The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-07-18 00:00:00

THE STOTJRBRIDGE OBSERVER

taken by a irertain class of Churohmen, had given—Min much
pain. The writer had said that in matters where the Church
pp .ke by her own fin mularies the members of the Church
owed a duty of obedience to the Church at whose altars
they served, and not to the courts of law. This he
r. Cross) regarded as a state of things whidh neither
the House nor the nation at large would be content
to allow to stand. The present course of procedure was
cumbrous and expensive, Will occasioned great delay, and
the present bill now before the House would cheapen and
simplify the whole course of proceeding. The whole ques-
tion was nothing more nor less than a mode of procedure,
and partcok of the same character as the Church Discipline
and other Acts. He took his stand on this broad and in-
telligible principle, that although every latitude was to be
allowed to the clergy of the Church of England within the
letter of the law, beyond the law nothing was tube allowed
beyond those limits.
The debate was then continued by several other hon.
member',

brella

which it was sought to convict his client was in the
following terms

" Whereas a kind Of probllug has of late sprung up, tend-
ing to the injury end demoralisation of improvident per-
sons, by the opening of places called betting houses or
offices, and the receiving of money in advance by the owners
or occupiers of such huUsels or offices, or by other persons
acting on their behalt on their premises, to pa) Mulley
events of horse races and the like contingencies, for the sup-
pression thereof,"

and that the Act was not therefore intended to apply
to racecourses, which would include the lessees of all
the race-grounds in the kingdom, the Jockey Club,
and Tattersall's, as the magistrates were obdurate,
and had come to the conclusion that a racecourse
was "a place" Several cases were cited, in one
of which, "Bows r. Fenwick " 43, L. J., M. C. 107),
the Court of Common Pleas held that a large um-
brella fixed into the ground with a stool underneath
it was "a place" within the meaning of the Act;
but there Mr. Justice Brett distinctly stated that
the Legislature had not made up its mind to prohibit
gambling or betting altogether, but it had determined
to prohibit what was etoted in the preamble of the
Art l'ho T,rvialatilra did /Irk h. nAi4l. intond to pro-
hibit betting on a racecourse, but the fixing any Par-
ticular place which should be used for betting. And
this is borne out by the speech which Sir Alexander
Cockburn, then Attoroey-General, made when he in-
troduced the bill in the House of Commons in July,
1853. (See Hansard, vol. 29, p. 87.) Ile said:—

"The difficulty which arose in legislating upon this sub-
ject was to tie found in the disinclination which was felt
against interfering with that description of betting which
had so long existed at Tattersall's and elsewhere in con-
Denies with the great national sport of horseracing. hut
these establistuents assumed quite a different aspect ; a new
form of betting hail been introduced, which had been pro-
ductive of the greatest evils. The course now was to open a
house and for the owner to hold himself forth as ready to bet
with all comers, contrary to the usage which had prevailed
at such places as TattenalTs, where individuals betted with
each other, but no one there kept a gaming table, or, in other
words, held a bag against all corners. The object, then, of
this bill was to suppress these houses without interfering
with that legitimate speries of betting to which he had re-
ferred."

dustry England, mitigated the sufferings of the popula-
tion Cl that great county where ha was born, where his
ashes repose, and which he loved so well. (Chasm.) Lorcl
Derby was far too sensible a man to imlerialue the ad-
vantages of wealth and lineage ; but be valued them because
they grained his highest ambition, whick was a large per-
formance of duty. (Cheers.) He was one of those rare
characters that, I am proud to say, can be found in no other
,untry but our own. (Cheers.) He combined the passim.
of politics with all the tenderness of domestic lite. (Hear,
hear) Ve live raised this Statue to him, not only as a
Memorial, but as an example,—nut merely to commemorate,
but to inspire. (Great cheering)

The Earl of Alalmeabury, who next addreseed the
visemblage, said :

