The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-03-29 00:00:00

Our TintbiJß Correspoubmt.

tWe deers It right to state that we do not at all tirnes
Identify ourselves with our correspondent's opinions.]

It is earnestly to be hoped that the change ottifr
and scene which her Majesty will shortly take ot. the
Continent will answer the expectations founded upon
it. The fact that the Drawing Rooms of the season
Cave hitherto been held by the Princess-of Wales
shows that the Queen's health is not quite what her ,
subjects would wish it to be. It will be noted that
the absence of the Sovereign from her dominions wil.
take place at a time which shall cause the lems-,,
possible inconvenience to the State. Parliament v*lll
not be sitting, for the period selected is the Eaaer
recess, and as no Cabinet Councils are held then,
a responsible Minister can easily be spared to
attend her Majesty, as is invariably the case
when the Sovereign is at Balmoral, from
August ta November. As a rule, the Minister
thus told -off to be with the Queen is one free from
heavy departmental duties, such as the Lord Privy
Seal or the 'Charicellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Neither of the five Secretaries of State could long be
absent from London, and the same may be said of
the Firs.q.ord of the Admiralty, to say nothing of
the Prime Minister himself. On the other hand,
one of -the easiest posts in the Cabinet is that of
Chancellor of the Exchequer. He has to produce his
budget once a year, but he is called upon for very
little besides. Indeed, Mr. Gladstone, who has held
that c 'Boa in and out for many years, has enunci-
ated the dictum that, so light are its duties,
its holder should seek out work, and profitably
employ himself in the service of the State in
channels beyond the official routine. But it is not
every public man who is such a cormorant for work
as Mr. Gladstone, or has the physical strength for
its performance.
The Prime Minister's temporary and enforced re-
tirement from the cares of State, owing to serious
illness, has given ample occupation to the gossips in
the Commons Lobby for speculation as to the possible
future. Here is the Premier, 75 years of age, who
began his official career at the Treasury half a century
ago—for it was in November, 1834, that he
was first taken into Sir Robert Peel's administra-
tion and he is at the head of the ruling
party in the State. In his absence the lead of
the House of Commons is entrusted to Lord Harting-
ton, a most able and efficient lieutenant. But the
Secretary for War, who is over 50 years of age, is
the eldest son of the Duke of Devonshire, who is
older than Mr. Gladstone. Now the lobby gossips
have been pointing out to one another that, in the
course of a comparatively short time, as the history
of a nation is reckoned, Mr. Gladstone will cease to
sit in the House of Commons, and Lord Hartington
will be Duke of Devonshire, and no longer a member
of that assembly Then who will lead the Liberal
party? A question of that kind is more easily asked
than replied to.

A Reform Bill debate carries the memory back, not
so far in time as in events. Less than twenty years
have passed since Mr. Gladstone moved the second
reading of the Franchise Bill on the 12th of April,
1866. There were then facing him on the front
Opposition bench Mr. Disraeli, Lord Stanley, Viscount
Cranbome, Sir Hugh Cairns, Sir Edward Bulwer
Lytton, and Mr. Gathorne Hardy. Not one of these
is now -a member of the House of Commons. Mr.
Disraeli and Lord Lytton, both of whom were created
peers, died. Lord Stanley is now, as the Earl of
Derby, one of Mr. Gladstone's colleagues as Colonial
Secretary. Viscount Cranborne, as the Marquis of
Salisbury, is the Conservative chief. Sir Hugh Cairns
and Mr. Gathorne Hardy were raised to the peerage,
and are prominent members of the Tory party in the
House of Lords. But the shifting waves of political
power are as nothing compared to the mighty changes
which have been witnessed on the Continent.
Eighteen years ago Austria was still a German
Sovereignty, and the Battle of Sadowa had not been
fought. For four years thereafter the Emperor
Napoleon ruled over France, little dreaming of the
approach of that September day in 1870, when the
Empire of Germany rose, Phcenix-like, from the
ashes of the Empire of France, amid the smoke and
rain of the capitulation at Sedan.
If any evidence were required to show the popu-
larity of the Prince and Princess of Wales, it would
be found in the enthusiastic reception accorded to
their Royal Highnesses whenever they make their
appearance to discharge any of those duties which are
so numerous during the London season. As to the
Heir-Apparent, he is quite as much at home in open-
ing a Training School for Nurses in Westminster as
in presiding at the annual meeting of the National
Lifeboat Institution, or in advocating the claims of
either of the many charities which, at the request of
the patrons, he takes up at Willis's Rooms, St. James's
Hall, or the Freemasons' Tavern. Nor is his
Royal Highness a stranger at the opening of a bazaar
for some philanthropic purpose. London knows hi'
features well; and as to his amiable consort, although
she has been with us more than twenty-one years, the
lapse of time seems to make no difference in the ex
pressiveness of her bright and beaming face.

