The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-06-20 00:00:00

enr Yalu aorrespoubtut.

t"We deem it right to state that we do not at all Una
Itlentify oweelves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Like a thunderbolt from a summer sky the
news of the defeat and resignation of Mr.
Gladstone's Ministry fell upon the country.
The Government, with such a mighty majority
only five years ago, has been broken to pieces
like a potter's vessel. The Liberal absentees,
whose votes would have saved the Administra-
tion, have teen taken to task for not having
been at Westminster on the night of a critical
division; but the truth seems to be that the case
is an illustration of the fable of "The Shepherd
Boy and the Wolf." One vote, of censure after
another had in the course of three months been
, beaten off---ono by the nattoiv majority of only
'l4; still,. there it was. - So. between fifty and
sixty Liberals ieniained.-awils'y, feeling that -the
Government was perfectly safe. An adverse
Majority 0f411.,t was a rude re-awakening, and we
have the,. singular. spectacle of a change of
Ministry Within A few weeks of the death of a
Parliament which will be prorogued only to be
dissolved.
Under these circumstances the coming
general election will be regarded with
greater interest than ever. Will the country
decide to give the Conservatives 'a fair trial, or
will it again give place and power to the Liberal
party? It will be borne in mind that each of
the last three general elections has reversed thii
verdict of its predecessor. On this reasoning'
there would be !% Conservative triumph. But
the great constituencies have been so cut up into
diyisions that it is. irnpossilole to. say how local
influences will affect the result in the. Parliamen-
tary elections. Again, two millions of new voters
have been added to the registers, and no mortal
man can predict with.. safety . how they will
exercise the franchise. 411 is uncertainty, which
can only be ended by the verdict of the people.
The Ministerial crisis has spoilt the Queen's
holiday, but,lierMajesty has too- much sense of
her public duties to hesitate as to the course to
be pursued. Her Majesty would have preferred
not.to come to Windsor till after the Ascot week,
which is late this year just as the Derby was late.
But the Queen's Government must be carried
on, and the Sovereign, therefore decided
to return to Windsor as early as
was practicable, to receive the resignations of
the outgoing Ministry, and to hand seals of
office over icy the new,. one.. Only once before
during her long reign has the Queen been at
Balmoral in a Ministerial crisis, and that was in
1866, when Earl Russell's Government was de-
featedeep a. ppipt -of detail in connection with
the Reforra Bill. Then, as now, Mr. Gladstone
announced to the House of Commons the resigna-
tion of Ministers.
If history were made out of the lines on the
placards of the London evening papers, the com-
pilation would be a remarkable one. A few
weeks ago "Declaration of War"- appeared in
immense-type, while :".expected". waS printed
ve.ty small. The same with "Great Fire," in
such letters as to suggest the Houses of Parlia-
ment. A confiding speculator, on purchasing
the journal, discovers that there, has been a con-.
ilagration in NeW Yorks, the intelligence of which
has been conveyed in a three-line telegram. But
"The 'nventions Exhibition in Flames" is the
latest specimen of ingenuity and exaggeration.
There was a fire at the Indian Museum, -which
for the time created considerable- alarm, but the
Inventions Exhibitions was ipractically unin-
jured.
.. •
'FL -
Royal road to /earning.was well illustrated
on the night when, in the. presence of a dis-
tinomished assembly, Prince Albert Victor was
called to the bar and bench of the Middle
Temple. The young Prince, like his father, is
popular, and no one should grudge him such dis-
tinctions if he.cares to have them. The splenilid
hall of the Middle Temple is historically famous
from.thelact-efiiit=it was there Queen Elizabeth
waedecuatothid ..to hear Shakespeare read his
plays. "Th-e Middle and Inner Temple Halls are
well worth seeing'. and so are the gardens just
now. The Beneliers have thrown these open
from six to nine o'clock in the evening and they
are the resortioflltibi*.da, of poor children from
the imr,dedrateneiglibbiu'hood, to whom it is the
only opeti,space-of. grass land to be seen. The
lenchers. of T.iiicoln's-inn • have been often
memoriallied..to throw open for a limited num-
ber of houra. -daily the. vast square known as
Lincclin.-i'selds, but thus far these efforts are
- -
11% 139.-,11,44
_Weather, coming; so soon after the
heavy.ra.ins,shaa been' very welcome' to cricketers,
and-the condition of 'the gi•ound is now splendid.
The -strugklerfCir the
.county;cham,pionship this
yeariVilllVa ken One. Biirrey commenced the
seasbil:Yery',,,WeLl, • and' up to the present 'they
have• lost only.-one ematch. This 'was against
Gloucestershire, *hot() •vietp.ry is all the more
creditable when
.it is considered that they. were

unable to play their strongest team. Nating-
ham, last year's champion shire, have so far been
beaten in one engagement, but last year their
record was all victories. They h&ve lately defeated
an all English eleven by an innings and forty-six
runs, but the latter was by no. means a represen-
tative team. : Two of
.the most prominent
absentees were Mr. W. G. Grace and Mr. W. W,
Read, who were unable to be present as. they had
to play for their respective sides at the Oval. Ai
the end, of this, or the beginning of next month,
Oxford find Cambridge and E •''ori and Harrow
will meat at Lord's, and decide two of the
greatest and most fashionable events of the
season.
Hospital Sunday in London is a!,.vays the
second or third Sunday in June, when the town
is full and the season may be called at its best.
• This year appeals were made to 1600 congregations,
and the sum expected to result is about
ThiS is of &aurae a considerable sum,
but no more than might reasonably be anticipated
from the vasepopulation of the metropolis. The
work of the committee of appropriation is often
a thankless one.. Some of these great institutions
of the e4pitar get nothing from this fund at all
simply because they do not want it—Guy's and
St. Bartholomew's for instance. Others which
are not endowed, and depend on voluntary con-
tributions, would like much more than can be
allotted to them-.% On the.. whole however the
work is performed to the satisfaction of all.
G. R.