The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-06-03 00:00:00

Our fonDon Qtoatspontnt,

f\Ve deem it right 0 state that we do not at all tituga
Identify ourselves with our correspondent:a opinions.]

•
I am absolutely master of Paris," telegraphs
Marshal McMahon. That little sentence will have in
Itself caused almost universal satisfaction, but alas
at what a heavy Price has this advantage been ob.
tainedl Paris is Paris no longer, as those knew it
who visited it before the war. The war with the Prue.
dans seriously affected It. but the French war with the
French has well nigh ruined it. The news from the
maimed, smoking, and bleeding city for the last week
or two has been of the most painful character. He must
have bad a hard callous heart indeed who could have
read the terrible news without shuddering. Hitherto
the atrocities of the first French Revolution stood out
boldly and in ghastly characters on the page of history,
anckwhen the present generation read the sanguinary
annals of crime and bloodshed, the thought probably has
commonly occurred that these fearful excesses were
purely of a bygone time, and that in this respect at least
society would not repeat itself. But history has
repeated itself, and in some respects the last French
Revolution is worse than the first. The islet terrible
act of atrocity and vengeance, at the time I write, on
the part of the insurgents, has been the shooting in
cold blood no lean than 64 hostages. Foremost among
these was Monsignor Darboy, Archbishop of Paris—'
the second Archbishop of Paris who in our own time
ham lost his life in a Perla insurrection. And among
the victims two were the Apostolic Protonotary, three
Abb3e, and 16 priests; M. lionjean, President of the
Cour des Comptee ; and M. Jecker, the Mexican
banker. There now seems good reason to hope that
the insurrection is crushed—perhaps finally crushed;
but fear mingles with hope. When we think of the
number of the beautiful buildings of Parisi that have
been burnt—when we call to mind the demoniac skill
and system with which these buildings were
fired with petroleum, and of the large number
of people who gratified their fiendish passions
by thus ruining their own city —we dare
not be too sanguine that we have seen the
end of this awful struggle. The phase of the in-
surrection which has caused most uneasiness hare, the
passion for burning public buildings, still excites ap-
prehension and alarm; but we have at least the
satisfaction of knowing that bodies of firemen
from Brussels, Antwerp, and Melina' are in the
French capital, and that where there may be one
wretched maniac who may be inclined to tire any part
of the city there must be fifty— a hundred —ready to
put it out. But still we may reasonably hope that if
the Paris insurrection is not yet actually and finally
crushed out, yet that we have heard of its worst
excesses, and that the party of order must triumph.
Her Majesty has decided on the 21st of June as the
day for the royal inauguration of the new St. Thomas's
Hospital. The ceremony in itself can scarcely be very
Imposing, but it will be interesting and important, as
it will draw general attention to what some people
consider the finest collection of buildings constituting
one institution that London ham to boast of, and more-
over inasmuch as it will immediately precede the re
ception of patients into a hospital which perhaps will
be unequalled in the world.
Whit Monday this year has been a more general
holiday than ever it was before, owing to the fact of
Its now being an Act of Parliament holiday, under the
measure of Sir John Lubbock. Hitherto it has been
chiefly the holiday of the working classes, and, owing
to the pleasant time of year in which it falls', it
has been on the whole perhaps the most en
joyable holiday of the year ; but thanks to
Sir John Lubbock, it is now and will henceforth
be also the holiday of bankers, merchants, and their
clerks. It was not kept this year so largely as it will
be in future years, for people have not yet got toed to
It, but a great many public and private offices, banks,
counting-houses, &c.. were closed, much to the delight
cf the clerks, who, by the way, are talking of getting
up a subscription testimonial to Sir John for his kind.
ness to them. It has not, however, been all rejoicing.
Many barkers, merchants, &c., are grumbling at this
new-fargled holiday, saying they don't know what we
are coming to, and so on. But on the whole the new
arrangement is likely to work very well. People who
.re engaged in head-work now.a-days work a good
deal too hard as a rule, and a little more relaxation
will do them no harm.
By degrees we are obtaining, by anticipation, some
of the important facts to secure which the vast
machinery of the Census has been employed. The
Registrar-General tells us, for example, that the popm
lation of London on the 2nd of April of this year of
grace 1871 was 3,251,804 —say in round numbers three
anti a rituuter millions, spread over a territory of 122
square miles. What an enormous mass of human
beings—what an amount of misery and happiness, of
poverty and wealth, of labour and enforced idleness, of
struggle and competition for daily bread, do these
figures suggest! And what an immense quantity of
food and drink must daily be consumed by this many-
headed monster of ours ! London, it is said, is, con-
sidering its vast population, the healthiest city in the
world. It may be so, but it might be made much more
healthy than it iA3 . If the good sanitary laws which we
have were but strictly enforced, if we had a few more
open spaces and a few more trees, and if our fever-nests
were cleared away, and the working classes had better
houses to live hi the metropolis would be far more healthy;
but we are undoubtedly improving La these respects,
though but slowly. Meanwhile it is worth while to
note that our enormous population of three and a
quarter millions has not that feeling of kinship, that
couleur locale, that is observable in small towns. The
inhabitants of one part of London have no sympathy
with the inhabitants of another part; Bayewater knows
little and cares less about Bethnal Green ; lelington has
little in common with Camberwell; and we are in fact
a mass of connected, and yet in some senses uncon-
nected districts. But to revert to the Registrar.
General's facts—l don't think we have any reason to
be particularly gratified at them. There are too many
Of us, we are like &aeon a ant-hill, except that wears
not all so busy. We could very well spare half &million
for Canada or Australia—if we could only get the right
people to go, which is just the difficulty.

