The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-09-18 00:00:00

Etc 3tone Ofpertter.

SATURDAY, SEPTEUBER 18, 1809.

TEM EMPEROR OP THE FRENCH.
The state of the health of the Emperor of the
French has for some time past been the source
of gossip and rumour, of surmise and specula,
Bon, and of speculation in the financial eense
of the term, The Bourse has shown fluctuation
' almost, it may be Raid, in accordance with the
beating of the Impel ial pulse, and journelists in
Rome eases have eehiCited an indecent feverish,
nese of apeoulation founded on very doubtful
Intelligence, " The shaken invalid, says one
writer, "who wag drawn on easy springs through
the Champs Elyssees, the itto de be Pais, the
Boulevards, and the Itue de h.voli, did penance
for the Empire. The Emforor was brought out
to setisfy the speunletel s of the Bourse that
there were yet a few weeks' life and strength in
him, His position resembles that of tile infirm
slaves whom Remelt masters exposed on an
Wand of the Tiber to die ; and who, ehrinking
from their fate made convulsive efforts to show
that they are yet good for suniething, that their
strength is not wholly gone," ditc. Iu little
questionable taste does the /Nay Neirs proceed
to dominant on the possible elYeets of an event
whieh It cruelly anticipates, and then wlelly
speculates oil C VW•iible tibaledthill and what it
may or may not lead to.
In better taste and with more feeling does The
Times refer to the presumed convaleecence of
the Emperor, and merely uses the topic of the
time as an occasion to insist on the importance
of less personal goverreeeut and more constitu-
tional and parliamentary government for France.
And this may be insisted on without speculating,
in bad taste, on an event which it is to be hoped,
insy long be deferred fur the interests of Eu-
rope. The work of the reconstitution of the
Empire," says 'The Times, f* should he immedi-
ately, actively proceeded with. It is necessary
that the world should know what other men there
are in France in the Emperor'a estimation, be-
shies the Emperor himself—what men to work
with him, what men to take up the work after
him." This, after all, is the sound coulolon
sense view to take, irrespective of the daily bul-
letin of the Emperor's health. " With a repre-
sentative Government based on its trite princi-
ples, the person at the head of the State becomes
a matter of minor consequence. France must
be allowed to manage her own affairs by herself."
And France herself should take the initiative.
(Jun would think, from the tone that some wri-
ters and talkers assume, that this great country
is in leading•strings Blot she has no will of her
own ; that she has no represeetative Institutions,
no press, and no public opinion. True she may
not have so much political liberty as exists in
our own country ; but she hits a Senate and a
remeeentative body of elected legislators, and
has an increasingly powerf al press which no
prosecutions can taunt, mid which no sovereign
can afford to despise. But she does nit always
use her power wisely; she is torn by factious
and too (Atte* loses shthut of patriotism in party
strife and fiuitlese reeriulfeation. Spite of all
that is persistently said against the Emperor,
spite of the memory of some of his antecedents,
we firmly believe that he wishes well to hie
country. and that it is but the violsnee of the
democretie party and the restlessness of the
French an a nation that prevent him going for-
ward more speedily in the path of constitutional
progress that he long ago set out upon, There
is in fact a want of public spirit in France ; the
national welfare is sacrifieed to party conflict
and selfish iuterehte. If the French nation were
tin pUbije•Spitited as time French Eniperor,
phitilTeSl YrUebi be far easier to
both,

lessor

VACJOINA.TION,
Aating on the well-known motile, Refue papieVe
ii4prelllll tn thet the health or the welt:tee of
the people ie the higheet alai of law—Parlia-
IllOtit LWOW years age vaaeitiation earnpul-
tory. Never, we believe, was a more salutary
law 'wield. Vaeeination wee not the eroteliii of
US hour ; it lied reeeived the aenution of loin of
ecience and the heal of suceese fr 'le experiments
on a large scale before it was enforced ; and it
was then felt to be so important a preventive of
the spread of small-pox that its adoption could
not be safely left to the more whim of ignorant
end prejudiced people in opposition to known
facts. This compulsory law has, on the whole,
worked well for society, and the decrease of
small-pox, which before the preventive was en-
forced committed frightful ravages, stands a
convincing proof of the soundness of this com•
pulsory legislation. But circumstances have re-
cently arisen which place the matter in a new
light. Cases have occurred in which diseases
have been clearly traceable to vaccination ; other
cases have occurred in which vaccination is sup-
posed to have led to disorders; and an opposi-
tion to vaccination has sprang up which is daily
increasing in force. Lord Castlereagh spoke of
'an ignorant impatience of taxation." That
there is an ignorant iinpatience of vaccination
may be partly true, but it is also partly untrue.
The opposition does not all come from ignorant
and uneducated persons, but nit-informed per-
sons in all ranks of life are n vto be found am-
ong the opponents of vaceination, who assert
that whether it does Cr iluee not prevent the
small-pox, it certainly does in many cases cause
other diseases. Add to this that mothers have
been imprisoned and are still imprisoned for re-
fusing to obey the law, and that the anti-vaccin-
ation party is undoubtedly inreasing, and we
think these facts in themselves are sufficient to
demand legislative inquiry. A compulsory law
ought to be a perfect law, so far as human nature
can secure perfection—perfect in its principle,
its details, and its operation. But it he, we think,
too clearly proved that this law, however good
it may be in itself, is frequently badly adminis-
tered and made subject to conditions which the
Act never contemplated. Vaccination under
proper conditions is undoubtedly a boon to so-
ciety ; but what if these conditions are not ful-
filled ? This is the real question at issue. It is
not a question of vaccination or not, but of
wholesome vaccination and pernicious isocubl-
ti,e, which vaccination has become fn too many
instances. The whole subject must come be-
fore Parliament next session, for by that time
the opposition to the present law will have ac-
qffired serioas proportions ; but in the mean
time the medical profession might well devote
their unprejudiced attention to the matter, so
that defects of administration may be discovered
preparatory to the necessary amendmet of a
salutary but partially perverted Act of Paella-
ment.