The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-09-09 00:00:00

nue STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

and their wounds and their agonised faces are made fright-
fully ghastly by the reflection of the fires from above. Is
there a truce? Are both sides fairly exhausted? They have
now been fighting and advancing and retreating for ten
hours; and have they both given up from sheer
exhaustion? This coming back of the Artillery and
this parking of the brass guns look like it. But no
the whole town is rocking and the heiehts are shaking with
the terrific thunder of the Turkish Artillery. Not a mile off
there their guns are vomiting forth angry flame. We stop,
raise our glasses, and see not halt a mile from where we are
standing, and where the brats guns are parked, a sight of
which neither the men who have brought in those guns nor
one soul in the town is aware. At the distance I have just
stated there rises a little lightly wooded elevation. It is
Illuminated on the crest and at the foot with lines of inter-
mittent flame. On a larger and far more lurid scale, this
Illumination is like that of gas on house fronts in London
on a windy night; it shoots forth along the whole line
for an instant, is then suddenly extinguished, and as
suddenly shoots forth again. What is this light coming
from? The cannonade all round is deafening, but we can
tust distinguish i. and it is the rapid detonation of rifles
from above and rifles from below. We fix our glasses, and
as distinctly as we see one another we see the Turin on the
brow of that hill, and some feet down the crest, discharging
a plunging fire into the Servian troops beneath. Full justice
ought to be rendered to men who for an instant stood their
ground beneath and returned such a fire. I regret that Ido
not know to what particular corps this honour is due. Ills
rapidly mowed down. We watch for fully ten minutes, and
each minute the illumination below pales before that above,
and each instant the Sultan fire is becoming weaker. We
know that there is nothing behind that rapidly-decreasing
line. We know that in the street at the end of which we
are standing there are only hundreds of unarmed men,
wesmen. and children, and we know as surely that
Jere is nothing to prevent the Turks being through this
street from end to end of it within another twenty minutes
at the outside. There are the guns on the redoubts above
us; the Turks are safe from them, for they are nevi' too close
under their muzzles. Evidently there is not a moment to
be lost. We proceed to the other end of the street, and,
fearing to be the cause of any panic, order dinner at the
hotel while we are having our horses harnessed. The hotel
was empty when we entered it, but in five minutes after.
wards ills filled with a miscellaneous company of soldiers
and camp followers. The alarm has come, but, curious to
say, not from the side at which there is the most imminent
danger. Nobody outside our own party seems to know that at
the southern end of the town, and almost within a stone's
throw of the main street, the Turks are where we saw them;
but everybody does know that the Servians have been
signally defeated all along the line, and the alarm has been
created by the news that the Turks have been completely
successful in getting to the north-west of Aiexinatz, were
between them and the road to Deligrad there is only the
fordable Morava. It is in this directionetfacKellar and his
staff of young surgeons have been on the field all day, and,
with the instinct of a true soldier, Colonel Loyd Lindsay says
that, whatever our own risk of being massacred, we mast
nob leave until we know their fate. There was no dissent
frem that proposition, and, amid the incessant din of gums,
we await the news of our frieuda who have been so
heroically attending the Field Hospital. MacGormac haw
been attending to the wounded in the open street. He is up 1
to his elbows in gore, and we have to wash him at a '
pump. It is a quarter to eight when a horseman gallops
into the yard of the hotel. his MacKellar. lie was just
about to perform a shoulder amputation on the
field when a staff officer dashed up to him, and told him that
the surgeons had not a second to lose in having the wounded
carried off and in saving themselves. The Tualts were
coming down to occupy the banks of the Morava, and there
was every probability that, even dark as is was, they would
that evening cross the river and cut off the road to Deligrad.
There was nothing for it but to ford the stream, for there
was neither permanent nor pontoon bridge. The surgeons
were with crowds of other fugitives. They dashed in, and
in water knee deep reached the Alexinafz side. Mr.
MacKellar sent the young fellows on towards Deligrad as
fast as their own legs and any ponies they might seize on the
road could carry them. Now it was that his own rank as
Major in the Servian Army stood him in good service. He
commanded a poor frightened trooper to dismount, and,
jumping up on the males horse, rode in to tell us that we
ought to get off instantly. Except Mr. Villiers, the artist of
the Graphic, and Mr. Cabold, the artist of the Illustrated
News, there was no English correspondent in or near Alex-
inatz on this day but myself. Colonel Loyd Lindley gave
places in one of our carriages aster as Deligrad, where we had
to pick up the surgeons, to two French correspondents. We
left the town at halt past Sin the evening, fearing a stampede.
We thought to be in advance of the rush ; but the delay of
the quarter of an hour while we were waiting for news from
the field hospitals brought us into the very thick of it.
Fortunately for us, the Servian and Roumanian drivers
of oxen waggons are submissively obedient to the
dismal sounds of the post-driver's horn, and this
obedience they did not altogether lay aside even in the
panic of Ftiday eight. To lighten as much as possible the
load on MacKellar's horse, we unstrapped and throw away
the sedate-bags, containing the trooper's kit and ammuni-
tion. MacKellar much aided the efforts of the post driver's
horn by riding forwards and back wards, and from side to
side to clear a way for us But in such universal confusion
It was impossible not to come to at least partial grief, and
we may congratulate ourselves that nothing worse hap-
pened to us than to have one upset. For ten muss cut-
aide Alexinatz on the road to Deligrad, there was nn
almost compect moving mars of carriages, waggons,
oxen, horses, and pedestrians, all going at full gallop,
all running into one another every other instant. When
the high road became too crammed resort was had to the
fields, and through these oxen dragged their waggons, or, as
was the case in many instances, only the wooden yokes by
which they are attached, the waggons having been left be-
hind lest they might impede the more valuable beasts in their
flight The Artillery firing was !Atli brisk when we left
Alex,natz, but it ceased about half an hour afterwards, and
before we were half-way to Deligrad.
We reached this village about ten o'clock, and remained
there till past twelve. Before we left we found the entire
party of surgeons, and learnt that all the civil population
had left Alexinatz. The Russian lady nurses and all the
wounded in the ambulances had also been got out. The
poor wounded on their way from the field were to be
taken care of at Razmi, a village halt-way between Alexinatz
and Parakin. Razani Mr. MecCormac, Mr. MacKellar and
the rest of the surgical staff took leave of as. The rest of our
party posted on all night and all day yesterday till we reached
Ssmendria yesterday evening. There Colonel Loyd Lindsay,
who, as representing the National Society, had a requisition
for post horses, bad to stay to confer with Baron Mundy in
respect of the wounded. To the Comtetse Helene Von de
Soyderski I owe my warm acknowledgments. To her con-
siderate kindness I am indebted for being enabled to come
on here from Semendria. This lady is a doctor, and, like
others of her countrywomen, placed at my disposal her
carriage and a relay of post horses to enable me to reach
Belgrade and transmit from Semlin my accounts of the battle
of Alexiva' z I ought not to omit to mention that the
Countess., in charge of a wounded patient whom she brought
to Semendrta, was one of the last to quit the former town.
Tchernaytil is at Deligrad.

