The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1866-11-03 00:00:00

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re Reform meetings, the cry is still they come, and
.
more will ere Leg be added to the numerous meet.
ings which have already been held. Wherever the
members of the Conservative Ministry may be-011
the Continent, in their country homes, by the sea-sole, :
or in ever so retired and quiet a spot—the reverberations
of these Reform meetings, as it were, must reach them. •
The voice of the country is aroused, some persona I
hastily say ; the people are determined to haveßeform,
say others. Well, not exactly that, but a large pro-
_ portion of the people certainly are aroused, and deter-
mined to have a Reform Bill. And I believe that the
present Ministry are anxious to meet this want. Mr.
Disraeli long ago said, and he has subsequently re-
.
peated the same statement substantially, that he was
not satisfied with the state of things as left or made by
the Reform Bill of 1832, and the Bill wh-ch he intro.
tuced in 1859 is evidence that he is not only not satis.
fed with our representative system as it stands, but
that he is willing to alter it. The rumour runs that
he is engaged on a Reform Bill, and it has been even
• definitely asserted that its provisions are household.
suffrage and a 20/. vote for the counties I take leave
• to doubt,this. lean readily believe—l can guess—that
, the Chancellor of the Exchequer contemplates a Re-
form Bill, but that any political quidnunc can know.
ingly assert that he is engaged on one, the Provisions
• of which the said q u idnunc aleo knows is mom than I
" can take in. Nor do I think that this rumouz is even
a good guess. To believe he would agree t or propose
a 20/. county franchise is easy enough, but tp accuse
him, as I may say, of proposing household suffrage is
something like a joke. The bishops uniting to bring
in a Bill for the abolition of Church rates would not be
: more startling. Other rumours are also cropping up,
and they will probably be plentiful as blackberries as
the Session sipproacher.
I hear another rumour—that another member of the
~ Melinketry is engaged on another Bill. Mr. Hardy it
is said contemplates coneiderable alterations in the
Poor Law, and certainly there is plenty of room for
them. The President of the Poor Law Boardlhee for
some time been employed in collecting fact/e:rearing
upon his department, and added to the work of his
official subordinates. The special corresponcrents of
several of the London papers have indirectly added hi.,
researches. There is some reason to believe that any
bill which Mr. Hardy may introduce will provide for
the better treatment of the poor in workhouse
infirmaries, for the better manag,teent of • casual
j wards, and for the administration of out door relief on
soine improved plan. The latter is perhaps the most
important want of the present Poor Law. Tikere is
also a rumour that the Poor Law Board, befott the
meeting of Parliament, intends to issue an order to
hrorease the salaries of workhouse chaplains and to
give each of them a seat at the Board of Guardians.
That the Poor Law and it administration will occupy
much of the atteetion of Parliament next Session ,
there can be little doubt. Whatever else may be dime or
not done, it is to be hoped that come approach 4 least '
to en equalisation of poor-rates will be made. The ,
anomalies in London are as stupid as they are inju-
rions, and go where you may you hear of ridigulous
inequality. My idea is that the poor of the cohntry
should be supported by the country, irrespective of
county, settlement, parish, or any boundary whatever;
but that is flat heresy, I am aware, and involves large
questions on which I cannot enter.•
4
Tlie most contradictory accounts continue to arrive
respecting the health of the Emperor of the French,
but the probability is that the unfavourable accounts
are somewhat exaggerated. Added to these reports
• are wane ominous but doubtful rumours shook the
alleged, designs of the Emperor on Belgium, but having
' read some of the comments on these rumours, I have
come to the conclusion that the foundation is unstable,
and that therefore the enverstructure is unstable also.
Far from having any designs on Belgium, the Emperor
appears to be devoting himself to the resources of his
own country, and is apparently desirous of being at
- peace with all the world. At present, at tenet, the
Ministerial and financial affairs of France are quite
, enough to occupy his attentioo. But what if one parti-
cular country will not allow France to be at peace? There
are some who entertain the conviction that Prussia
will not rest content with the mesent arrangements,
and that ere long her pride and ambition will lead her
into war with her neighbour. May such sinister fears
be proved groundless.
• The history of inventors would contain many sad
episodes. The Marquis of Worcester, when he wrote
his" Century of Inventions," had much that was
,—suddening and sorrowful to tell; bat a full history of
the inventors rather than the inventions would be a
record of disappointments as well as triumphs, of futile
td :hopes and broken promises, of honour withheld where
honour was due, of some sowing and others rehiring.
, -The tale of poor Mr. Snider has now to be added to
the long list of ill-requited inventors. I shall not at-
tempt to tell the narrative, which is well told else-
' where, but Fcannot refrain from adding my few words
'• of regretthet a man who has produced such a valuable
improvement in our fire-arms should have been so
snubbed and il-treated while he was endeavouring to
got the Government to give that improvement a fair
trial. A king titne'wes Spent in harassing eels to'
obtain the slightest acknowledgment of his invention,
he had harassing intervielrs with fussy and tape.
bound officials; and when at last he had succeeded in
getting a Government department to say that his plan
...of converting Enfields to Snider brrech-loaders Was
. sound, practicable, and economical, then followed a
haggling over the terms of his remuneratiom as though
he were a workman disputing about over-time with a ,
hard foreman, instead of Mr. Snider being treated as
,as inventor that had done hie country: g,ood service.
A:emoted by official impedimenta, chafing under the
ingratitude of • Glvernment departtnint whom he
had really served, harassed by debt, and weight('
down by illness, poor Mr. Snider at but has died ;
and now, lei official scribes say what they will, the
public believe, and will continue to believe, that 141 r.
snider has been hurried to his grave by unjust treat-
ment, and already it is being asked, what can be done
to Show our respect for his memory?
The Guild of Literature and Art had been almost
',forgotten, but it has been brought before us by name;
I was about to say that its ghost had appeared to us
din the shape of a drama which has been produced it
the Olympic Theatre. Some of your readers may
remember reading of, if they did not see the drama 40
.' The Frozen Deep," from the pen of Mrs. Wilkie
Collins, as performed some time ago for the benefit
of this unhappy Guild of Literature and Art. Mr.
Charles Dickens, Mr. Mark Lemon, Mr. Shirt*
,Brooks, Mr. Augustus Egg, the artist, and others
played in it, and admirably they played too, but all
,their efforts, as authors or actors, were useless. The
-'--Guild of Literature and Art has never suiceeded, rand
I suppose never will. The almshouse element in it is
too strong.

