The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-03-09 00:00:00

ur iSonolt Corrtsponbent.

pre deem it r;ght to state that we do not at all times
it:entity ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

When the month of March begins to draw out, and
the gradually lengthening days tell of the approach of
spring, London, puts on a new dress and assumes a
different appearance. It has been noticed not merely
by our meteorologists, but all who are susceptible to
atmospheric influences, that the winters in the British
isles are now much milder than they were in days gone
by. We need not go back to the year 1814, when for
thirteen weeks the Thames was frozen over, and the
merriest of scenes were carried on upon the ice in the
very heart of the metropolis. True, there was a little
inconvenience in having the great highway of commerce
so long impassable to navigatioa, for there was then
neither the Great Northern nor the Midland
Railway Companies to bring enormous quantities of
coal up to the capital from the collieries in the
north of England. Almost, if not the whole,
of the coal then consumed in London then came by
water, and the inability of the colliers' bunks to make
their way up the Thames materially enhanced the
price of what is now regarded as one of the neeessaries
of life. Still the Londoners made the best of it, and
week after week skated away the time between
Blackfriara and Westminster Bridges, the vast crowd
upon the polished surface of the stream often amusing
itself by roasting an ox or holding a fair. But a
severe winter, like everything in this earthly sphere,
must have a termination, and such an one as that
has never since been experienced in London. We
have had winters, the latest of which was in 187-0,
that filled the Thames with huge masses of floating ice,
but there was no cohesion amongst the blocks, and
away they rolled towards the German Ocean. The
winter through which we have recently passed is a
fair specimen of that to be expected by the residents
in the temperate zone. Warm south-west winds
have prevailed; there have been but few cold
northern blasts, fewer still blighting breezes from
the east. The result is a forcing on of vegeta-
tion in the parks and gardens, Which, with the
passage of the vernal equinox, would be ready to
burst forth into active life. But while the
winters have thus become mild, the "merry month
of May" has lost the character for geniality which
was given to it by former poets and writers.
As certain as the south-west winds blow in January,
so surely do the east winds find us out in May, dealing
havoc and destruction amongst the shrubs and blos-
soms. 'Tie not in mortals to command the weather,
but if they could have a voice in such a matter, it
would be in favour of going back to the rule which pre-
vailed in the good old times, when winter did not
belie its name, and the month of May was not looked
forward to with dread, with its black east winds by
day and its cutting frosts at night undoing the work
which it formerly had the reputation of promoting.
There are some dates in the early part of March
which recall happier national days, when the people
busied themselves with other subjects than the
perennially troublesome question of the East, and
could retire to rest without any apprehension that the
morning would find them involved in war with a
colossal military Power. The 7th of March is a
double anniversary in the marriage festivities of the
Royal family. On that day in 1863, the Princess of
Wales, then Princes& Alexandra, made her entry into
London amid a demonstration such as has not since
been witnesskl. The decorations of the civic autho-
rities alone cost the Corporation £60,009. The mar-
riage took place at Windsor on the 10th, and so gay
were the illuminations of the metropolis that the halo of
light reflected in the sky could be plainly distinguished
from the terraces of Windsor Castle. On the 7th March
1874, the eleventh anniversary of the entry of the
Princess of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh landed with
his bride at Gravesend. The formal entry into Lon-
don was made on the 12th of the same month amid a
snowstorm so persistent that it must have reminded
the Duchess of the frozen home which she had left
upon the banks of the Neva. Half a generation has
passed away since the first of these events, and the
favourable impression then made upon the people of
London by the Princess of Wales has never been
effaced. Let her appear where she may in the metro-
polis—in the parks or in the streets and squares—
she is certain of a warm and cordial welcome.

A rumour with a great deal of life in it, and which
has been circulated in London for some time past,
points to an early dissolution of the present Parlia-
ment. It seems difficult to account for it except on
the ground that an idea prevails that a general election
would give us a Legislature more in accordance with
the present feeling of the country. The House of
Commons is but four years old, being assembled on
the sth March, 1874, so that it is by no means old for
a Parliament. A striking incident on the first night
of its meeting was the escorting of Mr. Disraeli, the new
ox tne ttouse, by tieneral.
Forester and Mr. Henley—the former as being the
Father of the House in point of service, having then
sat uninterruptedly for Wenlock since 1828, and the
latter as being the oldest member of the Conservative
party, for he was then 81 years of age. Of the three
who then walked up the floor to the Speaker's chair
in the full eye of the crowded house, not one now
remains in that assembly. General Forester, a
few months afterwards, succeeded to the peerage, thus
severing a political connection with his constituents
which had lasted nearly half a century; the Prime
Minister, two years afterwards, was created Earl of
Beaconsfield; and within the past month Mr.
Henley has retired from Parliamentary life. This
is a verY striking illustration of the changes which
only four years have wrought in the personnel
of the House of Commons. Death, resignation,
appointment to office of different kinds, and accession
to the peerage have been constantly at work, and the
firet of these alone has removed forty members from
their seats. That is an average of ten every year.
When this Parliament was elected, there were mutual
congratulations over the marriage of the Queen's second
son with the only daughtePof the Czar, and the Czar
himself has been over here during its existence. Yet
for weeks past England and Russia have seemed to be
on the very brink of war, and the crowds who in May,
1874, cheered the Russian Emperor in the streets of
London, now gather in Hyde-park and clamour for a
declaration of hoostilitiee against him. This shows
very forcibly what a change has come over public
feeling since the last general election, and what widely
different issues would now be placed before the con-
stituences in case of a dissolution.

