The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-11-27 00:00:00

FATHER HYACINTHE ON CHRISTIAN
UNITY.

, We have not had many " extra-parliamentary ntter-
tame during the recess, and Ministerial speeches
having been specially rare we are left to upeculetion as
to our political prospects. It is certain, however, that
we shall have an Irish session MOO again, and that the
Irish land problem will afford ample employment for
our representatives. Ministers have, however, managed
to keep their secret to themselves hitherto, and none
of the apeculations as to the character of the forth•
coming measure can be safely depended upon. It Atilt
be • mercy to Ireland and a comfort to the rest of the
British empire, if this troublesome problem can be
solved in one session, but this, perhapr, is aluaoat too
much to expsct. That which reasonable people look
forward to is that come measure will be passed which
will work gradually for the benefit of Ireland. It is
too much to txpegt that the evils which have been
developing themselves fur centuries will be remedied
by one Act of Parliament. In other respects we ate
also to have, it is said, a reforming et sedum The great
subject of national eibleation, which bristles with
difficulties, will probahly be entered upon, and
here too we must not look for too muds. Natiemal
education may be the want of the age, but in
an old country like ours, we begin reform very late,
and it is difficult to eradicate bad habits anil to counter.
act &las systems. It is these great subjects, such as
the land question and the education question in which
we are all interested, that are en difficult to deal with,
There are minor reforms which are capable of being
dealt with in a simple Act of Parliament and with a
few nights' discussion. Such a reform would be the
abolition of turnpikes throughout the country, which
it is said the Government contemplates. Another re-
form said to be contemplated is the abolition of tax
eullectons and the establishment of district offices for
the receipt of taxes, but a detailed statement of ouch a
plan must be made before we can have any idea how it
would work. The ballot is another subject which will
probably occupy the attention of Parliament next
session. We cannot expect Government to propose a
measure on this subject, but it is hardly likely that
they would seriously oppose the proposaL
The Holborn Viaduct continues to be a great object
of attraction, but people having been debarred from
the delicious pleasure of chipping little bite off of the
beautifal pillars where they are cracked, the spectator's
appear to take rather an enlarged view of affairs.
The report of the engineer in regard to these fissures
tell/ us only what was generally agreed upon before,
that there is no danger, but says nothing as to the
cause of this amazing disfigurement of the granite
columns. Poor Mr. Hay wood, he is to be coin.
miserated. These unfortunate cracks must be for
him, compared with his great success, what Charles
Lamb says, a pacer relation is "a piece of impertinent
oorresposidency, an odious approximation, an un-
welcome remerrebraucer, a perpetually occurring
mortification, a drawback upon success., a blot on your
scutcheon, a deaths head at you banquet, a Mordecai
at your gate, a Lazarus at your door, a triumph to
your enemy, Sal apology to your friends, the one thing
not needful, a fly in your ointment, the ounce of corn
in a pound of sweet." But still he has done a glorious
work, and I cannot understand how honours can be
given to others and he left out in the cold. But then
he not only had the Queen to open it, but the Prince
of Wales has just paid it a visit, and the architect too
has the praise of every one who contemplates this
stupendous triumph of engineering.
A fertile topic of conversation is a much more stu-
pendous triumph of engineering—the Suez Canal,
which has been opened to navigation. It is pleasant
to read of the Pres which celebrated this triumph, and
there is ample food for thought as to the effect that
this "short cut " will have upon comemerce, on inter-
national intercourse, and on the prospects of rival
nations. The saving of time in many long voyages
will be immense. The union of the Mediterranean
with the Red Sea by a ship canal is said to have been
advocated by Sea' stris, one of the early Kings of
Egypt, but it matters little what he thought of it.
The first Napoleon is known to have thought it prac-
ticable, but it is the third Napoleon who has been one
of the staunchest friends of M. de Lesseps, the hero I
of the hour, and whose name will doubtless be handed
down to posterity as one of the greatest engineers of ,
our time. Lord Palmerston was one of the greateat
opponents of this ship canal ; he thought it would
separate Ezypt from Turkey, and render the Pacha in-
dependent of the Sultoi. What effect the canal may
nave on the relations of Turkey and E4ypt is among
the topics now discussed, but of more general iuterebt
is the effect 'in international commie eicatii in. The dis-
tance from theEngiish Channel to Calcutta by the Cape
of Good Hope is about 13,000 miles; by the a ledittera-
