The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-12-12 00:00:00

„ar Vonbon corrtspanbtiti.
(Wa deem it right to state that we do not at all tLTAS
identity 1.-Jurmelves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Now that the dust and the heat of the elec-
toral battle have subsided, and a breathing time
has been given to those who would wish to
spend Chris'tmas free from the worries of political
dispute, it might be imagined that all State con-
cerns could fairly be postponed until the festive
season has passed. But the wheels of our State
machine are ever on the move, the minds of our
politicians are never inactive, and thus specnlay:
tions are rife, and will continue rife until the'
new Parliament meets, as to what will happen
when the members assemble within the City of
'Westminster. Only one thing, perhaps, is
certain, because it is a part of the very constitu-
tion of the House, and that is that the first
business to be done is the election of a Speaker.
This is always an imposing ceremony, and though
it has been stripped of some of its quaintnesses
within the past few decades, it is still striking
by consequence of the solemnity which attaches
to the choice of "the first Commoner
in England." Even up to recent times
the Speaker - elect was by custom com-
pelled to protest ' his utter unwerthitie
to ",fill the chair; and it was—considered
imperative to gently drag him to his place so
unwillin,g was lie that'subh unfitting ptx4on
should assume it; hr Elaabethah days this
modest attitude was carried to an extraordinary
extreme, one Speaker-elect declaring that,
"whereas the Speaker ought to be a man big
and comely, stately and well spoken, his voice
great. his carriage majestical, his nature haughty,
and his purse plentiful," he himself was small of
stature, was not so well spoken, had a low voice, -
a cin-ria7e of the common fashion, a nature soft
and bashful, and a purse thin, light, and never
plentiful. Times have changed, sind even if a
Speaker-elect of these days were so- modest he
would not proclaim it in quite so loud a tone.
One feature which marked several elections
during the recent contest, was the rowdyism.
which increasingly prevailed as the day for the
poll, approached, and this has been regretted by
repre,sentatives of both the great parties. But
it should not be forgotten that, painful, as such
scenes always must be, our electoral manners are
far superior to those displayed.hybur ferefathers -
at similar fieriods. One has only t 6 look back to
the newspapers and diaries of the last century to
see hew rough were the,proceodings ,which used
to accompany the nominations and declarations
of the poll at the hustings; and even those who
are still far from middle-aged can remember
organised election riots of a kind which have
been utterly unknown during the recent conflict.
Rowdyism is always to be deprecated, but its
prevalence should not be exaggerated, and
although present evils always loom the largest,'
there is some comfort in remembering that they
are nothing like as great as were the past. As
a matter of fact, the complaint of a good many
old-fashioned people is that in these days
elections are altogether too tame, and they sigh
for the times when free fights were more common,
and when contests were even more physical than
political. This may be an error of taste, but it
exists, and it deserves to be taken into account
when we deplore any popular excesses which may
now occasionally take place.

So charged lias been the atmosphere with
political electricity of late that it is difficult to
get free from the influence, and, as soon as ono
electoral topic has been disposed of, another
comes to the front. This may be said with a
peculiar degree of truth concerning election
expenses, which the candidates' agents in all
parts of the country are now busily engaged in
preparing according to the form laid down in
the Corrupt Practices Act. This enactment, used
generally for the first time at the present cli,so-
lution, limited the amount which a candidate
could spend according to the size of the
constituency he was contesting, and the fear
which election agents have had constantly before
their eyes was that they might inadvertently ex-
ceed the minimum amount. This is very dif-
ferent from the old state of things, when a candi-
date could spend as much as he chose, and there
was no one to say him nay. Whole fortunes
have been lavished upon electoral battles, and
corruption has been rendered rampant thereby;
but those who have most closely watched the
recent election are convinced that the amount
of proveable bribery has been considerably smaller
than at any similar contest for a great number
of years. It is a testimony to the wisdom and
the well-behaviour of the English people that
such a vast electorate should poll for the first
time at a less expenditure and with less disorder
than has before been known.

Even the most casual stroller through Regent-
street, the Strand, or St. Paul's Churchyard just
now could not mistake that Christmas was near.
The windows of those shops which are devoted
to the sale of drapery goods and fancy stuffs of
all descriptions are aglow with colour, and their
very aspect is an invitation to buy. Eager faces
are to be seen gazing with delight upon the dis-
play, andlusbands and fathers, sweethearts and
brothers who wish to avoid parting with their
money in presents should keep away from such
scenes of temptation at a time when temptation
is at its height. But the majority of men who
are easily circumstanced. will not pliow such
selfishness at Christmas time. They know, what
is expected of them, and they fill their purses
before going for a walk, with the knowledge
that they will be called upon to empty them
before the walk is over. Seeing this it is
not surpng that our tradesmen have
provided an abundance of ways for the disburse-
ment of money. Nick-nacks of all kinds are set
out in the most alluring fashion, and although
they may be more ornamental than useful, this
life must have its share of ornament, and they
are not, therefore, to be condemned, except by
tho hardened misanthrope who hates Christmas
and all its ways.

