The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-09-09 00:00:00

ur yortbou rusponbeni.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The saying "Uneasy lies the head that wears a

crown! " was never more truly exemplified than in the
case of two racent Sultans of Turkey. Abdul Aziz
was deposed on the 29h of May, dying a week after-

wards under circumstances which- are fresh in the

recollection of the reader, and Morad V. reigned in

his stead. Murad appears to have been even a poorer

- -
creature than ordinary eultana of Turkey generally

are ; he suffered from a mental aberration which corn-
p!etely unfitted him for the duties of sovereignty.

_
This had such thorough pcssession of him that he was

unable to receive a single ambassador; he was never

girt with the sword of Oman; and for the last few
weeks of what may be called his reign, he was pri-
vately sent from place to place in the lope that change

of scene wanld awaken his (amities from the lethargy

In which they had becorGe enveloped. All effoita to
rouse him to a sense of the dignity, romponsibility, and

importance of his new position were in vain, and after
a short inglorious reign of three months, he shared the
fate of the uncle who was deposed in May. Once
more there b a new Sultan upon the throne formerly
occupied by the stern Mahmoud—one who, if all re-
ports be true, has rather a contempt for those " re-
forms " which have been so plentifully promised by
his predecessors, and who admires the early Sultans
that stamped upon the Ottoman rule the simple cha-
racter to which it owed its strength.

In the year 1861 an Act of Parliament was passed
which at the time was looked upon by many as a piece
of intermeddling legislation. It was known as the
Salmon Fisheries' Protection Act, and by it inspectors
were appointed to look after the rivers, and to see that
our "limpid streams," as the poets would say, were
not contaminated and poisoned by the discharge of
refuse from mines and manufactories. The statute
was regarded in several quarters as savouring of grand-
motherly government, which ought to confine itself to
matters of high state policy and to questions of
Imperial importance. As to the refuse from works
of all descriptions which had b,aea built upon the
margins of our streams, if it could not be poured into
the rivers, what was to done with it? Capitalists had
sunk large sums of money in the construction of such
works, understanding that they were free to shoot
their rubbish into the stream, and the only mischief

clone was to the fishes. As to the sentimental objection
that the blackened waters destroyed the beauty of the
landseape, it was dismissed as being shadowy and un-
practical. It was all very well for Tennyson to write
of the brook :

"I wind about, and in and out,
With here a blossom sailing,
And here atd there a lusty trout
And here and there a grayling.
And here and there a foamy flake
Upon me al I travel,
With many a silver water-break
Above the golden gravel,
And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming river;
For men may come and men may go,

But I flow on for ever."
There is much more in the same strain, telling us
how the merry little stream dances amid field and
fallow, past fairy forelands, and by lawns and grassy
plots, by hazel covers, "moving the sweet forget-me-
nots that grow for happy lovers." But the dreams of
poets, when brought into contact with the hard facts
of every-day life must, it was contended, go down be-
fore stern experience, as the mist in the valley fades
before the rays of the morning sunlight. Half a
generation has passed over our heads since the Act of
1861 was placed upon the statute book, and now we
see the results of its beneficial working. Lest week
the whole of the salmon received at Billingsgate mar-
ket were of British origin, neither Holland, Norway,
nor Sweden supplying a single box. The total number
of boxes of British salmon sold was 2,319, each
box averaging one hundredweight. This cannot
fail to bo satisfactory, for it points to a material
increase in the supply of a nutritious article
of food. If the man who causes two ears of corn to
grow in a spot where only one grew before is a bene-
factor to the hum/ n race, hew much more truly will
the saying apply to the preservation of that which was
sent into the world to be need and not ruthlessly
destroyed.

No better illustration of the Let that a great change
has come over the construction of the navy could be
found than in the simple statement that the engines
aid boilers of H.M.S. Thunderer cost more than a
three-decker of Nelson's days complete. Less was
paid for the battered Victory, now in Portsmouth
Harbour, than for the elaborate machinery which was
rent to pieces by the disastrous explosion of the 14th
July. The British taxpayers has the satisfaction of
knowing that nothing which money can procure is left
=supplied in order to make the navy the most power-
ful arm of the service; but it is certaiely discouraging
to find that an apparently trivial cause like the stick-
ing of a safety valve should result not only in the
destruction of costly machinery, but should lead to the
sacrifice of many valnaVe lives. The engines and
boilers may be replaced by ti.e exercise of time,
patience, skill, and money; but by neither of these
agencies can there be any restoration of the life that
was lost upon that occasion.

