The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-12-28 00:00:00

SAITORDAY, Drip, 2,8, 1878.

RETROSPECT

THE YEAR 1878.

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT Will 10Dg
be remembered by many a nation in Europe as one
leaving sorrowful and gloomy associations behind it.
Opening with the shadow of a great war still suspended
over two Continental States, the memories of its
Closing days were darkened with a conflict between
England and a barbarous Asiatic Power. Commencing
with commercial depression and industrial paralysis,
its expiring hours witnessed no break in the clouds
Which had gathered over the land. For maritime disas-
ters, involving sacrifices of human lives, it stands out in
melancholy pro-eminence; and while this has been un-
happily the case, fatalities upon the land have also
nlaimed their hecatombs of victims. It will hereafter
be looked upon as an annus mirabilis in the sense that
it dawned, waxed, and waned with scarcely a rift in
the sombre grey of the sky. Before, however, we
finally pass out of the sphere of its influence, it may
be well to cast a brief glance over its chief incidents;
and as many of the events recorded will have their
effect in years yet to come, we have the less hesitation
in asking our readers to accompany us over the path

retrospect, and once more r-eca-1 the scenes in the
ever-shifting panorama which has made up its history.
The year opened with vast banks of cloud over
spreading the political horizon. On the 4h December,
FLEVNA, which by the genius of Osman Pasha had
been converted from an open town into a fortified
camp, and for five months had resisted the advance of
the Russian armies, was compelled to surrender
through the pressure of famine and thenceforward
the onward march of the Russians was rendered Qom-
_

paratively easy. —Servia immediately declared war
against Turkey; and the Porte, in the face of in-
creasing dangers which menaced its very existence.
appealed to the European Powers to mediate with
Russia. The Cabinets of Europe, however, deemed a
Joint mediation impossible, and for the time the
Ottoman Empire seemed to be left to its fate. Mean-
while there was no pause in the Russian progress in
the direction of Constantinople, for the Turks had not
only been defeated but demoralization had spread
through the ranks of their armies, and no tangible or
substantial opposition was offered to the pushing on
of the victorious foe towards the capital. It was under
these circumstances that, on the 17th January, the
British Parliament assembled, at a time of national
anxiety greater than any which had been witnessed
for many years. The Legislature had been convoked
for a period fully three weeks earlier than usual, and a
week sooner even than it had been called together
when the Crimean war was in full operation. It was
known that, after the failure of the Sultan's
appeal to the whole of the Powers in concert,
he had asked for the intervention of the British
Government, and in tie opening days of the
new year there was much speculation as to
whether this intervention was to be proposed.
For fully a month excited public meetings had been
held in various places throughout the kingdom, one
portion of the community demanding support for
Turkey, and the other as vehemently opposing the
Idea of going to war to bolster up an effete and totter-
ing despotism. The Royal Message at the opening of
Parliament was, therefore, eagerly waited for • but,
beyond a summary of the principal events of the
recess, it committed the Government to no specific
line of policy. An amendment to the Address, con-
taining a declaration in favour of Home Rule in Ire-
land, was rejected in the Home of Commons by an
enormous majority.
There had been rumours of dissensions in the
Cabinet, but these were denied on the first night of the
session, in the House of Lords, by the Prime Minister
and the Marquis of Salisbury. But, on the 2nd
of January, Lord Carnarvon, the Secretary of State
for the Colonies, in receiving a deputation, had made
a declaration which commanded much attention
throughout the country. The nation, he said, was not
BO insane as to go into another Crimean War. The
Ministerial press avowed that the Colonial Secretary
spoke only for himself, and Lord Carnarvon afterwards
stated that at a Cabinet Council held on the day
on which his speech appeared in the news-
papers, his language was very severely condemned
by the Prime Minister. As time went on, the
breach widened, and when, upon the occupation
of Adrianople by the Russians, the Government
resolved to demand a Vote of Credit for six millions
from the House of Commons as a vote of confidence
in itself, Lord Carnarvon left the Cabinet. He an-
nounced his resignation on the 25th January, eight
days only after Parliament had assembled. Lord
Derby, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, had
also, upon the resolution for a vote of credit, tendered
his resignation, but he was induced to withdraw it, as
he has since explained, by the assurance of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer that the money would
not be spent.

