The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-12-29 00:00:00

SATURDAY, 1)1,',O. 29, 1883

RETROSPECT

OF THE YEAR 1883.

The year which is now go tear its close, although
not signalised by wars of geeet magnitude on either
continent, or by extraordinary political commotions in
either the eastern or the western hemisphere, has wit-
nessed many an incident well worth recalling before
we bid farewell for ever to 1883 as a period of actual,
moying, and existent time. Events move with such
great rapidity in these modern days that the memory
of circumstances only a few mouths old is often liable
to be forgotten when overshadowed in importance by
occurrences of more recent date. It is, therefore,
always well, before parting with the old year, briefly
to glance over those objects that have passed before
the mental vision, some of which individually may at
the time have been regarded as of little interest, but
all of which have collectively gone to make up a page
In the world's history. The retrospective path this
time is not a long one, so we make no apology in ask-
ing on readers to accompany us over so short a
section of these annals of our time.
The year has witnessed many circumstances of
interest, more especially in connection with the Royal
Family. On the 25th January was celebrated the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the marriage of the Crown
Prince and Princess of Germany, which, although the
festivities were chiefly confined to Berlin, did not pass
without considerable notice in this country. A
month later— on the 25th February—as illustrating
the flight of time as the march of events has affected
the Queen's youngest as well as her eldest child, a
daughter was born to the Duchess of Albany, which was
christened Alice Mary Victoria Augusta Pauline. The
month of May was an even bsier one than usual for the
Heir-Apparent, On the 3rd he laid the memorial stone
of the Indian Institute at Oxford; on the 7th ha opened,
the Royal College of Music, and on the 12th he per-
formed a similar ceremony at the International
Fisheries Exhibition at South Kensington, which,
after a wonderfully successful career, was closed by
his Royal Highness on the 31st October. On the 2nd
November the Duke and Duchess of Connaught left
London for India, his Royal Highness having been
appointed to the command of the Meerut division,
while three days later the Princess Louise and the
Marquis of Lorne arrived in England on the comple-
tion of his lordship's viceroyalty in Canada, which had
extended over a period of five years. Notwithstanding
an accident to the Queen early in the year, which
caused much local pain and trouble, her Majesty's
general health has remained good, and in the 65:h
year of her age and the 47th of her reign she still rules
over a loyal and contented people.
. The meeting of Parliament was fully a week later
than usual. The prorogation did not take place until
the 2nd December preceding, and it was felt that the
middle of February would be a reasonable time for
beginning the business of the Legislature, In the
short winter recess both the Prime Minister and the
Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons
had been advised to go to the South of France
for rest as well as for change of air and scene;
and although Sir Stafford Northcote was back
in time for the opening of Parliament, it was not
until some days afterwards that Mr. Gladstone took
his seat as the central figure of the Treasury Bench.
The debate on the Address, as has been customary
In recent years, was prolonged over several nights,
three amendments being successively brought forward
and negatived. Thus, Mr. Arthur Balfour wished in
this way to express regret that the war in Egypt had
not been avoided ' • but this was rejected by 179 to 144.
Mr. Gond moved an amendment conveying a hope
that the existing policy of the executive in Dublin
would be maintained; and this was defeated by 259 to
to 176. Then Mr. Parnell brought forward one con-
demning the administration of the Crimes Act, and
bringing charges against the Irish Executive which
the House of Commons, by a majority of 135 to 15,
declared not to have been proved. The House at
length disposed of the Address, and settled down to
the discussion of some of the measures which had been
promised in Her Majesty's Speech.
It was not long before an experiment was tried of
referring heavy bills to Grand Committees for the
constitution of which provision had been made in the
new Rules of Procedure passed by the House at the
previous autumn sitting. To one of these bodies was
referred the Bankruptcy Bill and the Patent Law
Amendment Bill, and to the other measures for the
Reform of the Criminal Code and for constructing a
new Court of Criminal Appeal. Mr. Chamberlain, as
President of
.the Board of Trade, had charge of the
former, and the Attorney-General of the latter.
Whatever might have been the cause, there can be no
question that the commercial committee was far more
successful in its labours than that which was com-
posed mainly of legal members from both sides of the
House. Mr. Chamberlain got both his measures through,
but the Court of Criminal Appeal Bill, after passing the
ordeal of the Grand Committee, was abandoned in the
House,because there was no time at the end of the ses-
sion to consider it, while the Criminal Code Bill never
emerged from the committee at all. From the fact,how-
ever, that so important a statute as the Bankruptcy Act
could never have been the law of the land but for the
work of the Grand Committee, there is little doubt
that a similar body will be again constituted early in
the Session, and it seems probable that while the full
House will be considering the question of Parliamen-
tary Reform, the Grand Committee will have referred
to it the complicated details connected with the Minis-
terial scheme for reconstructing the Local Government
of London.
A question which excited much interest at the time
came before Parliament early in the Session. On the
16th of April a Royal message was delivered to both
Houses of the Legislature recommending that for the
services performed by Lords Alcester and Wolseley in
Egypt the customary pension of £2,Q00 per annum be
granted to each and to their next heirs male, The
Peers passed this without opposition, but in the
Commons strong objection was raised to the con-
tinuance of the system of hereditary pensions. The
fact that in neither case was there a heir male did not
diminish the hostility of those who opposed the grants.
The Government, however, persevered at that stage,
and Lord Alcester's Annuity Bill was read a second
time in the Commons by 217 to 85, while ',cad
Wolseley's was carried by 178 to 55. On further con-
sideration it was resolved to substitute in each case