I th--e ts •

In another letter from Belgrade, Sept. 4, the Corres-
pondent of The Times says :
I have nothing to add to my letter of yesterday in respect
of the battle of Mexinagz. lam informed by Herr Ristics,
the Servian Minister for Foreign Affairs, that by a telegram
received from General fcherna}eff last night it appeared that
at that time the Servians were still in possession of Alexinatz,
and that the Tin ki.th Army was still on the opposite Imitk of
the Morava. The correspondent of a Bresian paper was } ester-
day set upon and beaten in this town for having said merely
that he had heard there was bad uses from the front There
is no commodity so distasteful at Belgrade just now as truth.
Suborcinate clhciall go about endeavouring to convey to the
excited people the impression that the battle of the Ist inst.
resulted in a victory for the Sflwiaus, and scowling at any
Person who is supposed to be better informed, but the
Government is fully sensible of the situation and of
the fact that it cannot be much longer unknown to
the population. There was a rumour that Turkey
had submitted certain conditions which should pre-
cede an armistice. I am informed on good authority that
nothing is known in the Diplomatic Circle here of any such
action on the part of Turkey. A despatch has been received
from Alexinatz stating that a member of a foreign Red Cross
Society not one of the English Societies had been
massacred by the Turks on the battle-field, and that the
assassins bad cut off as a trophy the arm which bore the Red
Cross bras,ard.

