The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-01-31 00:00:00

Our Yuba (rampant

W. doom ft right to state that we do irldt Vt all ttmell
- identify ourselves with our CorreapondeaVa 'OLAoiona.]

The dynamite conspirators bectme more daring
and strike more rapidly in proportion to their escape
from detection and their immunity from punishment.
More than seven months were permitted to elapse
between the outrage at the Local Government offices
in Whitehall in Mardi, 1883, and those on the
underground railways in the end of the following
October. Next, in February of last year, there were
the attempts on four of the great metropolitan rail-
way termini; at only one of which did the machinery
do its work, and that was at Victoria. In the follow-
ing May came the attacks upon Scotland-yard, the
head-quarters of the police force, and upon one of the
Pall-mall clubs. Then along interval succeeded, and
it was not until the 13th of December thd.t London
Bridge was assailed. Swiftly following that was the
etploion on the Underground Railway, on the 2nd
of January, those at the Tower and the Houses of
Parliament on Saturday being the latest development
of the plot.

It is not easy to convey an adequate idea of the
indignation of the people who speedily assembled in
such enormous numbers, more especially in the
neighbourhocd of Westminster Hall. As the Tower
was tegun by William the Conqueror to overr r JO the
citizens of London, Westminster Hall was built by
his son, William Rufus, with a much more worthy
object. Both are associated with eight centuries df
stirring incidents ih English history. To see them
shattered by the handiwork of miscreants who, never
risking their own lives, are utterly reckless of the•lives
of others, is more than the public patience can calmly
stand; but what is to be done? For a year and a
half our detective police have been baffled, and a
reward of £5OOO by the Corporation of the City has
hitherto failed to draw any of the accomplices in the
crime at London-bridge six weeks ago. For twice
that sum Earl Spencer secured the conviction and
execution of the Phcenix-park murderers. Parliament
will be meeting in another three weeks, when, as the
House of Commons itself has now been wrecked, we
may expect to hear the opinion of that assembly upon
offences against the laws of nations, and which have
excited the horror and indignation of the civilised
world.

