The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-01-26 00:00:00

Cur fonbon Corrogodott.
[We deem lt right to state thAt we do not at all thriCa
dentlfy ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.)

The Cabinet Ministers have resumed their eittingss
thus to give the final touches to the measures which
will occupy Parliament during the session. The
Premier's rojeurn amid the quiet scenery of Hawarden
is at an end for the time, and for nearly three months
he will be immersed in the turmoil of legislative life,
where he haa been a conspicucus figure during more
than half a century. Easter is three weeks later this
year than last, so that the month of April will have
arrived before the right hon. gentleman again enjoys
the calmness of the woods and the bracing air of
North Wales. In that time many things may
have happened. The Liberals meet the approach.
Ing session with the knowledge and assurance
that numerically they stand in the House of Commons
where they Cid two years ago. Amid the boat of
hye•elections in that time they have not lot a seat.
The Conservatives, by the mouth of the Marquis of
Salisbury, declare that as a few thousand votes would
have turned the scale at the last general election in
their favour, they, with the help of systematic organi•
Ration, look to the next appeal to the country with the
utmost cenfidence. There are many who anticipate
a dissolution in the ensuing autumn; but so far as age
is concerned, it may be pointed out that the present
Parliament is not yet four years old.
Mr. Gladetone's long career in the House of Com-
mons is often a subject of reference, and it is not
unworthy of note that the right hon. gentleman's first
speech was made in reply to an attack of the present
Earl Grey on the manaeement of the Gladstone sugar
estates in the West Indies. It was in the month of
May, 1833, when Earl Grey sat in the Lower House as
Viscount Howick, and had jest resigned the oast of
Under-Secretary foe the Colonies in his father's
Administration. Itls also open to remark th t amid
all the political changes of the past half-centry :11r.
Gladstone and Earl Grey hare ne7er sat in toe same
Cabinet. The nearest approach to a co&)inltion
between the two parties was in the Coalition Miaiszry
of Lord Aberdeen, in which Mr. Gladstone w.s
Chancellor of the Exchequer, but no place was bead
for Earl Grey, who is now 82 years of age, while Mr.
Gladstone is 74,

Mr. Phineas Taylor Barnum is accustomed to make
bold ventures in the way of getting hold of the biggest
sensation of his time; but those who have had an
opportunity of gazing upon the sacred white elephant
now at the Zoological Gardens would hesitate before he
gave King Theebaw £40,000 for him. The beast is rather
of a whitey-brown hue, and there is not that difference
in his appearance and that of the ordinary representative
of his species to account for the difference in price.
The Jumbo excitement of two years ago was so well
eustabled, and worked up such an interest on the
other side of the Atlantic, that Mr. Barnum did well
to bring his white elephant to London before shipping
him off to the United States; but the Jumbo incident
was nnique in its way, and is as yet by no m /ens
approached by the sojourn of the costly stranger now
in Regent's Park.
The drawing-room meeting is a very popular in2titu.
tion in London during the few months that people are
in town. Its object is to forward some religi nes or
philanthropic movement, and admission is of curse
obtained only by the production of a card of invita-
tion. These have begun early this year ; and last week
one was held at the house of Mrs. Sheen, in Cheniston-
gardens, Kensington, for the purpose of aFsisting the
Bishop of Algoma to carry the Gospel amongst the
settlers in that wild and thinly. populated region, and
to reclaim the Ojibbewey Indians. The chair wee
taken by the Marquis of Lorne, whose experience as
Governor-General of Canada gave his presence especiel
weight on such an occasion. To those who bad not
seen “,e) Marquis since his return, and who knew him
before he went to the Dominion, it cccurred that he
had become much more robust as a result of his sojourn
in those high latitudes. He looks remarkably well,
and Teemed to know all about the geography of
Algoma, which he illustrated by the aid of a laegs and
excellent map suspended on the wall, and by the
assistance of a long pointer.

