The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-11-25 00:00:00

0-itr ckr onbmi Oriarrtmoubtnt,
rwi decz it right to state that we do not at all timei
tdaratity Glrrs'Avs with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The elections to the School Board for London. which
take place on the 30th instant, will be watched with a
great del of interest, fcr upon the decision of the rate-
payers will depcnd the educational policy to be ptrsued
in the metropolis for the ensuing three years. It was
on the 29th November, 1870, within a few months of
the passing of the Elucation Act of that session of
Parliament, that the elections to the first London
School Board were held; and in that short space cf
time an enernious amount of work has been done. An
elaborate machinery has been set in motien, and the
efficient staff of the Board, direated from the cffices
upon the Thames Embankment, make their influence
felt in the remotest alley and in the most tortuous
way of the vast cepital. It is clear enough now
that the Education Act wee not passed at
all too soon. As years go by, it becomes in-
creasingly obvious that never was literature
SO generally known and prized. Never were our
young meii and young women fonder of talking about
the newest philosophy, the latest scientific discovery,
or the most recentlyeiseued poem. There can be no
creation that the mass of men in this country are
being gradually leavened with the true yeast,
and are being lifted up with wonderful rapidity to a
higher intellectual level. This is likely to spread more
and more with the advance of time, and the move-
ment will be immensely stimulated by the action of the
Schaal Boards all over the country. In the large towns,
mere especially, the gathering together of the weirs
and etre; s from the streets, and the application cf
their intelleets to productive power, will, half a gene-
ration hence, in all probability have a most beneficial
effect upon the fortunes of the nation.

When the late Czar Nicholas was alive it was
said of him that he could command seventy
million of souls, but could not command himself.
Upon hearing that, in. 1851, Sardinia had thrown
off her neutrality, and had joined England, France,
and Trarkex in an alliance against the Great Colossus
of the Nostir, an eye-witness declared that the
Emperor of all the Russias raved with impotent
rage. His son, the present Emperor, is a very
different kind of man. Instead of following the
example of his father and ruling his people with a row
of iron, he has emancipated the serfs, and introduced
such political and social reforms into his immense
empire as his people can understand and appreciate.
When he was over here, two years and a half ago, it
was remarked how reserved even unto gleom his
manner habitually was. The Shah of Persia had been
here twelve months before, and his half amused, half
curious expression of countenance at the spectacles
which he gazed upon, strongly contrasted with the
melancholy mien of the Czar. The care of his
mighty dominions resting exclusively on his
own shoulders, seemed almost too great a burden to be
borne. Tte enormous crowds which gathered in the
streets of London, the splendid re:aptionat the Crystal
Palace, the magnificent entertainment by the City of
London at Guildhall, all seemed secondary to the
cares of State. Rumours of the Czar's intended abdi-
cation have been circulated from time to time, and no
one who knows anything of his mental characteristics
would be surprised to hear that at sixty years of age
he preferred the retirement of Livadia or of Tsarskoe
Selo, to the grandeur of the palaces in St. Petersburg
and Moscow.

The Artisans' and LebT,nrers' Dweliirgs Act may
be regarded as one of the most neefultmeaeures parsed
by the present Parliament. Thus far its operation has
been restricted to towns with a population of over
25,000 inhabitantd, bat tile t;me will doubtless come
when it will apply to places with a smaller number
of peoele. A great scheme under the provisione of
this Act ha 3 been taken in band by the Metro-
politan Beard of Works, aid by the time it Is
earlied out it will have cost several millions sterling.
Some of the rookeries ma:ked for demolition are
familiar to the readers of Oliver Twist, in that part of
the work which describes the reeidence of the Dcdger
and Charley Bates, forming some of the worst slums
in central London. The construction of the Holborn
Viaduct swept away a good many of these, and now
the Board of Works is about to lay violent hands upon
the remainder. One wonders how the authorities, of
whatever age or reign, could have sanctioned the con-
struction of such place; and how they could have
existed so long in the heart of the wealthiest city in the
world. During the 21 years' existence of the Metro-
politan B.lara, it has cerrieel out the geeat main drain
age scheme, embanked the river, and is now engage
in making a new central thoroughfare from East to
West. The contemplated improvements under the
new Act will be another justiticatiou tor tne steps
taken by the Legislature in calling such a beds,
into existence. London may never rival Paris in
the symmetry of its principal streets, nor in the
beauty of its public buidinge. But leave the centre of
the two capitals and go out into the suburbs, and the
superiority of the outekirts of London are seen at a
glance. Highgate and Kensington, Sydenharn and
Norwood certainly bear away the palm from Auteuil
and Passy, Pantin and St. Denis.