This same individual will have ample oppor-
tunity during the next two or three weeks for
venting his spleen against Christmas. Excursion
trains will disarrange the ordinary traffic,
Christmas cards will block the mails, business
parcels will be delayed by turkeys geese, and
other comestibles, and, in short, the gentleman
in search of a grievance will have an abundance
to hand. 'lt seems strange that there should be
people in the world who take a delight in
growling at what pleases their neighbours.
Here is a social institution which gives enjoy-
ment to young and old, rich and poor,
which links palace and cottage in a bond of
pleasure, and yet there are not wanting
professional cynics who year by year proclaim
their superiority to common folk by sneering at
that in which their neighbours delight. The
best joke becomes wearisome by repetition; how
much more, then, does the worst sneer? One
grows more than a little tired at the snarlings
which are annually heard from a prejudiced few
against the observance of Christmas. If it were
only for the pleasures it gives the children, the
'festive aspect of the season ought to be pre-
served; but there is more than that involved,
and the loss of such an institution would be a
calamity to our family life.
At two seasons of the year the thermometer
is studied with an attention which is sufficiently
great to be noteworthy, and that is the height
of summer and the depth of winter—terms, by
the way, which seem to have been borrowed
from the state of the mercury at those
periods. In summer time every man has
his tale to tell of the point which his
thermometer has marked, and he feels a personal
interest in the question which has occasionally
humorous results. Mr. Lowell, the late American
Minister to England, has well expressed this feel-
ing in one of his charming essays. No man, I sus-
pect, ever lived long in the country without
being•bitten by meteorological ambitions. He likes
to be hotter and colder, to have been moredeeply
snowed up, to have more trees and larger blown
down than his neighbours. Men learn to value
thermometers of the true imaginative tempera-
ment, capable of prodigious relations and corre-
ponding dejections." The •ehief question with
such meteorological amateurs just now is as to
the degree of cold which may he daily touched,
and the evidence of hands and feet is counted as
'nothing beside that which is furnished by the
mercury in the bulb.
It is the middle-aged who are foridest of
studying the thermometer in the summer, but in
the winter it is the young who most devote their
attention to the falling mercury. For
to these latter it is •an indication of
whether they will he able to pursue
their favourite sport of skating during the
holiday season. And to provide for such lovers
of out-door enjoyment, the London newspapers
publish frequent paragraphs, the very heading
of which has a flavour that is appetising. Undw
"The weather and the parks' appears informs.-
tion as to the state of the ponds in the various
metropolitan pleasure grounds; and those who
are home from school, or who, from other
causes, have sufficient leisure, watch such para-
graphs with an attention which a dissolution,
a Ministerial crisis, or a continental war cannot
evoke. There is something peculiarly tan,
talising about the sport which makes it the more
enjoyable. The iron fingers of frost have


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s,Nzed the watcrs, and the joyous information is
conveyed, that another moonlight night will
make the ice "fit to bear." Thousands of young
folk go to 'bed with a long loving look at the
moon, and the firm belief that the morning will
bring them all they wish. • But the wind shifts,
a thaw sets in, and hopes are rudely dashed.
When the ice does become strong enough, how-
ever, all disappointments are forgotten in the
eager joy which attends upon the sport, awl the
skater feels repaid for all his waiting by the keen- ,
Less of the pleasure he now feels. .
' A phase of tradesmanship is being increasinglz ,
derOopedol_pt only in L6ndoi'lN but iirtkr.,lareet.
I provincial towns, which is having important
effects, and which deserves study. Up to a few
years ago, the pyincipinof division of)abow
~.ills
kitett carried ouas faithfulli.,in -sltplie
_l**as* -
• manufacturfnikand it Nielis onlyti'v . . iro-
drapery and grocery, and odds andends of all kinds
were sold over the same counter. But extremes
have met, and tlia,lillagg.lta=setzarc eccauptw
which the la"fge-town has followed. In various
districts of the metropolis an instance is being
furnished of the gathering. of several businesses
under one roof'and-controlled by one head. It
is boasted that by, this means a purchaser can
all that .he wants, whatever his require,:
Monts. may be, without leaving the shop. The
system is spreading, and it is not without _im-_
portant effects.,, Concentration in empire li,
been
,the prtncipralwhich has actuated states:
all over the world during the past few years, and
4 concentration in trade is, proceeding to e a 1.97- -
cognised principle. ' What the small sho
.-01xiti I
are to do between the competition of flu:IA-Inge
emporiums and the- co-operative stores is a pro-
blein Which tie will have to solve. A. F. R.