Lord Leigh, who is Grand Master of the Warwick-
shire Freemasons, has stated that it is probable that
one, if not two members of the Royal Family will
shortly become Masons. As lam not a mason, and
am therefore, I suppose, utterly incompetent to treat
. „the subject ever so briefly, it will be perhaps considered
insufferably impertinent of me to ask what is the use
of the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred (for these
are most probably alluded to), becoming freemasons?
Do they expect ever to be in distress, and so need the
friendly aid of ppm brother mason? And what gooci
example will they set? Surely they will not thuif
benefit society? but, if they do no good, they will at
least not do any harm by taking this step. I confessi
I icould never discover the good of freekinnonry thlnigh;
'1 could never find any harm. Freemasons will of,
coune say—that is because you are an. outsider;
become a freemason, and yisi will find the good of it.
This has always seemed to me very unfair; it is
snegestive of "buying a pig in a poke."
' The Pall Mall Gazette is very bald imonthe Bow-
street police reporters for keeping out of the papers
the report of certain fraudulent grocers who have been
fined for selling adulterated coffee. In this particular
case I think your refined contemporary is wrong in
• accusing these reporters of taking a bnbe to suppress
the report, though I know that thin.is sometimes done.
But be this as it may, it is matter of rejoicing that
the Pall Matt has helped to give notoriety to the fact
tthat several grocers have been fined 25/. each for adul-
teration. osi sic omits. Adulteration its carried on
to a fearful extent, and there in very little check upon:
it. A number of pensone being fined each in this sum
Will be a capital warning to others in the same trade. i
*,,have sometimes thought that that much-devised,
and perhaps properly-despieed clans, the common in.
formers, would be very useful in this respect. They
'Told act as a species of moral or commercial scaven-
ger, and would not only benefit the community
generally, but the honest tradesman in particular.
What are we to think of "Dr. Mary Walker"
dressing herself in men's clothes and visiting Middle.
41ex Ho-pital, and what of those who officially
conducted her over the institution? What can we
think of it but that the healing art is thin burlesqued,
,and the practitioners lowered and ridiculed in the eyes
of toe ptolic?

