The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-12-01 00:00:00

our yonbou CoutspoOtnt.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinionsj

From time to time, for some months past, scraps o
iz...ligence have reached this country from the
Scsaan without the great majority of English people
having but the vaguest possible idea of where the
Soudan was. They read also of a commander de-
scribed as the False Prophet, and of his being at the
head of a vast mythical force which was utterly to
crush and annihilate the Egyptians. Of the merits of
the quarrel between the Arabs and the Egyptians very
few in this country knew anything at all. There were
fugitive pieces of news about the numerical strength
of the contending armies ; but on Macaulay's principle
that a broken head in the Tower Hamlets excites more
Interest in London than a mutiny at Benares, people

In this country went on their way much as usual, the
• one to his farmr.the other-to his merchandise, leaving
_ the.gusAulmaus and the troops of Tewfik Pasha to
• ••••
figlit it out between them, •

. kUictclenly,carne the announcement that the Arabs,
200,000 etrong, 'id-surinunded the expedition of Hicks
Paeha, which had been despatched from Cairo, and
had cut it to pieees. Onernan had escaped to tell the
story. "MakiceeverTSllniUnce/for Oriental exttar-
gance of language, there seems little reason to doubt
that the destrfu.o447l-44h4r eilieditionary foxce, was
utter and cOn:inlete. Amongst the fallen, as it is
feared, was Mr. Rdward O'Donovan, the Special
Correspondeia. Of Mir Erstiry. ltierep4 whose joining
the Soudan army, full-of' as its object Must.
be, was a mystery to- all who knew nothing of
his love of adventure. ,The interest in this country
in the Soudan was of the most attenuated cha-
raster, and woßld certainly 'never justify the des-
patch of a Special "Correeponant. But a "Special"
out of war time is a ,white_nlephant at the office to
which he is attached; his employers know not what to
do with him. So this Soudan business turning up,
• Mr. O'Donovan :having. neither wife nor _children to
mourn his loam if ,he....were numbered with the slain,
having also an attachment to the mystic and the mar-
vellous, set out upon his dangeroua.mission.
Mr O'Donovan was one of the most charming con.

vs-4

versatlonalists to be met with in the literary circles of
London. He was modest and unaffected withal,
4-I"rirr ,Itlthouith he was one of the ablest and most successful
journalists of his time. He could tell wonderful stories
of *the city of Merv, of the desolation which reigns in
enormous tracts of Central 'Asia, of the habits and
" clsbims of the people of Astrakan, of the silence which
is broken only by the rush of the Volga, of his wander-
ings aloLg the wild shores of the Caspian, and of the
life led amid the monastic solitudes of Thibet. All
than-mrch-mgr made Ulm one. of the most enter-
taining companions to be met with on the London
press. His fellow workers have little difficulty in ar-
riving at the the conclusion that a valuable life has
been thrown away—a life much too good to be sacri-
ficed in a moment by the thrusting of a lance-head as
big as a shovel into his breast.
It is fair to assume that the Cabinet Councils
which have been held during the past ten days have
not occupied themselves exclusively with home topics.
The question of the British occupation of Egypt has
now become a grave one, and the relations between
France and China are of anything but a reassuring
character. Again there is the strained position of
affairs between France and Germany; the insults by
the Parisian canaille to King Alfonso have been replied
to by an ostentatious visit of the Crown Prince of
Germany to Madrid. Here are subjects sufficiently
serious to show us that the anticipations which have
set aside next session exclusively to the county fran-
chise and to London municipal reform are not likely
to be realised.

