The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-08-23 00:00:00

our Yonlrn CarrespoOent.

rare deem it right to state that we de not at all Vane,
kientify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions I

The triumphant shout of the Ministerialists and the
ringing cheer of the Opposition are no longer heard in
the House of Commons. The roof, which has re-
echoed with the sounds of political strife for months
past, now looks down upon a scene of quietude broken
only by the clangour of Big Ben, as he booms out the
hours over the metropolis. The divreion lobbies are
no longer filled with eager faces speculating upon the
fluctuating numbers of the majority; the Treasury
Bench is untenanted; the Speaker's chair is vacant;
the Mace has been wrapped up in wool, and
is in the careful custody of the Serjeant -at -
Arms, awaiting the opening -of another session. The
careful (e‘eervers of Parliamentary forms will have
noted that after the re., cling of her Majesty's Speech of
Proroeeti-n it the House of Peers, the mace disap-
pears. It is borne upon the shoulder of the Serjeant-
Araig imn.“liately in front of the Suaker, to the
bar of the Lords, but it is not in cArried to the
Commons when the Speaker returns to his own
Chamber. Parliament la ea longer in existence as a
legislative body, and so the mace disappears. It will
be in its place again on the table when the Commons
reassemble, for Parliament will have been summoned
to meet ,by Royal proclamation, and will therefore
have been duly constituted. But after the ceremony
of prorogation ie over, and the Speaker comes hack to
the Commons, unaccompanied by the Serjeant-at.
Arms, and without the mace, his authority, as well as
the power of Parliament itself, Is in abeyance. He
stands by his chair, and the members present file past
him, each shaking hands with the right hon. gentle-
man, each wishing him a pleasant recess. Then,
like a host who has seen his last guest depart, he takes
his own rest.

For the next few weeks the vast area of Westmin-
ster Hall will be a reflex of the suspended life of the
capital. When Parliament and the Law Courts are
sitting, Westminster Hall presents a scene of ever-
varying animation. The members' entrance to the
House of Commons is on the south side of the
building, whilst upon the north are the civil
tribunals of the laid. Queen's Bench, Common
Pleas, Exchequer, Probate, Divorce, Admiralty,
there they are, and there they will remain until the
Law Courts in the Strand are sufficiently advanced
for the accommodation of the judges. When all these
tribunals are open for the administration of justice,
the Hall is often crowded with suitors, witnesses, and
persons anxious to obtain admission to the Courts,
most of which are small and inconvenient. And on
occasions of great political excitement, people gather
in Westminster Hall to greet the members as they
pass in and out of the House. Many a changing
scene has the elaborate ceiling looked down upon
as century after century h 53 rolled away. One of
the frescoes in the Commons lobby depicts a
memorable incident in the history of England which
took place in Westminster Hall. It was the acquital
of the seven bishops in the reign of James 11. The
trial of the prelates took place in the Hall itself,
where the people burst into loud acclamations when
the verdict WAR pronounced. The cheering of the multi-
tudes in the adjacent streets was at length so
enthusiastic as to reach the ears of the baffled king,
who broke into angry exclamations at the result of the
trial. The recess of Parliament iind the Long Vaca-
tion combined make Westminster Hall very quiet
now—a condition of affairs favourable to the indul-
gence of contemplation over the stirring memories
upon which the venerable roof has from time to time
looked down.

Lord Macaulay, writing in 1843, expressed his con-
viction triat the lat way of giving rapid and wide
publicity to a fact or an argument was to introduce
it into a speech made in Parliament. The orator, by
the help of the shorthand writer, had to a great ex-
tent superseded the pamphleteer. This, Macaulay
went on to say, was not so in the reign of Anne, when
the best speech could produce no effect except on those
who heard it. Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox contended only
in Parliament; but Walpole and Pulteney, the great
political antagonists of Queen Anne's reign, had
not done half. of what was necessary when they
eat down amid the cheers of the House of
Commons. They both resorted to pamphlets in the
shape of Thoughts, Letters, Ans were, and Remarks.
If history repeats itself, we are now witnessing, in a
qualified degree, a revival of the practice of Queen
Anne's reign, and which five or six-and•thirty years
ago Lord Macaulay thought had died out. Seldom
has there been a time when the circulation of pam-
phlets was so active a 3 it is now. Yet, since
Macaulay wrote, the rapidity with which toe par-
liamentary debates are circulated through the country
has been infinitely augmented. The number of news-
paper readers has increased in a still larger propor-
tion. What passes in the House of Commons at three
o'clock in the morning is not on thirty thousand tables
only bdrre ter, but on a Unwire i thousand. Every
corner in the L:ritish islands has its newspaper, and
every newspaper hal its parliamentary reports.
Still, with all the multiplication of journals which
has taken place daring the past generation, there can
be no doubt of the revival of the pamphlet as a
means of conductiog. political warfare.