a lump sum for the proposed pension, and Bills were
ultimately sanctioned, granting out of the Consoli-
dated Fund £25,000 to Lord Alcester and £30,000 to
Lord Wolseley fcr the important services which they
had rendered in connection with the expeditionary
force sent to Egypt in the previous autumn.
A brief but interesting struggle took place in the
House of Lords in the middle of June over a very old
acquaintance of the Legislature—the Bill for legalis•
ing marriage with a deceased wife's sister. It was
introduced into the House of Peers by the Earl of
Dalhousie and came before their Lordships for second
reading on the 11th June. As on previous occasions
it received the support of the Royal Princes. A
short and spirited debate ended in the Bill being
read a second time by a majority of 165 to 158, and
the measure passed through Committee in their
Lordship's House on the 19th. As it was held
to be safe could it once reach the Commons, the
hopes of its supporters were raised at the prospect
of succeeding after so many years of abortive effort,
for it was not believed that the Bill would be lost on
the third reading. Yet this was what actually took
place. On the 28th June, Lord Dalhousie moved that
the Bill be read a third time, and the Duke of Marl-
borough closed a vigorous speech against it by pro•
posing its rejection. Fewer voted than on the second
reading, the Bill being thrown out by 145 to 140
votes, the large number of prelates who came down
to the House to go into the not•content lobby account-
ing for the result. The Duke of Marlborough did not
long survive the honours of the victory. He died on
the 4th of July, after a very short illness at his house
In Berkeley-square, at the age of 61 years.
One of the most important of the measures con-
sidered by the House of Commons at a series of pro
tracted sittings was the Bill for the Prevention of
Corrupt Practices at Elections, which has already been
put into operation in the recent contests at York and
Ipswich. Another Ministerial Bill promisel in the
Queen's Speech, and affecting the welfare of a great
national interest, passed in the closing days of the
Session. This was the Agricultural Holdings Act,
which came before the House of Lords in the week of
the prorogation, and at one time fears for its safety
were expressed. Guided, however, by the counsels of
the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, the peers passed
the Bill as an effort to do justice to the English tenant
farmer.

Mr. Bradlaugh has during the year occupied the
attention of the legal tribunals as well as of the High
Court of Parliament. On the 15th February, the date of
the assembling of the Legislature, he held what is popu-
larly known as a" demonstration" in Trafalgar -equal e ;
but as the Cabinet had pledged itself to bring iu an
Affirmation Bill, no further action was then taken by
the hon.:member. Mr. Gladstone took charge of this
measure in the House of Commons, and moved its
second reading on the 24th April, in a speech of
marvellous power. The division took place on the
4th May, when the Bill was rejected by 292 to 289
votes, thus leaving the Government in a minority of
three. As it was not known whether Mr. Bradlaugh
would again attempt to take his seat, the House a few
days later re-affirmed by 271 to 165 its resolution to
prevent the hon. member from going through the form of
taking the oath, Mr. Bradlaugh being heard at the bar.
So far as the hon. member's numerous appearances in
the law courts are concerned, the most important of
the decisions given within the year watt undoubtedly
the judgment delivered by the House of Lords on the
Bth April in the case of "Clarke v. Bradlaugh." Mr.
Clarke bad, in the legal description of a common
informer, proceeded against Mr. Bradlaugh for the
recovery of a penalty of £5OO for sitting and voting in
Parliament without having first taken the oath. The
Lords Justices had held this action to be maintainable,
and from this Mr. Bradlaugh appealed to the House
of Lords sitting in its capacity as a Court of Justice.
The Lord Chancellor and Lords Watson and Fitzgerald
reversed this decision, on the ground that the Crown
only could recover the penalty; but from this Lord
Blackburn dissented. Proceedings by Mr. Bradlaugh
against the Serjeant-at-Arms yet occupy the legal
tribunals. •
The affairs of Ireland have commanded prominent
attention from the beginning of the year to the end.
On the 3rd January Patrick Delaney was sentenced
to ten years' penal servitude for having attempted to
murder Mr. Just;ce. Lawson in Dublin. Meantime
the detective police had been diligently hunting the
assassins of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr.
Thomas Henry Burke in the Phmaix Park on the 6th
of May, 1882, This was a protracted work, requiring
the greatest caution and the utmost care, but how
thoroughly it was performed the results showed.
Early in February a considerable number of the
conspirators were arrested, and, as usual in the his-
tory of Irish clime, informers came forward to save
themselves at the expense of their fellow criminals.
The most notorious of these was Town Councillor James
Carey, who on the 17th Feb. appeared in the witness.
box, and gave a detailed description as to how the Ph cen ix
Park murders were planned and execute 3. On the
2‘12,4pril began by Special golwiasion in Dublin