The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-04-12 00:00:00

Our lonbort aurtspoatnt.

We Atom it right to stste that we do not at all times
Identity ourselves with 'our Correspondent's opinions.]

The last tribute of respect to the memory of the
pule of Albany was paid on Saturday amid every
indication of sineero and heartfelt sympathetic sorrow
st, the loss sustained, more especially by the lonely
wifo and the bereaved mother. St. George's Chapel,
Windsor, has witnessed many a changeful scene
during the forty-seven years of the present reign.
Several Reyal weddings have taken place there.;
beginning with the marriage of the Prince of WF..les
on the 10th March, 1863, and including that of the
Duke of Albany himself on the 27th April, 1882.
The brilliant company assembled there less than two
years ago could have had not the faintest idea of what
would be passing within those same walls in so short
a time illustrative of the ever-shifting panorama of
life.

It The Duke of Albany was buried within forty-eight
hours of the day when, had he lived, he would have
completed his 31st year. Born on the 7th April, 1853,
the youngest son of Queen Victoria came into the
world only a short time before the youngest daughter
of George 111., the Duchess of Gloucester, was called
upon to leave it. But the Duchess of Gloucester was
82 when she was gathered to her fathers, and thus had
more than half a century of life over the term which
was accorded to Prince Leopold. Mr. Gladstone, the
present Premier, who moved a vote of condolence to
her Majesty on the death of the. Duke of Albany, was
one of the Cabinet Ministers who joined in congratu-
lating the Sovereign on his birth. He was then
Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Administration of
the Earl of Aberdeen.

So far as London MMA concerned, the signs of
mourning seemed very general on Saturday. The
vast fleet of shipping in the docks lay with their flags
half-masted, these hanging listlessly in the absence of
sufficient wind to fling their folds fully out upon such
a breeze as might be expected at this time of the
year. As in the city, so in the remotest suburbs—
from Highgate to Norwood or from Shepherd's-bush
to Bromley, the blinds of most houses were drawn
and the drivers of the cabs and omnibuses had their
whips draped in crape. The demonstration of sorrow
appeared to be as general as it was genuine. It
takec a great deal to move such a great community as
that of London to one feeling; but there can be little
doubt of the widespread nature of the regretful senti-
ment on this occasion.

Mr. Gladstone's speech in the House of Commons
in reply to Sir Stafford Northcote when the Conser-
vative leader moved the adjournment in order to dis-
cuss the affairs of Egypt, was the most telling piece
of invective that he has delivered during the present
Parliament. Only once in the late House was any-
thing heard like it, and that was early in the session
of 1877, when he fell heavily upon Mr. Chaplin for
having accused him of making charges against his
political opponents, and then running away. On such
occasions the whole atmosphere of the place seems filled
with electricity, ordinarily unimpressionable people
quiver with excitement, and the orator's rushing words
seem made red-hot with passion. For a man who had
risen from a sick bed, and who is in the 75th year of
his age, the effort was a wonderful one. The speech
lasted only half-an-hour, and at its close the aged
minister sat down pale and exhausted, leaving the
House shortly afterwards to the lead of the Secret-try
of State for War.

Mr. Bright has been ill in bed from congestion of
the lungs, and this has made his residence in Picca-
dilly the scene of an immense number of calls. He
occupies a very neat little house on the right-hand
side going towards Hammersmith, just below Down-
street, near the bottom of Piccadilly, and overlooking
the Green Park. It is not far from the Oxford and
Cambridge Club, formerly the residence of Lord
Palmerston, when as Prime Minister of England he
dated election addresses to the voters of Tiverton
from 94, Piccadilly. In those days that which
Puncl4 described as "the stalwart form of Bright,"
sat below the gangway, and the voice was as
the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Many a
tussle has there been between Lord Palmerston and
Mr. Bright; indeed, no two men were ever more
diametrically opposed to each other in matters of
public policy than the titled statesman, whose motto
was Civis Romanus sum, and the Quaker orator who
craved for peace. Lord Palmerston once called Mr.
Brightthe "honourable and reverend gentlenian," when
Mr. Cobden rose to order, and asked for the Speaker's
ruling. Palmerston, however, at once withdrew the
expression.