Those late days in January and in the beginning of
February were fraught with momentous issues. The
Turks had accepted the Russian terms for an armis-
tice, which had been ratified at Constantinople. The
Russian demands gave great offence to the anti-Mus-
covite party in this country, and on the last day of the
first-named month a meeting in support of a policy of
neutrality, at the Cannon-street Hotel, Was broken up
by a crowd which afterwards marched to the Guild-
hall, where resolutions were passed in favour of her
Majesty's Government—the Lord Mayor of London in
the chair. Meanwhile the Vote of Credit did not receive
the approval of the Oppi,sition in the House of Com-
mons ; and Mr. W. E. Forster, in the name of the
Liberal party, moved an amendment disputing its
necessity. The debate thereon was in progress when
the House was sitting on the 7th February amid
such a scene of excitement as will never be
forgotten by those who witnessed it. In the
afternoon a telegram had been received at the
Foreign Office from the British Ambassador at Con-
stantinople, stating that in direct violation of the
terms of the armistice the Russians were marching on
the Turkish capital. This announcement was made
In both Houses of Parliament, and it would be im-
possible to exaggerate the sensation which it produced.
The lobby and the central hall of the House of
Commons were filled with an excited crowd, clamorous
for war. Mr. Forster at once abandoned his amend-
ment, and declared that he would not oppose the
measure which the Government had thought it
Prudent to take. Count Schouvaloff, the Russian
Ambassador in this country, alarmed at the rising
tide of public feeling, telegraphed to St. Petersburg,
to ascertain how much of truth there was in Mr.
Layard's assertion, and Prince Gortschakoff replied
that it was totally unfounded. This was read to the
House of Commons by the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
but it failed to produce any appreciable effect. The
House divided Aye or No upon the Vote of Credit,
Which was carried by 328 to 124—a majority of 204 in
favour of Ministers.

The Russians occupied the outworks of Constanti-
nople on the day that this vote was taken; and as the
Cabinet had previously deelared in a despatch of Lord
Derby, that the Turkish capital must not be allowed
to pass into the possession of the Czar, immediate
measures were resorted to in order te keep it in the
hands of the Ottoman Porte. The din of active mili-
tarY and naval preparations was speedily heard
in all our dockyards and arsenals; and at a
Sunday Cabinet Council—an event of most unusual
occurrence, and justified only by the gravest emer-
gency—it was resolved to send a portion of the British
Fleet then at anchor in Besika Bay into the Sea of
Idarmora for the protection of the Moslem capital.
But as, by the Treaty of 1856, no ships of war were
allowed to enter the Dardanelles without the per-
mission of the Sultan, a firruan according such per-
mission was applied for and was refused. With the
Russian armies encamped around the city, the British
Cabinet held that the Sultan was not a free agent; so
Admiral rfornby, who was in command of the squad-
ron, was instructed to make the passage, and to use
force if it was necessary to do so. But when the iron-
clads presented themselves at the waterway between
the castles of Sestos and Abydos, no opposition was
offered by the Turks; and the fleet, steaming up the
Sea of Marmora, took up a position cif Prince's
Island, a few miles below Constantinople. By this the
Cabinet clearly conveyed a determination that the
ships should enter the Bosphorus itself, and bring the
city of mosques and minarets under the range of our
guns should the legions of the Czar attempt a move-
ment upon the place from the landward side.

