The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-01-15 00:00:00

E4t (stoutki4ge etratber.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 1876.
THE MARCH OF EYENTS.

While the country is waiting to hear what her
aj ety Ministers will have to say to the as-
ambled Parliament on the Bth of February, it
is interesting to look back if only for a brief
apace; and if we take but ten years, we can see
a mighty difference between now and then. In
the month of January, 1866, Earl Russell had
bat just succeeded to the Premiership a second
time, for Lord Palmerston had not been dead a
quarter of a year. It seems longer ago that the
voice of the cheery old man was heard in the
Mouse of Commons, but merely a decade has
waned away. When the aged Statesman had
been laid in his grave, both political parties. by
somtnon consent, threw aside the calm which

had settled down upon them during the later
years of Lord Palruarston's life, and when Par-
liament met in February, 1866, it was evident
that a time of keen party conflict was again at
hand. Ths roof of the legislative hall was once
more to resound with the triumphant shout of
the Ministerialists, or the ringing cheer of the
Opposition. The session which followed was
one of the most stormy that had been witnessed
for years, and before its close the Conservatives
had succeeded the Liberals as advisers of the
Crown. The ensuing session saw the enactment
of an extensive scheme of Parliamentary Re-
form, which was first put into operation at the
general election of 1868. The verdict then

• -liven was reversed in 1874, in both instances the
majorities being greater than had been returned
under the restricted franchise in existence be-
fore the passing of the Reform Act of 1867. So
far as home politics are concerned, these ten
years have witnessed five Administrations—Earl
Russell, Lord Derby, Mr. Disraeli, Mr. Glad-
stone, and now again, Mr. Disraeli. This fact
proves, if proof were needed, that the political
pendulum is constantly upon the swing, and that
the political wheel of fortune is not long content
to stand still.
In foreign affairs the changes have been vastly
more marked than at home. Early in 1866 the
Continental journals began to publish little
serape of rumours respecting the conferences
between the Emperor Napoleon and Count Bis-
marck daring their stay at Biarritz in the previ-
ous autumn. Napoleon was a great man at that
time. but Count Bismarck was not on his pre-
sent pedestal, and such was the reputation of
the Emperor for profound sagacity that the con-
elusion was at once drawn that in any arrange-
ment he may have to come to with Count Bis-
marck, the balance of advantage would be on the
aide of France. There were many speculations
as to what these two men could haie had to
talk about, but before the year was many months
old, it yes apparent enough. As the spring de-
veloped into summer, Prussia and Austria came
to blows as to which of these two powers should
have the supremacy in Germany; and by a de-
cisive and brilliant campaign, the superiority of
Prussia was placed beyond a doubt. The North
German Confederation was called into existence;
and the Emperor Napoleon's doctrine of "na-
tionalities " was found to be rather inconvenient
when brought home to his own frontiers. A
disunited Germany had in bygone dayd fallen an
easy prey to Franca; bat a powerful confedera-
tion of States banded together for one common
object might prove too much for the strength of
France, as it did truly enough four years later.
France regarded with an eye of great jealousy
the rise of a military people at her very doors
which might become a rival in the adjustment of
European affairs. So the gLuperor, in defer-
ence to public opinion. addrassed a communica-
tion to Coant Bismark, rewinding him of the
great acquisition of territory made by Prussia,
and suggesting that now was the time to carry
out the Biarritz understanding, and Prussia
might as well cede to France those fair provinces
upon the Rhine which would make that river a
natural boundary between the two nations. Bis-
marck, however, was too astute to cede German
territory to France, so he repudiated the exist-
ence of any understanding whatever, and France,
while swallowing the mortification, prepared for
the great conflict of 1870, which ended in such
disastrous results. Germany, which ten years
ago was a mere ger,grapical expression, is now a
Federated Empire; and France of which was then
the foremost nation upon the Continent, is now
little more than a second-rate power in Europe.
Then as to our kinsmen across the Atlantic.
What have they been doing during the past de-
cade? The beginning of 1866 found them but
slowly recovering from the gigantic civil war
which had lasted four years, and had been
i
brought to a close only n the previous summer.
The Americans were then in a high state of irri-
tation against ourselves, not
.altogether without
reason, and this went on until all cause of con-
tention was removed by the Geneva arbitration.
They have paid off a large proportion of the
debt incurred during the war, and in this respect
have shown the rest of the world what a young,
flourishing, and vigorous country can do. The
people of the United States are now preparing
for a peaceful invasion during the year which
has just dawned. They will celebrate the cen-
tenary of the Declaration of Independence by
such an International kxhibition at Philadelphi
as the world has never yet seen. In a singl-
century the progress which they have made sur
passes that of many a nation which was fonnded
centuries ago, and the ingenuity and enterprise
of the American people has become proverbial.
Well may they be proud of their vast continent,
their mighty rivers, their boundless plains, their
suaguifieeut lakes, and their rapidly increasing
cities. The place selected for this exhibition is
a most appropriate o.ie. It is to be held in the
,City of Brotherly Love, and let us hope that the
latest of these gatherings will be a precursor of
that which wois hoped ag a couao(inence of oar
own Hyde Park Exhibition of 1851—an era of
solid peace amongst the nations of the earth.

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