nean, Suez Canal, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean, it is
about 8,000 miles, thus saving considerably more than
one third. The Suez Canal brings New York practi-
cally nearer to Bombay by 2,400 leaguer, and New
Orleans by 2,700 leagues; and it of course shortens very
considerably the sea distance between Europe and
Australia, New Zealand, etc. how all this will work
miming to be seen, but the great fact for the present is
'.hat the " impossibility" has been accompliehed.
The King of the Belgians Las been welcomed both in
Windsor and in London, and will be welcomed whir-
ever be goes, for he has shown hearty kindness towards
our volunteers and so far exhibited a friendly feeling
towards the nation at large, for the voluntetra are re-
presentative men, and very popular reprerentatives too.
Year by year the friendly feeling between England
and Belgium seems to increase, and the more the
nations know each other the more they are likely to
reciprocate friendship. There is a great similarity be-
tween Belgians and English, politically and socially, but
Belgium has one great advantage over no. Her people
are more uniformly prosperous ; if there are fewer rich
Belgians than English in proportion to the population,
there are alms fewer poor. England stands alone in
this; nowhere are there so many wealthy men; no.
where so many paupers. By the way, the King of the
Belgians shows his modesty in preferring to occupy
apartments at Claridge's Hotel than to reside pro tern.
at Buckingham Palace, which the Queen kindly places
at his disposal. The King, however, is to receive
deputations at the Palace, and is thus duly honoured.
The apartments which he will occupy at Claridge's
Hotel are thaw which are always occupied by such
distinguished visitors to her Majesty as she does not
feel at liberty to invite to one of. ber own palaces.
They are exclusively devoted to the Queen's friends,
and as • matter of course are splendidly appointed,
while, equally as a matter of course, the expenaes are
defrayed by her Majesty.
Church-going vieitors to London are generally fond
of going to St. Paul's, and for them, as well as for
residents, it iv a pity that the metropolitan cathedral
should be eh 'Rd on Sunday evenings. The special
services will not recommence till the 2nd of January,
and till then this fine cathedral will remain dark, cold,
and sombre throughout the greater part of the Sunday,
whereas if it were opened in the evening there would
be a crowded congregation on every occasion. It is
difficult to understand why there should be any
"special" services at all, and why the cathedral
should not be opened morning and evening every Sun.
day.
The serious illness of the A rebbishop of Canterbnry
gives rise, at the time of writing, to grave fears. His
Grace has acquired the esteem and reelect of the public
by a long career of hard work in the Church and
by his continued efforts to secure peace within its walls.
The want of a bridge below London Bridge, which
has been so long felt, is now felt more than ever, owing
to the closing of that bridge for repairs. Heavy traffic
having to go two or three miles up one ride of the river,
cross a bridge, and then go two or three miles down
the other side of the river seems very much like a mar-
vellous bungle for the year 1869, but such is the fact.
All idea of widening London Bridge seems now to
be abandoned, and we shall have a few more years'
talking about it. In a few months, however, we shall
have the Tower Subway opened, and that will make a
sensible difference.
I have been studying the theatrical papers for news
of forthcoming plays, pantomimes, &c. The only fact
worth mentioning is that, without an exception, the
writers and concoctors are old stagers at this sort of
thing. New men teem to stand no chance, while
hacks who have written themselves out long ago keep
on grinding away. I suppose it pays managers best to
take the productions of known men, but still there are
as good fish in the sea as (and perhaps better than)
ever came out of it.
Even though distance may lessen interest in the sub-
ject, most people will have some little sympathy for the
Londoners in a calamity that is about to fall upon
them, for nothing less than • metropolitan calamity
will be the loss of Hampstead Heath. This place really
is • little natural CHAS in our London desert, and for
generations it has given happiness to thousands, and
has done more than we can well estimate to benefit the
health of the whole metropolis. We have long been
threatened with the loss of this charming recreation
ground, the most valuable because the most natural of
our open imams. The long-threatened blow has fallen
at last, and dc/ends est is the decree of the new heel of
the manor. Otis to be built over ! The full horrors
of that phrase will suggest themselves ins moment If
the aforesaid lord of the manor has the right to do this,
that right ought to be compulsorily purchased, for like
our "bold peasantry," Hampstead Heath, "'alien
once destroyed, can never be supplied." Perhaps in •
year or two, or even in • month or two, when it is too

