The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-03-25 00:00:00

Nistellantous 'inttlfigrntt,

NOME, FOREIGN, AND COI ONIAL

Ti.I.EGRAPH TO IRELAND. —The new telegraph
cable brtwein Holyhead and liowth was formally
ot coed on Monday at noon, and the following mes-
sages were exchanged between the Lord-Lleutenant
of Ireland and the Postmaster-General :
The Lori-Lieutenant congratulates the Postmaster-Generid
on the successful laying of the new cable from Holyhead to
II owth, which will bee great boon both t 3 Great Britain and
helm:A.—The Postmaster-General thanks the Lord Lieu-
tenant of Ireland for his Excellency's congratulations on the
establishment of additional means of communication be-
tween Great Britain and Ireland.

A lima JOKE IN SPAIN.—The T inte6 remarks
that when the Marquis de Miraflores, addressing the
Spanish Senate, said, "1 ask the Senate to pass a Bill
that shall put an end to all ravolutione," his words
"convulsed the House with laughter." Naturally.
The Spanish Senate laughed as heartily as the British
House of Lords would laugh if some noble Peer were
to request their Lordships to pass a Bill that would
initiate a series of revolutions. Perhaps if M. Thiers
were to talk to the French National Assembly about
legislation that should put a stop to revolutions, he
would be laughed at by his hearers equally with the
Marquis de Miraflores. Revolutions in France, as
well as Spain, constitute, as Mr. O'Brallaghan says,
the natural order of thing..—Panch.

THE Para INTERV-lEWED.—According to the
Osurvatore Cant)lice, his Holinesa lately granted the
favour of an audience, at the Vatican, to upwards of
two hundred American visitors, in the presence of
Cardinals Barnabo, ratrizzi, Buonaparte, etc., and
other prelates. The Pope addressed each of the corn.
pony separately, and gave to each his hand to kiss,
and after addressing to them a short speech, in which
he spoke of the great wealth, energy, industry, and
resources of America, he congratulated the faithful in
America on their fidelity to the Holy See and to the
Roman Catholic Church, assuring the others that
"they had only to descend into their own hearts, to
examine, inquire, and reflect, and they would in the
end find out the truth." His Holiness dismissed his
visitore with the Papal bleeding.
Tits ()galena OF 1871.—The arrangements for
the decennial numbering of the people are now coin-
plete, householders' schedules and books for enumera-
tors having been issued from the Census.otli ce in C rai g's-
court, Ckaring.cross. London, to all the Registrars
throughout the kingdom. Every precaution has been
taken to render the return accurate and complete, and
it will probably be s full and reliable record of the
number of living souls abiding on the land or in vessels
upon the coast or inland waters on the night preceding
the census day, which is Monday, April 3. Provision
id also made for obtaining a list of persons in Her
Majesty's ships at sea and on foreign stations,
the crews of merchantmen and other vessels
belonging to English ports, and of all residents
who may be travelling abroad on that night.
The census schedules will be left at every house,
one for every family or lodger during the week which
commences on Monday next, March 27; they contain ex.
plicit iastructions as to the mode In which the form is
to be filled up, and the head of each family is bound to
furnish all the necessary particulars under a penalty of
1:5. Each enumerator will have about 200 houses in his
list, and he will be required to fill up the schedule him-
self in case there is no member of a family able to write.
The census papers will all be collected on Monday,
April 3, their contents copied into books, and the re.
suits calculated upon which the Registrar-General will
compile his aggregate return. An improved scale of
allowance for performing the duties connected with the
census has been sanctioned by the,Secretary of State for
the Home Hipartment ; registrars will receive a fixed
fee of £4 and an additional fee of ls. for every 100
persons above 1,200 in their district ; and enumerators
will be paid tll Is. each and Zr. 6d. per 100 per-eons over
the first 400, with certain travelling expenses.

