The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-01-03 00:00:00

THE STOUitiiiti.bC,..v., OBS.

does nothing but talk, but I think the arttlea are some. Committee of thallium, of Commons,
_Mr. Lowe, then
of d noreasooable. The gathering tdgether of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr. Baxter, the
Fluancial Secretary, had tor some to,, • failed to work
and strays in sent a vast popula, din is a labour harmmionely together. Mr. Lowe Mai concluded what
r•oorrtng time, and instead of expecrino misaleroom h.. been lemilierly ..alled Zeuzilan Mail Contract
rearms, the work is 11(Mre, of the nature of the rinsed without c ltatimi wit i• colleague, aim upon the
it
linentioqid in thePiew Tenement, "MA, heed" been natter I- made the lijee t. 4 ingdery before a
arliame Committee t 4 risfrt li ... gentleman
To tat updn the ws, is found:44dr many datdid"
d/fencieri orroduct in such *news left Mr. Baxter,
The Marquis 61 W ter, who • s opinion, no alternative but to reel . The
..erty In the of Lonffp 1 Offto . . select COMlLitte. oatthe Zan r Mail
... resented to the Hoiff C - one on
oat at his eschew - pro t a,' e y, censor*, ts a isi e nt, the
.44raflio 473• often. to ' Co . ... ..f the Exchrer, ;Issi riding the road
.ci Hyde Park Corner, His lord- tract. Abort the same time there was a Parliamentary
ship proposes to make a roadway on either side of the discussion which placed Mr. Lowe's relationewith Mr.
Monsell, the Postmaster-General, and with Mr. Ayr-
a, oh supporting the statue of the Duke of Wellington, t en, the First Commissioner co Works in anythiog
s , that it might stand in the middle of a broad car. but a favourable light. The Prep:der:therefore, in
r,..ge way ovoid. St. George's Hospital, and *ding the tecqnstenciffin of his Ministry, removed Mr.
down to Gsosvfnor•place. Susne objection ha 4 how- liows Wool the actiesper, aid placed hlm,sit the
ever, bent Saimaa to the control:Aloft of a new thorough- Horns Is. r. !Bruce: who Iliad thus to give
Gr., on the ground tilt it slice of the Green ',ark ".',74,v TIMOvs to thniiiginified gust of IssaPresi-
dlentiff el 7 r, with epterage, the Itfarquis of
would le required fi;r• flai 'purtiose, but the ;Aecr 41
dolb lifka4ad 14thennhelejj tint position, leaving the
Ilinilat ievery mai, tenin-therelpinton of many'lhe nßitry. This collree was ale,' token by Mr. Childers,
slcrince would be immensely counterbalanced by the who was succeeded in the Chancellership of the Duchy
gr-at public advantages which would result from it. of Lancaster by Mr. Bright. The last named right
hon, gentleman heel for some time laic* no part in
public life, having In Decerober Ifl7o. reeignsd the
office of President of the Board of Trade inconsequence
of continued ill-health. That he hare to a considerable
extent recovered was evident from the speech which he
delivered to an enormous gathering of his constituents
at BiriOnglaam on the evening of the 2nd of October
last. To return, however, to the Ministry. Mr.
Gladstone, following the precedent of Sir Robert Peel,
combined in his own person the dntles of First Lori of
the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, re-
placed Mr. Baxter, by Mr. Dodson, took Lord
Frederick Cavendish into the Treaeury as a Financial
Lord, made Mr. Arthur Peel Parliamentary Secretary
in succession to Mr. Glyi, who had become Lord
Wolverton, and appointed L'ord Kensington as one of
the assistant-whips. Dr. Lyon Playfair is Postmaster-
General in lieu of Mr. Monsell, and Mr. W. P. Adam
has gone to the Board of Works, vice Mr. Ayrton, now
Judge-Advocate-General. Amongst other changes we
may mention the elevation of both law officers of the
Crown to the Bench—Sir John Duke Coleridge as
Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, in
succession to Sir Wiffiam Bovill, who died on the let
of November, and Sir George Jeesel as Master of the
Rolls, in the room of Lord Romilly, resigned. Sir
Henry James, Q.C., is now Atrorney•General, and Sir
Vernon Harcourt, Q.C., Solicitor-General,
Let us now leave home politics, and direct attention
, for is few minutes to the events which have been
passing on the fever-strickea shores of the Gold
Coast. When on the 7th of March it was men-
tioned in the House of Lords that the King of
I Ashantee had made an incursion into Britnite territory
at the head of 12,000 men, and that the cable monarch
had been handling our allies, the Fainters, very
roughly, but scant notice was taken of it. Few knew
anything about that pestiferous region, or the nature
of our relations with such a ptyple an the Fantees. The
affair was regarded as one of those disagreements which
or, often break out between savage tribes, and it was
hoped that it would soon blow over. But the King of the
Ashauteee evidently felt that he had a grievance, both
against ourselves and our allies ; and on the 14th of
July an action took place between his forces and the
handful of English troops on the Gold Court. which
resulted in the bombardment of the Castle of Eimina.
It was Eon obvious that King Koff,* intended to be
mischievous to the fullest extent of his power, but it
was believed by the Government that if the Fantee
forces could be headed by British officers, the war
might be brought loan end. Accordingly, on the 12th
September, a number of our ofidiers, under the command
of Sir Garnet Woleeley, left England for the Gold
Coast. Only eight days afterwards, however, and be-
fore the expedition could have arrived at its destination,
our little band of soldiers and marines on the Gold

