The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-03-28 00:00:00

Our Pinball Corresponbcd.
(We deem ft right to stato that we do not at all Utiles
identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

How much the affairs of Egypt continue to
occupy public attention has again been shown by
the publication of Lord Northbrook's report, or
rather by the space given to it in the daily
papers, and by the discussions in Parliament
night after night on the International Financial
Convention, which has been concluded in the
hope of placing on a better basis the finances of
that unfortunate land. Egypt seems to be very
much in the position of another ancient empire,
which singularly enough is also in trouble just
'now—the empire of China. Three thousand
years ago the one in Asia and the other in
Africa may be said to have represented the
civilisation of the world. That of the Chinese
more especially was of a very high order, but the
arts and the learning of the Egyptians were of a
higher order. Both were flourishing and great
nations centuries before the founding of Rome,
and as to England and France' these were in-
habited by untutored peoples then known as
Britons and Gauls. It is interesting to note
that although China has not receded, as Egypt
has most decidedly, it has certainly not advanced;
indeed the days of Confucius, Mencius, and
other Chinese philosophers do not seem likely to
return. But it is the land of the Pyramids
which shows the most marked retrogression.
Some nations perish utterly, like Babylon and
Carthage; others exist only to decay, and to be
mere shadows of their former glory, like Persia
and Egypt; and of the two the latter is un-
doubtedly the mournful spectacle.
Seldom have the people of London been more
surprised then when, on awakening on Sunday
morning, they found the streets and squares of
the metropolis "dumb with snow." It was the
heaviest fall since the great storm of January,
1881, when snow enveloped the whole of the
islands of Britain, from the Shetlandn to the
Lizard, and from the mountains of Wicklow to
the bleak shores of Connaught. The fall in the
present case was all the more unexpected,
because after a continuance of north-east winds,
Saturday, the day of the vernal equinox, was cha-
racterised by a grateful breeze from the south-
west, and we were looking forward to brighter
and more genial times. Suddenly in the night
the north-easter returned with the result already
stated. The fourth week of March is, however, too
late for snow to remain long upon the ground;
the sun is above the horizon twelve hours, and a
very speedy thaw set in which created much in-
convenience and considerable interruption to the
traffic.
The Easter recess, so far as the House o
Commons is concerned, is to be a short one, from
the 31st of March to the 9th of April. This is
barely more than a week; but it must be re-
membered that Parliament met late on the 19th
February, and will therefore not have been in
session six weeks at the time of the adjourn-
ment. In the present case the House will
really not be clear of business until the Wednes-
day, so that to reassemble on the Thursday
week following that time to include Good
Friday and Easier, will not allow members long
to commune with their constituents. The Lords
always take a more lengthened vacation and
from the 27th March to the 13th April will
enable the peers to enjoy themselves at their
respective country seats. Earl Granville has a very
pleasant place at Walmer Castle, an official resi-
dence assigned to him as Lord Warden of the
Cinque Forts. Lord Salisbury's residence at
Hatfield is one of the most palatial in England,
with a wide-reaching park miles in extent; and
when one estimates the turmoil and the vexation
-of political life, it is obvious at the same time
-that it must have some singular fasci-
-nation for men who could so thoroughly enjoy
the world in another way.
, Lord Thurlow's resolution in the House of
:lords in favour of the opening of the National
'History Collection at South Kensington on
•iSunday afternoons ended in a very curious way,
7-which does not often happen in either House-
- :/-11 tie—sixty-four peers voting on either side. The
sul t illustrated a remarkable difference in the
Ariocedure of peers and Commons in such a case.
the Commons the Speaker never v otes
xcopt when the numbers are equal, and then his
-decision is governed strictly by rule. It is
-against the proposition in order to give the
House an opportunity of reconsidering the ques-
tion at some future day. With the peers this is
-not so. The Lord Chancellor always votes, and
in the case of a tie he has no second vote. The
not-contents therefore prevail, and in the pre-
sent instance, through this result, the amend-
ment to the resolution was carried without
opposition, declaring in favour of opening the
National collections an extended number of
hours three evenings a week.
The University crews have had very lumpy
water since they came up to practice on the
Thames. One does not expect to witness sea
waves between Putney and Mortlake, at least
fifty miles from the mouth of the river; but the
-crews have gone to work in what has been
described as a "veritable sea." The tideway
-which rushes up from the German Ocean must
be of enormous force to possess the strength of
-a mill-stream so far from its base. A melancholy
illustration of the power of the tide in the well-
known metropolitan river was furnished onry a
few evenings previously through the upsetting
of a pleasure-boat at London-bridge by a very
large wave, apparently fresh from the sea, with
-the attendant loss of three lives.
The eighty-eighth birthday of the German
Emperor was celebrated on Sunday in Berlin with
much rejoicing. The aged monarch, who can
-well remember the battle of Jena, and who
entered Paris with the allied sovereigns when
Napoleon was sent to Elba in 1814, was in the
French capital as the late Emperor's guest at the
Exposition of 1867, and less than four years
-afterwards, when his former host was his prisoner
• of war, he once more entered Paris, this time as
a conqueror. When war was declared by France
against Prussia in July, 1870, the King, as he
then was, hurried to Berlin from Ems, and on
.arriving in his capital was received by an enor-
mous multitude which greeted him with extra-
ordinary enthusiasm. He was then 73 years of
age, but set out himself at the head of the vast
armies of Germany to repel the French invasion,
the tide of which was soon rolled back, and before
the end of the year one empire in Europe had
ceased to exist, and another had arisen, Pheenix-
like from its ashes.
A strong tribute to the work of the Royal
National Lifeboat Institution was paid on
- Saturday, when, at the annual meeting, Sir
• Stafford Northcote, in moving the appointment
of the officers for the ensuing year, spoke highly
of the results of the labours of this organisation
and of those who direct its operations. It is
•ioften the practice to announce the names of
distinguished men as having promised to address
an audience; but frequently these find other
engagements too pressing for their attendance.
Saturday, however, released the Opposition
leader from his Parliamentary duties, and he
:spoke gracefully and appropriatelyupon a subject
-which must commend itself to the sympathies of
4111 who know anything of the dangers of the
sea, and of the value of the lives of our sailors to
a maritime people.