- -
AN OFFICER CARFIIERED.-At a general court-
martial assembled at Madras, on Nov. 1, 1870, Ensign
Gilbert, of the 3rd Battalion 00th Rifles, was arraigned
on a charge of insubordination, and having been found
guilty, was sentenced to be cashiered. The court
earnestly recommended Mr. Gilbert to mercy on the
ground of "extreme provocation from his commanding
officer,' but Lord Napier, of Mngdala, commander-in-
chief in India, was unable to accede to the recom-
mendation of the court, because "acts of insubordina-
tion have prevailed in the army during the last two
years to an eaten.; which threatened, if unchecked, to
Impair seriously, .11 regimental authority." His lord-
ship was therefore una',le to condone an offence which
might be converted into a dangerous example.
"IT is AN ILL Wien," &c.—lf the siege of
Paris has caused the ruin of several merchants and
manufacturers, it has also been the means by which a
few have realised large fortunes. It is stated that a
grocer near the Halle. Centrales sold all the various
articles in his stock, which was very large, at prices
, some thirty or forty times higher than what they had
cost him, and has cleared some 000,000 francs by the
siege,- A former tanner of the l:ue, Ceasier left Paris
before the blockade and retired to Versailles, where be
has some property. He saw an opportunity for
making money, and bought from the Germans all the
hides of the aritnals slaughtered for the use of the
troops. He paid for them three to four francs a skin,
selling the green hides in the same condition at an
average of fifteen francs each. He is said to have
purchased 880,750 skins, and to have reallsed nearly
2,000,000 francs.

,
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER.—A precautio ,
suggested by the late ',tali-, with respect to an Cr ,
thematous complaint, ha e suggested, in some quarters,
the inquiry whether there is any peculiar process ap-
pointed by the Faculty for the Vaccination of such as
are of riper yeare,—Pu.chA

ANOTHER GRIEVANCE! A correspondent,
under the eignatore of "liertuany na Prussia,"
writee in the Stand,- d . .

1 little thought that In the late serious war time would be
reserved to the great Prussian Chancellor to change the
order of the alphabet ; but the Conference has proved the
reverse—s treaty solemnly engaged lu by all the powers used
to preserve the common order of aphanetlcal letters.
Naturally It would be Austria, England, France, Prussia,
Russia. Certainly I have gained ti for my nadne, instead of
P; therefore why should I not come before A. 1 dlrec:ed,
therefore, my ambsesador to sign first. Berustorff, Ger-
many : Appouyi, Austro-Hungary ; Granville, England;
Cadorna, Italy; hrunnow, Russia; Eiluaurui, lackey;
Broglie, France.
- • • •

,
A ?suntan NEW TITLE.—" Daybreak in Spain.''
Why select thie particular period of the day aa the
subject of a book and why, further, go to Spain for
voluminous description of it is the early morn more
striking in that country than in Italy, or the Tropics,
or on Mont Blanc, or Notting Ilill?—Puncit.

THE PURCITAN JUDGMENT. " A Country
Parson" brings to our (Tisza) notice a " remon-
strance " which is being very largely signed by the
clergy against the recent decision in the Pnrchas
case. He informs us that it is addressed to the
Archbiehope and Bishops, expressing an earnest trust
"that they will abstain from acting upon this de.
cision," and asks us whether the memorialists have
considered what they are about In requesting those
whose business it is to administer the law not to en.
force it when declared by the supreme authority
He proceeds to enquire what would be thmght of a
menu,rial from military or naval officers requesting the
commanders of ships or regiments not to enforce the
last instructims from Head-Quarters. Whatever
might be thought of such a proceeding, it would not
be hard to enlighten our correspondent as to what
would happen in a professional point of view to the
actors in it.

