The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-03-08 00:00:00

; 1.4
71t,,t!: ,;
.

Our Vonbutt &raspAent,

[We deem tt right to stste that we do Wo% at all times
Identity ourselves with our Correspondent's epinions.]

Those who have been accustom/ea:to assemble in the
churches of the metropolis, and to pray for deliver-
ance from sedition, privy ceetviracy, and rebellion,
have been brought acquainted with privy conspiracy
in its worst and most diabelleal form within the pa. 4
few clays. The discoveries of dynamite at several ef
the great London termini "ve created a general seltse
of uneasiness. In vest cases the metropolitan
.Tailwaystations are ,eennected with palatial betels,
'which not only :.accommodate scores or even
hundreds of guests., 'but contain vast apartments ,fcee
the holding of publi-e meetings. They are all samaptueusly
fitted, but country readers will remember more especi-
ally the MidlanE, at St. Pancras; the Great Neethz.re,
at King's Crow ; the Great Western, at Paddington ;the
City Terminus at Cannon-street; the Itaperial,
born; and the-South-Eastern, at CharingOross. Then,
there is the Grosvenor, at Victoria, one ,of the most
splendidly-eppointed places of entertainment in the
kingdom. These hotels are largely used by travellers
arriving at, and departing from, the adjaceet-stations.
It wilrhave been noted that at Victcnia,,et'Charing
Cross, and at Paddington, the cloak-room, vhere tire
deposits of dynamite were left, were immediately
contiguous to the hotel, so that, bad the plans e:cf
the conspirators been carried out in 'their entirety,
not only a part of the station, ben, portion of the
hotel also would have been blown into 'the air.
Looking at the busy life which is 'to be always
associated with the traffic of a great :London terminus,
it is impossible for an ordinary mortarto,conceive the
awful depth of wickedness which can ,celnely contoru_
plate the destruction of unsuspectingand unoffending
fellow-creatures in the manner ,clearly designed 'by
the constructors of these infernal maChines. he iso-
lated cases we have heard of attempts being made to
wreck railway trains by iron 'bars oi-beams of wood
being placed across the line; ifeatThappily these are not
of frequent occurrence in thiseountry. The endeavours
to destroy life and property by the ;fearful agency, Of
dynamite becomes, however, ecorefrequent and more
Persistent. It is just three years since, during the
mayoralty of Sir William McArthur, a clumsily-con-
structed infernal ma,chine was discovered near the
windows of the Egyptian Hall of the Mansion House,
and since then the skill of the conspirators has de-
veloped to a deadly degree. It is not only public
buildings which are now marked' oat for destruction,
but hundreds of innocent lives.

Many strange feelings must have come over Mr.
Gladstone when he rose on the 28th February, to
introduce a bill to amend the laws relating to
the representation of the people. On that
day exactly a quarter of a century before,
namely, on the 28th February, 1859, Mr.
Disraeli had risen with the same object in view.
That measure, like the <Due which the Prime Minister
has now placed before the country, proposed to
assimilate the county with the borough franchise,
The qualification in towns was then £lO, and Mr.
Disraeli introduced a bill to leave the borough
suffrage unaltered, to sweep away the £5O qualifica-
tion in the Aires, and to reduce it to .ElO. Mr.
Gladstone supported the proposition, but it was not
aee-pted by the House of Commons, and on appeal
evieeted by the country. But that was not the
fir, it, form Bill in the discussion of which Mr.
Gladstone had taken part in his long career. He
was a member of the Administration of Lord
Aberdeen, which introduced a Reform Bill in the
session of 1854, but withdrew it in consequence of the
absorbing interest of the Russian war.
Saturday was a day of considerable excitement in
London. First came the discovery of an infernal
machine at Ludgate-hill Station, which, although un-
connected with an hotel, is one of the busiest in the
central part of the metropolis. The suburban traffic
of the Chatham and Dover is so enormous that
the structure at Ludgate - hill is totally in-
adequate to its accommodation, and a second
bridge across the Thames is in course of construction
wlaich is to lead to a new station to be raised in
Queen Victoria-street. An explosion in such a place
as Ludgate-hill couli not fail to have terribly fatal
consequences. Then, as the day wore on, came the
tidings of the battle between General Graham and
Osman Digna, and there was a considerable demand
for the evening papers. In the evening there was the
result of the Brighton election, which had been awaited
by both parties with very considerable interest owing
to the peculiar political circumstances suarounding it.
Great was the rejoicing in Conservative circles when
it was known that Mr. Marriott had been returned by
a majority of 1457.