My lords, ladies, and gentlemen—l come forward to pro-
pose on the part of the Committee and of the late Lord
Derby's personal and political friends our sincere thanks to
the right hon. gentleman who haa just addressed you for so
kindly and so ably meeting our wishes and assisting us In
paying honours to the memory of Lord Derby, which, without
his presence, would not have been completely accomplished.
(Cheers.) Pardon me if for a few moments I occupy your
attention, not with the great deeds of Lord Derby's life, not
with his public services, not with those great acts which my
righthon. friend haslust enumerated; but being as lam proud
toasty, one of Is intfinate friends,—being one who for twenty-
two years in eaPnumbler position than that of my right hon.
friend followed his fortunes and assisted him in his public
duties in Opposition and in Office—one who for twelve years
before that, as his most intimate friend, knew as I believe
I did, all his thoughts and feelings with respect to his
country and her interest,—l ask you to let me say a few
words with respect to those private virtues which he pos.
leased as greatly as he did his public distinctions. My
lords and gentlemen, well may the Prime Minister say that
lord Derby was no common lean. Ile was as great in
private life as he was in public life. (Cheers). He
was accomplished beyond most men I have been
acquainted with, and yet so great was his modesty that at
, times be almost seemed ashamed of those accomplishments
which Cod and education had bestowed upon him Never
! shall I forget the early days of my life passed with him. I
I can speak of him positively and without exaggeration,
though I confess I loved the man—(cheers).—l speak with-
o t exa,gueration—l never met with a husband more
devoted and more cherished ; I never met with a father
more kind and who loved his children more dearly ; I never
met with a nine who, as landlord, was more generous and
more liberal to his tenants ; I never met with a man who
in all the relations of life showed a more genial or • more
jovial temper. ~Cheers.) We all know what he was in the
Houses of Parliament. Those who sat Here with him Ire'
collect his silver voice, his courage so known, and his wit so
dreaded ; but with all that, he was the mildest man in
. private life. (Cheers) Ile bad the sweetest t,mper lever
met with amid all the accidents of private life which ruffle
the temper of most men ; and I repeat that, with all his
accomplishments, he never for a moment betrayed a con-
sciousness that he knew more than most men, or that he had
other gifts than those the public were aware of. (Cheers.)
No speech I ever heard gave me greater pleasure than his
private readings from Shaketprare is bin own family. (Cheers.)
I may say, as most of you probably have not seen them, that
' his Translations of Poems into four different languages
[Lord Chelmsford—f• Five "I are unfortunately not known
to the world, but I sincerely hope that Ida successor will
publish them. (Cheers.) I will only remind you that in
his Latin speech at Oxford when he was installed as Chan-
cellor the severest critics could only discover three trifling
errors. (Cheers.) My lords, ladies, end gentlemen, I will nay
no more, but you may depend upon it that what I have said
is not exaggerated, although every feeling of my heart might
tend to that result. ',Cheers) long, my lords and gentlemen,
long may his 811ee.130111, and above all his sons, pass by this
Statue on their way Pi the Imperial Parham, bit, and add new
hmours to their ancient name. (Loud cheers.)

THE REV. W. H. BROOKFIELD.
(from Ths TORII, Monday July 13.)

The death of the Rev. NV. H. Brookfield, which
oocurred on Sunday, will cause a shock to a large
section of society. His eloquence as a preacher won
him many admirers, but his rare powers were most
fully displayed in private intercourse. His converse-
tin was richer in dramatic appreciati in and reproduc-
tion of character than that of any hurnourist of his
time. His anecdotes and his fanciful illustrations of
real or imaginary events were unconscious works of
art, and he confined himself with unerring tact to the
inspirations of his peculiar genius. Although he had
the keenest enjoyment of the wit, sophisms, and brilliant
paradoxes of others, he never indulged himself in
an aphorism or an epigram. His business was with
human nature, and more especially with the oddities
and eccentricities which are often more instructive
than the regular and conventional course of common-
place life. It seemed to strangers that Mr. Brook'
field's experience must have lain among extraordinary
persons and improbable scenes, until nearer obaerva-
thins showed that he had only given permanence and
reality to some characteristic and insignificant trifle.
It his treatment occasionally verged on caricature, it
never deviated into ill-nature, and scarcely into
satire. The amusement which he felt and transmitted
to others seemed always to suggest a kindly feeling
for the personages of his story. It may be doubted
whether any master of Inumourous delineation ever
caused so much pleasure to his hearers, at the cost of
so little pain to the subjects of his discourse. Not-
withstanding his rare facility of narrative and imper-
sonation, Mr. Brookfield never degenerated into •
jester. His temperament was serious and almost sad;
and he was only aroused into the exercise of his special
facalty by his genial sympathy with the pleasure he
had the power to cause. Notwithstanding the pres-
sure in his later years of constant and increasing had
health, Mr. Brookfield's mind was always active.
Possessing among other natural gifts, an accurate ear
and a musical voice, he paid much attention to the
study and practice of elocution. Ilia delivery in the
pulpit was careful and effective, and his dramatic
readings in private and on a few occasions in public
deserved the high reputation which they obtained.
The social void which is caused by his death will not
be filled. Of the deeper sorrow of his family and his
friends it is not desirable to speak in public.