The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-03-07 00:00:00

Our ICoAon tiorrtsponlititt.


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EWe deem it right to state that we do not at al:
Silady °wolveso ith our corre,prouteuris opiluons.)
Teissoice to the reconstructed Minisitry, it will be
seen,ere-lonr, whether, an a Conservative organ asserts,
• the Government is one of the strongest that has ruled over
the country for many years—strong in parliamentary
ability, in unity of purpose, and in public confidence.
It is much to be regretted that Ministerial cenlilica-
Cws o had to be arranged at the critical moment hen
Government was about to announce its policy An
Ireland, and that it should have taken ten days ifo rer-
construct the Ministry; but there seems to have been
• no help for it. Ireland will perhaps be the great
touchstone of the strength of Ministers, and the whole
country will watch with anxiety the course that is
pursued. The Scotch and Irish Reform Bills will also
• be two other difficulties, but both put together are not
likely to be so critical se Irish legislation. One fact
which will undoubtedly tend to strengthen the present
Ministry is that the Opposition will make no effort to
turn them out. It is universally understood that
no great party battle will be fought, as so many are
fought; with the object of changing the occupation of
the Treasury benches. But on the other hand it seems
als• • prettygenerally understood, among the liberal party
at least, that a Conservative Government will not long
be poseible when a new House of Commons to returned.
Nous rerrons.
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Your readers will have seen that Lord Cheimsford
delivered up the Great Seal, and that her Majesty
was pleased to deliver it to the new Lord Chancellor.
As the ideas relative to this Great Seal are
generally very vague, it may be interesting
to state what it really -is. It is really and truly a seal
of monster proportions. It is formed of two silver
concave saucers—l can think of no better word. On
one of these is engraved in bas-relief the vera effigies
of the Queen surrounded by the Cardinal Virtues ; on
the other her Majesty beingrepresented on horseback.
When the Queen issues any royal mandate the "Great
Seal of England' is impressed with this double
portrait, and the fact of this seal being attached makes
the document of royal force irrespective of anything
that that 'document may contain. This Great Seal—
that is to say the two silver saucers which make the
seal in wax is always in the possession of the Lord
Chancellor for the time being. Ilis Lordship keeps
it, at his private residence, in a box covered with
morocco leather, on which the royal arms are richly
emblazoned, the box being secured by a Braruah lock.
It is said that according to old unrepealed laws the
mere possession of this Great Seal of England
constitutes the possessor the supreme Judge of the
rourt of Chancery, the Speaker of the House of Lords,
and the keeper of the Queen's conscience; and that
sealed with this, whether by lawful authority or not,
~every document which can emanate from the Sovereign
is rendered valid and irrevocable without the consent
of the three estates of the realm. But this is perhaps
a mere constitutional theory which would soon be
disposed of were any burglar, for instance, to break
into Lord Cairns's house and rob him of the box
containing the two silver discs or saucers which
constitute the Great Seal of England.
It may be presumed that we shall now be spared
any further speculations and gossip about Mr. Speke.
He has been advised to have rest of mind and body
and change of scene, and is going to the south of
France to have both. That his mind was unhinged
. for a time there can be no doubt, for facts which have
transpired, independently of his extraordinary wander-
ings, prove it; but it is satisfactory to hear, on un-
doubted authority, that some ill-natured rumours
affecting his moral character are entirely without
foundation. _

