The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-04-26 00:00:00

Our ranbrut 6orresponlunt.
IWe deem it right to state that we do not at all times
identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The two Houses of the Legislature are again in Ses-
sion after the shortest possible recess on the part of
the Commons, for it lasted only a little more than a
week. So until Whitsuntide both Chambers will be
sitting for the transaction of the multifarious business
of the Empire. Possibly by that time the people will
be enabled to see the political situation somewhat more
clearly than it can be regarded at present. The con-
struction of the Budget, the pushing forward -
votes of Supply, so as to get the necessary money for
the public service, the air of general debility which
pervades the legislative atmosphere, the weariness now
theMcompaniment of Parliamentary life, and the ab-
sence of great measures before either Lords or
Commons all seem to point to a speeily approaching
disrolution. According to the terms of the Septennial
Act, the present Parliament need not be dissolved.
until the sth March, 1881, so that legally it has nearly
two years more of life in it. But what sort of life;
A visitor to the lobby of the House of Commons can-
not but be struck with the air of inertia which has
fallen upon legislative things. At no time has this
been more apparent than upon the reassembling of the
Conimons after the Recess. There was a debate upon
arOmportant feature of foreign policy, as bearing
upon the execution of the treaty of Berlin—a debate in
which Mr. Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
and other eminent men took part. Only 110 members
took part in the division, leaving about 550 to be
accounted for. It would be impossible for such
an. incident as this to happen in the early lifetime
of a Parliament, when honourable gentlemen
vigorously apply themselves to the new and important
work before them.

of the I

If a retrospective glance be cast over the time which
has marked the existence of the Parliament now
sitting at Westminster, it will be seen what tremen-
dous events have happened in those five years. We
citn scarcely imagine ourselves living in the same
world of politics as when in the early days of
February, 1874, the polls were taken in the United
Kingdom. At that time the Duke of Edinburgh had
been married only a few days to the only daughter of
the Czar, the wedding having been celebrated in
the Winter Palace of St. Petersburgh on the day
that Mr. Gladstone issued his address to the
electors of Greenwich. There was then not a
cloud upon the horizon so far as the Eastern Ques-
tion was concerned. The papers were full of con-
gratulations at the happy matrimonial alliance be-
tween England and Russia. Within the lifetime
of this Parliament the Czsr and the Empress of
Russia have paid visits to London. The in-
surrection in the Herzegovina, the massacres in
Bulgaria, the war between Russia and Turkey, the
peaceful but momentous political changes in France,
all have happened since this Parliament first as-
sen.bled at Westminster. Half a decade and more has
rolled over our heads; many old things have utterly
passed away; and others, entirely new, have appeared
upon the scene. The House of Commons itself has
lost nearly one-tenth of its members through death;
while accession to the peerage, resignation, and
appointment to various offices account for many more.
Indeed, it is a curious fact that-quite as naany new mem-
bers have been returned to the existing House of Com-
mons through various causes in five years as are ordinarily
sent as the result of a general election. Mr. Bright, in
addressing his constituents at Birmingham, expressed
his conviction that the Parliament would not live out
the present year. The opinion of the right hon.
gentleman, who has had a seat in the House of Com-
Mons for six-and-thirty years, is worth noting.
So far as London was concerned, the people bade
good-bye to the Easter holidays with no regret at
their departure. Seldom has a more dismal vacation
left such wretched memories behind it. There had
been some anticipations of a few hours of spring-time
when we had reached the middle of April—a gleam
of brighter days after such a prolonged and bitter
winter. A leaden sky, covered with vast banks of cloud,
a driving north wind bearing upon Its-cold wings
alternate showers of sleet and pitiless rain, shivering
holiday-makers wrapped in wintry garments all hoping
for the fine weather which never came—such were
the accessories of an Easter-tide that had been looked
forward to by thousands only to disappoint them.
Let us now hope for what Whitsuntide may have in
store for us! The sun will then be higher in the
heavens, and more hours above the horizon.- We
ought to be clear from cold winds, and Mow and sleet
at last. The sun is bound to win in the long run; and
when the better tinoe do come, we shall appreciate
them all the mop, 'fOihaving been so long kept in the
frigid zone and exposed to all the discomforts of an
Arctic winter.

According to Sir. Frank Buckland, the late severe
weather has had a prejudicial effect not only upon
human beings, but also upon migratory British birds.
The male nightingales however began to arrive, and
though we were halfway into April they found that
snow covered the ground. Some sand martens have
come, and a few swallows have been seen in the south
and west of England. The notes of the cuckoo have
been heard, and the larks and linnets are venturing
back from the shores of the Mediterranean. Another
fortnight, and with a warm south-west wind, and the
proverbial showers which fall at this season of the
year, a wondrous change will have passed over the
aspect of the country. No longer will the trees be
bare and leafless, hut clothed in all the varying shades
of greenery which mark the first return of spring.
There is no time at which London can be seen to so
much advantage as then, for the Parks are in all their
splendour, fulfilling the miasion which they wero long
ago said to perform—that of acting as the lungs of a
great community.

