The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-12-18 00:00:00

Our feltlDll Curtsy°Ore,
deem it right to state that we do not at all time 4
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.)

The rumours, none of them agreeing with respect to
the date, which have been flying about as to the meet-
ing of Parliament, were set at rest by the Royal Pro-
clamation published in the Lou don Gazette immediately
upon the holding of a Council by the Queen at
Windsor, fixing the Bth of February for that purpose.
There is, consequently, to he no winter session—an
eventuality which no Prime Minister ever contemplates
with satisfaction. Some members, not expecting to
be summoned before the usual time, have gone to the
uttermost parts of the earth to spend the recess, and
cannot possibly turn up in time. And the few who
do put in an appearance at Westminster are not in
the best possible humour at being called away from
the engagements which they have made-for time winter.
Now, however, the lords spiritual and temporal, the
knights, citizens, and burgesses, and the commissioners
for shires and burghs in the House of Commons, will
• inclement
season • 'in:their respective counties at this
season and make the best of it. They will not be re-
quired to travel up to London from Cornwall and from
the Orkneys, from Lancashire and from East Anglia.
By the Bth of February we trust to have broken the
back of the winter, and can certainly then look for-
ward to longer days if not to more cheerful prospects.
• will be noted that the date, so far from being
earlier, is somewhat later than usual. Last year the
legislature assembled on the sth, and I remember one
occasion, some years ago, when Lord Palmerston
brought our senators and representatives up to the
metropolis as early as the 24th of January. Little,
however, is gained by beginning so soon. Up to the
Easter Recess, the first part of the session, however
long it may be, is devoted more to talk than to work;
No
that, whether Parliament gathers together on the
24th of January or on the Bth of February does not
signify much so far as the hard, stern task of statute
framing is concerned.
Meanwhile the members of the Cabinet, after their
long and anxious consultations in November, resulting
AB these did in the Suez Canal purchase, have taken
wing from the grimy capital, and will spend Christmas
at their respective country seats. Let no one grudge
their relaxation, for in about a month more they will
be back again, Cabinet Councils will be resumed, the
Ministerial measures to be laid before Parliament will
fuially cast, and the finishing touches placed upon the
ecthmates. Long nights in the House ot Commons,
long days in Whitehall must then be the portion to
which heads of Departments look forward to. Lis-
tening tc the speeches of deputations by day, meeting
the objections of hostile critics at night—such will be
their fate. Yes, say some good people, hut see how a
Secretary of State is paid; he gets £5,000 a year! And,
I may reply, he spends it all, and more, too, no doubt.
The truth is. that, attached to every public position
there is a certain expenditure which is essential to the
maintenance of its dignity, and its occupant has often
to meet it out of his own private resources. If these
are limited, he finds himself a comparatively poor man.
For instance, the Lord Mayor ef London is allowed
£9,000 by the Corporation to meet the expenses con-
nected with the discharge of his duties. Eut to do the
thing at all decently, he pays £4,000 or £5,000 in
addition out of his own pocket. For the number and
splendour of his civic entertainments, he gets a vote of
thanks framed and glazed from the Court of Common
Council, at the end of his year of office; and his name
wad his coat of arms are engraved upon one of the
vacant panels in the Court of. Aldermen.
Speaking of the Ccornmon Council reminds me of the
approaching elections to that body. The Municipal
Reform Act of 1835 did not touch the Corporation of
London, probably because it was too powerful a body
to be dealt with. It still chooses its aldermen for life
Instead of for six year, as is the rule in other inunici-
!panties, and its councillors are elected on the 21st
Decembsr, a very uncommon date for such a purpose.
Zut when you tell the Corporation of London that
they are a close body, they deny it, and point to the
tact that whereas in all other places aldermen
are elected by the town council— a necessarily
restricted number of men—in London the alder- '
men are cliossn by the ratepayers, and hold
their seats as the result of popular election. The
city is divided into 26 wards, with an alderman for
each, and every one of these sends a specified propor-
tion of members to the Common Council Aldgate,
Bassishaw, and Cheap, Bishopegate, Bread-street,
and Castle Baynard, Cordwainer, Dowgate, and
Tower, Cripplegate, Lime-street, and Farringdon
Within, Bridge Without, and Queenhithe, with all the
rest of them, elect their representatives to the civic
parliament within four days of Christmas, and very
quietly the contests are conducted.
