The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-11-29 00:00:00

our Soda eurtsgoutant

rflo dean it right to state that we do not at ail thus
muggy ourselves with our Oorreepandent's opinions.]

The presentation by her Majesty of a valuable dia-
mond ring, accompanied-with an autograph letter, to
Major Chard, adds another to the many instances in
which the Queen has shown her interest in the gallant
deeds of her military officers. Major Chard had al-
ready received more than one token of royal approval.
By the Queen's command he had been decorates with
the Victoria Cross by Sir Garnet Wolseley, at a
general parade of the British troops in South Africa,
on the 25th July last, and had been advanced from
the degree of lieutenant to that of captain, with the
brevet rank of major. At Balmoral he had given
the Savereien a personal account of the de-
fence of Rorke's Drift ; and in her northern
castle had the honour of dining three times with Her
Majesty and the Royal family. This diamong ring
came as afresh evidence of royal approbation within
a few days of Major Chard having been presented by
his fellow-townsmen, at Plymouth, with a sword of
honour in a magnificent scabbard. The countrymen
of Major Chard will rejoice in every one cf these dis-
tinctions, for the holding of Rorke's drift by less than
a hundred men against the attack of about three
thousand Zulus, was a feat which will surround the
British arms with imperishable renown.

It is now nearly twelve months ago that the queen,
almost immediately upon her return from Balmoral,
received at Windsor Castle the officers of the King's
Own Regiment, and presented them with new colours
pri6r to their departure for the Cape. On Friday, the
6th December, in the quadrangle of Windsor Castle
this interesting ceremony took place, her Majesty
on that occasion delivering an address in which
she recalled the past history of that famous
regiment, and bade it "God speed" in putting
an end to the dtsturbances in her possessions
In South Africa. On the following Friday, the 13th,
the Queen was to have personally received the old
colours of the King's Own—colours which had been
riddled by the bullets of 'a- hundred fights; but. the:
news which had come from Darmstadt respecting die'
health of the Princess Alice was so alarming that her
Majesty was unable to be present. The beloved Prin-
cess, it will be remembered, died on the following day,
the seventeenth anniversary of her father's death I and
never did a nation more sincerely mourn.
It appears, from A report which has just been issued
by tie Board of Trade, that during the first nine
months of the present year, 6.55 persons were killed,
and 2,420 injured by accidents on the railways in the
United Kingdom. It is impossible to read the report
without arriving at the conclusion that the occu-
pation of railway servants is a dangerous one, as
Is dearly shown by the number of deaths which ,
have happened in their ranks during the nine months
here mentioned. The question arises whether any-
thing could be done to render the c ailing of those
employed on our railways a less hazardous one.
So far, however, as the public are concerned,
there can be little doubt that of the persons who
were injured, numbers of those who were maimed
were entirely responsible for the accidents whieh
happened to them. Warnings are given almost
daily as to the danger of undue haste in entering or
leaving railway trains; and yet in these few months
17 persons were killed and 44 injured by falling be-
tween carriages and platforms while entering or
leaving trains. The danger of trespassing on the line
is exemplified by the fact that 184 trespassers were
killed and-68 injured by passing trains; while the
existence of the still too-prevalent level crossings
aooounts for the death of 46 persons and injuries to
19 others.

