The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-04-25 00:00:00

Our arimbrat Corrwonbtut.
[We deem it right to state that we do not at all tiMeS
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions 4


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144 .

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The funeral of the Lord Mayor of London on
Saturday was one of the most imposing cere-
monials which had been witnessed in the metro-
polis for a very long time. In striking contrast
to the dull and cold weather of which there has
been so much during this ungenial spring, it was
a magnificent summer day. The sun, as though
liberated from a long imprisonment, came forth
in all his old and splendid power, lighting up the
ereets and squares of the great capital, and
showing up once more the golden cross of St.
Paul's Cathedral under which the deceased chief
-magistrate of the city was to be laid to his long
test. "The -crowds which -gathered in the
•• . thoroughfares were quiet and respectful, differ-
ing wonderfully from the rowdyism which cha-
racterises the multitude on Lord Mayor's Day. -
It was only five months before that the shout-
ing throng had welcomed the civic king on his
way from the Guildhall to Westminster and
back, and now to the ordinary spectator the
very same dense congregations had assembled to
witness the funeral.
Many men are desirous of posthumous dis-
tinction, but whether the late Lord Mayor was
so or not, his obsequies could not have been
attended with more pomp and circumstance had
t. he been a saviour of his country. To be placed
in the crypt of St. Paul's, alongside such im-
mortal heroes as Nelson and Wellington—who
would not die Lord Mayor of London to be
honoured in such a way as that? Nelson and
• Wellington will live in the pages not only of
English history but of the world's annals as long;
s : • as history endures. The one, by the total de-
struction of the French fleet at Trafalgar, saved
his country from that invasion which Napoleon
seriously intended when he drew up a vast army
- on the heights of BOulog,ne ; the other utterly
and completely broke the power of Napoleon on
the land, and was the cause of his being sent to
St. Helena, where he troubled the nations of
Europe no more. At a time of great national
peril Nelson and Wellington rendered to their
country unparalleled service, and no honour to
their memory could ever be too great. For a
Lord Mayor of London to rest beside them
through the accident of his dying in his year of
Sliistintticrn indeed.
The burst of splendid summer weather has
cheered the hearts of all. With cold east winds
and gloomy skies lasting into the middle of
April, we seemed to have almost forgotten what
the bright sunshine was like. There is little
doubt thatif .our winters are now less severe than
formerly they show a tendency to prolong their
duration. But even winter must come ''to an
' end ; and the beautifully clear sky and warm
summer air were most grateful. London society
will welcome back the Prince and Princess of
Wales as the leaders of rank and fashion in the
British capital. Town is now rapidly filling for
• the season, and between this and Whitsuntide
the upper circles will be very busy. Happily,
there'iis now no such shadow over society as
there was last year in the death of the Duke of
Albany.

Prim- rose Day in London passed off much in the
usual way. Enormous
quantities of this pretty
little flower were brought to Covent-garden and
to the other metropolitan markets, and were
worn by all classes of the population. It was
just such a day as that on which the eminent
statesman whose loss is commemorated passed
to his rest. It was bright and warm, but when ,
the sun went down tlfere was a touch of east in
the wind which to a worn-out frame that had
lived in the world three-quarters of a century
jproved the finishing-stroke to a wasting illness.
•At half-past four in the morning, as tee
;quarters of the Westminster Clock Tower sent
'out the hour, Lord Beaconsfield, who had been
,an ornament of the Legislature nearly forty-five
years, was gathered to his fathers. His statue
stands in Parliament-square, hard by the scene
iof his triumphs and his failures, along with the
443tatues of such of his distinguished contern-
)poraries as Peel, Palmerston, and Derby. Lord
-Beaconsfield's death has been followed by that of
lhe Duke of Marlborough and of Earl -Cairns,
„Pao* leading members in the Conservative
iparty.
The progress made with the Redistribution Bill
lin the House of Commons is quite as rapid as was ,
• expected, •looldng at the conflicting interests! ,
*which have to be considered. Yet in the face of
'the war scare which has lately taken possession
.of the people, surprisingly little interest seems to
be taken in the progress of the measure, judging
iirote the compressed Parliamentary reports in
•-the daily papers, as compared with the
prominence given to the Ministerial statements
, in Lords and Conurions on the progress
of negotiations with Russia. The reason
is clear. War, whether actual or in prospect, is
an intensely absorbing topic, and every-thing
else is bound to give way to it. The outbreak
of war with Russia in 1854 caused the with-
drawal of a Reform Bill, for the House of
Commons could not be troubled with the dis-
franchisement of this or that little place, while
we were engaged in -hostilities with a great
XurOpean Power. In the present case the bill
:will be through before war breaks out, if it
does break out. The dissolution of Parliament
will take place in November.
The return of Mr. Henry Irving and Miss
Mllen Terry to the Lyceum is the theatrical
event of the week. An autumn tour in the
-United States has produced to Mr. Irving, at
least so it has been announced, a clear profit of
• £20,000. This is twice the salary of the Lord
'eChancellor' and four times the official income of
- the Prime Minister;for the whole twelve months.
;Me truth seems to be that there is no actor
in the whole of the States, from New York to San
Francisco whose histrionic merits are at all
equal to those of Mr. Irvine— hence the
enormous prices which he commands when
lie appears amongst our Transatlantic cousins.
Mr. Irving, however, has given it. to be clearly
understood that even with the wonderful success
-which he has achieved, he must devote his
energies to the English stage for the future. He
will begin his new season at the Lyceum on
the 2nd May, when he will bring out Louis XI.
The week closed with much more cheerfulness
than people had been accustomed to for a lone-
time. The brilliant weather was in itself sue-
cient to make dull care begone; Mr. Gladstone's
statement in the House of Commons on the
previous night was generally regarded as indi-
. cating that peace would be maintained with
Russia; and stocks had recovered in the City to
a very-great extent from the tremendous depres-
sion of a fortnight previously, on the receipt of
the intelligence that General Komaroff had
. _attacked- the Afghan outposts, and killed 500 of
-the Ameer's soldiers. Some qualifying declara-
tions have since been made, the principal
• -difficulty in obtaining information being the
.-Arieat distance of the Afghan frontier, and its
lmost inaccessible nature. A war with Russia
-Would not now, last as long as it did on the last
• Toc,ca.sion--nearly two years, but from such a
- -.calamity, however brief, the nation may well
Thope to be spared.
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