The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-10-18 00:00:00

IJI) r Ignbun earresponlnt.

(We deetn it right to state that we do not at all times
tdentio ourselves with our Correspondent's opinion.s.j

The London daily papers have lately contained one
or two paragraphs, prominently printed in their
lea ling pages, descriptive of the weather in Scotland
and of the scenery in Aberdeenshire, which have
excited attention as being after the style of Her
Majesty's Diary, published some' years ago. As a
matter of fact, these paragraphs formed a part of the
ordinary Court circular, which is sent round to the me-
tripolitan journals every evening in what is called
flimsy," that is to say the whole of the copies are
written at one impression upon thin paper, and every
j inrnal gets precisely the same matter. There are thou-
sac ds of readers who turn to the Court circular almost
the first thing when they open the papers, for the infor-
mation there is both varied and interesting. It
is not always confined to such announcements
as that the Q teen walked out, or that Princess
Beatrice rode on horseback, or that Prince Leopold
drove to the Glaiesalt Shiel. But the niceties of des-
cription are really a study in themselves; and the dis-
tinction drawn between those who "accompany" and
those who "attend" her Majesty, are always worth
noting. There is nothing which appears in the Court
circular that has not been previously submitted to the
Qteen's private secretary, General Sir Henry
Ponsonby, and the paragraph above alluded to, des-
cribing some of the beauties of Scottish scenery, was
so much like the Queen's style that there is little
doubt of its having been written by the Sovereign
herself. When the Court is at Balmoral, the matter
which the circular contains is telegraphed to London
every night; but when her Majesty is at Windsor or
at Osborne, it is sent to the capital by train.
In the fine autumnal days which we have lately had,
days that seem to have been thoroughly appreciated
In the neighbourhood of Balmoral Castle, frequent
drives are taken by the Qaeen and the Empress
Eugenie, who is staying at Abergeldie Castle, placed
at her Imperial Majesty's disposal by Queen Victoria.
The bereavements and misfortunes of the Empress
have of late secured to her a considerable share of
public notice, and the sternest Republican would not
grudg3 to her Imperial Majesty that amount of
sympathy which she has received. Strange how
one single decade alters the fortunes of the most
illustrious dwellers upon earth ! In 1818 the
late Emperor Napoleon was a special constable
in the streets of London, when the British capital
was threatened with insurrection; in 1853 he was
the most powerful sovereign in Continental Eu-
rope, and bad joined his armies with those of
Great Britain, Turkey, and Sardinia, in beating
back the Russian Czar from the banks of the Danube.
In November, 1869, the Empress Eugenie set out
from Paris to open the Suez Canal, a gigantic
work connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea,
and owing its inception to the genius of a French
engineer. Her progress from Europe to Africa re-
sembled that of a conquering heroine; and her recep-
tion wherever she went was in every way befitting her
exalted rank and station. In 1879 she is a widow and
childless, an exile from the land which she assisted
to rule, but commanding the sympathies of those who
knew her in the greatness of her days, and who
remember her charities in those times of calamity
which so often fell upon France.
The Princess Louise, by the advice of her physi-
cians, is About to pay a visit to this country, with the
objec; of avoiding the rigours of the Canadian winter.
Her Royal Highness, with the Marquis of Lorne, left
this country for the great British dominion in the
Went, on the 16th November last, in the splendid
steamer Sarmatian; and after a very tempestuous
voyage arrived in Halifax Harbour on the 25th.
When the new Governor-General and the Princess
arrived there, a telegram was waiting for them,
conitryitilfritigf inteiligenee Of the death of Princess
Alice's inungeit child, to be followed within
three weeks by the sad naive of the death of
the beloved Grand Duchers of Hesse herself. The
last winter, one of tire severest known in these
islands for many years, was exceptionally mild in

Canada; indeed it was colder by a great deal in Lon.

