The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-07-16 00:00:00

LORD SANDON ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

•
Speaking at a gathering of some 10,000 Orangemen at
Ormskirk on Tuesday, Lord Sandon advised his hearers to
respect the religious convictions of their fellow-subjects, and
in the course of his speech said :

You see the wave of la,wlesm -cc which is spreading
over tte world. You know what Nihilism is in Russia,
where horrible crimes are committed in the name of
liberty. You know what Communism means in France,
where the fair city of Paris was burned and plundered
in the name of liberty only ten years ago. You
know that even America has suffered from the
plague of lawlessness. You have seen and abhorred
these crimes. You have seen murder stalking in
the great capitals of Europe. You have seen the
President of the United States fall by the bullet of a
woulo-be assassin. Observe these terrible movements
in Europe. You know that the honest labourer would
suffer quite as much as any other class of men in the
country if we ever come to have such times of trouble
as foreign countries have gone through. (Cheers.)
But mark one thing. All these movements which
have spread such ruin, and are moving the hearts
of all men, were all mixed up with the spread of
irreligion—(cheers)—with contempt of the God whom
our forefathers have honoured. (Cheers.) .. . .
Remember, in the great race of commerce between the
nations of the world, nothing will so much prevent the
spread of improvement and of enterprise as that the
industries of the country should be fettered by un-
necessary legislation. (Cheers.) Nothing prevents
the healthy growth of commerce so much as that men
should be hampered by regulations of Government
departments at every tifrn which they take.
Now, there is one other great danger which
working men have to look to, and that is, that
the great staple industries of England should
gradually be starved and ruined by the system of
foreign bounties which every nation that is jealous of
our greatness is now using to crush our superiority.
(Cheers.) Just remember that when they say your
commercial greatness depends upon having cheap
labour, that cheap labour means low wages, and low
wages means uncomfortable homes, and uncomfortable
homes dwindling faMilies, and dwindling families
means a poor mother of the household, overworked
and crushed by undue toil, and the father in despair
at the end of his days, closing those days, not in his
own home, but in some great State paid institution.
(Cheers.) It is for you—the very cream and marrow
of the working classes—it is your business to watch
these great questions which affect your interest.
Let your voices be heard, and you will have plenty of
voices to back you up honestly and truly in the House
of Commons. (Cheers.) You don't care only for your
own individual prosperity. (Cheers.) You do think
of the prosperity of the great Empire of which you are
so proud of being members. They say it is the luxury
only of the rich to care for the grandeur of the British
Empire and the luxury of the idle. I believe it is one
of those things which cheers the home of many artisans
in this country to know that he belongs to one of the
proudest and greatest nations on the face of the
earth. (Cheers.) We have a great responsibility in re-
gard to India, where, under the shadow of Britain's
throne, so many dusky millions live, and are, I be-
lieve, happier than any other nation of the dark races
of the world. We have a great responsibility as
regards them. What has happened there? Lord
Beaconsfield took possession, justly, of Candahar,
which would prevent for all time Russia threatening
the quiet of our Indian fellow-subjects. That has been
abandoned by the Liberal Government. When we
gave up Candahar Russia immediately rushed forward
and conquered the Turkomans. Lord Beaconsfield
fairly and honourably raised the British flag in
Cyprus. Well, what has happened since that? The
Liberals have not given up Cyprus, but have allowed
France to take one of the strongest positions in the Medit-
erranean, notwithstanding all their constant assertions
that the concert of Europe would make such aggression
impossible. Then look further, to Southern Africa,
where you have a noble race of English colonists.
What happened there? Lord Beaconsfield justly and
properly added the Transvaal to the British Empire.
Liberal Ministers, then out of office, said we were right.
Mr. Gladstone never protested, but at last, when the
British troops had been beaten three times, Mr. Glad-
stone gives up that great province—the Transvaal—to
the small number of 40,000 Dutchmen who presumed
to say that they ought to rule over the 700,000
men of dark race who wanted us to' remain there.
Don't let any one say after this there is no danger to
our Empire. I say there is too much indication of
great and serious danger. I venture to say that when
the next great electoral struggle comes, the object will
be to get all the quiet thoughtful people of all classes
to take a part in public affairs. Let our watchwords
be these. We want improvements. We won't
tolerate any abuse. We will have no concealment;
se will know everything that goes on in the Govern-
ment of our country. Let us raise up every class in
the country by education, by improving our trade,
and making men feel their responsibility. We must
proceed on the lines of levelling up and raising every
one to a better position than they had held before.
That I believe to be the true English spirit. Upon
that spirit and upon those lines our forefathers have
worked before; upon those lines your great working
class organizations are working now; and so, I am
sure, the happiness of our homes and the prosperity
of our country, as well as the welfare of those who
come after, will be best and most surely secured.
(Cheers.)

