The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-02-02 00:00:00

Our youbon &vapor(Mt,

We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

How comparative is the interest which attaches to
different events happening at different times has been
forcibly shown in the case of Cleopatra's .Neetile.
When it first set out on its voyage from Egypt to his
county in October last, there was very little abroad
and less at home to attract the public attention. The
advance of the Russian armies had for many weeks been
checked by Osm,in Pasha at Plevna, and it was known
that nothing decisive could be accomplished for many
weeks to c une. The French elections were coming
off, but these could not be said to be very exciting on
this side
.of the Channel. At home we were in
the very depth of the recess, with no political
contests in view, and with merely the ordinary run of
Parliamentary speeches to occupy the time of the
newspaper reading public. Then the Needle had its
cPPortunity. Everybody was talking about it, and
looking up its history. Unfortunately, whilst crossing
the Bay of Biscay on Sunday, the 14th October, a
fierce gale sprang up, in the midst of which the
cylinder ship, containing the famous Egyptian mono-
lith, had to be abandoned to the mercy of the stormy
eta. It was a remarkable contrast from the. sunlit
streets of Heliopolis three thousand years ago, to the
raging surface of the tempestuous sea, where after
tossing about two or three days it was picked up an a
derelict by an English merchant ship, and towed to
Ferrol, in Spain. From that period the interest in
its fate, which had been culminating, seemed gradually
to decline, and when at last it arrived in the Thames,
momentous events were engaging the attention of the
people. The Russians on that day had taken posses-
sion of Adrianople, and were thus not much further
from the Turkish capital than Bristol is from London.
The Ottoman fortresses and provinces in Eurnpe and
Asia were in the hands of their enemies, and their
armies had either been decimated or led into captivity.
The British Parliament was sitting—summoned
three weeks earlier than usual to provide for con-
tingencies which might lead to war. Within three
days of the arrival of the Needle in the Thames the
Chancellor of the Exchequer gave notice in the House
of Commons of the intention of the Government to
ask for a Supplementary Vote of money for naval and
military purposes, and two of her Majesty's principal
Secretaries of State—those for Foreign Affairs and the
Colonies, seceded from the Cabinet. Here was a Minis-
terial crisis, with a chance of the country drifting into
war. No room in the public mind them for the considera-
tion of subjects which in calmer times would have created
a great deal of interest. And so the Needle, which
had been transported to this country after the applica-
tion of so much engineering skill, and at great ex-
pense, lay in the East India docks with very little
notice taken of it. When there is less excitement, and
the Obelisk is set up in the place where it is to stand in
fqture ages, it will again doubtless receive its due
share of attention.

One visitor from Africa was speedily followed by
another. While the Needle lay in the docks, telling
its silent tale of the civilization of Egypt thirty
centuries ago, Mr. Henry M. Stanley was receiving
the congratulations of his friends at the Charing-cross
Station on his safe return from his wanderings amongst
the uncivilized tribes upon the same continent.
Strange that upon the same tract of land arts and
learning should flourish as far back as the tithes of the
Pharoahs, and that to-day there should be savages
roaming through its forests and over its deserts as brutal
and as ignorant as though the ,world were but a thing
of yestPrday. Mr. Stanley and Lieutenant Cameron
divide the distinction of being the most enterprising
and adventurous of modern travellers who have
explored Africa in the name of geographical science.
Dr. Livingstone did not sally forth so much in the
cause of geography as of Christianity; he was glad
enough to make discoveries, but his first cause was
the propogation of the gospel amongst the heathen.
Lieutenant Cameron came back and told us how
by the application of capital the luxuriant soil of
Africa might be made to produce that which
might make up a very material assistance in
feeding the populations of other lands. Mr.
Stanley has gone through perils and hardships
which have made him a grey-haired man at five-and-
thirty, and under which many of those who set out on
the expedition with him were compelled to succumb.
He has penetrated to the sources of mighty rivers,
mastered the mysteries of boundless lakes, and has re-
turned with a store of information respecting an un-
known land which will make his forthcoming
volume the book of the season, and will cause him to
be welcomed in London as a brave and intrepid man
who for several years, at the risk of his life, has been
clearing the way for the application of science and of
civilization.

