The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-01-20 00:00:00

Our oithn rrtspoubcilt,

:we deem it right to state that we do not at all times
'c:entify ourselves with our correspondent's opinions.]

The recent events in Egypt brought into prominence
the importance of the Suez Canal, which was, whilst
in process of construction, so long regarded in this
country as a visionary and impracticable scheme. It
has now been opened thirteen years; and it is
obvious enough that it is thoroughly inadequate to
accommodate the traffic between Europe and the
East. - The increasing growth of the trade with India
and China has made it essential that the canal should
either be enlarged or improved, or that a second should
be made. The directors of the existing canal have
decided to take steps to remedy the grievances of
which complaint has been made—chief amor get these
being delay. The improvements that have been sug-
gested will double the capacity of the canal for traffic,
ea that instead of being available for five million tons
of shipping annually, fully ten million tons will be
able to puss through with equal ease. The cost will be
enormous, and several years are likely to be required
for the completion of the undertaking.
' The Royal Courts of Justice are now occupied for
business,. and there are many murmurs as to want of
light, acoustic properties, and deficient accommodation.
In such a vast structure, however, it would be imi
bible to expect immediate perfection. If a man goeiijtito
anew house he finds many little things which donotwork
1 smoothly all at once; and in time the arrangements at
the new Courts will be such as to give satisfaction to
all who have occasion to frequent them. With
respect to the insufficiency of light in the new
tribunals, no one can be surprised thereat who knows
anything of the way in which the Courts are built in
• on every band. -On the east the vast edifice is flanked
by Chancery-lane, and on the west by Wych-street.
" Immediately in front of its western portion stands
the church of St. Clement Danes, which it was long
• Understood was to come down when the courts were
• completed. But there it is still, and promises to re-
main for some time to come. In the tower of St.

*

Clement is one of the most melodious sets of chimna
in London. At eventide, when the sound of tee

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4-• traffic is low, or in the early morning, they ring out
pleasant comely airs, such as "The Blue Bells of
Scotland," or "Home Sweet Home ; " but at mid-day,
amid the rush of vehicles between Charing Cross atd
the City, the music of the chimes is drowned amid
the sounds which then fill the troubled London at-
mosphere.
There can be little doubt that the Treasury has
acted with generosity and justice towards the widow
of Professor Palmer, who lost his life in Egypt, essen-
tially
,in the public service, and under particularly
painful circumstances. A grant of £2OO a year for
life shows the appreciation of the Government of the
services which Professor Palmer was prepared to
render to the State, and in addition to this a sum of
money is to be set apart for the education of her chil-
dren. It is not merely in the imminent deadly breach
that a man dies in the service of his country. To fall
in the pursuit of science which might be of value to
- one's fellowmen is to sacrifee life quite as much as
though this were done upon the field of ball'. The
widows and children of those who are killed in war
are provided for under ordinary regulations applying
to such cases, and out of the Royal Patriotic Fund;
but in the case of such calamities as those which befell
Professor Palmer, the allowance is made as a matter
of favour and not as one of right.
That Mr. Gladstone should have been compelled to
postpone if not altogether to abanaon his tour in
Mid Lothian surprises no one who knows anything Of
the immense labour which in these dap falls upon
the head of the State with a seat in the House of
Commons. For three sessions the Premier has not only
been First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the
Exchequer, but practically Chief Secretary for Ireland
al well, for he has taken charge of much of the Irish
business in the House. And as the Secretaries of State
for Foreign Affairs and the Colonies are in the House of
Lords, he has undertaken the defence of these great
departments when his subordinates have been pressed.
He has been at his office at the Treasury at ten in the
. morning replying to the mass of correspondence which
pours in upon the head of the Government, receiving
deputations, and as Minister of Finance, directing the
transactions of an important department of the State,
Parliament was not prorogued until the 2nd December.
the work of the autumn Session, so far as the Roles of
Procedure were concerned, falling upon the Prime
tl:nister. A week's speaking in Mid Lothian in the,
middle of January is now found to be beyond the
physical strength of a man in his 74th year. The
visit has been pot off, possibly to the Easter Recess,
but more probably to a remoter period. Before ',Ord
Beaconsfield had arrived at Mr. Gladstone's present
e he had f.,und the hours of the House of Comm us,
in addition to his other lab,,urg, too much for him, and
Lad withdrawn to the calmer atmosphere of the
Lords. -o. • 41# ar la

