The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-12-25 00:00:00

ur fonlion Corrtiponbtnt.

(We deem it right to state that v-r. .1.0 not at all times
Lit entify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions..)

It has been written by one of the 'homeliest of our
bards—and the sentiment is as fully endorsed now as
when the words were first penned :

"Oh ! blithe and blest is Christmas time
Whene'er its season comes,
For hearts are light, and eyes are bright
In England s happy homes."
The truth might, indeed, apply to a wide circum-
ference outside our own latitudes; it might be written
of all nations within the ibfluence of ; Christendom.
in the boundless territories of the United States, and

_
throughout our own vast colonial possessions, even in
those parts of Australia where the weather of mid-
summer prevails in December, Christmas is observed
as religiously as in this country. With the familiar
representations of Christmas cards, to4ich we are so
accustomed, illustrative of frost in the air, and snow
upon the ground, the celebration of the festival with
a vertical sun overheard, flowers in fill bloom, and
vegetation at its beet, appears strange 4 incongruous.
Yet there is no lack cf earnestness in keeping Christmas,
even under the fierce rays of a broiling sun. Of course
we all know what Christmas means at home. It is
commemorated in the royal palace noises than in the
numblest cottage. The baron of beef graces the side-
board at Windsor Castle; and there can be no doubt of
the efforts of the poor cottier's wife to supply the
children with a few extra comforis at Christmastide.
The seriousness of life is for the time unbent, and the
compliments of the season are interchanged with a
heartiness which knows no counterpart at any other
time. A kind of freemasonry spreads itself through
all classes, and even the pauper, "whom nobody
owns," to 1. e the language of poor Tom Hood, looks
forward to Christmas as bringing a happy break in the
monotony of frugal fare set before him all the rest of
the year. There are those who are cynical over the
observance of this Christian festival; who believe in
no efforts to spread peace and goodwill; whc, rejoicing
in the possession of well-spread tables, easy beds, and
trimly-furnished rooms, do not much concern them-
selves about the affairs of their lees favoured neigh-
bours; and who are inclined to ridicule all stio make
any difference between Christmas and any other time.
It is clear, however, that with such the great mass of
our countrymen have no sympathy whatever. Anti-
-ipating Christmas for weeks before its arrival, and
remembering with pleasure many of its incidents for
weeks after it has passed away and gone, they throw
themselves into its enjoyment with all energy. What-
soever their hands find to do, they do with their might.
No celebration in the year takes such a firm hold upon
the popular mind as does that of the season at which
we have arrived. What are Easter, Whitsuntide,
Lammas, or Michaelmas compared with Christmas?
Certain it is that the attention of the rising generation
dwells more upon the delights of Christmas than upon
any other holiday time; and although the inhabited
vlobe is a very different place now from what it was in
the reign of Cassar Augustus, when "all the world"
went up to Jerusalem to be taxed, that birth in the
City of Bethlehem, over which the songs of angels re-
joiced, has since been annually celebrated in all Chris-
tian lands, the custom suiviving dynastic changes and
the vicissitudes of nations.

Just before Christmas the Baroness Burdett Coutts,
undaunted by previoT4 failures, has once more suc-
ceeded in turning Columbia Market to account, and
if it is not in the power of mortals to command suc-
cess, this is a case in which it is certainly deserved.
some years ago this estimable lady, whose life appears
to be spent in going about doing good, expended a
quarter of a million sterling upon the construction of
a market in the east of London,'.'where the poor might
be enabled to obtain fish and other necessaries at
reasonable prices. But the establishment of a new
market is a most formidable undertaking, such are
the conservative instincts of people on such matters.
Eillingsk ate, an out-of-the-way place by the river-side,
and approached only by narrow and tortuous ways,
still held its own; and the Baroness, in the hope that
the influence of the Curporation might do something in
the way of making Columbia popular, handed it over
to that body. But even the city authorities could do
nothing with it, and so they politely returned the
gift to the Baroness, who must have regarded
it somewhat in the same light as the gentle-
man who once received a present of a white
elephant. The question was what to do with it.
For a long time the great building was deserted,