The announcement that foreign spies had been seen
at Malta, making plans of the fortifications of that
island, has drawn attention to the importance of its
position as the key of the Mediterranean Sea. This
has been recognised from the earliest ages—even
by the Phcenicians ; and centuries afterwards
it formed a subject of quarrel between the Cartha-
ginians and the Romans, which last conquered
it. Malta has been successively held by the
Vandals, the Arabs, and the Normans, laid
siege to by the Turks, and captured by the French.
Early in the present century it was one of the bases
of the war between England and France, just as it
had been between Rome and Carthage 2,000 years
before. Napoleon captured it in June, 1798, at the
outset of his expedition to Egypt, but it was surren-
dered to Great Britain two years afterwards, and will
not easily be given up. There is no doubt a great deal
of jealousy on the part of more than one Continental
Power that England should possess the two most
splendid positions in the Mediterranean—Gibraltar and
Malta. The Spaniards, never weary of declaring that
Gibraltar is theirs; and the Italians have lately made it
clear and unmistakeable that they would like to have
Malta as their own. To a naval Power which keeps
a squadron always in the Mediterranean, such places
are invaluable for coaling and repairs, and the docks
at Malta are equal to many in our dockyards at home.
The British ships can ran in and be revictualled and
refitted as a matter of right, but foreign war vessels
can be admitted only as a favour, and it is quite
within the discretion of the Governor either to refuse
permission or to stipulate that the foreigner shall only
remain in British waters a specified time. The other
Powers dp not like this, although they ought to be
able to see that stringent precautions are justified
where the safety of such priceless possessions has to
be considered.

Although the session of Parliament is yet young,
one Bill has already passed both Houses and received
the Royal assent which, so far as the metropolis is
concerned, alters a system that had been in existence
for nearly half a century. Hitherto the hours of
polling have been from eight in the morning until
four in the afternoon; and this, in large towns,
where the working classes are employed at a distance
from their homes, leaving in the morning and return-
ing in the evening, made it almost impossible for
them to record their votes. Sir Charles Dilke, with the
aid of the Government, has now procured the sanction
of the Legislature to a measure which in the London
oonatitnencies will keep the poll open until eight
o'clock in the evening—an extension of four hours that
will make all the difference in the numbers of those
who exercise the franchise in future. The argument
in favour of the restriction of the hours has always
been that work of such importance ought to be per-
formed by daylight, and that polling stations lit with
oil lamps or candles on a winter evening would form
a temptation to the assembling of a riotous and excited
crowd. This, however, has been completely dis-
proved by the experience of the elections to the
London School Board, which have all taken place in
the depth of winter with an eight o'clock poll and with
no disorder whatever.

In writing the previous paragraph I VIM about to add

that this little reform of Sir Charles Dilke would pro-
bably soon be extended by Act of Parliament to the
large provincial towns. But there is scarcely a word
in the English language so misused as that word pro-
vincial. Londoners talk of " the provinces," meaning
the country as distinguished from the capital. But the
meaning of the word " province" is a conquered country,
or a land ruled by a delegate from the Home Govern-
ment, and such a term as applied to any part of the
United Kingdom is quite out of place. To say that
a celebrated actor is on a tour through the provinces
is therefore totally wrong. Another word at which a
dead set has lately been made is "inaugurate," when
" begin "or "open" would do just as well. The
Roman augurs were persons who pretended to foretell
events from the flight of birds; yet the word has now
been incorporated into an expression used to describe
the unveiling of a statue, the delivery of an address,
or the opening of an institution; and the critics who
trace its derivation tell us that in neither sense can it
be regarded as correct.

It is just ten years ago that tlil3 British public were
waiting with some anxiety for intelligence of the
expedition to Abyssinia under Sir Robert Napier,
which had been fitted out with the object of rescuing
several Europeans who had long been kept in eruel
captivity by the potentate calling himself the Emperor
Theodorus. We all know the success attending the
expedition—how the prisoners were released, and the
fortress of biagdala was destroyed, Theodosun himself
committing suicide. For his services Sir Robert
Napier was created Lord Napier of Magdala, with a
pension of £2,000 per annum for himself and the heir
to the title. Two years ago Lord Napier was ap-
pointed to the important post of Governor of
Gibraltar, at £5,000 a year, and the fact of his
being summoned home to confer with the Government
upon the Eastern crisis sufficiently shows how serious
our-Ministers held itto be. His selection as Commander-
in-chief of any expeditionary force which may be sent
out, with Sir Garnet Wolseley as chief of the staff,
has caused much excitement at St. Petersburg. As
Lord Napier won distinction in the East of Africa,
so did Sir Garnet Wolseley in the West, for he was
chosen to chastise King Koffee Kalcalli, the sable
ruler of Ashantee, and penetrated to Coomassie, the
capital of that kingdom. Lord Napier is 68 years of
age, and Sir Garnet Wolseley is 45, one year younger
than the Duke of Wellington when he gained the battle
of Waterloo, and twoyears younger than Lord Nelson
when he fought and died at Trafalgar.