The victory gained by Sir Herbert Stewart over a
vastly-superior force of the Mandi's troops was dearly
purchased in its sacrifice of life. The Soudanese
have not only Remington rifles, but they know how to
use them, and their practice at 1000 yards might have
done credit to many of our volunteer competitors at
Wimbledon. A remarkable figure disappears in the
sands of the desert as a result of this triumph of
British skill. There are few who have not read of
Colonel Fred Burnaby's ride to Khiva. This was
before the days when Mr. Edmond O'Donovan had
penetrated to Merv, and poor O'Donovan was slain
with Hicks Pasha's unfortunate force last November
twelve months. Colonel Burneby was not only a
daring and adventurous military figure, but he was
prominent in the sphere of politics as well. He
polled nearly 16,000 votes at Birmingham at the
general election, and was again a candidate for the
representation of the great hardware capital. The
Queen, with her usual solicitude for the grief of a
a widow in her bereavement, has, through Sir Henry
Ponsonby, telegraphed her condolences to Mrs.
Burnaby in this heavy trouble.
Sir Stafford Northcote's political tour in North
Devon has been followed with much interest, for he
was the first prominent man on the Conservative side
to express his views on the topics of the day since
the opening of the new year. The electors of North
Devon and the Opposition leader in the House of
Commons are old acquaintances. It is true that he
appealed unsuccessfully to a former generation of
theirs, but that was in 1857, when, as Mr. Richard
Gibson said, Lord Palmerston went to the hustings
"riding on the British lion." But the right hon.
baronet has sat for the division now nearly twenty
years; and dwelling as he does amongst his own
people, is perfectly safe of a seat now. Time has
dealtlindly with this genial English gentleman; and
few who look at him would suppose that he was only
three years short of seventy. His fair hair gathers as
thickly as ever on his ample brow, his face shows
comparatively few traces of those lives of care which
too often accompany the discharge of the statesman's
duties. The part of Devon wh;,a, e:_ _
vioacuuto must oe known to many an autumn tourist.
Barnstaple, Ilfracombe, Hartland, Lynmouth, all
suggest the picturesque scenery of a beautiful shire,
its coasts washed on that side by the restless waves of
the Bristol Channel, while the coloured waters of the
English Channel break in softer surges upon its
southern shores.
As the time for the meeting of Parliament ap-
proaches the various details of the Redistribution Bill,
which had slumbered through the Christmas recess,
attract more general interest, more especially in the
places to be affected by the operation of that
measure. Many of the towns scheduled to lose one
member have endeavoured to retain both by
suggesting an extension of their boundaries so as to
'bring them up to the „requisite line of population;
'but these efforts have received little encouragement.
The disappearance of seventy-nine small boroughs—
that is to say, towns under the 15,000 line of popula-
ition—vrill deprive of a separate political existence
inany a constituency which has sent statesmen of the
rst calibre to Parliament. There are those amongst
115 who can remember when Tamworth was repre-
sented by Sir Robert Peel, Tiverton by Lord Palmer-
ston, and Stamford by Lord Robert Cecil and Sir
Stafford Northcote. The former, as Marquis of
Salisbury, now leads the Conservative party in the
House of Lords; the latter performs that duty in the
Commons.
The Cabinet Councils are over for a time, and when
they are resumed Ministers will have reassembled in
London, not again to disperse before the Easter
recess. There can be little doubt that the two held
last week were mainly taken up with the considera-
tion of the affairs of Egypt, and there can be equally
little doubt that in the public mind there is a very
strong feeling against admitting these pretensions on
the part of France with which our neighbours are
generally credited. England has made very heavy
sacrifices both in men and money, the latest of which
are only a few days old; and France, while keeping
out of this, has pursued her own course in China,
Madagascar, and elsewhere. Sir Stafford North-
cote suggests that Parliament should be summoned
for an earlier date than that now standing, the
19th February. It will, howeyer, be remembered
that when Mr. Gladstone in the House of Commons
suggested the 10th there was a very general cry of
-disapproval in that assembly, and the time was ex<
tended accordingly.
It has been often noticed that in times of misfor-
tune and calamity social forces combine with the
forces of Nature to increase rather than to mitigate
the evils which fall upon mankind. The winter of
1870, when Paris was besieged by the relentless
investment of the German army, was one of
the severest which had settled down upon Europe
for years, so that to the starvation which cursed
the French capital was added the fearful priva-
tion of bitter cold. The recent earthquakes in
apaln have come 'ha the winter, and a hard one,
too, when the barest shelter can be obtained
on desolated lands which in the warm summer time
are luxuriant with vegetation. To the distress which
has now fallen upon so many industries a more than
usually cold winter has added its discomforts,. in a
mild winter like that of 1882, the suffering woula have
been nothing like what the hard frost now makes it.
There is much in the existing situation of our domestic
affairs outside the ethics of political economy, but
Which, nevertheless, should be within the purview of
the philosopher and statesman.
Although Mr. Gladstone has not been compelled, as
he was two years ago, to sojourn in the south of France,
not expected that he will be able to take thatpro-
minent part in the conduct of Parliamentary businese
which has hitherto distinguished his leadership.
So far as the Egyptian debates are concerned, no

_
• doubt he will have to bear his part, as the Foreign
Secretary is in the Lords, and the department is re-
Presented in the Commons by Lord Edmond Fitz-
xnaurice, the Under Secretary. But Mr. Gladstone
will scarcely take charge of the details of the Redis-
tribution Scheme, which will fall to the care of Lord
Ilartington and Sir Charles Dilke. As President of
the Local Government Board the last-mentioned
Minister had a great deal to do with the preparation
of the bill; but Lord Hartington was associated with
Sir Charles Dilke and Mr, Gladstone in the negotia_
tions with the Conservative leaders, and will therefore
be well enabled to take his part in the piloting a the
bill through the house.

ADVANCE ON. KHARTOUM,