The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-12-10 00:00:00

OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

rWe deem it right to state that we do not at all times identify
ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The philosopher who puzzles himself as to the
limits of human ingenuity may be recommended
to apply his thoughts to the subject of Christmas
cards. A stroll through the principal shopping
thoroughfares of London just now will reveal
even to the most careless sightseer that in the
matter of these conventional compliments, inven-
tiveness seems to have no end. Year after year
goes by and fresh designs are given to us, some
pathetic, some humorous, some domestic, and all
redolent of "the compliments of the season."
As every Christmas comes round we are told by
the cynical and the lugubrious that the custom
of sending cards is dying out, that no one needs
such a cheap form of compliment, and that the
sooner we all drop it the better. But they forget
the most important factor in Christmas celebra-
tions, and that is that the children enjoy them
the most, and that a fresh supply of those
capable of such enjoyment springs around us
every year. The receipt of a Christmas card
through the post is ta thousands of little
ones a keen delight such as we elders
may envy. To us who every day receive
letters and bills and circulars and company
prospectuses, the visit of the postman is a matter
of the utmost unconcern. But through the child
who only receives one communication, perhaps, in
a year and that a card at Christmas-time, a
thrill of joy passes when this is delivered of which
it would be hard to deprive it. Fashions change
in all things, it is true, but as long as the
Christmas-card is so popular among children,
this particular one is likely not only to live but
to thrive.

Seeing that throughout England the munici-
pal elections are held on the Ist of November in
each year, visitors to London just now may
be puzzled by seeing in the City bills posted on
various hoardings, asking the citizens to "Vote
for Smith" or Jones, or Brown, as the case may
be, for common councilmen. They cannot, of
course, be expected to know that the Common
Council of the City of London is elected on St.
Thomas's Day, the 21st of December, the Cor-
poration being different in this, its in so many
ether respects, from the town councils in other
parts of the country. There is another dif-
ference which will strike the visitor as strange,
and that is that attached to the name of
the candidate is a description which at
the first glance is not easy to be understood.
"Vote for Brown, Citizen and Loriner," or
"Vote for Smith, Citizen and Wyre-Drawer," is
not a placard, the meaning of which is obvious
to those unacquainted with London; but it indi-
cates that Mr. Brown is a member of the
Loriners' Company and Mr. Smith of the Gold
and Silver Wyre Drawers' Company, and that
they appeal to their brethren in those institu-
tions to assist them in the election. It may be
taken for granted that no prominent citizen
within the area governed from Guildhall is out-
side one or other of the Guilds. The Lord
Mayor himself is elected not by the ratepayers
of the City but by "the Livery," which is com-
posed of the members of all the Guilds, and his
formal description when nominated is always
"Citizen and Fishmonger," "Citizen and Mer-
chant Taylor,"" Citizen and Spectacle Maker,"
or as the case may be. The Guilds are, in fact,
a curious survival from medimval life, which can
be studied at their best in the City of London.
Country visitors have been especially abundant
in London during the past few days, for this has
been "Cattle Show week," and whenever the
Agricultural Hall, Islington, is full of cattle of
various kinds, we can see as we pass through the
streets that a number of those who are more
accustomed to green pastures than to Piccadilly
are among us. There is not, of course, the
difference in appearance between the town
and the country-bred person that was once
the theme of satirists and the ready topic
of every one who could draw and cari-
cature. Even our comic journals have to largely
depend upon their imagination when they depict
country visitors as bucolic personages whom none
could mistake, and the jokes they evolve from
their inner consciousness concerning them fall
consequently very flat. But despite the fact that
there is no such marked difference in dress or
manner as was cnce the case, there is sufficient
to enable any observer to detect when the town
received an unusual number of visitors from the
country. London is as healthy as we can expect
such a vast and crowded City to be, but
no one could imagine that its denizens
should have the same ruddy flush upon their
countenances as. those who are always
living in the fresh air. Some scientist or other
has calculated that no fresh air ever does pene-
trate London as far as Fleet-street or the Strand;
and, although this may be an exaggeration, it is
certain that those who live in the centre of the
metropons have nothing to be surprised at when
we Present pale faces to our acquaintances from
afar.

