The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-10-29 00:00:00

IiTTPJ frrOTYPIIPTIWN orsturrft.

COMMENT,S ON CURRENT NEWS

WOODFORD seems destined to he the seene
of some of the most stirring incidents in the
listressing drama of Irish agitation. There,
only a few days ago, the Viceroy's proclama-
'irin
.was defiantly destroyed by fire at a
-aidnieht meeting of Nationalists. And
!iere it was 0141, Mr. W.lfrid Scawen Blunt
.eraved the ant herity of Deblin Castle, and
end.eavon*ed, despite prohilition, to preach
!Tome Rule to an excited populace. There
WAS sedation enough to make the fortune
of a Transpontine stage play in the picture of
the English extremist denouncing the police
Is a .pack of cowards who dare not arrest,
him,• and in the sulisecinent spectaele of the
lery politician lvinfr pale and panting on tie:
round, after his unequal strneerle with the
law's myrm.d .ns, hi; neck encircled by the
:Irm of his wife, the gifte:l granddaughter ot
Lord Bren. Lady Anne Blunt is a faithful
Awase to her restless-miaded husband. She
has stopi by him staunchly in many a
hexardeus adventure. And Mr, Blnat's has
heen a life of action. The master of the
oretty Sussex demesne of Crabbet-park is
hegt known to the puhlic as the honorary
champion of Arai Pasha and his swarthy
compatriots; btt hlore he trod the et- o'Ked
da,hs ol eiplomaey Mr. Blunt hid d sti..-
emisbecl himself as a traveller and as a fear-
less bull baiter in the arenas of Spain; and
his political career cannot be said to have
been of the humdrum order. It is not so
I-mg ago that he championed the cause of
,lionservatism in Camberwell, aryl was a hot
and eager personal onponentof Mr. Gladstone
•Lt every point. Then, throwing over the
Tory cluse completely, he helped to lann..h
t-.he Beiti,-h Home Hale Association. and ha. 4
-,:iza!_red his pungent'. pen since n furthering
ie prei,a4anda or Parnellism. Wirli char
teteri..tic carelessness of consequences to
,iniself, he went forth as a firebran,l 11!-
I .eland, with the r.r.stlit that we lay • this
week. Whether his wild flyieg Ifl t taco
of constituted autherity- is calculated to help
the object he has at hea,-t is a matter upon
which we do net care here to express an
opinion. The episode is, however, one which
die histo-iau of the faqir° will take nate
of.

THE so-called " unemployed" demons ra-
tiors have continned very mach en lig
in the metropolis this week, though there
are now not unwelcome signs of a subsi-
dence of Vie unruly gatherings. One corn-
, inentator on current events has registered a
strentums Objection to the right of the
ragged mob which has been parading the
street of the capital prostituting the in-
s'riritinx air of "The Union J ick of Old
Eng'anri" to a-rhyming ri-rmarole bewailin7
the woes of " The Starring Poor of frinclon"
—to the tiCe i:f " IThempl•-syed."
emplultrd,' comiders tins writer in a con-
temporrrs, is a term wh'ch would afford a
mote truthful description of the motley
gangs whe• have teen congregating in Hyde.park and i Tr.ifal 4i-Ir-square, who have
made 'startlingly impudent demands at
Scotland-yard, and who have terrified the
tradesmen of Piccadilly. Ce tainly the
demonstrators were last Sunday afternoon
ill-employed when they made the grand
old Abbey of Westminster, at the time
worship was progressin.r., the scene of such
a display of disgraceful behaviour as to
beggar all description. Disgusting. goings
on of this sort tend only to alienate public
symPathy from the really nec,.ssitons.
Happily, philanthropy refuses to be hOod-
win. ed by trot:wit-4y -hunting humbugs rind
their ill-conditioned following from the
slums of idleness and vice, ;and the Lord
Mayor of London and other infla 3ntial
suns are bugyinz themselves to !yang p:aeii
cal relief to those who are at once virall
and unfortunate. One cannot but be thank-
ful to the police authorities for the admir)ble
way in which they have outwitted the
m:ichinatioas of the ruillanly horde. To
keep disorder within due bounds has cos,t
the force a severe stniin and has occasioned
much anxi,ty to the Home S-creta-y, Sir
Charles ‘.lV:,rren, and every official con-
cerned.

