The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-03-28 00:00:00

TFI E sTorR

the tourbribge Obstrttr.

SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 1874.

'OUR LINES HAVE FALLEN IN MORE
PLEASANT PLACES!
TEE chorus of congratulations upon the mar-
riage of an English Prince with a Russian
Princess, is a singular contrast to some
language which appeared in an issue of the
Loutott Gazette, just exactly 20 years ago. It
was on the 28th of March, 1854 that Eng-
land declared war against Russia, and in the
reasons officially given for this momentous
step, we find the following passages :—" Her
Majesty feels called upon in regard for an
ally, the Sultan, the integrity and independ-
ence of whose empire have been recognised
as essential to the peace of Europe, by the
sympathies of her people with right against
wrong, by a desire to avert from her domin-
ions most injurious consequences, and to
save Europe from the preponderance of a
power which has violated the faith of treaties,
and defies the opinion of the civilised world,
to take up arms, in conjuction with the Em-
peror of the French, for the defence of the
Sultan. Her Majesty: is persuaded that in
so acting she will have the cordial support
of her people; and that the pretext of zeal
for the Christian religion will be used in
vain to cover an egression undertaken in dis-
regard of its holy precept. and of its true
and beneficent spirit." Twenty years have
rolled over our heads since these words were
printed—a short period in the history of a
State—a very considerable portion of human
life. The boy of ten, who was then engaged
upon peg-top and marbles, is now a man of
thirty ; the man of thirty finds that he has
now lived in the world half a century ; while
the half century men of that date have now
arrived at the allotted age of man. The
Queen's husband, then a man of thirty-five,
has been in the grave more than twelve
years; the Emperor of the French is dead;
the reigning Sultan of that time had long
passed away before his illustrious ally, while
the Czar Nicholas, whose commanding figure
then ruled over the great emipre of the North,
survived the declaration of war but a few
months, and died early in 1855. Comparing
March 1854 with March 1874, we find the
Queen of England making a triumphal pro-
gress through the streets of her capital with
the grand-daughter of the mighty Potentate
upon whom we then made war; we see this
young lady united in marriage with one of
her Majesty's soils; we see our public bodies
loading them with presents, and well nigh
smothering them under the :weight of con-
gratulatory addresses. Judging from the
sentiments to which expression is so freely
given to-day, so far as Russia is concerned,
we have evidently beaten our swords into
plough-shares, turned our spears into prun-
ing books, and decided to learn war no more.
Well, those who remember the slaughter
and loss of life which ensued in 1854 and
1855 will rejoice that our lot has now fallen
upon happier times. It was doubtless a new
sensation to us to read of the victory of the
Alma. of the extraordinary cavalry charge
at Balaclava, of the stubborn resistance at
Inkerman ; and many of us recollect the re-
joicings in September, 1855, when Sebasto-
tol itself, the great military and naval strong-
hold of Russia in the Black Sea, succumbed
to an eleven months' setge, and was occupied
by the allied armies. Yet our victories had
their shadows; for, to say nothing of the
repulse at the Redan on the 18th of June,
1855, what between the terrible winter in
the trenches and the death-roll from battle,
thousands of homes in England were filled
with mourners for many a day. Let us,
therefore, rejoice and be glad that our lines
have now fallen in more pleasant places; let
us welcome the Czar's daughter, and the
Czar himself a few weeks hence, all the more
heartily because of our differences with the
House of Romanoff two-thirds of a genera-
tson ago. We have spoken of the absorbing
topic of the day on the 28th of March, 1854;
what will be the principal subject of conver-
sation on the 28th of ;March, 1874? This
momentous question Which University
crew has won the Boat Race?