The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-04-13 00:00:00

A FERTILE TAX,

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in laying an ad-
ditionxl tax of 10 per cent, on tobacco, touched an im-
post of steadily increasing fertility. In 18-il it yielded
to the revenue £5,606,000, the consumption per head
of population being then 120 or 1 1-5 lb. for the
United Kingdom. Ten years afterwards the duty
had increased by score than £1,000,000; the produce
of 1871 was £6,614,000. In the five years subse-
quent to 1871, the rate of development was
twice what it had been during the previous
decade. The returns show that '1876 brought into
the exchequer £1,131,000, or 17 per cent, more
than 1871. The average annual increment of yield
during the years 1872-1876, therefore, was upwards
of £226,000. In 1861 the quantity of tobacco,
manufactured and uumanufactured, consumed was
34,828,000 lb,; in 1876—the figures for 1877 are not
yet to hand—the weight was 1,334,000 lb. of umnanu-
factored and 46,486,000 lb. of manufactured tobacco;
together 47,820,000 lb., or 13,000,000 lb., very nearly,
above the eonsutuption of 1861. In fifteen years the
rate per head of consumption has increased by lb.
(more exactly by 0-27 of a pound), or say, by 22i per
cent. The increased duty will in the current financial
year, according to Sir Stafford Northcote's estimate,
produce a net revenue of £8,623,000.—.Pa1l Mall
Gazette.

In consequence of large contracts between the
British Government and the chief horse-dealers in Normandy,
the price of horses has risen so considerably as even to com-
promise the interests of the French cavalry service.
It has been discovered by Minnesota farmers that
wo acres of sunflowers will supply a family with fuel through
a long winter. The wood of the stalks and the oil of the
seed, it is said, make roaring and cheerful Ares,

THE SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS
ON MONDAY NIGHT.

The Daily Telegraph of Tuesday gives the following
Interesting description of the debate on Monday night in the
House of Lords :

" Big Ben strikes five, and those who enter the
gilded Chamber of the Peers before hardly the rever-
beration has ceased may learn how the Eastern
Question has grown upon the mind and heart of the
nation since first Parliament met. Then there was
an eager crowd of strangers,' and a busy hum of
excitement; then the crimson benches below were
occupied in fashionunwonted, and the usually neglected
Upper House became the great centre of attraction.
But now the crowd is greater than ever, and the
whole aspect of the place more than ever indicative
of things of pith and moment.' No seat open
to strangers lacks an occupant. Ladies, with only
here and there a gentleman, line the gallery on both
sides in numbers unprecedented, filling also the re-
served places over the throne, where sits the Princess
of Wales, and near her the Duke of Teck. Deserting
their own house, the Commons have crowded in till
there is room for no more; the steps of the Throne are
packed by men who peer over each other's heads, while
the Strangers' Gallery might have been filled ten times
by the early applicants for admission to its limited
space. All this may be taken in sit a rapid glance,
which only pauses to note the grave face of Count
Schouvaloff as he sits expectant in the Ambassadors'
GaHery, and then we turn our eyes below. Noble
Lords are crowding to their places. On the front
Government bench sit Lord Beauchamp and the Duke
of Richmond, faced by Lord Cardwell and the Earl of
Shaftesbury. One Bishop (St. Albans) is near them in
lawn and silk, to be presently joined by his Mast
Reverend brother of Canterbury. Now Lord Salisbury
rapidly glides to his place near the Duke of Richmond,
and the Prince of Wales, stopping here and there
to greet a friend, moves down the House
to the cross benches, followed by every eye
His Royal Highness causes a flutter among the
strangers,' and so does the Duke of Cambridge,
who permits his illustrious cousin to beat him but by
very few minutes in exercising the politeness of
Princes.' Two other arrivals draw notice from the entire
assembly. First, Lordßeaconsfield, looking thoroughly
fit '—if the word may be applied to so distinguished
a personage—enters from the right of the Throne,
and everbody watches him as he takes his seat with
the seeming placidity of a man who, having nothing
whatever to occupy him, has dropped in to listen.
Then Lord Derby enters, and passes, smiling, to
the front bench below the gangway, almost
brushing as he does so against his erstwhile colleagues
in the Cabinet. The noble earl appears unwontedly
cheerful, looking just as might be expected of a man
from whose shoulders a crushing weight has dropped.
Behind him sits Lord Carnarvon, and the attention of
the assembly has hardly Exhausted itself upon these
two seceders from the Government before a sharp,
short volley of cheers directs it upon the Premier, who
is now seen standing at the table. Quickly the House
settles down to listen, and Lord Beaconsfield begins
to speak.

