The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-08-03 00:00:00

aur fo6oll Correspontant.

(We ciern 't right to state that we do not au times
dentily ourzeives with our Correspondent's opiii-FOLIZ4

The debates in the House of Commons, which had
long been upon questiobs of administrative routine,
such as the slaughter of cattle at the ports of landing

the cl.re of roads and bridges in Scotland, the beat wa3,
of assessing the valuation of pr perty, and the manage-
ment of English hiaways, have been suddenly Hite,-
out of the reach of such inferior things by the discus-
sions upon the Duke of Connaught's Annuity Bill, in
the course of which some interesting information was

furnished respecting the principles which governed

the practice of previous reigns. Upon one point
there is some misapprehension in the public mind.
The Civil List of the Crown, as settled on her
Majesty's accession to the Throne is 085,00,2
a year, but when this large sum is men.
tioned, it must be remembered that upon it fall
all the expenses incident to the maintenance of such

an exalted position, and which are indeed inseparable

. .
from it. The Civil List is totally distinct from the
Privy Purse, which, at the beginning of the present

reign was fixed at £60,000 per annum. The £385,000
for all purposes was greatly exceeded in previou3
reigns, and is far 'below that of many continentai

sovereigns. That of the late Emperor Napoleon, wheo
he ruled France, was a million sterling, and that of thr.
Czar has always been practically unlimited, because
Russia there is no Parliament either to represent the

penple, or to exercise a eheck upon the power of the

Crown.

The bestowal of the order of the Garter upon the

two ph.nipotentiaries who represented Great Britain
at the Congresa at Berlin has revived the interest

which surrounds the history of that famous distinction.
It may be pointed out that the number of knights i

strictly limited to twenty-five, except as regards the
diAposal of the dignity to Royal personages, in which
case the Sovereign has an unrestricted power. For

instance, some years ago the late Sultan of Turkey
paid a visit to this country, and her Majesty invested
him with the order, a similar honour being conferred

upon the Shah of Persia. In either case the reigning

Monarch wssessed full power and discretion to act.

But this is not so with regard to knights who
are outside the Royal circle, and no nobleman can
receive the Garter if there is not one vacant. Th

number cannot b 3 increased by the mere will of the
Sovereign. But during, the present year two Knights
of the Garter have died—the Marquis of Ailesbury

and Earl Russell—and these have now gone to the

Earl of Beaconsfield and the Marquis of Salisbury.

The only nobleman below the rank of an earl who hai:
ever enjoyed this coveted distinction was Viscount
Palmerston, to whom the Queen gave it when he was
Prime Minister, and had served his country nearly
half a century in various cffices of State. When a
Knight of the Garter dies, the blue riband
bordered with gold, the Star, the badge, and the collar,
magnificently set in diamonds, are not retained bj
the family, but are given up to the Sovereign, to be
handed over to their next fortunate possessor. The
turrender of the Order by the representative of the
late wearer is made to the Queen herself, who grants
an interview for that purpose, and the fact is invari-
ably noted in the chronicles of the Court Circular.

The Princess of Wales has been amongst the
English people more than half a generation, and it is
perfectly safe to declare that the p)pularity of Her
Royal Highnes4 remains undiminished. Over fifteen
years have passed over our heads since that raw March

_
day in 1863 when he made her public entry into
London amid the good wishes of as vast a multitude
as was ever gathered in the streets of a mighty city.

The triumphal arch under which she passed at London
Bridge was inscribed with the words "Honour,
riches, marriage, blessing," and there was no one
amongst that enormous congregation who did not de-
sire all earthly happiness to one who had left her
home to settle in a strange and distant land. It does
not signify in what part of the metropolis the Princess
of Wales may be recognised—there are certain
to be heard the cheers of the people. In no
part of the capital is her Royal Highness more
heartily welcomed than in the east. One day
last week, accompanied by the Prince, she paid
a visit to the London Hospital, in the Whitechapel
road, an institution which does its best to mitigate the
sufferings inseparable from a densely-crowded district
estimated to contain a million human beings. These
are all closely packed outside the city boundaries at
Aldgate, and stretch for miles through the Tower
41.. - T Qv+ Glascrow
are here rolled into one. The people are literally the
toilers of the metropolis, but they always give the
Prince and Princess a hearty greeting when they go
so far eastward. They did so upon this occasion, for
their Royal Highnesses had come upon a work of
mercy. Making the tour of the wards, which occupied
them a full hour, they spoke many a word of kindness
and consolation to the sick and the afflicted, and thus
drew public attention to the claims of an institution
which, without the rich foundations of Guy's and
Bartholomew's, carries on a true work of mercy
amongst those who shAll never cease out of the land.
In writing of the Royal Family, one cannot but
be reminded of the fact that even the highest house-
hold in the laud is subject to the unalterable laws
which affect the destinies of those whose existence
is not cast amid the fierce light which beats upon
a Throne. It does not seem so very long ago that
Lord Palmerston, as Prime Minister, came down
to the House of Commons one fine spring after-
noon, and proposed a vote for the Princess Royal on
her approaching marriage with the Crown Prince
of Prussia. Lord Palmerston declared that the
"Daughter of England," as her Royal Highness was