don than in o.tawa. But this cannot again be hr.ped
•—• for so far as Ottawa is concerned; and the Princess,
who had intended to postpune her visit to England
unt.l the spring, has been recommedded to come
helot's, the chancts being that our winter will not be
so c, Id as that of last y(ar, while that of Canada is
likei; to be colder. A temperature which freezes the

broad rolling waters of the mighty St. Lawrence is
naturally one that would be avoided by any one not
in the strongest of health ; and we all hope that the
Princess will be bent fitted by the change of air and
ocene.
The fact that the Cabinet separate.' without naming
a day for the reassembling of Parliament seems to
have been taken for granted that the recess will be
allowed to run its usual course, and that there will he
no meeting of the Legislature until February next.
At prevent the two Houses stand prorogued until the
let of November, so that a royal proclamation may
soon be expected further proroguing them to a more
distant date. A prorogation of Parliament cannot
sxtend beyond three months at one time; but the
utmost of that limit is never reached. Last year the
period ran from the 16th of August to the 31st o.ltober,
this year from the 15th of August to the let November,
thus showing only a couple of days' difference.
Twelve months ago, Parliament was summoned
for a December session to provide for the cost.
of the Afghan war, which was done by lending
India two millions sterling, without interest, in order
to pay for it. That war, it was hoped, had been

brought to a close by the Treaty of Gundamak ; but
its unfortunate re-openirg on the 3td September by
the massAcra of our Embaesy at Cabul, was the basis
of the expectation that the expenses of the second
campaign would now have to be provided for. It may
be added that Parliament, whenever it meets, whether
in November, December, or February, will do so for
the last time. It will have run its seven sessions—an
age which no Parliament has attained since that dis-
solved by Lord Palmerston in July, 1865, and which
had lasted six sears, one month, and six days.
The mi.itary operations before Cabul have once
more attracted public attention to the wild and
singular country of which that historic city is the
capital. The experience of Afghanistan supplies an
instance of a land which makes no advance towards
nivilization, although the civilizing influences repre-
sented by the presence of British territcry are situated
not far beyond its boundaries. As large as France, as
mountainous as Switzerland, and in the winter as cold
as Greenland, in the summer the scorching heats of the
tropics pass over it, and their effects are felt in the
enervated character of the people. The hill tribes are
fierce and untameable, and they answer to the descrip-
tion given of Ishmael of old. It is nearly a thousand
years since Afghanistan, having formerly been a part of
the Persian and Greek empires, was conquered by the
Tartars, a race which has never had the reputation of
being a humanizing agency. To this day the word
" Tartar " is synonymous with barbarism and ferocity;
and the settlement of the country by the Mussulmana
did not all contribute to the development of its re-
eources or the onward erogress of its people. Never
at rest, and in a cbronic state of anarchy, the Lei-
dente of a thiusand years have been repeated in our
own times; its rulers are either tyrants or puppets,
oppressors of their subjects, or too weak to keep those
subj ct.es from oveithrowing them. True to the creed
of Mah4-)rnet, they hate the infidel foreigner, and as we
have seen, take every opportunity oi exterminating
him.

Amid the anxiety caused by the renewed outbreak
Ira Afghanistan there is one satisfaction and that is
kund in the termination of the war Ivan the adjoin.
in Continent. it is barely twelve months since dis•
• tant rumours of troubles in South Africa reached this
• • country ; but little more notice was taken of disputes
sta with the 'balms than there had been of quarrels
'with the Blguto,, the Boer?, and the lia.ffirs, f which
th-ra had been many within the past half century.
Very few even knew the -:.ame of the Zulu King;
those who had heard it found
.it unpronounceable;
some had bean brought acquainted with the presence
of the Zulus in South Africa through the writings
of the Bishop of Natal; while, as there was a
Bishop of Zululand in the colonial church,
many would not have been surprised to learn
that the country was a British poseeesion, ne of
- those vast and indefinite territories which make up
the wide-spreading continual of Africa. We have
sinm IKen made aware of the fact that Zululand was
an iadepervient kingdom with a p)werful army, vvlai,h
her Majesty's High Commissioner in South Africa de-
cl irei it to be imperative, in the interests of Natal, to
break up. This has now been done, and the mystic king
of that wild reAion is now a State prisoner at Capetown,
not in the primitive costume of his race, but weariing
a-Tweed snit and a high hat, settling down for the re-
mainder of his days iu the centre of African civil za.
Cop, and himself possessing many of the attributes of
a civilized being.
As the First of November approaches, there is a
flutter of active political life amid the municipalities
of England and Wales, in connection with the annual
choice of Town Councillors. This is one respect in
which England stands out prominently as compared
with her continental neighbours. In France, fur
examp!e, the Mayor or Prefect is appointed by the
central authority in Paris, not 20 much to preside over
the interestt of the locality as to subserve those of the
government in the capital. He is in fact a servant of
the dominant tarty in the State. and can be dismissed'
at tLe rleaure of the Minister of the Intericr if that
functicnary fails in his duty towards his party. When,
in the time of the Emperor Napoleon, Baron HAT/881:12all

