The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-03-16 00:00:00

RECIPROCITY OF INFLUENCE.

Under the title of "The National Thanksgiving"
the Dean of Westminster hag reprinted three sermons
preached in Weitminster Abbey, the first on the illness
of the Prince of Wales, the second on his recovery, and
the third on the Sunday after the Thanksgiving Set'
vice in St. Patin:. In the third of these eermons
occurs the following paseage, which is worthy of
wide circulation. After speaking of the duties of the
Crown to the nation, the Dean proceeds
But it this be what we expect from the Throne, let us
ask ourselves what the Monarchy, what the Empire, what
the world expects from us. It is the glory of England that
If the welfare of the Prince is the welfare of the people, not
less is the wellbeing of the people the only safeguard of the
well-bring of the Prince. It is not with us, as in some
Eastern or despotic States, where the Royal House dwells
apart, withdrawn from all the surrounding influences of the
country or the age in which their foils cast. The breath of
public opinion, .1 good or evil example, in our mixed and
varied society, rises upwards as much as it descends down-
wards. It is LI our power, in the power of the people of
England, to drag down the Throne, even in spite of itself,
to the level, if so be, of our own meanness, triviality, or
self-indulgence, as it is, thank God, also In our power, by
the purity of our homes, by the sincerity and the loftiness
of our purposes, to create the atmosphere in which the
Throne must become pure and lofty, because it cannot help
receiving the influences which ascend to it from below and from
around. We, by raising up a constant succession of just,
uptight, loyal, singlemioded citizens, of enlightened and
energetic teachers, of far. seeing and unselfish statesmen,
form a body-guard around the Royal House of England,
even as the statues and monuments of famous Englishmen in
this Abbey stands like a guard of honour round the shrines
which contain the dust of our Princes and our Kings. Any
breach in that sacred line of honest English hearts, any
failure of duty, of vigilance, or of faithfulness on our part
lays open the way for the destroyer to come in and lay waste
the innermost sanctuary of the State itself. Our prayers.
our thanksgivings, if they are to last beyond the passing
moment, must take the shape, not of idle flattery or fond
endearments, but of stern requirements of duty both from
others and from ourselves.
o We justly look down with mingled indignation and con-
tempt on the miserable outrage against the Gracious Majesty
of these realms. We are accustomed to regard with scorn
the handful of misguided men who seek to win popular
favour by appeals to the prejudices, the passions, and the
Ignorance of the people. But let as remember that these
are not the only or the chief dangers against which tire
nation is bound to protect the Throne. If there be, as there
have been in other times and in other countries, those who,
hovering round the footsteps of the great, either for their
own sel&h ends, or from mere weakness and complaisance,
or from mere vanity of vanities, strive to serve them by
smoothing the path to sin, by making a mock at goodness, by
hiding the unwelcome truth, or repeating the welcome false-
hood—if there be any who, under the guise of friend., play
the part of tempter and evil counsellor, who lie in wait for
every occasion to flatter, to indulge, and to corrupt—if
there be any such anywhere, these, far more than wild fana-
tics or the feeble parasites of the multitude, these are the
real traitors, thereat enemies of Sovereign, Prince, and people
all alike. It is for the growth of such as these that we,
the nation of England, are, in great measure, responsible
before Ciod and man. They are bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh. It is by our levity, if so be, that characters
such as these are encouraged in their wretched folly, as it
is by our firmness that they are discouraged and cowed.
They come out when the moral atmosphere has been made
dark around them, wherein all the beasts of the forest creep
forth for their prey.' But when the sun ari.th,. when
the bright burning light of .sound public opinion is brought
tom bese upon thorn, • they get themselves together, and lay
them down again in their dens.'
"On these, then, and such as these, whosoever they be,
men or women, high or low, the Day of Thanksgiving Is or
ought to be a Day of Doom. Against these, and such as
these the nation is called upon to echo the voice of most
j just udgment, that goes up from every honest heart. Ou
these, if on any human being whatever, Christian society,
English society, ought to place its deliberate ban, its numbs- I
takable mark of righteous indignation. Whatever may have
been before, yet now, if after the experience of these never-to-
be-forgotten weeks and days—if, after this solemn recognition
of the value of our great institutions, of the incalculable Im-
portance of the character of our rulers—if, after this, the
nation relaxes its hold on the high ...ton, which has thus
been marked out, our last state shall indeed be worse than
our first. If, alter this, any such a. I have described shall
be found betraying, misleading, ensnaring those whom by
every call, human and divine, they are bound to lead into
all good and keep from all evil, such, if there be any such,
deserve the contempt of man and the vengeance of God, as
among the meanest, or the weakest, or the most detestable
St mankind."
A ROUGH VOYAGE.

The steamer New York, of the North-German line,
experienced on last her trip atm Bremen to New York
weather seldom met with in the Atlantic (says the
New York nmes). The New Yerk left Bremen on tits
27th of January with a full cargo and some MO
paasengers. On the let of February a gale that
eventually led to a hurricane set in and lasted through-
out the greater part of the voyage. On the 6th tbra
barometer fell to an extraordinarily low degree.
Captain Von lemeter, who was on deck at the time,
ordered all sails to be furled and the hatches battened
down. This was done, and not a minute too soon, asin a
few seconds the wind hurled the sea over the vowel.
Three days the hurricane continued. On the 9th, the
storm having lulled, the first Alm of thesteamer, Mr.
Anderson, ordered several sailors aloft, and Christian
Schmidt, while descending, lost his Warms and was
crushed to death by falling against the guards of the
deck. The passengers, temfied by the force of the
storm, commingled together, despite the laws of the
ship, and refused to be separated: On the night of
the 10th, while Captain Von Emote:, the int officer,
sad a Germ= lady from Ilarabaig were Weediri OIS