The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-02-17 00:00:00

t.lUt enton Carrtspeettni.

Me deem d ight to state that we do not at all tlmea
dentity ouraeltes with Our COlTUVOlldellt'd A1i1405.1

Those people who looked forward to the Session
that has just commenced as likely to be a stirring and
exciting, not to say a stormy one, have found in the

. .
proceedings that have already taiten place ample con-
firmation of their expectatior:,. Ido not look at this
matter as a party politicisn, but I cannot help seeing
signs of desperate lidding to come, and although the
Government have a large majority, a dissolution is by
no means al, iinprobability. A thoughtful writer in
a leading journal says,—" Government will be pricked
with rhetorical pins, and irritated by petty defeats,
and obstructed in its biggest measures, and deserted
at critical moments, and urged into errors, and denied
fair play, and will at last—and that at no very distant
period—stumble heavily and fall." Some such an
opinion as this is very prevalent, I believe, and many
people look toward to a dissolution as highly pro.
bable. At any rate the bills already introduced into
the liouse,of Conunons, and the notices of motion, in-
_ .. . .

dicate a decidedly lively session.
Since the first glad news of the favourable symptoms
in the Prince's illness, "nothing in the papers" can
..

have been read with n:ore general delight than the ac-
count of the journey of the Prince and Princess of
Wales, from Sandringham to Windsor en route for the
marine home of royalty. Such pleasant news makes
the public all the more keenly anticipate the day of
national thanksgiving, the demonstrations on which
flay will certainly not be, as they ought not to be, con.

fined to the metropolis.
Public interest in the approaching Thanksgiving

Services increases as we approach the day set apart for
ft. Although Her Majesty will not visit St. Paul's in
state, but in rend-state (a "dress" carriage with six
horses) as on the occasion of opening Blackfriars Bridge
and the Holborn Viaduct, the whole procession will
he of an imposing character. Already there are
. . _ .

numerous indications of the commercial element which
enters into all public festivals, in other countries as
. .

well as our on. and "seats to let" catches one's eye
in numberless places. The letting of seats is on this
occasion moreover to be systematised as it never before
has been, and a well-known firm has made arrange-
ments to erect or provide 5,000 covered seats at two
guineas each, while these and other seats can be
obtained of certain theatrical agents, just in the
style in which a box at the opera is engaged. All
along the route of the procession, going and return-
ing, there will no doubt be dense crowds of people,
though much will depend on the weather; and
this naturally suggests the question whether the
day is or is not to be a general holiday in the me-
tropolis. It will be, I venture to say, something very
much like it, under any circumstances. May the day
be fine, for London is very seldom to fete, and seldom
indeed are we favouredby the presence of our Sovereign.
As to the seats in St. Paul's Cathedral, the Lord

Chamberlain is heartily to be pitied. Where he ha.;
bad one seat at his disposal he has probably had fifty
applications for it ; but still
_when the Premier tells

-
no that there will be accommodation for between eleven
and twelve thousand, it is but natural to ask why
16,000 people should not have plac.s of some sort, as
. _ _ _ . .

. .
on the occasion of the Duke of Wellington's funeral.
The amount of travelling to and from London on the
27th will be enormous, and as a matter of course

there will be no little disappointment.

Of the retirement of the Right Hon. Evelyn Denison
and the appointment of Mr. Brand as Speaker, it can
scarcely be said that

As iu a theatre the eyes of men,
After a well-graced actor leaves the stage,
Are idly bent on him that follows neat."
The well-graced actor has left the stage, amid the
applause and the tokens of respect of the whole audience,

-
but the spectators cannot be said to have idly bent
their eyes OR the actor who followed next. The appoint-
ment ‘,f Speaker is indeed an important act, and the
office itself is high and honourable, and perhaps exerts
more influence outhe deliberations of the House of Corn-