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Illisttilantous
ROME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

THE HEALTH OF THE EMPRESS OF MEXICO.—
..A
person who has returned from Miramar BelLllB to the
independance the subjoined details respecting the
Empress :

l'he Improvement Is remarkable, so much no that on Siindav
the august patient was able to hear ma's in the chapel 01
the chdeao. (ler physician has succeeded in nearly
altogether dint/wing tee predominant monomania, which
was the fear of poison. News comparatively go id brought
from Mexico to Trieste by a merchant vessel, was helped to
calm the mind of the Empress. She eats and drinks re-
gularly, reads, doe, some embroidery, and even receives
visits. Recently she has,refused to take anything lid milk
food, which I. first tastedby a person in whom she has con-
fidence. The New Testament and some books of travels are
her favourite reading. The physicians have forhiddon the
perusal of journals, and also of religious works likely to
excite the mind. Every one, both at Miramar and Vienna,
now feels confidence.

SERVANTS' WAGES AT CANTERBURY. The
wages for married couples engaged at the barracks
averaged 70/. ; for single men, from 35/, to 60/. ; and
for single women, from 15/. to 35/., the former rate
being for a nurse girl. One superior cook was engaged
on board the vessel at Lyttleton for 52/. The single
women who went to the barracks were all engaged
within three days after arrival.
SeSPICIOUS OCCURRENCE IN DRESDEN.—A dvices
from Dresden state that the puteic of that city is
attach occupied with an affair which calls to mind that
of Doctor do la Pommeraye in Paris. An advocate
named Muller has been arrested there accused of a crime
analogous to that which conducted the French doctor
to the scaffold. In the month of June last M. Muller
lost his young wife (she was cnly twenty•eix). and the
journals were filled with accounts of the grief of the
unhappy husband. But it appears that lie soon con-
soled Minself. having had the idea of insuring her life.
when in excellent health, for 68,0000. The directors of
the assurance company were not however touched with
the grid of M. Muller, hut demanded the exhumation
and autopsy of the body. The chemist Senneschein,
charged with the examination, has discovered the pre-
sence of a vegetable piiison, but the name of which he
has not yet stated. That result has appeared sufficient
to the authorities to warrant M. Muller's arrest.
HEAD CENTKE STSPIIESS.—A St. Louis tele•
gram of the 17thinst. says:—
. ileadie.ntre Stephens arrived in this city last evening.
ano mustiest cordially recelecd by a delegation of the Fenian
hrottierhiled, who iscorted t, the R.u.hern Hotel, where
ho te..de • warhisc apse,tm loss inimcn-e crowd of Fenian.
•itephens declared that she battle for Irish indepeudenco would
coma ease hears the close of the present year. New Year's
day would find the Irish people fighting on Irish soil for too
Independence and liberty of their country. The Head Centre
was enthusiastically cheered during the delivery of his
General Sweeny has issued a card, in which he wishes
it un..erstood that he has resigned the position of Secre-
tary of War, and declined the offer of the command in
chief of the army in Ireland. Being, therefore, no
longer connected with that organisation, he dues not
in end to take any part at present in the proceedings
of the Fenian Brotherhuid.

STRIKE OF FRENCH MINERS.—The miners in
the collieries at Denain, near Valeocienoes, have
struck for higher wages, they are in the employment
of the company of the "Mines d'Auzin," and the
prefect has sent the garrison of Valenciennes to keep
order, and apparently also to send the men hack to
work. De has gone himself to the spot and published
a proclamation, acknowledging the right of the work-
men to Strike, but also saying that the strike is due to
some individuals, several of whom have been arrested,
and the others will be got at by his paternal care, lie
tells the miners to go back to their work, and then to
• choose delegates to treat with their masters. The
• IMerty to strike, which has been go largely used in
• Paris in the last year, is therefore limited in the case
of the colliers to the mere right to hold a palaver by
deputy. There does not seem to have been any breach
of the peace.

