The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-11-27 00:00:00

ur Ignbon CorrespgAtnt.

-We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
: ..ntify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.
The Thames—the silent highway of the commerce
of all nations—has been the scene crf an International
ulling Match and an International Regatta, and the
Interest of both events spread to far-off climes and to
ci:stant populations. The fact that the race for the
champion sculler was between a Canadian and an
Australian, and that in the regatta the few English-
men who did compete were in the third or fourth
places, has given rise to some curious speculations.
Englishmen used to excel in out-door sports, and in
almost every athletic exercise long held their own
against all comers. The great race between the Oxford
and Harvard University Boat crews, which took place
upon the Thames in August, 1869, and in *hich our
oNvn men were victorious, will be long remembered. In
every city of the United States, from
.4:ew York to San
Francisco, the defeat of the American rowers was
looked upon with almost a personal interest. And in
the contest between Hanlan of Toronto and Trickett
of Sydney, many enthusiastic Canadians waited up all
night in order to receive the news of the victory which
was very speedily communicated to the Dominion
through the agency of the Atlantic cable. The
Australians, however, although their champion was
defeated upon the water, had the satisfaction of seeing
their picked cricketers in the autumn win some very
substantial victories over their English competitors,
although in the final match the Englishmen triumphed.
Singtilarly enough, the Australian cricketers were due
:a home on -the very day that the sculling match
between the Australian and the Canadian took place
upon the Thames.

The time is rapidly approaching when pedestrian
matches and athletic competitions, which during the
greater part of the year attract such attention at the
Agricultural Hall in Islington, will be for a time
suspended in favour of an exhibition befitting the
appellation of the building. As its name implies,
its original design was associated with the promotion
and encouragement of agriculture, and many is the
Cattle Show which has been held within its walls.
Without a single agricultural accessory—for it is
surrounded on all sides by houses, shops, and a busy
people, it has contributed immensely to develop and
improve the important industry represented by the
farmer. The great gathering at Bingley Hall, Bir-
mingham, generally leads off; and then, in the early
days of December, the tillers of the soil come up to
London; and, crowding along the High-street of
Islington, bear ample testimony to the magnitude of
the stake which the farmer holds in the country, and
to the value of the work which in the face of many
discouragements, and in spite of adverse atmospheric
influences, he performs.

At.the Council held by her Majesty at Balmoral on
Saturday, Parliament, which stood prorogued until
the 24th inst., was still further prorogued to the 2nd
December. With respect to its reassembling it may
be mentioned that it is not often brought together n
January, the first week in February being as a rule
considered sufficiently early for the gathering of our
lawgivers. It is only in exceptional times that the Lords
and Commons are brought to London in January. For
instance, on the 23rd January, 1855, when Parliament
assembled, we were in the midst of the Crimean war.
On the 24th January, 1860, our finances had to be
remodelled, and the French co-nmercial treaty ws in
negociation. On the 17th January, 1878, the war
between Russia and Turkey was still unfinished, and
Parliament was summoned'in order that the Ministry
might lay before th representatives of the people a
narrative of the measures which had been taken for
the protection of British interests in relation to the
Treaty of San Stefano. But a January sitting is not
resorted to unless it is deemed by the Government to
be absolutely indispensable. It is calculated to
engender anxiety if not distrust, without giving suf-
ficient time for the elaboration of the ministerial
measures which the Cabinet has resolved to bring
before the attention of the Legislature.
Life assurance being a prominent feature of thrift
and forethought, the surrender value of policies is a
question that interests many persons. Comparatively
few men have such an income, and are so independent
of the freaks of fortune, as to be certain that they will
always be able to pay life policy piemiums, and to
those who are compelled by stress of circumstances, to
give up their life policies, it is important that they
should have a claim to a fair surrender value. An
actuary can calculate how much of the premiums paid
have covered the risk the office incurred whilst the
policy was in force, and the rest of the amouut received
might be returned to the assurer minus a deduction.for
office profit on the transaction, Life assurance would
be more general but for the fear that the assured may
not be able to keep up the policy, and that the premiums
he pays may be lost. It is, therefore, prudent for the
offices to pay the highest surrender value they can afford,
for such a course would in all probability bring an in-
crease of business. It is very desirable, too, that per-
sons who find that they cannot continue to pay the
premiums shculd have the option of the policy being
made absolute for a certain sum at death. That
amount would of course exceed the surrender value,
and the good intent of the assurer to make some pro-
vision for his wife and children would not be altogether
frustrated.

