The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-05-01
ART AND POLITICS.
Poor Quality of the Royal
Academy Canvases.
DROUGHT FALLS ON ENGLAND
Prenlonitiors of Disaster Felt in
London-Belfast Riots Much
Oyerdrawn.
Special to THE MORNING CALL.


pistol in Downing street went near to fan
ming the home rule sentiment into resist
less f me. if it is not already that. but the
excitement passed and matters have moved
very quietly through the week.
There was also some notion that the dis
in the Belfast shipyards would
have bearing upon the question, but John
Morley exploded it by saying that the
Catholics there had notasked for protection
from the ProtestaDts. He even telegraphed
the Home Secretary that ample protection
had been offered to the Catholics supposed
to be in danger of Protestant attack at or
in leaving the shpyards. but that nobody
had ayaIe d himself of this protection and
that the injuries inflicted consisted of few
blows.
I On the other .hand it is clear that large
of the worKmen in Harland &
VOLTS shipyard resented the presence, not
of Roman Catholics, but of home-rulers,
and there and elsewhere efforts were made
TO elbow them out. Wolff wired his men:
III you have any sense drop it." They had
sense and dropped it, and there is order in
Belfast. Wolff, not content with this, went
to Belfast and read his men lecture.
Other Unionist employers seconded his
efforts, and SO matters quoted themselves
naturally.
Balfour's brief speech on literature at the
royal literary fund dinner on Wednesday
has started discussion on the position and
prospects of literature. The discussion Is
less fresh than the speech. Balfour speaks
as one who desired to break with the tradi-
tinns of the Victorian epoch. He does not
dis parage the greatness of its greatest
writers. but lie points to the generation pre-
ceding his own as one which felt their iGfiu-
ence most strongly. Inasmuch, however, as
they have no successors, the young intelli-
gence of the present day must 60 somewhere
for inspiration or somewhere for models.
Balfour'S refuge Is the eighteenth century.
He is, of course, attacked for venturing to
question the supremacy Of the second-rate
poets ard third-rate novelists Of to-day One
of them says that complaint has been heard
during every period. Another insists that
only posterity can judge fairly-the usual
consolation of those whose merits their con-
tempOrarieS fail TO recogniZe-but the pub
lie, in spite of its morbid interest in mere
novelty, silently agrees with Balfour. There
is OF the present or recent generation of
English writers no one who attainS TO the
front rank, save by the partiality of the
clique TO which he belongs
That renaissance of art, which the san
guine Briton not long since announced, or
at least anticipated. is not to be seen In this
years exhibition of the Royal Academy. II
the exhibition escapes the imputatlon of
mediocrity, it is for the most part where it
passes into eccentrlcity. Even that is a
hopeful sign of the revolt against the con-
venlional and commonplace which has been
so seldom broken it is as if a certain num-
Der of eanvasses from Grafton Gallery had
been silently transformed TO Burlington
House Perhaps they have been.
An impressouist is here and there visible.
He is not in himself beautiful object but
he relieves the monotony. There is n good
deal OF work which is ambitious-too often
an ambition which overleaps itself. Ambi-
ton. like wisdom, is not always justified of
her children. OF the few really capable
ana Interesting painters who are the staff
OF the academy, hardly one is at his best.
or is adequately represented by his this
years pictures.
Gloom has fallen on art, a gloom deep
also on the commercial side. think many of
the artists. II there be any mystery in the
reluctance of the public to invest money in
the latest products or the British school, it
will be dispelled by a walk through The
galleries of the Burlington House. and a
critical glance at the treasures which cover
its walls.
Minister Lincoln sails for home next
Saturday on the American liner New
York. He Will leave behind him none but
pleasant memories, and will take with him
the best wishes of all his own countrymen,
who have been for four years under his
jurisdiction. and of a great company of
English friends. His term of Office has
been n omparativeiy quiet one. Mr.. Lin
coin has shown himself competent and
careful. He was welcomed for his fathers
sake, he has been liked for his own sake,
and in his diplomatic career there is moth
ing for him or his friends to regret, except
that the end of it has arrived.
As far back as EaStertide it was thought
remarkable that England should have had
such long, unbrnken spell of bright and
sunny weather. People said then that these
islands would not know such another charm
ing Easter holiday for generation, There
is now another rainless. almost cloudless,
month to add to the record, which even then
was nearly unique, and the result is recog-
nized as big national calamity. Nobody
dares TO guess what this weary, cruel
drought is costing England daily, but it
must be some portentious sum. II 1t holds
ou. another week the loss will reach gigantic
proportions.
London had during the past sixty days for
an aggregate rainfall less than one-fifth of
an inch. Oxford to-day enters the ninth
week with n total rainfall of less than a
twelfth of an inch. This is the fortv.third
day without single drop of rain In Hamp-
shire.
These figures represent something so ter
ribly unprecedented that 1t is difficult TO
grasp their meaning. Many crops are sup
posed to be rretrievably ruined. The har-
vest as a whole must be the worst within
the memory of living men, no matter how
soon the relentng heavens shall send relief.
In such moment it is melancholy 10 learn
that another penny in the pound has been
added 10 the income tax. 1t is enough to
engender general madness. Not much Is
being said in the papers about this feature
of Harcourts disappointing budget. The
Liberal press keeps quiet out of party
loyalty, and the Tory journals preserve a
canny silence because it postpones for
another year that great. coming, radical
swoop upon the untaxed property of the
privileged classes. But among the public
generally there Is bitter disgust, which, ]
am sure, would find resoundlng expression
at the polls if elections were to be held this
year.
The ministerial theory is that there will
be time for it to blow over before the disso'
luton. Everything does blow over in
patient England sooner or later. The plan
now is, believe. to go to the country in
July or August of next year, and that will
give Hareuurt chance to arrange more
pleasing reform of the Budget next spring
for electoral consumption.
This may be good politics. but the present
stage of its development has produced only
widespread Indignation among the profes.
sional and middle classes.
==----==
SONS OF THE REVOLUTION.
Triennial Conciave Of the Society tc
Be Held in Chicago.
Nr1v VbpK Anril o0 AT n maetinp n