The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1876-05-20 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

WCU.jiur 111 tau iiriitsit ioiands, where fur wow kis in bIICCU,SIUIi there are °hen glu,m,y skied and chilly ad W. 111.18. indeutt tile. clutiretiSing nature of the weather is often suiti co as to retard tut: recovery of a hiCk person ,i,Lh, 11.,,ti011 of. Lite W. .4 1 u UL.Lt Uuu,ia,' Ch. il LW' ‘C.l*. lOW rit), of *airtight alter a: tuLig"Lbpeil of giooln  are of more service than the prescription of the yo,e4 experienced physician. But so fierce is t Indiao son and so ourelieved and persistent i s Ll:re that, so far from its operating I) upon those who have passed their th,, nie, it works in the very mid it equently inflicts serion,4 :f n p,rruanent constitutional injury. Fortunately the Prince of Wales has escaped a danger which has followed many Europeans. Of course, from first to last he has had the best medical attendance, but all the professional advice in the world would not have availed if his constitution hqd not been sufficiently strong to stand the Indian climate.  There was another danger present to the i minds of many who heard that the Prince of Wales was going to India, and that was by no means a remote one. Although British rule has ; heid away in India now for upwards of a century, there is still a great deal of religious bigotry and fanaticism in what is called the gorgeous East. Vast numbers amongst those two hundred and forty millions of natives, particularly in the unenlightened classes, look upon the European as an oppressor of whom it is an honour to be rid, even by assassieation. A little more than years 4 ago no I as a personage than tae Viceroy himself, the Earl of Mayo, Ml a victim to this hatred of what is looked upon as a fortin and alien yoke. Then again there was the fate of Chief Justice Norman, who was slain upon the steps of the Court House at Calcutta by one of the natives. The poor intellectual development of these people does not enable them to look at assassination in the same light as that in which it is regarded in civilized !ands. We speak of it as a crime which deseries the severest punishment known to human justice, for instead of meeting an enemy in a fair and open field, and giving him a chance of defending himself against an expected attack, the assassin stabs the object of his hatred in the back, and comes upon him like a thief in the night, taking him at every possible disadvantage, and allowing him no opportunity of striking a blow in defence of his life. There is no crime so detested in this country as that of assassination ; but the untutored Hindoo, who looks upon the white sahibs ac his natural enemies, would glory in a crime which we brand with infamy, and regard as being of the most dastardly character. The more exalted in rank the personage whew he slew, the greater the glory to himself, gnd the greater the hero amongst his fellow-fanatics. It was a grand thing to despatch a Viceroy ; but it would have been an infinitely greater honour on the part of a swarthy murderer to have slain a Prince of the blood-royal. Fortunately, the precautions which were taken to guard the person of the Heir-Apparent in his long tour proved successful. He entered and left city after city in the most perfect safety—not that the populations are generally disaffected, but there were undoubtedly some places in which a fanatical Mussulu3an or Hindoo would not have hesitated for a moment to strike down the Prince of Wales if he had had the chance of doing so. Happily, there has not even been an attempt of anything of this kind to mar the pleasure of the journey. 'Die perils of the climate, the possible dangcr from the freak of a monomaniac, and that arisiug from the chase of will and savages animals. have all been safely surmounted, and after wandering over many thousand miles by sea and land, a successful tour through our Indian Empire was appropriately closed by a wa:ra reception in the mother country. The pomp, the grandeur, and the luxury of the East may have been wanting both in Portsmouth and in London on the Prince's arrival, but of the heartiness of the welcome there can be no doubt. A journey undertaken, not without anxiety, has gone off well in every sense of the word ; and there are others besides the Prince's immediate relatives who are glad to see him back again ; ready to take part in those public engagements in which he plays so skilful and prominent a part.