- -
On the 3rd of March an instrument was signed
which has an important bearing upon the his-
tory of the year. It will be known as the TREATY
OF SAN STEFANO. No sooner had its ratifications
been exchanged at St. Petersburg, on the 17th
of the same month, than a movement was made for
holding a European Congress, where the plenipoten-
tiaries of the powers would have an opportunity of
discussing the changes wrought by the war in the
south-east of Europe. The British Government, hold-
ing that the interests of the Empire were affected by
these changes, demanded that Russia should submit
the Treaty of San Stefano to the consideration of the
Congress. TO Russia declined to do ; but it was
subsequently rendered clear that the refusal was more
in form than in substance, the objection being to the
term "submit," for obviously it would be impossible
for the plenipotentiaries to discuss the terms of a
treaty Which was not placed before them. This re-
fusal, however, led the British Cabinet to take another
step in the direction of war, for it decided to call out
the reserves—a measure upon which Lord Derby left
the Ministry. Then ensued a period Of suspense which
lasted over several weeks. At length, on the 27th of
May, arrangements were completed for holding a
Congress of the European Powers at Berlin, and the
invitation was formally accepted by England on the
3rd June. On the following day the Anglo-Turkish
Convention was signed, by which Turkey ceded to
Great tritain the Island of Cyprus, this country, on
its Part, undertaking to defend the territories of the
Sultan in Asia Minor, on the condition of reforms
being made in the administration of those possessions.
A few days afterwards Lords Beaconsfield and Salis-
bury, our plenipotentiaries at the Congress, started
for Berlin. Its first formal meeting was held on the
16th June, and on the 3rd July the Porte gave a
reluctant assent to the occupation of Bosnia and Herze-
govina by the Austrian forces. On the Bth, the Con-
vention with Turkey was announced in both Houses
of Parliament; and on the 11th England took formal
possession of Cyprus, Sir Garnet Wolseley having
been aPpointed High Commissioner and Commander-
in-Chief of the island. The final meeting of the Berlin
Congress was held on the 13th July, and three days
afterwards the British Plenipotentiaries returned to
London, being welconied by a vast multitude on their
arrival at the terminus of the South-Eastern Railway
at Charing Cress.

The policy by which the G-overnment had been
guided was explained by the Prime Minister to the
House of Lords on the 18th July, and in that assembly
it passed without challenge. In the Commons, how.
ever, the Marquis of Hartington moved a serie of
resolutions, calling its wisdom in question, although
It time known that such a motion could have but one
Ceding, Some weeks previously, when the Govern-

ment had ordered troops from India to Malta without
the knowledge or consent of Parliament, the House of
Commons approved of this course by an immense ma-
jority, although not quite so large as that which had
carried the Vote of Credit; and now Lord Hartington's
resolutions were defeated by 338 to 195. The Queen
had, in the meantime, invested both Plenipoten-
tiaries with the Order of the Garter; they had been
entertained at a banquet given by the Conserva-
tive party at the Carlton Club, had received the
Freedom of the City of London, and on the evening
of the day on which the division had taken place
in the House of Commons were the gutsti of the
Lord Mayor at the Mansion House. Within a
tortnight hfterwards Parliament was prorogued, and
the longest session of modern times was brought to a
close.

The history of the Eastern Question, so far as it
relates to the year 1878, is really that of the Parlia-
mentary session. Very little else was thought of or
attempted. If attempted, indeed, the mind of Par-
liament and of the public was so pre-occalpied, that it
would have been impossible to carry out anything of
importance from a domestic point of view. Thus it
comes to pass that no great leghdative achievement
was recorded upon the statute book.. Ot e measure of
a social character—the lush Sunday Closing B 11—
oocupied an enormous amount of time, and was before
the two Houses in one way or another, more than
six month' s at length receiving the Royal assent on
the day of the prorogation. On the 15th February
Mr. Osborne Morgan's resolution on the Burial laws
was rejected by 242 to ; and four months later the
Women's Disabilities' Removal Bill was negatived by
219 to 140. But from the commencement of the ses-
sion to its close—seven long months—there were no
great debates except those upon foreign policy, and no
legislative measure of the first order was before Par-
liament The business transacted was chiefly of an
administrative character, and more than one burning
question stands over for consideration when the at-
tention of Parliament and the country shall be con-
centrated more at home, and less upon fortign affairs.

