The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-04-01 00:00:00

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h.rm.
ettr Fonboß Cermponben have real a good deal of Spiritualistic literature. and
the alleg,.d revelations and etatements of the spirits cer.
Me de, :n It right to suite thet we do rot at oil "inn tainly do not speak Maly in their favour. For example,
Aso city mduelves with our correspondent's opinions:. at a B(ance recently held, a medium was in the
The straggle of the Republic, as represented by the act of taking a pinch of snuff, whereupon a " spirit "
National Assembly, with the Socialistic and Corn- asked" Why &you take that needy stuff t" Soon af ter-
munietic R•pnblic, as represented by the Central wards the medium took another pinch, placing the box
Commit: ee, Co' tmum, and the var;, ing phAS of this under the table, eo that the spirit should not eee !
much to be lamented contest, are watched with anxiety whereupon the same spirit exclaimed, "What, at it
far beyond the country in which these important events again, old boy I" And on such petty and frivolone mats
are occurring. Amid the commotion in France it seems tsrs du the so-called "spirits" generally talk, judging
almost inevitable, and certainly is not surprising that by the reports of these Spiritualistic proceedings. But
Garibaldi should once more be to the fore, and the how hard it is to believe that elicits come from the
Central mitten have determined on having him as other world to talk such commcmplace nonsense ss
their commander-in-chief. The announcement at once this !
excites hope and regret. Garibaldi is a thoroughly
oneeltish man, who has no personal ends to aim at, and
to man who athore bloodshed except as, in his
view d the mutter, an unavoidable means to a great
end. Ell li, le LItio•R,PLI hlicdn views, his bitter
hestl.ity to the porn: p.4tre, to employs and to
long., will perhaps intonsify the struggle cow being
waged in France. Meanwhile it is consolatory to the
friends of that distracted country to End that on the
whole the party of order is gaining gronn i, and the
hope is now not unreasonable that France wid ere
long have passed through this new trial, and will be
able to devote her energies to good government and
the development .4 herwasted resources.
Her Majesty, after her welcome visit to the
metn returns to Windsor, where she will remain,
it till about the ritie of next month, then going
to Osborne, and mhos, piently to Scotland. But there
Is a rumour that the Queen intends to pay a visit to
Switzerland in the summer, and another rumour that
her Majesty will visit Ireland. Whether either or
neither rumour, or both rumours are to be verified
remains to be seen, and I will but add that her visit
to Ireland would cause general delight, not only in that
country itself, but throughout the kingdom. Itseems,
at all events., probable that Ireland may fairly expect
the presence of some members of the royal family
during the autumn, and in some quarters the visit of
the Prince, and perhaps the Princess of Walcs, is con.
fidently expected, while it is also reporis d that l'rince
Arthur intende to be present at the Punchestown
races.

The fact that her Majesty gave a grand ball last
Friday, at Windsor Castle, to her domestics and their
friends to the number of !some 2.'4, will have been
learnt with pretty general satisfaction, albeit some
persons may not consider it the correct thing to give a
ball in Lent, and especially on Friday. Though the
Queen - who is said to be a most elegant dancer—has
herself left off dancing, she evidently considers that no
reason why her servants should not trip it on the light
fantastic" t in celebration of the marriage of her
daughter, and her subjects generally wid be of the
same opinion.
The lamentable state of affairs in Paris has its
natural effect on our own trade and commerce. Many
branches of business had revived immediately on peace
being &eland, and had become quite active when the
news of the terrible insurrection in Paris arrived; and
now most of these departments have again become
dull. Business on the Stock Exchange is flat and
quiet, owing to the uncertainty of affairs, and our con-
tinental trade has become rather seriously deadened.
On the other hand, it is satisfactory to ficd that our
railway train returns are favourable. For the week
ending March 25, the traffic receipts on the railways in
the United Kingdom were £797,312, or 1:57 18s, per
mile, which is £45,715 more than during the cone.
eponding week last year, the mileage in that year being
only .C:;:". 170. This fact is cheering in itself, though
the unusually fine weather may partly account for it.
In London, generally, trade can scarcely be said to be
brisk, but everybody appears to be looking for an im-
provement so soon as Paris is in a more settled state.
The proceedings of some extreme politicians in Lon-
don have recently attracted attention in and out of
Parliament, and I think the public generally wil
heartily agree with the attitude that the Premier has
Bosom, din reference to it. In reply to a question on
the subj,-ct, Mr. Gladstone said he was not aware of
• e exi.tence of the place of meeting, or of the meeting
Itself; that he did not know if the repast of the pro-
ceedings were correct or not; that it would not be
easy to find out; and that it was not the intention of
the law-officers of the Crown to take any steps in re-
lation to the matter. Now this is just what the great
majority of the country must thoroughly approve of.
The Prime Minister is not at all afraid of anything
that was said—nor is anybody else. "Except when law
and peace are menaced," he says, it is infiuitely
better to trust to the established and notorious good
sense and loyalty of the great mass of the people for
the repreesion of wrong and fcolish opinions." There
Is sound sense in this, and it commends itself 0 the
go,. I sense and right feeling of the nation.
Now that Mr. Monsell. the new Po stmaster-G eneral,
is doubtless working at the details of the scheme of
postal reform he lately announced, it may be well for
him to c insider whether it will be advisable to
prohibit postmasters from buying postaoe-stamps of
the public—which of course will practic illy be •
prohibition of the common practice of sending stamps
for very email amount The publisher of the Field
writes to plaint out that perhaps the greatest sufferers
by this prohibition will be newspaper proprietors; and
that at all events they will be great sufferers seems
clear encoi;h. At present the sending of small sums
by postage-stamps—say a shilling or a couple of
shillings—is a great convenience to tradesmen and to the
public, combined with the right of cashing the stamps
at a small disoount. We have only to think what an
Immense number of articles must now be sent by pest ;
in return for so many postage-stamps, to see this at
once ; for example, low-priced books, epecially-ordered
copies of newspapers and periodicals, small patent
articles, medicines, &e—and the &c. is a very coin.
preliensive one. The reader can at once call to mind
many advertising tradesmen who mast do an immense
business in this way, and who periodically dispose of
their accumulated stamps in the ordinary way of busi-
neer. In fact the whole matter is a more important
one than at first sight appeared, and Mr. Monsell, I
repeat, would do well to reconsider this part of his
scheme. That the prohibition woe) 1 disconraew the
etealino of stamps o hich can now be so easily sold is
certain, but the question is whether this advantage
would not be outweighed by the serious blow given to
a, largely-adopted system of making small payments.

