The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-08-31 00:00:00

Our Ifonbon Correspanbent.

oVe deem it right to state that we do not at all timeS
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

No country visitor to the metropolis returns home

again without seeing somethiug of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Its graceful dome, surmounted with the golden cross,
rises high above the noise and bustle of the City; and
when, on any day in the week, you listen to the music
of the Cathedral service, you are reminded of a quiet

island in the midst of -a stormy sea. All around
stately pile is every sign of the active life which tells of
the presence'of a vast population. Eastward of the

the I -0- f

building flows a great stream of traffic through Cheap.
side; westward it goes down Ludgate-hill towards
Fleet-area and the Strand, while the towering

warehouses of Cannon-street, immediately south
Of the structure, are ever receiving new acquisitions

and loading vehicles of all descriptions with their
contents. St. Paurs-cfiurchyard, on the north side,
is fringed with a row of handsome shops; and as
vehicular traffic is rigidly excluded by a barrier at the
western end, ladies in large numbers assemble in the
churchyard on a fine afternoon. and gazii admiringly
at the shop-windows—the place possessing the great
advantage.of one pedestrian being permitted to speak
to another without the danger of being deafened, as in
Holborn or Neworte-street. The churchyard itself is
an open spa,ce' of considerable size, the resting-place of
many a citizen of the past century, of "credit and
renown" in its commercial annals. The Corporation of
London have determined to follow the example set by
some of the metropolitan vestries, which have con-
verted the old disused parish churchyards into gardens
for the recreation of the people. There are many of
these in the very heart and centre of the capital, some
of the headstones flat upon the ground, others sadly
out of the perpendicular, a curious spectator
oceasionally gazing through the rusty and neg.

lected railings, and pausing in his march through
life to contemplate the picture of silence and
desolation within. However, one after another
of these places has been turned into a garden, not

eternally clo=ed, as after the fashion of the old
churchyard, but open to the people under proper
regulations, and made bright and cheerful with shrubs

and flowers. In the crowded districts of St. Pancras,
' on the north side of the river, and of Bermondsey upon
the south, where the inhabitants are crowded in with
houses for miles around, these gardens are held in high
appreciation ; and now St. Paul's Churchyard is to be
treated eimilarly. The proposed alteration will be a
great gain for the exterior beauty of the building, on
the interior of which so much care and money are
being spent. And when St. Paul's has its new carillon
of chimes, as it soon will have, it will furnish yet

another proof that in an age in,which such strongly utili-
tarian views prevail, the attention of the ruling
powers in the City of London is directed to the sugges-
tive, as represented by the bells, and to the beautiful,
as typified by the garden-lessons, which are nowhere
more in place than in the midst of the City of London.
The Eirst of September is a date marked by the
almanacks as the beginning of the partridge shooting
season, which thus speedily follows that set apart for
the slaughter of the grouse. September also ushers in
the commencement of barley harvest, and the opening
of autumn. Before its arrival, however, the sighing
of the wind through the trees, and the scattering of
the 'leaves upon the ground, have told a tale which
does not require the confirmation of September to be
obvious to all. As the sound of the wind in the
gradually darkening days sometimes rises into a
moan, it seems in the mind of the imaginative to
utter a wail over the departure of the brief but brilliant
summer, one which has given the land a bounteous har-
vest, for there can be no doubt that the ingathering will
be better than it was in either 1876 or last year. The

recent wet weather, while, it has hampered to some
degree the operations of the reaper, has been beneficial
to the roots, which had rather suffered in the sun-
parched soil. As the harvest abroad has not been so

good as in previous years, it is gratifying to find the
home yield of our own .English acres so satisfactory.
The thanksgiving festivals will this year have a very
substantial foundation.

Sir George Nares, the commander of the Arctic' ex-
pedition, and who was also in clar,Te of the Challenger
during her long three years' cmise, will find in taking
deip sea soundings in the South Pacific a work
thoroughly congenial, and one for which his scientific
experience eminently qualifies him. Exploration of
this kind has not been carried out to such an extent
in the Pacific as in the Atlantic, the deepest part of
which is in its western valley, midway between the
Bermudas and the Azores, about 1,500 miles from
New York. There the sounding-line has been carried
deeper than anywhere else in the ocean. Could the

waters be drawn off so as to expose to view the great
trough which separates the Old World from the New,
a scene would prevent itself of the grandest and most
imposing character. The very ribs of the solid earth
and the foundations of the hills would be brought to
light; and could we transport ouraelves to that point,
we should stand on what is perhaps the very lowest part
of the earth's crust. We should be at least five miles
below the ordinary level of the sea, surrounded on all
sides by lofty mountains. So far as scientific men can
ascertain, eternal quiet re7gns in those vast depths of
the sea. As above the clouds there is a region of per-

petual calm, so in the bed of the ocean everlasting
silence reigns as unbroken by the currents immediately
below the surface as by the influences which affect the
action of the troubled waves.
The mention of the name of Sir George Nares is a

reminder of the fact that, although the result of
the latest Arctic expedition was to convince those
engaged in it that the North Pole was unattainable,
human skill and effort have rot yet abandoned the
hope of reaching that mysterious region. The New
York Herald, which discovered Livingstone, and
thrbugh Mr: Stanley, has given us an immense
amount of information respecting the African Con-
tinent, is about to send out two ships to attempt
to reach the Pole from opposite directions, one
going by Behring's Straits, and the other by
way of Spitzbergen, both hoping to meet at
the Pole. In all ages the love of the marvellous has
been a most fas.einatind theme for the adventurous
amongst men; and so long as the North Pole remains
undiscovered, if it is for centuries to come, so long
will endeavours be made to get there. We have had
graphic accounts from the officers in the last expedi-
dition of the sufferings undergone in these frightful
regions, and to a temperature to which the human
frame was never before subjected. Yet the spirit of
enterprise is not quenched in the heart of man; the
efforts of one after another have been unattended with
sucZess, but others, undismayed by the failure ottheir
predecessors, take up the banner which has dropped
from their hands, and do their best to bear it forward
to the celebration of what they look forward to be a
certain and not distant victory.
The celebration of the silver wedding of the King

