The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-06-28 00:00:00

Our fonbn totuspubent,

..• . •
:We deem it rigllt to state that we do ri•ot at lit rime'
citify 'Oureebies with our Corre*ondent's

the 'tppearance of the Prince Tfll '')-:ince„
\Valiis 'at the Military Tournament 'he Agricul-
tural Hall at Islington was a vi-y Wekviine one after

the pro-longed withdrawal of their 14-yal Highnesses
from public life, consequent upOn w(;he death of the
Duke of Albany. Coming, ts tlii'.4 unfortunate event
did, immediately before Easter, :‘7.c has interfered with
many engagements which woull'd have gone to make
up the rounds of the Lordrn season, has suspended
the courts and drawing-roons at Buckingham Palace,
the levees usually held by the Heir-Apparent at the
Palace of St. Jamas; tile State balls and concerts to
which are invite4ilsOy4s*y of the representativesof Tank
and fashion who ctie to London for a gay half-year,
• and made an eiid of many a garden party which
• would have 'hetri* -enjoyed by the elite of society. But
the three rn6tiths which have passed since the
lamented death of his Royal Highness have made
the capitall'ery dull in its fashionable quarters; and
so when thej 'Prince and Princess of Wales, accom-
panied by-tizeir children, attended the tournament at
IslingtontE; was greeted as a sign of returning life,
albeit tho -season is now drawing rapidly to a•clese.
On-ths very next day occurred the anniversary of
her 'ilzesty's Accession to the Throne, whoa the
SOcelqii.3ll entered the forty-eighth year of her reign.

In Itn-don the guns in -St. -James's Park and a

the ' Tower thundered forth, as their custoiti
has' been, their welcome to the day, and
a chime of church 11J1, from -St.
• Paul's to Rotherhithe Church itself, sent out their
thelpdy in remembrance of the day when'the Princess
'Victoria was hailed as the ruler over the British

Empire. What changes have been witnee3ed I Scarcely
public man of that time now takes an active part in
'political life; indeed the lapse of nearly half century
" mould render this physically impossible. Of the members

of Lord Melbourne's Cabinet who were sworn in at the
Privy Council held at Kensington Palace before the
new Queen on the morning of the 20th of gune,'lB37,
only one survives and that is Earl Grey, who is 82
years of age. He was then Viscount Howick, and
Secretary-at-War, an office abolished when the
Crimean campaign had exposed the weakness Of
our departmental administration, and converted into
the Secretaryship of State for War, new held by the
Marquis of Hartington.
The House of Lords has had a debate upon the
best means of promoting its efficiency as a legislative
assembly, and the inevitable question of life peerages
again came to the front. There is little doubt that
many an eminent man is a..)pt by the hereditary stem
from accepting a peerage; he has not the money to
found an estate which is capable of keeping up a title,
and prefers affluence amongst the middle classes to
indigence in the peerage. The right of the Crown to
create life Deers was exercised in the case of Sir James
Parke, one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer,
in 1856, when he was made Lord Wensleydale. But
the peers, led by Lord Lyndhurst, demanded a com-
mittee of inquiry, which having been granted, their
lordships pronoun3ed against the power of the Crown
, to grant peerages for life, and thus the hereditary
principle was continued. Twenty years afterwards,
however, the life principle was reconised when the
Government of Lord Beaconsfield passed an' Act giving
to the Crown authority to create four lards ordinary
to strengthen the appellate jurisdiction of the House
of Lords, each with a salary of £6OOO a% year,
the right of sitting and voting to cease should
either of the holders resign his judicial
functions. Lord Rosebery has now sought to
induce his fellow-lawgivers to extend this principle,
but without avail. His motion for a committee was
rejected by a decisive majority.
When a man has reached the advanced age of 82,
it seems late in life for him to" be presented with the
freedom of the City of London. But in the case of
the Earl of Shaftesbury, no one will say that the
honour is not thoroughly deserved. At more than
fourscore his vigour is amazing. On the very day on
which he received this distinction he attended and
spoke at three gatherings. First he opened a branch
of the Camden and Kentish Town Association, of
which he is president, in the north of London. Then
he hastened rapidly to Guildhall, in the heart of the
city, where the presentation of the freedom was made
to him in an ornate speech by the Chamberlain, and
his lordship made a most felicitous reply. next he
hurried to Grosvenor House, in Park-lane, where a
meeting was held in aid of a fund for promoting a
memorial to Mrs. Elizabeth Try in the form of a
church in the east-end of London. Lord Shaftesbury
had not been in the room two minutes before
he was called upon to speak to ~ a reso-
lution, and he did so in a way to suggest
that he had been studying his subject all day instead
of occupying his attention at two previous gatherings.
It may be added that the memorial church to this
illustrious lady, so well known in the cause of religion
and philanthropy, is to stand on the site of her former
residence at Plashet, in Essex, and :that the surviving
members of her family heartily concur ia the
suggestion that the best remembrance of such a noble
life will be the construction of an edifice which -shall
be the means of conveying spiritual instruction to a
densely-populated quarter of the capital.

