The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-05-11 00:00:00

Oar youhn eurtspoubtnt.

OVe deem it right to state tha. we do not at all times
Idelaity oursolves with our Corre3noodeot's opinions.]

Parliament is hard at work, and legislation proceeds
steadily if not swimmingly; but we have got over that
season of political excitement which disturbed us ere-
while. The rumours of growing hostility of feeling,
and even of warlike mutterings between France awl
Prussia, have died away; the threat of ministerial
resignation and the rod in terrorem of appeal to the
country have become affairs of the past; politicans
agree to differ about the Ballot Bill, and decline to
carry the matter bey el differences of opinion and an
occasional e,,paration in the lobbies ; ana above all
there almost the certainty of an amicable ar-
rangement ot tdat onfortnnato dispnte about the In-
direct Claims, so that altogether the political world is
only marked by that healthy activity of opinion and
action which the public as a whole have no cause to
regret.
It is pretty generally admitted, I should say, by
those whom it may concern, that the present London
swami is an unusually brilliant one. The almost
entire absence of her Majesty from London, and the
absence of the Prince and Princess of Wales are of
course much regretted, bat they do not act so much as
drawbacks to the gaiety of London society as might
have been supposed. At any rate the present London
season is decidedly brilliant, and the fact is one in
which all sorts and conditions of people in the mighty
metropolis are interested, for this fact means active
employment that would otherwise be dull in numerous
branches of trade. Some people say the London season
opens with the doors of Westminster Palace—others,
with those of the Royal Academy, but certain it is
that we are in the Beason when Burlington House
displays its artistic treasures to all who can afford
to inapect them. The Exhibition this year is
indimmtably a very good one ; the number of exhibitors
and the scope and variety of the pictures are above
the average, and crowds of interested spectators will
throng the galleries during the summer months. And
we have several other picture galleries, holding forth
their attractions to lovers of the art of painting. In
many other respects, too, the metropolis—par excellence
the city of commerce, rather than of pleasure—is
especially attractive just now. The sight presented by
the Ring and Rotten Row any fine afternoon (fashion-
ably called morning) is interesting even to the blasé
Londoner, and still more so to the foreigner or the
provincial visitor ; nowhere else can so aristocratic a
gathering of equestrians be seen. At present the
theatres are all life and activity, but the fine warm
evenings will Won thin their audiences, if that is the
correct word. Meanwhile, concerts are thick and
threefold; popular singers and players are reaping an
abondant harvest; managers are, it is to be hoped,
making money; and "all who music love" have only
to choose from the attractive programmes Bet before
them. And for those who find their pleasure ins very
different way—who aid the religious and benevolent
movements of the day— there are the annual meetings
of our great associations, the banonets in aid of hos-
pitals, homes, refuges, and a hundred other forms of
philanthropy; while the Crystal Palace and the
London International Exhibition offer their varied
attractions to all who can afford to enjoy them. Add
to all this the undoubted activity of trade, and the
general employment of the working classes, and it
must be admitted that the aspects of London society
are now specially enjoyable.
If any one would take the trouble to do it, it would
be very interesting to have a detailed statement of the
result of the various trade and labour movements, say
during the last five years, showing where and how far
the employed or the employers have severally gained
or lost. I think the result would be rather astonishing.
That the employed classes have been the gainers cm
the whole admits of no doubt, and still the movement
for increased wages or for less working time—and some-
times for both—proceeds apace, and in most cases the
employed classes are likely to gain their immediate
ends. I am merely niting facts, and leave the
thoughtful reader to draw his own conclusions. But
I will just suggest one consideration which ought to
weigh with working men. They should not only make
hay while the sun shines, but house their hay before
the storm comes. The present is a season of great
commercial activity, but the season may not last,
There is a great deal of speculation, and much of it of
an unhealthy character. New companies are starting
up like mushrooms, and, almost as a matter of course, '
there will be sooner or later a period of reaction—and
not improbably of failure and disaster. If no, the
effect will not be long before it influences the position
of the working classes. The moral is obvious.
Foreigners accuse us, and we ourselves are not un-
willing to own the soft impeachment, that we are
unfortunate in our statues and monuments; and we
certainly have been unfortunate as to the Wellington
monument in St. Paul's—not in the monument itself,
for we have not got it, but unfortunate inasmuch as we
have not got what we have paid for. The Iron Duke
died in 1852 ; it took Parliament four years to decide
that Wellington should have a statue, not to cost more
than £'20,000; two years more were occupied in
deciding who was to be the sculptor and who
the modeller; and now, twenty years after the
Duke's death, the model has not been completed.
Mr. Goldsmid, who brought forward a motion on the
subject, has in one sense "taken nothing by his
motion," bat he at all events called forth a discussion
cn the subject, and then "the motion for papers was
withdrawn ;" so that all we have to do is "to grin and
bear it."

The late Mr. Gillott must have possessed consum-
mate taste as an amateur of pictures, and the sale of
his collection at the rooms of Messrs. Christie and
Manson shows that he also had a very excellent
judgment as to the money value of paintings, for
his purchases now turn out to have been a
very good investment. Six days' sale at these
rooms has produced no less a sum than £164,500—a
splendid fortune in itself. The crowding and crushing
at this picture-mart have been unequalled at any pre-
ceding picture sales, and the anxiety to become the
possessor of any one of Turner's paintings or drawings
has been specially remarkable—witness the fact that
Turner's drawing of " Bamborough Castle " was
knocked down for 3,150 guineas. The great artist
himself could have little thought that one of his
drawings would ever fetch this price, though it
is well known that he scarcely illustrated the poetic
maxim, "on their own merits modest men are dumb,"
nor could Mr. Gillott have anticipated so extravagant a
price for one drawing. But then it was a" Turner," and
Turners are just now all the rage. By the way, it is
now nearly thirty years since a then unknown author
wrote an elaborate work, chiefly devoted to the praises
of a then unappreciated painter. The book was
written "by an Oxford Graduate ;" the painter
whose works were held to Is proof of the superiority
of modern painters to the ancient masters was
Mr. Turner. Mr. John Ruskin must be in
excdcis at the realisation of his estimate, as tested by
the fall of the auctioneers' hammer. Take a few ex-
amples: a drawing by Turner, of Powis Castle, 1,210
guineas ; another drawing, Windermere, 1,950 guineks
a third, Heidelberg, 2,650 guineas; a fourth,
Ehrenbreitstein, 2,650 guineas; a fifth, Barn.
borough Castle, 3,150 guineas; the contrast being
a 'large Rubens," 1,200 guineas; a Wouver-
mans, GOO guineas; and a Hobbima, 250 guineas.
Take the three highest-priced drawings by Tur.
ner, and they average 112,580 each; while three
paintings by the world-renowned masters named
averaged only 2650 each. The fact seems to indicate
that the glory of the ancient masters is on the wane,
and at any rate the marvellous money value of Turner's
drawings is a curious fact. Apropos of paintings, the
Royal Academy banquet and the opening of Burlington
House are among the prominent topics of the
hour. The speech of the Premier is remarkable
an showing how hard a worker and a thinker he is.
Amid all the excitement and labour of political life
he finds time to read appreciatively laborious articles
in the Quarterly, and to entertain an audience with an
elaborate disquisition on the state of the arts in this
country—a speech which would lead some people to
think that Mr. Gladstone has chiefly devoted his time
to the study of art. As to the Royal Academy it is
ally crowded, and the exhibition certainly holds its
own in comparison with all former exhibitions.