-'ll**

Meanwhile the public life of English politics, which
has been in a state of suspension since Christmae, is
gradually reawakening into its former activity. Some
of the Ministers, who have not yet addressed their
canstituents, will do so before Parliament meets—this
year a full week later than usual in consequence of
the prottacted sitting in the autumn. "Pablic Men
on Public A ffairs,"- "
_Parliament in the Provinces,"
and the various other headings under which the news-
papere range the utterances of Lords and Commons
cut of the Session, now cover a larger amount of
matter than hitherto, and the . stagnation which has
for so many weeks spread through our public life
• show signs of clearing away. There is a movement
among the dry bones, and statesmen and politicians
once more stand upon their feet, an exceeding great
al my .
Cabipet councils also will soon reassemble to settle
the measpus which are to occupy the attention of the
LFgislatitae in the coining seision, and to decide upon
the ,ieeheref. There is not much doubt as to
what these will be, inasmuch as scarcely any W the
doree,•tic bills mentioned in ia'at year's Queen's Speech
were carried, in consequence of the lack of time to
torsi& r them. Some of these, such as the Reform of
- the Gnernment of London, in charge of the Home
6eCietary, were not even introduced. Amongst the
°there are the Bankruptcy Bill, the Ballot Act
Centinuance Bill, and the Corrupt Practices Bill.
Th-ise are some of the arrears from last year, and by
themselves they form quite-sufficient to absorb the
time of Perlisment for an entire session.
'riremtns oT M. Gatntietta have been removed
to 1N ice, in- accordance wi4 the wish of his father—
albeit Nice was•not the place of his birth, or the spot
- where- he 'had wbri distinction or renown. Every
, effort was made to induce the deceased statesman's
• parent to allx.-d the body of his son to remain in the
.great cemetery of Pere•la•Chaise in Paris; but with.
= • out success. The truth is that in the revolutionary

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. storms which have in past times swept overthe French
.• capital, the last resting places of the dead have been
. desecrated by violent mobs. This was the case with the
bodies of Yoltaire and Rousseau, which were dragged
- from their graves i the Pantheon, and subjected to
the niost scandalous indignity. At Nice there will
be no fear of this. The shores of the Mediterranean
will be a more peaceful resting.place than the banks
of the Seine.
A 'remarkable feature in connection with French
polities is the indifference with which our neighbours
. have regarded the termination of the Dual Control in
Egypt.. They seem to take not the slightest interest
in Egyptian affa'n. The Suez Canal was the result
of French enterprise, and was planned by a French
engineer; but British supremacy in the land of the
Ptolemies is now acquiesced in without a murmur.
Gambetta was the advocate of an expecii.ion to
Egypt to guard the honour, the interests, and ihe
. security of France; but his countrymen appear to
care nothing about it. Some may discein in this
• - incident the promise of better times for France as
• compared with the desire for annexation so frequently
manifested, and in the days of Napoleon so clearly
stiown in that same land of Egypt about which
Frenchmen apparently care so little now.
The unveiling of a memorial to the late Prince rm.
penal of Fronde at Woolwieh by the Prince of Wales
on Saturday was another proof of the community cf
. sympathy which so long existed between our own
- :Royal family and the Imperial family of France,
when the latter was in the days of its prosperity and
power. This was shown on many occasione. Nut.
long after the marriage of the Emperor and Empress
they came to Windsor on a visit to the Queen and thd
Prince Consort, and were very heartily received on
passing through London. .;4ter Majesty and her hu,
band returned tbe isi Olf- few weeks afterward 1.
There is little doubt that a coolness sprang up in come-
' qnence of the misconeeptiolas which occurred between
the tWucodutere in 1858, and that when t*C' ,e-cu
and Prince Albert tua fcrliclLms .4C Cher-.
bourg in the autumn of that year, imntodiately
opposite the island of Alderney they felt: come
misgiving; and the successful campaign of France
against Alogia in the following summethxias
• immediately. Piicceeded by the formation Of Ittr
Volunteer Rifle Corps. But taken as a whole the!
• relations between the two families have been of a'
:,.I.4ol4ialpstura ;It. wee ,sh OVA - DAMP 'kennel allY;At
iunersablistoopmetiobspaii44o4* gig, and
, -,f.€ en manifested again now. Amid all the intercham
cfs' visits between the Sovereigns of Europe it is a
nr teworthy fact that the President of the French
Eepublic is left to himself. He neither goes to foreign
• capitals nor receives foreign guests; republican in-
etitutione, whilst familiar enough on the great western
hemisphere, being new and strange to the Continent
of Europe.