The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-08-02 00:00:00

IJI ur T,011111311 (forrtspArnt.

IWe fie,ini it right to state that we do not at all times
e4.le:itify uurselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

It will have been noticed that the intelligence of
the defeat of the Zulu army before Ulundi, like
that of the disaster at Isandula and the relief
of Ekowe, came through St. Vincent. This Portugese
settlement, 5,000 miles from the Cape, is the first
station possessing a telegraphic cable to England—a
defect which will, however, soon be remedied by
laying a cable all the way to our South African
colonies. The steamers take about fourteen days to
make the run from the Cape to St. Vincent, where
the captains would prefer not to call, as it lengthens
the passage to England by a whole day, and we all
know how a commander prides himself upon a swift
run. St. Vincent is rather out of the track, and the
captains like best the straight run to Madeira, which
is two days nearer England. An extraordinary place
is St. Vincent, of which very few people had ever
heard before the outbreak of the Zulu war. Distant
five thousand miles from the Cape, and 2,500 from
England, it raises its head in mid-Atlantic, the burnt-
out crater of an extinct volcano, with basaltic rocks
meeting the eye at every turn. There is scarcely any
vegetation in the place; no giant trees to shelter the
people from the rays of a tropical sun, which from
twelve to four in the day render out-door exercise well-
nigh impracticable. It possesses a splendid bay, which
has the reputation of containing sharks; but these
voracious monsters seldom touch a negro even when
they have the chance, preferring the flesh of whites.
The trade-winds, blowing over the islands for months
together from the north-east, are delightfully cooling
to the temperature. Indeed, a voyage to St. Vincent
and a residence of a few weeks upon the island, con-
stitnte an excellent receipt for the restoration of
health to a debilitated frame. The steamers, on ap-
proaching the island at night, display an elaborate
system of rocket-signals, which can be seen twenty
miles away. The Government despatches are always
sent through the wire first; they take precedence of
any newspaper message whatsoever. It sometimes
happens that a Government despatch is 20,000 words
in length, and the transmission of this delays the news-
paper telegrams several hours.
Sir Bartle Frere, in announcing the news of the
Zulu defeat at Ulundi, stated that he was indebted
for the intelligence to Mr. Archibald Forbes, the
special correspondent of the Daily News, who rode
from Ulundi to Landsman's drift, a distance of eighty
miles, having been in the saddle fifteen hours. It is
just two years since Mr. Forbes rode from the Balkans
to the Danube with the first intelligence of the battle
of Plevna, which he was enabled to give the Czar in
person long before the arrival of the Russian couriers.
But this ride through Zululand was a far more remark-
able piece of work, for it had to be accomplished
through a hostile country, whose barbarous inhabitants
would have shown scant mercy to the fearless eques-
trian if a chance had.turned up for taking a pot shot
at him as he sped on his wild career. This extraordi-
nary ride recalls the famous one of Lieutenant
Maxse, when, after the battle of the Alma, he
conveyed the instructions of Lord Raglan to the
British Admiral to bring the British fleet round from
Enpatoria to Balaklava, the allied commanders having
determined to march upon Sebastopol from the south
side instead of from the north :

"Farmers raise in Crim-Tartaric shouts which corre-
spond unto,
' Don't go riding 'mongst them turnips—this field don't
belong to you.
Hullos there, frightening them there cattle I by there
tearing up them grapes!'
Muse neither heeds nor hears their clamour—like the
crow his flight he shapes."
Such was the language in which Punch, five-and-
twenty years ago, desoribed this venturesome exploit,
which procured for the daring rider a promotion from
the rank of lieutenant to that of captain. It may be
added that Mr. Forbes was once a cavalry soldier, a
fact which goes far to explain his skill and success as
a horseman in more than one recent campaign.

The Goodwood races are like the last rose of summer.
They are the expiring flicker of the London season.
Aristocratic Ascot finds the capital in the height of
the run of business and activity; glorious Goodwood
sees its decline. When we reach the beginning of
August, many families have left town for the autumn,
and only those remain whose heads are absolutely re-
quired in the various departments of the state, or in
one of the two Houses of the Legislature. Supposing
the prorogation of Parliament to take place about the
usual time, the middle of August will witness the close
of one of the dullest seasons of recent years. Some time
ago, when our trade was good, and our prosperity nu.
questioned, both received a still further encourage-
mentlby the occasional visit of a foreign Sovereign,
such as the Shah of Persia or the Emperor of
Russia. But now that a little fillip of this sort is
most wanted, it never comes. And yet the state-
ment made by Mr. Henry Irving at the close of the
season at the Lyceum Theatre is a singular commentary
upon the badneEs of the times. Mr. Irving stated that
in seven months the receipts had been £36,000, or more
than £l,OOO a week. If these things are done in the
green tree, what will be done in the dry? If one
theatre takes over £l,OOO a week, what must the sum
spent throughout the whole of London in theatrical
entertainments?

