The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-10-22 00:00:00

t fon'oort o:orrtsponbtnt.

rn It 1;..-.llt ta elate that we lin not al O. tirade
hvs sitil one .0: re, I, nl J

Sadder and sadder becomes the current history of the
war, and more earnestly than evi r, it may safely be
assumed, do the majority of readers long for this cruel
strugle to cease. As far as can be ascertained relath e
to the true state of affairs in Paris, the occupants f
the beleaguered city are in a ntat e of alarm and suspense;
some acconnts state that they are eager to be attacked,
believing they shall triumph ; others that the suspense
is no awful that at the commencement of the bombard-
ment the Government w ill be urged to put an end to the
susivnse by surrendering. Some writers maintain that
the city cammt possibly hold out against a bombard.
ment ; out. rs, that the Prussians will never enter the
city. On the one hand we read that supposing the
Pariei ins have a sufficient amount of fool, the besieged
can keep the besiegers at a distance until the former
Lave hail time to drill and equip an army suffi-
cient to drive the Germans farther off the city,
if not out of the country ! On the other hand,
we are told that Paris has not a sufficient amount
of food ; that famine and sedition threaten her
that without a rehiring army she must surrend
or be captured ; and that a relieving army
cannot have. Put whatever may be the ,

as to the fate of Paris, there seems now to be an a •••
universal d. sire that that fate may be speedily &tick
and perhaps it will in the end be best for France that
the Germans for their own sakes slmre in this desire.
Both for b ictors and vanquished the horrors of war are
now accumulating. Wintsr is approaching ; food is be-
e, ming scarcer in many parts of France besides Paris ;
the lleitnans are impatient of this protracted resist-
ance, and are anxious to return home; the French are
having the truth slowly forced on them thattheir cause
is hop. lee; disease as well as war is playing havoc even
with the conquering forces, and almost the whole
civilised world cries " Hold, enough ! " The end can
not be far off.

Mr. ard well's speeches are always worthy of atten-
ive puce hut when the Secretary for War speaks
on war, n standing armies, and so on, his utterances.
are specially worth attention. Ably lows he supported
he poliey of the present Government in relation to
the war, and, be one's politics what they may, it must
generally he admitted that that policy, "one of entire
neutrally, 'has been beet for the country. There is one
sentence, f which is particularly worth thinking over.
After reti tring to the variations of public feeling, at
different periods, in respect to our national defences,
Mr. tar lwell says, "What we ought to endeavour to
obtain s this—a system which shall secure the dignity
of the country against panics perpetually recurring,
which shall be consistent with sound economy in
time of ; race, and give us a safety against aggression
In time c f war." Of course, the Secretary for War
does not hint any further at the system'" to which be
thus broadly and vaguely alludes; so that we are left
to our own speculations. I, amongst others, have an
opinion on the matter. I fancy Mr. Cardwell dimly
foreshadows a resort to something like the Prussian
system, Accustoming the nation to the use of arms in
lieu of large'y increasing our standing army. Much
msy be said for and against such a system, but proba-
bly the balance of argument is in its favour. A large
staneling army tends to make a nation aggressive, but
when the nation itself is its own army its tendencies are
purely defensive. This view at all events appears to
be borne out by the Franca.Prussian war. It is just
possible, however, that Mr. Cardwell may have merely
been hinting at a reconstruction of the militia, a sub-
ject which is now, it is sad, occupying the earnest
attention of the Government.

The announcement that the Princess Louise is to be
married to the Marquis of Lorne, eldest son of
the Duke of Argyll, seems to have been re.
ceived with very general satiefaction. When we
bear that an English Princess is to be married to a
German Prince, whom she has, perhaps, scarcely seen.
and whom she may or may net love, we may have our
doubts about its being a marriage of pure affection, as
we are renerally told it is ; but in this case we cannot
have any doubts of the matter. The very fact of her
Majesty departing from precedent in sanctioning the
marriage proves this. The wedding, on if, is to take
place come time in February (the month of St.
Valentine); but then perhaps on knows nothing about
I. If the rumour of the approaching marriage be
true, and there is little doubt of it, may the young
couple be happy as the day is long.

Railway sharehollers should look to it that their
several companies develope the goods and rarcels traffic
as much as posdble. Our railways are very far behind
the times in this respect. For heavy goods and long
&stances the companies are not so much at fault,
though even here some improvement mizht easily be
mad.; but for small parcel conveyance the railways
are curiously inadequate. Parcels conveyance corn•
panics and carriers' carts more or leas efficiently supple-
ment the railway parcels business, but if the railway
companies were to modify their system, and adapt it
to the requirements of the times, they might lar;ely
[acreage their revenues and do the public great
service.

