The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-01-12 00:00:00

isur oubort Correspanbeu„
-:T:re deem ill right te state that we t:e not at all tiara
'&110 ourselves wit Correeinthlent's opinions. 2

With the second week of January life in the
metropolis, which to a great extent has been in a kind
of suspended animation during the Christmas holidays,
again shows signs of renewed activity. Not that, at
any time, a very perceptible diminution is to be wit-
nessed in the great thoroughfares running east and
west, such as Cheapside and Holborn, or north and
south, over London and Blackfriara Bridges. There
the traffic flows on in an almost unbroken and con-
tinuous stream, whether in the long summer days or
amid the gloomy times of winter, and if winter is
environed by dismal surroundings anywhere it is
in London. But the city streets, representative
as they are of wealth and suggestive of busi-
ness, do not convey a complete idea of the
whole of the capital. For, to mention only
one department, London is the head-quarters
of the legal world. Suitors from all parts of the
kingdom, rather than enter their causes for trial
at the local assizes, prefer the chance of hearing them
disposed of in one of the superior courts at West-
minster, and as a rule the Queen's Bench, the Common
Pleas, and the Exchequer have their cause-lists
crowded with actions waiting to be heard. From about
the 22nd December to the 11th January the courts are
all closed ; but on the date last mentioned, West-
minster Hall is once more alive with busy life. That
is the day for the opening of Hilary Term, or
as the Judicatura Act has made it, Hilary
'Sittings," a distinction in which it would be
difficult to find a difference. And so the Hall
resounds with the echoes of many feet, counsel
in lasge practice endeavouring to solve the pro-
blem of being in three or four courts at once, at-
torneys anxious to be at hand when their cases are
called upon, witnesses in attendance, and jurymen in
scores who have taken from their occupations for the
magnificent sum of a shilling a day which the law
allows for their remuneration. And if Westminster
Hall is busy with the end of another vacation, so also
is Lincoln's Inn. For there the courts of equity, as
distinguished from those of common law, assemble, as
the law courts now in course of construction in the
Strand, which will unite them all under one roof, do
not seem likely to be completed for many years to come.
If the courts at Westminster are small and incon-
venient, much more so are those entered on the western
side of Chancery-lane. That of the Lord Chancellor
is about the best, and that devoted to the Lord Justices
of Appeal is tolerably commodious, taking that term
as a matter of comparison. But the courts of the
Vice-Chancellors are totally inadequate to the accom-
modation which should be possessed by tribunals dis-
charging such important functions, still our new Palace
of Justice is gradually, though slowly, getting on, as
well indeed it may, seeing that the Act of Parliament
authorising its construction was passed thirteen years
ago.

The early meeting of Parliament will also contribute
to the enlivenment of the metropolis at a time of un-
wonted dulness. It brings to town, three weeks be-
fore the usual time, the 1,150 members of the two
Houses of the Legislature, with their families,
servants, horses, carriages, and retinue; and as all these
live in the West-end of the town, it is obvious at a
glance what a difference this must make in the
business requirements of that part of London. But
In addition to the lords and commoners who will thus
so soon be called to town, there are the country
gentry from the four quarters of the kingdom, who
leave their homes to come up and dwell in the greyest
and gloomiest of cities. There are also the numerous
persons who are interested in the scores of private
bills before Parliament—railway, canal, gas, and
water—and many of whom attend the sittings of the
examiners, whose business it is to see that the
standing orders have been complied with. It will
therefore be seen that the presence of Parliament,
even in so vast a community as that of London,
sends a throb of additional life through the whole
of it. This is not represented so much by numbers,
for a few thousands of persons more or less in London,
makes no perceptible alteration in its external appear-
elect) ; but it is the we,ght of the social influences
which is felt in such a case. For the members of the
Upper Ten Thousand, in the dinners, tile parties, and
the balls which are so frequent amongst them, give
thereby a great impetus to trade, an encouragement
to many departments of industry which is sorely
needed just now. By-and-bye the Queen will be
coming to town, and will hold Courts and Drawing-
rooms at Buckingham Palace; the Prince of Wales
will hold Leveds at the Palace of St. James's; and
state balls, concerts, and garden parties will have
chased away some of the now-prevailing depression.
The Parliamentary recess which is now about to
terminate, has been the quietest, from a political point
of view, experienced for a generation. Things were
quiet in the closing years of Lord Palmerston's career.
but even then an occasional election took place, show-
ing to some extent the current of popular feeling.
But for a whole recess to pass without a single
vacancy having been declared in the ranks of the 650
members of the House of Commons, is without a
parallel in modern Parliamentary experience. Some
of those members are over 80 years of age, and many
more are between 60 and 70. And it must further
be remembered that a considerable sprinkling
of the representatives of the people are sons of
Peers, who would at once receive a writ of summons
to the Upper House on the death of their fathers.
Yet during the year which has just come to an end,
only one vacancy arose in this way. When the speaker
takes the chair on the 17th the only new members to
be introduced are those for Clare and North North-
amptonshire, who were returned within a day or two
of the prorogation, but did not take their seats before
the House rose. It may not be generally known that
on the morning of the day that Parliament meets
a solemn search is ma-le through the vaults
of the Palace of Westminster, to ascertain
that there are no successors of Guy Fawkes
in the present day. The ceremony is by no means an
idle one, for It is conducted with the most thorough
eompleteness. It partakes in some degree of the
solemnities which were accustomed to be observed in
ancient Rome. That famous city was once saved
from an attack of its enemies through the cackling of
a number of geese, which aroused the attention of the
sentinels with such effect that the ramparts speedily
swarmed with armed men, and the barbarians were
beaten off. So for many years, on the anniversary of
this occasion, a goose was solemnly carried round the
walla of the city. And for more than 270 years sue-
(*salve generations of officials have sought through
the vaults of the Parliament Houses for those com-
bustible materials which have become inseparably
associated with the name of one of the most desperate
conspirators of any age or time.
What has been the real position occupied by Great
Britain in the recent attempt to bring about negotia-
tions for peace? This has beenthe subject of a great deal
of controversy, in the course of which the importance
of a thorough understanding of the exact meaning of
words was never more completely recognised.
The official communication from the Foreign
Office which originally appeared in the London
papers simultaneously, was very carefully worded,
and was identical in terms. It stated that at
the request of the Sultan her Majesty's Govern-
ment had agreed to approach the Emperor of Rus-
sia with a view of bringing about peace negotiations.
There was nothing in it about me4iation, intervention,
intercession, or interposition; yet all these words have
been used to describe it. Now, to mediate is to in-
terpose as an equal friend to both parties, a scarcely
accurate description of this country, which went to
war once to turn back the tide of Russian aggression,
and is suspicious of it now. To intervene is, as the
derivation of the word implies, to come between things
or persons; and it is a much stronger word than mediate.
To interpose is to thrust in as an obstruction or
an interruption, but a milder rendering would be to
offer as a succour or relief. Lastly, to intercede is to
act between two parties; and perhaps this conveys
the best idea of the part taken by our Foreign Office.
But whether it has amounted to mediation, interven-
tion, interposition, or intercession, the public are
likely to be fully informed on the first night of the
Session.