"THRIFT, THRIFT, HORATIO ! "—A column of news
contains a statement that "it has been resolved to
raise a fund of one thousand pounds. with which to
develope the work of the National Thrift Society."
For the promotion of that object very many people
will probably prefer setting an example of economy
by not subscribing.—Punch.

THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SHOW.
The Daily News of Wednesday had an article on the open-
ing of the Royal Agricultural Show at Derby, from which
we make the following extracts :

The Royal Agricultural Society, established at a
meeting at Willis's Rooms in May, 1838, as the Eng-
lish Agricultural Society, and incorporated under its
present title two years later, held in succession pro-
vincial meetings at Oxford, Cambridge, Liverpool,
ancllßristol, and in 1843 the annual show was held at
Derby. Meeting here again this year, a review
of the changes that have taken place during the
interval of thirty-eight years must give rise to
curious reflections in the minds of the few
remaining members who are able personally to
draw a contrast. In agriculture as much as in
any other phase of civilization, the old order has given
change to the new. In some respects there have been
not only changes, but revolutions. There have
been changes in hedging, ditching, draining, in
tilling the ground, sowing the seed, and gathering
the harvest. The conditions in the life of the
farm labourer have changed slowly and for the
better. The modern farmer shows change too,
having often adopted habits of luxury of which
the last generation never dreamt. Horses are of finer
breed, cattle are, raised upon scientific principles,
manuring can be done independently of natural
methods. Prices in the market-place are higher,
yet the sum total of all this accurate scientific
study, mechanical invention, and general enterprise
seems to be that the agriculturist of 1881 is an object
of sympathy the world over. The high pitch to which
scientific exactness and mechanical invention are
brought is wonderfully seen in the machinery and im-
plement department opened this morning on the show
ground, leading one to wonder how it is that with
these remarkable appliances for saving labour and
making things grow where they never grew before,
the agricultural industry is at present in such a sorry
plight. At the last Derby show the entries in this de-
partment were 508, and even that was a considerable
advance upon the four previous meetings. This year
there is a bulky catalogue of 5,960 entries. . .
The judges have been from ten o'clock working
their way through machines in motion and imple-
ments not in motion, and have yet some days' work
before them. The practical trials of harvesting
machines cannot take place till later in the year, and
then there will be something like a battle royal be-
tween the English and American harvesters and
binders for the ten silver medals to be competed for
by twelve competitors.
At the present time, when our butter supply is
causing anxious thought, the working dairy will no
doubt prove a great attraction, especially as it is a
delightfully cool retreat. At four stated times each
day butter-making on different systems will be
demonstrated, and a lecture on the subject will be
delivered, and them also will be lectures and illustra-
tions on what may be held to be a kindred subject, if
the articles produced be considered—namely, the
raising of bees.
The entries of animals show a falling off which
seems more marke,l than it really is when the obvious
hindrances to the exhibition of cattle through recent
epidemics are remembered. The total Dumber of entries
is 1,229, being 272 less than at Carlisle last year, and
naturally less than at the large centres of the manu-
facturing population at which the four preceding shows
were held. Pigs are about a score in advance of last
year, but cattle and sheep are slightly and horses a good
deal less. There were 487 horses at Carlisle, but there
only 256 at Derby
The largely increasing class who at these annual
gatherings combine business with pleasure will have
rare opportunities here. Derby is an excellent speci-
men of a first-class English county town, and it is the
bearer of a number of very fruitful boughs in the shape
of tourist haunts. Thirty-eight years ago there was
one line of railway timidly asserting its midland
service. What the system has become to-day is known
to every one. It is possible for the visitor to the agri-
cultural show to spend six hours amongst the twelve
miles of shedding and eat a late dinner within
view of the heights of Abraham or the romantic
surroundings of Darley Dale, Rowsley, or Bakewell.
Princely Chatsworth and historic Haddon lie within
easy rail. There are rambles available by Derwent,
Trent, Wye, or Dove. The show ground is one of
the prettiest I remember. It used to be thought
something to brag about if ten acres were mono-
polised. The portion of Osmaston Park enclosed
for this year's exhibition is sixty-six acres in ex-
ter t, and it is diversified by fine elm trees which
yield a grateful shade and beautify the entire scene. . . .
It is about two miles from the market place of Derby.
Large as is the acreage, the laying out of the ground
is so well done that it is fairly covered, and without
that rambling arrangement which so much offends the
eye and wearies the foot. The Mayor of Derby has
distinguished himself by his individual exertions to
make the show a success. His own pocket pays for
all the triumphal arches and a town banquet. . . . .