The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-02-18 00:00:00

TOM TIDDLER'S 'TATOU.

The Gardens of the Hesperides are generally sup-
posed to be niyhir.al; but the equivalent of them ap-
pears to exist in reality at the Cape. According to
the Natal Mercuru, reports from the diamond fields
lately have been numerous and favourable, and—
. ..

The news from the "lathe Gold Fields wae also Improv-
ing, and men and machines were stated to be wanting
there." _

There can be no doubt that these fields yield golden
fruit, constituting a certain description of apples which
may be namedpommrs de tern. The narratives of the
ancient poets respecting the golden pippins which they
relate to have been won by Hercules may be erroneous;
but there ie no mistake about the produce of the Tatur
Gold Fields. —Punch.

We (Times of Monday) are informed that there is no
eutnooty ,^steverf t%e etet,teLt ' the Oberreer oi
yea!, A . r. l.orttet wiao comprombs 00
the esarp,g the alopt or secret voting
,!.0 o,urtivieney except vea of Droved COI.-
rt. ,0 fl it oaUJ•J CA'.l/11W, wire:Mood by way
o goy

The DOWRY to the PRINCESS LOUISE.

Referring to the vote it the House of Commons, on
Monday evening, Mr. P. A. Taylor has sent the fol-
lowing letter to the Papers, for publication :
" Lest any miaunderstanding ehould arias from the fact
that no division was challenged on this question, perhaps
yau will allow me to state that, acting udder the advice of
the highest °Monti autkoritlee in the House, I resolved,
after consultation with my friend., to take the division on
the second reading of the Bill, which It will be 130.341.) to
introduce to give tffect to the formal resolution passed this
evening."

Animadverting on this letter, the Dail,u Noes has
the following leader :

We are sorry to perceive from the letter which Mr. P. A.
Taylor has addressed to m that be and his friend. have nJt
abandoned their intention of resisting the proposed marriage
grant to the Princess Louise. Ode of the unfortunate Otects
of their °poodle's, soul tip earliest of them, is visible in the
contrast between Mr. Ciladstone's speech lest night In the
House of Commons, and Lord Granville', is the Lords'. The
tone of controveray and apology was unavoidably audible in
the Prime Minister'. harangue. The private virtues even
of It .yal persons are not aultable subjects for Parlia-
mentary declamation. To shout them through a speaking
trumpet is far from being the molt suitable tribute to them.
Mr. Gladstone'. resonant el, queues "blows through brace"
that which Mr. Tennyaorii exqulaite dedication to the Q wen
" breathts through silver." it the First Minister seemed
yesterday to be putting up the Royal virtues to auction, and
If the language which he used was rather that of the c•nrtier
than of the great Parliamentary leader, the fault waa not
with him, or in hi. subject, but In the occasion and the
challenge which made impossible • mimics that would
doubtless have been more agreeable to himself, and to the
illuatrious flu l leas of his eulogy.
It is difficult to understand the mutations of public senti-
ment with reapect to the marriage of the irincess I. oilse.
The popular breath seems to have blown hot and cold with a
more than meteorological caprice. At Mat the satisfaction
expressed was boundless. Then followed repining and
criticism. The inconaintency is only apparent. The satis-
faction was with the marriage ; the repining and criti-
cism have to do with the dowry. The popular mind,
even among the prosaic inhabitants of these Islands, hay a
wonderful affection for the romantic; and the betrothal of
Lord Lone and the Prlinieu Louise came upon it as a ro-
mance in high life. People were delighted to find that love
In A palace I:ore so strong a resemblance to love in it cottage,
laughing not only at locksmiths, but at social bars and the
11..yal Marriage Act. Tennyson'. ballad of "The Lord
But lelgh," with an hivenion of the parts, and an elevation
of the hero and heroine in the social scale, recurred to the
mieds of innumerable young ladies and gentlemen, to whom
a Royal Prlnceu and Marquess were even more In-
teresting than an Earl and a village maiden. The
tradition and memory of similar feelings Inspired a
milder satisfaction In more elderly minds. People had
WOI lied themselves into a mood on which the talk of suitable
provision grated, eipecially when it became clear that the
suitable provision war to come out of their own pockets.
John Bull remembered that he was • taxpayer; and he never
pay. money without grumbling. Disinterested affection
asking for a dowry was incongruous. The rombination took
the poetry out of the thing, tie was wiling to give hi.
blessing and his approval, but he had not thought of the
demand on his purse. The letter. £ s. d. tell like a Jet of
cold water anon his heated enthusiasm, and quenched it.
•