and no use was made of it. At length the

Great Northern, Great Eastern, and Midland Rail-
way Companies took up the matter; and, under
their auspices the place is once more open for the sale
of meat, fish, poultry, fruit, and vegetables. Such a
convenience in the heart of a densely-crowded district
ought to be appreciated; and Lady Coutts has the best
wishes of all who admire the philanthropy of her life
for the prosperity of her benevolent project.
It will be news to many that London Bridge does
not belong exclusively to London. That is to say, a
proportion of the cost of the present structure was
defrayed out of the Imperial Exchequer; and there-
fore no alterations upon an extensive scale can,be'made
in it without the consent of Parliament. It ilrTooked
upon as a national rather than as a local undertaking.
This is now discovered by the Corporation; and al-
though the Court of Common Council, at two separate
f•ittings, sanctioned a scheme for the widening of the
bridge at a cost of £55,000, it has now been allowed to
fall through. Public opinion has, from the first, been
dead against the disfigurement of this massive but
handsome structure; and it has been well pointed out
that the mere widening of the bridge, without broaden-
ing the approaches, would not relieve the enormous
traffic which is poured -across it. Even the Corpora-
tion is at length coming round to the opinion that the
only plan of relief will be by building a bridge lower
down the river, Of course such a work must be one of
• immense magnitude. The nearer the Thames ap-
proaches the sea, the more extended becomes its stream,
and the more costly becomes abe work. But when we
reflect that after the Thames leaves London Bridge it
flows onwards for forty miles before it falls into the
channel, and that throughout the whole of that
distance you must get across the river as well as you
can without any bridge at all, the necessity for another
structure is at once apparent. To this it must come,
and not until then will London Bridge be relieved.

A hi o railway company is certainly a most omni-
vercus being. Here is the Great Western, which was
originally constructed to run from London to Bristol,
a distance of less than 120 miles, now with its
branehes numbering nearly 2,000! It has absorbed
ono company after another, and now, in addition to
its previous possessions in Wales and the Midlands,
controls the whole of the broad gauge route between
Paddington and Penzance. The London and North-
Western, with its 1,200 miles, was once the mightiest
tithe railway corporations, but the Great Western
now beats it, and is the longest line in the kingdom.
In one division of the conflict, however, the Great
Western has been defeated on the question of gauge.
Prunel and Stephenson, the champions respectively
cf broad and narrow, have long since passed away,
.I.ut Time has declared upon the side of Stephenson.
're always contended that a pair of rails 4ft. 71n.
ide were quite as safe and far more economical than
Lrunel's gauge of seven feet, and events have proved
that he was right. Looking at the smaller quantity of
land required for the narrow gauge, and the scoaller
cost of construction of its rolling stock-, it is no
wonder that it has become the national ouge, and
that the Great Western itself has had to lay it down.
It is noteworthy that in the last week of the year,
two of the best known of our public men celebrate
their birthdays. Both have held the offices of Prime
Minister and of Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the
leadership of the House of Commons. I refer to the
present Premier and to his predecessor. Mr. Glad.
stone's birthday comes firet of the twain. It is on the
rale December, when the right hon. gentleman will be
66. Mr. Dieraeli was born sn the 31st of December,
lE66—, and will therefore e7O )541W 01 age. In Parlia-
mentary life Mr. Gladstone is rather the senior, having
had a seat in the House of Commons since 1832, while
Mr. Disraeli's membership is exactly of the length of
her Majesty's rggn. Many a Ministry has been
defeated, and many a Parliament dissolved, many a
shout of triumph has rang- through the roof of the
Legislative‘chaseber, and many an ambitious Carder
has been cut short by the accidents 'of political life ;
yet both these illnatrious. men are still amongst the
etpapentatives of the people, and indeed, the Coto-
=opt, House of Parliament would not seem to be com-
plete Whhout them.

A little work published by theCobden Club contains
a large amount of interesting correspondence respect-
hg the prospects of free trade in Germany, Austria,
Italy, the-United States, and AnstraliA. From an
introduction prepared by Sir Louis M3llet, i appears
that in 1847 the value of the trade in British
exports to Europeaecountries with which treaties have
since been concluded, amounted to £18,394,000.
In 1859 it was £32,489,000, about three and a half
millions less than in 1i56. This decline was not satis-
f:ctory, but a great charge was at hand. Cobden and
Michel Chevalier conceived the idea of the Anglo-
Irench Treaty; and the Governments of England and
France had the wisdom and the courage to conclude it.
Tie necessary consequence was that a number of other
treaties were entered into, by which the tariffs of
Elrope have been diminished about 50 per cent. In
174 the value of the Briti-da export trade to those
same countries was £81,297,000, while;the total addition
to our trade with them in imports and exports was
Inure than £103,000,000. There is, however, 801110
reason to fear that, some of the treaties which are about
to expire, will not be renewed, or if renewed, this will
be done on much less advantageous terms. For