The Northern Guardian. — 1894-03-26 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

GOO- The young man's fancy may, as the poet has it, turn to love, but it must be love within: doors, for the meadows are too moist to wander ' in, and the stiles too damp to sit on. Strephon cannot sport with Amaryllis in the shade yet, and they are both heartily sick of the domestic fireside, where they are liable to be interrupted by inconvenient relatives at every moment. With the greyness of the heavens a desperate melancholy settles on the mind, and finds vent in suicide and frequent deeds of violence. There has seldom been a season Sc) fruitful as the present one in what the new journalist, with a lick of his lips, calls " horrors.' We breakfast, lunch, and dine on horrors.  -00.0 The Duke of York is evidently doing his best to master the principles of English politics. From the time of his elder brother's death he has ceased to be the jolly young naval officer that he was, and has entered with rather sad and unenthusiastic seriousness upon the endeavour to qualify himself for the exalted destiny which, it is no secret, has few attractions for him. During the new Session of Parliament he has been a regular attender at the debates in the House of Commons. If he continues his studies after the Easter recess, he will probably witness some lively scenes. So far, the discussions which he has listened to have been for the most part painfully dull.  Whatever disabilities peers may labour under —and the present Prime Minister seems to have a keen appreciation of the hardships of their lot—it must be admitted that during recent years they have scored rather heavily as compared with commoners in the capacity of colonial Governors, more particularly in the advanced democratic communities of Australasia. During the last decade quite a number of peers  unknown to fame as public men in Great Britain have become distinguished as Australian Viceroys, and have won quite a remarkable degree of popularity amongst the Antipodean peoples. By way of a change, or, rather, perhaps because Liberal peers had become scarce, Mr Gladstone sent out a commoner to New South Wales. Sir Robert Duff was, indeed, knighted for the occasion, but it was as Mr Duff that, during thirty years, he represented a Scotch constituency in the House of Commons.  -000- One would have thought that a Radical M.P. of such long standing would prove the very kind of person whom the working-class population of Sydney and the self-made politicians of New South Wales would be likely to appreciate. But this appears to be far from the case. According to all accounts, Sir Robert Duff is extremely unpopular. He offers a contrast to the geniality and bonhomie of his predecessors, peers though they were, by the haughtiness of his bearing. He •is said to be domineering in his treatment of his Ministries, and even the Scotchmen of the colony, of whom there are many, are displeased with his manner. But perhaps a more serious ground of complaint against him—and the lesson is one that should be learnt in dealing with self-governing colonies—is that he has an "aversion to ceremonial functions." Such a feeling is largely shared by philosophic Radicals, of whom Sir Robert Duff may be regarded as one. But it is a sentiment which finds no place in new democracies. The American people, as is well known, have a perfect passion for ceremonial functions, and the Australian colonists very strongle resemble them in this respect.  The future of the Irish parties is a matter of uncertainty and concern to themselves. Things are in a transition state, and it needs the inspiration of a prophet to foretell what combination will be found by the next shake of the political kaleidoscope. It seems certain, however, that the breach between the Healyite and the Dillonite sections of the Anti-Parnellite Party is widening, and since Mr A. O'Connor was turned out of the Council of the Party by a decisive vote it has been recognised that the Dillonites are the masters of the situation until a General Election. It is for this reason that Mr Healy is so loud in his demand that Lora Rosebery should lose no time in appealing to the country. But in the meantime it is quite on the cards that the Healyites may eordesce with the Redmondites. Indeed, it is said that the difficulty does not lie with Mr Healy, who is willing enough to let bygones be bygones in order to gain his own ends. But of all the Anti-Parnellites, Mr Healy is the man who has incurred the deepest hatred of the Parnellites, and it is doubtful whether the latter will have him at any price.  It may be doubted whether Mr Mundella and Sir John Gorst acted wisely in resisting the order for their public examination as directors of the New Zeiland Loan Company. It is true that the order was made upon a report of the Official Receiver, which might be construed as imputing fraud to one or more of the directors. But apart from any such report a similar order could have been made, and the value of the provisions which, during the last two or three years, have assimilated winding-up proceedings to bankruptcy would be lost if it were open todirectors to appeal from court to court against the order for examination. It is, no doubt, annoying for perfectly upright directors to have to undergo. the ordeal of public examination, but this is now one of the Contingencies which a man of position has to face in undertaking a directorship, and it is already having a good effect in making men careful in undertaking 'positions which involve more trouble and responsibility than they have leisure for. There is no Unionist base-minded enough to suspect Mr Mundella, and there is no Radical base-minded enough to suspect Sir John Gorst, of the least taint of financial dishonour. And their examination in court, though in a sense unpleasant, will only have the effect of making this abundantly clear.  -800 The organisation of the relief necessitated throughout Russia by the recent famine has, as usual, been discovered to be very faulty. It is pathetic, moreover, to notice that the peasant is still most unwilling to eat the bread of charity. Pride and independence are noble qualities, and thsy are possessed in no common degree by Russians of the lower orders.