The intended resignation of Vice• Chancellor Stuart
has many a time been rumoured within the laet year
or two, earl the resignation has come at last. The
scene in theVice-Chancellor'e court the other day wee
a remarkable one. In the ordinary courts of justice,
and in the police-courte, applause is somewhat com-
mon, though we always read that "it was instantly
supprove !," &c.; but in the sacred precincts of the
Chancery C.,urti all is suppose,' to be solemnity and
decorum. Here, however, there were loud cheers and
clapping of hands, while a Queen's Couneel expreseed
the high opinion which the bar held f-ir Sir John, and
while also Sir John expressed the high opinion he en-
tertained for the bar. This exceptional demonstration,
however, can Is pardoned, inasmuch as the Vice-
Chancellor retires with the respect and esteem of all
v • watched his career.

The forthcoming struggle for the blue riband of the
Thames creates certainly as much interest as the Uni.
varsity contest on any former cccasion—perhaps more
than the race of last year did, for then Dark Blue had
won no n't••n that nearly all opinion inclined one way,
nr. • c.. ir.ttrest was deadened. But the victory of
Light L.ue last year has given the Cantabs epirit to
endeavour to win another triumph thin year. What
the chances of victory may be I will not surmise, but
H the balance of good wishes could influence the result
certainly Cambridge would first reach the goal.
There has been a good deal of unnecessary fuss about
the national purchase of the late Sir Robert Peel's
paintinee for 1.10,000, tut it turns out that they are
tv,rtli much more than this sum, and that had they
been sold I.y auction they would have probably realised
about £120,000. We do not lay out much money on
paintings in Oda country, considering our wealth.
‘Vh.re we chiefly squander our money is on the army
and navy, and for our large expenditure we ought to
have the quid pro quo, but which we never get. The pro.
vlnces, however, may have some reanon to complain at
so much money being spent for the I epec;al behoof of
London ; to which we Londoners reply that it is very
natural for a r•oson to expend money chiefly on ard
In its capital. To those at a distance from the
metropolis some little consolation perhaps will
be formed in the fact that these paictingi are
to be placed in the National " Gallery.

The announcement that Mr. Sorel], Dr. George
I.:lvey, Brofess,r St,-mulale 11,nnett, and Mr. Bene-
dict have received the honour of Knighthood is a
gratifying one. The first an a painter and the others
as musicians, have done much to confer pure pleasure
and to cultivate taste. Honours to such men have
been somewhat too rare in this country, and have been
too tench devoted to warriors. But surely science,
art, aed literature contain within their ranks men as
worthy of titled honour as those who devote them-
'elves to the horrid profession of war.
I see it stated that 10,000 volumes of Spiritinalist.c
literature are sold annually in the United. Stater: It
rath. r strange that so common-sense a people on the
whole, en I a natin so practical and nnromantli,
Phould no largely encourage this peculiar claw of
literature ; butthen it in well known that in no country
are extravagant opinions, on all sorts of subjects, So
prolific as in America. For our own sakes it is to be
hoped th o'..e outdoes Its in her devotion to the
literature of Spiritualism, though a good deal of it is
sold here. What good the world ha ever derived from
It, It would be very hard to nay ; though it would not