Those who are either curious or interested in such
matters, and will take the trouble to glance over
the list of the Cabinet Ministers present at each
Council—and announcements of this sort are very
frequent just now—will find that the names always
come in the same order of precedence. First
of course there is the Prime Minister, at whose
recommendation all his colleagues are appointed.
The Lord Chancellor stands second, . the Lord Presi-
dent of the Council third, and the Lord Privy Seal
fourth. In the present Cabinet, however, this office
has, since the resignation of Lord Malmesbury, been
united with the Premiership, so that the name next
after the Duke of Richmond's is that of Mr. Cross.
Now, the Secretaries of State are five in number, and
of these precedence is taken by the Secretary, for
the Home DeparGefit; because his office is the
oldest on the list. It has existed since 1253,
and for nearly 300 years there was only one
Secretary of State in England. In the reign of
Henry VIII. it became necessary to appoint a
Minister answering to our present Secretary of State
for Foreign affairs; so after the name of Mr. Cross
you will find that of the Earl of Derby. Then comes
the Colonial Secretary, the Earl of Carnarvon, and
here it may be stated that up to less than a quarter of
a century ago, the Colonial and War Offices were
administereceby the same man. When, however,

we had to fight Russia in 1855, a separate depart-
ment for war was created, and so the name of Mr.
Gathorne Hardy succeeds that of Lord Carnarvon.
The fifth and last Secretaryship of State is that for India,
created in 1858, and the Marquis of Salisbury's name

will be found following that of Mr. Hardy. Then
come the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the First
Lord of the Admiralty, the Postmaster-General
and the Chief Secretary for Ireland. There is never
the slightest variation in the order in which these
names are given, so that in looking over them you can
tell in a moment which of the twelve ministers is
absent. That, however, is not often the case.
Mr. Longfellow's "Village Blacksmith" has made
every school child familiar with a vivid picture of in-
dustry typical of that flaming forge of life at which
our fortunes must be wrought. The throbbing of the
great bellows, the glare of the white sheet of fire, the
music of the anvil, and the sparks flying from the
heated iron "like chaff from a threshing floor," all
combine to make up a representation of active
life and of busy energy which can scarcely be
presented in an equal degree in any other occupation.
But when the fire is extinguished, and the forge is
silent, when the anvil gives forth no sound, and the
handles of the bellows hang lazily down, no better
idea of dreary cheerlessness could be furnished to the
imagination. If not exactly a wilderness, it is truly
enough a solitary place, and one eminently suggestive
of desolation. The people of London, as they read of
the blowing out of the blast furnaces in many of the
great centres of our iron industry have an opportunity
of realising what that means, or at all events some-
thing like it. There is, it may be remarked, nothing
abnormal in a great branch of national trade being
under a cloud for the time. In 1862 we were reading
of the Cotton Famine in Lancashire; in 1867 the
workers in the shipyards upon the Thames and the
Medway were, to a great extent, unemployed; at
one time Coventry ribbon, and at another Dun-
stable hats may suffer from the fluctuations of
fashion. But in no case has there ever been a
permanent paralysis; the tide of prosperity, which
had ebbed for the time, has come back again;
the cotton mills have been once more in full
work; the echoes of the shipyards have resounded
with the clang of hammers and the tramp of busy
feet; and Coventry and Dunstable are well able
to hold their own. So with the iron trade. The
metal, even for shipbuilding purposes only, is as to
demand enormously in excess of that of twenty years
ago, and a time will c me—let us hope very speedily—
when there shall be no more smokeless chimneys, no
choked-up furnaces, no grass-grown pathways in
gigantic but now silent works, and when the ceaseless
fires of mighty forges shall testify, by their glare at
night and their roar by day, to the presence of life and
activity amongst a contented population.