Evening star., 1902-05-03

| A. b G SHOPS snare the broad seats De
neath= the silvery-limbed beeches with
| fusty, cadgiug ne'er-do-wells.
| In the balconies of the great hotels. the
| Cecil and the Savoy, there are radiant
| luncheOns and gorgeous dinner parties.
! Nothing more plebeian than shilling ham
| som cabs ever clatter along the embank-
| ment. 1t is only half a stones throw from
! the crowded and clamorous Strand. The
| dull rumble of the traffic be heard. But
its vulgar penny and half-penny omnibuses
| never come embankmentward. 1t would be
| sacTilege. Londoners are tremendously
| COnceited over their Thames embankment-
| the finest boulevard in the world, sir" 1t
! is their aesthetic delight.
| Tramways to Invade the Embankment
| But now that rtilitarian, unpoetic body,
the London county council. proposes to lay
down tramways and despoil it of It's sylvan,
riparian charm. Yesterday it invited par
| lament to give a second reading to its
tramways and improvements bill. The lov
ers of the beautiful were up in arms at the
| proposal and a lively humorous debate
] took place.
| Mr. BOulnois. a benevolent elderly gen.
| tleman, led off in the campaign of pro-
! test. He was almost in tears over the
| threatened barbarism and vulgarity of hav
! ing the disCordant clang of tramcar bells
and the hideOus overhead wires along the
! lovely enbankment.
| Sir Joseph Pease, a great authority on
| railway traffic and freights, stood up and
| preached highway beautiful" With
| poetic license he spoke of the avenues in
| the embankment gardens, where there hap
| pen to be no avenues. Tramcars We're all
| right in their proper place. but on the en-
! bankment nothing else than the grossest
| vandalism. Besides stenohing motor cars
and steam bicycles was parliament going to
add tramcars on the embankment to the
other hazards of life? He besought the
house never to do so great wrong.
This was one side of the case, the plea
| for aesthetic proprieties. But next came
| the Imaginative, merely useful view. Mr..
| Trout BARLEY of Merrie Islington declared
| there was no better place ir all London for
| tramway lines than the emba 1t
| was so broad, and it would relieve the con-
! gestion of traffic in the Strand. Mr. John
| Burns in his brusque, Siege hammer way
| laUgheu at the archaic objections. Mr. Boul-
nois, said he, could never get his mind out
| side old stage coaches. He belonged to the
days of Sam Weller.
1t is all very we'll" added honest John
| for objection to be taken to the penny
| tramcar. I've seen Mr. Boulnois coming
| along the embankment reclining in a finely
| cushioned, rubber-tired, bright-harnessed
| hanson cab. and looking upon him 1 am
| reminded of those lines Goldsmith wrote
| Pride in their port. defiance in their eyes
see the lords of humankind pass by
whirl of laughter greeted the sally
| Others Joined in. Mr.. Burdett-Coutts sight
| ed the sinister designs of the London coun-
| ty council. Their object was not merely to
| get the tram line from nowhere to nowhere
| The object was really to run cars up North
| cumberland avenue. across Trafalgar Square
| and down PiCcadilly. Words failed him to
| depict the enormity of this offense Colonel
| Ptlktngtor. speaking ''as a simple country
man. objected to the yugarsm of tram
| ways. There were no tramways on the
| Place de Ia Concorde, nor in the Champs
| Elysees Parisians had better taste. The
| democratic spirit, however. carried the day
| and the bill passed. that If the carriage
| owning lords do not throw 1t out in the
! oil 1AI Rl1yp hoy T
| long-needed connection between two chief
| systems Of street facilities, where an hiatus
! existed before, and Strand traffic will be
| greatly relieved.
| Peace Rumors From South Africa.
| The air Is still full of rumors regarding
| the possibilities Of peace. and the news
which now comes from Pretoria goes to
confirm the belief that the prospects of a
| settlement were even more hopeful than
the ministerial pronuoncements indicate.
L understand that the negotiations have
| been conducted by the colonial office and
| the Boer leaders, with Lords Miner and
| Kitchener as Intermediates. The war Of
| flee has not been consulted in the matter,
| although all the negotiations have been
reported to the authorities In Pail Mall,
| The only doubtful element in the situation
| is the nature of the Boer terms Pretoria
| seems to think that these are such as will
| be not unacceptable to Great Britain and
| there is large section of welI-tnformed
| opinion here which takes the same view
| The only reason l can find for distrusting
| this optimism is that from source which
| Is usually trustworthy l learn that the
| Boer terms of peace, communicated to
| the government. contain three emphatic
| conditions. The first is that amnesty shall
J include the Cape rebels, who, having been
pardoned. came out a second time The
second condition is that even those Cane
| rebels should have their homesteads re-
stored TO them and be conceded a grant
a iSh
| that even the adventures among the COM
| batants should be excluded from the terms
! of banishment. and that if these terms are
| insisted upon they shall be the recipients OF
| generous considerations; In other words
| that they shall be given money rewards
| The fact that the Boer delegates appear
to be completely ignoring ex-President Kru-
| ger and his encourage is also regarded as a
| hopeful sign. Indeed l am assured nv a
| South African resident who knows the
| Beers well that the British would DESTROY
all chances OF peace If they recognized
! Kruger, Leyds & Co. Dom Paul has moth
ing TO lose by the prolongation of the war.
and there Is not much question that If he
had been consulted he would have thrown
into the scale in favor of continuance of
the war. The hopeful feeling that prevails
seems to be reflected in the cty for though
there Is nothing in the nature of a boom,
the tone OF the markets is buoyant and
something like general advance in prices
has taken place. The South African mar
ket, however. Is more or less quiet, and I
am told that there is a ring in the Kaffir
circus that will try and keep down s'build-
| ing operations, even IL peace Is declared
| Though the spectators would doubtless
like to excite the markets there is a strong
feeling that boom would not be an un-
mixed blessing. and that In the best in
terests of all concerned 1t would be better
to discountenance 1t.
Queen Wilhelmina's Sickness.
The reports of Queen WiIheimina's condi-
tion are not very encouraging and the risk
of serious complications must be faced
This dread possibility keeps the Dutch peo-
pie In state of painful mental tension
which will not be relaxed until the ninth
day Of the malady has safely passed At
present the fever seems to be taking its
| normal course The royal patients youth
| is in her favor; and the fact, too, that she
Is able to maintain her strength fog SQm-