The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-09-06 00:00:00

Our nbort Corrtspodent.
(We deem it ri;tltt to state that we do rot atalltteita
tlentify ourselvez with our correspondent's opinions.]

Mr. Gladstone's 'visit to his constituents is Ittie great
political event of the week. Time flies to rapidly
that it is difficult to believe it is nearly five years
since he first set oat on his journey to the metropo-
litan county of Scotland with the object of attacking a
Conservative stionghOld, and by inspirating his party.
Not hag a decade has elapsed; yet what changes have
been witnessed I The Prime Minister of that
day has gone to his rest; so, too, has the
Duke of Buceleuch, whose eldest son, Lord
Dalkelth, and the present possessor of the
ducal tittle. was then the member for Mid-Lothian.
We ell remember two cartoons which appeared in.
Peach in November and December, 1879, wherein
the Duke of Buccleuch was represented as, in one,
pointing the adventurous Southron to "Mid-Lothians
rvotors new," while, in another, Mr. Gladstone was
.4-lepieted as the Colossus of Words. There will not.,
.hocrecier, be so many words this time. The past fiv.e
'.7ears have told visibly on Mr. Gladstone's physical
strength; he has gone from 70 to 75, and at such an
•age five years make all the difference. Lord Pal-
'nierston was Prime Minister at SO; but the strain of
Ipublic life in the times of the vivacious Viscount was
',not what it is now.

The tone of the French newspapers towards England
just now is by no means of a friendly character. The
•criticisms which we have passed upon the recent
'development of the foreign policy of France have gone
-straight home; and we are now told that England,
and not Germany, is the enemy of France. Natu-
:Tally, circumstances change with time; but those
-who remember the Franco-German war of 1870
'‘know best how to appreciate the accusation now
'made against us. There can be little doubt that when
France declared war on that occasion the •public feeling
• of this country was against her, as it was looked upon
.as though the Emperor had forced a quarrel in the
interests of his dynasty. But as the struggle
proceeded, and one relentless blow after another was
truck at our nearest neighbour by a powerful foe,
-the sympathies of the people went with the weaker
side; and the way in which England came to the
relief of the starving population of Paris, when the
proud capital surrendered through famine, will still
be fresh in the recollection of all. The French ought
not to be so sensitive in such a manner as the criticism
.of a friendly nation upon their foreign policy, more
especially when,, as in Madagascar, it is likely to
bring them into trouble with ourselves through the
imprisonment of Englislk subjects, while in China it
might not improbably affect our commercial interests.
The preparations for the Soudan campaign are
going steadily on, and the appointment of Lord
Wolseley gives satisfaction to those who know the
thoroughly practical nature of the work which he is
in the habit of accomplishing when he takes anything
in hand. The name of Lord Wolseley first came
before the country with any degree of prominence in
1873, when he was selected for the command of the
expedition organised for the chastisement of the
Ashantee king. That work was carried out with re-
markable swiftness and skill in a pestilential climate,
and against enemies who, albeit savages, were sin-
gularly shrewd and cunning. Happily England does
not have occasion for the employment of first-class
generals very often,and it happened that Lord Wolseley
was not again required for anything of importance for
nearly nine years, as in the meantime there had been
a change of Government, and Sir F. Roberts was sent
to Afghanistan, while Sir Garnet Wolseley oscillated
between Cyprus and Zululand. Egypt was his great
opportunity in September, 1882, and the planning and
execution of the campaign which ended at Tel-el-
Kebir, showed the thorough mastery which he had
over his profession. The environment of General
Gordon at Khartoum offers a field for his organising
powers of rather a different character; but the
Government having committed itself to a relief expe-
dition, with the approval of the country, the selection
of one most prominent General for the command is
an indication that the work is likely to be rapidly and
effectually done.
The Health Rxhibition is naturally visited by the
country visitor to London, and the Indian tempe-
rature of the present summer has been singularly
favourable for the out-door fet'es which have formed
such a characteristic of the recreation offered. The
evenings have proved the best parts of the scorching
days, and in the Exhibition gardens have been
enjoyed by all who took part in them. But this
competition has told upon the Crystal Palace and
also upon the theatres, some of which are now
closing for a few weeks' recess. The Trans-Atlantic
trip of Mr. Irving and Miss Terry was such a bucces-
last year that it is to be repeated, and they
will not return to England until next May. While
there is no doubt of the popularity of the Lyceum
under Mr. Irving's management, as a place for the
production more especially of Shakspeare's best plays,
there is equally little doubt that amongst theatre-
goers, comic opera, as represented at the Savoy, and
burlesque, as put upon the boards at the Gaiety, have
their numerous devotees. For the reason already
mentioned, the theatres have not been -so well
attended of late; but that is not because the
Londoner takes less recreation or amusement than
hitherto. He simply takes it in another form—if he
does not go to the theatre he betakes himself to what
he calls the Healtheries.

The vast and increasing size of London is again
illustrated by the statistics given in the anntral report I
of the Commissioners of the Metriipolitan Police.
Twenty thousand now houses were added to the
district patrolled by Col. Henderson's force last year.
This is about equal to the whole of the dwellings pos-
sessed by Brighton or Bolton. What will London be
like when this centuryi ends if it goes on growing at
such a pace? When the Ist of January, 1900, is
sent forth from scores and hundreds of °birch-
steeples in the capital, what kind of place
will it resemble then? There is, however,
another side to these figures. Everyone who knows
anything of the suburbs of London—take them in
either direction—is well aware that these are over..
built. There are already more houses than are
• sufficient for the people who want them. Many a
, city man longing for quietude after he leaves busi-
ness, having taken a residence in a distant suburban
retreat, after a brief enjoyment of the fields, finds
them swallowed up by the speculative builder, the
painful truth that "God made the country, and man
made the town," being cruelly brought home to him
fby the obliteration of the rural landscapes, the de..
struction of pure air, and the vision of the never-
ending bricks and mortar.
The meeting of the Parliament of Science at Mon-
treal is an agreeable incident in the history of that
city. The journey has been too far for many who are
accustomed to attend the annual sittings of theßritish
Association; still the scientific intellect of the mother
country is vely fairly represented in the list of names
.st the Montreal gathering. Life in a Canadian city is
sot so varied that any Of them could afford to regard
with indifference such an assemblage. Winter is a
Jong and severe one in the Dominion, and it is a hard
-time then for many a department of industry. The
/ate Justice Haliburton, who wrote under the nom de
plume of Sam Slick, and who as a judge had had
many years' experience of Canadian life, .once de..
-livered before his Parliamentary constituents at
Launceston an address upon the resources -of that
-great dependency, in which he advised people not to
-emigrate to Canada, the winters were too long. In
England the winters are variable. Some years they
are mild, and at other times they are severe; but in
Canada people know pretty well what they have to
expect, and prepare accordingly. The cold of that
.climate is, however, described as a healthy, bracing
cold, and not that of the bitter east winds with which
we al e so familiar in those ungenial spring times wbich
ao often visit the British Isles.