The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-05-31 00:00:00

tJI ur Tuithn EorrepGnenf.

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

Her Majesty's birthday, was, as usual; marked by a
number of promotions And appointments, several of
these, in the Order of St. Michael and St. George,
being announced on the morning of that day. It is
worth noting thac the various orders of knighthood
each bears a characteristic description. For instance
there are the most noble Order of the Garter, the most
honourable Order of the Bath, the most distinguished
Order of St. Michael and St. George, and the most
exalted order of the Star of India. The first of these
has but one class; the others have three—Knights
Grand Cross, Knights Commander, and Companions.
The Garter is the most coveted of all the honorary
distinctions which are in the bestowal of the
Crown; and with the exception of the late Viscount
Palmerston, no nobleman below the ranlg of an
earl has ever worn it. The honour was con-
ferred upon Lord Palmerston, when he was Prime
Minister, at the express request of her Majesty, With
that single exception the Gartyr has been worn only
by members of the three highest (viers in the peerage,
viz., dukes, marquises, and earls. The number of
knights is strictly limited to twenty-five, and at
present they are pretty equally divided between the
foremost noblemen of both political parties. lAbt
year two Garters happened to fall in through the
deaths of the Marquis of Ailesbury and Earl Russell,
and opportunely enough j ist in time to be bestowed
upon Lords Beaconsfield and Salisbury on their
return from Berlin as the British Plenipotentiaries
at the Congress there. Of all the distinctions which
a nobleman desires, there is none which he prizes so
highly as that of K.G.
There is one point in connection with the celebration
of the Queen's birthday which is worth a passing
notice. That is the mature age attained by the

sovereigns of the House of Hanover Queen Victoria,
who is now turned sixty, is the youngest of the whole
of them, and let us hope that there are many years of
life before her yet: George I. was 67 when he died ;
George 11. was 77; George 111. was 82; George IV.
was 68; and William IV. was 72. It will be only
eight years more—just the distance of time that sepa-
rates 1871 from the present day—when we hope to
celebrate the Jubilee of Her Majesty's accession. If
an attempt is made to fix the mind upon some pro-
minent event which happened eight years ago, it is
easy enough to do it, and to see how really little time
stands between us now and the commemoration of the
Jubilee of our Sovereign's ascending the throne. It
was oa the24th of Alay,lB7l,that the mob of Paris, being
hard pressed by the army of Versailles, and seeing the
utter impossibility of escape from the beleaguered
capital, set fire to the public buildings of the city.
On the 28th Marshal MacMahon was master of the
place, after great slaughter and immense destruction
of prc perty ; and mob rule was extinguished. It does
not seem so long since we were reading of the
terrible doings in Paris at that time; yet it is only a
period of similar length which now divides us from
the fiftieth year of her Majesty's reign. On the 20th
of June, 1887, the boom of a hundred guns will be
heard from the Park and the Tower, proclaiming the
fact that for the second time within a little over three-
quarters of a century, the Sovereign of England has
witnessed a Jubilee. The last occasion was in 1810,
and many now living can well remember it.
When the Empress of Germany returned to Berlin,
she left more than one distinguished visitor behind
her in London. The Crown Prince of Denmark has
been here for some time, staying with his sister the
Princess of Wales; the Crown Prince of Sweden and
Norway has also been one of our guests; the Count
and Countess of Flanders have likewise been seeing
something of the British capital, And it is well
worth seeing just now, without a doubt, After