We all know the interest which is taken in this
country over the result of a general election, and we
car, therefore, understand the political excitement in
ussia just now, for in a few weeks a new Prussian
House of Representatives will have to be elected. In
the beginning of next year this will be followed by
that of a new Imperial Diet. Parties have lorg been
preparing for a fierce strucgle in these contests, and
from what we know of Continental politics, we can
easily conceive the kind of memories which such a
struggle is likely to leave behind. In France, for
Instance, the political animosities of rival parties rises
to a pitch totally unknown to us. Passions often run
high in our own electoral turmoil, no doubt; but the
feeling of resentment against those of the opposite
side is as evanescent as the foam tpon the waves of a
stormy sea. Neighbours who have voted in contrary
directicne, and have possibly had warm words, very
soon become friends again; but in France and other
countries difference of opinion developes into rancour.
Toleration of other opinions is unknown; each con-
tending partisan declares that only his shibboleth can
save the state; all who do not believe in it are traitors
to their country. Hence faction is never at rest, and
the progress and prosperity, of the nation, which ought
to be an object to all, must inevitably be retarded even
at a time when the voice of political strife should be
hushed, and the land resting in peace,
"All among the barley" is a song which has been
beard many a time and oft at harvest.tide ; and on few
occasions have the lines—
"For it is now September
The autumn as begun,"
proved so true as in the pres_ nt year. The autumn had
Indeed advanced upon th e land with rapid strides before
the dawn of the month of September; fierce gales and
heavy seas in the channel; torrents of rain and a cold
humid air in the shires at once told of the passing
away of that long spell of fine weather which it seemed
so difficult to break. It would be hard to say how
many different names this month has had since it was
first christened September by Nurna 2,500 ago. The
Roman Senate would have given it the name of
Tiberitun but the emperor opposed it; Domitian gave
it the name of Germanicus ; the senate, in the reign of
Antoninus Pius called it after that potentate; Com-
mudus gave it his surname, and the emperor Tacitus
called it after himself. Centuries after Tacitus had
been summoned to his rest the French revolutionaries
made a new calendar, and designated Septem-
ber by the distinction of Fructidor, or fruit
month. But the people in all ages seem to
have taken a common-sense view of the matter, and to
have decided that to be continually changing the
names of the months after this particular emperor or
that especial season would land them in inextricable
confusion, and be productive of extreme inconvenience.
So they adhered to the appellation which Numa gave
to the month more than 700 years before the Chris-
tian era. Once admit the principle that a powerful
sovereign should be enabled to call one of the months
of the year after himself, and we should have the
monarchs of all countries vieing with each in endea-
vouring thus to perpetuate his name. In our own
land we should have had William and Henry, John
and Richard, Edward and George, Charles and
James, Elizabeth and Mary, Anne and Victoria!
Russia might have made the calendar look strange and
weirdlike by the names of such sovereigns as Rurick
and Oleg, Ivor and Olga, Swintoslow and Jaropalk°
Vladimir and Mitislow, Ivan and Junk, Nicholas
and Jaraslaw. France would have changed the names
of her months with every insurrection ; in short' it is
clear enough that it would never have done for
nations to have followed every whim in such a way.
It thus comes to pass that names which were given to
months five and twenty centuries ago are as fresh
to-day as when they were first bestowed.
Hospital Saturday is an even more recent institu-
tion for a charitable purpose than Hospital Sunday;
and there is no doubt that the movement has fulfilled
one good purpose. Although the pecuniary results
may not amount to an imposing sum, they show that
the working classes quite appreciate the benefits they
receive from the public hospitals, and are prepared to
pay the quota towards the cost. In fact, it is the work-
ing man who, more than any one, derives advantages
from the presence of these institutions in the midst of
a crowded city, and amid avocations which render him
constantly liable to accident. The fact that upwards
of 140 ladies had undertaken to preside at the street
polleobion stations added much to the interest of the