man present to keep order. The directors of the Associa-
tion, all ministers, were their own police, and had no diffi-
culty, not merely in maintaining order, but even in carrying
out such peculiar, unpopular rules of their 0V771 as that
against smoking 'in the circle.' It must not be sup-
posed that `the circle' is all of it close to the place in
which religious worship is held. Its outer ring round
which the visitors promenade is at a considerable oistance
from the 'altar.' The ` altar ' is a circular building, with
a simple slanting roof of wood as a protection from the rain,
but open at the sides. It looks as if it would hold over 1,000
people. But all around and outside it are ranged benches
enough to hold, perhaps, 3,000 or 4,000 more, and between
the outermost row of these benches and the houses heading
the avenues comes the broad walk round which the visitors
promenade, if there Is nothing going on in the altar itself of
sufficient interest to attract their attention. Much of the
praying and preaching is, however, done in such stentorian
tones that it can be heard to the circle's outermost edge;
and even the people who are swinging in their rocking-chairs
on the platform in front of theip 'houses may at such times
almost be coasidercd to form part of the congregation.
"For people who held with Sir George Lewis that life
would be very tolerable but ties its amusemFnts, Pitman-
grove must at ordinary times be suitable and pleasant place
enough. A householder end lath( r of a family who goes
there for 'the season' must escape three-fourths ot the little
trials and troubles which make up so raneh of the big sum of
human unhappiness. He can, to ly gin with, buy a bit of
land and run up a wooden house 'for a song ; ' and
though it may be small end humble, it is as good as his
neighbour's—the consideration next to every man's heart.
Ile can evear out his oldest clothes and, still bettor,
make his wife and daughters wear out theirs. They have
no temptation to dress finely, when the fashion of the place
Is to dress plainly. Nor are there any theatres, balls,
concerts, or other forms of so-called entertainment
to which he can be dragged. By walking a hundred yards in
his slippers he can find any friend with whom he wishes to
have a chat He cannot buy liquor in the place. There is
no law to prevent his bringing it In, nor gospel to prevent
his taking a little for his stomach sake. . . . . There is cer-
tainly no lack of pleasant people. I went there as a stranger,
and was little more than 24 hours there; before I left I had
made several most agreeable acquaintances, some ot them as
ready for a joke and full of fun as if they had belonged to
the most worldly society.

"I have been speaking so far of what may perhaps be
called the outer social life of Pitman-grove. Of its inner
religious life, as it appears during the camp meeting, it is
difficult for an Englishman writing to English readers to
speak without appeiring to be trying to turn it into ridicule,
which I need scarcely say is very far from my wish. Much
of what passes can scarcely be seen or related without
provoking a smile from those unaccustomed to this form of
religious worship. Much of it, on the other hand, is extremely
painful and provokes pity not unmingled with other feelings,
which I am loth to state in plain terms, lest I should hurt very
worthy people, whose intentions are of the best and their
belief sincere. During the ten days of the camp meeting
public worship of some sort seems to go on all day,
with short intervals for food, from halt past live in the morn-
ing to ten atoight, when a bell is rung as a signal for all who
have no lodgings in the camp to leave it. The worship con-
tOsts chiefly of singing, praying. extempore addreisses from
those whom the spirit moves, and the relation of experiences
by the converted: Formal addresses by special preachers,
or sermons, as we cell them, seem to play comparatively a
very subordinate part, and even in these the congregation
participates, as it were, by a running fire of ejaculations and
brief comments, come of them so suggestive that the
preacher cannot help stopping in the course of his argu-
ment and pausing specially to express agreement with the
commentator, and to expatiate on his view. What he does
if he happens to disagree, and whether in that case a dis-
cussion ensues, I cannot Bay, as in the two sermons I
heard no points were raised on which a difference of opinion
seemed to exist: but most of the comments are brief expres-
sions of assent, like the 'Hear, hear; of the house of Com-
mons, and often uttered in quite as loud a tone `Hallelujah'
and Amen' are the two most favourable utterances. As
the preachers and hearers warm to the theme the utterances
get louder, until they rise to a shout. There would appear,
Indeed to be, from the Pitman-grove point of view, some
direct association between loud shouting and godliness. The
minister who preached last night told a story of his having
seen an old coloured woman at a prayer meeting jumping
and calling out. He asked her, 'Have you got it?' and she
answered, 'No, I'm a shouting for it.'