The war in Zululand has produced many an inci-
dent stirring as well as pathetic, and one of the most
interesting of these was the c mferring by the Queen
In person, of the Victoria Cross, upon Private Hitch,
now an inmate of Netley Hospital, but a few months
ago one of the heroes of the successful defence of
Rorke's Drift. The name of that place stands out in
bright relief in the history of our struggle with the
dusky savages of Zululand. It will be remembered that
after the disaster at Isandnla, the Zulus, flushed with
victory, hastened to the Natal frontier, where they
found the important position of Rorke's Drift in the
possession of about eighty Briti3h soldiers. These
fourscore men were for the time th 3 only barrier
between the colony and the Zulu army. It was esti-
mated that about 3,000 of these barbarians attacked
the handful of British soldiers, who defended them-
selves with such skill and gallantry that the Zulus,
after several hours of hard fighting, beat a retreat,
having been taught such a lesson that, although Natal
was but slightly protected, the soldiers of Cety-
wayo never attempted an invasion. It is no wonder
that such services have met with hearty recognition
from the authorities; and people were glad to see that
the Queen steamed across the Solent in order personally
to mark her appreciation of what had been done on
that eventful night. Of her Majesty's warm interest
in her soldiers and sailors, many a proof has been
given in the course of her long reign; and whether
the Sovereign is sojourning at Windsor, Osborne, or
Balmoral, she is always the first with a message of
sympathy or of congratulation, as occasion demands.
The question whether the Victoria Cross can be
bestowed upon civilians has lately been much debated,
apropos to the conveyance by Mr. Archibald Forbes
of Lord Chelmsford's despatches announcing the
Battle of Ulundi, to Landsman's Drift, there to
be telegraphed to Sir Bartle Frere at Capetown.
The ride of Mr. Forbes over 110 miles through the
enemy's country has now become famous; and on the
day of the prorogation of Parliament Sir Henry
Havelock asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer in
the House of Commons whether the Government in-
tended to recognize such services, As to the power
of the Sovereign to c,,nfer the Victoria Cross upon a
non-combatant, there seems to be no question what-
ever. During the Indian Mutiny the distinction was
not confined to the army, It was bestowed upon Mr.
Savankli for his daring feat of conveying a despalch
from Outram and Havelock to Sir Colin Campbell,
whilst they were besieged in Lucknow. It was also
given to Mr. R. L. Mangles, one of the commission-
ers of reinnue in Bengal ; and to Mr. W. F. M'Dowell,
one of the judges of the High Court of Calcutta. The
gallant acts for which the order was given to these
gentlemen, were performed by them as civilians acting
in a non-military. capacity, No order in the gift of
the Queen is more coveted or more highly valued. The
magie initials "V. 0 add immensely to the estima-
tion in which a man is held, be hie station in life what
it may.

Afghanistan may be said to have been the Alpha
and the Omega, the beginning and the end, of the late
Session of Parliament, It opened with an Afghan
debate, and so it closed. The truth is that the news
from Zululand nearly drove the Afghan campaign
out of the minds of the public altogether ; but
now that a Treaty of Peace has been concluded,
it is claimed for the war that it has brought
this country some substantial advantages. Its
object was to exclude foreign influence from
Afghanistan, and to secure such a rectification of the
frontier, as would make it impossible to exclude
British influence. The new territorial arrangements
will, it appears, give us facilities which we never
posssessed before for pacifying the hill tribes, and in
carrying on a large trade with Central Asia. The
new frontier line has been drawn on mixed military
and political considerations; and the reception of the
British envoy in Cabul, both by the Ameer and the
people, has been of a very friendly character.
A curious question has arisen in connection with the
meteorological forecasts which are sent to us from
across the Atlantic. A New York paper announces
by telegraph a depression which will affect the coasts
of France and England, and that a storm coming from
America is on its way to Europe. Instantly the
barometer goes down, the winds blow, and the rain
falls. In fact the people of the United States are
continually telling Us to be prepared for storms. The
question is therefore asked how it comes that Europe
sends no storms to the other aide of the Atlantic, and
why America should send all her tempests across to
us. But se long as America is in the west, and Europe

in the east, so long will the westerly wind bring us
squalls and rain from the other hemisphere, and it will
be impossible for us to return the compliment. An
easterly wind is often bitterly cold, but it is seldom
laden with moisture; a westerly breeze is invariably
so charged.

A conference of International Law Reformers has
been sitting in London for several days. and many
varied subjects have occupied the attention of the
sneakers. Some striking anomalies were pointed out,
and grievances which ought to be comparatively easy
is of reiress were brought to the front. For instance, it
not generally known that the French laws do not recog-
nise the marriage of a French citizen with an English
subject. A Frenchman may come over here and marry
an Englishwoman; and if he settles down in this
country, well and good; he is subject to our laws,
and the marriage is a valid one. But if occa-
sion arises rendering it necessary that he should
return and live in France, his wife has not the
slightest claim upon him and his children are illegiti•
mate. This is a condition of things which is anything
bet creditable to France. The two nations have been
living long cncuen in peace and friendship to have
such a state of things arnen,ll; and now that public
attention has been called to it, it may reasonably be
hoped that a remedy will he found for a grievance of a
very serious nature to the English wives of French
husbands.