The Drawing-room meeting has of late years
become a very popular institution in London. 'Noble-
men and gentlemen in the west-end of, the metro-
polis throw open their houses to aid the.cause of charity
and benevolence instead of putting the societies to the
expense of hiring a room at Willis's• or Exeter Hall.
The Duke of Westminster is very gcod.in this way.
The apartment in which such gatherings are. held .is
the magnificent Rubens Rooms at Grosvenor House,
its walls being covered with the t treasures of
the immortal painter, and the platform • there
is a standing institution. Only a few days
ago a promoter of one of these philanthropic
societies, in moving a vote of thanks to the duke for
the use of the room, expressed his fear that those
occasions were a great source of inconvenience in the
mansion. His GI-race, in reply, said not at au, for the
family lived at the other end of the hoaserand, as for
the Rubens-room, the platform was flavor rramoved
except sometimes on an evening for a dance; in,which
healthy recreation he ihoroughly believed. Of course
no one is admitted to these meetings without.a card
a invitation; the treasures scattered round are too

numerous to admit of ,tlO attentions of a promiscnQus
multitude.

The . saying that it naTer rains but it pours,, has

seen amply illustrated daring the present thalflear
By the number of bye-elections. It is raziarka.ble

how, sometimes, moaths will elapse without ,-g single
, Nacancy occurring, and then there is a perfect, run
them. POliticinnit do .not forget how, rfrom
the beginning of Ilsy to :the end of December,
187 C), no a single bye-election took place in

An;:- Zngfisi constitueney,. -so that the Colaser.va-
live Government; in its -expiring months of .ofkoe
knew nothing of the way in .which popular op,inio
was; tending. In contrast with this, it may be
raenti.sned that in addition to -bye-elections in Scot-
land-
‘4t(l. Ireland since the beginning of . the yezr,
appeals have been made to constituencies in England
in tnni,foriowing places: West Somerset, North-
ampton,-West Norfolk, Brighton, South Lincolnshire,
Cambridgeglire, Htmtingdon, Poole, Mid Kent, Lin-
ooln,-South Rants, Mid Surrey, Leicester, and North
Warwickshire. The advantage from a;roarty point of
view is-with„the Opposition, for they have won seats
in Ca:mbridgeshire and Brighton through the return
of Mi. Thovnhill, in succession to the late Speaker,
and the eon.versio.-, of Mr. Marriott from Liberalism
to Conservatielia,
The' absence iblit‘ter party rancew -from the
public life of thia Co_uptry has often been noted, and
nowhere is this more ,aseparent than in d' ' tspensingthel
hospitalities of the City of London
Lord Mayor has ipstituted a series of e e7nt
11.
dinners at the Mansion HOUSO on Saturday ekivlelin 1
it ir:
of
of an extremely interesting character. The
these was the entertainment .of the late Spear of
the House of Commons, Yir3count Hampden, his
Success9r in".the chair, Mr. A. W. Peel, with other
distinguished guests. It is quite possible that Lord
Mayor Fowler may be re...elected to his high office.
' •

. .
FAT4I
.COMIERY ACCIDENT,—On. Friday in last
week. en accident of a melancholy character occurred
at • W
-,eeteld ',Colliery, near Loehgelly, Fifeshire.
"'warn -1-°4llg,aged,42, and his on Alexandc.r, aged
IS, were engaged abw.tirk when some tons of rubbish
fell from the
,roof, and both were crushed to death.
Another son who was wo,rking near his father ancl
brother was also buried, but was extricated, Ile was,
however, so badly injure 4 ths Q bQpee C,F.9 PPter"
tamed of his recpyerp