Active preparations are being made for the Inter-
national Agricultural Exhibition which is to be held in
London this summer. The entries for implements
and machinery have now closed, and they are on a
more extensive scale than any similar collection yet
brought together. The Royal Agricultural Society
has from time to time had some splendid shows at
Liverpool, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and other
places; but the forthcoming display promises to
surpass anything of the kind ever yet witnessed. If
the sheds were placed end to end, the exhibits
not worked by machinery would be over three miles
in length; the machinery in motion, or implements
actually worked by steam, would extend considerably
more than a mile, while nearly half a mile will be
devoted to seeds., roots, manures, feeding stuffs, and
similar articles. The site of the exhibition covers one
hundred acres in Kensal-green,—quite the opposite
quarter of London from where the show of the Royal
Agricultural Society was held in 1862, the year of the
Internation:sl Exhibition. The farmers then all
flocked to Battersea, on the south side of the river,
the show-yard of that day being con4dered of im-
mense extent, though nothing in comparison with the
present. The sum of £13,000 is now offered in paizes
to the competitors in the various classes.

The May meetings really begin in April, and from
the last week of that month until the end of May,
Exeter Hall, Willis's Rooms, St. James's Hall, and
the Mansion House, are alternately filled by audiences
who have assembled to promote all kinds of religious
and charitable objects. The Earl of Shaftesbury has
been known tc preside at as many as four or five of
these gatherings in a day; and a glance at the list of
forthcoming meetings show that this estimable noble-
man, who is now 77 years of age, is still active in those
noble causes to which he has devoted his life.
The Young Men's Cllristian Association. the
Moravian Mission, the Reformatory and Refuge
Union, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the
Church Pastoral Aid Society, the Loudon Society
for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, the
Religious Tract Society, and the Ragged School
Union are some of the objects at which Lord Shaftes-
bury will preside during the next few weeks, While
it is true that the flag of England floats over every sea,
it is satisfactory to know that it does not float only
from the mast-heads of ships of war, but is carried by
vessels bearing the civilization sent by Great Britain
to the remotest corners of the earth.
The. Act of Parliament authorizing the cpnstruction
of the Royal Courts okTrustice in the Strand was passed
in 1865, when Lord Palmerston VIM Prime Minister'
Mr. Gladstone Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr.
Cowper-Temple First Commissioner of Works. Nearly
half a generation has passed away, and at lomat, the
new legit', omces near the church of St. Clement
Danes are ready for occupation. The eastern sec-
tion of the Courts is finished to the extent of 250
rooms, and various legal officials have taken up
their quarters within it. Rapid progress has been
made with the work during the past year or two; and
by-and-bye the judges will follow the masters in law
and equity, and dispense justice in courts worthy of
the name. Those who know the splendid assize halls
of Manchester and Leeds have often been astonished
at the dingy and inconvenient apartments which have
formed the courts of justice in the capital, whether in
Guildhall, Westminster, or Chancery-lane. Small,
low, and gloomy, they have seemed to combine the
maximum of discomfort with the minimum of con-
venience. Time will bring its remedy for these
defects; and London will have a Palace of
Justice worthy of itself and of the empire of
which it is the heart and centre. The eastern
tower of the Law Courts is a massive and impos-
log i4trnallle ; but the effect of the grand faifirrc
f the curt 3 is thus far destroyed by the hideous
rnius of Tkla-ipld Ear, whiLla still deface the parement
of Fleet-street.

The Mansion House Fund—started originally for the

relief of the families of the men who fell at ?Juniata&
and Rorke's Drift—has in consequence of more recent
losses assumed larger dimensions, and developed into
a kind of Patriotic Fund. It is a long while since the
suspense of the public in this country was so great as
when the accounts from the Cape told of the starting
of the column of relief for Colonel Pearson, who
for nine weary weeks had been shut up at Elcowe,
every day lessening his provisions; his beleagured
force surrounded by a vast host of dusky

savages, crafty enough to know that unless relief
came, starvation must be the result. In -civi-
lized warfare, Colonel Pearson, knowing his bread.
stuffs to be exhausted, would surrender to honourable
foes; but there oould be no capitnation to barbarians
of the calibre of the Zulus, who merely put their pri-
• soners to death. That explains the apprehension re-
specting the ability of the gallant garrison to hold out
until the army of succour could reach it. Many of us
can remember the days of suspense which were
passed in England two-and-twenty years ago in the
early days of the Indian mutiny. That dependency
then, like South Africa now, was not connected
with us by telegraph; steamers had to convey the
intelligence over thousands of miles of ocean. At length
came the news that Sir Colin Campbell had relieved
Lucknow, and the victorious Havelock was thundering
at the gates of eavrnpore. There are no women and
children in danger at Ekowe, as in tie two sunlit
cities of the East, glittering with Moslem mosque and
Pagan shrine; but there are elements in Colonel Pear.
son's long siege which give it a peculiarly pathetic
turn. While face to face with death so many weeks,
he and his men could actually see the colony of
Natal, only -about thirty-five miles off, and had the
bitterness of knowing that the force there was power-
less to help them. On that fine summer evening, when
Sir Colin Campbell's men were approaching Lucknow,
it was the slogan of the Highlanders falling upon the
listening ears of the besieged Residency which told its
occupants that life and not death was now to be their
portion. The Highlanders formed a part of the
relieving column which Colonel Pearson could see from
Ekowe, and this glad sight he would doubtless accept
as an augury of ultimate success over a sanguinary
and remorseless enemy.