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OUK LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

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OUK LONDON CORRESPONDENT. One of the most striking proofs of the steadily strengthening friendship between this country and the United States, which the course of the present war in South Africa has afforded, is the ntting out by American enterprise of the hos- pital ship Manie, which sails for the Cape on Monday. Previous to its departure, the Duko of Conna.ught will specially present to the vessel the Union Jack which the Queen has given for its use: and her Majesty ui another way has shown her keen interest in the warm appreciation of the work by the personal welcome she has accorded to the doctors and nurses who are to go wilh the Maine. Especial interest has been taken in the movement by people in London, because the necessary money has, to a large extent, been subscribed by members of the American colony in our capital, and the most heartfelt good wishes will go but to all concerned in the vessel. Help of the kind suggested will assuredly be needed, for every engagement, whether on a large or a small scale, swells the total of wounded, and the promptest dealing with their injuries means much for the recovery of the hurt. But it is not only from a practical point of view that this gift is appreciated; there is a deeper sentiment involved, and that, as has already been indicated, is the recognition of the growing friendship between tha two great Anglo-Saxon peoples. London will be furnished within a verv few days with an opportunity for displaying its share in the national grief over tlH-I losses we have recently suffered in battle, as St. Paul's Cathedral is to be the scene nexb Tuesday of a special service in memory of those who have fallen in South Africa. The occasion cannot fail to be an impressive one, for the list of casualties already to hand is a long, sad, and awesome one and it is fitting that a public manifestation of the grief it has created should be made in the great metropolitan cathedral, which has so often been the place wherein thanksgiving has been ottered for British vic- tories or the conclusion of peace. At West- minster Abbey, that venerable temple of silence and reconciliation, intercession, mean- while is being offered daily for those at the front, for the hearts of very many are con- stantly with those in South Africa just now, and prayers for their safety are everywhere being offered. It is thus that the grim, stern reality of war is being brought home to the public mind, for even those who have neither relative nor close friend serving in the field cannot but be impressed by all that is passing around him, and is consequently so placed that he can share the grief of the stricken. In the present generation, London has more than once gained by the gifts of generous bene- factors, and among these the late Sir Henry Tate will long be remembered as among the greatest. The public, generally, of course, will best know him as the donor of the magnificent National Gallery of British Alt at Millbank; out there are other parts of London which never ought to forget him, and notably Brixton and Streatham, which are indebted to him for the fine buildings in which their free libraries are housed. As to the first-named institution, the beneficence of Sir Henry Tate was constant up to the very time of his death, for largo extensions were going on up to the last "awl so great was his innate modesty that these, as completed, were quietly opened to the public without any ceremony. It was the same spirit ¡ which dictated his desire that the institution should not be known as ''the Tate Gallery"; but that should not prevent us all from remem- bering what a magnificent things the late Sir Henry Tate did for the beautifying of London as well as for the encouragement of British art. Musicians the country through will be in- terested in the reorganisation of the Queen's private band, c, which, indeed, is an event of distinct musical importance. Her? Majesty, it would appear, has re- cently been hearing several fine musicians, as well as the excellent Queen's Hall orchestra; and one point of this has been that, upon the resignation of Sir Walter Parratt, her Majesty's Master of Music, opportunity has been taken to reconsider the personnel of the private band, which consists of some thirty professional players. Princess Beatrice is understood to have taken a keen interest in this matter, for she is devotedly found of music; and the hope is being expressed that she will now use her influence in the direc- tion of securing that the works of British composers shall be more drawn upon in the programmes laid before the Queeir and her guests. Encouragement of this kind from the highest quarter in the land would be welcomed upon all hands; and it might be exercised with advantage in regard to painting as well as to music. The archaeologist in these times is just as energetic and enterprising as the sportsman, and there is, indeed, a flavour of the sporting element to be perceived in connection with a portion oi his work. It is, therefore, scarcely to be wondered at that one outcome of the recent opening of the Soudan will be the im- mediate archaeological survey of that vast region. An inspector of antiquities for Upper Egypt and the Soudan has already been ap- pointed as a first step in this direction, and the post has been given to an Englishman, a fact which is the more welcome to Egyptologists in London, because positions of this character have hitherto been conferred upon Frenchmen. It may safely be assumed that impor- tant diecoveries will reward the efforts that will be put forth, for the unexplored por- tion of the Soudan must contain much of the utmost value to the student of ancient iiim ex- tinct civilisations—a branch of study which in these days is being increasingly pursued. Although it was once declared by so high an authority as the first Lord Brougham that the main object of the British Constitution was to put twelve men in a box, the average Briton does not seem to greatly appreciate the privi- lege of serving on a jury. The consequence of this lack of appreciation, however, has been very smartly brought home to a number of Londoners within the past few days by the action of a judge of the High Court of Justice. His lordship, upon taking his seat on the Bench one recent morn- ing, quietly, but impressively, observed that the officer of the court had informed htm that a number of special jurors had not answered to their names, and that as on the previous day he had given fair notice on the matter he intended to fine the absentees ten pounds apiece, upon the ground that their conduct placed an unfair burden upon those of their fellows who did attend. The judge might, of course, have based his decision upon the point that such an infraction of duty was a contempt of Court, but- mor& sympathy will generally be felt with his action because of the precise line he took. It is, in fact, an ex- tremely selfish thing for & man to refuse to undertake his fair share of duty in the jury box; and if, instead of commiseration and threats, a judge would oftener excercise lis power of fining those who shirk the con- stitutional duty of the citizen and throw it upon their neighbour, a good work would be Zone. The fact that one of those officers wounded in the battle at Modder River is a member of the famous family of Neilsons, who occupy the same position in the football world as the Graces and Walkers do in cricket and the Bayfords in running, has called to the mind of many the- thought of how intimately the army is associated with sport in the United Kingdom. It is claimed, indeed, that, if it were not for the exceptional skill attained by our leading amateurs and professionals, and for the fact that the life led by a soldier IS more or less a rousing one, more would be neard 9f military cricket; but there is no mistaing that it is in hunting that the army has lett its greatest mark. Coaching, however, ha5 awtin- Tuished votaries among our forces, while there is little need to insist upon the military devo- tion to polo. The adventurous spirit shown m these directions has its reflex in others of more Warlike type, as we are perceiving In South Africa just now., R.

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