The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-11-20 00:00:00

WANDS\NORTH_ ROAD, LONDON,

S. W.

Chemists are cautioned —a-gt.inSt making or offering for
sale preparations and calling them "Chernival Food" as it
was decided in the c se of Lieh:gst Scully, that we were
the originators of the stune and had thq sole rimbt o nso it
and all persons soling ~ther or i,les by hi not
not
only r.?ncler themselves liable to an r.cti-n for daps bet
also to Chancery proceedings.


SUITY.P.RES from any disease should make baste and
take PILLS, They to geo.l invariably
ielleve acd ortJu cure at Once• it is nc;tv conte4kd I.y
41:eal men that lsaAxtair:ra's FILLS are tiie be,t
cie,nslde medicine, taking bold of what is needed o be
removed from the bowels and Mood when we are tick
And such safe removal usually cares. bold 3, al.)
Chemist. Esau iaIWiIAUSTR oil stamp.

A FOREIGN OUTLOOK..

FOR weeks past the cession of Dulcigno, a [lace
of which nine hundred and ninety-nine out of
every thousand of our population had never be-
fore heard, has taken a prominent place in the
consideration of the Eastern Question, and the
matter was held to be of so much importance as
to be the subject of a telegram from the Sultan
to the Prime Minister on one of the great days
of the year—the day of the Guildhall banquet.
'The Premier was authorised by the Sovereign
of Turkey to announce that the transfer of that
town from Albania to Montenegro may be re-
garded as an accomplished fact, and the Sultan
had desired this declaration to be made at the
Civic dinner as a proof of the goodwill enter-
tained towards Great Britain at Constantinople.
As a matter of fact, whether Albania or Monte-
negro possesses the place in question is not so
much of consequence as the execution of
Treaty engagements, whatever these may be ;
and the people of this country know from
experience the danger of keeping open any dis
pute relating to the East. Only three years ago
it led to a European war, which is said t ) have
involved more misery than any conflict since the
dAys of the Visigoiths ; nor can Continent:A
peace ever be considered secure so long as the
political horizon is darkened towaids the rising
Ban.

Meanwhile the political institutions of a
country much nearer home, have commanded
attention here. The French Chambers, as the
English Parliament was accustomed to do, meet
in November, and this time they had not been
long in session before there was a Ministerial
crisis. In England such grave steps are taken
with much less precipitation. Parliament is rot
often opened and the Government upset on the
same day. But they manage these things
differently in Frarce ; and thus it came to pais
that within an hour or two of the doors of the
Legislative Assembly having been opened, the
Administration was defeated by a decitdve
majority on a point which, thougu Lowing:ly
one of procedurc", involved in reality in import-
ant principle. But the Ministry was only a few
months old ; it had succeeded one which had
enjo.y ed but a short terure of office, a Govern-
ment to take its place might fare no better, and
so a compromise was arranged. A vote of con-
fidence was passed, and M. Jules Ferry con-
sented to remain in office. The politics of this
or that French Minister is an unknown quantity
so far as the great majority of people on this
side of the Channel are concerned ; but, as in
the case of the Eastern Question, when France
is satisfied, Europe is tranquil. All jealousies
between England and France having past away,
we take a warm interest in the prosperity of our
near neighbour—a prosperity which cannot go
hand in hand and be commensurate with unstable
and insecure domestic institution?.

Austria, although not the power in Europe
which she formerly was, is still an influential
factor in the Continental system. In order
psrtiall3 to compensate herstlf for the numerical
inferiority of her army, compared with the mili-
tary forces of Germany and Russia, Austria has
determined to strengthen her fortifications.
Fortification is indeed the art which enables the
weak to resist a strong force, and is particularly
needed by Austria, which is at any moment
liable to be attacked by more than one adversary.
The foe she has most to dread is Russia, and it
is possible that Italy might regard the distress
of Austria as her own opportunity. In such a
case it would be necessary for AnstriA, from
time to time, to concentrate all her strength
against one adversary, while merely delaying
the progress of the other. There is, con-
sequently, no country in Europe which has
greater need o a good aystem of railway COM.
munication and of Efficient fortresses. Of this
fact the Anstro-Hungarian Government is fully
aware, and for some time past the Ministry of
War has been engaged in drawing up a scheme
for improving and developing the defence of
the frontiers. An extraordinary credit has now
been demanded to carry out the plans in question
and the War Minister has announced that he
will be compelled to make similar demands
annually for several 3 cats to come. The chief
items are 700,000 florins and itrengthening the
fortifications of Cracow, 400,000 florins for the
defences of Pronsyl, 250,000 for the defence of
Pontera, on the Italian frontier, and 700,000
for those of Pola. The Hungarians have
shown themselves willing to support the War
Minister, but the Poles do not manifest an
equal alacrity, and through their adverse votes
the estimate has been for the moment largely
cut down.

Preparations against a future foe, however,
have not of late monopolised the attention of
the Government and people of Austria. The
terrestrial disturbances of the summer and
autumn, which have now culminated in the
calamity at Agrarn, have been distinguished not
onty by an abnormal frequency, but by the
unusual areas which they have affected. Across
the whole breadth of Europe shocks of ft
volcanic kind have been noted ; they have been
felt from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, and
from the Black Sea to the Atlantic. In Switzer-
land alone eleven distinct shocks were observed,
and it is not improbable that many of the acci-
dents which have rnaiked the past mountaineer-
ing SCAE3OII, some which have been of an
inexplicable character, may have been due to
the ciieintegrating effect of small earthquakes
on snow budges and cornices. The crowning
misfortune has, however, been reserve d for
Austria, where the capital of Croatia Les been
struck by a succession of earth-waves which
have left the city a veritable ruin. Five hundred
private houses have been wrecked, the more
solid goa a and churches are no longer safe, and
the people are described as camping out in the
squares and open spaces, or Bleeping in omnibuses
and railway carriages, while universal panic
previiiied for several days. Such a calamity as
this has not occured for many years in Europe,
and it is the more remarkable- because Agram is
at some
.distance from any of the recognized
lines of volcanic disturbance. The nearest of
these passes through Ve se, ”ed it is there.
fore with unusual interest that people have
turned to the report which Professor Palmieri
has Sent from his Observatory above Torre
de! Greo. He states that the lava continues to
issue s:owly from the cone of Vesuvius, and
appearances indicate that the present period of
moder.te eruption ,a ill not cease without groat
disturbance. This is significant; for it does
not appear that when this bulletin was penned,
the Preftssor had received news of the Agram
catastrophe, which, although falling far short of
others of a similar kind which have been known
in Europe, is sufficiently serious to demand
more than a passing notice in times of political
anxiety and national morn.