ii;Npuhi:t37,f
,traut •
24th

Coast met with a check which decided Sir Garnet
Woliceley, on his getting out there, that more soldiers
must be sent from home for the purpose of dealing
with the Ashanteee. Since then, regiment after regi-
ment has embarked for the scene of hostilities, to
which, of course, there can be but one termination.
Our coloured foes have, however, fought with energy
and elicit, notably in the engagement of the sth of
November, when their main body attacked our mule-
ment at Abrakampa in great force, and with much
persistence. They were, however, unable to stand
against the fire of our troop., who were completely pro-
tected. After two unancceeefal assaults, the Ashen-
tees, 15,000 in number, fled in the utmost confusion
from their camp, leaving everytbieg behind them. Sir
Garnet Wolieley returned in triumph with the spoils
of war to Cape Coast Castle, and there was intense ex-
cieement amongst the natives, upon whom rim victory
is described as having Lad a good moral effect.
Carrying our observation ac.:ines that "streak of silver
Pee," which divides us from the Continent, we will
I first of all look at the state of France. On the 15th of
I March a Treaty was signed at Berlin for the evacuation
of French territory by the German troops, within four
weeks after the sth of July, with the exception of
Verden and the neighbouring district, which woe to be
retained by the Germans until the 9th of September.
M. Thiers having now accomplished the liberation of his
country, the majority in the National Assembly began
to manifests more than usually hostile attitude towards
the veteran statesman, whom they made no secret of
their wieh to displace. The first step was to get rid of
M. Gnivy, the President of the Assembly, and his im-
partiality having been impugned, he at once resigned;
and on the 3rd of April M. Buffet, a man whise views
were snore in accordance with those held by the Right,
was elected in his stead. From that time events were
hurried rapidly to a climax. Oa the 15th of May
there was a Ministerial crisis at Versailles, but the
efforts of M. Thiers to recomtitute his Government in
such a moodier as to satisfy hie political opponents,
were pint sueceesinl. On ilia 24,b ef tlie same month
a vital division affecting the fate of the Ministry of M.
Thiers took place in the Assembly, when the Govern-
ment was defeated by 360 votes against 344. M. niers
at once resigned the Presidency of the Republic, in
which he was succeeded by Marshal Mac elation, who
formed a Ministry with the Duke de Broglie as its
animatirg spirit. The Republican Opposidon made
an ineffectual effort to reverse this decision, and on the
21st of July a vote of confidence in MacMahon's Go-
vernment was carried in the Assembly by a majority
of 130 vote.. Before this, however, negotiations had
been opened by the party in power with a view of
bringing about a Royalist restoration, and these pro•
grossed is far that on the sth of August an interview
between the Comte de Paris and the Comte de Cham-
bord took place at Vienna, in which the former re-
cognised the latter as the sole representative of the
monarchical principle in France. Then some promi-
nent members of the Right opened communications
with the Comte de Chamberd, whom they wished to
place upon the Throne upon his making certain specified
concessions to the spirit of the age. The, hewever,
the Count, after due coneideration, declined to dO, and
in • letter dated Salzburg, October 27, he announced
this determination in unmistakeable terms. The
majority in the a-sembly then decided to support a
prolongation of Marshal MacMahon's powers as Pre-
sident of the Republic, and after much animated
debate, this, with some modifications, was agreed to.
Intimately associated with the history of 1; ranee
dining this year has been the great State trial in the
Grand Trianon of Versailles—the scene of some of the
most splendid of Marie Antoinette's festivities 90
years ago. The events of the war of 1870 are so fresh
in the memory that it is now unnecessary to recell
them at any length, and the more so as the trial of
Marshal Itszeine has of late commanded such a large
share of the public attention. It will be sufficient to
state that having been appointed commander-in-chief
of the army of the Rhine by the late Emperor Na-
poleon on the 9th of August, after the defeat of
MacMahon at Woertii. he unaccountably clung to the
neighbourhood of Metz, when he ought to have made