"Representative institutions," said the late Prince
Consort, "are on their trial." The words have ever
since been undergoing verification. With equal truth
it may be said that trades' unions are now on their
trial. And yet the men who are being judged by
public opinion contain amongst them members of trade
unions who seem to be endeavouring to secure their
own condemnation. Here is a case in point. Some
men had been taken away from the Isle of Dogs, where
there is still a large amount of distress, by the Free
Labour Association, to replace men who were on strike
at Liverpool. These nominally free labourers were
met by about 100 trades' unioniets, brutally assaulted,
knocked down, kicked, &e. And for what offence?
Because they dared to sell their own labour at their
own price. The Association had nothing to do with
regulating their pay. It always scrupulously avoids
any attempt to do anything of the kind, and confines
itself to action a 8.61 medium of intercommunication be-
tween employers and employed, where both parties
repudiate dictation by trades' unions. In so far as it
acts thins, however, it is of course diametrically
opposed to trades' unionism. I shall not enter on the
merits of the two "platforms," but content myself by
noting as one of the signs of the times that this Free
Labour Association, from very small beginnings, is
decidedly making headway.
Within the last few years there have been several
cues of gross cruelty to servant girls, children, &c.
A case of the kind has just occurred, a servant girl of
thirteen years of age having been brutally treated by
her mistress. For this the woman is sentenced to five
year's penal servitude—a terrible sentence fa• a woman
who has filled a respectable position. Ido not say
that this punishment, however, is too severe ; but cer-
tainly if it is not, many other persona convicted of
equally gross cruelty have got off very lightly. The
time seems to have come for "making an example.'
Unhappy the criminal who happens to be convicted at
this critical stage in the history of crime. Justice
ought to be justice in the abstract as well as relatively,
but human nature seems to be unequal to the main-
tenance of a rigid standard that shall be uninfluenced
by fears and passions; and hence our judges now and
then determine on "making an example." It is
earnestly to be hoped that this heavy sentence will
act as such. Mrs. Mary Ann Radcliffe may con-
gratulate herself that she was not tried by a jury of
matrons, With a epecially severe matron for her judge.
The death of a Welsh bard and antiquary, at the
age of eighty, is announced. It is said that he had
never been more than four miles from home, that
he had never written a letter, and never received
one. At such an age, and in such an age, the
world can well spare such a man. How a man
could have been an antiquary and a bard with
such a limited field of experience it is not easy
to conceive. Surely, he must have soon used
up local objects of interest within his circle of twenty-
four miles circumference, supposing he traversed it all,
and his antiquarianism must have been to a great ex-
tent founded on the researches of others. Strange
that a poet and an author should have confined him-
self to a locality in this style, as though he had been
interne in the French style. And strange, too, that
there should be no many, who, in :this respect, are like
him. Within even an omnibus ride of the great
metropolis there are thousands of men and wonacia who
have never been to London. I have met with many
such persons. For instance, a well-to-do man lived till
near 70 within 14 miles of Hyde Park, and had never
been to London till a few weeks before his death,
when he came here en route for the seaside; and this
specimen of stagnant humanity was a market gar-
dener, who had sent up hia goods to Covent Garden
twice a week for more than half a century. As to
labourers, and especially the wives of labourers, it is
ommon enough, even in these railroad days, for them
to live and die in the village in which they sue born,
and never even see a town within a dozen miles of
them, or any other town. Such people are almost as
much vegetables as human beings.
• Every profession and trade has its peculiar phrase-
ology, but that of the stage is perhaps more curious
than any. Some rather funny terms are used in some
advertisements before me. Among people wanted are
"a heavy and juvenile gentleman." Whether it is
one gentleman who must be both heavy and juvenile is
not stated, nor how heavy or how juvenile the one or
the two must he. "To open March 10." Open
what' "Stars are invited to write," brit only moveable
stars of course. "A walking lady, a walking gentle-
man, and a few useful people" are also wanted.
Well, it may be naturally supposed that an actress or
actor must be able to walk, otherwise they
would have to act, like marionettes, by machinery.
The way in which the useful people are dragged in as
a make-weight is rather suggestive, and conveys the
idea that useful people are mush less valued than
ornamental people—an idea which derives force from
ouch wants as these—" must be young and good-
looking ; " "wanted a young and handsome accom-
plished leading lady—send carte." But is it not sad
that woman should thus sell her beauty to be gazed at I
at so much a head? "Sober people who can dress
well off the stags" are also required. Sobriety is very
desirable of mime, but why should a manager stipu-
late that people should dress well off the stage!
Perhaps, however— perhaps—he provides them with
the means of doing so if they are in other respects
qualified. "Talent of both sexes may write; duffers
need not apply " The latter caution at all events is
plain enough, but how can "talent" apply? A man
or woman must have a very high opinion of
himself or herself to look upon himself or her-
self aforesaid as not only being talented, but
talent embodied. A "second singing chambermaid"
in also wanted. What is a singing chambermaid ?
The character is not uncommon on the stage, but it
certainly does not occur in every play, and what then
is the singing chambermaid to do? Is she to be left
out in the cold, or is she to sing in some other part?
gut what if there .be no part requiring a song ? No