"He held her up as an example to the congregation, and
expressed a hope that they would shout too, which they cer-
tainly did. The shouting is accompanied with a strange
guttural groaning noise, as if the shouter were in great bodily
or mental pain. The theory of the groaning, I suppose, is
that it arises from a painful sense of unworthiness and sin;
but it is hard for an outsider to reconcile this theory with
the groaner's loud and exulting declarations, not only of
his hop., but of his assurance of salvation. After the
sermon the more devout worshippers—some fifty or sixty,
perhaps, in number—gathered together in the centre of the
altar to pray, sing, shout, and groan together. The singing
was done in concert, and, as they were all evidently in the
habit of singing together, and some of the voices were good,
thee ffect was now and then very fine; but in the praying and
shouting, as each man roared out at the top of his voice ust
what occurred to him, the discord and uproar were terrific.
Two or three of the ministers, especially one old gentleman
with a flue figure, and face somewhat like Mr. Beecher,
walked from group to group, exhorting the worshippers to be
more earnest, inviting those who were for Jesus to hold up
their hands, and declaring that there must be more power,
'more power —that there was 'a want of power.' They
seemed to do their utmost to respond to his appeal by pray-
iug, singing, and groaning louder and louder, and by in-
creased vehemence of gesticulation. Some clapped their
bands, some waved them in the air, some kept their bodies
swaying up and down violently until worn out with the exer-
ticu, they sank on a bench which runs across the building
and is calleel, I believe, the 'Mourner's Stool.' The minister
now and then gave out a hymn, and if it seemed to
produce a particularly fervent effect, he had it re-
peated again and again, each time louder; the sob-
bing, groaning, and crying were scarcely less loud,
end a stranger coming up might have thought that some
fearful calamity such as a pestilence had overtaken the com-
munity and. that these mourners were struggling to stay it
with their lamentations and prayers. I suppose they were
trying to produce what to an unsympathetic observer seems
a most painful and horrible form ot hysterical convulsion,
but what they dell a 'conversion.' Meantime a large crowd
stood outside around the 'altar,' with faces very suggestive
of Raphael's famous cartoon Paul preaching on Mar's Hill,'
the expressions ranging from contemptuous scepticism to
. .

stronge-st sympathy.; No one, however, openly showed,
the least disrespect. There was no 'success '—that is
to say, no 'conversion '—that night. One elderly lady,
indeed, rose suddenly with a strange gutteral noise,
and began clapping her hands and making little
jumps about a foot off the ground, showing an
amount of physical endurance which she could never
have shown in a normal state. I timed her with
rny watch, and she did for eight minutes what moat
women half her age would find it very hard to do for one.
But for some reason which I could not understand, very little
notice was taken of her, and when at 10 o'clock the bell rung
the general impression seemed to be that the meeting' had,
on the whole, failed, and I understood the leading Brother'
or minister to attribute the failure to the presence in some-
body's heart of the Devil, which he earnestly prayed might
be cast out. But the following afternoon was pronounced a
glorious success. There were five conversions. One woman
gave the signal by suddenly going off into such horrible hys-
terical convulsions that my first impulse was to run for a
doctor, whose house I had noticed in front of the 'altar;'
but teo women held her with much the same pleased ex-
ession on their faces as a nurse wears when her patient has
reached a favourable crlst3 in a dangerous disease, while the
minister called the attention of all present to her state, ask-
ing triumphantly if that were not an answer to prayer. As
soon as she was auffieleetly recovered to speak he called upon
her for her testimony,' which she gave by declaring with
loud sobs that she WA S cleansed and saved. Others had mean-
time followed her example, and before the meeting was over
there wal a seer, e which be files all description. At one moment
there were some '‘'.o persons in a sort of ring, dancing, I imping,
clapping teeir bands, screaming, sobbing, laughing what is
called holy laughter,' hugging each other, patting each
other on the cheeks, shaking hands, and generally behaving
as it they had gone out of their minds. Occasionally above
all the din could be heard the violent hysterical shrieking of
a girl who looked about 15 years old. A young man, her
brother I believe, held her with one arm, while he waved the
other about in the air. He had a strangely weak, fanatical
face, which quite prepared one for a statement he made in
one of his 'experiences,' that he was generally known
among his friends as the noisy, crazy Methodist,' but that be
glorified in being thought a fool for Christ's sake The
whole spectacle seemed to me sufficiently painful, but I was
even more shocked by finding that there was a 'children's
tent,' or tabernacle, set apart especially for children of all
ages, from mere infants to girls of, I suppose, 15 or 16 It
seemed to me that the same process which I bad witnessed,
In the 'altar' was going on here to bring about a ' conver-
sion ' by singing, praying, and earnest appeals of the most
solemn nature. But there was no conversion while I was
there, though I saw two or three little girls crying bitterly
at the Mourner's Stool.' One boy stoutly refused to kneel,
In spite of all the efforts of the mistress to make him. When
she asked those who wished to meet her in Heaven to hold
up their hands, a good many kept them to their sides. It
did not seem to me a very edifying spectacle, even from the
Methodist point of view—though of this I do not, of course,
pretend to be any judge."

dismal swamp of satisfied barbarism with a stronger
barbarism does not in the least justify their continued
power or national existence."