On the 24th November, 1875, the intelligence was
made known throughout the country that the British
Goverr ment bad purchased the interest of the Khedive
of Egypt in the Suez Canal, thus keeping in our own
hands the security for our highway to India. Twelve
months have passed away and we now find that Ismail
PaFlia, the ruler of Egypt, has a grand opportunity of
making the land which he governs one of the States
of the civilised worli. Recent events have virtually
destroyed his suzerainty to the Sultan, for he has not
now even to pay tribute direcly to his nominal lord
and master. This sum amounting to £700,000
a year, is now despatched straight to the
Bank of England for the benefit of the Sultan's
creditors. Step by step the Khedive ham
won his freedom, and the debt of Egypt seems at last
to be in a fair way of being placed on a right basie.
By surrendering himself to Eoglish advice, he has
shown his disposition to sacrifice those privileges he
had hitherto held, for the sake of his own and his
country's future. There is, indeed, no reason why the
next generation should not see that historic land
triumphant over all her difficulties, and in a fair way
to become a powerful and civilised state. There can be
little doubt that if Egypt would be content to remain
to itself, and not attempt to pursue the policy of
annexation, as the Khedive has lately endeavoured to
do with reepeat to Abyssinia, all would be well. In all
ages the history of the world has shown that the more an
empire becomes combined with foreign possessions the
weaker she becomes at her centre. Had Carthage been
content with her original condition of prosperity, and
attended to her own business, she
.would never
have come into collision with Rome in a way
wleh ended in her destruction. Rome herself
at last fell through the same thirst after foreign con-
quest ; a similar story must be written of Spain; and if
we look at our times we see that the Dutch possessions
of Atchin has been anything but advantageous to that
people, while it is universally acknowledged that
France would be far better off without Algeria than
she is with her. Algeria is not only a constant drain
upon the French resourcfv, but the deraoralizetion of
the French army, through its stay in Africa, was one
of the chief causes of the disnsters which fell upon our
Gallic neighbours in the last great Ccntinental war.
The fortnightly meetiegs of the Royal Geographical
Society, which take place during the winter, are
amongst the most popular gatherings in London. The
compeny is distinguished, as well as numerous, and one
never goes to an assembly of that body without coming
away wiser than he went. It is remarkable to observe
how the popularity of these Geographical meetings
exemplifies the power of mystery over the human
mind. Mysterious is that region round the
Pole, where the altitude of the sun is equal
to his declination. It does not signify that we should
gain nothing at the Pole which would add to the sum
of human happiness, or increase the productive powers
of the world's population. But such a fascination
surrounds that tintrodden spot that the whole civilized
world seems to turn with longing eyes towards it; and
ho. who, in the endeavour to penetrate the last 400
miles of ice, dies of intense frost, is regarded as one of
the world's heroes. Mysterious, again, are the sources
of tho Nile, that atateiy rive? which for thousands of
years hll9 been such a blessing to the land of Egypt.
The Thames at London Bridge, hilly or fifty miles
from the sea, is a broad and ample stream, but what
would Londoners say to such a breadth 1,200 miles
from the sea, one of the most marked characteristics of
the Nile? The meat African lakes, too, have their
mysterious surroundings; indeed, there is scarcely one
amongst the varied subjects taken up by the geographers
upon wh!ch more light would not be welcome. Those
who have rendered themselves famous as discoverers
have their grand celebrations when they come to
England, and royalty itself does honour to their
labours.

It is just about four years ago that the price of coal
made a bound upwards, which to some extent has been
retained ever since. True, it has come down from the
famine rates of February, 1973, when best Wallsend
In London was fetching 545. p-r tom But it is never
expected to return to the figures which prevailed pre-
viously to the autumn of 1872. For the sudden rise
which then took place there has never been any setis-
factory explanation. True, the iron manufacturers
were at that time in full swing, but the law of demand
and of supply was equally applieable to coal as to any
other article of c ,nsurepti,n. The Royal Commission
appointed in 1867 to inquire into the question of our
coal supply had reported that the existing beds, at the
Present sate of consumption, wouldnot be exhausted for


IE2

the next 800 years. Happily, the coal famine has passed
away, and looking back now over the history of the

panic which then prevailed, it seems difficult to account
for it. When William the Conqueror came over from
Normandy to lord it over thi3 pleasant land we may
rely upon it that he gave little theught to the people
who crowd upon that land to-day; and looking at the
pr-gress which has been made during the peat eight
centuries, there can be little doubt that those who popu-
late these islands in the year 2676 will be very well
able to take care of themselves.
"Drifted into war r is a phrase which has become
historical. It wa3 used by Lord Clarendon to express
the result of the negotiations of Lord Aberdeen's
Cabinet in the autumn of 1853.. These, after ext,nd-
ing over a period of sev-eral months, broke down at
last, and the country which had so very small an in-
terest in the protection of the Holy Places, found that
it had glided into war by slow and imperceptible
degrees. Ic had been carried Into war by a
chacce current which happened to be flowing
past at,the time, jus,t as a piece of drift eoed may be
andsd on the shore by the rising tide, or taken far out
to sea upon the ebb. At thae time, however, we nad
active and peweeful allies. The Turk himeel was not
to be despieed, for had not Omar Pasha held his own
against the Russiane ? Then there was France, whose
assistance at Sebastopol is a matter of history. Again,
there were the Sardinians, who made their presence
known at the battle of the Tchernaya, on the 16th of
August 1855. The war-cloud again hovers over the
land, bat where are now England's allies. France, no
longer anxious for war to advance dynastic ends, tands
by with folded arms, with not the slightest nterest in
the Eastern Question. Sardinia has developed into the
Italian Kingdom, and now knows nothing of that
eratitnde wnieh has been described as a lively sense of
favours to coma. Germany is certainly no friend to us,
and Austria cannot move without fear of tumbling to
pieces. Oar only ally in ease of war would consequently
be our old friend the Turk—a good enough soldier truly,
but not a very creditable helpmeet in time of need. The
outlook in case of war is not a pleasant one; and after
the way in which the public have lately been en-
lightened concerning the cardinal vices of the Turk,
would scarcely be so popular as to induce the people
willingly to pay a Lurteenpenny income-tax—the rate
levied in 1855. An eminent French statesman, in
July, 1870, declared war "with a light heart," a senti-
ment which few Frenchmen at this time of day would
be ready to endorse.