The illness of the sonior member for Birmingham
attracted to his house a vast host of callers
from the duke to the working man, at the
time the right hon. gentleman was confined to his
bed fr An the same disease as that which carried off
Mr. Cobden. Exactly nineteen years has passed away
since the great Free Trader was called to his rest.
He died in Suffolk-street, Pall-mall, on Sunday, the
3rd of April, 1865, from congestion of the lungs. The
weather then, however, was of a different character
from that of early April in the present year, when,
fortunately for Mr. Bright, and all other invalids, a
light south-west wind was passing over London in
pleasant contrast to the icy Siberian blasts which this
time three years proved fatal to Lord Beaconsfield.
Paternoster-row has a world-wide celebrity, so that
the recent fire in the very heart of the city has
attracted very general interest. The aspect of St.
Paul's as it stood out in the lurid light, has been
described by many graphic pens. Happily the wind
carried the burning flakes away from the Cathedral;
and mxtch as we would rather not contemplate the
possibility of the vast pile taking fire, it is unmis-
takeably true that there is an enormous mass of
woodwork at the top of the structure, the golden
cross itself, which glitters so brightly in the morning
sunshine, being composed of this material. It is only
to imagine the consternation that would spread
through London at the cry "St. Paul's on fire !" to
be thankful that Wren's masterpiece has escaped this
danger. It would puzzle most of the nineteenth cen-
tury architects to improve upon the proportions of
this wondrous pile.

The severe cartoon in Purpch pourtrayiag john
Bull with .a whip entering the door of the House of
Common.s,-so as to flog that assembly into a notion of
something like work, never ought tohave been neces-
sary for the representatives of a 'business people
whose trade-stands at the head of commercial nations,
not by the use of words, but by deeds. It has been
laid down that the late Parliament was elected to -do
nothing and fulfilled its mission; but there can
be no question that the present House of Com-
mons was chosen after a very ample programme
had been placed before the country, and.equally little
doubt that the ,performances have not been equal to
the expectations. The responsibility for this is a
Tatter of controversy; but many years .of recent
liperience would inevitably lead to a lowering of the
tone of public life, and to a diminutionof that interest
which the public take in political affairs. People are
not likely to trouble themselves much about the
election of a body which meets but to talk, and prefers
everlastingly to discuss the affairs of Egypt while
such great questions as the condition of the poor in
our great towns receive hut scant attentinn from, our
legislators.

A man's great ambition is to be credited with
N'ine great feat; a woman's to be credited with smali
feet.

AN ENRON ritss. RIMNDT.---A. domestic in a re-
spectable family, one morning before breakfast, took•
the following preserikition to a druggist in the neigh-
bourhood "Please give the bearer a double dose of
castor-oil with taste disguised.. Handing it to the
assistant, she sat down to await the preparation, but
was agreeably surprised to be soon asked if she
would like a glass of soda. Having drank it, she
resumed her seat, and waited for about fifteen
minutes. She then ventured to remark that she was
"afraid the folks would be waiting their breakfast"
if she did not go soon. "Well," said the assistant,
"what are you waiting for?" "'Why, fbr that'pre..
scription," she said. "Why, I gave it to you in that
glass of soda-water some time ago." "Oh, lo?! "was
the reply; is was not for me; 'twas for a man down
Alt the house.'
NOTHING MUM THE MATTIER.—Two Dutch farmers
In New Jersey, whose farms were adjacent, were out
in their respective fields when one heard an unusually
loud hallooing in the direction of a gap in a high
stone wall, and ran with all speed to the place, and
the following brief conversation ensued :—" Shon,
vat ish to matter ?" "Veil, den," says John, "1 was
trying to climb on te top of dish high stone wall, and
1 fell off, and all to stone wall tumbled down onto me,
and has broke one of mine legs off, and both of
mine arms, smashed mine rib in, and deese pig stones
are laying on te top of mine body !" " Ish siat all?"
says the other ; "vy, you heller en big loud I tot you
g°4 tiptogNcin 1"