at
least alf of Paris does not believe Lock
roy was shot at all by that crazy b-driver,
but takes the whole episode es device
to utilize sympathy in the electorate.
Hardly the most sanguine Republican
was prepared for such n virtual disappear
ance of all forms OF Royalist opposition as
the nominations disclose. OF 81 candi-
dates registered in Paris only one is
Monarchist. Only here and there in the
provinces is any stand being made at all
against the republic, and this is generally
in the nature Of forlorn hope. When the
returns are in, the Premier, Dupuy, will
find himself meeting Chamber con tanning
the merest handful of men who do not
accept the republic as final. That it will
| also accept Dnpuy as final is not so prob
able.
ESQUIMALT FORTiFlCATlONS.