The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-02-26 00:00:00

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our foithn (forrtsponkut.

[Ws deem it right to state that we do not at all times
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.)

Many a time when people have heard Westminster
described as a city, they have been unable to account
for it. A city, as we understand the term in this
country, is the cathedral town of a bishop-fic ; but as
there was no b4...,h0p of Westminster, how could it be
officially called tvcity ? Well, at the dissolution of the
monasteries, Westminster Abbey was valued at £3,977
per annum, a much more considerable sum than it is

now. In 1539 Henry VIII. erected it into a deanery,
and in the following year made it a bishopric,
appointing one John Thirleby prelate. This right
rev. gentleman, however, appears to have wasted the
patrimony allotted by the King for the support of the
see, and having been translated to Norwich in 1570,
with him the bishopric of Westalipster ended. The
dean continued to preside until the accession of Mary,
who restored the abbot; but Elizabeth displaced him,

and made the abbey a collegiate church with a dean
and twelve prebendaries, and this arrangement still
continues. The position and emoluments of the Dean
of Westminster are, however, superior to those of
many a bishop who sits in the House of Lords;
he is the dean of the Order of the Bath, and
the building of which he as charge is the pride
and ornament not of London only, but of the
whole land. What country visitor to the metro-
polis returns without going to Westminster Abbey?
Its proper designation is the Cathedral Church
of St. Peter; so that when there was a see of
Westminster one of the metropolitan cathedrals was
named after St. Paul, and the other after St. Peter.
It seems strange that, in the creation of new bishoprics
from time to time, no attempt has been made to
relieve the See of London by appropriating a part oi
It to a diocese of Westminster. More strange is. it to
find that the vast metropolitan population south of
the Thames is in the diocese—not of London, but of
Winchester. Our fathers made the See of Winchester
out of the counties of Surrey and Hants, with the
Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands; and so it still
remains. You have but to cross from the north to the
eonth side of the Thames, and although you are still
In bustling London, you are tinder the episcopal rule
of a prelate whose ecclesiastical sway extends to
Portsmouth and Southampton, crosses the Solent and
embraces Ryde and Cowes, Shanklin and Ventnor,
Sandown and Osborne, and then stretching away over
• the restless waters of the English Channel to Jersey,
within sight of the coast of France, to Guernsey with
Its picturesque scenery, to tempest-beaten Alderney,
to the wild island of Sark, and to the lovely little
rocks known as Herm and Jethou. Indeed no diocese
in England presents so many singular contrasts in
population and scenery as that of Winchester.
Deputations to the Lord President of the Council on
the high price of meat are frequently reported in the
papers. What, it may be asked, has the fourth great
officer of State to do with the regulations affecting the
importation of cattle, seeing that his principal duty is
to preside at the Education office, and provide for the
instruction of the people? The work is, perhaps, a
little incongruous, but it is explained by the fact that
all such regulations are embodied in what is called
orders in Council, for which the Lord President is held
to be primarily responsible. This high functionary,
who is appointed under the great seal to attend the
person of the Sovereign, to manage the debates in
council, to propose matters from the Sovereign at the
council table, and to report the resolutions taken there-
upon. The position is usually filled by a peer, but
there is no legal bar to its being occupied by a member
of the House of Commons. In fact it was so occupied
during a portion of the Aberdeen Administration by
Lord John Russell, while one of the members for the
City of London.
Much interest has been excited by the announce-
ment of Her Majesty's new title, to be assumed in
consideration of the hearty reception of the Prince of

Wales in India; and more people have read the de.

bate upon that subject which took place in the House of
Commons than are generally found following the reports
of Parliamentary proceedings. If any Sovereign were
entitled to style herself Empress, it is Queen Victoria.
Hersf,is an empire, and not merely a kingchm ; in fact
the very heading in the newspapers, "Imperial Parlia-
ment," tells us that ours is the Parliament of an
empire, and not merely of our own little islands.
Many variations of the title have been suggested—for
instance, Queen of Great Britain and of India, Queen
of England and Empress of Hindostan, Queen of the
British Isles and Sovereign of India, and so on. An
objection has been made to the description "Empress
of Hindostan," on the ground that in that case the
Governor-General of India could not properly be called
Viceroy, which strictly interpreted means "Vice-King
—one who exercises viceroyal functions." It would be
awkward to say " Vice. Emperor," or to describe him
as being in possession of vice-imperial powers. There
does not, however, seem to be nsuch force in this. A
Viceroy is so called because he is the deputy or repre-
sentative of the Sovereign, whether Emperor or King;
and it would be quite as correct to speak of the Viceroy
of India if the Queen styled herself Empress of Hindo-
stan as it is now. Of the two titles that of King is
certainly the older. The word Emperor was originally
derived from Imperator, a ruler, and was conferred
upon victorious Roman generals. Augustus Cmsar
was the first Emperor of Rome ; then there were
Valens, Emperor of the East, Valentinian, Emperor
of the West, Charlemagne, Emperor of Germany,
Othman, Emperor of Turkey, Peter the Great, Em-
peror of Russia, Napoleons I. and hf., Emperors of
the French, and the present German Emperor. The
title has also been assumed by the rulers of Brazil,
Hayti, and Mexico, and poor Maximilian bore it
when he was slain at Queratara nearly nine years
ago.

