The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-09-20 00:00:00

A BOYISH FREAK.

In London, on Saturday, William Bagley, 1-1, -and
Thomas Spriggett, 11, were charged
.at the Thames
Police-court with being concerned in stealing a pony,
cart, and harness, value Xl2, the property of Alexan-
der Gadd, a chimney sweep, of 3, Limehouse-cause-
way. The prosecutor said that on Friday morning he
went to a house in Copenhagen-place, Limehouse,
leaving his pony and trap outside. He was absent
about ten minutes, and upon going out he missed his
pony and trap. He knew nothing of the prisoners.
Police-constable Webb, 224 H, said that at four
o'clock on Friday afternoon ho saw the prisoners
driving down the Mile-end-road with a pony and trap.
Believing that all was not right he followed, and
succeeded in stopping the pony. The two prisoners
then jumped out and ran off. He, however, caught
them, and they then said that they had only taken
the pony and trap so that they could have a nice long
ride. Mr. Lushington did not suppose the youngsters
L to steal the property; it was only a raischie-
.. boyish freak. He would allow them to be dis-
ea 'Ton their parents promising to give them a
thrashing.

mpan
ring.
cbar
-49c1
i-•

ffiki

wish to look at some mourning goods," saki a
'4l4.6s,ftelle4,entered a dry goods store. "Yes,
tuadtetn," replied the clerlsv" this way, please." After
looking through the entire stock she remarked that
she would`come in again in the course of a day or two.
" May I ask," said the clerk," in a sympathetic tone
of voice, "if the death occurred in your immediate
family ? " "There has been no death yet," she replied,
sadiv. "bat my husband is vary low"

SIR STAFFORD NORTRCOTE IN
MIDLOTHIAN. '

Sir Stafford Northcote, M.P., arrived at Granton
about noon on Monday, and remains there as the
guest of the Earl of Hopetoun. Here he received
addresses from several Conservative associations, and
afterwards, at the Scottish Conservative Club,
Prince's-street, Edinburgh, received addresses from
the club and from five district associations. He said
the question was not one for or against the extension
of the franchise, but was whether they were to go into
the extension with their eyes shut or open.
Sir Stafford was entertained to luncheon by the
club, and, in responding to the toast of his health,
said: My lords and gentlemen,—lt is always a diffi-
cult task to reply to the toast of one's own health,
and I am bound to say that I find it peculiarly so to-
day after the extremely friendly and kind manner in
which Mr. Pitman has been good enough to speak of
me, which is, I am conscious, far beyond what I
properly deserve —(cries of "No, no ")—but this I
can say, that there is no man in the ranks of the
Conservative party in Parliament who has the cause
of C-auservatism and of the constitution more truly at
beah than I have. (Cheers.) Ido not think it is
necessary in order to defend our own position
to make slashing attacks upon our opponents,
though it is very useful that such attacks
should be made sometimes; but I am always
cheered by the hope that if we adhere to our
principles, and if we continuo steadfastly to advocate
them, truth in the end will prevail, though. as one of
my friends here said the other day, in order that it
may prevail it must be spoken aloud. (Cheers.) It
is one of the great difficulties we have to contend
with that we have to expose fallacies and misrepre-
sentations, and at the same time abstain from any-
thing that goes beyond what is fair and right in
parliamentary warfare. (Hear, hear.) That be-
comes even more difficult at the present day, because
so much of the work that has to be done is not done
as of old, within the Walls of the House of Commons,
but is done on platforms, at railway stations, and all
the rest of it—(loud laughter, and cheers)—and
really though it is easy to smile or get up a cheer by
a reference to these matters, it is not so very easy to
avoid them, nor do I think it is so very unnatural that
when you are passing through a part of the country
where you have never been before, and may never be
again, those who do not take much interest in politics
should wish to have a look at you and to hear you—
(hear, hear)—but, gentlemen, I can also say this, that
I am quite sure your parliamentary representatives
will do we'; and are doing well, in making themselves
increasingly familiar with the different districts of the
country and learning what the wants of the people
are, what the ideas of the people are, and what the
difficulties of the people are, in order that they may
know how to deal with them, and 1 do believe that
all these associations and all these meetings are doing
a vast deal of good in this respect—that they are
bringing'classes together, and making them understand
and sympathise one with another on the points on
which they have different interests, and at the same
time show that these interests may be brought, and
ought to be brought, into harmony. We have an ex-
cellent friend, a very old friend of mine, present here
to-day, who is a very great authority on fox-hunting,
and I know he will echo the sentiment so often ex-
_ _

