The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-10-23 00:00:00

Our galthi (forrtsponbent.

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

The closing days of the month of October bring
with them memories of two engagements—one upon
the sea and the other on the land—which will long
testify to the superiority of British valour. For the
celebration of one of these—the charge of the Light
Brigade at Balaklava—elaborate preparations have
been made at the Alexandra Palace, and there is no
doubt that due honour will be done to the survivors
of that extraordinary incident. It does not seem se
very long ago that the country was electrified by the
intelligence that out of a force of 607 cavalry which rode
int) ttle "Valley of Death" at Balaltlava, only 198 had
returned. Yet 21 years have rolled over our heads since
that memorable 25th of October 1854, when the Light
Brigade, under the Earl of Lwan and Lord Cardigan,
through an unfortunate misconception of an order
from Lord Raglan, rushed to certain destruction :

Half a league, half a league
Half a league onward
All in the valley of death
Rode the Six Handrail,'
• " Charge 1" was the captain's cry,
Theirs not to reason why, ,
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs but to do and die;
Into the Valley of Death
Rode the Six Hundred.
There were five regiments whish went into action.
The 4th Light Dragoon 3 lost 79 out of 118; the Bth
Hussars 66 out of 101; the 11th Hussars 85 out of
110; the 13th L,glit Dragoons 69 out of 130; and the
17th Lancers 110 out of 145 :

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them,
Volleyed and thundered.
itormed at with shot and shell
They that had struck so well,
Rode through the jaws of death,
Half a league back again,
Up from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them—
Left of Six Hundred.
A score or years most have still more diminished the
handful who emerged from the valley; but such as
survive, and can prove that they passed through that
terrible ordeal of thunder and red flame, will be well
and hospitably entertained on the 25th, in the building
which is now the pride and ornament of northern
London,

The other great event to the credit of the month of
October happened well-nigh half a century before
that of whioh I have just spoken, and of the thousands
engaged in it, it is doubtful whether there are as many
survivors
as
of the Belau," charge. At this time of
day, when the century has run three quarters of its
course, it is difficult if not impossible to
estimate the gravity of that which happened when
It was in its infancy. But every reader oaf
history knows that during the three and twenty
years which elapsed from 1792 to 1815, we carried on a
tremendous conflict with France, and that the century
was not five years old when Napoleon gathered an im-
mense army at Boulogne for the purpose of invading
our shores. Then, as now, our right arm was the
navy; and it was that to which our fathers looked for
the protection of their homes. In command of the
Mediterranean fleet of that day was Lord Nelson,
whom Southey has described as the greatest naval hero
of our own, and of all former times. It would have been
easy enough for Nelson to go to Boulogne with a few
men.of-war, destroy the French flotilla, and thereby
render an invasion of England impossible. But there
would have been neither honour nor glory in annihi-
lating a fleet of unarmed vessels, which could not cross
the Channel without a warlike convoy for their protec
tion. With the French navy at the bottom of the sea,
the flotilla would be useless, and it was the French
navy upon which the British admiral went to work.
After pursuing it for several months over the waters of
the Mediterranean, Nelson came up with the combined
squadron of France and Spain off Cape Trafalgar on
the morning of tie; 21st of October, 1803. Out-
numbered in ships and in men, the British yet
won a victory of which they are proud to this
day, as any visitor to London can abundantly testify.
It was indeed the most signal triumph ever gained
upon the seas; and by the destruction of that mighty
fleet, the country was saved, and all the naval schemes
of France were totally frustrated :
"Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with its pennons at sunrise was seen;
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host when the sunset was scattered and strewn."
How many live to tell the tale to-day, to describe the
hoisting of the imperishable signal; the din caused by the
engagement of seventy-one giant ships of war, the enthu-
siasm of the fleet as Nelson led the flagship into the battle
and began the fray ; the admiration of the courage
which fixed him upon his quarter-deck, his stars and
decorations unconcealed even by an overcoat, while
the bullets flew around him like hail; the dismay at
his fall.; the grief at his death ; the elation which
sprewl through the ships when the battle was over and
the victory won? Not many, I fear. The powder.
monkey of ten years old then would be eighty now;
and spars iadeed would be the attendance at a
banquet given to the heroes who took part in the
greatest and most decisive struggle ever witnessed upon
the waves.