and Queen of the Belgians attracted enormous crowds
to Brussels, the twenty-fifth anniversary of a Royal
marriage being almost as uncommon an occurrence as
the commemoration of a jubilee of a reigning monarch.
Belgium, from having been once the cockpit of Europe
has gradtsally worked its way into favour amongst Con-
tinental tourists, and with every degree of reason, for
there can be no question as to the interest- which
attaches to its history and characteristics. Its farm-
ing has long been a study for our most eminent
agriculturists ; and its quaint old cities, with their
Cathedral chimes, have a special attraction for those
who can bring before the mental vision the asso-
ciations of the past when listening to the sounds
of evening bells. The late King of the Bel-
gians, Leopold 1., who was elected after the
declatation of independence in 1831, was one
of the most sagacious men in Europe. He was a
valued counsellor of our own Queen, more especially
after the death of the Prince Consort; and often
enough crossed a wintry sea to come over to this
country, and consult with our own Sovereign.
Brussels is within such an easy distance of our
shores, that it can be reached in less time than many
parts of our own islands; and the competition of the
railways makes a trip to the Belgian capital one such
as even the mechanic and the artisan can afford and
enjoy.

The departure of her Majesty for Scotland generally
follows the prorogation of Parliament by a few days,
and is the final indication of that suspension of
active social life which reigns in the west-end of
London during the early weeks of autumn. As one
of our men-of-war always acts as a guard ship during
the Queen's stay at Osborne, so when the Sovereign is
at Balmoral, a Cabinet Minister is invariably in at-
tendance. The Ministers take the duty in turn for a
fortnight or three weeks at a time, the Secretaries
of State taking the largest proportion of the work.
In the late autumn, when the Cabinet Councils
begin, the estimates are framed, and the ministerial
measures prepared for the ensuing session; and then
it is deemed of importance that all the members of
the Cabinet should assemble in London. The
Minister in attendance upon the Queen then rejoins
*"*.2" 11"31tis colleagues, but he is absent from the Sovereign no
longer than is positively necessary. Indeed a
Minister has been known to leave Balmoral on Tues-
day night to be present at a Cabinet Council
held in London on Wednesday afternoon, and to be
back to Balmoral again by Thursday night, having
within the forty-eight hours travelled 1200, miles in
order to perform his obligations to the State. Such
journeys could not, of course, be undertaken by those
of the Ministers who have reached man's maturer age.
Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell seldom penetrated
as far as Balmoral. When the latter resigned the
Premiership, in 1866, the Queen was in Scotland. It

4,1.0 p

is customary for the Prime Minister, on such occa-
sions, personally to place his resignation in her
Majesty's hands; but Lord Russell's health would not
allow him to perform such a journey, and the duty
was entrusted to a special messenger.
The long-prevailing depression in trade has told
in different ways in both town and country.
The railway companies whose receipts depend on
pleasure traffic have found a considerable falling-off in
the revenue, and the lines which run through essen-
tially business districts have been brought into un-
pleasant acquaintance with the fact that the elasticity

our commercial strength is not what it was. At
the half-yearly meeting of the Lancashire and York-
shire Railway Company, the chairman stated that,
owing to the recent strike in the cotton manufacturing
districts, and the general stagnation in business,
the receipts in six months had been less by about
£90,000 than they would otherwise have been. There
is, however, hope that the country has seen the
worst of the quiet time through which it has
passed. When a nation feels that it is on the
verge of war, capital is paralysed, and industry is
enfeebled ; but when the war-cloud has been rolled
away, trade may well throw over its timidity, and
again launch forth into those busy channels which
bespeak the existence of a prosperous and contented
people.
Although we have not yet quite solved the problem
what to do with our discharged soldiers, the annual
circular of the Corps of Commissionaires seems to
hint at some solution of the Wfficulty. The Com-
missionaires are a most useiul body of men, 750 in
number, nearly half of whom were formerly non-
commissioned officers, and are now regularly em-
ployed of public messengers. In this capacity they
are as trustworthy as they are useful, and they
appear to have almost more to do than they can
manage. The Post-office employs them more widely
than any other Government department; their work,
however, is not confined to London, although it is
principally carried on the capital. The commission-
aires are to be found in our theatres, our large hotels,
and in our chief houses of business. They are, ac-
cording to this circular, thoroughly well provided for
and although all old soldiers do not become public
messengers wher they leave the army, it is satisfactory
to know that a system works well which by providing
a livelihood for the men after they are no longer
needed for constant military service, helps to make
popular the defensive forces of the country. In con-
nection with this subject a reference to the foundation
of our reserve system may not be out of place. Her
Majesty, through the Commander-in-Chief, has borne
testimony to the alacrity with which the reserve men
left their ocmpations and their homes, to respond to
the call which the country made upon their services.
When they were disbanded, many of them found their
situations filled, so that they have had to face priva-
tion and suffering in consequence of the demand which
was made upon them by the nation. This is not
calculated to ensure popularity for the continued
emolument of the reserve forces—a point well worth
considering by a people which has now become a Con-
tinental Power, and may have at any time to call up
all the military strength at its command.