The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-06-07 00:00:00

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P

it* ironbon Corresponbet
seaassm it light to state that we no not at all times
iticittry ourselves eitn our Correspondent's opinions
Slowly, but surely, the Shah of Persia, or, as he calls
himself, the "King of kings," is travelling westward.
Re has expressed his high gratification at his reception
in Russia's ancient capltial, Moscow; he has been
sumptuously entertained by the Czar in Russia's
modern capital, t. Petersburg; helms since journeyed
on to Berlin, and been introducedlo scenes illustrating
the military glory of the German empire; and in a
short time after this letter appears in print the
Royal Standard will Hoot over Buckingham Palace, to
denote that the Shah has taken up his !!!iarters in tne
heart of the largest and busiest city in Europe.
Nothing is to be left undone which will do honour to
the distinguished guezt. If Is to be escorted by a
squadron of iron•clads across the Channel; he is to
witness a grand naval review at Spithead ; notice has
been given in the "louse of CUILLDOIII that an address
to the Crown is to be moved, ex ;weeding the willicg-
Ile. of the nation to defray the expel, e of his
rexptioni and bfauche.n.er has taken the lead amongst
the va,iiiives OfTmirPioVincial "industry in asking the
Shah ta visit that great centre of commercial activity.
The acceptance by his Majesty of the invitation of the
civic authorities to a baLquet at Guildhall has given
much Path faction in the city, and the Court of Common
Council has voted an address; of congratulation, which
is to be presented in a gold box of the value of a hun-
dred guineas. Whatever may be the faults of the
Corporation, lack of hospitality is certainly not one of
them, and on this occasion we may rely twain it that
no money will be apared to impress the mind of the
Shah with thee dignity and importance of the City
of London. When the Princess of Wales made
her entry into the metropolis ten }ears ago last
March, the temporary embellishments in the city
wet the authorities £iio,ooo. Although there
will now be no elaborate decorations, the enter-
tainment at Guildhall is likely to present such a
scene of Eastern splendour which will have had few
parallels in civic history. Meanwhile active steps are
being taken in other quarters to show his Majesty of
Persia the principal sights of London. The Prince of
Wales is the chairman of is committee for organising a
Itte at the International Exhibition and the Royal
Albert Hall ; there will also be a visit to the Crystal
Palace. What will he think of our wonderful under-
ground railway :arra lug its millions of passengers every
year far beneath the feet of the buoy multitudes in the
streets ; what !!f our long lines of docks ; of the vast
array of shipping always to be seen in the port of
London; of the ever shifting panorama to be seen on
the rapid tide of the Thames? What idea will be taken
home f this immense city, which was a wilderness and
a solitary place when former Kings of Persia--Cyrus
Darius, and Xerxes—meditated great schemes of con-
quest for the subjugation of the known world?
Nearly three years ago, when the German armies
were overrunning France, and the military power of
our nearest neighbours received such tremendous! and
=ext. ected shocks, it was generally assumed in this
country that the French nation would no longer play
such a prominent part in Continental affairs, and that
the political centre of Europe would be transferred
from Paris to Berlin. Events, however, have not
exactly realised these anticipations, and it is safe to
say that in a Ministerial crisis happening in no other
European country would the English people have
shown so much interest as in that which has lately
talon place in France. I was in the city on the Sunday
evening when the intelligence arrived describing how M.
Thiers had been overthrown, and Marshal MacMahon
appointed in his stead, and could not but be impressed
with the excitement which it created. Similar news from
either Berlin, Vienna, St. Petersburg, Rome, Madrid,
or indeed any other European capital, would have
commanded little if any attention. One reason of this
is, of course, our proximity to France, for this enables
large numbers of Englishmen and women annually to
maie the short journey across the Channel, and to
study for themselves French manners, customs, and
Institutions. But another cause of the interest which
we still feel in the affairs of our neighbours must be
found in the important position which France, not.
withstanding all her misfortunes, still occupies in
Europe. It is csrtainly unique, for although the French
people no longer affect that interference in theinternal
concerns of other Continental States, which was once
so characteristic of them, the words of the First Na
poleon are still to a great extent true—" When Irance
is satisfied, Europe is tranquil."

