The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-03-18 00:00:00

Our fonbon earrtsponbtnt.

f\l'e deem it rlght to state that we tl,• not at all time/
lieuttly ourselves N•ith our eorres,pondent's epimon, I

The present condition of France and its possible or
probable future are eagerly discussed by press and
public. She is in a painfully transition Oat,, passing
from war, through peace, to national security—so at
least we may hope, though fears will intrude. The
National Assembly, there Is reason to believe, will be

thortly dissolved, and a national vote be taken on
the question whether France shall be governed by
a Republic or a Monarchy or perhaps the vote will
precede the dissolution. Meanahtle, this Assembly,
nfter_hovtring betwten Versailles, Fontainebleau,

and Paris as the seat a G.vLrnm,i,t, has at

decided on the former—a fact which in itself shows
how un,etrled is the wide of the country. France,
howtver, 'IA as it were, bearing h,OO II together

nerving herself to work, and u.atiftsting new life and
inergy ; and of a truth there Is much work to be done

- - the- -ii;ork of rsbuilding and restoring, of rehabilitation,

as the French call it. No wonder, therefore, that the
count, of events in France is watched with deep

Interest here as elsewhere; and that people speculate
with earnestness whether she will choo,e to be governed
3 a Republic or by a Monarchy, and, if the latter,

whether one of the Orleans Princes will be choien. In

London shop windows may be seen portraits of all the
thief mt inhere of this family, sod on that of the Comte
de Paris are the words '• the probable future King of
France ;" but might not these words be as fitly placed
on the pirtrait of the Duc d'Aumale_?
.oa..oneyoint

the balane of popular opinion seems decidedly clear—
that the ex-Emperor has no chance of being restored to
the throne.

Mr. J. Stuart Mill bas his extravagant admirers and
his perhaps equally extravagant detractors. Without
being one 0! either party, permit me to exprtss my ad-
miration of that speech he has just made on our military
expenditure. Mr. Mill is looked on by many as a
crotchety philosopher and by many others as an im-
practicable politician ; but this speech seems to be
marked by plain, practioal common serge, and as
certain to carry a large amount of public opinion
with him ; it is in fact just one of those
speeches which make opinion. "Our army is va.dly
too large when it ia out wanted, and vatt y too small
when it is." 'Lila little sentence concentrates into an
essence a large amount of verbiage to the same effect,
and most of es will remember this short, cr:sp state

went of a groat fact. "We pay fourteen millions a
year for beiag without an army.'' Strong and eharp
language that, but there is much truth in it. Mr.
Mill's ides is that henceforth our army should be our
whole peopl,, trained and disciplined; that every year
those who have just arrived at manhood should be put
under military training for a few weeks or months
which are found sufficient in Switzerland, and he cer-
tainly supports these views ably. That such a view so
passer f uly put forward, should be exciting great interest
is natural enough; and it must be borne in mind that
they were put forth under the auspices of the Working
Men's Peace Association. Our naval and military
defences may or may not be a subject that may be
regarded as a bore by some of us, but it is one which
we cannot shirk, and which is of permanent import-
ance, whether there be any prospect of war or not.
Mr. Bruce's Trades Union Bill and the proceedings
of the Tradee Societies' Congress in relation to it are
attracting considerable attention. Having carefully
studied the measure, and giving my opinion only as
that of an individual, I feel persuaded the Government
Bill would place the relations of masters and toes, on
the one hand, and of men with fellow workmen on the
other, on a better footing than at present. It would
legalise and give an official status to trade unions,
and modify a law which now can be made to
work harshly against working men, and on the
whole would give the working classes as a whole
more legitimate power than they now have in re.
lotion to tradecombinatims. But the Trades Societies'
Congress have unanimously declared against the third
clause—a clause which is directed against rattening,
intimidation, ac. Such e ffences as dersistently
following a workman, hiding his tools, and watching or
besetting his house, are declared "new to the law, and
therefore must be struck out." But though new to
the law, they have existed in fact, and ought to be
taken cognisance of; and I maintain that if these
cffences are made illegal and subject to punishment, the
working claeses on the whole will be the gainers.

The questions asked by Lords Stanhope and Cairns,
and the reply of the Lord CoancelLir with regard to
the case of Martha Torpey, place the whole matter in
it clear light, and the renewed attention to the subject
must cause those who have studied it to come to the
conclusion that the law ought to be altered. There
has been, as Lord Hatherley sass, a grets miscarriage
of justice; and fur my own purl I derive no consolation
from the fact that a woman guilty of deliberate crime
escapes through the operation of a law whioh is to be
found among those of E igar, king of the West Saxons.
The api ear: nee of tLe prisoner in the dock, with her
interesting baby in her arm?, perhaps worked upon the
feelings of the jury ; but still, in justice to them,
it must be borne in mind that they acted in accordance
with what they considered the law of the case. The
Lord Chancellor, however, appears somewhat fearful
of altering this law ; the f...ct of its having existed
for a thousand years doubtless has great weight
with him; but be Shit as it nay, the public
must be heartily of opinion, with him, that
"it is quite right that the law should be deliberately
considered, and that they should come to some con-
clusion upon it." The country will be dissatisfied if
the matter in to end here. Why E h6uld not the Lord
Chancellor himself propose an amendment of the law
Society is now in a very different condition, and the
relations of husband and wife are now very much
altered from what they were in the time of Edgar,
king of the West Saxons.
We cannot look forward to the Budget this year
with that hopeful calmness with which many previous
Budgets have been anticipated. Instead of that which

