The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-10-06 00:00:00

Our Nonbon earrespoubent.

,777 e deem it right to state tint we do not at all time?
4cattfy uurselves with our Correspondent's 3pinionB.?

September is usually a month of political calm irm
meniAtPly following the rising of the High Court of
Parliament for the autumnal recess. Members who
attend to their senatorial labours during the session
have had enough of speech-making throughout the
previous six months, and long for a month of rest.
Lord Beaconsfield once declared that he was not "up
to politics in September," and there is little doubt that
this expression cf opinion would be endorsed by all
who had had anything to do with political affairs.
And as, of late years, Parliament has not been pro-
rogued until the end of August, September has been
seized upon as a time of relaxation alike by Ministers
of State and members of both Houses of Parliament.
The political addresses have been comparatively few;
representatives and constituents alike seem to have
had enough of these whilst Parliament was sitting.
With the first week of October, however, the scene
changes. The sounds of revived political activity
are heard on every band; and from the Midlands to
the province of Ulster the autumn campaign has
been begun. After a Parliament has passed its
fourth session, as the present one has, there is no
knowing what may happen. A Minister who would
not dream of provoking a crisis on a chance defeat
during the first year or two of the existence of his
Administration would have no hesitation in doing so
in the fourth or fifth. A watchful and wary Opposi-
tion is therefore always prepared for contingencies
with a Parliament which has turned the corner of its
career, and a Premier who has been half a century in
the House of Commons, and at the age of seventy
four is known to desire rest.

When the late Lord Derby held the Premiership he
humorously expressed regret on one occasion that the
Ten Hours Act did not apply to the duties of his
high office. The life of the First Lord of the Treasury
during the session of Parliament must be of the most
arduous character. He is supposed to be attending
to butiness by ten in the morning, when a pile of
letters awaits his notice, which have arrived by
post. In the answers which he dictates to his
private secretary the greatest care is necessary, for
these are read throughout the length and breadth
oc the land. By the time these are disposed of, pos-
sibly a deputation is waiting to see the Prime Minister,
who, having dismissed his auditors, looks up the replies
to questions which inquisitive members have given
notice to ask in the House of Commons that afternoon.
These, with a general supervision of all the depart-
ments of State, beginning with Ireland and ending
with South Africa, might very well occupy him until
half-past four, wben he is due in the House. There,
if it be a Grvernment night, he remains until one or
two in the morning, and having written his nightly
letter to the Queen, containing a précis of the business,
he retires to his well'earned rest. Every day sees
that of two rolled into one, and when a man has lived
in this world three-quarters of a century, he begins
to find that he is not quite so fresh to his labour as he
was when he first entered the service of the Crown, a
very long time ago.

The political speeches and the challenge and reply
of the contending hosts have come opportunely enough
to relieve the dullness of a time which would have
been ten times worse but for the relations between
France and China, which have proved a veritable
windfall to distressed journalists. Would there be
war between the Gaul and the Celestial, or would the
Marquis Tseng be empowered to convey pacific in-
structions to M. Jules Ferry? That was the question
discussed morning after morning, and grateful enough
the newspaper men were that M. Cnallemel•Lacour
was at the French Foreign Office, for he is a very
susceptible gentleman himself, and, as we have lately
seen, is thoroughly alive to the maintenance of the
dignity of his susceptible country.
The interest in the high-handed proceedings of the
late Admiral Pierre at Madagascar, which had begun
to flag through distance of time, has been revived by
the arrival of Mr. Shaw and the recital of his narra-
tive. Often as Exeter Hall has been crowded since it
first reared its proportions at the western end of the
Strand, never has a more attentive audience assembled
in the spacious building than on the occasion when the
missionary detailed his treatment at the hands of the
the French naval commander. The truth seems to be
that Admiral Pierre was suffering from a fatal malady
which in its later stages affects the mind, and as he is
dead, the French Republic will have no difficulty in
repudiating the indefensible deeds of a man who, to all
appearance, was not responsible for the acts so univer-
sally condemned.

The weather in September illustrated once more the
variable nature of the English clitnate. The month
was ushered in by one of the fiercest westerly gales
which has swept our coast for many years, accom•
panied with a serious loss of life. The widdle was
marked by tropical heat, which recalled the meridian
days of June and the high temperature of July, but
the month wound up as it began, by a strong gale, ac•
companied with heavy rain, sending back from the
seaside in shoals those holiday•keepers who had been
hesitating whether they should extend their sojourn
to the end of the week. Chill October is now with
us, with its re-lighted parlour fires and its gradually
darkening days, leading up to dull and bleak Decem-
ber, when for weeks together in our great cities, and
in London more especially, the sun is seldom visible
owing to the vast banks of cloud which overspread
the sky.

The election of Lord Mayor cn Saturday afternoon
created much interest in the City of London as there
had been rum, urs that it was the intention of the
Court cf Aldermen to depart from the usual custom,
which is to select the gentleman next upon the rota
who has not filled the high and important office of
chief magistrate of the city, This proved to be
correct, and Aldermen Hadley and Nottage, who were
respectively first and second, were passed over, to the
Advantage of Alderman Fowler, ore of the Conser-
vative members which the City of London sends to
the Hous.s of Commons. The rotation principle is
therefore at an end. It existed in no other munici-
pality in the kingdom, bnt in the Corporation of
London it had the authority arising from long-esta.
blished usage. It may confidently be predicted that
the practice will nut be revived, in the face of the
Home Secretary's promised measure for the reform of
the Corporation.

When the late Alderman Sir Thomas White held
the Mayoralty in 1877, his daughter, who discharged
the duties of Lady Mayoress, was married in St.
Paul's, and singularly enough this was the first wed-
ding which had taken place in the metropolitan
cathedral for 120 years. Looking at the fact that
during those six score years people were being married
and given in marriage all over the populous city of
London, this seems a remarkable fact. The spell
having been broken however, since then two weddings
have been solemnised in St. Paul's, those of a daughter
of Dean Church, a few months ago, and of Lord
Mayor Knight, last week. On each occasion of the
wedding from the Mansion House, the ceremony has
been performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
It must be very pleasant to be able to take a voyage
round the world, a holiday lasting from the beginning
of September until about the end of January. Many
persons in business and with professional duties to
attend to, would be content with one month, and can-
not imagine the relaxation of mind which must inevit-
ably accompany absence from the ordinary cares of life
during nearly half a year. The published accounts of
the progress of the voyagers show that they are undoubt-
edly enjoying themselves. The White Star Company's
steamer Britannic has about a thousand souls on board,
a heavy responsibility, as a travelling correspondent
truly observes, to be placed upon the shoulders of one
man. The letters which appear, descriptive of the
passage of this floating town over the ocean, set at
rest a matter upon which in times past anxiety has
been experienced, and inquiry made. That is the
treatment of steerage passengers in an Atlantic liner,
the way they are housed, and the foo3 which they
receive. Upon this point the testimony from the
Britannic is refreshingly satisfactory. The breezes,
which are ever blowing over tha tempestuous sea,
conduce to good appetites, and the description of the
regimen is such as to convince the most sceptical
that the food is ample and indeed unlimited in
quantity.