SCENE IN A THEATRE AT ROME.— An eques-
,trian company was recently giving a performance in
-the mausoleum of Augustus at Rome, which has been
converted into a theatre, when the actors had the idea
.of organisirg a sort of procession including a sym-
obolical car decorated with various classic attributes,
and in which was majestically seated a woman, her
'shoulders covered with a long blue mantle, and her
head encircled with a crenelated crown. The spec-
tators naturally supposed that the figure represented
Italy or Venice, and broke out into cries of "Viva
Italia!" "Viva Venezia!" The procession, in fact,
had an immense success. Unfortunately, the Roman
police did not share in the general enthusiasm. The
theatre was immediately ordered to be closed and the
company to leave Rome within three days.

AN AMUSING MISTAKE.—The Duke of Edin-
burgh told the Glasgow people the other day that their
town was the " birthplai a" of Watt. It is now ex-
plained, on authority, that the blunder was not a
Royal one. The Duke composed the Pprech himself,
and in the draft which he handed over to his secretary
to be copied, he wrote that Gla=gow was the "cradle"
of Watt. The secretary, thinking "cradle" wea not
the proper word, subetitnted "birthplace ;" and all
unconsciously, his Royal Highness adopted that word
in reading his speech before the Glasgow assembly.
Tex CHOLERA IN HUNGARY.—The convoca-
tion of the Hungarian Diet has been postponed in
consequence of the cholera which continues its ravages
in the kingdom. The Vienna Gazette, in reply to cer-
tain sharp observations on the subject, gives the follow.
ing return taken from official sources :

The last report on the state of the epidemic mentions only
three comltats, and two towns, in which it Is diminishing,
without, however, disappearing ; whilst eleven comitats,
two lesser districts, and eighteen towns which hPherto had
Feen spared, are riGie suffering from the terrible scourge. The
number of can of cholera, which on the 1058 of the month
amounted in the whole country to 4,167, had increased on
the 17th to 6 819. and that progress I. the more afflicting
that the number of general deaths tar exceeds that propor-
tion, as In the earns period of time they rose fr mi 3,211 to
8,6 9 During the epidemic 45,1345 persons have been at-
tacked, of whom 21,556 have died. These figures give
terrible proofs of the severity with which the visitattui
prevails. The report doer, indeed, show a slight decrease in
the towns of Petit and Buda, where the number of cases
fell from 121 to 111.

ANECDOTES OF THE VOLUNTEERS IN BRUSSELS.
—Among the eccentric things which messieurs the
riflemen did at Brussels, we are told that two of them
went to the Hotel de Ville, and made a very pressing
demand to be shown to the top of the tower of that
building, as if it had been the last favour their last
breaths would ask. It was not quite so necessary as
all this, and they were mounted aloft, and here with
their guide they persisted in remaining for three hours,
till his patience was wearied out in showing Brussels
on every aide. At length, however, a messenger
arrived at the top. He had brought a telegraphic
despatch from London, addressed to the two riflemen
in the tower of the Hotel de Ville at BruiPels. These
gentlemen must have been very uncertain of the ad-
dress, and more certain in their knowledge of Brussels.
—However, another trait of eccentricity is going the
round of the press, and has a brighter anoect for the
credit of the Volunteers. A young rifleman was
accosted by a nice looking boy, a beggar all tattered
and torn for the usual petit say. The rifleman, in a
fit of kindheartedness to all Belgium for his magnifi
cent reception, took the boy with him into a clothier's,
had him clad from head to foot in a new suit, and
giving him five lonia for himself, and a letter to the
burgomaster to have an eye to him to get him em-
ployed, dismissed him. If this young Arab turns out
a good citizen he will be a glorious living medal struck
in honour of the Englishmen's visit in 1866.