"The noble earl is low of voice and deliberate of
manner at the outset. He may be impressed by the
tremendous responsibility of his position, and, if so,
no wonder. But, anyhow, his opening sentences are
as serious in tone and style as becomes their subject.
He does not enter upon an elaborate resume of past
doings, but seeks rather to prove one important point
—namely that the Queen's Government never con-
cealed from Russia a determination that all new
itrrangements should be considered on the basis
of existing treaties The sanetity of treaty
law, he declares, has been and is the dia-
pason of the Government policy '—an expres-
sion afterwards called singular by Lord Sel-
borne, but which, no doubt, some present, better
acquainted with music, recognise as felicitous. Lord
Beaconsfield seeks to show that his policy has been
consistent and plain on this matter, and he does so in
the clearest way, reading extract after extract from
despatches, till there is no room for doubt that the
Russian Government knew perfectly well what to
expect. Coming to the proposed Congress, he declares
that England frankly accepted it and made no quibbles.
The quibbles and pretexts for delay arose elsewhere
—now as to the place of meeting, now as to
whether a Conference or Congress was better, and
so on. Meanwhile, the Russians were concocting,
'in secrecy and e,sen mystery,' a peace with their
beaten foe, and after more delay, its terms be-
came known. With equal boldness and plainness the
Premier goes on to spe:.lx of those terms. They abro-
gate Turkey in Europe ; ' they make the Sultan a vas-
sal of the Czar, and threaten the interests of our Empire
in more intolerable ways than one. He would gladly
meet in Congress to discuss and modify these arrange-
ments, but a Congress is refused on the only possible
terms, and now what remains to England? Looking at
the position of affairs in the Fait, may she not aim?
Is she to 1-e the only Power without material resources
to fail back upon? As to the measure indicated in the
Queen's Message, it should not be misunderstood.
Our ' Reserves ' are not a last but a first resource,
created by the short-service plan of enlistment,
and, to the limited extent in which they aug-
ment the active force, none but a lunatic can question
the propriety of their embodiment. Up to this point
the noble lord has preserved his studied calmness.
Only at times has a flash of wit or an epigrammatic
sentence caused the House to stir from its attitude of
profound attention. The speaker has not sought to
move by oratory so much as to convince by argument.
But now he changes his tone. Turning from the
papers amid which his hands have hitherto moved,
Lord Beaconsfield draws himself up, and in elevated
tones reminds his hearers what an empire owns the
sway of England—an empire stretching through every
olime, and embracing many peoples; how it has
been built by courage, patience, ani wisdom, and how
by those virtues it must be sustained. Gathering
warmth as he goes on, he declares a belief that the
Peers of England will be true to the traditions of
their ancestors and to the splendid inheritance they
bequeathed. With these WOMB he sits down amid
the cheers of the House, and a general 'movement '
that shows even more clearly than applause how com-
pletely the orator had carried his hearers with him.
Lord Granville is qtiick to follow the Premier, and
prompt to enter upon the difficult task of criticising
the action of the Government without opposing their
policy. The noble lord needs all his experience and
acuteness in debate, but they stand him in good stead.
He touches upon a variety of topics in rapid succes-
sion. He doubts the emergency ; ' points out that we
stand alone in refusing to enter the Congress; thinks
Lord Salisbury's Circular was written on the spur of
the moment,' though concurring in many of its criti-
cisms; reprimands the Government for rejecting the
Berlin Memorandum ; asks for a clearer exposition of
their present intentions ; expresses a belief that an
arrangement might be come to; and does all this—the
formal work of his office—with the gracefulness and
good temper that never desert him.

