The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-01-17 00:00:00

Cur pnban Corttspoulent.

(We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
flentify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.)

The bishopric of London, so suddenly vacated by
the lamented death of Dr. Jackson, is without doubt
the most important of all the sees in the gift of the
Crown next to the primary diocese of Canterbury.
Of equal value in income with the Archbishopric of
York, it is of much more influence in the counsels of
the Church. It includes an area comparatively small,
namely, the county of Middlesex and that part of
London which lies north of the Thames, leaving the
populated south side in the diocese of Rochestere
The main characteristic of the see of London is that
its population is constantly increasing; streets and
squares are every year taking the place of green
fields and market gardens. The result is that
the various religious bodies endeavour to
keep pace with the ever - augmenting number
of inhabitants, and in this religious competition
the Church of England is not behind her rivals. New
places of worship arise in these new towns, spires and
steeples amongst the number testifying to the activity
of the Established Church as well as to the zeal of
other denominations. For these new clergy have to
be selected; schools are built, and all the district work
so familiar to those who are acquainted with the
routine of this class of organisation is gradually set in
motion. There is thus no diocese in the kingdom
which approaches London in its perennial growth and
development, nor any which exacts from its spiritual
overseer such continuous and unremitting attention.
The centripetal force of the mighty capital is always
obvious; it attracts towards it so much of the popu-
lation of the surroundicie country.
London as one of the five primary sees, as they are
so described, is generally filled by the translation of
one of the bishops already on the episcopal bench;
man who has won this promotion by administrative
energy and moderation pf episcopal rule in a country
diocese. This was the case on the last occasioa,
when Dr. Jackson was moved up from the see of
Lincoln, over which he had presided sixteen yinrs.
But:this practice is not an invariable one, for when
Dr. Blomfield resigned the bishopric of London in
1856, Lord Palmerston, who was then Prime Minister,
did not select either of the prelates then constituting
the spiritual hierarchy; but appointed Dr. Tait, Dean
of Carlisle, straightway to the metropolitan see.
There can be no doubt that the administration
of a diOcese with such a vast population
req„uires a man in the prime of life,
and Dr. Tait at the period of his selection was 45
years of age. It is not many bishops who are so
young as this. The present Bishop of Colchester,
for instance, is 82; the Bishop of Winchester is 73;
the Bishop of Salisbury is 80; and the Bishop of
Manchester, one of the ablest and most hardworking
prelates on the episcopal bench, is 66. This, it will
be seen, is more than twenty 7 years older than Dr.
Tait at the:time of his appointment.
There has been' considerable speculation over the
speech of Mr. W. H. Gladstone at the Hawarden
rent audit respecting the desire of his father for
rest, after a physical life of three-quarters of a
century and a public life extending over fifty-three
years. No doubt the cares of State tell more
heavily upon the Premier than was the case
even two or three years ago, and it is natural
enough that he should, in his own family
circle speak more freely upon such a subject than is
possible elsewhere. At the same time it is not
generally believed that unless Mr. Gladstone's health
fails rapidly he will retire from the arduous duties of
his high office within the lifetime of the present Par-
liament. His name is indissolubly associated with
the great question of Parliamentary Reform, one
part of which only is yet through the legislature.
Mr. Gladstone is not expected again to fight a con-
tested election in Midlothian, the labour of which at
his time of life would be very much more now than
it was in 380. Mr. W. H. Gladstone hinted at the
possibility of his father's ultimate retirement. from
the political arena altogether. Should this happen, a
more extraordinary termination of a stateman's career
would seldom have been witnessed.