Last winter snow began to fall in November, and
lasted cheerfully, with a few welcome intermissions,
until May. The old division of the year into four
quarters was therefore set aside in what was hoped
would prove an exceptional season, for the winter
lasted precisely half the year. Again in November
the snow has come upon us, and it may not im-
probably be that another trying time is in store for
the country. Those who were accustomed to murmur
at the absence of old-fashioned winters, have no neces-
sity for doing so now. An old-fashioned winter—so
greatly desiderated by those who can enjoy them-
selves upon the skating ponds—means the sus-
pension of many industries, and hard times in
many an industrious household. It also means
death to the aged and the infirm, whose phlsical con-
dition finds it impossible to wrestle with the fatal
influences caused by the lowness of temperature.
Such a simple cause as the prevalence of an east wind
will deprive thousands of labourem in the London
docks of.their half-crown per day, because the adverse
breeze prevents sailing vessels from leaving the river,
while a warm south-westerly wind is not only as the
breath of life to the invalid, but liberates the
shipping, and sends them mailing out upon every sea.
Tkiie is, however, one consideration in anticipating '
a ha-rd winter, should one be in store for us, which
was not present twelve months ago. There are signs
now that trade is reviving, while the dark days of
1878 were some of the most gloomy and depressing that
had settled down upon this country for a generation.
France is proverbially a country of political
change, but no chronicles of history ever illustrated
a greater political change than an incident which
was witnessed in the French capital last week,
The Countess Montijo, mother of the Empress
Eugenie, lay dangerously ill at Madridu,and Lord
Lyons, the British Ambassador at Pathi, bad sapplied
to the President of the French Republic for permission
to allow the Empress to pass through Paris on her
way to Spain to visit her dying parent. Although the
deposition of the Napoleonic dynasty did not involve
the expulsion of the Empress Eugenie from France,
and she could therefore have passed through that
country without President Grvy's permission, it was
thought better by Lord Lyons that this should be
secured, and it was cordially granted. The Empress
arrived at the Northern Railway terminus late at
night, and was recognised by no one. She was driven
to the house of the Duchess de Mouchy, in the Boule-
vard Cogalles, and left for the Spanish frontier at
eight e'closk the next morning, without having re-
ceived a single visitor; and proceeded on her journey to
Madrid, where King Alfonso awaited her arrival to
communicate the mournful intelligence that her mother
had already breathed her last. Her Majesty must
have been more than human not to have contrasted
her 'brief stay in Paris with the last night she
had -Previously passed in the city where she had
so long reigned as Queen of Beauty and of Fashion.
It was the night of the 3rd of September, 1870,
when the news of the capitulation at Sedan had
burst like a thunderolap upon Paris, The Empress
spent that sleepless night in the Palace of the
Tuileries, from which she fled on the next after-
noon on the approach of a vast surging crowd from
Montmartre and Belleville. The Tuileries are now
in ruins; the Emperor and the Prince Imperial
are dead; and the Empress herself has witnessed the
destruction of every hope which she had cherished
during the seventeen years in which she was one of the
most conspicuous figures in European life.
The appearance of many of the Chziatmas Annuals
and the varied mass of literature which is presented to
the public at this time of the year are an irresis-
tible reminder of the flight of time and the approach of
the festive season. A great deal of sentimentality
may and no doubt is talked and written at Christmas;
but there is no doubt that as an institution it has
marvellously increased its hold upon the English
people in these later times. The additional employ-
ment given by this special literature alone, extending
as ili dues into several weeks before Christmas Itself,
mist afford occupation to hundreds and to thousands
who but for the observance of such a festival might
often be finding mischief for idle hands to do. Another
sure and certain sign of the date to which we are ap-
proaching, is the state of preparation for the great Catt e
Show at the Agricultural Hall at Islington. If
the poor dumb creatures could speak, many of them
might be iriciined to enter a protest against being
brought up from their' fields and pastures, to be
gathered together foes week in the close atmosphere
of a covered building, and with the glare of flaring
gas lights in their eyes. In December it is often so
sunless in London that gas is in requisition all the
live-long day—a condition of things which, even in
the absence of fog, must be peculiarly distressing to
some of the splendid prize animals which it has taken
years to bring to their existing" state of perfection.
But when, as sometimes occurs, a stifling fog is added,
the atmospheric conditions are rendered extremely
detrimental to the beasts which have been accustomed
to breathe the free air of the fields, and upon which
so mush ears has been bestowed.

_
When her lissiesty Is at Winsisor or at Osborne the
distal's/ from London is so sheet, that there is' no
°Mission for the itfiondance of a Cabinet Minister upon
the Sovereign, as is the case when the Queen is at
Balmoral. The Minister usually told off for thia duty
is °Le with no heavy departmental duties to attend
to, and therefore can be best spared from London.
For instance, the Lord President of the Council
can better be spared than the Home Secretary;
the Lord Privy Seal than the Foreign Secretary, the
Chancellor of the taehequer than the Colonial
Secretary; and the Postmaster -General than the
First Lord of the Admiralty. The Lord Chancellor
and the President of the Board of Trade are
oftener at Balmoral than the Seeretaries of State
for India and War. The return ef the Queen to
Windsor onus more will however render unneces-
sary the absence of any Minister, and as
Cabinet Councils are often summoned at short
notices they will all be able to be present should
urgent business arise. A eallinet Council never

separates with a mere understanding to meet
again, either on the next, or any other specified
day. Formal suroxaonses are always issued, each
member being requested to attend a meeting of "Her
Majesty's servants." The peers in the Cabinet are
addressed as "My lord," in this document, and the
Commoners as "Sir," and in order that there may be
no possible mistake as to deliverran the case of such
an important missive, a form of receipt is provided,
which the messenger hands in te the Treasury on his
return from the houses of the various Cabinet
Ministers.