. o
This unreasoning reaction from an exaggerated sentiment
has already spent Itself ; and the opposition which Mr.
Taylor threatens is not likely to be serious in its conse-
quences. For sufficient ream us, England values and is dis-
posed to cling to her Monarchical Constitution, and she must
Übe It with Its inevitable consequences. It is strange that
a union is Welt the nation approves more heartily than almost
any of the It ,yal marriages which have preceded it, should
have given occasion to an unseemly and unpleasant contro-
versy which had Nimerly been spared. Several circumstances
have conspired to bring about this untoward result To a
good many mh.ds the idea of making suitable provision for
the heir of a British nobleman of rank is distasteful. They
do not see what the future Duke of Argyll has to do with the
taxpayer. They think it would have been more crecitable 11
Maccallum More had declined to come upon the nation.
They fear a precedent Other great noblemen may be
candidates for the hands of future Princesses, and dwindled
Incomes and ruined fortunes may be supplemented and
restored at the public expense. The apprehension is
absurd. Not leas ridiculous is the idea that powerful
Peers may become more powerful by alliance with
the Crown, and the exercise of a mysterious influence
over the Sovereign. Preilsely the opposite result is
likely to ensue. A Royal alliance will rather mar thas
make a political career. The jealousy of the secret influence
of the Crown which these muttered objections imply, will
itself defeat the evils which are apprehended. Another
objection has been urged. In the case of the marriage of the
daughters of the S ,vereign with foreign Princes, a dowry Is
felt to be reasonable on one or other of two grounds. When
an English Princess becomes the wife of the heir to a great
foreign monarchy, as in the union of the Princess Royal with
the Crown Prince of Prussia, the honour of the nation Is hilt
to be concerned in proylding that the daughter of England
shall not go to a foreign Court unendowed. She represents
her country and its muntficer ca. There is a sort of interna-
tional obligation to liberality and splendour. In other cases,
the dowry given 111 really what It prolesses to be, a stilt.
able and necessary provision. It c mid not be withheld
without giving occasion to grave scandal and incon-
venience. Neither of these consideratt us applies to
the approaching Royal marriage; and their absence ht s
done much to create the sentimental objection to the
dowry which has found here and there strong and unreason-
able expression. Grants to Royal Princes and Princesses
form, however, one of the incidents of the Monarchy. They
are part of the cost which we have counted, or ought to have
counted, In adopting and maintainli g It. The cost, as a
whole, and still mnre so in any individual case, is too
slight to warrant or to palliate the outcry which Is made
against It.

There are other obpctors to the dowry who. In their
attack upon It, scazcely veil their hostility to the Monarchy.
Among the artisans of the great towns, In Shi Mild, Birming-
ham, and Nottingham, and among the working men of the
metropolitan constituencies, a Repuhlicantam, no longer
theroretic merely, but active, propagandist, and almost
aggref sive, Is, if not very deeply planted, yet very widely
diffused. Questions as to the are of the M march;
have been asked. Mr. Gladstone last night repeated
at third hand the not very wise answer which Mr
Forster had borrowed from Mr. Winterbotham, and which
Mr. Wlnterbotham had taken from we presume) Mr. Gob;
Griffith, Mr. Newdegate, or Sir George Jenkiz son He ap-
pealed to the disorders of France no a proof that Monarchy
is, In Europe at least, the only specific against revolution.
Did Mr. Gladstone ever hear of Switzerland ? Disregarding
his curious geographical limitation, we may remind him that
the chief snore, of political disturbance in the United Stites
, In the imitation and parody of our Moearchic el system
which the Presidential form of government offers, and which
I the S wies Conatltut ion whelp avoids. But apart from them
anperlicial ,indications, which betray the very cause that
they assume to defend, the question as to the um of
Monarchy shows that, for those who make the is quiry, one
chief use of Monarchy has departed. Its use lies in its apreal
to reverence and to affection, and to historic traditions
and associations. Loyalty Is a sentiment, and when seep-
tism begins, sentimept ends. The Englieh Monarchy,
moreover, 13 a symbol as well al a sentiment; and a
symbol to Ire of any nee must be seen. It is an affair of
the eyes arid ears, and not of dry reason and reflection.
C •estleuti mill Monarchy, as the means of providing a chief
executive efficer of State, it not perhaps superior to some
other methods of s-lectlon The Sovereign's main
duties are to he the central figure !nearest national pageant,
to be the emblem of the splendour aael greatness of the
country, and of the common lite of Its various classes and suc-
coulee generations. This office ham, of late years, for reasons
which every one deplores, and which Lord Oranmore had
the courage candidly to state, been but imperfectly dis-
charged In the withdrawal of the symbol, the thing ono-
bolieed has been forgotten. The object of the sentiment
being removed from the eyes of men, the feeling Itself
has Waned. An absent Sovereign Is not really sovereign
In men's thoughts. The movement of events on the
Continent has given a powerful impulse to Republican
sentiments In the minds of many. To all who depre- '
eats and distrust needless end diequiethig changes
in venerable forms of government which practically
secure the essential ends of society, this state of feeling
among our own working classes must be a subject of regret
and alarm. It alone gives Importance to the agitation against
the dowry of the Princess Louise. The mischief Ilea in chilled
and alienated sentiment, and It can only be averted by a
revival of that hearty personal loyalty which recluses on the
throne must fall to kindle or to keep alive.