The times have passed since the clergy dim:land
any movement of the day with the injunction thst
man's only care on earth should b 3 for that which is to
come. Whatever there may be in the socialistic ten-
denciea of the age, these have not escaped the attention
of a section of the Church of England ministry. Some
of these belonging to an organisation known as the
Guild of St. Matthew met a few days ago at the
Charing-crcsa Hotel, at which a paper was real by
Professor Symes, of University College, Nottingham,
onthe socialistic theories which have been lately placed
before the public. No formal resolution was passed,
but there was full and free debate; and while same of
the clergy unhesitatingly condemnel the advanced
doctrines of Mr. Henry George, there were others who
were inclined to argue that the present distribution of
wealth in this country was most unequal in its
character. One or two gentlemen were disposed to
protest against the clergy interfering in politics at all,
but this was not the general view taken by the body of
the meeting.
From the Church to Nonconformity is, by way of
antithesis, a natural change in subjects of public con-
troveray. Many will regret that Mr. Samuel Morley,
M.P., is compelled to leave England for the South of
France, where he will remain, at all events, until the
end of Febrriary, Mr. Morley is in the 7th year of
his age. Throughout the past winter he has been un-
able to attend many evening meetings by edical
advice, and having lived in the world three•quuters of
a century finds that his physical capacity for work of
all descriptions Is not what it was. Year after year he
has attended to business at his office in Wood-
street, Cheapaide ; taken pert in the whirl of
City life, spent long nights in the HOME)
of Commons, and advocated all sorts of benevolent
obj,cts at public meetings. He has not only preached
temperance to the working classes, but practised total
abstinence in his own household, and his benefactions
to deserving objects have for many years !average d
£30,010 per annum. Mr. Morley, like the late Mr.
Thomas Baring, although a member of Parliament,
has never zought the municipal honours of the City of
London, where doubtless he might have been Lord
Mayor a very long while ago had he so wished.

Will Sir Moses Montefiore live to be a hundred 1
years of age? We all hope eo, and that next November i
we may have to congratulate him on beirg a cen-
tenarian, a specimen of humanity in which the late
Sir George Cornewall Lewis said he never believe I.
The venerable Hebrew, whose life has been one pro-
longed story of benevolence, has once more shown
that, amid all his wealth, he does, in his retreat at
Ramseate, think of those who are not so well circum-
stanced for this world's goods as he is himself, by
sea ling to the Lord Mayor of London a cheque for
299, to he devoted to the funds of the Mansion 116uF,e
poor-box. The sum at first sight may seem a singular
one ; but the number of pounds corresponds with the
years in which the aged philanthropist has lived
amongst the children of men.
The rapid way in which Irish members of the Houee
of Commons retire from Parliamentary life might well
appear strange at this side of St. George's Channel.
The withdrawals since the general election have been
in a far larger proportion than from the constituenelEs
of Eugland, Scotland, or Wales, and at the present
moment there are three Irish seats vacant—Meath,
Cork, and Queen's County—by t retirement of Mr.
Metge, Mr. Daly, and Mr. Lalor, respectively. In
thi, Case of the resignation of a member of the House
of Commons, although the stewardship of the Chiltern
Hundreds is granted by the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, the House retains in itself the power to issue a
new writ. Thus in the recess a widowed constituency
has to wait until Parliament assembles, as the new
writ cannot be issued by the Speaker, as he has the
power to do in the cases of death, accession to the
teerar, or appointment to office outside Parliament.
The suggestion of the Commander-in-Chief for a
series of brigade drills with the regular troops for the
volunteers on Easter Monday instead of the usual re-
view at Brighton, will, doubtless, be carried out; but
at the same time there is no doubt whatever of the
popularity of the usual Easter Monday gathering,
whether it be held at Brighton, Dover, or Portsmouth.
The Duke of Cambridge hinted that the review was
regarded quite as much as an amusement as an exhibi-
tion of military skill, but there can be no question that
it bad the advantage of keeping alive the martial spirit
of the people.

SHOCKING OCCITIMENCE ON yEn NORTH LONDON
RAILWAY,—The chief porter at the :Midway Park
Station, on the North London Railway, about seven
o'cloek on Saturday evening, hearing a groan
proceed
from the tunnel on the City side of the station went
there and found a little boy, aged 11, and named
Harry Tadman, lying in the six-toot way in an un-
conscious state. The boy VIM taken to the German
Hospital, where it was found that he had received
severe injuries to the hack and bead, and both hands
were so dreadfully shattered that they may have to be
amputated. A third•class ticket from Broad-street to
B,op,4esbury was found upon him, for the posseesion
of wl-iirh his aunt, with whom he resides, cannot
account.

AIR. IRVING AT CHICAGO.—Mr. Irving terminated h
fortnight!.. en,,:tkrment tt Ha ly's Theatre, Chie..go,
on Saturday night. The success has been uniereces
dented, and the receipts have been over £750), the
larg.est sum ever taken by a drare%tio company during
the same periA, in Chioszo. The cold during Mr.
Irving's stay at Chicago Was at times intenee, the
therm-m:lo,er regiAtering 27deg. below zero in the early
nor;r lug, and only Haim to 12deg, below zero during
the day.

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