The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-01-12 00:00:00

Our Pan Corrtspoacnt.

rWe deem it right to state that we do not at all times
identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Two meetizgs of the Cabinet in the first week of
January reminded those who were observing the fee,-
tivities of Christmas that the wheels of State never
cease to move, no matter what may be the stagnation
of the national life as represented in the giving up of
individual homes to the j illity inseparable from the
celebration of the great Christian festival. The aspect
of the newspapers for a few days immediately before
and after Christmas is sufficiently indicative of the
fact that the progress of time, and what some writers
would describe as the advance of civilization, make
no difference in the heartiness with which Christmas
is commemorated. Then the world begins again gra-
dually to awaken from what might look like a
lethargic slumber, and the dull matter-of-fact waves
roll back again. Ordinarily the Cabinet does not
meet until the third or fourth week of Januiry, sup.
po.ing Parliament to meet at about the same time in
Fsbru try, for which it is summoned this year; so
that exceptional causes must have accounted for the
suspension of their holidays by the confidential ad-
visers of the Crown
Downing-street, in which the official residence :of
the First Lord of the Treasury is situated, is a narrow
little thoroughfare running up from Parliament-street
towards St. James's Park. The official residence is

an unpretending structure in external appearance,

but internally it is well furnished and appointed as
becomes the place of abode of the Prime Minister
of England. It is not every Premier who cares
to remove there in view of what may possibly
prove a precarious tenure of office, but Lord Beacons.
field and Mr. Gladstone have done so. On the days
when a Cabinet Council is announced to be held a
crowd of gazers assembles in Downing-street to see
the Ministers pass in. Each Minister possesses a key
by which he obtains admission to the Premier's house,
so no one is kept waiting while a tardy doorkeeper
takes his time to answer the bell. The room in
which the deliberations take place is provided with
duplicate doors and double windows; the summonses
to the Cabinet Ministers to attend a Council are
addressed to "Her Majesty's servants," those to
peers beginning "My lord," as,cl those to the mem.
bers of the House of Commons "Right Hon. Sir."
Egypt and China are believed to have been the
cause of the sudden and unexpected meeting of the
Cabinet. Egypt, like Ireland, is a land of misfortune,
and occupies at present a most invidious position.
Nominally subj-ct to Turkey it is held by English
troops, which cannot be withdrawn lest the False
Prophet of the Soudan sbon'd march upon Cairo. Even
had the movement of wtizh the Mandi is the head
never had an existence, it is scarcely likely that the
weadra Powers would have allowed Turkey to have
actively interfered in tire affairs of Egypt. It is true
that France, refu4ed co join England in a j 'int ex.
pedition for the suppression of Arabi, but there
is little doubt that hrance would have been glad
en ugh to play the game herself, and that if Eng-
land walked out of Egypt France would walk in,
The constant development of an aggressive foreign
policy on the part of France is viewed with much
uneasiness by our statesmen of whatever side in
politics, for they fear that with the enormous interests
which we possess upon every sea, sooner or later
French interests are bound to come into collision with
our own, and the long run of friendship between two
great nations will be broken.
That the business or uovernment is not confined to
piloting Bills through the House of Commons, or
taking part in Parliamentary debates is clear enough
from the importance attached to the reception of
deputations. In this considerable tact is required.
A Minister often knows more of the subject brought
before him than the deputation themselves, but
if he be a wise and discreet man he will not tell
them so, nor even broadly hint at such a thing.
Administrations have been unfortunate t 1 this respect,
and have offended interests, right and left, by their
off-hand manner of Thceiving deputations. So far
as the present_l':sernment is concerned, there is how-
ever nu ,',ll-11t whatever to be found in this direction.
For instance, the first deputation of the present year
waited upon Mr. Shaw•Lefevre, the First Commissioner
of Works, upon the question of the proposed west-end
tailway which is to tunnel underneath the parks,
and came away delighted with the reception ac-
corded to them by the right hon. gentleman.
Bland, courteous, and obliging, he showed that he was
thoroughly master of his subject, but placed his hearers
so thoroughly at their ease that when he had con
eluded his reply they had nothing whatever further ,
to suggest, and came away with the fixed and unalter.
able conviction that Mr. Lefevre was not only a man
of business, but a gentleman.
After a run of thirteen months lolanthe has given
place at the Savoy Theatre to another new piece by
Gilbert and Sullivan, entitled Princess Ida ; or, the
Cmtle of Adamant. Mr. Gilbert, it will be noted, has
an especial fondness for the letter P. H.M.S. Pina-
fore has not yet been forgotten; then we had Pirates
of Penzance next Patience, lately the Peer and
the Pen, and now Princess Ida, The Savoy is
a pretty little theatre south of the Strand
towards the Thames, and in the line of mithetic opera
it has no riva in London. The popularity of tais
description of dramatic performance has been attested
by the crowded audiences which for years have
thronged to Gilbert and Sullivan's compositions. The
way in which these two men work together is remark-
able ; and the attendance which an announcement of
theirs never fails to draw is a very strong testimony
to the appreciation with which their combined work is
regarded by a critical public.
Those who have long hoped for a revival of trade
have taken fresh heart from the revenue returns
published at the end of the year, showing an increase
on the quarter, the twelve months, and also in the
tirst nine months of the financial year. If the
receipts during the next three months are anything
like so satisfactory as those for the past nine the
Chancellor of the Exchequer will again have a surplus,
with anticipations of a reduction of some paiticular
impost. There are always many store applicants for
remembrance at such a time than the Minister of
Finance can possibly accommodate, and that keeper of
the public purse is the least embarrassed whc just con-
trives to make both ends meet. He is not then
troubled with suggestions for relief, nor has he the un.
pleasant necessity of imposing fresh burdens upon a
long-suffering public.
The murder at Stoke Newington on New Year's
morning is another striking proof of the insecurity of
life late at night in the outskirts of a great city. If it
be true that the life of man is a continual struggle
with death, it is also true that death often pounces
upon its victims at most unexpected times and places.
Here was a young man twenty years of age, in
thoroughly good health, and in the pride of early man-
hood, with a fair prospect of a long and prcsperous
life. He attends a watch night service to welcome in
the new year, not a single hour of which was he des-
tined to see. Accustomed as London is to tales of
horror, this midnight assassination has deeply taken
its attention, and it is fervently to be hoped that the
Government reward will help to unearth the perpes
trators of this foul crime which has thrown such a
gloom over the associations of the pleasant northern
suburb of Stoke Newington,
London has often been described as one of the
grayest and gloomiest of cities, and in connection with
this reputation a singular fact has just been noted at
the Meteorological Office of the Board of Trade. It is
very true that we have lately had to face the short
days; still the almanacks tell us that the sun does
rise and set eves then, and that for something like less
than a third of the twenty.four hours it is above the
horizon. Yet from Sunday, the 23rd December, to
Sunday, the 6th inst., the sun was never once visible
in the British capital. For a whole fortnight we had
to do without a gleam of sunshine. When the great
luminary of the day was again perceptible, he was
heartily welcomed ; but the gloom of December has
settled down upon other parts of the country besides
the metropolis, although perhaps not so deeply nor so
ong.

