The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-07-21 00:00:00

Our Inbar( CoutspoOent.

SWe deem it right to state tint we do not at all t:tnee
':aentify ourselves with our correspondent's .)pinions.]

Visitors to Pane—and their name is legion in holi•
'day times—will thoroughly understand the piety of
the ptae when the great city hen fête. In the time of
the late Emperor Napoleon the day for the Parisians
) enjoy themselves was the Fifteenth of August; now
it is the Fourteenth of July, the anniversary of the
tstruction of the Bastile, when an infuriated mob
attacked the great State Prison in the heart of the
capital, and leaving not one stone upon another, struck
the first blow at a system which had for centuries
weighed like a superstition upon the hearth of the French
people That was nearly a century ago, and in 1889 the
centenary ot that event will have arrived. Last Satur•
day, although the weather was broken and unsettled,
Paris was gaily decked with flags, and great animation
prevailed throughout the city. The unveiling ol the
statue of the Republic, with an olive branch in its
hand, to show that the period of violence had passed
away, and that universal suffrage had taken the place
of revolutionary action, was witnessed by an enthusi-
astic multitude, which thronged the Boulevards to a
late hour at night, and rent the air with their cries of
Vive la Republique.

The necessity for 9a second Suez Canal, by whom-
soever that vast work is to be constructed, is an
illustration of the mitnner in which even grf-at states•

men may err on questions of national policy. No
Minister of our time ever had so_ much of the con-

fidsnce of the people as Lord Palmerston. He did
what no Premier of modern times hAs also succeeded

in doing—he went to the country at two general
elections, and on each occasion returned with a

majority. This was the case in 1857 and again in
1865. No other Minister has done this; indeed, at
the last three general elections the verdict has been
precisely the reverse of its predece sor —1874 being
completely in opposition to that of 1868, and 1880 to
that of 1874. To return, however, to Lord Palmerston.
That usually wise and sagacious Minister always
opposed the Suez Canal on various grounds. It was
impracticable, the difference between the levels of the
Mediterranean and the Red Seas was too great to
allow the water-way to work, even if the water did not
all evaporate amid the sands of the desert; it would
injuriously affect British interests, would increase
French influence in the East. and so forth. The Canal
has been opened less than fourteen years; yet such is
the mass of British shipping poured through its narrow
channel, that it has become absolutely necessary to
widen it or to make another.
There can be little doubt that the Government pro-
posal to grant a concession to M. de Lesseps in con-
nection with the construction of a second Suez Canal
came at an unfortunate time. It was announced to
the House of Commons on the same day that the
Premier laid before that assembly an account of the
unhappy occurrences in Madagascar, and these, unex-
plained, made a very bad impression. Unquestionably
the aggressive tendency of French foreign policy during
the past three or four years has been unmistakeable.
Tunis, Tonquin, Madagascar—all tell the same story.
Even members of the High Court of Parliament are
nut human, and so when a Joint Committee of Lords
and Commons bad before them a scheme for making a
tunnel under the sea between this country and France,
thus virtually destroying our insular position, turning
Great Britain into a peninsula, and uniting us to the
huge military monarchies of the Continent, it is no
matter for surprise that it was, after due consideration,
rejected, with little or no expressions of popular
regret. _ _

