The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-11-12 00:00:00

OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

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

Fireworks and November naturally go together,
owing to the continued existence of the festival
of Guy Fawkes, but even those who have the
greatest love for historical celebrations must
wish that in our large towns, at least, "the
Fifth" ceased to be a red-letter day in the
calendar of our youths. Never a year passes
without some sad accidents being recorded as
having sprung from the premature explosion of
fireworks, and the fact that on the night of the
Fifth, as November succeeds to November, the
Metropolitan Fire Brigade is more than usually
on the alert, and not a single man is spared from
the ranks, throws a somewhat lurid light upon
the dangers which always surround us on that
date. The fact is that both bonfires and fire-
works are altogether out of place in crowded
cities, and no one who ventures abroad in the
suburbs of London on Guy Fawkes night is
likely to dispute it. For when little boys are
seen hurling squibs and crackers about, heed-
less where they fall provided they make
plenty of splutter and sparks, while those
of larger growth occupy themselves with sending
up rockets, the fiery stick attached to which falls
upon neighbouring roofs, it is with apprehension
he looks around lest the result should be an out-
break of flames in some dwelling hard by.
"Boys will be boys" is usually the answer when
objections of this kind are taken to any of their
amusements, but the community has a trouble
to prevent them from making mischief. And the
law which already provides that children under
thirteen shall not be supplied with fireworks
may fairly be extended.
From the consideration of fireworks to that
of firearms is no long stride, and it is note-
worthy that at the very time the desirability for
further restricting the sale of the former was
being urged in various oeesters, the highest
legal author Wes were recommending the impo-
;sion ofsgreater restrictions upon the sale of the
latter. During the assizes which have just been
held in different parts of the country, the judges
have had before thorn several cases of man-
slaughter arising out of the incautious or
passionate use of the revolver, and one at least
or them has spoken out upon the matter
with a directness which left nothing to be
desired. There can be no doubt that the
increased use of the revolver is becoming a
grave public danger, and the worst of it is that
many a lad appears to think it a really manly
thing to make himself the possessor of one of
these dangerous articles. Boys who ought to be
trusted with nothing more destructive than a
pop-gun scrape together a few shillings, and buy
an article which deals death around. It is not
long since a lady sitting quietly reading at her
parlour-window in a London suburb was fatally
wounded by a chance shot from a boy's revolver,
discharged at random in a neighbouring garden;
while there is a long list of wounded from the
same cause. There is a difficulty, which is prac-
tically insurmountable, in the way of prohibiting
the sale of these weapons, but there should be no
difficulty in regulating it. Public opinion is
rapidly ripening in the latter direction, and
Ministers might do a less popular and a far less
useful thing than dealing legislatively with the
matter next session.
What Ministers will deal legislatively wi'h
next session is already being seriously discussed
in Downing-street, for "the November
Cabinets" have begun. These usually corn-
menca, as they did this year, in the week imme-
diately preceding the customary Lord Mayor's
banquet at Guildhall, at which function the
Prime Minister is consequently enabled to
give, after consultation with his colleagues,
some indication of future policy. But .the
Cabinet, when it fairly settles down to work
in November, has more serious matters to
think about than satisfying the curiosity
even of such distinguished persons as those who,
on the ninth of each November, are the guests of
the new Lord Mayor. The programme of the
coming session has to be arranged, and that is no
light task. In a country like ours there are so
many things that have to be attended to by the
Legislature that they jostle on each other's heels,
and make it difficult for Ministers off-hand to say
which shall be taken first. And even when their
order is decided, it is no light task to draft the
measures which such a decision involves. Those ,
who know nothing of State-craft may be pardoned
for thinking that these matters are easily settled, '
but others who, from personal experience or
extensive raading, are aware of the multifarious
difficulties thrown in the path of Ministers,
recognise that all is not plain-sailing to politicians
even when they have arrived in the much-desired.'
haven of Downing-street.
It is amusing for on-lookers to note the efforts ;
made by those who supply the daily news- '
papers with information to give some idea
of what has been done at any given Cabinet
Council. They relate how Lord This or
Mr. That was the first to arrive on the scene,
whether they came together arm-in-arm or rode
separately in hansoms, and which of them left
the Council first; but, after all, this does not
tell much. There is no doubt that some well-
informed journalists are able to gather, after the
Cabinet has broken up, the general drift of the
proceedings; but the secrecy which attaches to
all its meetings is so deep that only the general
drift can ever be ascertained. When a Council j
is called, the summonses are written at the Prime
Minister's official residence, and are placed in a
despatch box, of which only Cabinet Ministers
possess a key. This box is taken to the
house of each in turn, the Minister takes
out the summons addressed to himself, and
again locks the receptacle, to be passed on to
the next. And when Ministers do meet, great
precautions are taken to ensure Becrec7, and, as
it is against the oath of any Privy Councillor to
reveal what has gone on in the Cabinet
Chamber, any circumstantial account of the
speeches therein delivered may be always set
down at once and infallibly as invented.
There is always a temptation when looking
at such a matter as what is known as " the
decorations scandal," which has lately been
convulsing France, to hug ourselves with the
Pharisaical belief that we are better than
others are, and that what has happened
across the Straits of Dover could by no
possibility occur among such an excellent
people as ourselves. To a very large degree this
is true, for Englishmen have no such insane
delight as displaying a piece of ribbon that
they would be prepared not merely to spend
their money but wade through the mire in the
endeavour to maintain it. It is a curious
problem in psychology why men should attach
so much value to a decoration which can be
easily or ignobly obtained. In the United States
peculiar distinction is supposed to lurk in a
handshake with the President, and Mr. Cleveland,
during his recent tour, had his arm nearly wrung
off by the tens of thousands of independent
sitizens who insisted upon clutching his hand.
So ludicrous did the whole business become
that professional wags discovered in it
the rudiments of a joke, and told extra-
ordinary stories touching the rarity of per-
sons who had not shaken the President
by the hand. A riband, after all, is a more
tangible distinction, and if such a sturdy race
as the American can appear to go mad after a
hand-shake, some allowance may be made to a
more volatile nation, like the French, for the
extreme desire for decorations, which has lately
developed into so great a scandal and caused so
wide a stir.
All those who are thinking of making the
United States their home ought to become
acquainted with the provisions of the law passed
by the Congress at Washington, within the
present year. dealing with the importation of
contract labour. By this enactment, heavy
penalties are attached to anyone who in-
troduces into the United States labour
which has been contracted for abroad,
and the captains of vessels which bring such
labour are as liable to punishment as
the contractors. The provisions are so ex-
treme, and the opportunities for evading them
are so obvious and manifold, that the law will
have a tendency to defeat its own object; and
already some of the more clear-sighted among
American citizens are perceiving how ridiculous
it is. One such has brought an action against an
English minister for accepting service with an
American congregation, thinking that thereby
he will force upon the consideration of his
countrymen a recognition of the absurdity of
attempting thus to protect native industry.
But, ridiculous or not, there is the law on the
statute book of the United States, and, as
long as it is there, it is at the peril
of those interested to disobey it. Ordi-
nary emigrants— that is those who cross
the Atlantic with no idea of how, when, and
where they will obtain work when they land on
the other shore--will not, as may be understood,
be t ou3hed by the enactment; but any who have
been sufficiently fortunate to secure American
work before they start will, if the circumstances
be discovered, be sent back again, and those who
engaged them will be fined. This is indeed a
curious state of things for a country to establish
which haa so long 'boasted of being a land of the
free; but there must he some consolation to
sober Americans in the fact that the law must