a long struggle and a continuance of ungenial north-
easterly winds for half a year, the soft south wind
has at. length prevailed. As its balmy breath has
passed over park and square, and open space,
the trees, leafless so long, have ceased to
swing their bare gaunt arms in the bitter blasts
of winter, and are now clothed in the richest
of foliage in all those varied shades of greenery
which lend such a delightful charm to the hues of
spring. It seems as though a change; like that sup-
posed to be produced in the magic land of fairies by
the waving of a wand had passed over the surface of
hill and dale. For a few weeks the vegetation, fresh
and vigorous, will be seen in all its beauty; the leaves,
strong and firm upon the well-clothed branches-of the
trees, will wave gaily in the gentle zephyrs of the
summer time, being neither hipped by the wind's un-
kindly blast, nor parched by the sun's more direct rays.
The lsymn from which this sentiment is taken goes on
to declare that "their momentary glories last—their
short-lived beauties die away." Not just yet, how-
ever, for we are all glad to know that several weeks
now stand between us and the time when the withered
leaves, no longer able to cling to the boughs, will have
been scattered upon the ground.
Marvellous progress has been made with the open-
ing of the Thames Bridges during the past few years.
It is not so very long ago that a free roadway over the
great Metropolitan river was the exception and a toll-
bar the rule. Of course, in places where there were
such vast streams of traffic as London Bridge, Black.
friars, and Westminster, toll-bars were impossible,
but between each of these structures there was one if
not more toll bridges. Southwark Bridge, between
those of London and Blackfriars, was long a silent
highway in the midst of a great people because of its
toll ; whilst -between Blackfriars and Westminster
there were the toll-barred structures of Waterloo
and Charing Cross. Southwark Bridge was liberated
some years ago by the City Corporation; and then
the work was begun far up the stream by the Metro-
politan Board, which threw open the bridges at
Staines, Barnes, and Kew. There, for some time
they were compelled to atop; for the bridges lower down
the river and spanning the stream in the heart of
London, were more costly to deal with. There was a
long arbitration over Waterloo Bridge,whichyias thrown
open in October last. On Saturday a grand step was
made in this work of improvement. The Prince of
Wales, who was accompanied by the Princess and by
the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, declared free to
the public for ever five bridges—Albert, Battersea,
Chelsea, Lambeth, and Vauxhall. These, as their
names will readily indicate to those who have the
most elementary knowledge of London geographically,
connect the northern aed southern banks of the stream
where there are densely-crowded populations on both
sides of it, and it does seem extraordinary that tollbars
should have so long interfered with the free communi-
cation of millions of people. Turnpikes and tollbare are
the relics of a past age; ths former, so far as London
is cos cerned, disappeared half a gseeration ago; and
the important ceremony in which the Prince of Wales
took such a leading part last Saturday enables the
people to make a clean sweep of the latter.
While the inhabitants of a great portion of the
capital have thus been restricted in their movement,
across the river owing to the operation of tol bars,
those below London Bridge have been entirely e ith-
out the means of getting over to the opposite side
except by resorting to the Tower Subway or to ferry
boats. This seems all the more wonderful when it is
remembered that in the eastern section of the metro-
polis there is a population of at least a million abso-
lutely without bridge accomniodation. This is equal
to the united peoples of both Liverpool and Glasgow;
and it is certainly difficult to imagine the great Lance-
ithire seaport without the means of going to the other side
of the Mersey, or the great commercial city upon the
Clyde with nothing but the most primitive agencies
for communicating with the hives of teeming industry
on both banks of the river. If it is asked why the
great metropolis should be so bridgeless where the
conveniences of a million people are concerned, the
reply is that a structure anywhere in that quarter of
the town, on account of the great width of the
river, would be enormously costly; and that it
would materially interfere with the navigation.
Shipping of every description, and traversing every
sea, constantly move up and down the rapid tide of
the Thames; and many a mast in that extensive
forest in the docks would be likely to come into un-
pleae.snt collision with any bridge thrown across the
river. Still the Board of Works have determined
to make an.eort, and a Bill is now before Parlia-
ment for tue construction of a high level bridge
between Tooles-street and the Tower. A struc-
ture of this kind is of no use uelets it can
be approached; and the clearing away of property
on both sides will raise the total coat to about fifteen
hundred thousand pounds. This is about the most
complete instance of the expensive character of imProve-
ments in London which has yet presented itself. The
Northumberland avenue cost seven hundred thousand
pounds, including the price paid to the Duke of that
title for his town house. If you walk frem one end of
the avenue to the other you may have the satisfaction
of reflecting that every yard over which you have
assed is of the value of £2,000. Should the High
Level Bridge over the river be sanctioned by the legis-
lature, it will cost more than iouble as much as
Northumiserland avenue.
School-children are taught that the horse is a noble
animal- and when they grow up and go out into the
world they seem to take this idea with them, for the
horse is undoubtedly a favourite with old as well as
y onseasiesOae. of-England's great national holidays—the
Derby--is founded upon horse-racing; but we need not
go s 9 far all Epsom Downs, although they are only 20
miles from thecapital, to be assured of the interest which
attaches to anything in which this useful quadruped
takes a prominent position. The Wednesday meets
of the Coaching Club and the Four-in-hand are the