The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-11-05 00:00:00

our Yonbou Coutspoubtat.

_rift deem it right to state that we do not at all time?
Aentify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

The visit of the King and Queen of Italy to Vienna

is one of the most prominent incidents of the autumn
in the history of European politics. It does not seem
so very long ago that the intensity of feeling on the
part of the Italians towards the Tedeschi was accus-
tioned to break out at every opportunity; and within
a space of time appreciable truly in the span of a
life's existence, but short enough in the annals of

a state, hatreds of generations have been obliterated,
and Italy and Austria, from having been long-standing
enemies, have become the firmest of friends. Not

much more than twenty years since Italy was
unknown except as a geographical expression;
Victor Emmanuel was described as the King of

Sardinia ; and neither Milan, Venice, Naples, nor

Rome formed part of his possessions. Once begun on
a firm basis, however, the structure of the Italian
kingdom was built up surely and rapidly. In 1859,
Lombardy; in 1860, Umbria, the Marches, the two
Sicilies, and the Grand Duchies; in 1866, Venetia;
and in 1870, Rome, were successively added to the
domains of Victor Emmanuel, who, on coming to the
throne was the ruler of a province, and on being re-
moved from that throne by death left his country, a
first-class European power, represented• by Ambas-

satiors at the various courts, possessing an army which
counts for an important factor in any estimate of the
military forces of the Continent, and boasting' of
navy that includes ironclads with guns of hear
calibre than even those of Great Britain herself.
While Vienna, its streets adorned with the
ornate decorations, was welcoming the Italian
and Queen, scenes very different in their interest were
passing in Berlin. It is only fifteen years ago that
the Prussian armies were marching upon V'
after the battle of Sadowa just as they ad-
vanced upon Paris after the battle of Sedan four
years later. The Austrians, however, more

a.
,Tier
most
King

ienna' I

speedily came to terms with the victorious foe,
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and saved their capital from being occupied by the
enemy. The same Minister rules to-day in Berlin as
when Austria was driven out of Germany and the
military power of France was humbled in the dust.

Yet at the very same time and the same hour that the
streets of Vienna were redounding with joyous acclama•

tions, the thoroughfares of Berlin were filled with angry
crowds, the result of the political excitement consequent
on the elections to the Gernian Parliament, The irm'
who had beaten down his enemies to the right and to the
left—Austria upon the one side, and France upon the
other—did not secure a_ single Parliamentary

'Ministe; ea

sup-
.1

_
porter in the metropolis of the empire, was beaten in
the provinces, and even had the mortification of wit.
nessing the defeat of his own son. Prince Bismarck's
discomfiture is but another illustration of the fleeting
and uncertain character of popular approval. He has
raised his country to the topmost height of military

power in Europe; but the drain of emigration from
Germany and these elections tell a story pregnant
with reflections. It is clear that the system of com-

pulsory service in the army, paralyzing as it does the
industry of the country, is intensely unpopular; those
who can escape from it do so; those who cannot, show
their disapproval of the Government measure by

voting against the chief minister.
On the same day that these events were occurring
in Vienna and Berlin respectively, the French Cham-
ber of Deputies assembled in Paris after the general
election, France, as well as other countries, has
anxieties now upon her hands. A Ministerial

crisis in Paris is no uncommon occurrence, and is

soon got over. But the French Parliament met
under circumstances which told of foreign troubles,

not with Germany this time, bnt with the wild
Arabs of North Africa, who, assisted by the
unhealthy climate of the country, had depleted the
ranks of the men engaged in the Tunis expedition,

and had once more illustrated the unsubstantial
foundation of that military glory which is so dear to
the French imagination. This is not the first time
that the Arabs have given much trouble to a French
army of very considerable proportions, as those who
are acquainted with the antecedents of Abd-el-Kader
can remember very well. The surrender of the famous
city of Kairwan to the French without opposition will
doubtless discourage resistance, and as a political fact
will be an advantage to the existing ministry.