The kingdom of Greece has lately occupied much of
the public attextion of Europe, and there is no doubt
that in the matter of public instruction the Hellenes
can compare favourably with most continental peoples.
The primary schools numbered only 170 in the year 1831,
with 7,000 scholars, now there are 450, with 35,000 in
attendance. The secondary schools give an admirable
range of study, and in all of these the education is per-
fectly gratuitous. In fact, not only within the Greek
metropolis, but throughout the length and breadth of the
land, the country is exerting herself to be true to her
old traditions of intellectual excellence. It is, how-
ever, when we come to the University of Athens
that we realise a picture worthy of the metropolis
where Aristotle and Plato taught. This institution
started in 1841 with 292 students, and it now has 1,250.
There are four faculties—theology, law, medicine, and
philosophy, each with a competent staff of professors;
and here to all the classes are absolutely free, the ex-
penses being borne partly by the State and partly by
the, University. Of late years Greece, under an
enlightened sovereign and a broad and comprehensive
constitution, has made rapid strides in the good
opinion of Europe, and the intimate relationship of
the King with our own Royal family gives the people
of Great Britain additional interest in the prosperity
of a land which was once the cradle of civilization
and the home of one of the noblest races which ever
peopled the earth.

The winter session of the Society of Arts has been
opened with an address from the President, Mr. F. J.
Bramwell, F.R.S., in which he bade those engaged in
British industry to keep moving, and, by holding
themselves abreast of the line at home, have no cause
for fearing competition from abroad. Of late years
there has, no doubt, been a good deal of competition
in what were long regarded as specially English manu-
factures, and there is reason for serious thought when
in industries native to this country successful com-
petitors can carry off the palm from our own doors.
Most of the iron girders for fireproof buildings come
from Belgium; and America, which has wages and
3,000 miles of transit against her, undersells us in
many things. The energy and enterprise of English-
men should enable them to hold their own against any
competition, from whatever quarter it might come.
To those investors in this country who have placed
their money in Egyptian bonds, it may be satisfactory
to know that there is an increasing faith in the good
intentions of the present Government of that country.
rile new Khedive and his Ministers seem determined
to put an end to the misrule of which complaint was
so otten made years ago. A singular illustration of
this has just occurred. From Biblical times Egypt has
I een known as the land of slavery, the country in
which the common people could be forced at any time
to give their lab.nr at the bidding of their superiors.
In conserfuence of the severe thunderstorm which swept
over Lower Egypt as far as Suez, the permanent way of
the line was disturbed, and the railway authorities tele-
graphed to the provincial governor, requesting to be
supplied with labourers to repair the damage. The
governor proceeded in the old style to obtain compul-
sory service on the ground that the repairs in question
"were necessary for the common good." But the
Egyptian premier has since issued a circular to the
prbvincial governors warning them against such
misuse of their authority in future. He points out
that labour on railways is not included in the legisla-
tive meaning of the phrase "works for the good of
the commonwealth," and restricts the compulsory
employment of the populace on public works to cases
of drought and in the annual repairs of embankments
and canals. Railways must be regarded as under-
taken by private enterprise, and repairs will have to
be executed at the cost of the companies. This
seems a common-sense view of the matter, and the
enunciation of such a principle by an Egyptian
premier is particularly encouraging.
A return issued by the Corporation of London
shows how Epping Forest has been secured for the
recreation of the people of the metropolis. A delight-
ful spot in the summer time, and an ample breathing-
place for the vast overcrowded town, the quietude of
the Forest is grateful enough upon a fine day to large
numbers of its hard-working population. The Forest
has been bought at an average price of £4O per acre,
The law suit of the Corporation cost 238,000, and it
was spread ovcr the long period of twenty-one years.
The total cost is met by a tax upon all foreign grain
anltrigg thq Port of Idodol 40Ag At t40A;49. PI
_ _

3-16ths of a penny on each hundredweight of corn,
equal to a farthing on every 75 half-quartern
loaves of bread. This tax is so small that its
incidence on a London loaf is imperceptible; but-so
enormous are the quantities of foreign grain coining
up the Thames, that the result of the impost, when
calculated on some millions of quarters, is consider-
able.