The resignation of the Earls of Carnarvon and Derby
led to considerable changes in the personnel of the
Government. Lord Carnarvon was succeeded at the
Colonial Office by Sir Michael Hicks 13:-aeh, whose
place as Chief Secretary for Ireland was taken by Mr.
James Lowther. The Colonial Under-Secretaryship,
thus vacated, was taken by Earl Cadogan, who was
replaced as Under-Secretary for War by Viscount
Bury. At the same time i.be Duke of Northumber-
land was taken into the Cabinet as Lord Privy Seat,
the duties of which post had been discharged by the
Prime Mini.ter since Lord Malmesbury's withdrawal
from the Government eighteen months previously.
When Lord Derby resigned the Foreign Secretary-
ship he was succeeded by Lard Salisbury, Mr.
Gathorne Hardy taking. the India Office with a peer-
age under the title of Viscount Cranbrook. The War
Office was filled by the appointment of Col. Stanley, a
younger brother of Lord Derby. This left vacant the
Financial Secretaryship of the Treasury, which was
given to Sir H. Selwin-Ibbetson, and his post—that of
Under-Secretary to the Home Department—was
conferred upon • Sir Matthew White Ridley, A
few weeks later Sir Charles Adderley resigned the
Board of Trade, and was created Lord Norton.
Viscount Sandon succeeded him as President with a
seat in the Cabinet, his position as Vice-President of
the Committee of Council on Education being taken
by Lerd George Hamilton. The post of Under-
Secretary for India was transferred to the Hon.
Edward Stanhope, Mr. Salt becoming Parliamentary
Secretary to the Board of Trade, and Mr. John
Gilbert Talbot Parliamentw Secretary to the Local
Government Board.
A considerable number of Parliamentary elections
have been recorded. Taking these in the order in
which they have occurred, it is found that new
members have been returned in Greenock, Marl-
borough, Leith, Perth City, Perthshire, Oxfordshire,
Canterbury, Cirencester, East Somerset, Mid Somer-
set, Hereford, Worcester, Belfast, South Northumber-
land, North Staffordshire, Tamworth, Down Ccinnty,
Reading, Oxford University, West Kent, Carmarthen
Boroughs, Southampton, Rochester, Middlesborough,
Flint Boroughs, Haddington Boroughs, Boston,
Argylshire, Neweastle-under-Lyme, Truro, Peter-
borough, Maldon, Bristol, New Ross, and Londonderry
County. There is no alteration in the balance
of political power through all these changes, the Con-
servative triumphs in the City of Worcester, New
Ross, and the County Down having been counteracted
by the Liberal victories in the Boroughs of Tamworth,
Newcaatle-under-Lyme and Maldon.

It is in the tale of maritime disaster that the year
will long occupy a melancholy prominence. On the
afternoon of Sunday, the 24th of March, her Majesty's
ship Eut.ydice, whilst on a return voyage from the
West Indies, and when within an hour or two of her
destination, was suddenly capsized in a squall off the
Isle of Wight, and out of 326 officers and men on
board, two lives only were saved. The verdict of the
coroner's jury and the judgment of a subsequent
court-martial, relieved those in ,harge of the ill-fated
vessel from all blame in connection with this terrible
calamity. On the 31st of May, while the German
ironclad fleet was passing Deal, the ironic/ Wilhelm
ran into the Grosser Kurfurst, which sank in a few
minutes, with aloss of 284 lives. But the greatest catas-
trophe of modern times, in this or any country,
took place on the evening of the 3rd of September,
upon the crowded highway of the Thames, and almost
within sight of London. The excursion steamer
Princess Alice, whilst returning from Sheerness, was
run into by the screw collier Bywell Castle, outward
bound from the port of London—the former sinking
within a few minutes; and so swift and sudden was
the work of destruction that more than 700 persons
were drowned. A thrill of horror ran through tho
land at this awful piece of intelligence. A serious col-
lision took place at midnight on the 25th of November,
off the South Foreland, when the Welsh barque Noel
Ellian struck the steamer Pomerania amidships, and
she went down with a loss of nearly fifty lives.

Maritime casualties have unhappily not stood alone.
On the 7th of June there was an explosion in a colliery
in Yorkshire, and more than 200 miners were swept
into eternity. While the country was yet mourning
over the holocaust of dead bodies represented by the
foundering of the Princess Alice, one more was added
to the libt of colliery explosions. This time the scene
of destruction was the South Wales valley of Aber.
came, where more than 270 lives were lost. On the
11th October a panic in the Colosseum Music Hall, at
Liverpool, having its origin in a false alarm of fire,
had a fatal ending, 37 persons being trodden to death.