Las--1

rnci4;

_
EXTRAOADfigART DIVORCE ACW1041,..
In the Divorce Court on Saturday, the suit; of
Bolton v. Bolton was beark it was the petition of
Mr. Thomas Bolton, a solicitor,, of the Temple, for a
divorce by reason of his wife's adultery with. Couut
de Galve, who had died, so that consequently4* -
-UoV

Va 2
not made a co-respondent,. Items appeared
a h.cr denied The charge. Mr. 13ayford, Q.C., • and Mn
Searle appeared for the prtitltSneer-and.;llr. Cramp.
Q.C., and Mr. Middleton-44r- thesvitiondent. I n
opening the case, Mr. Bayford, Q.C., said ti at this
was a suit of an extraordinary character. There were
difficulties in the case, xrhic4_wg.e „pot diminished
'-by the fact thartbe-ed-iSpiin-aent was dead. The
petitioner was a well-known solicitor of con,siderable
business practising in London. At,14., time of his
introduction to the resp6nTelir ste was the wife
of a gentleman named Adams, but was made known
to him as Mrs. Armstrong, andit could not be denied
that a: criminal intimacy resulted. Subsequently
a petition for divorce was instituted at the in-
stance of the husband, in which the present peti-
tioner was cited as the co-respondent, and in which
a decree was proncunced. In the year 1880
Mr. Bolton married the respondent at Camberwell,
and they first of all went to reside at 19, Bedford
square. The marriage turned out an unfortunate
one. The respondent was extravagant and intempe-
rate. In consequence the petitioner gave up his house
and removed with his wife to apartments over his
offices in Temple-chambers. It afterwards transpired
that she pawned a number of petitioner's things, and
inquiries being made it was discovered that she was
constantly in the society of Count de Galve, at that
time well known in society. He was a foreign noble-
man (Spanish) residing at that time in London.
Originally he lived in Grosvenor-place, but in 1880 he
separated from his wife, and then took apartments in
Ryder-street, St. James's, where he remained until
1881, when he removed to a house in Seymour-street.
He then went abroad, and died at Biarritz in April,
1882. As the result of investigation it. was found that
a lady, who passed as "Madame Beaumont," was a
constant visitor to Count de Galve whilst in England.
They dined and walked out together, and it was per-
fectly clear that the lady was no. other than Mrs.
Bolton. When the count went abroad he left his
establishment entirely in her hands, empowering her
to draw money from the bankers, and, in point of fact,
she acted entirely as his mistress.
Mr. Thomas Bolton, the petitioner, was called and
detailed the circumstances which had taken place in
his relations with his wife both before and after his
marriage. In cross-examination by Mr. Crump, Q.C.,
he stated that when he first met the respondent she
was the wife of Mr. Adams. The meeting was at a
ball at Wimbledon. In 1675 she consulted him pro-
fessionally and asked him to go away with her. She
used to bring him fruit and flowers, and visited him
in all about 20 times. Only one of these meetings
was for a" professional purpose." They lived together,
and he was made a co-respondent. In 1876 he pro-
mised to marry her, but did not fulfil his promise
until the end of 1880. He had not done so before as
her conduct had not reformed. When they were
living in the Temple there was a marked change in
her conduct. He was deceived as to the payment of
the housekeeping accounts.
-Wel:lard Child, an undertaker, of Long-acre' gave
evidence as to the respondent's coming to see him in
regard to the pawning of some of her jewellery. Once
she gave him some pins and a watch to pawn. They
formerly belonged to the count.
Evidence was then given as to the frequent visits of
the respondent to the Count de Galve; of their riding
out together; of her being alone with him under
most suspicious circumstances, and also of their dining
together at restaurants.
For the defence, Mrs. Bolton was called, and gave
a denial to the charge imputed. No familiarity of any
kir.d ever passed between her and Count de Galve.
In 1873 she first met him, and frequently saw him
from time to time. Had been in his bedroom when
he was very ill. In 1879 he gave her some rings and
a watch, and she pawned them. In cross-examination
she said that she married Mr. Adams in 1871. Her
husband did not know of the friendship which existed
between her and Count de Galve. She visited him
after his wife left him, and had dined at restaurants
with him. She assumed the name of Beaumont, but
not for concealment. Had also passed by the names
of Armstrong and Martin.
The jury, after deliberating together for a few
minutes, found for the petitioner, and the learned
judge granted a decree nisi.