The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-11-06 00:00:00

Our Enbon Corrtspodent.

(We deem is,t right to state that we do not at all times
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

In the metrop'olis there is a certain degree of interest
associated with the ninth of November which is
totally dissimilar from that of any provincial town on
the election of a new Mayor. The City of London
itself forms but a small proportion of the capital,
either as to size or population; yet the people of the
districts beyond it turn out in enormous numbers to
witness the spectacle made up of military display,
mock chivalry, and knight errantry, which for centuries
has been associated with Lord Mayor's Day. The
usual traffic in the streets is, of course, interfered with
for several hours; but on the other hand it must be
remembered that the civic cavalcade is the only out-
door sight of the kind which is open to the general
gaze through the whole twelvemonths, and it would
be hard to deprive the people of it. Westminster
is beyond the jurisdiction of the City ; but the great
thoroughfare of the Strand is always densely crowded
as the procession passes between the site of Temple
Bar and Westminster Hall, where the new chief
magistrates is presented to the Barons of the Ex-
chequer, whom he invites to the Guildhall banquet
in the evening. This year a portion of Lambeth, the
new Lord Mayor's constituency, will have a view of
the show; for after leaving the Hall it will cross
Westminster Bridge, pass up York-road, and through
Stsmford-street, re-cross the Thames at Blackfriars,
and so avoid the Embaptcment, which for years has
been the scene of the return route. As a rule the
ninth of November Lk London is dry but dull; and
if there is an oostttional fog, the sight-seers make the
best of the P,:craospheric surroundings. The multitude
In the str:ests is, as a rule, merry and good-humoured;
and Q4len the most demonstrative amongst them, who
lesCiry in the exhibition of horse-play, never fail to
ere Weis children the beat places in the ranks, in
014.5 r that they may behold all that is possible of thin
taxmicipal pageant.

In the evening the Lord Mayor, who in his state car-
riage during the day, has been the envy and admiration of
all the young people amid the throng of gazers, plays a
prominent part in a very different scene. Once a year,
and that is on the evening of Lord Mayor's Day, the
vast area of the Guildhall is converted into a scene of
great magnificence, for there the banquet is held, which
is given by his lordship and the sheriffs to about 800
guests. Amongst these are Her Majesty's Ministers;
and whoever is in power the speech of the First Lord
of the Treasury is sure to be antioipated with much
interest, not only in our own islands, but through the
civilized world. Its most important points great once
telegraphed to all the capitals of Eurepe ; and within a
few hours it is read in the cities of India, and is the topic
of conversation from New York to San Francisco. In
fact, allowing for She difference of time, the speech is
utually In the newspaper offices of New York before it
has teen delivered; for the Empire City is five hours
hearer to the setting sun than London. Delivered long
after darkness has settled down upon London, it is read
hi New York before the sunlight has waned. The time
for a Ministerial declaration of 'policy is eNcellently
chosen, seeing that November is precisely midway
between the close of one session and the beginning of
the next. Many things generally happen since the
rising of Parliament upon which there has been no
opportunity for Ministers to furnish explanations,
and here is the Lord Mayor's banquet in mid-recess to
afford them the very opening they want. A collection
of Prime Ministers' speeches at Guildhall dinners
during the past thirty years would be a most sugges-
tive reeordi and would accurately enough reflect the
most iiikportant passing events of that period.

le inaccuracies of the French newspapers as
applied to English proper names, as well as to titles,
are of a very amusing character. The title " Sir "is
an old stumbling-block, and is a typical case. There
is not the slightest sign of any improvement in this
respect. One of the papers informs us that Lord
Mayor's Day is ap.proaching, and that accordingly
"Sir Truscott " cea.4es to be " lordmaire," and is suc-
ceeded by "Sir Mac Arthur," under which last extra-
ordinary designation is concealed the genial personality
of Mr. Aldernaan McArthur, the new chief magistrate
of the City. The simple title " Sir " is no more
mysterious in its application than many others; but
the French seem to have settled on it as their especial
blunder. They do not confine themselves to using
it in their own sentences ;s they delibdrately use
it in place of the correct title. An illustrated
weekly lately gave an exceedingly correct and expres-
sive portrait of Mr. Gladstone, copied from one of the
English papers. Under it in the original were the
words, "The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone." Not so,
however, the French contemporary. Proud of its
• .. _ _
The gift of seeing ourselves as others see us is always
Useful, and many French writers have gained such a
knowledge of English public life that their comments
are always suggestive, if not flattering. There is no
doubt that the Continental opinion of Great Britain
Is not at all times complimentary. Whether we
ascribe it to jealousy or to any other cause,
unquestionably public opinion in Germany and
France is decidedly. against us. The great bulk of the
caricatures of the Englishman as a tourist, and espe-
cially of his wife or other feminine belongings, are
exaggerated to the utmost, and they are not, as is
generally the case with our own representations of
foreigners, humorous, but clearly and distinctly ill-
natured. Of course the average tourist does not see
these, nor does he meet with incivility, or hear the
misconstruction put on every act of the English
Government, past or present. The people he meets
are either of the immense class who live on him and
his fees, or those—a very few—to whom he has been
personally introduced, and has some connection with
England, and so form exceptions from the rule. From
neither of these is he likely to hear anything offensive.
The close privacy of English domestic life, which is
so seldom open to any alien, is perhaps to some
extent responsible for this general feeling, which
can only arise from ignorance. .Very few French
'papers send correspondents to different countries;
and if they do, Germany or Italy is the chosen
country, -and not England. Their information re-
specting English affairs is only derived from the
curt public telegrams or the flying visits of an
occasional correspondent, whose letters cause not a
little amusement to those Englishmen who see them.
The caricatures of Britannia or of Albion in most
of the French or German papers are simply absurd.
The French believe that England ought
.to have
assisted them against the Germans in 1870; the
Germans contend that without giving material help to
France, we gave our. moral sympathy; so that both
nations are equally displeased with us.

