The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-09-04 00:00:00

Our Fo6cin Otornsphent.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

When the House of Commons is sitting, the fact is
notified to the people of London by the electric light
which is flashed from the top of the clock tower far
and wide over the metropolis. On a dark night, when
there is no moon, the effect is a very striking one ; for
all over the West-end of the capital, from the windows
of lordly mansions and from palatial clubs, this
brilliant and steady light can be seen denoting that
our lawgivers are still at work. It has often happened
of late years that the dim grey tinge of dawn . has
gradually crept over the giant city, and that the rays
of the sun have slowly but surely eclipsed the
glory of the electric light, which, however, has
been kept ;burning so long as the House is in
session. Full and conspicuous in the darkness,
it has looked weird and ghastly in the garish eye
of day, and utterly incongruous in the full flood
of summer sunshine. This was especially the case
during the last part of the twenty-one hours' sitting
which went on from four o'clock one afternoon until
one o'clock the next, the House then adjourning for
an hour and a half, and setting to work again. Amid
the silence of the night—a silence which, outside the
Palace of Westminster, is broken only by the plash-
ing of the river tideway against the arches of the
bridge—amid the approach of daylight, and the
awakening of a vast population to another period of
labour, and amid the busy forenoon, when the air was
filled with the sounds arising from the enormous
traffic, the House of Commons toiled on. Within the
chamber the atmosphere became hot and stifling; and
during the hour and half interval from legislative
duty, every window was thtown open for the admis-
sion of air. But the air of Westminster is not that
-of the Highlands or of the sea; the river current does
:something to purify it; but even then the jaded
members must long for the moorland and the heather.
Parliament has not been so late for more than
thirty years; but if Lords and Commons have re-
remained ifi town, those who have possibly been able
to get away have done so. The watering places on
the coasts of Kent and Sussex, which were so deserted
amid the drenching rain of last year, have filled dur-
ing the splendid summer weather of the last three
weeks, and which has infused cheerfulness all over the
land, gladdening hearts in town and country alike.
There has been such an exodus that the London of
Society is just now very dull. Politics have gone on
far too long to be amusing, and to many the strife of
political existence is no longer tolerable. Social life at
the clubs no longer exists. The lobby is deserted; and
the scene of so much excitement at the assembling of
the new Parliament in Mao' is now as quiet as it has
ever been in the few days preceding the prorogation.
There is a wearied look about the members which
seems to say how glad they will be to shake hands
with Mr. speaker, and to leave him in the position of
a man who has seen his last guest depart, and betakes
him to his own rest.
The weariness' of politics is the inevitable result of
the reaction follewing upon the excitement of a
general election. The human mind cannot always
be upon the stretch, even upon questions of paramount
national importance. Hence the coming recess is
likely to be a far quieter one than the last, not only
because politicians require relaxation, but also because
there le now no such reason for activity as there was
twelve months ago. Last autumn it was felt that
a dissolution was near, so each of the two great poli-
tical parties felt it to be incumbent that the country
should be properly educated. Demonstration followed
demonstration; and a speech delivered by a Cabinet
Minister in one part of the kingdom was succeeded by
a reply from an ex-Cabinet Minister in another part.
Each was making ready for the inevitable tug-of-war,
and was marshalling its forces. Since then the oppos-
ing hosts have met in battle array, the encampments
have been broken up, the banners are unlifted, and
the trumpets unblown. The season for political cam-
paigning is, for the time, at an end.
When Parliament rises on the 14th or 15th of August, '
as it usually does, the Queen goes to Balmoral about
the 20th, after having signified the royal assent to the
message of prorogation. This year, however, the session
ilas been so protracted that her Majesty, after waiting
week later Chan usual, decided to stop no longer,
for she was losing the best of the weather. It is cus-
tomesry for a Cabinet Minister to be in attendance
on the Sovereign whilst in the Highlands, and this,
when the House is not sitting, is easily arranged by
her Majesty's servants in town. The business of the
State must go on, and there is always a large amount
of routine work to be got through. A Minister can
easily run down from London to Windsor or to
Osborne, but it is different at Balmoral, and one
remains there until he is relieved by another.
Te. Minister ‘71:10, whilst in the Highlands, re-
..es the heaviest quantity of correspondence is the
.171,,1ne Secretary. But officially there is no distinction
between the Secretaries of State; and one can ad-
minister the departnwnt of another without the
eslightest inconvenience to the public service. These
NO functionaries are not known by the titles of
their offices, for each of them is always styled "one '
of he Majesty's principal Secretaries of State."
A populat song which sets forth the delights of being
"All among the barley," also tells us that when it is
September the autumn has begun. September—the
seventh month of the Roman calendar, and the ninth
of our own year—is about the most pleasant of the whole
for those who keep holiday. Those who go in June or
.July have the days longer, certainly; but the eun IS
often fierce, the days are too hot for much exertion,
and the nights are too short to have that cooling in-
fluence upon the earth which is so essential for the com-
ffort of those who make recreation a matter of exercise.
'Then August has been frequently wet and broken,
although this description would not apply to the
present, year, for the month has been a veritable
golden time for the farmers. But September
17i not too hot; and day and night being
about equel in length, twelve hours of the
former are qzdte long enough for out-door amuse-
ment. A holiciM in a fine September is delightful.
But who can pictore the misery of being away from
home in lodgings, and unable to get outside the door
for torrents of descending rain? If a man is in his
.own house he can at ail ayents do as he likes, and if
Vise finds that a long-contineed humid atmosphere
generates cold, he can have his peelour fire lighted
ewen in the month of August. But thR chances are
that in his lodgings the fireplace has been g4refully
'boarded up, and that the workmanship is coseered
'with a paper manufactured stove ornament which
the landlady regards as the pride of the entire apartr-
-ment, and which no stranger would have the temerity
to remove I