good his retreat towards Paris. The Germans, rapidly
concentrating their forces, fought with isazaine three
battles in a single week—Conrcelles on the 14th,
Vicn-
stile on the 16th, and Gravelotte on the 18th, and the
French contend that even after, the third of these
sanguinary engagements, it was in BliZitiLle'S power to
have left Metz had he chosen to do so. Instead
of this he retires! behind the entrenchments on
the night of the 18th of August, and never made a
serious effort to break through the circle of iron which
the Germans gradually constructed round the city.
More than this, he ignored the Government of National
Defence which rose into power after the Revolution of
the fourth of September, and entered into negotiations
with his besiegers for the restoration of the empire after
its deposition had been carried by the Corps Legislatif.
At length, on Tuesday the 25th of October, 1870—a
day of darkness which will never be forg itten in French
hietory—Bazeine surrendered to the Germans, with
two other Marshals of France, 66 generals, 6.000
officers, 173100 men, 3,000 guns, with all the flags,
arms, ammunition, and materiel of war, and the
fortress of Metz ftrielf, although no shot had been
fired from the walls ot the city, and not a single shell
had fallen in her streets. Let us imagine for one
moment an English commander acting in this way,
and we may perhaps appreciate the indignation of the
French people, which everywhere, (outside Metz, were
fighting madly to turn back the tide of invasion then
eweeping over the cirentry. Their exasperation was
cicerone when they saw their only remaining regular
army led away into captivity, and not only so, but
200,000 experienced Germans released from their task
of besieging Metz, let loose over France to crush the
raw levies which Gambetta was raising in. every
direction. The surrender of Metz at a most critical
time decided the campaign again; t France, and
when the war was over r demand was made thet
Marshal Revalue should be tried for high tremen.
He accordngly gave himself up, but throughout the
whole of the time that M. Thiers was at the head
of Affairs, that statesman delayed the trial, chiefly
to allow the national resentment to cool down, aid I
so give the accused marshal a fair and impartial
bearing. After the change of Government in May,
however, pest orations were made fir the trial;
and accordingly, on Monday, the 6th of October,
Beeline was brought before a Council of War at
Versailles, of which the Doke d'Anmale, a son of the
Into King le tins Phillippe, was President. lie was
arraigned on four charges, the substance of 'Ali h was
that he had capitulated in the open field and sun.
rendered the stronghold of Mete without having ex-
hausted his means of defence, and before he-had done
everything which honour and duty prescribed. He was
also accused of having entered into treasonable
negotiations with the enemy. The trial was brought
to a close on Wedneedey the 10th of December, and
the seven genereis comprising the Court Martial un-
animously found Marshal Bazaine guilty, and sen-
tenced him to death, preceded hy military degroda•
thin. He WAS also condemned 'spay the coat of the
trial, am; meting to about 1.:50,00. Military degrade-
' tiou, i should be explained, is the severest and
most hemiliating punishment which can be awarded
under the French penal code. Before being shot, a
' prisoner thus sentenced is marched into the centre of a
square of soldiers, and all his insignia are successively
stripped elf him. His epaulettes are torn away,
l and trampled under foot by a drimmer ; hie
buttons are cut off with scissors; his star, if he have
! one, is pulled roughly from his breast, and as a crown-
• lug disgrace, his sword is broken by a sergeant, who
; shouts " Sol.liers, this is the sword of a coward and a
i felon l" Toe members of the Court, however, Mimed
• an appeal, for mercy to Marshal MacMahon, who has
I commuted the sentence to twenty years' imprisonms.d,

awl although Bazaine Is not to be publiclT atrlpperl of
°triers, he is to bear the penalty of their losr. His
blue home i$ tu be the island of Sr. Manittsrite, in
the Mediterranean, and as the once great Marshal of
Frsuce, mow a coudnonmaleftwtor, paces the sh Tes of
tits, tbiel-tsi sea, he t.ay ret j, ht s own person
he presents one of the soot e.tdllicUOUrl tristart-,s of
th, , ,ee,t,..ioty of f, rtuge whi, h hftel ever keen seen iu
of the WOI I ;. -