M. Ferdinand de Lesseps the projector of the Suez
Canal, has just launche i a scheme of considerable
magnitude for establishing railway communication be-
tween Europe and India. He contemplates the con
struction of a line 2,350 milea in length, a large part of
It to run thrcugh Central Asia. On the Russian si le
a connecting link of 1.500 miles is necessary between
Orenberg and Samarcand, while from the last-mentioned
place to Peshawar the Anglo-Indian system is to
stretch out an arm 850 miles in length. The entire
distance from Calais to Calcutta is about 7,500 miles,
so that with the missing fink suggested by M. Leesepe
he believes travellers would be able to go from London
to Calcutta in a week. There can be little question
that could such a line be made, it would lead ti a
great expansion of European commerce in the east, bet
a large part of the territory through which the new
railway mind pass is in the possession of native tribes
over which neither Great Britain nor Russia has any
nontroL It is, therefore, at present, difficult to see
how either country is to guarantee the construction of
a line upon foreign soil.
A stranger passing through Fleet-street and the
Strand about three o'cicek in the afternoon of the last
Wedneeday in May, would see at a glance that news
ef more than usual importance was expected. Outside
she offices of the sporting newspapers are groups
numbering ,hundreds of persons who, withcut the
slightest personal knowledge of the qualifications of the
horses which are to run in the Derby, have mostly
followed the advice of the sporting prophets, and
staked their money in those which are highest up in
the betting. How often are these anticipations unfulfilled
must by this time be to well-known, and another in-
stance in which the prophets were at fault has just been
mpplied. It is not too much to say that when the
placard announcing that Mr. Merry's "Doncaster" had
won the Derby was posted outside the newspaper
offices on the 29th ult., many who had backed Gang
Forward, Kaiser, and Hochstapler could not believe
the evidenm of their senses. The betting was 40 to 1
against him; yet he carried off the Blue Riband of the
Turf, to the gratification of his owner and to the
astonishment of the fraternity. With respect to the
attendance at Epsom, I see no apparent diminution in
the vast maims of people who annually flock to the
Downs. A large proportion of these care nothing at
all for sporting, and never made a bet in their lives ;
they simply go out for the purpose of enjoying a holi-
day. As the evening wean on, the residents of Clap.
ham and Kennington, even up to the" Elephant and
Castle" turn out in considerable numbers, " to see the
people come back from the Derby." On some of these
occasions a greet deal of horse-play goes on, the occu-
pants of many vehicles making it a rule to cast bags of
flour, empty bottles, and other incongruous articles
indiscriminately amongst the crowd. This provokes
retaliation, end at times the police have all their work
todo in preserving the peace.
When the Devastation was tried in the Channel a ,
few weeks ago, the calmness of the weather prevented
any estimate being formed respecting her sea-going
qualities. A recent experiment off Kinsale Head
appears to have given more subetantial results, and
these are pronounced satisfactory. The wa, ei were,
on an average, 300 feet long and 14 or 15 feet high,
yet the vessel rose to each, and in described se behaving
extremely well. She was afterwards laid broadside
ou to the wind and sea, and allowed to roll helplessly
in this condition at the mercy of the wave,. Yet the
Fillip inclined over easily as wave after wave pealed
her, and although large volumes of broken water and
spray reached the top of the foremost turret, she rose
upon the waves, and discharged the water from her
bow in two or three seconds. The Devastation is not
a graceful looking vessel, but in these ilays it seems
that beauty must be subordinate to utility. When
Mr. E. J. need, her designer. ".nd the late chief con-
structor of the Navy, submit' eel his plans to the
Acmiralty, doubte were expres-ed respecting the ship's
etability in a sea-way, however wood her fighting
qualities might be. As far as the trials of the Devasta
ion have been, proceeded with, however, she bail fully
answered expectations.
There is a movement amongst the daily newspapers
of London and New York to lay an ocean cable for
telegraphic purposes, and on the other side of the
Atlantic is committee of journalists has been appointed
to confer with the Exchanges respecting the beet way
of carrying the project into execution. The tariff at
present is four shillings for every word of a message;
and, when a few weeks ago, the French cable was dis-
abled, the charge was temporarily raised fifty per
cent. In the face of such terms, the wonder is not
that the London press should have so few ocean mes-
sages, but that they should get any at all. Yet no
necessary expenditure is spared under this head, and I
have reason to know that when the Atlantic struck a
hew weeks ago off the coast of Nova Scotia, a special
account of the wreck telegraphed to a rising awl suc-
cessful London daily, cost the proprietors the modest
sum of £420 I
The treatment of unconvicted prisoners, apropos of
the ease of Dr. Hensel, has been occupying the atten-
tion of the Middlesex magistrates, and there is evi-
dently a disposition to relax some of the more stringent
rake of the Howe of Detention. By a recent decision
of the justices, prisoners detained in that establish.