The celebration of the coming of age of Prince
Albert Victor was carried out with due loyalty, not
only at Sandringham, but at Balmoral, Osborne,
Windsor, in London, and various places in the
kingdom. The congratulations to the Prince and
Princess of Wales were not effusive, but they were
hearty and sincere; for their Royal Highnesses dis-
charge their duties, varied as these are, in a manner
which elicits the sympathetic support of all the
classes whose interests in numerous ways they never
spare themselves to promote. It is a remarkable fact
that this is the first time in English history that the
grandson of the reigning Sovereign has attained his
majority in the lifetime of that Sovereign and of his
father, the Heir-Apparent to the Throne. Six centuries
have passed away since the creation of the title of
Prince of Wales by Edward I. In that time Norman
and Saxon, the Houses of Plantaganet and Tudo
Lancaster and York, Stuart and Brunswick, have
successively held sway in this country'. Civil wars—
first of the Roses and then between the King and the
Parliament—have diversified the peaceful history of
our realm, so far as affects the internal administra-
tion; yet in all that long time —a long time even in
the annals of a State such as our own, which owns a
flag that has waved a thousand years, not until the
present day has the monarch seen the direct Heir to
the Throne himself with a heir who has reached the
age of Prince Albert Victor.

A curious addition has been made to the novelties
of London, in the shape of a Japanese village within
a very short distance of Hyde-park Corner. The
exquisite nature of Japanese workmanship has long
been familiar to all who have studied the beautiful
in art and the excellent in material; but in this
village, which was opened on Saturday at Humphrey's
Hall, Knightsbr;dge, the native tradesmen may be
seen at their work, -,ad the music of primitive instru-
ments may be heard in the native temples. The
characteristics of 'an ingenious and busy people have
been so well pourtrayed that the spectator can easily
imagine himself actually gazing upon a little slice of
that populous cmintry, which is becoming of more
and more interest to Europeans. The Chinese Court
in the Health Exhibition will be well remembered,
as also will Old London ; and here, in the fashionable
end of London, is quite as good a representation of
Japanese life of th. present day, affording instruction
as to the manners ~nd habits of an enormous section
of the human race, of which so little has hitherto
been known.

The narrow escape from a serious disaster to two
ironclads of the Cl Inel Squadron, which was an
incident of Saturday , gale in Plymouth Sound, again
illustrates the extraordinary change which modern
science has wrought in our present system of naval
architecture as compared with that by which our
fame as a maritime Power was won. In Nelson's
time such was the reputation of English navigation,

that when an encounter took place between the fleets
of England and France, the seamen of our nearest
neighbour always aimed at the rigging, while our own
sailors as invariably fired at the hull. The object of
the French was of course to impair, if not to destroy,
that skill in navigation which had been the means of
winning so many of those great fights upon the seas
that were the means of establishing our naval supre.
raley. Now our ships of war, even with the help of
steam, are, to put the matter mildly, far less manage-
able, and it so happens that the Agincourt has been
in trouble before, having run on the Pearl Rock, off
Gibraltar, nearly fourteen years ago, when, however,
as now, she was not much damaged.
The Royal Courts of Justice are again at work, the
Hilary sittings having been brought to a conclusion
on Saturday. In days like the present, when mem-
bers of the House of Commons are exempted from
service on committees on attaining the age of 60, if
they care to claim that nrivilege on the ground of
advancing years, it seems marvellous that' a judge can
retain his seat on the judicial bench when be is 86
years old. Yet this is the case with Vice-Chancellor
Bacon, who shows no falling-off in the capacity with
which he is enabled to deal with the matters which
come before him. The vitality of the legal profession
has, however, almost- passed into a proverb so far as
the longevity of its prominent members is concerned.
Lords Lyndhurst, St. Leonards, Brougham, Camp-
bell, Stowell, Eldon, and Denman were all aged men
when they died; and. when it is remembered that the
life of a Queen's Counsel in large practice, which has
to he undergone before the toil of the Bench is faced,
is to many men wearing and exhauiting, the wonder
U increased that a judge can be found to perform his
duties at a time of life exceeding by a quarter of a
century that at which members of the House of
Commons are released firom much of their heaviest
work.

The small-pox epidemic in London has happily
o:ated as compared with what it was; but the dis-
closures respecting the Convalescent Camp at Darenth
bv,ve undoubtedly created a painful impression. Tho
;allegations of mismanagement were made, denied, and
reasserted, and it is clear that the matter must bo
made one of further investigation. The Metropolitan
Asylums Board has a highly responsible duty in pro-
viding for patients suffering from one of the greatest
szourges ever sent upon the earth; but it must be
rinembered that on the other hand the ratepayers o/
London have provided ample means for properly doine
the work entrusted to that body.