CHARGE AGAIN.rr GERMANS.—The Dtti/y Tat-
vraph of Tuesday, publishes the following :

, .
A City merchant, who encloses his card, complains bitterly
of the treatment he received at the hands of Gorman soldiers
while travelling from Calais to Paris on Sunday, the 1111
Inst. It appears from his statement that be rea,hed Abbe-
ville without Inconvenience about midday, when, seeing
several Prussian soldiers on the platform of the station, he
and two or three other Englishmen, fellow-trarellems,
alighted from a feeling of curiosity. Soon they not:rsti
a crowd gathered round one of the other carriages, and,
going up to see what was the matler, were surprised to
find that a Prussian maim was ordering some English-
men to vacate their seats In favour of two or three
German ladles. Go the Englishmen objecting, and urging
that there waa plenty of room elsewhere In the train,
the (nicer sent for • guard with fixed bayonets, and by
force of intimidation compelled them to leave the car-
riage. Enraged at such a proceeding, our correspondent
remarked that it was "a great shame," and the con-
ic. loence was that a few minutes afterwards, when at-
tempting to regain his seat, he was peremptorily ordered
by the major to return to the platform, and to consider him-
self under arrest. Placed bete een two Prussian soldiers, he
was chagrined to see the train move oil without him, the
Prussia., in answer to an offer made by the guard of the
train to find room for him in another carriage, stating that
he was not going on by that train. As a result, although
allowed to proceed by the next, he was not able to go
further than Amiens unless he ex hanged seats and took Ms
place in a bullock van from the latter station to Paris. This
be was obliged to agree to, as Ms business was pressing, and
would admit of no delay Ile afterwards learned from one of
his companions, who understood German, that the Prussian
, major openly boasted to a coif, re of having "served some
Englishmen out."
- - •

Pex !—Peace is assured. There is no necessity
for any formal ratification of the Treaty. It would be
an idle formality. Tne diplomatists may spare theme
selves all further trouble. We have the pleasure of
drawing attention to what has been rightly cailed "
first result of peace," and of giving wider publicity to
the most convincing proof of the return of a happier
state of things.—Cook's excursions to Paris have re-
commenced.— Punch.

PRINCESS LOT:1181:8 WEDDING CAKE.—Messes.
Holland and Sons, of Chester, confectioners to her
Majesty and their Royal Highnesses the Prince and
Princess of Wales, received epecial commands to
prepare a cake for the wedding of the Princess Louise.
The cake was forwarded to Windsor Castle on Friday
in laat week. It waif made in three tiers placed en a
gold stand, weighing about two cwt., and measuring
at the baee of the lower cake two feet in diameter, and
in height nearly five feet. The gold plateau ha ml the
Royal arms on at four equal distances, with Cupids
and flowers. The whole was surmounted by a hand-
some vase of flowery, with silk banners edged with
silver fringe, containing the armorial bearings of the
Princess and of the Marquis. Each tier of the cake
wail bordered with trellice work studded with pearls.
THE PORCHAS JuDemENT—which the High
Church party brought on themselves by their want of
judgment—Punch.
. _ . . .

BOTTLING THE SUN'S RATS !—A singular dis-
covery is announced by the Echo Roelie/ais as having
been made by a French professor at the College of
Salutes, in Charente Inferieure. It consists of the
singular fact of actually bottling the sun's rays and
utiLzing them at pleasure. The writer describes the
operation as follows :—The professor takes a vase—the
material is not mentioned—and exposes it in a certain
position to the direct action of the sun's rays. After
A has thus absorbed the heat for the apace of a quarter
of an hour, it is closed with a cork and hermetically
sealed, a small aperture being left in the cork. Affix-
ing a powerful lens to the vase, he canoes the solar rays
to converge to a point upon the wick of a common
candle, placed on a table at a distance of one yard
from the vase. In less than three seconds the wick
Ignites and lights the candle, which burns steadily.
The writer states that the experiment was tried
several times, and was equally successful on each
occasion.

A CAPITAL JOKS.—Captain Bingham, author
of the "Journal of the Siege of Parbt," narrates the
following :
A clever gentleman, being anxious to obtain an audience
with • certain witty Minister without being kept waiting In
the aLte.chamber, instead of giving his card to the usher,
whispered into that funciionarrs ear, "Say it's the man
with the leg of mutton." Ile was immediately shown into
the Minister's cabinet, the usher ming out, "On public
service," to allay the irritation of a number of persons
siting for al mlttance The NlMlster is said to have been
highly amused at the joke, but I doubt it.