- • • ';

was -Prefect of the Seine, Paris had what was
called a Municipal Council, but this body had no
control whatever over the lavhh expenditure upon the
reconstruction of the City, which was all ordered by
the central government for the City to pay for. It is
only to imagine this principle being applied to London
—the Home Secretary, on his own responsibility,
ordering an expenditure of several millions in public
improvements, and the taxpaying public having no
voice whatever in the matter—to show the great
difference between the modes of local government.
Fortunately, in England the mayors of our boroughs
are not officials appointed by the State, but gentlemen
selected by their townsmen to represent the dignity of
their own municipalities, and to protect the interests
and promote the welfare of their own communities,

The Electric Light seems to be still making its way.
In London it has been extended from end to end f
the Thames Embankment, and a few nights ago was
first displayed on Waterloo Bridge. Its brilliancy
stood wayfarers in good stead on one or two nights
when a dense fog, driving up from the Essex marches,
settled down upon the giant city, and well nigh blotted
oat the light of the ordinary gas lamps. So thick
was the fog at times that cabdrivers, being -unable
to see two lamps ahead of them, were obliged to
use the greatest caution in making their way
through the shrouded streets. In the regions
illuminated by the electric light, a strange
unearthly glamour was thrown over the spectral scene.
The form and substance of Waterloo Bridge were
totally blotted out; and 33 with a sorrowful deep
round the river rolled between the two densely-
peopled banks, silent as the night itself, the line of
white lights seemed like so many lamps suspended in
the air, the only signs of life amid a vast opaque
space, black, cheerless, and impenetrable to human
vision.