The return of Sir Frederick Roberts to this country
will enable the Corporation of London to perform one
of those graceful acts which so much entitles it to the
gratitude of an entire people. When Sir Garnet
Wolseley came back from Ashantee, he was presented
by the City of London with a sword of honour of the
value of 200 guineas, and a similar compliment is to
be -paid to the hero of the march from Cabul to Ganda-
har. It will be remembered that this march was
rendered necessary after the reverse of the 27th July
had placed the garrison at Candahar comparatively
at the mercy of the triumphant Afghans, and that its
successful accomplishment forms one of the brightest
.exploits in the whole history of our military campaign-
ing in Asia. There is no one in this country, of
whatever opinion or party, who does not feel that
General Roberts deserves in every way, the distinction
which the citizens of London propose to confer upon
him.

The new Lord Mayor, Mr. Alderman McArthur,
M.P., had not been more than a week in the Civic
Palace before he was called upon to initiate one of
those charitable movements for which the Mansion
House is so famous. Years ago, when the commerce
of the country was more prosperous and trade was
more thriving than of late, the stream of benevolence
from the Lord Mayor's official residence extended to
the ends of the earth and to the uppermost parts of
the sea. A fire at Chicago, a murrain in Egypt, an
inundation in Italy, a failure of the crops in Persia—
any of these objects would at once form the basis of a
Mansion House Fund. When the German army
relaxed its hold upon Paris, and its two millions of
people were ußon the verge of starvation, a heavy
sum was at once raised in London for the relief of
the sufferers. Three years ago half a million sterling
was gathered to alleviate the miseries of the starving
Hindoes ; and last winter the relief of the distress
in the west of Ireland was the principal object
which commanded public sympathy in London.
The chief magistrate has now started a fund to
relieve the poor people who have been rendered
homeless by the succession of terrible earthquake
shocks at Agram By no means so destructive
to human life as the fearful convulsion at Lisbon a
hundred and twenty years ago, or the more recent
visitations which have descended upon Calabria, it
has yet had most serious consequences in rendering
desolate the homes of a considerable proportion °Mlle
population. Encamped in the open air in bitter
winter weather, their condition is a pitiable one; and
it is one the misery of which the Lord Mayor has
taken timely measures to alleviate and to remove as
speedily as possible.

DEATH of the LORD CHIEF JUSTICE
of ENGLAND.
The announcement of the death of Sir Alexander
Cockburn, which occurred on Saturday night, the
20th, was received with great and widespread regret.
On Saturday he had been presiding over the Court
formed for the Consideration of Crown Cases Re-
served. He was not observed to fail in any degree in
his old mastery of fact and reasoning and brilliant
readiness of eloquent exposition. When the Court
rose early in the afternoon, he sent his brougham
away and walked home to 40, Hertford-street, May-
fair, from Westminster Hall. He devoted his leisure
hours of Saturday afternoon to writing. Saturday
night was an extremely colel one, and Sir Alexander
Cockburn, who was 78 yell's of age, had suffered
already in the autumn from angina pectoris. He
retired to bed about half-past eleven, and was then
seized with a suddes pain over the region of the heart.
He expired in a quarter of an hour.
In the summer of 1878, when at Exeter on the
Western Circuit, the Lord Chief Justice showed
symptoms of suffering from fatty degeneration of
the heart. He went to Wells and then to Bristol,
for which town he had been Recorder, and where
he had still many friends; and he arranged that
Mr. Collins, Q.C., who was named in the commis-
sion, should sit for him. He returned to town still
suffering, and when he went down to Ryde to his
yacht, the Zottave, he was attended by Dr. William
GUI, his old friend and medical adviser. His pulse
soon returned to its normal state, symptoms of
dropsy which had developed themselves passed
away, and he continued to attend to his legal
duties, passing the autumn at Spa, as he had done
for some years, and drinking the waters. This year
Sir Alexander Cockburn went the South-Eastern Cir-
cuit, and it was after the beginning of the Long Vaca-
tion that when on board his yacht in August, he had
a return of the former symptoms, but lasting for
only a few days. He had more than one fainting fit
on board his yacht while lying in Dover Harbour,
and on one occasion was insensible for half-an-hour.
Dr. Gill was telegraphed for, and under his care the
Lord Chief Justice recovered and crossed with Dr.
Justice Denman in the Calais - DOWITCS to
Calais and so to Spa apparently in his usual
vigorous health. At Spa he stayed three weeks at
the Hotel de Flandre, taking the waters, but he
had another seizure here of angina pectoris. He
returned to town two or three weeks before the sit-
tings, but one morning it was unexpectedly announced
that the Queen's Bench Divisional Court would not be
formed because of the illness of the Lord Chief Jus
tice. He took his seat again some days after. He
was trying causes with special juries on Thursday and
Friday, and left an important case partly heard on
the latter afternoon. On Saturday he presided over a
Court consisting of Justices Denman, Manisty,
Stephen, and Watkin Williams; and died within a
few hours of the rising of the Court.