/
Either House of Parliament is certam to be crowded
when an explanation is to be made at a time of
Ministerial crisis. The word " crisis " has been used
in modern times to denote a period at which an event
of extraordinary political importance has happened,
such as the secession of one or more Ministers from
the Cabinet, or the disruption of the Government. Or
it may apply to the period between the resignation of
one Prime Minister, and the appointment of his suc-
cessor. At all events any statement made at such a time
are heard and read with the deepest interest. Many
rumours are always floating about respecting the rea-
sons which dictated the course that has been followed
by this or that particular Minister, and it is not
invariably found that these agree with the actual
facts. The House of Lords is a spectacle well worth
witnessing on an occasion of this kind. Every seat
upon tilt red leather benches is filled; the white robes
of the prelates on the Lord Chancellor's right offer
the strongest possible contrast to the dresses of the
peeresses in the galleries; and the voices of the
speakers may now be distinctly heard—a rare expe-
rience in the House of Lords, which it; a larger
chamber than the Commons, with very often only a
few peers present. In the Lower House there
is not so much room for display when a debate
of importance is in progress. ,The galleries are
not devoted to ladies, but two to members, one
to peers, and the other to the newspaper report n.'s.
The few ladies present cannot even be seen, for the
little cage in which they sit is fronted with bars,
which many a gallant member has done his best to
induce the House to remove, but has hitherto failed.
The vieissitudea of life are nowhere better illus-
trated than in the palaces of kings. Within a week
the Sovereign of one kingdom was buried in his
capital, and the Sovereign of another was married in
his ! The funeral of Victor Emmanuel was one of
the most imposing pageants which even Rome has wit-
nessed—worthy of the days when victorious generals
returned from successful campaigns, bringine:
with them the trophies of their triumphs. And
the marriage of the King of Spain was celebrated by a
people who, punctilious to a degree upon matters of
etiquette, made every preparation to celebrate the
wedding of their young king with a dignified splendour
unknown in our more matter-of-fact latitudes. Other
countries must show their interest in events of conse-
quence to Royal Houses, whether of mourning or
mirth. Accordingly the Queen of England was repre-
sented by special envoys at Rome and at Madrid—at
the former by the Earl of Roden, and at the latter by
the Earl of Rosslyn.

It was the Russian advance in the direction of Gal-
lipoli which induced our Government to give notice of
its intention to ask Parliament for a vote for extra
naval and military services. Gallipoli is a name
which will be well remembered by all who are ac-
quainted with the history of the war of a quarter of
a century ago. It forms a kind of outwork of Con-
stantinople, from which it is distant 128 miles Its
lines, or fortifications on the land side, are famous all
over the world, and it is well protected from an attack
by sea. When England and France declared war
against 'Russia in Tarch, 1854, each country Fi e nt out a
force of troops to take pc,ssession of Gallipoli, so
as to prevent any sudden attai,..k on Constantinople,
as the Russians had in the previous November sur-
prised the Turkish fleet at Sinop', and totally de-
etroyed it. It turned out, however, that the force at
Gallipoli was never wanted, for the great struggle ef
the war was in the Crimea, a very long way from both
Gallipoli and Constantinople. In connection with this
may be mentioned a fact showing how celerity of move-
ment has been applied to modern warfare. Great
Britain declared war against Russia on the 27th
March, 1854, and it was not until the 14th September
following that the allied expedition landed at Eupa-
toria in the Crimea. Imagine it taking six months
to reach the object of attack. In 1866, only
twelve year afterwards, Prussia literally knocked over
Austria in seven days; and in 1870, within six weeks
of the declaration of war, the French Emperor was a
captive in the hands of his enemies, his great army
had surrendered, his finest fortresses and. his fairest
provinces had been take:a from him, and in another
fortnight the Germans had invested the capital. I
mention this merely to show the value of quickness of
movement; and although we hear a great deal in this
country about going to war with Russia, it would not
do to take six months to get at her as it did last time.
London is gradually and imperceptibly going through
a course of improvement, but the various aids to this
end occupy with most persons merely a passing notice,
because they have more weighty matters wherewith to
fill their thoughts. There was poor old Temple Bar
for instance, which had stood in its position nearly 200
years, and upon which the heads of traitors had been
placed as recently as 1745, when the army of King
George IL won the battle of Culloden. Many a
3tata pageant had the bar looked down upon and the

pedestrians as they hastened eastward and west-
ward during its demolition, paused to take a

hasty glance at it no doubt. But now that
it is gone it shares the fate of all earthly
things ; it is thought of no more when it is not
present to impress itself on the mind. The throw-
ing, back of the narrow street, at that densely-crowded
art will be one of the greatest improvements of the
generation. There is another which has not been
made much of in the papers, and will take time
for its full accomplishment. A wayfarer crossing
Blackfriars Bridge and keeping due south, will
pass through the Blackfriars-road, more than a
mile in length, and terminating with St. George's
Circus at the end. This is a broad well-paved
thoroughfare, almost level from the foot of the
bridge throughout its entire length, but a hot
sweltering place on a summer day. The Board of
Works have now caused to be planted on either side
a row of little plane trees, similar to those upon the
Thames Embankment. These possess properties
of growth which defy the peculiar acids con-
centrated in the London atmosphere, and the experi-
ment upon the Embankment has proved a great suc-
cess. Years will come and years will go before the
little planes in the Blackfriars-road will afford much
shade to the perspiring pedestrian; but there they
are, and if not wantonly destroyed are bound to grow.
An aged man who was one day seen planting trees
was asked why at his time of life he went through
such fatigue, seeing that he could not expect to live
and enjoy the fruits of his labours by sitting under
their shade. Pointing to the spreading branches of 5.
mighty oak, centuries old, he remarked that the man
who planted it had given pleasure to successive gene-
rations of men. In gratitude for what had been done
a thousand years ago he was working that day. And
the trees now being so plentifully plinted in the streets
of London may witness many a fall by the way side
before they reach maturity, but reach it they will,
and will still look down upon a vast city and a busy
population.