The Fisheries at South Kensington was such a mar-
vellous success last- year that the authorities who
have the Health Exhibition in hand are making
every effort by preparation to secure an equal
amount of the popular favour. One of the attrac-
tions will be a representation of a street
in Cheapside in the olden time, with its
quaint talk, manners and customs, with the traders
dressed just as they used to be centuries ago, and
carrying on their handicrafts as in the days of the
Tudors. In this pushing age, with its worry and its
turmoil, there is always something strangely fasci-
nating in a peep at those bygone ages which can never
come back again in the whirl of competition which
most of us have to face in the world of to-day. The
popularity of those old English fairs which are now
SO often resorted to for charitable purposes is un-
doubted; hence the idea to resuscitate an old city
thoroughfare by way of contrast with the life
and industry, and energy of the time wherein we live.
A venerable church, situated in the very centre of
the iushing traffic of the City, might, at a superficial
glance, seem an incongruous place for a religious
service at three o'clock on a week-day afternoon; but
one of these at St. Olave's, Mark-lane, a few days ago,
was attended with incidents of peculiar interest. It
was the structure where Samuel Pepys, the diarist,
worshipped, and in which his remains lie, and the
occasion was the unveiling of a memorial to Pepys,
the principal speaker being the United States' Minister,
Mr. J. Russell Lowell. Pepys, as is well known, was
clerk at the Admiralty for many years, and kept his diary
in cypher. Although he lived until the age of 71, he
does not seem to have maintained the records of the
diary after he was 37, which is much to be regretted,
looking at the fact that, as Mr. Lowell pointed out, it
is the most delightful book of its kind ever written in
any language. For about 150 years after it was
written it remained undeciphered in the library of
Magdalene College, Cambridge, but happily a key
to the hieroglyphics was discovered early in the
present century, and thus was given to the
world some wonderfully picturesque scenes of
London life of over two hundred years ago.
The celebration of the Emperor's William's eighty-
seventh birthday on Saturday was attended with many
festivities in Berlin. To the aged monarch many of
the events in his earlier Life must seem more like
a dream than a remembrance. For instance, seventy
years have now passed away since he entered Paris
with the allied sovereigns in 1814, after Napoleon had
been sent to Elba. He was in Paris in 1867 as the
guest of the late Emperor of the French, and
again three years afterwards as the Emperor of
Germany and as the conqueror of his former host in
one of the greatest struggles which ever took place upon
the European continent. The length of his reign,
has not, however, been in proportion to the number of
his years, for he had attained the mature age of 64
Wore he came to the throne.

ItE Vi%romp BE A CANDIDATE.—" Now, George,"
said Lurline, "I've promised to be your wife, and
now you must promise me one thing." "My darling,
what is it?" "That you will not be a candidate,"
she said. "Not be a candidate!" he said. "Great
Scott ! Anything but that—anything but that! I
can't promise you that." "Why can't you promise
that, George?" "Oh, because all the fellows are
candidates—Jones is a candidate, Brown is a candi-
date, Smith is a candidate, Simpkins is a candidate;
they are all eandidates. No, my dear; I'll promise
you anything in reason; but I can't give up my great
North American right to be a candidate." "Then,
sir," she replied, sternly, "our paths henceforth di-
verge. I'll not have my married life marred by '
political strife. Good night, sir." And George
passed out, into the street, a martyr to his principles,
—.Detroit Fro Prose,

TICE HEALTH OF MR. GLADSTONE.
Mr. Gladstmle passed a good night on Monday, and
onTuesdar morning felt much stronger, the la,ryttx
being lesstroublesome. Almost his first inquiry was
as to the quarter whence the wind was blowing, since
he is very anxious to take outdoor exercise and to
return to his official duties. The "rind was easterly
and. cold and the atmosphere foggy, so that there was
no possibility of his taking even a brief carnage drive.
ffe occupied himself with official bcsiness, and
throughout the afternoon, after the arrival of the
letters and dcpatek boxes, was engaged in writing in
the library. Sir Andrew Clark visited him at six
o'clock, and left a report to the effect that Mr.
Gladstone was still improving, but slowly, and that it
was impossible at present to say definitely when he
might return to town.