Miss! No CHILDREN—An Edinburgh paper says
that some months ago a child was stolen from the arms
of a nurse at the Waverley-bridge, and although dill.
gent search was made all over the kingdom nothing
has yet been heard of the missing child. A week ago
two children suddenly disappeared from their homes
in the Cowgate, and it is supposed that they also have
been stolen, for what purpose cannot be imagined,
except, perhaps, that of begging in the interest@ of the
thief. As is natural, the parents are in a sad state at
the loss, and although every means within their re-
sources has been employed to trace the missing
children, nothing has yet been discovered of their
whereabouts or of the thief. The following is a des-
cription of the children and of the apparel worn by
them when missed :

let, Isabella While, 101 years, very stout of her age, fair
hair and complexion, blue eyes dressed in a light skirt,
yellow polka, and green tartan napkin. 2nd, lane White, 44
years, stout, very fair hair, dark flea and full face; deemed
In a gray tweed polka and skirt, Both were bareheaded
and barefooted any information Tegariling them will bo
thankfully received by their father, William White, 191, Cow.
gate.

A TRAVELLER'S TALE !—A traveller, who is
not as ambitious as the hero of a canoe voyage of a
thousand miles, in his recital recounting his experience
of Ariege, says that it is the dirtiest place he has seen
for a long time, and as a proof of the habit says he
entered an inn, famished with hunger, when he was
struck with wonder at the specimen it presented of
filth. The obsequious landlord and landlady, however,
would not let him retreat. "What would he have'"
" Oh. some Pttga" Standing by the fire to see fair play
his eUe icionw even went far enough to doubt the eggs.
"Are they fresh—quite fresh?" " Fresh, sir, to be
sure—look here," and the lady-cook took a long hair-
pin out of her chignon and thrust it through the eggs.
"Look here," said she, holding the pin under his nose,
"are they not fresh enough for you ?"

ANOTHER NEW MONTIILY.—The cotrespondent
of the New York Times writes
We have another new monthly which may not reach you,
being mostly intended for home circulation. Mk the A ldgate
Magazine, published to give away by a large clothing how..
It is fed of the sensation storle• which del.ght the millions.
You•bpen it mid' read This man, so tall, no graceful,
dreueo in one of Mid. and Co'e elegant black sults at Ns.,
was opproaching her. She trembled! it was he—it could
be no other! She recognized him by the glossy hat, bought
of Mills and Co I or?. 61., by the exonisite fit of Ms hand-
some boots, 14!, aol thit molt gentlemanly of overcoats,
mid only by Mills and Co., at 154 flee heart beat audibly;
her limb, bent beneath her: she was about to fall upon the
gteen award, when," dic &c. Each dory is written so.. to
in: lode a complete catalogue of goods and prices, which are
no impressed upon ton reader by the thrilling Incidents and
exquisite sentiments of the tale as never to be forgotten.
A Timm FOR ALL TIIINGS.—OUr townsman
(says the Winona Berpubliean) Mr. Train, has just had
• narrow escape from a frightful death. He started
' for Rue:llford in company with a Mr. Hanson, a met,
chant of that place. The two gentlemen were riding
in a buggy, drawn by one home. In the buggy there
was a keg of powder, weighing twenty five pounde,
together with other small packages of light goode. Mr.
Hanson wise smoking his pipe. The result wan that
in the course of the drive the powder exploded. The
horse, in addition to losing all the hair on hie tail, be-
came considerably demoralized, and ran at the top of
hie speed. The two men fell upon the whiffle-tree,
and Mr. Haneon, to clear himself from the wreck,
jito.piri over the wheel, falling into a mtidhole, in a
hnlf.etupetied condition. Mr. Train clone to the
pores, and woo carrird forward about a mile at a
Pre'ty rapid pee.. O. mooone to a stop he took an
inventory if the Conc.rn. cud found that the buggy
mu.oomph: ely shatrerrd— the hotrom &rid rent entirely
So,,s, and the reach end sores bent besrly didshie. so
'hat the 'nor wheels come almud together. Mr.
ham hinne•Whal been stripped of hi.. ~wer clothing,
shout one-third if the hair on hie heal, and all hie
whiskers burnt off, said hie eyebrows and lulus gone.