The commercial review of the year is one of the
most unsatisfactory which has had to be recorded for
a very long time. The inflation which followed the
close of the war between France and Germany, and
which led to speculation and over-trading, has been
succeeded by a reacti,n never more severely felt than
during the present winter. The political unquiet that
marked the opening of the year was not favourarl.e to
the re establishment of .confidence—a most necessary
condition to the revival of drooping trade, and
the enc ,uragement of languishing industry. Capital-
ists could find no fields of enterpthe ; money
was a drug in the market, and on the 10th
of January the Bank Rate of Discount was re-
duced to three per cent. On the 28 hof March,
the day of Lord Derby's resignation, and when there
was a semi-panic upon the Stock Exchange, at the
calling out of the reserve forces, the rate was raised
to 4 per cent. On the 12th of August it went up to 5
per cent., and on 14th of October to 6, but it has since
come down again to 5. Contests between capital and
labour, more especially in Lancashire, where the
disputes were marked by serious rioting, have not
contributed to a return of that prosperity which once
marked the trading industry of Great Britain. The
steppage of the City of Glasgow Bank on the let of
October, with liabilities to the extent of six millions
sterling, has added to the general gloom. So wide-
spread is the misery wrought by this misfortune that
a Relief Fund for the assistance of the impoverished
shareholders was formed. The West of England and
South Wales District Bank, in addition to other com-
mercial failures, added considerably to the prevailing
disquietude.

The opening of the year found England at peace;
its closing hours unhappily see Us at war. For
months, however, there was, so far as the public
knew, no cause for anxiety respecting the 'safety
of our Indian empire; and it was only a few days
before Parliament was prorogued in August that
some inquiries in the House of Commons relating to
a Russian Mission at Cabal, indicated another
gathering of clouds in connection with that
troublesome Eastern Question which has caused
so much care to many of our statesmen. Russia, by
general admission, had set aside an agreement between
the Governments of London and St. Petersburg not to
establish a mission in the capital of Afghanistan,—
a wild and mountainous country dividing the territories
of Russia and England in Asia. A. Russian envoy
arrived at Cabal in June, and was well received by
the Ameer. The Indian Government at Calcutta,
under these circumstances, also resolved to send a
mission into Cabul, which the Ameer declined to
receive. It consisted of a thousand armed men ;
and, headed by e'ir Neville Chamberlain, it arrived
upon the Afghan frontier in the third week of
September. On the 21st of that month, its
further progress into Afghanistan was stopped by an
officer of the Ameer acting under his orders, and who
threatened to fire upon the British escort if it at-
tempted to advance. The mission therefore turned
back; and the Viceroy of India, acting under in-
structions from the Cabinet at home, opened nego.
tiations with the Ameer, which ended in an ultimatum,
with, the clear understanding that if no answer
were returned by the 20th November, the Ameer
would be regarded as an enemy of the British
Government and treated accordingly. No reply was
received until the 30th, and an imreediate advance
into Afghan territory was ordered. Parliament was
summoned for the :',th of December, to grdiat the
necessary supplies for this expedition, the first time that
a Winter Session has been necessary for a similar pur-
pose since 1867, when the Legislature assembled in '
consequence of our having been compelled to send a
force against the King of Abyssinia. Both Houses,
by large majorities, resolved that the cost of the war
should be borne by the people of India.

While England has had so many anxieties, foreign
and domestic, her nearest neighbour, which was once
in a chronic condition of political unquiet, Las been
enjoying a period of rest, and to a qualified extent one
also of prosperity. The PARIS EXHIBITION, filled with
the products of peaceful industry, drew to the French
capital a vast number of visitors from the Continent
as well as from this country. Her victorious
rival in the war cf 1870 has not been equally
fortunate. Prince Bismarck's conflicts with the
Jesuits have been succeeded by troubles with the
Socialists. On the 11th May, one of this number,
.Hoedel by name, attempted to assassinate the Em-
peror of Germany by firing a revolver at him whilst
he was returning to the Palace after a drive-with his
daughter. For this crime Hoedel was sentenced to
death, and the capital punishment was duly executed.
On Sunday the 2nd of June, the Emperor was
again fired at near the same spot, this time by
a Socialist of good military family, named
Nobiling, who at the same time inflicted such
injuries upon himself that he soon afterwards
died. The wounds of the Emperor were so serious,
that the Crown Prince, who was at that time on a
visit to this country accompanied by the Crown

