The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-07-06 00:00:00

ear NonDoit Corrtsponbut

rWe d em'l, right to state that we do not at all tiMea
Identity ourzeifes with our Correspondent's opt:laza

The Congress of European Plenipotentiaries at
Berlin has commanded a world-wide attention. The
destinies of vast tracts of territory in Europe and
Asia hang upon its decisions, and its doings are a
subject of interest to the English-speaking peoples
across the Atlantic. The ruling men of Europe have
now been brought into contact with a great personality
who for the last twenty years has filled a hemisphere
with the noise of his renown. Prince Bismarck's
lofty. stature, his vigorous and imperious character,
and his inflexible mind, surrounded by the prestige of so
many victories, exercise' an almost irresistible physical
and.moral action on most Of his colleagues, some of whom
are worn N;ri t h age, and with the anxiety, suspense and
excitement attendant upon a career of mingled re-

verses and successes. His influence is enormous, and
. fortunately for the world he desires peace. He never per-
mits diverging views to break out in public, and• when
knotty points arise threatening an angry discuissioti he
closes the sitting, suggests to the contending plenipoten-
tiaries thatthey had betteimeet and talk over the matter
in private, so as to arrive at a pacific conslusion without
the unpleasantness which must follow an open debate
at the Council Board. How many wars in the long
roll of history would have been avoided had such a
plan been more generally adopted! Take even the
last great struggle between the Gaul and the Teuton,
which was finally precipitated by a trifling inci-
dent on the public pronhenade of a watering place.
The Prussians declared that the French Ambas-
sador had disrespectfully treated their king; the
French vehemently asseverated that the King
had affronted their ambassador; highly coloured
versions of the affair were circulated, with embel-
lishMents, amongst two strongly excited nopula-
tious, violent passions were aroused; and two great
countries made it the pretext for war. There might
have been war had it not happened, but no time was
given for national feeling to cool down as it could have
done had the matter been talked over quietly and
mutually explained. War was declared the very next
day, one empire dissolved like a shadow of the night,
and another rose Phoenix-like from the ashes which
marked the place of its destruction.
Court mourning has been ordered of late with rd- ,
markable and almost startling frequency. The new
year had no sooner dawned than the King of Italy
died, and the very day that the Court was out of
mourning for the King of Hanover it went into it
again for the Queen of Spain. The necessity for the
latter points to one of the saddest incidents which life
in palaces have afforded for a long while. Victor
Emmanuel and King George, although not men of
advanced years, had both passed the middle age of life,
and had, so to say, turned the corner which stands
out as the distinguished line between the prime
of man's existence and the gradual decay of his
powers. But Queen Mercedes was only eighteen
when she died, and had not even attained the age of
our present Sovereign when she began to reign forty-
one years ago. Married on the 22nd of January last
amid the rejoicings of the people and the good wishes
of Europe, who to all earthly appearance could be
happier or have brighter prospects than the royal
couple at Madrid? The Queen of England was repre-
sented at the ceremony by Lord Roselyn; and the
union of the young couple was surrounded with much
interost because it was a genuine love match between
cousins. But the romantic and pathetic story was
Boon ended. "Those whom the gods love die young;"
and the history of the affection of the Royal Spanish
couple will long be remembered, whilst its sad ter-
mination has inspired universal regret. After less
than half a year of married life, the Queen was
taken away in all her youth and beauty, and the
youthful sovereign who has received so stern a lesson
is a lonely widower upon the Throne. It is one of
the saddest chapters of history which has been nar-
rated in these days!
Those who can carry their recollections back to the
time of Queen Victoria's accession may remember that
there was then a great deal of discontent amongst our
fellow-subjects in Canada, and that Canadian dis-
affection was for some years a difficulty with the
Government at home. The remedial measures then
adopted have borne fruit,- and the Canadian Dominion
is now one of the most loyal of the possessions of the
Crown. Standing upon the borders of the greatest
Republic of the day, the people yet retain a strong
devotion to the British Throne. The thousands of
miles of ocean which roll between the mother
country and that great colony, and its close
proximity to the United States, do not have the
effect of inclining the hearts of the people away from
monarchical institutions, and towards Republicanism.
If one of the Queen's sons pays a visit to Canada, he is
received with enthusiastic demonstrations of welcome.
The most splendid post in the gift of the Crown is the
Vide-Royalty of India, and next to it comes the
Governor-Generalship of the Canadian Dominion. It
is generally held for five years, but Lord Dufferin has
already .held it six, and at the request of the Colonial
office has consented to continue his duties for another
year. Our Indian Viceroys are glad enough to return
after half a decade of official life at Calcutta; but the
climate of Canada is very different, and a nobleman
may very well remain there without that risk to his
health which often attends a prolonged residence in a
land of such tropical heat as that of our Eastern
possessions.