Laying the foundation stone of a new railway bridge
across the Thames is a spectacle not often witnessed
in London. This, however, took place on Saturday
in the case of the new structure which the Chatham
and Dover Railway Company are about to throw
across the river at Blackfriars. They have one there
already with four lines of rails running in and out of
Ludgate-hill Station, which, after an experience of
twenty years, is found totally inadequate to the ac-
commodation of the traffic to the ti anthem Itiburbs.
The Holborn St Itirai has been little or no rt•lier, Jur]
as it has been impossible to enlarge the present st„ition,
the only thing to be done was to build a new one. This
ia to be constructed in Queen Victoria-street, opposite
The Times offices, where the Company will have an
abundance of room. The bridge and station are to
cost .2300,r0, a vast sum, which it will take a long
time to make up out of the class of traffic which it
the object of this heavy expenditure especially to deal
with.

THE MERSEY TUNNEL - The week en-ling last
Satu day bad been the must succe-srul yet, the &Ali-
mony, nosehine having done thirty-three •tards from
the Birkenhead side and the pickAtte9, thirteen
yards from the Liverpool side. On S.iturday morning
last there reu abed tut sixty-one yards (day ten days'
work) before the junction is effected. By the end of
this week, the workmen will hear the eGuad of one
another'a tools. The junction will take place about
250 yards on the Liverpool side of mid•river point,