The municipal elections which take place in the
corporate boroughs of England and Wales on the
Ist of November forcibly illustrate the working of
that system of local self-government which is Bo cha-
racteristic of this country, as contrasted with the
centralization which exists elsewhere. France, for
example, has always been remarkable for concen-
trating in the capital as much as possible of adminis-
trative power. The fact that the people were
heavily taxed without being represented in the
slightest degree was one of the causes which led to
the Revolution at the close of the last century;
and even now the =sire of each department is a
government official. In the time of the Empire
that we all remember, the one cardinal com-
plaint of the people of Paris was that the Imperial
Government, while calling upon them to pay vast
sums for the re-construction of the City, gave them no
voice whatever in deciding whether the sums so expended
were necessary or not. On the other hand our munici-
pal corporations are virtually local Parliaments elected
by the free will of the ratepayers to adjust the local
burdens without the slightest pressure or interference
on the part of the Government of the day.
Although the constitution of the Corporation of
London differs so widely from that of the other muni-
cipalities of the kingdom, the date for the installation
of its chief magistrate is the same, and Lord Mayor's
day in the metropolis is looked forward to with great
interest by vast numbers of the population. In a com-
munity which is so busy, so absorbed in its work, and
so concentrated in its attention upon its labours, it
must often have occurred to many as being strange
that the traffic in its busiest part—the city itself—
should for hours be suspended in order to allow the
Lord Mayor's Show to pass by. That Lord Mayor is the
most popular with the masses who introduces the most
changes into his procession; and although the suspension
of the traffic is no doubt productive of inconvenience
to many, there is equally little doubt that the large
majority of Londoners would, if their opinion was
taken, decide for the retention of the Show, as being
the only out-door spectacle which they are enabled to
enjoy in the course of the whole twelve months.
One of the closing acts of the outgoing Lord Mayor's
civic reign was the reception of the Elcho Challenge
Shield from Dublin, and the placing it in position over
the main doorway. This magnificent specimen of the
silversmith's art is worth a thousand guineas, and is
the gift of Lord Elcho, M.P., to the Volunteer body.
It is shot for at Wimbledon by teams representing
the three kingdoms, the Irish team being made up of
Irish volunteers resident in England or Scotland, and
enrolled in any rifle corps in those kingdoms. If the
representatives of the same country win the shield
three years in succession, it becomes the property of
that nation; but although it has been competed for
now twenty years, no nationality has ever yet been
fortunate enough to win it three times without a
break. Sometimes the shield has gone to Dublin,
then to Edinburgh, and then to London; but only
to be moved away again. It is now once more in
London, where it had been nine times previously, and
is placed over the main entrance to Guildhall, not far
from the colossal figures of Gog and Magog, in time to
add to the embellishments of that historic hall for the
Lord Mayor's banquet on the 9th instant.
Th 2 fact that Parliament has been prorogued until
the 17th December shows that there is no intention on
the part of the Government to call it together this
year. The important words, " then to meet for the
despatch of business" are absent from the procla-
mation ; and any date between the 17th December
and the middle of January would materially interfere
with those social engagements which surround the
celebration of Christmastide. Members of Parlia-
ment are but human; and when they recall the
terrible exp.2rience of last winter, when having been
summoned on the 6th of January, they reached
Westminster through hillocks of snow in the treats,
there are not a few who would admit that they
would rather be enjoying the Christmas festivi-
ties in the country than facing the bitter wind
of Parliament-street in London. The Prime
Minister himself, in one of the most important
divisions—that on the amendment to the Address—
took no part, being unable to leave his house on
account of the weather. If it. is at all possible to
avoid a January sitting, there are many reasons why
it would be desirable to do so.

_ 80.
The month of October was one of the driest o,
recent years, and has redressed the balance of dry
and wet days which became somewhat disturbed
through t.le heavy rains of August. Across the
Atlantic the vicissitudes of meteorological distribu-
tion have been fully experienced upon the same
Continent, for while there has beeti hut little
rain in the Eastern States since July, the valley
of the Mississippi has been inundated to a degree
which has used enormous damage. A little
of the rain which has deluged
,New Orleans and
neighbouring cities standing upon the banks of the
Father of Waters, would have been welcome enough
in New York, where the Mayor has had to inteldiet
the watering cef the streets and parks, and to enjoin
the greatest economy in manufactories and private
houses, in order that there might not he an absolute
famine of one of the first necessaries of life in a great
community.
e si
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Ginvtaxt !bellelliEll or 'nom 'ME.ti.7—The
Cold Shoulder.--Pands,