Many meetings have been held during the week
throughout the country to discuss the state of affairs
in Turkey, particularly with reference to the outrages
in Bulgaria.—Mr. John Bright, M.P., being unable to
be present at a town's meeting held on Monday night
at Richdale on the subject of Turkish atrocities, sent
the following letter, which was read at the meeting:—
Dear Sir,—Your letter has just reached me late this even-
ing I have no time to write anything for the meeting—the
question is one not to be treated hastily, and I almost fear to
say anything about it More than twenty years ago I ex-
plained my views of the Eastern or Turkish difficulty. The
Governmsut of the day differed from me, as did the vast ma
jority of the nation, and the war with Russia was entered
upon. Some of its results we now know.

It is said to have cost England 40,000 lives and £.100,000,000
of nrney.
It cast all the parties to the war more than half a 'million
of lives. Since then it has cost us £.lO 000.000 a your in in-
creased military expenses, or £200,000,000 in all and in loans
to the Turkish Sultan it has probably cost England another
£.100,000,000 sterling. The money account thus comes to
£400,000,000 sterling—the loss of life was enormous.
The policy of that day was popular, and the result is what
I have described. I was assailed and insulted in and by
almost all the newspapers in the kingdom, because I con-
demned the war and the policy which led to it.

- -
The present Government accepts the policy of the Govern-
ment of Liisl. It is now understood throughout the world to
be the main, if not the one supporter of the Turkish rule in
Europe. It it had acted with EllS3iA and the other Powers,
it is almost certain the Servian war would not have taken
place; and, but for the configence caused by the support of
England, the Turks would not have dared to have committed
the horrid crimes of which they have been guilty in Bulgaria..
In these crimes there is nothing new—they are familiar to
all who know anything of Turkish history. What is new is
that the English Government cannot see the crimes till an
English newspaper describes and denounces them, and that
an English Minister, speaking for himself and his colleagues,
treats them as of small accolint and as the common incidents
of insurrection and of war.

I am not sure that a Minister truly representing English
feeling would not have withdrawn the Queen's Ambassador
from Constantinople, and have refused longer to receive a
Minister from Turkey at the Queen's Court. The Govern-
ment of England should clear itself of all partnership in the
interests and the policy of the Turkish Government. It is a
partnership in no degree necessary to our interest?, and
degrades us in the estimation of every Christian nation.
Every town should have its meeting, and protest against
our country being stained and disgraced by a participation
in the policy and crimes of the Turkish Government.
I do not think this can reach you before your meeting is
held, but it is some relief to have written it.—l am very
truly yours, JOILis )3RIGHT,
To Mr. P.. Hope Brown.

On Tuesday night a great meeting on the subject of
the Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria was held at
Plymouth, the Mayor presiding. One of the speakers
stated that a communication had been sent to Lord
Derby, expressing regret that up to that time there
had been no official declaration that Sir Henry
Elliot's apparent apathy was undergoing, investigation,
and that, if established, it would be appropriately
dealt with. Lord Derby replied to this communica-
tion : "Our friends may be assured that no efforts will
be spared by Her Majesty's Government to ascertain
the exact truth as regards the occurrences in Bulgaria,
and they would be ready, in common with the other
Powers, to take such action upon them as the justice
of the case may require."

Mr. Mundella, M.P., addressing his constituents on
Monday evening tn. Paradise-square; • Sheffield, after
referring to the chief topics of the past session, spoke
of the Turkish atrocities, and said that the moral
sensibilities of the country had never received a greater
shock than during the last few months. The Turks,
ow
he said, ,ed to Englishmen all their armaments, iron
dads, guns, and forts, and they had protected them
against the other Powers of Europe. It was time now
that they had done with them. Let England demand
for the Christian provinces that they should be free to
govern themselves, and let them take upon themselves
the responsibility, if need be, and guarantee with the
, other Powers a Christian federation on the Danube,
exactly as Switzerland was guaranteed by the Powers
, of Europe."

Cardinal Manning, in declining to attend the pro-
posed meeting of working men on the subject ef the
Turkish atrocities, expresses his abhorrence of the
outrages, and says no one desires more ardently than
he to see the Christian populations, not in Europe
only but in the East also, liberated from the Turkish
rule. But he is unable to see the benefit of holding
public meetings which propose no definite policy, and
he can see no policy hi any movement which may con-
vert the war in Servia into a European conflict.