,!
,
dp, iti, 4. IWM -Pr th
ifect of e Seine, Paris
'4ll 4" Yonbun earrespoOm. called a Municipal Council, but f
control whatever over the lavish exp
r (We (Nitn it right to state that we do not at all times reconstruction of the City, which a
I dentite Gurselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]
the central government for the Cit.
i only to imagine this principle beint
The London daily papers have lately contained one ° -
or two paragraphs, prominently printed .in their —the Home Secretary, on his
, ,
lea ling pages, descriptive of the weather in Scotland ordering an expenditure of sever
- .
t. 't and of the scenery in Aberdeenshire, which have improvements, and the taxpayi
voice whatever in the matter-
excited attention as being after the style of Her
difference between the modes
. Majesty's Diary, published some. years ago. As a
.., matter of fact, these paragraphs formed a part of the Fortunately, in England the rt•
ordinary Court circular, which is sent round to the me- are not officials appointed by t 1
l trepolitan journals every evening in what is called selected by their townsmen to
'
" flimey," that is to say the whole of the copies are their own municipalities, and
written at one impression upon thin paper, and every and promote the welfare of t,'
e , j mrnal gets precisely the same matter. There are tl'on- The Electric Light seems 1
i seeds of readers who turn to the Court circular almost In London it has been ext
I, the first thing when they open the papers, for the infor- the Thames Embankment,
e rnation there is both varied and interesting. It first displayed on Water'
is not always confined to such announcements stood wayfarers in good e
, . as that the Q teen walked out, or
,that Princess when a dense fog, driving
Beatrice rode on horseback, or that Prince Leopold settled down upon the gh
1
i drove to the Glassalt Shiel. But the niceties of des- out the light of the or
; - cription are really a study in themselves; and the dire, was the fog at times t
V '.. tinction drawn between those who "accompany " and to see two lamps ahe
those who "attend" her Majesty, are always worth use the greatest Ca
1 ' noting. There is nothing which appears in the Court through the shroud
( circular that has not been previously submitted to the illuminated by ti
Qieen's private secretary, General Sir Henry unearthly glamour w
~
Ponsonby, and the paragraph above alluded to, des- The form and sub
~ ~
cribing some of the beauties of Scottish scenery, was totally blotted out
,
so much like the Queen's style that there is little sound the river •
doubt of its having been written by the Sovereign peopled banks, all
. .
..!. herself. When the Court is at Balmoral, the matter white lights seem
which the circular contains is telegraphed to London the air, the onl
r ,
every night; but when her Majesty is at Windsor or space, black, el
at Osborne, it is sent to the capital by train. vision.
In the fine autumnal days which we have lately had,
I* days that seem to have been thoroughly appreciated THE I
r in the neighbourhood of Balmoral Castle, frequent
. .
drives are taken by the Queen and the Empress The Stand
Eugenie, who is staying at Abergeldie Castle, placed following fr.(
at her Imperial Majesty's disposal by Queen Victoria. C
The bereavements and misfortunes of the Empress t,Early tills
, “at the ene
. . have of late secured to her a considerable share of position on
public notice, and the sternest Republican would not General I
,is,. grudge to her Imperial Majesty that amount of tion Bak
moved row
sympathy which she has received. Strange how while apc
.. AC. one single decade alters the fortunes of the most upder Ma
'illustrious dwellers 't
upon earth ! In 1818 the 4°"vard 1 i The a
4
i ...., - . late Emperor Napoleon was a special constable advance
in the streets of London, when the British capital the th,!
1 • '
was threatened with insurrection; in 1853 he was style;
The
the most powerful sovereign in Continental En- flinki
rope, and had joined his armies with those of great
,
Great Britain, Turkey, and Sardinia, in beating tahnedg
r.k; ..
back tbe Russian Czar from the banks of the Danube, fret.
, ie,' F
,
. 1 In November, 1869, the Empress Eugenie set out r
wfroormk cPonarniesatitnog otpheen
metdhieterrSanueezanCanand the
Canal, 1. .0,..
,a
RgeidgaStic, pl"(•1
. and owing its inception to the genius of a French b
engineer. Her progress from Europe to Africa re. i
sembled that of a conquering heroine; and her recep-
tion wherever she went was in every way befitting her
exalted rank and station. In 1879 she is a widow and
• childless, an exile from the land which she assisted
,
, to rule, but commanding the sympathies of those who
knew her in the greatness of her days, and evil(
, remember her charities in those times of calamit
•4
t which so often fell upon France.
The Princess Louise, by the advice of her phy
111
,
4
, ciane, is about to pay a visit to this country, with
object of avoiding the rigours of the Canadian win
Her Royal Highness, with the Marquis of Lorne,
this country for the great British dominion in
West, on the 16th November last, in the spl
I ' steamers Sarmatian; and after a very tempi
voyage arrived in Halifax Harbour oil the
1 When the new Governor-General and the 1
* arrived there, a telegram was waiting for
. conVeyieket4 intelligence of the death of
Alice'e youngest child, to be followed
three weeks by the sad nears of tha
the beloved Grand Duchers of Hesse her
'
• last winter, one of tke severest known
islands for many years, was exceptionall
Canada; indeed it was colder by a great d
0 trill
•L don than in o.tawa. But this cannot aga
-... for so far as Ottawa is concerned; and t
who had intended to postpone her vie
e
vnt.l the spring, has been recornmere
before, the chances being that our winl
so e, Id as that of last year, while tilt
- likei; to be colder. A temperature wl
1 broad rolling waters of the mighty
• naturally one that would be avoide
in the strongest of health; and we
Princess will be bent fitted by the ,
scene.
The fact that the Cabinet separs
a day for the reassembling of I
;
have been taken for granted tha'
allowed to run its usual coarse, a
no meeting of the Legislature
, At prevent the two Houses sten
; , let of November, so that a ro
•I ‘ soon be expected further peon(
distant date, A prorogatior
extend beyond three month
• utmost of that limit is never
. .
. period ran from the 16th of A
i -- this year from the 15th of A
_
thus showing only a cc
•
I . , Twelve months ago, p
v . for a December session
of the Afghan war, w
India two millions sterli
i to pay for it. That .
brought to a close by 0
; its unfortunate re-ope
the massacre of our E
of the expectation
If ti
i campaign would now
a
be added that Parlia
. i in November, Decei
! . ,
the last time. It v
age which no Pathi
solved by Lord P
i had lasted six yet
.
.:
The miiitary
1 more attracted
re f singular counts
capital. The
,
instance of a 1
0.•
civilization, a'
sented by the
1
i
not far beyor
mountainou
as Greenlar
tropics pas
enervated
fierce and
tion give
• years sir
the Per
Tartar,
being
"Tar
and t
.. ,
• did
! 4 ' • soul
; .
at
' a des
f ' i • 1 • ov
07
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aneas
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