The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1866-12-15 00:00:00

Oar youbou Corrtspoubtnt.

(We deem it right to state that we donnt at all times identi4
lamely/a with our correspondent's opintona J

There bas been a good deal of talk lately &boa a
, rumoured split in the Cabinet on the Reform question,
but it is apparently all founded on speculation. Not-
withstanding the somewhat startling doubt expressed
by the Horn jog IL roll, whether Ministers have yet
discussed a Reform Bill, the prevailing opinion, which
is probably the correct one, is that they hare decided
on bringing in such a bill, and the only questions are
what sort of a bill will it be' And will Ministers be
able to carry it ? I think I have read mostmfithe
principal utterances of the most reliable journals on
s-tk topic, and I have the satisfaction of being just as
wise as before. In fact it is a subject that no one
6uteide the Cxbinet knows anything shout, and it Is
pug, for that reason, perhaps, that speculations are so
• 11:1UITIPr011..

The ettiateat d;ffictilty againd which onr Govern-
. mint }MR to contend is, beyond all doubt, Fenianiem. I
The state of Ireland ie in fact anch "as to give great
alarm to her friends." A large proportion of the
lower classes throughout the country are disaffected,
and either directly or indirectly asaist l'enianism ;
I but, on the other hand. the trading and upper elaeregi
look upon it as a dangerous enemy to Ireland herself,

and are as anxious as we in this country can be that
Ireland should be rid of this moral pestilence. And
the.general impression seems to be that our Govern-
• rnent are taking the wiseat step, to put it down. To
crush out Fenianism is the present mission of our
• hinne authorities, but when this is done—or perhaps
•, before the work is acoomplished—something ought to
be done to ameliorate her condition. Legislation
cam do much towards the pacification of the
4 Emerald Isle, and whatever can he done ought to
I be' done speedily. Tlie Queen's Speech will be
lenvinusliscanneri to see what is said on two subjects
---,--lUform and Fenianism, and it is earnestly to be
a ,aibored that there tow be some intimation of those
legislative measures on which so much of the happi-
nes, of the clumtry will depend.
"The Tteforrn League have abandoned their intention
to hold a large open-air meeting before the commence.
men't of the Session and are now contemplating con-
vening one after the opening of Parliament. Put
peanwhile there is a talk of a demonstration during
the Christmaa holidays. L for one, hope it may end
itgtalk. Enough ham now been dono, I think, to show

' the earnestness of the working men in the cause of
'Reform, and it is a pity that trade should be further
disturbed by any more of these demonstration,. The
money that was /ose during the last demenstration—lost
either,to masters or men, or both, must have been enor-
MMUS. And trade certainly requires nothing just now
to fender it duller than it is. The unsettled state of
Ireland, and I think I may add, the unsettled state
of our own country, °wog to the Reform agitation,
have produced bad effects. e'rmanlainte are heard
from wholesale as well as retail traders. It is
necessarily a rather dull time of the year however,
and hopes are entertained that when Christmas has
. ,turned there will he a revival of trade.
We are all familiar with the great truth that has
beep expressed by poets and philosophers in so many
ways for instance by Horace, Pallid's Mors sequo
pulset.pede peuperum lebernas rely mque form: and
on the tomb of Theodore, Ring of Corsica (who
acheduled his kingdom in the Bankruptcy Court)
Death, the wrest tesctie,. to a 'reel Mines
Heroes and Peasants, rellevalsves and kings.
And equally familiar are we with the fact that many
of the minor miseries of life affect prince end peasant
alike. The Prince of Wa/ee may he held up as "an
awful example "of thin. Coming from Cafilill to Dover
he was dreadfully sea-sick. Now be it known unto all
whom it may concern, supposing they do not know it
already, that althongh sea-sickness is one of the most
miserable affUctinne, for the time, that a mortal can
have, nobody pities the said mortal. The general
feeling--or want of feeling—amongst those who don't
stiffer from the mat de mer was well hit off some yearn
ago by Punch. Scene, the deck of a steamer ; Jones
looking wretched and evidently commencing to
be eesick ; Brown, who never suffers, Paces
the deck quite jolllilv and SIMI to Jones.
"Don't feel well! Try la cigar." Tableau. Now it I
was almost as unkind of the Doveritee, when the
Prince landed pale and ill to receive him with a gums'
of honour, the band playing the National Anthefn,
But perhape his Royal Highness heartily forgave
them in consideration of their kindness in not present.
ing him with an address.
The Judicial Commission on the Neutrality Laws
, which has jturt been appointed will have a most
arduous and important work before it. It is stated
that the Government intend to act on the report of
the Commissioners "whether it be pleasant to certain
parties or not." If An. the result of the deliberations
of the Commission will be anxiously looked for, insp.
much as the usually vague phrase "certain parties"
, means the claims of Arrerica in reference to the
.47(thama. The tone of the President iu his message,
and the attitude of the American press on the matter,
combine to prove how important will be the decigien
to which the Commissioners may arrive.
It is not plepeant to hear that the Board of Trade
have net suspended the beetle of their cautionary
storm warnings, for it is • proof that for all practical
purposes the system of the late Admiral Fitzny, whit-
ever its value may have been when worked by himself,
is of no value in other hands, In spite of all our
meteorological observations, in spite of our learned
societies—several of which make the weather their I
special study—spite of our weather prophets with
their various crotchets and their doubtful pre- 1
dictions—we seem to be almost as far as ever
.from any practical knowledge an to the coming
weather, except for the immediate future —a day, We
will as,, or two days at the most. Perhap, the All.
wise Creator ham decreed that we never shall be able to
predict the weather; but whether the tree predictions
of ensuing storms is or is not to be among the die- I
coveries of the future, certain it is that we have ad-
vanced very little towards weather-prediction at
present, and we may well call to mind Cowper's words,
that