For several years previous to 1874 the people of this
country did not experience the kind of weather at
Chrsstmas they had been accustomed to anticipate at
that particular season. It is genosally understood that
the pespular delight is to see frost and snow at the close
of the year. With a bright sun above, and a crackling
sound below, the prcspect of his holly-crowned fireside
becomes doubly cheering. These features, in their
completeness, had not been realised for three or four
Decembers; and although Christmas cards, with re-
presentations of snow-covered roofs, or tbe robin
perched upon the frosted tree, were sent forth by thou-
sands as usual, the real thing was present neither in
town nor in country. Last year, however, there was
an abundance of snow and ice; and the terrible acci-
dent on the Great Western Railway on Christmas Eve,
in wb,ch thirty persons were killed, was directly
traceable to the action of the frost upon the axle of a
wheel. The weather likewise proved fatal to the
existence of many an eminent public man. This
year there has been a repetition of what many are fond
of calling an "old-fashioned winter," and 'seasonable
weather." Throughout England and Scotland im-
mense quantities of snow have fallen; and the inhabit-
ants of London and its environs have etifered much
inconvenience from blocked thoroughfares. Railways,
streets, squares, and gardens were covered with snow
n a single night, and the deposit might be estimated
by tens of thousands of tons. Vehicular traffic was
carried on with the greatest difficulty ; the highways
of the great town were literally dumb with snow,
which deadened the sound of approaching wheels, and
contributed to numerous accidents. Thousands of
pounds have been lost through the hindrances it
has caused to the conveyance of merchandise, and
the severity of the visitation will be felt in the bills of
mortality. The cheerful picture of the warm hearth-
stone in the holly-decked room, with the snow scene
through the window has its dark back-ground.
Whilst busy life speeds on, and preparations are made
In thousands of happy households for Christmas fes-
tivities, large numbers of men, women, and children
are in great distress, as the appeals to the benevolent
In the London papers abundantly testify. Many of our
shop-windows are filled with attractive articles for
Christmas presents; but those who are possessed of
wealth will not forget that whilst their little ones
yearn far toys, food and warm clothing are wanted in
many a home. When this fact is fully realised, charit-
able appeals, which abound at this season of the year,
will not be made in vain. The progress of the Mansion
House Inundations' Relief Fund shows what may be
done in this direction.

The Island of Ceylon, in the Indian Ocean, with
which the Prince of Wales expressed himself SO
delighted during his sojourn there, has well been called
by the natives "the seat of Paradise." Bishop Heber
once wrote of it:
"What though the spicy breezes
Blow soft on Ceylon's isle,
And every prospect pleases,
But only man is vile."
Even man, however, is not so vile in Ceylon as he used
to be. The place was ceded to Great Britain by the
peace of Amiens in 1802, but the entire sovereignty of
Island was not assumed by us until after the peace of
1815. The humanizing influences of civilization, the
spread of commerce, and the advance of missionary
effort have wonderfully raised the condition of the
people; and the good bishop would now be inclined to
take a more favourable view of the state of the Cey-
lonese, than when he wrote the famous hymn which
will endure as long as the language in which it was
penned. What a contrast must the Heir-Apparent
find it to the wild scenery of the Highlands, where he
spent his autumn.
"The blaze upon the waters to the east,
The blaze upon the waters to the west,
The blaze upon the island overhead,"
has been graphically described by Tennyson in word.