fondly called, possessed both in heart and head
the qualities whi,th had so endeared her Royal mother
to the people. Yet twenty-one years have passed
over our heads since that day. It was in the month
of May, 1857, when the Princess Beatrice was only
a few weeks old, and the whole of the Queen's
children were under the same roof with their parents,
their grandmother, the Duchess of Kent, being also
alive. What changes have since been witnessed!
The Princess Royal left her home when Princess
Beatrice was an infant nine months old, so that
as far as any personal knowledge which the two
Royal sisters may have of each other, it must he of
the smallest. Two potential agencies in determining
the destiLies of people upon earth—marriage and
death—have wrought great changes in the personnel
of the Royal household; and nowhere has this been
more forcibly illustrated than by the fact that the
Princess Royal has now a married daughter and a son
who holds a position of high responsibility as well as
of exalted rank in the Germany army.
The cricket season, which will soon come to a close,
has been one of the most animated and successful for
many years. Its chief feature has, of course, been the
doings of the Australian Eleven, who have now made
their last appearance in
,London. The cordial recep-
tion they have everywhere met with has been con-
spicuous wherever they have gone, and will leave
pleasant memories of their sojourn in the mother
country. From their first appearance at Lords, it
was clear enough that, so far as an enthusiastic
welcome could make their visit agreeable, success was
assured; and it seems to have been generally felt that
in coming so far to show English people at home that
colonists were not behindhand in their favourite game,
the young Australians had deserved well of all who take
any interest in cricket. A fellow-feeling in sport tends
to bring people together more closely than almost
anything else, and the presence of the Australian
eleven must have assisted in its degree to augment the
interest felt in cur great dependencies in the South
Pacific. There is abundant room for a brilliant future
for that great island over the other side of the globe,
with its fine climate and its fruitful soil. The Austra-
lians who have been the heroes of so many cricket
fields this season have shown that they possess the
pluck and energy so characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon
race, for although constant play and travelling told
somewhat severely upon many of them, they struggled
gallantly against this disadvantage, and the large
measure of success which they achieved amply com-
pensated them for an occasional defeat.
The presentation of the Freedoin of the City of
London is an event of interest and importance not
merely of a local, but of a national character. The
princes of the reigning House are entitled to it by patri-
mony, and the last to take it up was Prince Leopold,
her Majesty's youngest son. The document conveying
this highly honourable franchise is always enclosed in
a gold box of the value of one hundred guineas, and
this Is certain to be a magnificent specimen of the
Goldsmiths' Art. Men who have distinguished thL
selves in war, in diplomacy, in stateemanship, in science,
in philosophy, and in philanthrophy, have signed the
illustrious roll, and there you may see the names
of men so diverse in views and professions as
the Mike of Wellington and Richard Cobden. When
General Grant was over here last summer, he was
admitted to the freedom of the City, and the latest
recipients of the distinction are to be Lord Beacons-
field and the Marquis of Salisbury. The ceremonial,
which is an elaborate and imposing one, invariably
takes place in the laree hall of the Guildhall, to which
admission ia by ticket, about 3,000 persons being
usually present. All the civic officials, the Aldermen,
the Common Councillors, and the guests are in court
dress, so that the ceremony is not only an interesting
one, but its surroundings also make it one of much
splendour.
The Paris Circular Railway must be well known to
many an English visitor to the French oapital. These
who sr o acquainted with Rd charactedistics taut often