SCOTLAND IS delighted to have again given
birth to a Royal J3ritish Princess. It was
until lately intended that the Court should
quit Deeside before the accouchment of the
Queen's youngest d ughter, but the idea was
abandoned; and thus Balmoral came to be
the place of nativity of her Majesty'a thirty.
sixth grandchild. Our Royal family is u•t-
mistakeably remarkable for its extent, there
being' no less thanithirty of the third gener-
ation living. Happiness and long lite to the
little stranger which has fit seen tie Jigit
in the jubilee year of the reign of its august
grandmother.

THE settlement, at one and the same time,
of the international controversy between
Britain and France as to the uetitralit.y of
the Suez Canal and the disputes concernin-i
tse New Hebriles is a 'natter for congratu-
lation, and the diplomacy of Lord Lyons,
vvhosi retirement is now fore:thadowe.', de—
serves all praise in connection with the close
of the two irritating questions. It is to be
earnestl) hoped that the end of diplomatic
dangers with reference to Polynesia and thc
status of the Canal will lead up to a better
feeling between ouraelves and our neigh-
bours regarding the greater crux of Egyptian
integral affairs, st;il a sore subject acrrss the
Channel, and one which any day may baeome
a easus bell.

THE pubrcation of the full text - f the
correspondence between the patriot.e Nizain
of Hyderabad and Lord DutTeriti con erning
the defences of the frontier of Indi .?).ivirte;
the particulars of the powerful netive
Prince's splendid offer of a contribltion of
R 600,090 towards strengthening our Empire
in the East ag:ilist the advane e. of e. jedons
foreign Pewee, give us a glinin4e of the
large-hearted leyalt:,- as wall as the magni-
ficence of the Oriental potentates who
acknowledge the k-aperial sbvar oc Victoria.
4.e Highness the Nizain, in time of peace,
thus ban isomely seeks to share the burden
of keeping India sa,t'a frem invasion ; and
asistr.es the Viceroy that his sword also may
be counted on should necessity call for its
U sheathing. En:.r,ishmen here as well as in
our great dependery.r seonld exert theme
'qs its to tighten that bond of union between
the Asiatic and European subjects of her
tjesty wh:ch is so satisfactvi:y proved to
exist by th's Indian P!•ince's letter.
What a
diffewice between the spirit displayed by
the Nizarn and the front shown by the
remsg-ade Dhuleep Singh, who this week,
in .41 letter to a London contemporary, signs
himself "Sovereign of the Sikh Nation and
itnplecable Foe ot Engetnd." Fortunately
the proud rebel wh has recently enjoyed, at
a time of pe,il to himself, !he hospitable
shelter of our sliores, is far from being as
representative of the Indian native attitu le
tvwards Britain as his Highness of flv: •r-
-aba I. Apropos of Ind 7.in:iefence, it is r
ing to note that II ; iia is agreeing with
England to joietly ct ider in an amic Ible
way . question of Cie Afghan frontier on
the . Oxus. his to be earnestly hoped
that
,joint commission talked of in diplu
matic eteles will not engage in the stndy of
the gegiphy of this 'i•li T:d let's
‘ll4 eied,:t4‘4AlMl V‘w W

Tnotron the offer of enormong rewards and
,Ira lengthened adjournment of the igquest
o the death of the poor fellows whd fel
victims to the great fire at Mr. Williart
W'nitele3's gigantic tradiug establishment iti
Westbournegrove, awhile ago have given Iv.
.3a.'isTactory solutiin to the question of ho%-•
io conflagratioti arose, some good m•IT

'»ssibly come from the rateration by th-
., wooer's jury of the generallv-accepte -
o Anion that :.he estabishment of a syst.tu
of pubde jadical ingnests into thu cause o!
iires is highly necessary. Surely fires in-
vAving immense loss to traders and privatf
individuals as well as insurance companies.
Ind maing for the mairtenance of expensive
are brigades should always be the subject of
searching investigation. As things are, if
!Of a town is destroyed for some maiign
purpose by any incendiary who can keep
own counsel, it is nobody's business, suppos-
ing life is not lost in the flames, to sift the
matter. A bill has been before Parliament
to remedy thi3 glaring, omission of the law,
bat the et!rna,l Irish qut•stion atd other
matters of " controversial character" so
engaged our Igi 1-. tors that the proposal
had to be (:ropped. Yet Captain :-.ltaw
avers, in his m ,st recent return that some
70.1 finis of unknown origin ocour every year
in London alone, and the proportion is
relatively as great in the provinces.