Knowledge Is proud that he has learnt corncob;
Wisdom ts humble that he know. no more.
We have all noticed bow tender are jnrien of the I
II memory or the repntation of the dead. When they
sit in "Crewmen.' Quest" on the body of a person who I
has committed suicide, their tendency always in to
bring in s verdict of temporary inaanity, and the I
pablio, whatever may be the inner opinion, if! may so
exiirese it, look kindly on the verdict. Juries and
pritslic are In fact alike governed by the motto De
mortvis nil Ms, forum. lint now and then a jnry
will bring in a verdict of felo.cle-Re, or self-mnrder.
Cuatom, and I believe law also, thereupon decides
that the suicide shall be buried at midnight without
th • rites of Christian burial. The custom used to be
. , that the body wan bnried between crom made at mid-
night, that a stake shonld he driven through the body,
and that no service should be read over the cornea.
It Is quite time that thin barbarous custom should be
wholly aboliabed, but we have just had much a acene
as this partially enacted. William George Williams,
a clerk, was decided by a coroner's jury to have been
a telo-de•se, and this necemitated the coroner giving
directions that he should be buried at midnight
without Christian rites. The scene of the burial
ii so admirably described in the Star that I4TIRt
aidx to be allowed to quote part of it :—"
Aut
$ nine o'clock at night a common marltet Cart,
drawn by an old horse, emerged from-the hospital
gates. The end of a deal 'wan hung over the
tailboard, and the name • WiltimPts written on
it with a piece. of chalk, showed that it con.
Seined the body of the suicide. In the enure. of
. •
an hour the cart, with its burden, was drawn up on
the highway alongside a hedge at Norwood. The
nbitit watchman at the cemetery was called, and in-
formed of the busineas on hand. The functionaries at
the cemetery were just going to bed, and were com-
pletely taken by surprise by the production of the war-
rant for an immediate burial so late at night, for a
cam of the kind had not occurred there for twenty-six
years. Mr. Gardener, the superintendent, sent men.
• irgers to the neighbouring pnblic.honse, and was
fortnnate enough to find two grave diggers there.
These men were promptly net to work to dig a
grave a the annth-east corner of the cemetery., be-
neath come lime tree& When the grave was deep
enough, the cart, which had been left out on the high.
road, WM driven into the (rewinds. The men uncere-
moniously lifted the coffin from the cart, and, guided
by the flickering light of the lanthorns, carried It to
he roughly•marle grave. The excavation wan longer I
than the coffin, and at either end near the bottom a I
candle wag stnck into the earth, where, screened from
the wind, which blew strongly, and whistled through
the teem, they cut a sickly light upon the yellow
clay. The coffin wee lowered into its place by means
of ropes, the earth was instantly shovelled in and
it amped down, the HOU, were put Oat, and all was
over." It will naturally occur to the reader that if the
c ironer could order that no stake should be need he
might also have ordered that the burial should take
place in the daytime. Is there, I would ask,
any absolute law which makes much a burial
compulsory? I cannot believe, at all event,, that any
coroner would be blamed either by government or the
public, who should entirely contravene such a law
even if it do exist. It is wholly opposed to the spirit
of the MMUS age, and ought to be abolished.

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