The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-06-22 00:00:00

THE COST OF A STRIKE.

Another Paris Correspondent of the Daily News writes as
follows respecting the late Sing
"The death of the ex-King George V. is an event
more widely felt than talked about. He was rather
an august figure in modern society, and bore the loss
of his dominions with singular grace and dignity, so
that to be numbered among his friends had come to be
regarded as a certificate of honour. It is pleasant to
contrast his quiet bearing and unobtrusive enjoyments
with the hot-headed behaviour of Charles XII. in Tur-
ey, and with the small squabbles of Napoleon I. at out
the quality of his champagne at St. Helena, for
deposed kings have not been always wise. To be sure,
King George's cheerful and well appointed house at
No. 7 in the Rue de Presbourg was a more agreeable
sojourn than the quarters provided for the Swedish
King, or than those allotted to the Corsican soldier
of fortune, who, after having dreamed of universal
empire, awoke to some dull realities. But King George
had much to make him morose, and it is good
to remember that be was very sweet tempered,
very kind to all around him. His death was no
surprise to them. He had been for five years ailing.
With all his personal simplicity King George was
fond of monarchical pomp. He kept great state in
his little Court. He went abroad with outriders and
mounted grooms in Royal splendour. He had the finest
stud of carriage horses on the continent of Europe,
and anxiously kept up a breed of large white roadsters
to be found nowhere out of his own stables. He had
magnificent collections of art and jewels. 'ills house-
hold, under the management of the famous Baron
Malorti the most experienced of Lord Stewards, was
a niodef of good order. His dinners were the best in
Germany.
"He lived mostly at the pretty village of Herren-
hausen, which was situated about a mile from the
quaint old capital of his dominions, and he seldom
inhabited his palace in the town. It was at Herren-
hausen that he gave those .pleasant little dinner parties
which still dwell in the memory of many. The guests
assembled at five o'clock on summer Sunday afternoons
clad in uniforms, or such other braveries of apparel as
they possessed. During dinner he talked by prefer-
ence on scientific subjects, especially new inventions,
and he took much interest in questions relating
to engineering. When he was thoroughly at ease
with his guests, and particularly when any
member of the English Royal Family was on a visit to
him, his spirits were very high, and his laugh was as
loud and frank as a boy's. He was so hospitable and
of so genial a temper that Harrenhausen was long
known to the upper ten thousand as "the sign of the
White Horse," and though he did not offer the same
inducements to English people to settle in his do-
minions as his father and the late Duke of Cambridge
bad done, every person who was properly presented,
or who could with propriety be received at Court,
was sure of a gracious welcome. After dinner the
guests assembled on a pretty terrace overlooking
the Royal gardens, which were admirably kept,
and remarkable not less for their gay profusion of
flowers than for the artistic lights and shadows
which diversifuid the landscape. A band played
softly while the Royal party sipped their coffee, and
the King, who was himself an educated musician,
kept time unconsciously with a forefinger. In summer
the band was concealed by the trees of the garden, in
winter it played from a gallery. There were often
evening parties at Court, too; and any English girl
who might be present was certain to be asked to sing.
When she complied readily and sang well she became
quite a favourite during her stow at Hanover, and
both the King and Queen did their very best to please
and thank her. The Court unbent altogether from
the more rigid forms of German etiquette at these
evening parties, which indeed took much of the
character of social gatherings at an English country
house, the Queen being an unaffected and charming
hostess.
"On other occasions, and in the general conduct of
his government, the King had a very exalted idea of
the functions and demeanour of Royalty. His in-
firmity put certain definite limits to his pursuits. He
could not fill his mind with miscellaneous reading,
and could seldom hear more than summaries of the
most important current literature and oratory. To
himself he appeared, not as the king of a small
country, everywhere hemmed in and surrounded by
neighbouring States, aspiring towards the administra-
tion of their own affairs by parliaments and constitu-
tions, but as a King whose decrees admitted of no
appeal or controversy. In the dispute between Austria
and Prussia, which cost him his crown, he took
the side of Austria from no selfish or unworthy
motives, but because he had convinced himself that
Austria was in the right. He could not admit the
claim of a Prince of the House of Hohenzollern to
rank as equal to the Emperor of Austria, who is also
anointed King of Jerusalem; and he thought that the
elevation of the King of Prussia to the ancient dignity
of Emperor of Germany was little better than a sacri-
legious sort of usurpation. This curse of reasoning
led to the grievous day of Langensalsa, when it is
said that the King valiantly charged the Prussian
ranks, on horseback, with a cuirassier on each side of
him; and with what results we know.
"The King was not quite blind, and was peculiarly,
sensitive about being thought He could dimly dis-
tinguish houses and trees for many years after his sight
was darkened, and some glimmer of vision probably re-
mained with him till the close of his life. He had
an intense desire and yearning for the light, and
his house in Paris was one of the beat lighted in the
neighbourhood. Indeed he had an extreme love
of brightness in all things. He was fond of ap-
pearing in a Hussar uniform, with splendid and
glittering accoutrements; and any officer, who was
otherwise than smart on parade was sure to be repri-
manded by his Majesty, who often inspected his troops
in person with an aide-de-camp to see for him. When
young he was extraordinarily handsome, very tall and
upright in his bearing, and he liked men of the same
soldierly pattern as himself.
"There is little doubt that the King cherished a
firm belief in his speedy restoration long after the
chances of it appeared remote or imperceptible to
other persons; and he did so from motives which were
little understood or appreciated by his opponents.
That he should have taken any active steps for his
own restoration, or made himself a head
,centre of
German political intrigues against Prussian supremacy,
can hardly be supposed on any reasonable grounds.
He resided in Paris without any molestation
from the German Embassy, and it is undeni,
able that had Ids proceedings given the smallest
uneasiness to the Cabinet of Berlin they would
have been repressed by orders which no French
Government has for several years felt itself strong
enough to gainsay. The mere fact of his residing in
France is sufficient proof of his peaceable intentions,
for no French print or newssheet would be allowed to
carry on an agitation against the unity of Germany.
From the moment, however, that King George became
domiciled in Paris, he gave a guarantee that he would
keep the peace, and there is not a tittle of trustworthy
evidence to show that he ever went beyond a simple
protest against his dethronement."