meet are still to make their OWII beds, but they are to
be relieved of the duty of cleaning out their cello.
Notice wrgi drawn to the regulations respecting the
extinction of artificial lights, and when it was stated
that these are put out at five in the winter and at
eight in the summer, many magistrates expressed an
opinion that this rule was capable of modification. To
take away an unconvicted man's candle at either of
those hours, and to leave him to the gloomy com-
panionship of his own thoughts does seem a hardship,
and from what pawed at a recent sitting of the Middle-
sex Bench, it is likely to be remedied.

I -
The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle
Trough Association done a great deal of useful work in
a quiet and unpretentious way. Great interest in its
operations is taken by the Marquis of Westminster,
who invariably occupies the chair at its annual meet-
loge. At the fountaius it has been estimated that
nearly 300,000 people drink daily in the summer, and
as many of these are winking men, it is easy to see
what a tionptation is remove-I when, ,in those broiling
days which we get in July and August, they are
enabled thus to refresh themselves in the open streets.
More than :400 of these troughs and fountains are
about), in existence in London, and it is expected
that ace shall goon 1109 one at each of the stations on
toe Metropolitan Railway.
Wltit-blenilay WWI marked by very tine weather in
London, and in this respect it resembled the two pre-
ceding Bank Holidays—Easter Monday and Boxing
Day. The number of people who crowded out of the
metropolis on this occasion WWI really astonishing.
The Previous day had been anything but genial for the
First of June, ftor the sun was scarcely seen at all, and
It is no exaggeration to Ray that it WAR bitterly cold.
But early on the following morning the sky cleaned,
and Monday lor,ke bright tend sunny. It wag not
particularly warm, for a persistent north-easter blew
during the day ; still the absence of rain was the main
consideration with those who kept holiday. The city
and its principal streets were deserted, for the Stock
Exchange was closed, and you may have travelled
thoroughfare after thoroughfare without seeing an open
shop except those devoted to refreshment. Even far
out in the suburbs advantage WRA taken of Sir John
Lubbock's Act to suspend business for a few hours, and
to take a trip to the seaside, to Kew, or Rosherville
to bluswell Hill or Sydenham. In town there were
the International Exhibition, the Bethnal Green
Museum, Surrey and Cremorne Gardens, the House
Show at the Agricultnral Hall, and the Trades Demon-
stration in Hyde Park. The Crystal Palace and the
Alexandra Palace alone accounted for over 90,000
visitors, while more than 37,000 went to the Zoological
Gardens, and nearly 11,000 to the Exhibition. A faint
estimate may thus be formed of the vast numbers who
enjoyed themselves in the neighbourhood of London on
Whit Monday.