No sooner is one election vacancy filled than another
arises. York sent a Conservative successor to the
Liberal Mr. Leeman, and now by the death of Mr.
Cobbold, the Conservative member for Ipswich, a
vacancy arises in the representation of that prosperous
and flourishing town. This can be filled at once on
the death of Mr. Cobbold being certified to the
Speaker of the House of Commons by two of its mem.
bers. This however is not the case when one of the
representatives of the people accepts the Chiltern
Hundreds in order to retire from Parliamentary life.
The House reserves to itself the power of issuing writs in
such cases and does not delegate oven to such an august
officer as the Speaker such an authority. For any other
cause of vacancy he can do so, such as death, appoint-
ment to office under the Crown, or accession to the peer-
uge. But by the reservation already alluded to, the con-
y,: asu LLLL tL,Lig 'ui L obilicsukkil; cur-ant/I,oer -tact-.
tion. There are two in this condition now—West
Somerset and Meath.

The alleged existence of a plot to blow up the
German Embassy, has again drawn attention to the
dangers which have to be faced by the inhabitants
of a great city wherein dwell a band of desperadoes.
The German Embassy, on Carlton House-terrace, forms
one of a row of very handsome mansions overlooking
St. James's Park. There also resides Earl Granville,
Earl Grey, the Earl of Lonsdale, and Lord Ardilaun.
There also, in his first administration, lived Mr.
Gladstone, his house being that at the south-west
corner, near the Duke of York's column. Since,
however, the right hon. gentleman came into power
in April, 1880, he has cccupied the official residence
of the First Lord of the Treasury, in Downing-street'
as did his predecessor. The Premier of the day does
not, however, live there as a rule. Lord Palmerston
did not, Earl Russell did not, nor did the Earl
of Derby. They resided at their respective town
houses in Piccadilly, Chesham-place, and St. James's.
square.

The opening of the First Avenue Hotel in High
Holborn adds another to the monster places of accom.
modation which London possesses. It is estimated
that fifty thousand persons come into London every
night who go away again in the morning, and of course
all these require beds. Looking at this number the
addition of a large hotel with 300 rooms does not sound
much; but to look at the hotel itself from the south
side of Holborn, cne might well wonder how it was
nightly to be filled. Yet it is within easy driving dis-
tance of the Golden Cross, the Charing Cross, and the
Grand, upon the West, and the Royal and the Imperial
on the East. All are full as a rule, and with this fact
In view these mammoth places of accommodation are
likely to increase and to be as popular in London as
they certainly are in New York.
Many years have elapsed since the condition of the

poor in London and other great towns attracted such
great and widespread attention. It is the power of
the Pre.s which has done it. So far as London is con-
cerned, notice was first drawn to the subject by the
appearance of a little pamphlet—" The Bitter Cry"
—and as Parliament did not happen to be sitting,
copious extracts from it were given in some of the
papers. Then some of the Metropolitan journals took
up the question for themselves, and despatched special
commissioners into the Eastern part of the Metro-
polis, who have described its condition with graphic

power. The puzzle is to decide as to the course to be
pursued. People are crying out right and left that
something must be done, but above the confused
clamour of many voices has arisen clearly enough the
voice of the Postmaster• General, warning us to do
nothing which at all interferes with the sacred prin-
ciple of self-reliance. It is a matter which is likely to
come before Parliament, and combined with foreign

_
affairs will occupy much of the time which a month
ago was assumed at Leeds would be devoted exclusively
to political debate.

The book-stalls at the railway stations and the
windows of the
_booksellers' shops supply many a re-
minder of the approach of Christmas, a season which
as increasing years show, supplies an amount of addi-
tional work in many a department of industry, which
must be grateful enough in an over-stocked labour
market. That this superabundance of labour is at the
bottom of a great deal of the poverty which exists
there can be little room for question. Many can get
no work to do because others are there before them,
and they have perforce to stand idle in the market-
place r life. To such the additional work that Christ-
mas brings affords a chance of earning an honest
shilling which could not have been coined but for the
coming of the festive season. Long may the ingenuity
of man continue to find more and more work even
once a year for those who are anxious to do it, and
who by its help are thus enabled to come extent to
pass a merry Christmas, and to look forward, in how-
ever slight a degree, to the approach of a Happy New
Year.