traffic

At the meeting of the Evangelical Union in New
York, inn the 4M inst., she EMU. L. W. Bacon, of
Williamsburg said that he was preparing a translation
of Father I v acinthe's serin, ma, and having acquainted
that geutlenian with the fact, lie received a reply, tube
rived as a preface to the work, which he read as
f chows :
" I am gratified as well as surprised at the honour wh'el
yea are disposed to give to the few discourses I havepubllshed
in Europe I should have been glad, I acknowledge, if I
had been able to bring to America soniethhig less unworthy
of the sympathies with which I have here been wehaymed,
arid ehich I shall always reckon among the greatest honours
and the purest Joys of nry life. Ouch as th,y are. however.
I commit these rough productions to the intelligeuce of your
readers Frenchman and Catholic as I are, I prevent them,
through your hands, to that great Ainericrin Republic of
which you are a citizen, and to those numerous arid flourish-
ing Protestant churches of which )ou ore one of the miniaters.
am prowl of my France, but I deem It one id Its most solid
glories to have contributed to the indeperel tore of that noble
country, which it has never ceased to love, and which it shall
one day learn to Imitate. How marry people for whom
liberty is something less than a barren theory or bloody prac-
tice ! With me the cause of lahour has never beer] con-
f, united with that relation of liberty which rears its houses
of prep r next to its houses of commerce, and crowns Its
noisy and productive week with the sweetness and niajesty
of its worship. I continue faithful to my Church and faith,
and I have protested against the excesaes whieh have dis-
honoured it, arid which seem bent upon Its ruin_ You may
measure the intensity of my love to-day by the bitterness of
my lamentation. When He who I. In an things cur master,
our example, armed Himself with • scourge of cords against
the profaners of the Temple. Ilm discipline remembered that
It was written, 'The real of thine house bath eaten vie up.'
an, still faithful to my Church. lam none the lens sensible
of the interest which must be felt in the bosom of other
Churches in what I may say or do within the pale of Catho-
licism. For that matter, I have never deemed that the Christian
communions that have bet n separated from Rome have been
disinherited of the Holy Ghost, mid without a part in the
Infinite work of the preparation tor the Kingdom of God.
In my relations with acme of the most pirou and the most
learned of their member., I have experienced in tire very
depth of my soul that unutterable blessing of the comniunton
of saints. Whatever MilY diVidif US 01tIMISny 111 space or in
vanishes like • dream in the presence of that which
unites us within—the grace of the same God, the blood of the
same Cr,,,., the Hoist of the same Trinity. Whatever be our
prejudices, yet under the eye of God who seeth every hidden
thing, who gives His hand which is leading us, we are Mbour-
lug all in common for the lip building of that Church of the
future whish shall be the Church of the past in Its purity
and its original beauty In the days of his captivity the
word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, and said to him, 'Take a
stick and write thereon, For Judea Enid for the children of
Israel, his tenants; aroi take another stink and write thereon
For Joseph ; hiSO a stick for Ephraim and for all the house
of Israel, his tenants. Then thou shalt j ,in thorn, one to the
other, and they shall form but one stick, and they shall be
united in thy band.' The Lord bath, thee, put in my hand two
branches, Rome and the children of others. I have pressed
them Weather to my heart, and under the outpouring of tiny
tears and any prayers I have so joined them that they shall
be henceforth but one tree. Men have dared to scorn tiny
etforts, seemingly so, and they ask of nie, as they have asked
of the seer of olden times, ' Will you not tell us then what
yoir would ? And I look upon that tree that seems still
tern arid mutilated, and already I behold the brilliant dower
and the savoury fruit, one God, one faith, one baptism, and
there shall be one fold and one Shepherd—Br. 11VACLYTHE.—
Highland Ealls, All Saints Day, Nov. 2, 180)."

lh,