The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-08-16 00:00:00

ur Yonton Cluespaatnt.

iWe deem It right to state that we do not at all times
41entify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The session of Parliament of 1879 has been the
longest since that of 1867, and the cirumstances tinder
which the Legislature assembled for a pre-Christmas
sitting are in some respects similar. Twelve years
ago, after a long course of provocation on the part of
Theodore, King of Abyssinia, we were compelled to go
to war with him for the purpose of rescuing from his
grasp some unfortunate prisoners whom for a long time
he had kept in confinement at Magdala. War had
been decided upon after the rising of Parliament in
August, and the command of the expedition was given
to Lord Napier oi Magdala, then Sir Rcbert Napier.
On the 19th November Parliament aassembled to grant
the necessary supplies for the chastisement of the bar-
barian king. Comparing these circumstances with those
of the session of 1879, it is found that war with the
Ameer of Cabul was decided upon after the Legislature
had separated twelve months ago; so Parliament was
called together on the sth December to fulfil those
constitutional forms which are essential to the granting
of supplies. The meeting of the Legislature had nothing
whatever to do with the war in aluland, which
has since so completely eclipsed in public interest the
incidents of the struggle in Afghanistan. The session
which began in November, 1867, ended on the 31st
July, 1868, and was followed by a dissolution. Will
the session of 1879, which so resembled it in its sur-
roundings at the commencement, have also this point
of similarity? That is a question which is exciting
much attention amongst politicians upon both sides
just now.

With respect to the Zulu war, of which we had not
the slightest idea when Parliament opened, both the
Prime Minister and Sir Garnet 'Manley have ex-
pressed their belief that it is virtually at an end. The
capital of the kingdom has been destroyed, and the
king is a fugitive. The G3vernment at home have de-
clared that they have no idea of annexation, for it is
felt that we cannot undertake the mission of spreading
civilization by force of arms over great continents.
We have, at one time and another, done a great deal
for civilization; but it has not been accomplished so
much by the sword as by missionary effort. The
experience of history in all ages tells us that
the wider the boundaries of an empire are ex-
tended, the more its responsibilities increase, and
after a time its vast outspreading possessions
become a source of weakness. This was the case with
ancient Rome, which was at length compelled to with-
draw its mighty armies from all parts of the known
world in order to defend its capital from the hordes of
rude barbarians which swept down upon it from
Central Europe. Political observers assure us that,
although we hear a great deal of the conquests of
Russia in Central Asia, each accession of new territory
involves an additional expenditure to an already over-
burdened empire, and tends to weaken its authority.
The speeches of our public men have lately impressed
the colonists with the fact that the people of the
United Kingdom are fully resolved to have our series
of South African wars terminated with the present
contest.

Already the tints of autumn begin to be perceptible
in the foliage of the trees, and a stroll through the
Parks reminds the wayfarer of the inevitable change
which will soon pass over the appearance of those open
spaces that contribute so much to the health of great
cities. Change in another sense, however, there is
none; for the Parks of London are as open to the
people now as they were a couple of centuries ago.
But there was a time when Charles I. was anxious
to appropriate Hyde Park entirely to his own "disport
and recreation," and at the Restoration it was walled
round and stocked with deer, During the civil
wars it was strongly fortified, the most powerful of
the series of forts being known as Oliver's Mount,
just opposite where Mount-street is now. For many
years Hyde Park, now surrounded with stately
mansions, was regarded as a suburban resort, and
it was only at the end of the last century, when
London began to extend so much in a westward direc-
tion, that it became a fashionable promenade. At one
time in its history it was known chiefly as a great
military exercising ground. Sterner business was,
however, transacted in Hyde Park than that of the
game of mimic slaughter. It was the scene of all the
fashionable duels of the day; it is now, daring the
London season, the trysting place for the Coaching
and Four-in-Hand Clubs, and on a fine day as many
as thirty well-horsed coaches are gathered together near
the Powder Magazine.
The Corporation of London is one of the richest
municipalities in the world. Recognizing the value
of open spaces as being conducive to the public health,
it has lately expended nearly £40,000 in securing
Epping Forest to the use of the people. Situate near
the homes of a dense population in the east end of the
capital, the recreation to be found in Epping Forest is
highly appreciated by enormous numbers of the
inhabitants whose fresh air is not to be had in such
plenty as in the north and west. By the munificence
of the Corporation the old forest of Burnham Beeches,
near Slough, has also been preserved for ever to the
public. The spot is one around which many asso:lia-
Cons cluster. Burnham Beeches are interesting to the
antiquarian as being part of the great belt of woodland
which once stretched across England from sea to sea,
and as forming a connecting link between Windsor
Forest on the west, and Hainault and Epping on the
east. To the lover of nature the wood is dear for its