On tho subject of the late King of Hanover's
blindness, The Times publishes the following letter
irom "VT."
"Sir,—As it may he interesting to some of your readers
to know how the ex-King of Hanover became blind, permit

•

WW%i

Now that the Paris printers, finding it impossible to
hold out any longer, have surrendered at discretion,
and announce their willingness to resume work, it is
not unprofitable to count the cost of their folly in pro-
tracting the strike. The Figaro calculates that the
workmen have expended upwards of two hundred and
fifty thousand francs in the struggle, a good portion of
which sum has been obtained by loans. The masters,
on their side, have, by resisting the demands of the
men, lost a still more considerable amount, the burden
of which loss will inevitably have in part to be borne
by their employes. The Typographical Society resists
virtually no longer, and the disappearance of the
former tariffs may, it is conjectured, result in an
opposition between the heads of printing houses
at once ruinous for the masters and disastrous for
the men. In many establishments women have filled
the places abandoned by the men; they are paid less
than the latter received, but the wages they earn are
still so superior to those females of their class gene-
rally obtain at their work, that they find their places
worth keeping, and are anxious to give satisfaction in
order to retain them. Their employers are naturally
indisposed to turn them away in order to take back
more expensive and less contented hands; conse-
quently, many of the repentant men who have just
capitulated find the positions they so recklessly
threw away in obedience to a snot d'ordre no longer
accessible to them. These are some of the bitter
fruits of the now-ended strike. If employers and
employed would study the lesson they convey, it
might be profitable on future occasions.—Evening
Standard,