Evening star., 1909-02-14

man might no doubt take liberties in
| the way of coming down to dinner ir
tweeds, but some .cf his guests could
| not SO readily acquiesce when dishes thai
they might have enjoyed We're ordered
out Of the room by Lord Leicester be-
cause he didn't like them. He would
obviously be the very man to dislike mod
ern ideas. the more since in that he
| clung to the tradition Of being a great
! territorial parsonage. His shooting lunch
/ cons until quite lately consisted of what
the guests could secure from the break
| fast table. No hot and labOrate lunches
| served in marques for him. And he had
| tina: most characteristic of all "old-faSf-
| ioned' dislikes, the dislike of having any
| thing served to guests in their bedrooms.
| That is, ] ina gine, one of the sharpest
| of all tests of a mans period. Even
early tea in ones bedroom he would not
countenance.
| The succession of Lord Coke to the
| Leicester earldom reduces again the Curl
| Gus group of rather elderly eldest sons
who used to be marked by the gossips
d few years ago. l think that Lord de
Grey is now the only one left. for the
of Rutland, Lord Bradford Lord Gran
brook and Lord Bessborough. One will
soon have to add Lord Elcho. the son OF
Lord Wemyss to keep Lord de Grey
| company. and that will be an odd coinci-
dence. for Lord Wemyss himself has been
d very elderly eldest son in his day.
Earl Nelson. who now becomes the
father Of the house of lords"-a posi-
ton which has been held by the late
, Earl of Leicester since the death of Lord
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES the unique distinc-
| tion of being the only peer who has held
! his title in three reigns, and therefore.
of course, from the dawn to the close
of the Victorian era. His lordship. who
will be eighty-six in the course Of the
ensuing summer succeeded to the earldom
at the age of twelve, and first took his
seat in the house Of lords February 4
| 1S45. or siXty-four years ago. Unlike the
late Earl of Leicester, who was rarely
| seen at st. Stephens. Lord Nelson is still
an active attendant at Westminster and
was present at all the more important de-
bates of last session. The Oldest member
of the upper house in point Of years is
still Lord Gwydyr, who will be ninety-nine
In the course Of few weeks.
Scotland Yard Powerless.
I understand that long consultation
has taken place at Scotland Yard between
the higher officials there, the subject
| being the Tottenham affair, where two
anarchists in running fight killed three
and wounded twenty people. The fact is
that the Yard will find it necessary to
| overhaul its machinery for dealing with
aliens of the anarchist type, who now
form larges colonies in certain parts of
London 1t has always been the boast
of the Yard that it was able to put its
hand on any one of these foreign an
archists at a moments notice.
The Tottenham outrage has shown once
more that this is far from being a fact.
| am informed. indeed. thai the authori-
ties are quite unable to identify the ruff
fan who went by the name of Jacob
and that the atrocious crime for which
he and the man lying in Tottenham Hos
pital are responsible for has brought to
their knowledge another London an
archist center OF which they had not
previously the slightest suspicion. The
fact is that the actual knowledge possess
ed by the police Of the names, antece-
dents, character and haunts of the large
gives safe and comfortable harhorage to
is of very Indifferent order. Its prac-
tcal value is allowed to seem more than
ii is by reason Of the secrecy and mys-
terry in which it is surrounded.
But it is not the men but the system
that is at fault. 1t has become the cher
ished tradition of the English crimina
code that it is safer to act as the shep-
herd than the hunter toward the criminal
riffraff of Europe. All kinds and condi-
tions of criminals are allowed to find
refuge in London. The result is that the
colonies of undesirables in London are
growing every year. and-it is useless to
deny the fact any longer-Scotland Yard
is becoming powerless to deal with them.
BY the passing of the port of London
bill the powers and privileges of one OF
the citys most ancient guilds-the Water