The great storm, unsurpassed in violence, and un-
equalled in its devastating effects for many years,
which swept over these islands last week, had been
predicted from the other side of the Atlantic with
wonderful accuracy. These forecasts have often been
facetiously described as "American disturbances,"
and humorous complaints have been made of our
cousins sending their tempestuous weather over to us
when they might as well keep it themselves. The
maritime disasters consequent upon this visitation,
heavy as they are, would have been more serious
but for the storm warnings which were enabled to
be signalled from our ports. During the first nine
months of the year the shipwrecks had been below
an average; but at length the stormy element of
the equinoctial period regabfed its ascendancy, and
the unerring law of compensation brought up the list
to the usual average, even if it has not run beyond it.
As showing the atmospheric vicissitudes which befall
these islands, it is singular to note that after the whirl-
wind and the storm had passed, and the still small
voice of peace was again heard in the land, the wind
suddenly veered from the warm south-west to the
wintry north, and a keen frost supplied a foretaste of
the season which is to be experienced between now
and the time when the singing of the birds shall
again indicate the approach of the brighter days of
spring.

The Balloon Society of Great Britain held a meeting
when the disastrous effects of the storm were fresh
before the public gaze, and the value of nieteorological
predictions was then pointed out. It was maintained
that, with observations made at high altitudes by
means of balloons, the weather forecasts would be of
much more value; and, instead of a few hours warning,
that of a week would be perfectly practicable. The
importance of this to a maritime community was
strongly dwelt upon ; and, if the forecasts were found
to be trustworthy, the saving of life and property at
sea would be incalculable.

Two or three vacancies have lately occurred in
the ranks of the London School Board which have
been filled in a very quiet way. The Act of
Parliament under which the Board is constituted
enables its members, on a vacancy arising, to fill it
themselves, the principle being thus akin to that
which regulates the election of aldermen in the councils
of our provincial towns. So far as the London School
Board is cencerned, the working of this plan avoids
an appeal to the ratepayers of vast districts, and the
enormous expense attendant on bye-elections is
dispensed with. Within a few weeks vacancies
hare occurred in the representation of Finsbury,
Marylebone, and Lambeth, the three largest
divisions in all London, and each of them with not
less than 50,000 electors. Imagine this immense
body appealed to in order to select one member for
the School Board. The Legislature, in its wisdom,
has dooided that *is shall not be so, and empowers
tke Rumba, ftho Nord to illsehargi dut

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selves, which is generally done by choosing the first
of the unsuccessful candidates upon the poll at the
triennia/ election.

The day when, twenty.six years ago, " General
Liprandi charged John, Pat, and Sandy, and a
jolly good thrashing he got," is the same as that
on which boys are bidden to remember the Fifth
of November for "gunpowder treason and plot."
It is doubtful, however, whether the generation which
has sprung up since the siege of Sebastopol gives to
that event even a passing thought. Yet at that
time the news of the determined sortie from the
beleaguered city created a great sensation in this
country. While the cantonments of the allied armies
were enveloped in a blinding fog driven in from the
tempestuous waters of the deep Black Sea, 60,000
Russians issued forth from their entrenchments and
made a resolute and strenuous effort to drive the allies
into the sea itself. All that eould be gathered
together to oppose them were 14,000 Bricish and
French troops, and after fighting throughout the whole
day, the Russians were again compelled to withdraw
behisd the walls of the stately mistress of the
Euxine—the Queen of the South of Russia. This
was the last great sortie, and its failure broke the
heart of the Czar Nicholas, who died a few months
afterwards. A. host of interesting details in connection
with that terrible winter have lately been furnished
by Mr. Kinglake, who tells us how Lord Raglan was
accustomed to ride round the camp amid the bitterest
weather, in order to see for himself that his men were
properly cared for. The Battle of Inkerman, which
made such an impression at the time, is now almost for-
gotten, but all the same it was a very solid advantage
to the besieging armies, and sontributed materially to
the ultimate result.