The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-04-03 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

being received are very restricted in extent,
and it is thought that some of the blast fur-
naces recently started will again have to be
closed unless there is a speedy improvement
in trade. Earl Dudley has reduced the
price of coal is. per ton, and as the prices of
his lordship's coal govern wages under the
During the twenty years that the volun- I Birmingham agreement, there will conse-
teer movement has been recognised as an quently be a reduction in miners' wages-
institution the review has never come in the The redaction in prices takes effect from
same week as a general election ; and that, to-day.
in the face of such an event it should have • On 'Change this afternoon considerable
retained its interest, is a remarkable proof animation was imparted by the visit of Mr.
of its vitality. This may in somo degree be Allsopp, one of the Conservative candidates
accounted for by the fact that although for East Stafford, and Messrs. Bass and
there have been evolutions, and re- Wiggin, the Liberal candidates for that
conaissances, there had until Monday been division. All three gentlemen were intro-
no actual review
.as the public were duced generally to the local magnates iris-
accustomed to know it, for eight years, and pective of politics, and all were cordially
in that time many changes have happened. received. Mr. Wooton Isaacson, the Con-
Brighton, the first favourite of these gather- servative candidate for Wednesbury, also
ings, has, however, again been the scene of attended the market, and met with an equally
a martial display creditable alike to the hearty reception.
public spirit of our citizen soldiees, and
testifying to the energy -which has this year
overcome more difficulties than any that
have had to be contended against since the
first great assemblage of the kind twenty
years ago. For a low,: time the Easter
Monday Review, whether held at Brighton,
I Dover, or Portsmouth. was one of the chief
events in the Volunteer calendar. The bad
weather which sometimes in the early spring:
passes over these islands, while it undoubt-
edly interfered with the comfort both of
spectators and armed men, did not materially
diminish the interest, nor mar the attend-
ance on these occasions. After about a
dozen years, however, adverse fates seemed
to close in round the spectacle. The railway
companies were reluctant to give up in its
favour the still more profitable traffic of
ordinary holiday makers, who come out in
tens of thousands at Eastertide, glad of a
few hours of change after the long and
dreary winter, Voices were also !,card, some
speaking with authority, and others with
none, that these musters were simply great
pic-nics, and did more harm to discipline
than good to the volunteers as an effective
military body. Gradually the review got
curtailed of many of its best proportions;
and becoming a mere field day, was held in
other and less favourable localities. This
year, after the railway difficulty had been
overcome, and satisfactory arrangements
made, an unexpected obstacle turned up
which at first seemed insuperable. The
military regulations prescribe that no body
of armed men shall assemble between the
issue of a writ and the holding of an election;
and oddly enough, Parliament, after I-tinning
six years was dissolved just at the time when
the review would come between the pro-
clamation of the writ and the polling for
Brighton. It was singular that it should
have come just then, of all the weeks in six
long years ; but there it was, and the difficulty
at one time threatened the abandonment of
the entire proceeding. The military
authorities, however, took a common-sense
view of the matter, and suspended the re-
gulatioT s. Accordingly, about 20,000 men
assembled on the Sohth Dawns on Easter
Monday; and, though the bitter east winds
and blinding March dust of the past few
weeks did not afford the best possible
atmospheric conditions, a bright sun did
much for the success of the gathering, viewed
as a holiday and an occasion of display.
The Volunteers may, however, be con-
gratulated on the fact that every year their
duties are made less and less to partake of
mere display, and more and, more taken
seriously. It is just one-and-twenty years
ago that Mr. Tennyson's spirit-stirring cry
of " Riflemen, form! " rang through the
land; and we have been told in Sir Theodore
Martin's " Life of the Prince Consort "' what
the origin of that appeal *as. Distrust of
the French Emperor on the part of both the
Queen and her people led to the starting of
the volunteer movement, and to the con-
struction of a vast and expensive system of
fortifications as a protection against a pos-
sible French invasion. The steady vitality
which the volunteer movement has shown
during twenty-one years may be. accepted as
a proof that it has taken root deeply and
thorcughly. It has come to be regarded as
an inte. ml part of the system of national
defence; and except in the very unlikely
event of our being compelled to adopt a
system of forced military service it seems
likely to continue to occupy that position.
It is a very strong one, for it supplements
the regular army; which being filled by
voluntary enlistment and not by compulsory
consumption, is necessarily much smaller
than the vast hosts upon the Continent,
where no supplemental volunteer system is
necessary. One preliminary feature of last
Monday's spectacle was the manner in which
numerous corps dispensed with the railways
and made their way to Brighton on foot.
Nor were these marches conducted on the
principle of, pleasure trip. In most cases
they were performed in regular marching
order, with the restraints of discipline pro-
perly attended to. More than one corps,
after its march to Brighton, instead of dis-
porting itself in the town, turned out at once
to practise on the Downs, to "feel for"
enemies in the shape of other corps, and to
make other preparations for the review.
Every Englishman that witnessed last Mon-
day's display on the :Downs, while hoping
that a hostile flag would never wave over
them, may well feel confident that if such
were unhappily the case, the volunteer re-
giments would be well able to do their duty
side by side with the more ancient and
famous reg ments which in days gone by
have wrestledwith and conquered the veteran
armises of continental nations.

EAST WORCESTERSHIRE ELECTION.

It will be seen in our advertising columns •
that Sir Richard Temple will address the
electors in the Corn Exchange, on Wednes-
day evening next, at 6.30 p.m. We under-
stand that William Orme Forster, Esq., of
Apley, has given the whole of his interest
in support of Mr. Allsopp and Sir Richard
Temple and hopes that his workmEn vill do
the same. We are informed on good
authority that the returns are very good
thonghout the district, and the return to
'Parliament of the Conservative candidates
pretty certain.

WEST STAFFORDSHIRE ELEC HON.
The returns on behalf of Messrs. Monckton
and Hill we are informed, are excellent, and
their return to . Parliament safe, but we
would advise all good and true Conservatives
to use every mean in their power to give'
them an immense majority over their
opponents, as they are two good and tried
men.