The mention of this subject is a reminder of the
wave of extreme heat which has lately swept over
Europe. So far as our own land is concerned, harvest
prospects in the agricultural districts seem to have
surprisingly improved under the influence of the
tropical weather. The wheat, which was drooping and
sickly under the influence of weeks of clouded skies
suddenly shot into ear, pasture grasses being at the
same time abundantly plentiful. But it is in a great
town in which an unexpected visitation of heat is felt
not, indeed, in the same way as in the country, where
the crops are ripening under the fierce sunlight, but the
visible signs of distress on the part of a vast population
are manifold enough. Take London as an example. For
nineteen hours the sun is shining, and the last traces of
twilight have scarcely disappeared in the west before
a faint glimmer in the east tells the night watchers
that the luminary of the day is again preparing to
rise, and form a firmament of molten brass to send
down his rays upon a sweltering people. From a
temperature lower than that of Lapland, the metro-
pedis passed in a few days to the burning heat of
Africa. The perspiring crowds in the streets, the
throngs surrounding the fountains, and the multitudes
who leaned languidly over the parapets of the bridges,
as though the very sight of moving water was likely to
exert a cooling influence, told a forcible story, and
showed how an extreme of heat no less than of cold
was felt in these latitudes. What a blessing, at
such a time, was the Thames, cutting the great
capital into two huge sections, and sending over
each the air-currents brought by the tideway from
the far-off German ocean! The direction of the wind
was watched with much interest, for if it remained
from the south, the heat must continue. It turned,
however, on one of the hottest days, to the rorth-east,
and the breeze, travelling at the rate of fifteen to
twenty miles an hour, was not long in bringing down
to us the winds from the coast of Norway, to the
manifest relief of the brute creation as well as of human
beings.
Just now, Whitsuntide having been passed, and
there being, several weeks to the rising of Parliament,
what is known as the London season may be truly
said to be at its height. Garden-parties and out-door
anniversary festivals by day, balls, concerts, and "at
homes" by night—such is life with a considerable pro-
portion of the inhabitants of the million-peopled city dur-
ing the month of July. It cannot fail to be noted what
an active part the members of the Royal family take in
works which have for their objects the advancement
of education or the promotion of philanthropy. Take
fer instance, the presence of the Prince and Princess
of Wales at the anniversary festival of such an insti-
tution as the Infant Orphan Asylum at Waustead, and
it will be seen at a glance what an amount of good
it must do to a deserving charity. The Heir
Apparent and his wife have been before the public
half a generation, for they were married in 1863, yet
their popularity amongst all classes of Her Majesty's
subjects witnesses not the slightest diminution. So.
far a London is concerned, it is all the same
whether they are driving in the parks and squares of
the west, or whether they pay a.visit to the very heart
of Bethnal Green on the east. They are as certain of
a warm and hearty welcome as when they go to one
of the great centres of our manufacturing industry.
.All have a good word to say of them, and, indeed, of
the other Members of the reigning House, who never
hesitate to sacrifice their own convenience in the
promotion of charitable deeds.
A tale of distress, appalling in the magnitude of
its numbers, has been borne towards our shores
from an eastern clime. Twelve months have elapsed
since' it ;was first announced that a terrible famine
prevailed in China. During that period over five
millions of persons have died from starvation,
and the distress instead of decreasing appears still
to spread. Whole districts have been depopu-
lated, and the resources of the Celestial Empire
are totally inadequate to cope with such a disaster.
The funds at their command have not formed a tithe
of what was necessary to provide even he most
meagre supply ef food. Missionaries and foreigners
resident in Chins have nobly done what they could
;in mitigation of the catastrophe, while from our own
Dud other countries some help has been sent. When
:calms poured WA vela army int* Greece, which witli

L.

camp followers is said to have numberefi more than
five millions of human beings, he wept one day
at the thought that in a hundred years not one human
being in that great ocean of humanity upon which he
looked down would be a living soul. Death would
have claimed every one of that enormous concourse.
But China has lost as many of her people in one year
—more than the united populations of London, Liver-
pool, Glasgow, Manchester, and Birmingham. Well
may the starving people of celestial Empire clap their
hands at the sight of that cloud upon the horizon
which tells them that the Heavens shall speedily be-
come black with wind, and that there will be a great
rain!

Hospital Sunday in London is a pleasantly sound-
ing phrase conveying the idea that on one day in the
year the people of the great metropolis, assembled in
their respective places of worship, give of their sub-
stance 'towards the-maintenance of those institutions
whose purpose is the mitigation of unavoidable suffer-
ing and distress. To some extent this is true, but not
on so large a scale as might be expected from the size
of the place and the number of its inhabitants.
Thirty thousand pounds amongst more than three
millions is a sum which one would like to see doubled
lOr trebled. It is impossible, however, for any
community of interest to exist betwisen the
various districts which make up the capital
of this empire. The shipyards upon the Thames
are totally unknown to the dwellers upon the
heights of Hampstead, to the owners of splendid
mansions in Belgravia, or to the occupiers of pretty
suburban villas at Streatham. The north of London
knows just as much of the south as of a provin.cial
town, and the west and east are in some senses as
wide 118 the poles asunder. If the people were better
acquainted with the wants and necessities of each
other, the response to the Lord Mayor's appal on
behalf of the metropolitan hospitals would be much
more hearty and appreciative than it has yet been.