If the members of the Common Council of London
were not fathers as well as men of business it is not
unlikely that ere this would have been issued an
edict against a common source of danger to the tra-
vergers of City pavements. Perambulators come as a
boon and a blessing to nursemaids, and mothers are
often loud in their praise; but although a country
road, a suburban street, or a London park are fit
places in which they may be wheeled, they are surely
out of their element on the crowded pathways of the
City. In most cases the pavements of the busiest
thoroughfares are of an extreme narrowness, and
when a perambulator occupies the greater portion of
their width ordinary passengers have to go into the
street to their personal danger and great disturbance
of mind. Perhaps, when some noteworthy personage
is seriously injured by reason of what appears to be a
growing nuisance, means may be found to deal with
what would fairly claim attention from "grand-
motherly legislation."

There is now about a month before we arrive at the
date of the University Boat-race, which will be rowed
from Putney to Mortlake on April sth. On Ash
Wednesday both crews commenced strict training,
and have begun to prepare for the annual contest in
earnest. Although it is rather early to judge the
merits of either crew, the Oxonians seem to be the
favourites. There was a bet laid last week of 60 to 40
an Oxford, doubtless because the rowing of the Dark
Blues up to the present has been slightly better than that
of their opponents. However, according to recent ac-
counts, the Cantabs appear to have made great improve-
ment, and this, no doubt, is partly owing to the crew being
of the same order during the past week. •Before this
they were constantly changed, and shifted from one
thwart to another. They are •under the guidance of
a very good coach, and if they still go on improving
we may see before long a revulsion in the betting.
Both crews are very evenly matched as regards weight,
but when the Oxonians recently scaled it was seen
that almost the whole of the crew had lost flesh.
Last year the race was rowed on a Thursday; now
Saturdry is the day selected. This year it will be
rowed about three weeks sukaquent to the date of
last, owing to Easter coming so late this time. We
siCall not see the rival crews at Putney, until about a
fOrthight before the day of the race. When they are
at work on the Thames, judges of good rowing will
be able to form some opinion as to their relative
chances. As the Cantabs are steadily improving, and
the Oxonians are not deteriorating, there seems.every
chance of a close race.

On'Saturda,y the bust of the poet Longfellow, by
Mr. Brock, which has been placed in Poets
Corner, Westminster Abbey, was unveiled by Canon
Ptothero, in the presence of a numerous and dis-
tinguPied company, which included the Foreign Sec-
retary, the Mancellor of the Exchequer, and the
American Minister. Mr. Russell Lowell is one of the
most graceful speakers who ever discharged the duties
belonging to the representative of the United States
in this country, auul his little speech at this ceremonial
was quite worthy of his reputation as a cultivated,p üblic
speaker and as a mar.. of letters. Longfellow, there
can be no question, wis.s as Much of an Erglish poet
as Tennyson, or to gp further back, as Keats or
Shelley, or Cowper, or Gray. Mr. Lowell declared
that Westminster Abbey was to be the Walhallaof our
race; and if so, the monument of no Anglo-Saxon

could be more appropriately placed there tha'n that of

the po,,t whose popularity is as great on this side a
the thntic as on that of his birth. The admiration
of Earl Granville for the character and works of Long-
fellow had been previously expressai on more than
one occasion, t ut was never better co-mtveyed than last
aturday.

At the monthly meeting of the Liverpool Teacher's
Asssociation, Mr. Shaw, the president, said that in
T.,iverporl at present no fewer than twelve teachers were
suffering from general debility through work. To
remedy the evil the merit grant must be abolished froin
the code, the high percentage of passes in the clam
subjects reduced, greater freedom of classification at
lowed, and the amount of work required in Orb' Xicl
it' tools materially reduced,