Lord Granville's speech over, the interest passes
across to the other side of the House, where Lord
Derby has risen, and where he is soon to be cheered
on, not by noble lords behind, but by those in front of
him. He begins with a statement personal to himself,
and causes a decided 'sensation' by declaring that some
of his reasons for leaving the Cabinet could not
well be stated. He had never seen the 'emer-
gency' visible to his colleagues. The early calling
of Parliament had from him no willing ac-
quiescence, and his doubts upon the vote of
credit were only set at rest by a statement thiht
it was intended chiefly as a vote of confidence.
To all this, and much else on the same theme, the
House listens greedily, the Liberals cheering every
point with obvious zest. From it the noble lord
passes to a review of the general situation. He
combats the idea of 'emergency," and contends that
a Congress should be preceded by separate negotia-
tions, in view of a settlement to be afterwards
collectively ratified. At present there is an im-
pression that the Treaty of San Stefano must be
torn up, and he cannot approve a 'policy of
menace.' He believes there is no very solid
ground for • irritation between Russia and Eng-
land, and no need for haste on our part.
Russia cannot touch us, and as for a war with
Russia, it must last a long time, because neither
combatant could reach the vitals of the other. Then,
where are our allies? *Lord Derby answered by going
the round of Europe, only to arrive at one conclusion:
we have none, and no hope of any, save perhaps,
Aus,ria, which cannot be trusted. Yet we are 'rush-
ing into war.' The noble lord goes on, amid the
cheers of the party opposite, to deprecate such a course
on every ground of policy and right, and concludes an
impressive speech by declaring that if we were success-
ful in our arms the work would soon have to be done
all over again.

"With the sitting down of the late Foreign Secre-
tary the interest of the debate became less absorbing,
but it was well carried on by the Lord Chancellor,
who answered Earl Granville with admirable point;
by Lord Selbonne, whose pro-Russian ideas had the
fullest expression; by Lord Carfaarvon, who worked
on the lines of his late colleague ; by Lord Houghton,
who, from the Liberal benches, vindicated the action
of the Government; by the Duke of Argyll, who once
more launched thunders at the Turks; and by Lord
Salisbury, who practically closed the debate. Then
came the foreseen end—the House thanked her Ma-
jesty for her gracious Message announcing the calling
out of the reserves."

The Daily Telegraph then describes the scene in the House
of Commons. After commenting upon the speeches of Sir
Stafford Northcote, Mr. Gladstone, Sir Wilfrid Lawson, and
the other speakers in succession, the article thus con-
cludes :

"The real interest of the debate was again roused
when Mr. Hardy jumped up with fiery vigour to reply
to Mr. Gladstone. He taunted him with having
lost his influence so far that he could not get his
friends to follow him into the division lobby against
the Ministry—nay, of not daring to risk a division.
Then, amidst frequent outbursts of cheering from the
benches behindhim, Mr. Hardy dwelt upon the former
occasions when, indeed, Liberal Governments had
taken precautionary measures in emergencies. There
was the 'Trent affair, and there was the Franco-
Prussian war when Belgium was threatened, and
Mr. Gladstone himself added 20,000 men to the
army, and asked the House for a war vote of
£2,000,000. In spite of the rising enthusiasm around
him Mr. Hardy spoke more coolly than is his wont.
Still he made many points with passionate vehemence,
as, for example, when he evoked an outburst of cheers
by saying he hoped he did not live in an England
that would submit to be treated at the Congress as
Russia seemed desirous of treating her. He was also
on strong ground when he attacked the pretests on
which Russia had approached the neighbourhood
of Constantinople, or when he evoked a shout
of approval from the House by. boldly throwing
aside all conventionality, and declaring that the Eng-
lish Fleet was in the Sea of Mamora not only for the
protection of British residents at Constantinople, but
also as 'representing the intimation of England to,
be heard in the settlement of the Eastern Ques-
tion ; ' or when to one of Mr. Gladstone's asser-
tions he replied that the dispute between Russia
and England, 'if a preliminary, was a prelimi-
nary of substance, not a technicality.' Very effec-
tive, too, was Mr. Hardy's indignant denial that
the lAtinistry, -were Ariftaing.into :7 yAr... Their last
step had brought matters-to an anchor. Mr. Hardy;
it ought to be said spoke with due caution,
nob saying a word that might possibly embitter the

dispute between this country and Russia. Though he
justified to the very letter the Foreign Secretary's
manifesto, yet even the Opposition cheered him as
heartily as his colleagues when he sat down, and when
the words of his high-hearted, patriotic peroration were
left ringing in their ears. No English Ministry,
he eloquently pointed out, could wish war, but
there was something they did not dare to risk,
even if they were forced by their policy into war—the
degradation and dishonour of their country. When
Mr. Jenkins rose it was clear the debate must be ad-
journed. Not even for the privilege of listening to his
statesmanlike views on the Eastern Question would
the House consent to go on with the dis.cussion after
midnight.