The report of the Royal Commission on Vivisection
deals with a matter which has given rise to much con-
troversy during the past few years. How far is it per-
missible to practise experiments upon live animals for
the purpose of advancing the cause of medical science?
That is the point, and it is clear that recognised autho-
rities are by no means agreed upon it. Physiological
tests of this kind having much increased, the societies
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Dresden ;
and Paris in 1859 requested the opinion of a committee
if eminent scientific men on the merits of the know-
ledge thus acquired. Their judgment was not, how-
ever, unanimous. The London Society took up the
question in 1860, and printed a pamphlet by Mr. G.
Macilwain against vivisection. In August, 1862, an
international conference for the discussion of the sub-
ject was held at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. It
was again debated in 1866, when a prize was awarded
by the London Society. Sir Charles Bell's opinion of
vivisection was that it either obscured the sub-
ject it was meant to illustrate, or misled men
into practical errors of the most serious character.
Where doctors disagree, who is to decide? One eminent
snrgeon will contend that it is perfectly justifiable to
Inflict pain upon a dog or upon a buck in order to
ameliorate the suffering of the human race in certain
stages of accident or disease; another tells you that
the physiological development of the animal and the
nature of its constitution are totally different from
those of man, and that the torture of a dog in the in-
terests of science is a thoroughly gratuitous and useless
act, utterly valueless for its intended purpose. Mani-
festly, therefore, the ordinary lay mind can but form
a conclusion upon the basis of its own intellect.
Many have often been inclined to ask what are now
the use of the City Guilds, which are of Saxon origin,
and were at one time associations of inhabitants of towns
for mutual benefit. In some degree they'resembled our
friendly societies, and were first chartered by the
Sovereign in the time of Henry 11. A large number
of corporate towns to this day possess their Guildhall,
namely a large and commodious place for the assemb-
ling of the Guild. But the principal object of the
establishntent of the City Companies—the Goldsmiths,
the Fishmongers, the Mercers, the Saddlers, the
Grocers, the Spectacle-makers, the Turners, the Mer
chant Taylors, the Fruiterers ,the Vintners, and all the
rest of them, was to maintain the rights of theirrespeetive
trades and handicrafts. To a great extent the original
necessity for the formation of these guilds no longer
exists, and as some of them, such as the Goldsmiths, are
enormously wealthy, they oclasionally find it difficult
to say what shall be done with their moiley. Mr.
Gladstone, who has just been admitted to the freedom
of the Turners' Company, tells them to devote no
inconsiderable portion of their funds to the promotion
of technical education. That is very good advice, and
whether it is adopted or not, one benefit which these
companies occasionally confer upon the community is
to elicit a speech from an eminent man when they give
him their honorary freedom. The art of turning, to
which Mr. Gladstone denotes some of his recreation,
Is one of great antiquity. The invention of the lathe
is ascribed to Talus, the grandson of Dmdalus, about
1,240 years before the Christian era. Pliny; however,
claims the credit of it for Theodore of Samos, who
lived about 600 years B.C. At all events, suppose it
to have been in existence five-and-twenty centuries,
that, as will be admitted, is a very respectable age for
an invention to attain.
Would you be inclined to describe Chess as an intel-
lectual labour, or as a recreation and amusement ?
Opinions must differ with the calibre of the player, for
that which to some men would be a toil and a great
expenditure of brain power, is to others—to use a
familiar illustration—child's play. That the proper
Playing at chess requires a considerable exercise of
mental force, admits, however, of no doubt. Just now
there is being played at the West End Chess Club
a match which is to decide the Champion-
ship of England. The ar
comp titors Messrs.
Steinitz and Blaokburne, and the ewinner
of
the first seven games is to be the victor. The match