The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-04-04 00:00:00

,].,,411,1). f,)lb.ge Obserint,

'

MEEI

OMMINTS ON CURRENT THINGS.
Messages for the Soudan for a few daYs
have repoited little but comparativeinactiv-
itv. The rebel warriors, after their late dis-
plays of desperate valour in open combat,
'Ol towed by daring surprise attacks upon
t posts and detached. portions of the expedi-
tion under General Graham, have drawn ,
stealthily a way into the desert fastnesses,
and maintained an unexplained quiet.
Whether this wasbeeause, baffled andbeaten
by the ruin which has waited upon their
fearless onslaughts, they had at length fallen
prey to a wholesome dread of the British
troops we know not. It might be so. But•
the past taught us that the Arab seldom
gives up the straggle for mastry except when
all-conquering death stills his arm for ever
and puts an end to the cunning plottiugs of
his ever busy brain. The conviction was
therefore general that Osman Diema's men
of war were recoiling for a further spring
upon their enemies, and waiting the most
seeming favourable opportunity to cry havoc
and rush headlong into action. But then
came intelligence of a flap. of truce brought
in by a missionary of ther'Mandi's lieutenant
to the English camp, asking for the terms of
peace. We doubt that no terms of peace
satisfactory to the rebel hordes can be offered
by the General commanding, and that the
only way to restore the reign of order in the
Soudan will be the prolonged imposition of
force, supported by the military power of
the Christain country whose prowess has
been so unmistakably exhibited to the fol-
lowers of the False Prophet. We must wait
with interest, however, the issue of the latest
turn of events.

Meanwhile the arrival of the Colonial con-
tingent at Souakim has evoked much en-
thusiasm among the soldiers of the old coun-
try, and it maybe that Osman Digna, hay
ing the intelligence of the advent of new
hostile legions, this time from
.the Sorftla,
recognises now that the odds against him
are so overwhelming that defeat could only
follow further resistance and so has set him-
self to make the best bargain for submission.
Lord Wolseley's move from the Nile encamp-
ment will place him in communication with
the fiery Arab leader, and we shall soon know
whether it is to be peace or war so far as he
is concerned. There is no guarantee, of cours
that the main body of Soudanese, under the
Mandi himself, will be guided by the action
of Osman Digna. But the sanguinary en-
gagements on the Nile have taught the
Mahometan desert tribesmen of what stern
stuff the English Soldiers are made, and
they would doubtless be glad. to be spared
if possible from further conflict. Their tem-
porary triumph at Khartoum they know full
well is due to treachery ; and, if report be
true, the Soudanese are growing sick them-
selves of war, and would willingly leave the
Mandi's standard and return to their tillage
and toil at home. Fanaticism and the thunder
of their prophet have alone prevented them
from taking the step already—not because
they hate the Egyptain rule or Christian
power the less, but that they love ease and
quiet and home occupation the more. Would
that we could safely think we are within
sight of the end of this sod business, which
whatever may be its resalt, has cost all con-
cerned so dear.

. The Russo- English difficulty anent Afghan
affairs has caused quite a commotion in the
public mind, and the attention turned to
naval and military matters by the Govern-
ment as a means of evincing how in earnest
this country is in its determination to do its
best in procuring a rightful settlement of
the frontier question has set all sorts of fears
and speculations afloat as to probabilities er
war between the Czar and our Queen. There
are fiery spirits in both Lands who would
engage in all the horrors of a great conflict
but the councils of the wise will, we hope
and trust, prevail, and such a fearful con.
tingency be averted. Out of evil comes
oftentimes good, and in this case it may be
that both Powers brought face to face ‘vitli
the immense issues involved, as they lu-tve
been by this crisis, will for • the future be
bound more closely in unity. Near neigh-
bours as England and Russia are by reason
of our own great Eastern Empire, their in-
tero ts are intertwined and identical in many
matters of vital import. If this .A. 1,2-11 a fron-
tier business can be u mien biy sell i
why should it not be?—ltussia and Tuba
could be connected by rail for some four
millions sterling, and the stream of commerce,
Peaee's best preserver, flow on uninterrupted
from English dewndents to the people of
the Czar, and Vice versa. What a desidera-
tum this is any thinking person will at once
see. And an overland route through Russia
and Afghanistan would enable Englishmen
to reach India (via Brussels) in some eight
clays from leaving London. Surely the at-
tainment of such a great possibility should
urge either country—for both would be im-
mensely benefitted by the conclusion of ar-
rangements smoothing the way for such a
line of intercommunication—to a temperate
and statesmanlike considetat:on of the points
of difference.

Mrs. Weldon whose love of litigation lia
long kept her prominently before the public
eye" has at length paid the penalty of hei
persistent aggressiveness of spirit by being
committed to prison for six months for a
libellous attack upon M. Riviere. The heroin(
of scores of law-suits, the defeated of sonn
few, she can scarcely complain now that the
dangerous sharp-edged weapons with whiell
she has loved to play so incessantly have at
length severely wounded their wielder. The
Law Courts have suffered much from Mr .
Weldon's unending actions and appeals, an(
be her cause right or wrong, the public nos;
regard her constant appearance in the Itall;,
of justice as somewhat of a nuisance. -For
some little time to come—having overstepped
the law, and provoked the punishment which
awaits a erimenal offence—Mrs. Weldon will
find it impossible to play the part so dear to
her, that of an amateur practiser at the bar
and we are uncharitable enough to think her
absence will be, relief to the habitacs of more
thin one court of law.

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