The Corrupt Practices Bill, after twenty sittings of
the House of Commons, got through Committee early
on Saturday morning, and the Attorney• General, on
the successful termination of his protracted labours,
was generously cheered by an appreciative assembly.
Last year the House spent several weeka of its time,
meeting specially in the autumn for that purpose, in
order to revise its rules of procedure, with a view to
the more expeditious despatch of public business. Yet
it has taken a third of the working time which the
Government has at its disposal for the whole session
to get one measure through Committee. Valuable
bills have had to be thrown over—one of a most im.
portant character, that for the prevention of damage
by floods. This has been promised year after year,
with a similar abea tive result. Meanwhile it is in.
teresting to note that the cloture, over which there was
such a desperate fight last year, has not once been put
Into operation as yet.
Saturday's weather was most unpropitious for
nuinerous ern agemennts in London. It was the
second day of the Eton and Harrow cricket match at
Lord's, one that is often attended with untoward
atmospheric surroundings. It was also the day of the
London Schaol Board annual fete, when more than
20,000 children beloming to the various Board Schools
of the metropolis, with their parenta and teachers,
rEAZ flrutglittggititilapPL.
pri,z‘e,2 stt the_Cryslal
to the present summer swept over the capital, the
thunder pealing hour after hour, the lightning rending
into pieces the dark masses of cloud which covered
the sky, and the rain pouring down in sheets,
utterly spoiling any arrangement which had been made
for a day of out.door enjoyment.
The departure of Earl Cairns for Switzerland
would appear to indicate that not much serious work
is contemplated by the House of Lords this Session
calculated to provoke a collision with the represents,
tire assembly. Is is difficult to see any occasion why
this should arise, seeing that the chief measure
approved by the Ccmmons thus far affects them alone,
so far as their mode of election is concerned, and the
peers would scarcely venture to interfere much with
It. The next measure on the list is the Agricultural
Holdings Bill, which is of paramount necessity to a
vast national interest which is largely represented in
the peerage.

A great many entkusiastio Volunteers look forward
to the annual visit to Wimbledon as a very pleasant
holiday, with which perchance they may combine pro-
fitable occupation. Saturday, however, was anything
but an agreeable experience. The thunderstorm which
broke over the camp transformed it into a lake, and
one ingenious occupant of the Press tent might have
been seen mounted on a table and fishing for stray
articles which were floating around apparently in quest
of an owner. For the Volunteers themselves it was
anything but a joke to have the prospect of lying on
wet ground on wet rugs in wet clothes. It was doubly
unfortunate that such a flood should have occurred on
Saturday, for the E rst Saturday of the meeting is
always a popular day with visitors, for it is gene-
rally reserved for several interesting competi-
tions, including the annual match between the
Lords and Commons. In the friendly contest
this year between the two Houses the highest
score was made by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,
who out of twenty shots at five hundred yards managed
to make within three points of the highest possible.
Of course, the most exciting event is the conclusion of
the shooting for the Queen's Prize, to obtain and
despatch the result of which to all parts of the country
give rise to elaborate preparation and keen rivalry.
The managers of the various London playhouses,
and their name is almost legion, are experiencing an
intensification of the usually dead season of the year.
Swel,ering days succeeded by nights oppre.sive
with an overcharged atmosphere are not induce-
ments to sit out serious performances in gss,
or even electrically- lit places of entertainment.
Managers know this, and are driven to make
frequent changes in their bills, so as to lure the
public to their houses. For the first night of the
week there were at least half-a-dozen changes of pro-
gramme at the Metropolitan theatres. But standing
out from all the rest is the unrivalled success of the
Lyceum Theatre under Mr. Irving'a control, notwith-
standing the series of revivals which is being pre-
sented previous to the American tour of the company
includes such heavy productions as Hamlet. Opinions
may vary as to the standard of excellence reached by
Mr. Irving in the impersonations with which his name
has been identified, Out there is no questioning the great
work he has done for the English drama in producing
plays against which no purist can raise an objection and
in the artistic vmpleteness with which everything is
mounted and performed. For these reasons Mr.
Irving's to 1r in America will be followed with great
nterest in thii country. The English people have had
an opportunity of comparing the greatest exponents
of English and American acting, as they both played
together at the Lyceum on the occasion of Mr. 11.)oth's
last visit to this country. It will be interesting to
know what will be the opinion of our Transatlantic
cousins.

It is suoprising that notwithstanding the dif6oultie3
noising from exeessive eompetition and the adverse in
finance of all kinds of meteorolozioal oonditimas
—hest, rain, and fog London theatres prove
Tenannerative. It may. not be generally known
that what was once regarded as the home of
the British drama, Drury Lane, pays a rental of
tearly 2150 a week. When to this is added the ex•
penditure in rates, gas, advertising, and salatias, the
latter being sometimes to several hundreds of employs,

it will be recognized that the gr oss takings must be
very great. It would afford food for instructive con•
sideration if one could know the amount paid in
London in a year for the various forms of public
amusement.

The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, though still weak, was
sufficiently recovered from his recent illness to be
enabled to officiate on Sunday at the Metropolitan
Tabernacle.