The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-11-02 00:00:00

connection with the destruction of Senneeherib,
when—

"The Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,

And breathed in the -taco of the foe as he passed;

• And the eyes of the sleepers grew heavy and chill
Their breasts heaved but once, and for ever stood still"
The cohorts of the Assyrian army are said to have
ntim'-ered 185,000 men; and for the time France was
deprived of a military force very nearly reaching to
that enormoill ly'st. How singular, then, for the
PrussEan King to dismiss it as one of the most im-
portant events of the month. The truth is that the
public
had already supped full of sensations in that
war, and that after the surrender of the French
Emperor at Sedan, with 80,000 men, not even the
capture of Paris itself could have produced one
similar in its intensity. The fall of Metz, now eight
years old, pushed back the boundaries of 'France
over a considerable-part of the wealthy provinee of
Lorraine; but it really did not excite the attention
which might have been expected to be associated with
so stupendous a catexophe, taking its political con-
sequences into consideration. The Germans have but
one great celebration—the anniversary of Sedan, when
one Empire dissolved, and the foundations of another
were reared upon its ruins.
The First of November is a date well-known in the
local history of our municipal boroughs, for on that
day the burgesses are called upon to elect their more
immediate rulers, and from this body a chief magis-
trate is chosen nine days later, to preside over the
destinies of the place for the next twelve months.
The growth of our municipal institutions, and the
extent to which the principle of local self-government
has been carried in this country, have often been
quoted as contributing in no small degree to the position
which we occupy amongst the nations of the earth.
Contrasting it with the system of our immediate
neighbours across the Channel, it is seen that the
government of the land, even in its most remote
departments, is practically in the hands °Mho central
government at Paris. The mayors and prefects
are officials appointed by the State, mainly for poli-
tical purposes, and can be moved at pleasure if the
Chief of the Executive Power, or his Minister of the
Interior should be of opinion that he is not fulfilling
his mission with sufficient zeal. Practically every
municipal borough in the kingdom is independent of
the central power. It appoints its own guardians of
the public peace, makes its own rates, regulates its
own supply of gas and water, and drains its own
streets. Its chief magistrate is irremovable, and the
central authorities have no power of interference.
Non-municipal London is without a privilege possessed
by the smallest corporate town in England, for its
police is under the direct control of the Government.
The Commissionerships of the Metropolitan police is
as much a State appointment as that of the Prefect of
the Seine or a satrap of the Kaiser. The Commissioner
for the City is of course selected by the Corporation
Itself.

Mr. Bright, in addressing his constituents at Bir-
mingham, on the 22nd October, 1873, told them that
he was unable to foreshadow any of the legislature of
the then coming Session, for Cabinet secrets were not
made up until November. Unless there is anything
very remarkable before the country, the Cabinet
Ministers do not usually reassemble until the time of
which Mr. Bright spoke. In 1870, however, during
the war between France and Germany, the Cabinet
met on the 24th October, and for the past year or two,
while the Continent has been in such a disturbed state,
October has been the month for the meeting of
the more immediately responsible advisers of the
Crown. Two of the Cabinet Ministers have gone
to Cyprus—the Secretary of State for War and
the First Lord of the Admiralty; and now that
the malarious season has given way to the period
of heavy rains, it may be assumed that the distin-
guished visitors will be enabled to see for themselves
thoroughly and satisfactorily what our new acquisition
is like, and how much it is worth in a strategetical
point of view, for that, after all will be a very great
consideration with the heads of our military and naval
departments. All speed to them, then, as they make
their way over the blue waves of the Mediterranean,
that "Great Sea" upon the maps of the ancients,
upon whose shores have flourished at various stages of
the world's history some of the noblest specimens of
the human race, and some of the greatest peoples
who have ever contended in the widely-stretching
arena of politics and war!