marvellously wild beauty. Most Londoners have
visited it, and even those who have not must be
familiar with photographs of its gnarled and giant
trees. For students of woodland scenery it stands
without a rival south of the Tweed. On its outskirts
Gray and Sheridan dwelt for awhile, and here, too,
Grote, the historian built himself a little cottage
within easy access of London. Over the whole of it
the bracken and the gorse are still knee-deep, and
wild fowl of all kinds nest and rear their young un-
disturbed. It is difficult, when in Burnham Beeches,
to realise the fact that you are only half an hour's
distance by rail from the great world of London.
The members of the International Telegraph Con-
ference have appropriately wound up their labours in
London by accepting the hospitality of the Lord
Mayor at the Mansion Home. As the custom is
with foreign guests, they have visited most of the
eights of interest in the capital; and one of the least
easily-effaced impressions which they will retain is
associated with their inspection of the wonders of the
West India Docks. The enormous warehouses, in
each of which 100,000 bales can be comfortably stored,
the acres of water accommodation, and the innumerable
masts of the foreign-going ships, were all calculated to
convey a most powerful idea of the extent of this one
department of London's wealth and industry. General
de Lueders confessed that he and his colleagues in the
Conference had seen many wondertul things in England;
but what they had witnessed in the docks was altogether
exceptional, and the most remarkable of all. What had
struck him was that it was not the work of the Go-
vernment, but of a private company, testifying to the
truth of what was acknowledged by all the nations of
the earth, that England was foremost in her spirit of
enterprise.
The report of the Board of Trade upon the traffic
upon the railways of the United Kingdom last year
supplies some very curious and interesting statistics.
During the twelve months over which the report ex-
tends, the number of passenger journeys was 565
million, and the journeys of season-ticket holders
were estimated at 110 millions more. Accustomed as
we are to railway statistics referring to numbers of enor-
mous magnitude, what in army of travellers does this
show amongst the vast floating population of this rest-
less little island ! The huge aggregate here described
—675 millions—is equal to two-thirds of the inhabit-
ants of the entire globe, and is almost as many as the
whole of the population of Asia. That teeming continent
is estimated to contain nearly 700 millions of human
beings; it is the most densely-peopled of the whole.
India, China, and Japan, portions of Russia and
Turkey, with a host of nations with very little idea of
civilization—all these give to the Asiatic continent such,
a contribution towar(l4 the habitation of the globe,
which is unique and unapproachable. Yet the rail-
way journee s in Great Britain in a single year
are not f2r short of the whole of these swarming
myriads. In connection with this subj:ct it is not
amiss to remembr that, overwhelming in point
of numbers as is the population of Asia, it
has confined itself to its own boundariee. The
Hindoos certainly are no colonisers; and so far from
the Chinese and the Japanese going from home, it was
only at the mouth of the cannon that they were at
last compelled to admit foreigners within their
territories. The great continent of America and the
vast island of Australia have been colonized exclusively
by European nations.
The commerce of the country has long been a sub-
ject of some anxiety, and the interest with which the
monthly Board of Trade returns are awaited, does not
by any means abate. It appears that the total value
of our exports during the first seven months of the
year was 105 millions sterling, as against 111 in
1878. During the same period the total value of
our imports was 203 millions sterling, as against
226 last year. Compared with 1877 our exports in the
first seven months of 1879 were seven millions less,
and the imports were 29 millions less. This does not
look like that revival of business in all departments
of industry which has so long been hoped for. A host
of causes have been suggested to account for the
commercial depression of the past few years; but
there can belittle doubt that the unfavourable weather
has affected trade as well as agriculture. Four indif-
ferent harvests in succession have told upon the town

as well as upon the country; and it is seen that if
the income of the farmer be diminished, he has less
to spend with the tradesman. The interests of the
shopkeeper and the agriculturist are, in fact, more
closely allied than is generally supposed to be the Cal 3 e.
The prosperity of one cannot be disturbed without
at least indirectly affecting the welfare of the other.
One gratifying feature of the latest returns is
an increase of half a million upon the exports
of July, and this is accounted for owing to an im-
proved demand for British and Irish produce in the
United States, and thus was continued that gratifying
turn in trade with America which was so marked a
feature in the Jane returns. Mr. Bright once
described the United States as "one vast confedera-
tion stretching in unbroken line from the frozen North
to the glowing South, and from the wild billows of the
Atlantic westward to the calmer waters of the Pacific
Main, where I see one people and one language, and
one law, and one faith, and over all that wide Con-
tinent the home of freedom, and a refuge to the
oppressed of every race and of every clime." America,
let us hope, will fulfil yet another function—that of
restoring to the old country the balance of prosperity
which is so much desiderated by all classes.