The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-05-25 00:00:00

Jirfonbon Corresponlat.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
:',7=11.17 ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The approaching marriage of the Duke of Con-
naught with the third daughter of Prince Frederick
Charles of Prussia will add one more link to those
which already bind the Royal Families of England and
Germany. About three months ago a daughter of Prince
Frederick Charles was married to the Grand Duke of
Oldinburg on the same day that a daughter of
the *Crown Prince was united to the Hereditary
Grand Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, so that the two
warrior princes, who had commanded two of the
Prussian armies during the German invasion of
France, appeared that day in capacities very different
from those surroundings of misery and' slaughter
which were then so familiar. Your readers may re-
member that Frederick Charles was known as the "Red
Prince," from the fact that he was a cavalry officer; it
was he who encountered Bazaine at Gravelotte, and
shut him up in Metz until the surrender of that
famous fortress. On the other hand it was the Crown
Prince who dealt the first blow at the French army
at the battle of Woerth ; who enclosed Marshal Mac
Mahon in the cul-de-sac of Sedan ; and was present at
the surrender of the Emperor Napoleon. Then he
marched on to Paris, and invested that city, enter-
ing it in triumph with his father early in March,
1871. Again it was the Crown Prince who in the war
between Prussia and Austria, in July, 1866, led
his army through the mountain passes of Bohemia,
and coming on the field at a critical moment contributed
so much to the victory of Sadowa. It was Prince
Frederick Charles who had the chief command of the
Prussian forces in the war with Denmark in 1864.
So that both their Highnesses have seen much
active service, and have individually contributed
to make their country what it is and to give it that
commanding position which it undoubtedly occupies
amongst the military nations of the Continent. The
Crown Prince has lately joined his wife at Windsor
' Castle, and as they have occasionally moved about
London with their little children, they have been
cordially welcomed. The Princess Royal was always
a favourite with the English people, and the manly
form and frank open countenance of Fritz himself are
always certain to create a good impression.
The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn—titles, it
will be observed, representative alike of Ireland
and Scotland—is the third son of Her Majesty, and
having been born on the Ist of May, 1850, the birth-
day of the Duke of Wellington, was called after that
great captain, and named Arthur. Thus far four of
the Queen's daughters and two of her sons have mar-
ried; and, after the Duke of Connaught has taken
upon himself that responsibility, Her Majesty will
have but one son and one daughter remaining single.
The Duke of Connaught, following the example
of his brother, the Duke of Edinburgh, will be mar-
ried abroad; but it will be noted that the Prince
of Wales fetched his intended bride from her
father's palace at Copenhagen, and brought her to
London, where the wedding took place. Of the six
royal marriages to which reference has been made,
that of the Duke of Edinburgh was solemnized in the
winter Palace of St. Petersburg; that of the Crown
• Princess, in the Chapel Royal, St. James's; and those
of the Prince of Wales, and the Princesses Alice,
Helena, and Louise in the Chapel Royal at Windsor.
It
.may further be of interest to know that the
Princess Royal was married in 1858 at the age of
seventeen; Princess Alice in 1862, at nineteen;
the Prince of Wales in 1863, at twenty-one; the
Princess Helena in 1866, at twenty; Princess
Louise in 1871, at 23; and the Duke of Edinburgh in
1874, at 30. The Duke of Connaught is now in his
29th year, Prince Leopold in his 26th, and Princess
Beatrice in her 22nd.

From Crown to Parliament is a natural step, and
there can be no question that the present House of
Commons has had more lengthened sittings than any
of modern times. When the Great Reform Bill was
in Committee in 1834, Sir Charles Wetherell once kept
the House at work until half-past seven in the morning
insisting upon divisions; and on coming out and finding
it to be raining heavily, declared that had he known it
he would certainly have kept them longer. That was
looked upon as most exceptional; but we all remember
that last July there was a continuous sitting of twenty-
six hours. Of course the Speaker or the Chairman of
Committees, whatever might be the amount of his
physical endurance, could not stand such a strain as
that, so the occupant of the chair was relieved by one
member of the House after another as the dreary work
went on. How is it possible for legislation to be satis-
factorily conducted if the House, meeting at four in
the afternoon, sits until half-past nine the next
morning, and again assembles at four the same day?
Time was when the House of Commons was called the
first legislative assembly in the world; but its
dignity has not been increased by the introduction of
such sounds as the crowing of cocks, the mewing of
cats, the braying of donkeys, and the imitation of
vomiting. We used to read with astonishment of the
rowdy scenes in the House of Representatives at
Washington, but now it is almost a standing line upon
the contents' bills of the newspapers, "Another scene
in the House of Commons." Those who remember
what that assembly was a quarter of a century ago
look with deep and unfeigned regret upon the incidents
of the last three or four years. Whatever be the
cause there has been a painful degeneration of Parlia-
mentary dignity; and had not the Speaker been
possessed of marvellous patience and consummate
tact, the wrangling would have been increased a
hundred fold.