moos than we are apt to imagine. The retiring and the
newly-appointed Speaker both possess the respect and
confidence of men of all political opinions, but the
appointment of Mr. Brand is especially remarkable in
this respect, that for many years he was essentially a
party man and a "Whip." And yet the opposite
party offer no objection. Nothing can more plea-
santly and convincingly prove how high is the standard
of Pe-„sonal honour in the House of Commons. May
tLis honour never be sullied.
The gentlemen who have brought under the notice
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer the grievances of
tradesmen who suffer from the competition of Civil
Service trading, may be said to possess the sympathy
of the trading community of the whole country; but
the public—the purchasing community, as they may
be called—rather side with the Civil Service trade's.
The injury which these co-operative stores do to trades-
men cannot be denied, but Mr. Lowe cannot interfere,
be says, and it is very doubtful whether Parliament
can, or, at least, whether it will interfere. It may
be very annoying for tradesmen to find Civil
Service gentlemen, already paid by Government,
acting as directors, &e., of these companies; but it is
almost too much to expect that Government shall pro-
hibit their servants employing their own time as they
think proper. The whole subject is a very difficult
one, and when the matter is brought before the notice
of the House of Commons, as it certainly will be, I
believe the House will simply ignore it or give it the
cold shoulder. Moreover, even if Parliament were to
prohibit all Civil Servants from engaging in trade in
any way, that would not abolish these stores; they
would simply pass into other hands, or other stores,
on exactly the same principle, would take their place.
In a word, tradesmen must "grin and bear it."
To those who take an interest in the improvement
of the dwellings of the working and labouring classes
(a distinction with a difference) let me suggest that
they should procure the last report of the Peabody
trustees and compare it with that of the Improved
Industrial Dwellings Company. I know nothing what-
ever of the latter company but what I see in print,
but I have watched its progress, and desire to call at-
tention to it SA proving the important fact that im-
proved dwellings can be erected for the poor without
hurting their feelings by telling them this is a charity.
This company shows a profit of £4,430 on the past
half-year; they pay their accustomed five per cent.
per annum, and they carry forward a goodly
sum. It is a purely commercial undertaking, though
the design may be a benevolent one, and commercially
it suzceeda. This fact, taken in conjunction with the
good that is effected by improving the houses of the
poor, ought to extend the principle and mode of action.
What scope there is for improvement in ascore of towns
in England that could easily be mentioned!
International arbitration instead of war is a grand
and a growing idea—in advance of the age, no doubt,
but still absolutely certain of development sooner or
later. Why not apply this very same principle in
another direction, and let 118 have arbitration instead of
war between Capital and Labour? The question is
timely, inasmuch as during the present session a M4•tion in
favour of international arbitration is tube brought before
the House of Commons, and inasmuch also as it has just
been arranged that committees of masters and work-
men in the Staffordshire iron trade will in future
collier whenever any future disputes arise. There
is 110 reason whatever why such a most desirable
iesult may not thus be achieved, and if in one
trade, why not in others? They manage these
things better in France, where councils of masters and
men are continually obviating strikes, the few strikes
that do take place creating quite a sensation just
because they are so rare.
M. Plantamour, professor of astronomy at Geneva,
may be, for ought I know, a very agreeable man, but
he has said and done a very disagreeable thing. On
the 12th of August next, the day when grouse may
legally be killed, we are to be—or may be—smashed
up by a monster comet! It seems this gentleman has
discovered a comet which in volume surpasses all
previous comets, and he tells us that this comet is
darting towards our globe with inconceivable
vel 'city, and will be here on the date mentioned!
It will come into collision with us! Does the
approach of the monster account for the mild weather
of February? Seriously we ought to be anxious to
know a little more about our august visitor, whose ap-
proach is spoken of as a catastrophe which "cannot
possibly be avoided, but by the deviation of the
rapidly approaching comet, produced by its coming
within the scope of the attractive influence of some
other heavenly body." This is a corommulation most
devoutly to be wished, if the Gem,vese astronomer is
dealing with a fact.

INTERFATING AUTOORAPHS.—At the present
time the Parisians are displaying a curious fondness
for the autographs of eminent men. The Figaro pub-
lishes every week a journal called the "Autograph,"
which contains lithographed copies of letters connected
with the war or the Commune. The last number gives
a fac-simile of the letter which Ferr,'. wrote to his
sister an hour or two before he was shot at Satory with
RosseL It is the letter in which he says that he died
as he had lived—a materialist —and in which he for-
bade any religious ceremony to be performed at his
Ave. me writing is small, precise, firm, and beauti-
• neat; the punctuation scrupulously carefuL—
aka/ publishea facsimiles of a hatch of auto-
. A long letter from M. Louis Blanc, written
large and beautifully legible hand, preaches the
. that the Republic will triumph at last, but not
its friends have suffered from the falsehood and
mesty of other parties—not until France shall
more intelligence, not until she shall become more
Michelet and Quinet also furnish cha-
Republican autographs. A copy of
by ..itor Hugo is made unintelligible to me
imprealiivis but chaotic penmanship. Mr. John
also obtains the honottx of liOlogrephy.

grak,
tifully
The Radical

dia.honelity.

Elierent;i.

racteristically
' - Victor

/,