The Horse chow at the Agricultural Hall seems to
Increase in popularity every year, and perhaps
deservedly so, for increasing pains are every year taken
to render the exhibition attractive. This annual
show has many accessories, and a few hours may be
well spent in rambling about the Agricultural Hall,
even by those who do not particularly care about
horses. But these must be In the minority. It is not
necessary to be " horsey" to love horses, to admire
their rymmetry of form, their graceful action, and to
take an intelligent intereet in their various points. It
Is curious to notice, by the way, how very clever most
„-emple consider themselves in judging the points of a
horse, how knowing they look, and with what pre,
sumably sagacious judgment they will decide on the
merits of this or that animal. Quite independently of
this, however, people generally are fond of horses, and
why should they not be? The throngs of people at
the Agricultural Hall, people from all parts, and
ladies innumerable, prove this. 'lake it as a
whole, the present exhibition Is a splendid addition
0 the attractions of London at this specially
attractive period of the year. As to the Inter-
national Exhibition, it seems to have more attractions
for our country visitors than for Londoners. People
who come up from the country seem ea a rule to make
a point of going, whereas most of us Londoners, who
" can go any time " till September next, don't go at
all. And yet all who can spare the time and money
should go, for, though it may contrast unfavourably
with the previous Internat.'onal Exhibitions, it has
some special attractions, and is, on the whole a most
Interesting place. The Royal Ac,Aemy is very well
patronized this year, as it deserves be. Amongst
1,338 pictures there are, of course, some poor produc-
tions, but equally, of course, there are many splendid
paintings. Go when you may, you will always snd
crowd round No. Fe 4, for that is Mr. Frith's deeply
interesting picture of the " Salon d'Or, Hamburg,"
the gaming saloon at this fashionable resort. The
picture, for life-like reality, might be a photograph
taken at that exciting moment when the croupier ex.
claim, "Le jeu eat fait—rien ne va plum !" Of a
very different clam is Mr. Frith's picture of a lovely
girl—a picture founded on the times :
I know a maiden fair to see—take care;
She can both false and friendly be—beware,
Trost her not, be is fooling thee.
But it would be late 'in the day to enter on a call.
ohm of the pictures, and I have no intention of doing
so. I merely note that the Rout' Academy keeps up
Its attraction., and in all probability when the idxpenny
days commence the galleries will be thronged by the
working denim, who, though they may not be able to
talk learnedly about chiaroscuro, foreshortening, and
middle distance, may, nevertheless, take an Intelligent
Interest in the works of contemporary painters.

A BISHCP ON " THZ SUNDAY OT77."—The
Bishop of Manchester, speaking the other day at the
annual weeting of the Asylum for Female Penitents,
condemned "pleasure gardens, dancing saloons, and
theatres," as agencies, in their present condition, more
dkng,,rous to the rising generation than "any number"
of infamous houses In Deanegate. He went on to say
that the ranis of fallen women are largely recruited
liten domestic servants, and to condemn that great In.
atitution of the kitchen, 'the Sunday out." Dr.
Fraser attributes much evil to the practice of " allow-
ing " domestic servants 'to have two or three hours to
spend an they like on the Sunday evening." Any one,
be amid, who pared along the streets of Manchester
"alter ev,,ning service" could see what WM going 00,
and how their IMMO WM employed.