The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-08-21 00:00:00

eur foahn Carrtspinthtut.

two deem it right to state that we do not at all times
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]
Nowhere is the truth that 'London is out of town"
realised in a greater deseree than in Westminieter
Hall. Go down there on any day now, and the echoes of
your solitary footfall will be heard in every part of the
historic building. The roof which rang with acclama-
tions at the acquittal of the even bishops imprisoned
--by-James 11. now looks down upon a deserted area—a
very wilderness of stone. It is a remarkable contrast
to the days when, early in the Parliamentary session,
members of both Houses hurry to and-fro to their re-
spective chambers; and scores of learned counsel, cos
turned in wig and gown, pass in and out of the law
courts, which are ranged on the northern side of the
structure. Parliamentary agents, promoters of
private Bills, attorneys, barristers, clerks, plaintiffs
and defendants, there jostle each other in the animated
crowd upon the floor. But now that Parliament, for
legislative purposes, is no longer in existence, and that
the courts of law are closed for the Long Vacation, no
one has occasion to go to Westminster Hall, and the
picture of quietude which it presents is thorough and
complete. Within the recesses of the two Houses there
are signs on every band that both senators and repre-
sentatives of the people are no longer discharging their
highest functions. The ever-burning flame which in the
session lights up the entrance to the House of Lords
has disappeared; and not only the Throne but the
crimson leather benches have been carefully covered
up. The corridors of the Commons no longer resound
with the triumphant shout of the Ministerialists or the
ringing cheer of the Opposition. The lobbies through
which members have so often filed in divisions upon
which has depended the fate of an administration, are
now empty. The Speaker's chair is untenanted; the
galleries are unoccupied; and there is no imposing
array of ministers upon the Treasury Bench. No
throng of members gathers at the bar; no scenes of
excitement are witnessed upon the floor. Solitude
reigns in the vacant chamber, and will continue to
exercise its influence over the place all through the
gradually darkening months of autumn, past the
merry time of Christmas, and up into February, when
the people will all be curious to know what kind of a
legislative programme her Majesty's ministers intend
to lay before the country.
When the Collets of Law reassemble in November,
It will be under circumstances differing widely from
any which have existed in our history. The dis-
tinction between common laen and equity has been
swept away, and the sttperior tribunals of the king-
dom, so far as their titles are concerned, have ceased
to be. The Queen's Bench, the Common Pleas, and
the Excheaper have disappeared like the phantoms of
the night. Round about these, and more particularly
the first-mentioned, the shadows of a thousand years
have clustered. The court obtained its name from
the King sometimes sitting in it on a high bench, and
the judges, to whom the judicature belonged in his
absence, on a low bench' at his feet. Alfred the Great
was accustomed to preside there just ten centuries ago.
Amongst its chief justices have been Sir Edward
Coke, Sir Matthew Hale, the Earl of Mansfield,
Lords Kenyon, Ellenborough, Tenterden, Denman,
and Campbell. The notorious Scroggs and Jeffreys
also occupied the principal positions in this famous
tribunal. The Court of Common Pleas in ancient times
followed the king's person; but on the confirmation of
Magna Charta by King John, in 1215, it was fixed at
Westminster. The Court of Exchequer was instituted
by William the Conqueror, on the model of the Trans-
marine Exchequer of Normandy. The Court was so
named from a chequered cloth which anciently covered
the table where the judges and chief officers
sat. Here were at first tried all causes
relating t 3 the revenue, such as concerned
accounts, disbursements, customs, and fines im-
posed; but in process of time it became enlarged in
its jurisdiction, until at length it was not merely a
revenue court, and one at common law between sub-
ject and subject, but one in which suits at equity
were also instituted. Like the others, however, it
now ceases to have a separate existence. The High Court
of austice will hereafter sit in divisions, each with a
President; and litigants who are not satisfied with
the judgments delivered there, will be free to carry
their grievances to the High Court of Appeal.
I have spoken of the emptiness of London, but this
is a phrase which should not be misunderstood. Even
if Parliament is dispersed, and the Law Courts are
closed, and although the wonted autumnal quietude
pervades the West-end squares, what may be termed
the business life of the place witnesses no diminution
of energy. The fleet of shipping in the docks, the
countless hosts of passengers by rail, the busy crowds
in the streets, all present the old familiar aspect.