In several Courts on Monday reference was made
to the death of the Lord Chief Justice. The Lord
Chancellor spoke in the House of Lords of the loss
which they all lamented, and stated that, but for
the condition of the judicial business the House
would have adjourned as a mark of respect. At
Lincoln's Inn the Master of the Rolls gave eloquent
expression to the deep and universal regret,
and justly observed that Sir Alexander Cock-
burn would be remembered by posterity as an
upright and abls magistrate and one of the brightest
ornaments of the English Bench. In the Court of
Appeal at Westminster a few words of regret were
pronounced; and in the late Lord Chief Justice's own
Court, where he had presided for more than twenty-
one years, acknowledgment scarcely adequate, per-
haps, was made of the loss which the Bench, the Bar,
and the country had sustained.

The Times of Monday gave a lengthy obituary notice of
the late Lord Chief Justice, in the course of which the
following biographical particulars are given !

"The late Lord Chief Justice was the son of Mr
Alexander Cockburn, Envoy Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary to Colorable., by Yolande, daughter
of the Vicomte de Vignier. This Mr. Alexander
Cockburn was the fourth son of Sir James Cockburn,
M.P. for Peebles, by his second wife, a niece of
George, Lord Lyttleton. Mr. Alexander Cockburn
(who died in 1852) was the only one of four brothers
who did not succeed to the baronetcy. It fell to his
son, the late Lord Chief Justice, in 1858, by the
death of the Very Rev. Sir William Cockburn, Dean
of York, the third brother.
"The late Sir Alexander Cockburn was born on the
24th of December, 1802, and was privately educated
partly abroad and partly in England. He owed to
this earry training and to the French parentage of his
mother a remarkable acquaintance with foreign lan-
guages. French he spoke with great purity, and he
was well acquainted with Spanish, German, and
Italian. His two sisters had married Italian gentle-
men. At Cambridge he gained distinction in Latin
prose, and on an application which had been fruit-
lessly made to him in English for a seat in court
during the Tichborne trial being repeated in classical
Greek, it was immediately answered by a card of
admission. Alexander Cockburn became a member
of Trinity Hall at Cambridge in 1822, and in his
second year gained prizes for the best exercises in
English and Latin. Afterwards he • won similar
honours for an English essay. He took his degree in
law in 1829 and was at once elected fellow of his college,
a dignity and emolument which he held for many
years. In 1825 he had been admitted a member of
the Middle Temple, and was called to the Bar on the
6th of February, 1829."
The Times then proceeds to review Sir Alexander
Cockburn's career at the Bar, and mentions some of the re-
markable cases in which he was engaged. Of his ability as
a judge, The Times remarks :
"The judicial career of the late Lord Chief Justice
was a long one, lasting over precisely 24 years.
His charges to juries were masterpieces of popular
oratory, and there was little chance for the most
skilful counsel if the Lord Chief Justice became con-
vinced of the duty to sum up against him. His con-
sidered judgments were marvels of exposition. It
was said of another learned Judge that he knew
nothing of the law vf the case when the other Judges
began to deliver their Judgments but that by the
time they had finished he could produce an admirable
piece of eclectic reasoning. Sir Alexander Cockburn
was also quick to pick up points from counsel or
his learned brethren ; and it was sometimes
said that it was by dint of sitting with Lord Black-
burn for so many years that he had ultimately
become (as he had become) a sound lawyer. It is
natural for critics to revenge themselves upon the
brilliance of a Judge by affecting to believe that he
has no solidity or depth of legal acquirement. An in-
disputable merit of Sir A. Cockburn was that he took
pains with his work, especially with such portions of
it as came into more than usual publicity; and he
would in important cases find some reason for adjourn-
ing the Court, in order that he might prepare a judg-
ment or a charge which would be of classical excel-
lence. During the Tichborne trial, which lasted for
twelve months' he sat up continually till midnight to
read and consider his notes, after presiding through
the day in Court."
After referring to some of the most importrnt judgments
delivered by the late Lord Chief Justice, The Times con-
cludes its memoir by saying:—