painting quite as gorgeous as the scenery whose beauty
he depicts.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has cautioned us
against the expectation of any considerable surplus
next year. The inauspicious autumn has materially
Interfered with agricultural operations, and it is clear
that our trade is not in such a flourishing condition as
it was two or three years ago. Therefore, the Minister
cf Finance warns us against anticipating any appreci-
able reduction of taxation. With the excise duty
swept away from such a host of articles of daily use
and consumption, and the income-tax at twopence in
the pound, there does not seem so much to complain
of in the pressure of Imperial burthens. It is in the
system of local taxation that a reform is chiefly
needed, and which the Chambers of Agriculture are
continually urging upon the attention of Govern-
ments of whatever shade of politics. As to a surplus,
there are many financial authorities who are inclined
to quesiition whether its existence is an unmixed
benefit. If there is one, say, of four millions, it
simply means that the people have paid in that sum
to the Treasury unnecessarily. The Chancellor of the
Zrchequer floes not want the money, so he proceeds

to dispose of it by remitting taxation to the amount be glad indeed if any one would tellme where we could
which it represents. A competent Minister of Finance reduce expenditure in order to have more men for, NURSING REVENGE FOR TWENTY
Is quite content if, when he has made both ends meet, after all, that is really what we wants (Hear, hear). YEARS!
We want men eitid-we must get them, and if we are _ _ -...
he has a little balance on the right side. He takes to Orem '.-.
get We must 'pap' for them. I cannot con- -rile correspondmit of 2* Times, under date Paris, the 9th
ccivee great o t great country—people
that
the t bulk f his inst., writes :
moneyek the lisinie Marne Assizes a case has been tried
nothing superfluous from the taxpayer, but allows the
to fructify in the pockets of the people. who are so sensible, so reasonable, and so prudent in
rw.
.Ing ill ' a capital senter 6., the circumstances of
all their dealings—will have the Imprudence not to do.
anedi
(,)f
idnervree
iFtubolhicairtay..terlnnaredaßmatoetii;ostiiilleruttg
The perils of the sea never allow us to forget their
tohuerirs
tposrow:rketothseuaprpou rtanthdeo,iavuttiorigeoloi
presence and their power. In the month of May I:aitrhemnfleinav
the German passenger steamer Schiller, after safely as it is right, proper, and desirlayble that La:ye shouild carried on aching with audacity and success, who
traversing three thous And miles of ocean, was dashed. be in an Empire such as ours. (Cheers). My own idea surpcised the gamekeeper df a forest in the Haute
"
to pieces npon the cruel rocks of Scilly, withit is thitGit is absurd to imagine that consciiption can Marne. An information was laid against him, and he
ever be made to go down in this country. The only win; ,brought before the Correctional Tribunal, con-
n.reinnedtotothiemforryiture of his..guu, to a tine, and even,
lamentable loss of lire; and in the dark and dreary ,
1 question is whether, it may not be uuder certain
Sentence withouPf ut.l3-°prirmoteenstt.. ItamowholionntgretcLivoefilentohee
month of Th=cember, another German passenger steamer, de!,irtatablsee,rfvoircett 1 - I believe,
the Deutschland, at the very outset of her voyage, runs 1 circumstances,
I caems' not ZnulYte derir thisle9ibtre
. -
ashore at the mouth of the Thames, with again a great not one in which a certa iniputed to him, and resolving to turn over a new
in. amount. of conscription 1
human sacrifice. The waifs of the La Plata last year ought to be allowed. The question is whether, if you leaf. lilt-kept his pledge, and from 1850 to 1870
told la how, huddled upon a raft they drifted about have not sufficient men for the militia, you ought not to
bent on blotting 13_stut by his good_consinot tbee
he laid himself open to no reproach. He seemed
be allowed to raise them by ballot. I do not. ad •
- three days and three nights upon the wild surface of its introduction if you can avoid it, for I don stigma of his condemnation. When he met the-
's consider
tha Bay of Biscay, the south-westerly A wind keeping
it consistent with our institutions or our interßut. Fam..ikeeK 14 lypide) 10-k. • hi - • h
4 rng at ni, not with
the temperature of the water up to a sufficient height beyond that Igo further and say Alia our ,seiset is! .E.h.AP of " 7 , %Iv' g. atrwige, ilutjlike a man),
evente y . p Inirn pneohntaillale witness.