Watch the weekly returns of the Registrar-General
during those times in August and September when
the metropolitan dailies are constantly assuring you
that there is no one left in town, and see if you
can detect any falling off in the number of
births and deaths. On an average, in these
three millions and a half of people, an infant
is born every five minutes, and 192 persons die between
the rising of the sun one morning and the dawn of the
. next. The registrars seldom record less than 2,000
births in a week, while the deaths are between 1,300
and 1,400. In the face of such facts as these, what a
succession of changes must be constantly going on!
What a kaleidoscope the place would present to one
nassing over it at midnight, possessed of supernatural
vision !
"Not a single brick, a stone, or stick, on those wide acres
thrown,
But bears tongue within it—hath a language of Its own;
Su .;11 heiglits•of human grandeur—such depths of human
need,
Form a great book spread beneath you: open it who will,
and read."
"In steeples upward springing, read prayer struck into
stone;
Tia prisons barred and bastioned, read crime, and curse,
and groan;
In lighted west-end houses, read health, and warmth, and
show;
In fcul St. Giles's hovels, read squalor, want, and woe !"
The condition of the Money Market is a subject
which more or less affects the interests of every class in
the community, and it has of late attracted more than
ordinary attention. Nine years ago this month—im-
mediately after the commercial panic of 1866—the
Bank-rate was ten per cent. ;it now stands at two.
People with money to invest scarcely know what to do
with it, in the face of this low rate of interest. It is
worse than the "sweet simplicity of the three per
cents," to use a famous phrase of Mr. Pitt. The public
funding system may be said to have originated in
Venice about the year 1173, and was introduced into
Florence in 1340. It was not, however, until 1690
that it was adopted in this country. In 1734 an Act
to prevent stock jobbing was passed, but this was sub-
sequently repealed. The Stock Exchange, as many of
your readers are aware, is in Capel Court, so named
from its having been the residence of tlae.Lord Mayor,
Sir William Capel, in the later years of the reign of
Henry the Seventh. Consols (i.e. consolidated
annuities paying 3 per cent, per annum) were as low
as 58 at certain periods of the great war with France,
but of late years they have seldom been below 90, and
at the present time vary between 94 and 95. The
Bank rate is now at the lowest point which it has ever
touched.
Those who take an interest in such !matters must
have noticed for some time past the steady increase in
the price of ladies' seal-skin jackets. A look in at
some of the shops in Regent-street would disclose to
the observant eye figures which many might be inclined
to regard as little less than fabulous. Nor is there any
immediate prospect of these nice-looking garments
being cheaper just yet. The Greenland seal fishery
this year has been a failure; nor can any improvement
be expected until the new arrangement for a close
time has been carried out, and has had some years in
which to operate. The improvident and cruel
slaughter of young seals was at length of such a
wholesale character that it became a question of inter-
national concern, and a convention was arrived at
between the representatives of several European
countries for the protection of the seal tribe, which
seemed in imminent danger of being exterminated. The
nations have applied to the seals the principles which
governed our legislation in 1861 with respect to the
preservation of salmon; and, now that nearly half a
generation has elapsed since that coarse was adopted,
the country is reaping the benefit of it.
Within the last three years two attempts have
been made to swim across the English Channel, by
Mr. Johnson and Captain Webb respectively ; but
thus far, the task has been too difficult for any
human being to accomplish. It would have been an
extraordinary teat of physical endurance to safely ac-
complish the distance between Dover and Calais, even
if the 21 miles could be taken in a straight line. But the
opposing tides and currents, running as do the latter
in all kinds of contrary directions, and causing that
nasty chopping sea which is the terror of Channel pas-
sengers, would make the journey one of at least forty
miles. How is it possible for a man to remain in the
water sufficiently long to do that? Of course we all
know the story of the Hellespont, and how its rushing
waters were not allowed to interpose an obstacle
between the loves of Hero of Sestos, and Leander of
Abydos. Leander was accustomed to swim across, but
he did this once too often; for on one tempestuous
night he was drowned, and the lady in despair threw
herself into the sea, and shared his fate. But there is
all the difference between the Strait of the Darda-
nelles and the Straits of Dcreer. The latter is about
the most mischievous little piece of water in the world.
It is dreaded even by travellers who have faced with
composure the spirits of the Atlantic, not because of
the dangers of the navigation, but through the cross,
heavy seas which result in sickness and prostration.
Yet it is very shallow, its depth being only 180 feet
where the greatest body of water lies. So that, were