The arrival of Sei,-)tember brings round the memory
of a painful tragedy, the results of which appear
daily before the eyes of ;nen. On the morning of
the 3rd of September, 1879, an ignorant and blood-
thirsty mob rose against the British Embassy at
Cabul, and massacred Sir Louis eAvagnari and the
other members of the Legation. '1134 news of this
trwcherous attack arrived in this country 40 the 6th.
It se.-brcely seems twelve months since such ,111604171ful
intelligence was received from Afghanistan, a
dine which still remains in the newspapers day by clAy,
Another anniversary of a very different character is
associated with the early days of the month. It is
fust ten years ago that, without exaggeration, it may
saSely be said that the eyes of Europe were fixed upon
the great struggle going on between France
and Germany upon the frontiers of Belgium. On
the Ist September, 1870, the Emperor Napoleon,
Marshal MacMahon, and an army of eighty
thousand men were driven into Sedan; and upon
the heights rrounding that little town were a quarter
of a million German soldiers, ready to pour in grape
.and canister should the vast host attempt to escape.
As a matter of fact, escape was impossible; ae4 so on
the 2nd was signed that capitulation, which destroyed
the .French Empire, and raised the empire of Ger
many Upon its ruins.
All sorts of rumours have lately prevailed respecting
the European concert on the Greek question, The
publication of the Identic Note to the Porte has,
however, set all doubts at rest. The European Concert
is there clearly maintained. The Note has been agreed
to by all the Powers, and maintains the decisions cf
he Berlin Conference. It maintains the same atti-
t-tde with regard to the Greek frontier which has been
heid all along, and refuses to enter into a discussion
npoLl subjects of the second order. Behind the Greek
quest:on is that of Montenegro. A Constantinople
correspondent states that the Turkish Ministera indi-
vidually continue to declare their full consciousness of
the necesk itY of solving without delay the Montenegrin
question in order to strengthen their diplomatic and
military rox ition with regard to the Greek claims,
and with a v\*ew to diminish the pressure of Russia,
who is the scial protector of Montenegro. It is
.difficult to see hov Turkey can afford to be recalci-
trant in the face of
.a compact and united Europe.

The re-opening of Childs's new bank, on the south
side of Fleet-street ant; the Strand, suggests an
idea as to the progress of the building immediately
cipposite. This structure, knotin as the new Palace of
Justice, is now, so far as regards the several external
frontages, rapidly advancing. towards completion
The wrincipal elevation in the Strand, extending from
Bell-, yard on the east side, to opposite St, Clement's
Chur eh on the west, and containing a length of about
600 feet, is for the most part already executed. The
gable and oriel turrets, immediately to the west of
princip- v,l eastern tower, are finished and the roof is
covered in. The sculptors and decorators are now giving
he face of the different portions of the frontage their
concluding touches, and in a short time we may hope
to see tine whole of the scaffolding removed, when