to prevent their becoming numbed. But the north- BO different ta-that of othercountriest- wiser• •
easterly sleet-laden gala which laghed the sea on the only home service to be performed, that you cannot - s fault.- Itwite- observed, howesfel;-tharhe - Often-
have conscription. How can you have conscription in
knownt in
whither
rrinhge toeuettothehfields without. its being
i.eimolaotedwhianmself. from others, and frequently passed his
night of the striking of the unfortunate Detztahland a. service where a large part of the. army must be con-
was a fierce and bitter enemy of life, and carried death ually abroad? Way, conscription under such con- si is steps. This also was
into the hearts of many of those who were exposed to ditions is an impossible thing, because it is only justi- attributed to regret for his delinquency. He regained
its pitiless influence. It is true enough, and as true lied for the defence of a country at home. Wd yet
btrange to say,. Rambouillet was governed for 20
Eublic esteem and his .son married honourably.
now as it has ever been, that we landsmen have no may have conscription, and therefore I say it is an open
' cnd
'on whether we blight- r
apparent contrition, the rectitude of hiir o
not to have the ballot for years by a single idea that of vengeance. His
idea whatever of the manifold dangers of the sea, and Keamtlilitia ; but a conscription, to the end that we may
send troops to India for eight or ten years, or to the sadness, and his gestures were all directed towards
when such recitals are given as those which we have one
lately had from the survivors of the ill-fated German colonies, is a thiug which is indefensible, if not ixnpos- aim—vengeance. Fr 20 years, morning, noon, and
ship, one is almost tempted to wonder what these Bible and therefore I hope it will never be attempted. night, he laid wait for the gamekeeper against whom
I
people have done, that they should be subjected to We, am afraid, must make up our minds to pay for he had vowed vengeance, and for 20 years that yorw.
such terrible suffering. Yet in the chronicles of the the men; we must make it worth their while to come geance escaped him. In 1870 the war broke out, the Haute
olden time, those upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell and serve in the army. Depend upon it there is plenty Marne wae invaded; tile foreskin -which the game-
keeper lived was -eccup*-d tot thiK4erinan troops. One
were no worse than those who escaped; and in this of good English pluck left in us.
December night, Rambouillet, whom every one sup-
lamentable shipwreck we have seen how the words posed to be at a distance from the neighbourhood, look
"One shall be taken and the other left," hold as good is gun, slunk from tree to tree through the Germans
now as in the days when they were first uttered. occupying the forest, and, at the risk of being cap-
tured and ehr f ' The - 'test penis,' -

tot, facing t. grew., 4; , , and iesoit-
ing to the most an_dacious stratagems, creeping almost on
a level with the ground, be succeeded in reaching
the gamekeeper's lonely cottage. There was a light
in the window. The gamekeeper and his wife lost
in this solitude, amid hostile troops, were seated
side by side. Rambouillet watched them some
time through the clearing surrounding the cottage.
The gamekeeper remained motionless by his wife in
spite of the furious barking of his dogs, for since
the enemy had .occupied the forest, the dogs had
always barked emry night. Rambouillet raised his
gun, took a car, 41 aim, and bred. Two despairing
cries were utte:ed inside the cottage, the dogs re-
doubled their noise, all around distant calls of
"Welter (la " were heard,, and Rambouillet hurried
along the paths, escaped, and disappeared from
the district. The next day it was told how the
Germans had killed the gamekeeper's wife, an 4
all the neighbourhood mustered at her funeral.
Peace was signed, Rambouillet resumed his former
life. The occupation ceased, and then everybody
ventured to express .the horror excited by so cowardly,
a crime committed against a woman sitting peace-
ably at her hearth. Rambouillet had become more
gloomy. A gnawing despair had penetrated his
heart. He had committed a useless crime. Not
only had his vengeance escaped him, but he felt that
any attempt against the gamekeeper would recall
attention to the crime of 1870, and would divert sus-
picion from the German soldiers. His irritation in-
creased every day, and often found vent in threats
against those around him. A few weeks ago one of
taese scenes was repeated between Rambouillet and
his son's daughter. "Ah, yes," exclaimed the latter
"you want to serve me as you served the gamekeeper's
wife; but I am not afraid of you." Rambonillet
flinched. The conversation became known, and
reached the ears of jostite. Reatbonillet Was arrested;
convicted, condemned to death. The jury answered
every question put to them affirmatively, and without
extenuating circumstances.- They felt that a man who
had plotted revenge for twenty years must have acted
with premeditation. The prisoner's, counsel had, of
course, urged as an extanuating circumstance that he
mistook his victim. - "

acted .