GAOL-BIRD GUESTS.—According to The Times,
"the released Fenian prisoners continue to be treated
almost as national guests in the United States."
Many of our American well-wishers in the excess of
their amity towards us perhaps, have invited some of
those patriots to their domestic board ' • but now repent
that they carried their enthusiasm so far—having hid
sm.ons,—Piinch.
PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE !—The following
speech, which Shalumeare puts into the mouth of
Talbot, in Fart I. of Henry VI., In the second scene of
the fourth act, seems particularly applicable to the
late position of the French capital, if Bismarck be sub-
stituted for Talbot: .

.
"Open your city gates,
Be humble to U,? call my sovereign yours.
And do him homage, an obedient subjects,
And I'll withdraw me and my bloody power.
But if you frown on this proffered peace,
Yon tempt the fury of my three attendants,
Lean famine, quartering steel, and climbing fire,
Who, in a moment, even with the earth
Shall lay your stately and air-braving towers,
If you forsake the slier of their love."
MATRIMONY MADE SEASONABLE. Would
those of their Reverences who think it wrong to marry
in Lent, be reconciled to a Lenten marriage by an
arrangement that, at the wedding-breakfast there-
after, to preclude undue fast-breaking, the fare should
be limited to red-herrings ?—Punch.
A CFIILD'S REPROOF.—The Duke of Gloucester,
third son of the Prince of Wales, father of George IV.,
was a dull child, and his mother need to cause him
great distress at times by jeering him on account of his
dulneee, in the presence of his brothers and sisters ; on
one particular occasion telling them to laugh at the
fool. The sensitive child held down its head and said
nothing; upon which the princess changed her tone,
and accused him of sulkiness. "No," he said, "he
was not sulky, he was only thinking."—" And pray
what are you thinking of?" inquired the princess, with
increasing scorn in her manner. "I was thinking,"
said the poor child, "how I ahould feel if I had a son
as unhappy as you make me."

DISAPPOINTED EXPECTATIONS !-A descriptive
correspondent in New York. writing to one of the
journals, describing the English members of the Joint
High COMMiSEAUD, says
The party were all attired In travelling garments. The
Earl cte they Ls about tire feet eight inches in height, of
medium build, with a countenance sunburnt and adorned
with a full sandy beard. Lord Tenterdeu is a small man,
below the medium height, with a full dark glossy beard and
moustache The Viscount Goderlch is a pleasant young
fellow, and spate a goatee and moustache. Mr. II oward
was secretary to Sir Frederick Bruce at the time that the
latter was minister to the United States from England. In
the appearance of none of the party i 4 there anything at all
striking eelmposing. They are simply of pleasant counte-
nances, which seem at the same time earnest and energetic.
If nothing else, they look like men who will push a settle-
ment of all the questions to be considered by them."

MARRIED A WIPE AND COULD NOT COME.-At
the trial of one of the cases before the High Court of
Justiciary, Edinburgh, on Moaday, the Solicitor-
General asked one of the witnesses for the prosecution
to be called. The macer replied—The witness has not
come forward. The Solicitoi-General : For what
reason? Macer : I cannot say. Lord Ardmillan,
(reading the name of the absent witness in the indict-
ment :) It strikes me that I read in the newspaper two
or three days ago of the marriage of this gentleman.
He will be away on his marriage jauat.—(Laughter.)
The Solicitor-General And will you hold that as a
sufficient excuse for his absence, my lord ?—ltenewed
laughter.) Lord Ardmillan : You remember the ex-
cuse given in olden times, "I have married a wife,
and therefore I cannot come."—(Laughter.) The
Solicitor-General: That is Scriptural; but will your
lordship bold it as a sufficient excuse for non-attend-
ance in the judiciary court ?—(Renewed laughter.) His
ordship did not reply to the Solicitor-General's in-
terrogatory, and another witness was then called.