"The late Lord Chief Justice was personally very
popular with and much beloved by a very large circle
of friends and acquaintances, to whom his high spirit
and genuine kindness endeared him. He gave gener-
ous assistance to young and unknown counsel who ,
appeared before him and won the hearts of persons
whom he casually met by his geniality and consider-
ation. His last act was to sign a transfer for a friend
to whom he was trustee. To his other accomplish-
ments and tastes he added a great liking for music,
and was frewintly to be seen at the Monda_y Popular
41.4 40412 110 t nly I#4l4yp g 194 ;Ton tin

Bench, but removes a considerable and welcome figure
from society."

The Times of Tuesday reviewed the public services of the
late Lord Chief Justice in a leader, from which we extract
the following :
-

. . . But he had virtues of his own, and one o
these was the interest, almost reaching enthusiasm,
which he threw into his work. The late Chief
Justice had been a Judge ever since 1856, and
on a moderate computation he must have tried
in his time some thousands of actions. Most
men would have become sick and weary of the
eternal round of petty details, squabbles, pre-
varications, and misunderstandings which form
the staple of Nisi Prins work. But to the end he was
careful, and interested and absorbed in what he did.
Only let the subject of a Lrial present the slightest
points of novelty, and he exhibited an almost juve-
nile enthusiasm, just as if he were trying his
first cause. He was blamed at. times for magni-
fying his office and making the most of the
cases which came before him. This censure was
a little unfair. Failings which were attributed
to vanity proceeded in part from a freshness
and youthfulness of spirit which duller minds
could scarcely realize. No doubt he delighted to pre-
side over a cause célèbre, and he could not help elabora-
ting his summing-up, giving loose rein to his copious
rhetoric, anti charming the jury with his dulcet tones
when all eyes happened to be turned to his Court. . .
"His forensic triumphs and his success as an
orator in the House of Commons have been fully
acknowledged. It is just possible that they have
overshadowed the recollection of what he did in his
long career as a Judge. On every branch of
law he has left his mark, and, on the whole, his
influence has been liberal and beneficial. The
law of libel as now understood is in great part
his creation. His good sense introduced modifica-
tions which had become requisite with the growth of
the public press; and if writers have no longer meted
out to them the scant mercy accorded in Lord Ellen-
borough's time, they owe it in great part to a series
of judgments in which the late Lord Chief Justice
extended the freedom of discussicn." . . . Such a
public servant, eminent as an orator and a magistrate,
deserves ample honour at the hands of the State,
and it would not be out of place where he buried
in Westminster Abbey, near the monuments erected
to his great model, Mansfield, and to an equally great
advocate, prematurely cut off, Sir William Follet.
Whoever succeeds Sir Alexander Cockburn—and the
probabilities point to Lord Coleridge—cannot do
better than imitate some of the qualities which have
made the late Lord Chief Justice regretted by all who
knew him in public and private life."

The Echo says :—" The death of Sir Alexander
Cockburn will remind admirers of that little-read-
poem 'St. Stephen's' of the lines in which his lifelong
friend, the late Lord Lytton alludes to the oratorical
gifts of the late Lord Chief Justice :
Hush'd were the Benches when, with careless ease, .
With accents matchless and melodious keys,
With words the choicest, that seem strung by chance,
Cockburn's frank mind reveal'd its large expanse."