As old London gradually disappears under the
levelling influence of Improvement's march, you hear
oc-asional appeals for mercy towards some historic
building connected by associations with the annals of
the past. For instance, the lovers of the Queen Anne
period of architecture will learn with regret that the
grand old mansion, the largest of its kind left in the
City of London, sitaate at the rear of Leadenhall-
street, is now about to be pulled down. Several
mayoralties have been kept there, and its echoes have
resounded with songs of welcome and good cheer.
Those who delight to dwell upon the memories of
bygone days contend that the noble staircase, with its
painted walls and ceiling, its richly-carved balustrade
and parquet flooring, are worthy of a better fate
than consigment to the yard of a buyer of old material.
The chief room in the house is pannelled with cedar,
and the cypher key to one of the doors is particularly
worthy of notice. A hope is expressed that the
authorities at the South Kensington or Bethnal
Green Museum will take steps to secure this relic.
Westminster Hall, on one of these grey and gloomy
afternoons in the autumn, is about as desolate and
cheerless a place as can be well imagined. As you
tread the vast stone floor, the echoes of your solitary
footfall resound through the length and breadth of the
historic building, and die away amid the recesses of
the roof which has looked down upon so many exciting
scenes. The lobby of the House of Commons is deserted;
the Palace of the Legislature knows no voice within its
walls. The Courts of Law are untenanted; and the canopy
in the Queen's Bench, which has sheltered such chiefs
as Ellenborougb, Tenterden, Denman, and Campbell,
is now the guardian of empty seats. But the time
rapidly apprr,aches when the courts, all swept and
garnished, will again be ready to receive the luminaries
of the law, u.- der circumstances differing from any
hitherto witnessed. On the 2nd of November the
Judicature Act will come into operation, the distinc.
tive titles of the courts will be abolished, and we shall
have divisions of what is to be known as the Supreme
Court of Justice. The administration of the law is to
be facilitated and cheapened, terms are to be abolished,
and vacations shortened. All of which is very good,
no doubt; but these reforms would be still more ac-
ceptable if they could have been initiated in the new
law courts, w ich, however, as we are assured from
ince to time in the newspapers, are steadily progress-
ing. Any one coming to London, and glancing at the
range of scaffolding on- the north side of Temple Bar
will be enabled to judge for himself.
The scheme for a reform in the local government of
the metropolis, for which no time could be found last
session, is to be revived; but in a matter so full of
detail, and touching such ahost of vested interests, there
must be immense difficulty in carrying a measure unler
there is a strong pressure of public opinion at its back.
That public opinion is scarcely to be found in London,
at all events to such an extent as would induce
Parliament to take up this question in earnest. Of
oourse it is generally recognized that a system by which
a man is taxed by a body which he has no voice in
electing is a vicious one. A century ago the American
colonists declared that "Taxation without representa-
tion is tyranny; but the Londoner of to-day, although
he knows nothing of the vestrymen or guardians who
make the rates, and although he is never called upon
to exercise the franchise in their electioa, merely
grumbles at the "demand notes," and pays them. He
cannot afford the time to agitate in parish matters; for
while he is endeavouring to reduce the poor rate from
ourteenpence to a shilling, he can be making a great deal
of money in other ways. In a little coun try town, where
the field for Mulling in the coin is restricted, twopence
in the pound on a rate makes all the difference, and
the protesting ratepayer meets with sympathy and
support But in London, where to most turn every
aiinute of time is valuable, they will not trouble them-
selves about such details; and it is this dead weight of
Inertia' against which municipal reformers have hitherto
Aruggled in vain. John Stuart MII found it too
inuch for his strength, and the latc Cilarles Buxton
also gave up the task.

The panic in foreign bonds, consequent upon the
Turkish collapse, has been thd most serious witnessed
upon the Stock Exchange for a long time. Turkish
securities—or, as they call them in tha City for
,he sake of brevity, " Turks"—have fo- years been
eegarded as amongst the most desirable o"„avestments.
They paid at least 10 per cent, interest, so that a man
who purchased a £lOO bond in 1862 would have received
copsiderably more than that amotmt in interest since.