The Chairman of the Metropolitan Railway, pre.
siding at its half-yearly meeting, referred to the fact
that in the first six months of 1879, out of twenty-six
Sundays, only four were free from rain or snow. The
diminished receipts of many of the railway companies
are attributable in a great measure to the extraordin-
ary inclemency of the weather, which has prevented
people from taking holiday excussions, and thus less-
ened the traffic. There cannot be much doubt that
a rainy season reduces the number of railway tra-
vellers; and it is only natural that pleasure-
seekers should be deterred by a continuous down-
pour of rain from expeditions in search of
amusement, for a pic-nic in damp grass, with
umbrellas overhead, is an entertainment which can
ve enjoyed only by those blessed with hardy constitu-
tions and the highest possible spirits. And if the un-
propitious weather has thus interfered with pleasure
parties, it has also had its effect upon another very
important branch of railway traffic. On the South
Eastern Railway, which traverses the home counties—
Surrey, Kent, and Sussex—the receipts for the
carriage of fruit alone have lately fallen off to the ex.
tent of £5OO a week. This a somewhat startling fact,
but it was stated by the chairman of the line at the
half-yearly meeting of the Company.
The celebration of the 82nd birthday of the
Duchess of Cambridge, the mother of the Com-
mander • in. Chief, which took place a few days
ago, was interesting as showing another instance
of the longevity which has characterised the mem-
bers of the reigning House. It is a curious re-
flection that there is now living in St. James's Palace
the daughter-in-law of a sovereign who came to the
Throne 120 years ago. At that time George 111. was
twenty-two, the age of the present Duchess of Cam-
bridge when the old king died; he was then eighty-two,
as her Royal Highness is now. The sovereigns ef the
Hanoverian line, and most of their descendants have
been long-lived; there was one exception, however, in
Edward Duke of Kent, the Queen's father, who died
at an early age, and left one child only, a daughter,
the present occupant of the Throne. It is remarkable
to note that although King George 111, had so many
sons—the Prince of Wales, and the Dukes of Clarence,
Kent, Gloucester, York, Sussex, and Cambridge—only
one grandson survives, namely, the present Com-
mander-in-Chief of the British army. As illustra-
ting some of life's inequalities, it may be mentioned
that while the father of King George 111. never came
to the Throne at all, being struck down when Prince
of. Wales, at the age of 45, the son had the longest
reign in English history, and wielded the sceptre a
grater number of years than any English sovereign
since the Conquest, standing out thus conspicuously
for length of nays through a period of eight hundred
years,

The presentation of prizes at Wimbledon by the
Duke and Duchess of Connaught brought to an appro-
priate close a meeting which has been quite as success-
ful as could have been expected, taking into
consideration the unfavonrable weather. The rifle-
men, it may be remarked, are not the only
branch of the volunteer service which forms a
camp once a year for the purpose of practice.
The engineers, for instance, adopt a similar means of
obtaining experience, and then comes along the volun.
teer nrtillery competition, which although it does not
attract Po much public notice as the rifle contest, is
really of more importance. An invading enemy would
have to face our coast artillery before coming in con-
tact with the riflemen, so that the artillery is our first
outwork of defence. It is therefore essential that this
arm of the volunteer service should be an efficient one,
and although there is less show about a great gun con-
test, there can be no question respecting the enormous
consequence of our volunteer soldiers being perfect in
that practice.
It is not often that the House of Commons pun.
ishes a breach of its privileges by a committal to
prison; but there can no question as to its power of
commitment, and it exercises this upon the basis of
immemorial usage. The Lords have the power of
sending an offender to the Tower of London, and for a
specified time ; the Commons have a prison of their
own, in one of the lower chambers of the Great Clock
Tower. The Lower House names no term of imprison.
ment; consequently, upon the prorogation of Parlia-
ment the offender is released, whether he has paid the
fees or not. If a prisoner is detained in custody after
the Rouse has risen for the recess, he can obtain his

release through a writ of habeas corpus. In any
shape the putting the machinery of the law into
motion is a costly process, and in a case of breach
of privilege the fees of the Serjeant-at•Arms for
taking a person into custody vary from £3 6s. Bd. to
£5; for each day while in custody 6s. 8d; and for
bringing a criminal to the bar of the House, 6e. Bd.
in 1707, a standing order was passed to the effect
that if any person ordered to be taken into custody
by the serjeant-at-arms absconded or refused to
pay the fees, the order for commitment was to be
re-served at the beginning of the next Sesiion of
Parliament. According to the modern practice,
offenders committed to the custody of the serjeant are
detained until they have expressed contrition for their
offences, and present a petition praying to be released.
They are then brought to the bar, and after receiving
a reprimand from the Speaker, are discharged on pay.
ment of the fees. But the breaches of privilege
new are very few compared with those of past ages,
when journalists were frequently brought to the bar
for publishing reports of the debates, and dealt with
by fine and imprisonment.