Where a great deal is said on any one subject it is
strange if come folly do not creep in. There hart been
an immense deal said about poatmards, and the
Lord Mayor some little time since told us ex caterdru,
that certain evil-dispoeed persms had put them to
very ecandalous uses, hinting that the Post-office might
have to withdrew these cards altogether. I now read
that " From the let of October, 1.870, personal safety
and domestic privacy ceased in the land. Their resto-
ration can only be accomplished by the abolition of
the post-cards," &c. No, no; that would be absurd.
People who complain of the evil uses to which post-
cards have been put, seem to forget that persons can
write anything outside a letter just as well as on a
card. But we need not frighten ourselves ; there is
not the slightest danger of the G. P. 0. withdrawing
these "mighty convenient" cards.

It is sometimes uncomfortable to know too much
about the ills that flesh is heir to. At all events it is
not pleasant to know that a scientific inquirer has dis-
covered a new parasitic insect in the blood of us poor
mortals, and he is sal Ito.have taken 10,000 of these
parasites in one day, from a patient of his. Cruel to
tell na this, and cruel of the writer to give the fact
farther pablic,ty !
The Serpentine (so called because it is not ser-
pentine) in Hyde Park, which ham so long had
the appearance of a dry moat in connection with
works of fortification, has at last assumed its wonted
nape. L 6 aid the Park is itself again. Hard by, ano-
ther work is approaching completion—the long-de-
laysd Albert Memorial. It will be a splendid work
wnis finished. It in built on an elevated platform, the
entire height being 167 feet; the canopy will have an
elegant appearance ; there are four colossal statues
representing the "four quarters of the world" (though
the four quarters, as everybody keowa, do not make •
whole); and the statue of the Prince Consort is said
to be a fine work of art. The inscription running round
the four Arches of the canopy is: " Qoeen Victoria
and her people—to the memory of Albert, Prince
Consort—as a tribute of their gratitude—for a life de-
voted to the public good." Her Majesty will in all pro-
bability unveil the statue.

An eminent firm of printsellenshave presented &dozen
fine engravings to the National Hospital for Con-
sumption, for its sitting-rooms, at Bromptou ; and •
very kind, thoughtful, ant sensible act it is. These
engravings are to adorn rooms where consumptive
patients pit and lounge about, and where, indeed,
many of them drag out a weary existence, alternately
buoyed lip by hope and thin weighed down by that
sadly insidious disease which so much affects our
ountry. The authorities in other hospitals mh.ht
take the hint. Instead of bare walls, with nothing for
the sick patient's eye to rest upon, would it not con-
duce to his recovery—would it not at least make his
sickness less wearisome if a few good coloured en-
cravincs were hung upon the walls? They would coat
but little, sHa would afford pleabing subjects for con-
versation or silent thought.
Even those who but occasiorally visit London will
he pleased to bear that the Albert, or Southern Em-
bankment is to have trees plan ed, and that its surplus
ground is to be laid out on the same priticiple as that
which has made the Victoria embankment such a noble
promenade. But why, it may be asked, should there
not be on either embankment two lines of trees, thus
producing veritable boulevards' Ah, why not?
There is not the slightest difficulty, the expense would
be trifling compared with the entire works, and the
effect would be charming.

The refusal to renew the day inte licenses to the Al-
hambra and to ilighbury Barn will exercit.e, it i to be
hoped, a salutary influence on proprietoni of ant.c.that
similar places elsewhere. The Midlleetx magistrates
have in this matter proved themselves true friend,4
public morality, and their action will doubtless not
be lost upon the managers of some of our theatres.
Theatrical managers may in some respects care little
for the authority of a torch of magietrates when that
authority does not directly cffect themselves ; but in
this matter magisterial opinion probably represents
public opinion.

it may, perhaps, he remembered that a gentleman
complained a short time ago at one of the London pollee
etdetn rtrit tho body t.tt ton • Ife, alto had died in St. Thomas's
Hospital, tat teen nut Feted to an anatomical examination
without his knowledge or nanction, and in contravention of
the terms of the Act of Parliament. the magistrate gave
luignento, Mstnrrlay, that her. had been no c,tttay.otton
of the Act, but he recommendedthat where It we. 0, • 'oxide
the relations of deceaacti persons shoUlti be con., L.ttd
with before a poormortern examination am made.