Paris has its Universal Exhibition this year; London
is to have its Agricultural Exhibition next. People
are already busy making arrangements for the latter,
which has been fixed for the summer of 1879. The
site selected, 91 acres in extent, besides a field
of eight acres, which has to be rented in
order to obtain access to the Show, lies near the
Paddington cemetery, and has two railways, the North
Western and the North London, touching it, while
the Great Western is but a little way off. It seems
in every way suitable to the purpose for which it is
intended, and is probably the only plot of ground ef
equal extent available so near the metropolis, and so
easy of access. It is not, however, likely to be avail-
able long after the holding of the show. The specu-
lative builder already has his eye upon it; he is making
annexations in that quarter, and, should trade revive,
those wide acres would speedily be parcelled out into
building land. People who have gone out several miles
from the city, in order to obtain a little country air—
northward to Highgate, southward to Norwood, east-
ward to Bromley, and westward to Bayswater—
rind that the enterprising contractor pursues them
whithersoever they may go. In the eventide, after the
rush and roar of city life, the jaded Londoner, in his
suburban home, may love to look upon a field, or to
listen to the murmuring rustle of the trees; but let the
speculative builder come to know of the existence of
the said field, and he proceeds without delay to
obliterate it. It at once becomes "eligible " for the
reception of bricks and mortar, and the city man
speedily loses one of the greatest comforts of his life.
Go where he may he cannot escape from a knowledge
of the fact that there are houses, houses everywhere,
and acutely enough is the truth brought to his mind
that God made the country and man made the town.
There is a point upon which architects have never
yet been enabled to agree, and that is whether a
dome or a spire is the more fitting for a great
cathedral. Old St. Paul's, destroyed in the fire of
1666, had a spire; Sir Christopher Wren gave the pre-
sent structure a dome, and a grand and graceful one it
is. Visitors to Paris this summer will note the dome
of the Invalides, (answering to our Chelsea Hospital),
and underneath which are interred the remains of
Napoleon, just as those of Wellington and Nelson are
covered by the dome of St. Paul's. But for symmetry
of its proportions and its imposing appearance, the
.dome of the Invalides, gaily gilded though it is,
cannot be compared with that of our cathedral, The
latter seems to be ever looking down like a guardian
sentic
el watching over the life and prosperity of the city,
withits interesting churches, the noble halls of the
guilds, the quaint old-fashioned buildings which have
survived the birth and death of countless generations,
but -which are gradually becoming less and less. But you
may still see the "King's Head" tavern in the Poultry,
where Charles IL after his restoration stopped to
gratify'
the loyalty of the landlady in very different days from
those of our own time, when Cheapside may truly
enough be called the pulse of the world.
One of the most delightful accessories of an English
wood, A garden, or an hedgerow, more especially at
the present time, is the song of birds. From early
morning, when the streaks of dawn, are brightening,
the eaBt3m ski, until the sun is wearing i
towards the
west, the warble of the feathered musicians s one of
the most delightful accompaniments in the contempla-
tion of a rural landscape. How glad would the
Australian colonist be to listen to some of those
priceless notes For it must be remembered that
the enormous island which lies far away in the Pacific,
and which is not much smaller than the whole of
Europe, is truly enough a land of contrarities. Nettles
grow to the height of trees in that country, any edible
native fruit is almost unknown, and some of the trees
cannot be said to have any real leaves at all. The
animals are as peculiar as the vegetation, for one
quadruped, the kangaroo, habitually stands on two
legs, and another has a bill like a duck. Its birds are
brilliantlin plumage but utterly songless; the silence
of the woods and groves is oppressive and almost
painful. The attempt to naturalise the best of our
singing birds have met with very indifferent success,
and the mischievous boys of England, who sot out on

their nesting expeditions, may be very thankful that
they have not the Australian colonist to deal with,
for that worthy would show such offenders very
little mercy. Just now, in that colony the in-
habitants are entering upon the little winter which
they get, and that is not much. The colonists
remain as loyal to the Crown as though they
had never left the mother-land at home, and upon
such occasions for instance as the celebration of her
Majesty's birthday, officially fixed for the 25th instant,
the manifestations will not be confined to the capital
of the empire. Regent-street and Pall Mall will be
illuminated, and the Queen's Ministers will give
grand banquets in Whitehall; but Melbourne and
Sydney will also commemorate the occasion, although
twelve thousand miles of ocean roll between the two
islands.