The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-05-21 00:00:00

(DuOgit CorrtspOrnt.
!Tref deem It right to state that we do not at all times
'Wel Ltd}, ourselves with our correspondent's ophlions.l

The opening of the new London University by the
Queen—a remarkable event, inasmuch as her Majesty
thus gives her sanction to nnsectarian education, a
principle represented by the institution—has been
speedily followed by the Princesa Louise taking, for
the first time, the principal part in a great pub i
ceremony, the opening of the Inner Temple Hall.
Both events are gratifying, but the former is especially
satisfactory as offeting cor.traat to the seclusion which
we all regret.

Hopes are now entertained that the Irish Land Bill
is pretty safe. Th.-, House of Commons has latterly
been in earn eat in the matter. Whereas three weeks
were spent In committee over the three first clauses,
four days hiave just sufficed to pass the remaining 24
clauses of tlra first part of the bill. "The remaining
parts," it has been pointed out, "are either supple.
ment.wfy or instrumental. The second embodies
Mr. Bright's scheme, which is perfectly dis-
tinct from the rest of the measure, and might
be deferred without affecting the relations of
landlord and tenant." It is to be hoped that the
bill will reach the House of Lords in good time, and
that their lordships may see fit to assent to it. It will
:really be a mercy to England, to say nothing about
Ireland, to have this matter settled.

Parliament has a sacred duty to perform in regard
to what may at first seem a very small matter—it has
to refuse the South-Eastern Railway Company per-
mission to take a rail way through Greenwich Park. If
above ground—which one would think no parlia-
mentary committee would for a moment thmk of
sanctioning —it would for ever destroy the beauty and
rural quietude of the park; whether above or under ,
ground the rumble of the trains would seriously affect
the delicate operations at the Royal Observatory.
Either objection ought to be fatal.
No public topic now creates more excitement than
that mysterimas double murder at Chelsea. A more
horrible affsir has not occurred for years. In reading
the lengthy accounts of it two things will naturally
strike most readers, the awful atrocity of the crime
and the blundering stupidity as well as wickedness of
the criminal. It would seem as though the awful
character of the murders had driven the murderer
crazy, and as though justice had marked him for her
own and had made sure of him. In respect to ordinary
charges of murder, the time-honoured rule is that it is
not right to make comments on the case, at least in
print, till guilt is proved ; but this awful case is treated
as an exception. There seems no doubt that a man,
for the mere purpose of robbery, planned and carried
out the cruel murder of a venerable clergyman and
of his housekaver, and that having effected this
double object the man recklessly began squandering
the money, and then did the very things that would
almost to a certainty lead to the discovery of the crime
and to his own apprehension.

A mountain has been in labour, and has not brought
forth even a rOlscolus mos. We were to have had a
grand demonstration in Hyde Park last Sunday, the
object being to protest against the demand of the
French Government for the extradition of M. Gustave
Flourens, the Frenchman whose name ("not to put too
fine a point upon it,") has been mentioned in connection
with the recent plot against the life of the Emperor.
But it soon turned out that no such demand had
been made, and therefore there was no pretence for
a demonstration; there was nothing to protest against
there was not even the grievance of the proposed
demonstration being prohibited; and all that was left
to the Republicans and would-be demagogues who had
proposed this demonstration was to meet and— say
what they would, should, could, or might have done
had the French Ambassador done what he didn't
do!

Now is the season for Picture Exhibitions and grand
'Morning Concerts, RO called because they take place in
the afternoon. Fashionable people appear to make a
point of seeing all the galleries of pictures that offer
their attractions at this season of the year. And
rather hard work it is. You visit, we will say, the
Royal Academy, and then lounge through the rooms
of the Old Bondatreet Gallery. You go to the former
because it is an old standard exhibition, and it is de
rtgacur to visit it, and you go to the latter because it
Is a young and flourishing institution, and bids fair to
become great; but, however charming may be the
pictures, you find that even lounging pleasure is hard
work. And if you have any pretensions to gentility
you must attend the principal morning concerts during
the season —morning concerts, you must know, are so
very fashionable. Whether you really understand the
music, or care for it, has nothing to do with
it; it is the thing to do, and you must do it. In many
other features besides LOW& and painting, the fact that
we are in the London season is apparent— in certain
quarters, but not in others. Go into Hyde Park, take
a stroll down Itegont.street, or a ramble in Belgravia
and you can have no doubt about it. But there are
some quarters that have no season. I fear the effect
of many members of the aristocracy being amongst us
and of Parliament sitting produces but a small effect on
Bethnal-green, Spitalfields, and Poplar. They have
their seasons truly, but it is the season of frost and
snow, destitution and want of employment on the one
hand, or of sunshine and a fair amount of work on the
other, Happily, there is now reason to believe that
the working classes are pretty well employed; trade
has been slowly reviving for months past; the stream
of emigration has produced good results; and em.
plorrs and employed are, on the whole, on good
terrns.

What a marvellous old lady is Lady Franklin, the
widow of the celebrated discoverer! Though she is
nearly eighty years of age, she has reached Rio Janeiro,
on a visit to the Pacific coast, having heard that some
one in Vancouver's Island possesses a letter from, or
relating to Sir John, which he will not deliver to any
one but herself. This latter part of the statement is
rather strange, and, if true, is not particularly credit.
able to the possessor; but in any case the aged widow's
energy and affection for the memory of the lamented
explorer are worthy of all honour.

Now and then we have accounts of rioting, arising
out of the inclosure of part of some public common on
the outskirts of the Metropolis, but now we have a
more remarkable riot about an inclosure in the City
itself. It had been magisterially decided that cabs,
whether' privileged" or not, might be taken for hire into
the Fenchurch.street terminui ; the railway company
set this at nought, and made an inclosure by chains for
the privileged cabs ; and then about 30 men with sledge
hammers break down barriers and chains and send in
" unprivileged " cabs in triumph, Of course this was
not done without a counter-attack, and a regular fight.
In the interest of people arriving from the country, it
is to be hoped that the free-trade cab party may ulti-
mately triumph.

Some men and boys have just been sent to prison
for 'seven days for gambling in the streets. Very
proper, too ; only it is a pity that so many other
gamblers are allowed to escape. In more places
than one in London little knots of horsey.look.
ing men may stil be seen betting with each other and
making up their books, although the police are supposed
to prevent this. And it is well.known that there are
clubs in the metropolis established for no other purpose
than to facilitate betting. The street gamblers—the
London roughs who are imprisoned for tossing with
halfpence—may think it hard that they should be
punished while worse offenders go scot free. But then
if these betting clubs are touched, what about Tatters
sails to which so many members of Parliament
belong? Ay, there's the rub. There is no reason,
however, that though the Government cannot do all that
it might wish in the matter, it should not do what it
can. The evils produced by betting are enormous,
though their origin is often hidden. An illustration
has just transpired, in the suicide of a betting man who
had lost a large sum of money on the Chester cup.