_
pressed that there is nothing so good as fox-hunting for
bringing all classes together. You have the peer and the
commoner, the rich man and the poor man, and men
of all sorts and sizes, who are all taking an interest in
the pursuit of an animal called a fox, and in meeting
together and communicating one with another there is
no doubt they do a great deal to bring about harmony
and good feeling amongst different classes. That
which is true with regard to the chase of the fox is
also true in regard to the chase of the Radical.
(Loud laughter and cheers.) I believe that men
coming together—men of different classes and dif-
ferent occupations, some representing perhaps the
agricultural interest and others the manufacturing,
some representing employers and others working
men, some representing Churchmen and others repre-
senting Nonconformists or members of different com-
munions, all those who are disposed naturally to
look upon the other as having some different
interest and some different object in view
from themselves. Yet when they come together
for a common object, either to resist the invasion of
the enemy or to maintain and strengthen the Con-
stitution of the country, they learn a great deal one
from another. They see what views are practical,
what views require modification, what require expla-
nations, and a great deal of good is done by those
associations amongst thel people themselves, and
enormous good is conferred upon those parliamentary
leaders, and those who go amongst the people to
acquaint themselves with what is going on. (Hear,
hear.) I must not to-day take up your time or
exhaust my own stock of topics by entering into those
questions with which I have to deal to-morrow; but
1 do feel this is a great opportunity that Conservatives
have taken for coming together, because attacks are
being made on some of the most important parts of
our Constitution, and it is neceessary for us to be
vigilant and active in repelling them, and not
to leave the matter entirely to the exposition of
our opponents. It is very dangerous to do so, because
we know that Mr. Gladstone has a remarkable
power of influencing indivilual opinion, for he does
attract people to him in an extraordinary way. In
point of fact there is a large number of his supporters
who seem to think, while we are talking of the Consti-
tution of the country, that as long as Mr. Gladstone is
Minister there is no need of a Constitution, and in fact
it is rather in the way. (Loud laughter.) Well, I
do not know how far these gentlemen may be willing
to submit to what is called one-man rule while it is in
the person of Mr. Gladstone, but they must take care
that they do not make such inroads into the Constitu-
tion as to leave themselves in the power of one man,
not Mr. Gladstone but Mr. Chamberlain—(hear, hear)
—or, for that matter, Mr. Schnadhorst, or for that
matter Mr. Bradlaugh. (Cries of Oh, oh, and cheers.)
We do not know who may be the person who may
sway and exercise influence over the masses
of the people, and when we see an evi-
dent desire on the part of the minority now
to conciliate them, and to advocate the principle
of giving power to numbers, and to numbers only,
we recognise how very great is the danger we incur of
that system expanding, and then contracting into the
rule of one man and a despotism, and perhaps a
bureaucracy. (Cheers.) I think seriously the Con-
stitution is in the future in danger from that state of
things, and I feel it is our duty to take every oppor-
tunity to resist and combat the fallacies that are put
forward. Now, gentlemen, I can only thank you
again for your kindness in your reception of me. It
was a very great pleasure for me in arranging our
autumn work that it was found most convenient that
I should come to Edinburgh while Lord Salisbury
goes to Glasgow. You know we consider it rather a
waste of power to go to the same place. There is so
much work to be done this autumn that we have to
divide it as much as we can, but I do wish to say on
behalf of Lord Salisbury that I think it is our
duty to express our indignation at the way
in which the Radical party are singling out
Lord Salisbury—(hear, hear, and cheers)—as if he
were in some -way setting himself up on arbitrary prin-
ciples, and out of his own wickedness—(a laugh)—to
resist the will of the people and to seduce or coerce
the Conservative party into supporting him. Nothing
is more untrue. (Loud cheers.) All that has been
done in the action of both Houses in regard to the
Reform Bill and other matters has been done with
the most perfect concurrence of all the leaders of the
party in both Houses. We have had frequent com-
munications and frequent consultations, and Lord
Salisbury, in the part he has played in the House of
Lords, and I myself, speaking as an humble person
in the course I have pursued in the House of Com-
mons, we have acted in accord and consent, and with
the thorough conviction and support of the party.
(Loud cheers.) Gentlemen, I thank you most sin-
cerely for the reception you have so kindly given me,
and I hope it is ,only one among the many pleasant
visits I may have to pay to Edinburgh. (Prolonged
cheering.)
The Earl of Rosslyn, Lord John Manners, and
other gentlemen also addressed the company,

Addresses from Scottish Conservative associations
were presented on Tuesday morning to Sir Stafford
Icorthcol,e, M.P., at Hopetoun House. In respond-
ing, be said he should look forward with great hope
and confidence to the conduct of his Scotch Con-
servative friends whenever the next contest should
arise.

The Earl of Hopetoun presided in the afternoon at
a luncheon given in the riding school, and in respond-
ing to the toast of his health Sir Stafford Northcote
said there was every ground for hope and cheerful-
ness in what was now going on in Scotland.
In the evening, the Duke of Buccleuch presided at a
large meeting in the Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, when
Sir Stafford Northcote, who was most enthusiastically
received, spoke on the franchise question. He
complained of the tactics of the Liberal leaders in
asserting that the House of Lords had rejected the
Franchise Bill, they being well aware that the Lords
had not done so, but had insisted on having it accom-
panied by a scheme of redistribution. He argued
that there was no sufficient reason for not dealing
with both branches of the subject at the same time.
He criticised the figures brought forward by Mr.
Gladstone, pointing out serious errors in the state-
ments made by the Premier with regard to finance.
He said that the present expedition to Egypt would
not have been needed if a more courageous policy had
been pursued earlier, and criticised also the action of
Government in South Africa.