Recent events across the English Channel have
wonderfully revived the interest felt here in
French politics. For some years these had ap-
peared to the average Englishman to be of such
small importance and to turn so much upon the
pettiness of personality, that they had lost their
charm for many who formerly used to watch
their progress with close attention. But the events
which led to the resignation of M. Gislyy and
culminated in the election of M. Carnot to the
Presidential chair, were of a sufficiently
striking character to ensure the interest of all
who care for the public affairs of Europe. History
will have to pass its judgment upon the whole
business, and it may well be that posterity will
look upon it with a somewhat different eye to
that of the present. But there is one aspect of
the entire crisis which is likely to be as much
praised by those of the future as by those. of
to-day, and that is the evidence of a growing
self-restraint on the part of the French people,
which has been especially marked in the case
of the inhabitants of Paris. In previous times of
far less tension, the Parisians have " descended
into the streets "with direful result; but though
during the recent trying period there were
mutterinas and whisperings, the fact that, from
the first blast of the storm to the election of
President Cannot, there was no serious disturb-
ance in Paris must be held by all impartial ob-
servers to be a remarkable testimony to the
greater self-restraint of the people of France.
Those among us who are well in their middle
age can remember the fever of excitement which
can through the world when gold was dis-
covered. first in California and then in
Australia. The "rush for the diggings" was a
mad, eager struggle in which the weakest
went to the wall, while the strongest had
often to succumb to circumstances ; and the
amount of misery and crime that followed upon
it was scarcely sufficiently compensated for by
the wealth it brought to some. The same
scenes are never likely to be witnessed in these
islands, but the fact that gold has been dis-
covered in Wales is a reminder to many of the
wild days of nearly forty years ago. The parish i
in which the find has been made s that of
Trawsfynydd, a name which, however unfamiliar
a few days since, is likely to be known well enough
soon if the discovery proves to be anything but
s flickering one. Gold, it is true, has been found
in Wales before, as it has been in Scotland, and
practically in every part of the world, for there is
no metal more widely distributed. But the ques-
tion always is whether it does not cost more
to raise in small quantities than even gold is
worth, and that is a point the solution of which
is necessary before we can decide whether Wales
is likely to. prove a profitable gold-field. Per-
haps, all things considered, it will be as well for
the community generally if the principality turns
out to be nothing of the kind.
Hyde-park-corner will soon be known no more,
or, at least, will cease to be known by the name
it has borne so long, as it is to have a new monu-
ment to the Duke of Wellington erected in the
midst of the open space there, and the whole will
henceforward be called " Wellington-place " It is
to be doubted whether the London public will
take kindly to the cbange. Hyde - park-
corner is known so well, and is so impossible to
misunderstand as a location, while Wellington
-
place is a name which might be applied to any
little court or square containing a dozen houses,
that it will be long before those who have to
move about the metropolis will reconcile them-
selves to the change. The new monument,
of course, is to be put up
.as in some
sort a substitute for the peculiarly hideous
equestrian statue of "The Iron Duke," which
stood so long on Decimus Burton's arch,
and which has been now relegated to
deserved obscurity at Aldershot. Whether
another memorial was needed to perpetuate the
remembrance of the Duke of Wellington among
us is decidedly open to question. Chantrey's
fine equestrian statue in front of the Royal Ex-
change and the tomb in St. Paul's should suffice,
as far as bronze and stone can suffice for such a
purpose. But the real monument of the great
duke is the work he accomplished, and no statue
is required to bring that work more home to the
hearts of the English people than its record in
history already has done.
As soon as the" Jubilee coinage" was given
to the English nation, a loud and sustained pro-
test was raised against the sixpence, which so
closely resembled the half - sovereign that