Chancellors of the Exchequer so dearly love, a surplus,
Mr. Lowe will have to contend against what Chan-
cellors of the Exchequer—and we taxpayers too—so
much detest, a deficit. It is said that the deficit this
year viii be nothing lees than three millions! The
thought makes one shudder. We may as well make
up ourminds, therefore, to another 23. in the pound
on the income tax; and then, if the screw is not put on
in that way why so much the better—always provided
we do not have taxation in some other even more dis-
agreeable form. More tax. s, however, we most have
—so it seems to us outsiders; but it may be that Mr.
Lowe has in store for us some agreeable surprise, in the
shape of loam., debentures, or something of that sort.
Under such circumstances, therefore, the frame of
mind it is most desiralite to cultivate is—calmness and
patience ; hope for the best, and be prepared for the
worst. True philosophy that.
The elevation of Sir If. Bulwer and Sir W. Mansfield
to the House of Lords will increase the number of
Peers created, since Mr. Gladstone came into power, to
eighteen. The one will doubtless receive this honour for
long and able diplomatic service, and the other for his mili-
tary services; but it is not possible also that Sir W.
Mansfield is to be raised to the peerage as a compensa-
tion for the Government not adopting his vlews with re-
gard to our military k stem. Sir William's startling
speech some time ago, when he advocated compulsory
military drill and training, irrespective of rank or condi-
tion in life, will be fresh in the memory of many
readers, and at the some time it most be borne in
mind that the Commander of the Forces in Ireland
had for a considerable time, up to the introduction of
Mr. Cardwell's Army Reform Bill, been in communi-
cation with the Goverament. I merely put facts to-
gether, and draw a not particularly forced conclusion.
It is stated that at High Beech, Epping Forest, one
of the lords of the mauler is" having 500 trees a-day
marked with a view to having them cut down shortly,'
and that unless an injunction is obtained, one of the
most beautiful parts of the forest will be spoiled.
Hoping that there is some exaggeration about this, I
must lament the fact if there be any truth in it at all.
It may be remembered that last session there was a
debate in the HOMO of Commons on the subject of
Epping Forest; that her Majeety was appealed to;
and that the Government—l merely refer to the matter
from memory—stated that arrangements would be
made to protect the rights of the Crown and of the
public in case of any future encroachments. Cutting
down trees may not be an encroachment, but it is
certainly taking from the public one element of pure
enjoyment. It is now stated that the piece of common
+al which these trees stand "contains 200 acres, audio
more used for plc-nice than any other part of the forest."
That High Beech is a pleasant resort for thousands
"long in populous city pent" is well known, and this
fact alone renders the alleged impending calamity •
matter of general interest. But looking at our forests,
common?, heaths', and open space+ as a whole, what a
pity it ia that the laws aff, cting such places should be
so complicated, go little understood, and so difficult to
enforce in the interest of the people at large. It is high
time that these laws should be so simplified that lords
of manors, commoners, and we common people should
know the rights appertaining to each, so that the
latter may assert their rights—if they have any ; and
if they have none that rights should be conferred.
The many ought not to be sacrificed to the few.
The wayfarer in London has doubtless occasionally
noticed on the pavement some highly•coloured work of
art —a mackerel, somehow or other, usually being a
stock subject with the artist ; and a beautifully chalked
Inscription, involved in some very complicated
Iburishes, has informed the lookerecn that the aeconb
plished artist, who crouches down behind his
chelitativre, is out of work, and has a wife

and seven children; or something of that sort.
Poor fellow, the pavement artists' occupation is
40ne, or going. The Metropolitan Board of Works
nas no feeling for such art, or for the artist;
and the former is now declared a penal offence and the
latter liable to punishment. At the firet glance this
may be regretted; but if it be true, as I have heard,
that the man behind the pavement drawing was seldom
the real artist, and that some other mendicant 'did it
for the trade," why that lessens one's regret. As for
the advertisers who are henceforth forbidden to stencil
their announcements on the pavement, one has no pity
for them. This is not legitimate advertising. More-
over, it must be very annoying for a tradesman to have
ptastered all over the pavement in front of his shop
the advertisements of • rival in the same trade—very !