Princess, was hasiily summoned to Berlin, and made
Regent of the empire. The attempted assassination
of a sovereign has not been confined to Germany.
King Alfonso, of Spain, who on the 23rd Jannary was
married to his cousin the Princess Mercedes and was
left a widower five months afterwards, was driving
through Madrid on the 25th October, when he was fired
at from the corner of a street by a would-he regizide
named Moncasi, happily without effect. On Sunday
the 17th November, King Humbert of Italy with
Queen Margherita, was entering Naples by one of its
leading thoroughfares from the railway station, when
a cook named Passavante tried to kill the king with a
dagger, but succeeded only in inflicting a serious
wound upon Signor Cairoli, the Prime Minister, who
was sitting by the side of his Majesty in the carriage.
The whole of these dastardly attacks have met with
the reprobation of the civilized world, and in the case
of the King of Italy more especially tlfe sympathy of
the people has bean expressed in the most unmistake-
able manner.

In contrast to such incidents as these, let us glance
for a moment at the feeling with which the members
of our own Royal Family are regarded. Her Majesty
Queen Victoria. in the sixtieth year of her age, and
the forty-second of her reign, still rules over a loyal
and united people. The Prime of Wats, aided by his
deservedly-beloved Consort, takes an active part in
those engagements which possess an interest for
lar,ze classes of the population. The Duke of
Edi iburgh has continued in command of one of those
gigantic ironclads which are now the strength and
the pride of Britain's navy. The Duke of Connaught
has manifested an unflagging attention to his military
duties; and in July last, upon a motion for an addi-
tional grant to his Royal Highness of £lO,OOO a year on
his approaching marriage to the Princess Louise
Marguerite of Prussia, it was sanctioned in the House
of Commons by a majority of 320 to 33. The Princess
Beatrice is the only remaining child of her Majesty
remaining at home, and for whom no Parliamentary
provision has been made. The Queen's eldest daughter,
the Crown Princess of Germany, after the marriage of
her own eldest daughter at Berlin, paid a visit to
England ; and, in the course of her stay at Buekingham
Palace, showed that she, at all events, was anxious to
forget the memories of the war with France by
receiving there the Empress Eugenie. Her Imperial
Majesty was visited by the Queen and Princess
Beatrice at Chielehurst on the 3rd December, The
year had only a little more than a fortnight to run,
however, when a heavy trial fell upon her Majesty,
and deep sorrow filled the nation. Queen Victoria's
second daughter, Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of
Hesse, who spent several weeks in her native land in
the early Autumn, returned to Darmstadt in Septem-
ber. In the month of November her husband and
children were attacked with diphtheria; and on the
15th the youngest child, Princess Marie, four years
old, died. A few days afterwards the Princess Alice
herself was also prostrated, her constitution having, it
was feared, been enfeebled by long and anxious watch-
ing by those so near and dear to her. Notwithstand-
ing every effort of medical skill, her Royal Highness
became woree, and died on the 14th of December, the
seventeenth anniversary of her father's death, in her
36th year, to the deep grief not only of her Majesty
and the Royal Family, but of the whole Englith people.
The fourth daughter of her Majesty, Princess Louise,
accompanied by her husband the Marquis of
Lorne, had in the meantime been conveyed over a
tempestuous ocean to Canada, of which the
Marquis had been appointed Governor-General:
La-hed by the fierce winds in the day, and buffetea
by the stormy waves at night, the Sarmatian
made her way, arriving at Halifax, after an exceed-
ing rough passage, on the 23rd November. On Monday
the 25th, the new-Governor-General of the Dominion
and the Princess made their public entry into Halifax
amid the acclamations of an enormous multitude,
Had there been the shadow of a doubt respecting the
loyalty of the Canadians to the British Crown, it
would have been effectually removed by this demons-
tration. The Queen herself has telegraphed to Canada,
expressing her delight at the reception, and request-
ing the Princess and her husband to convey this
feeling to thildwellers in the vast spreading regions
represented by our possessions across the Atlantic,

Some years ago no annual Retrospect would have
been complete without a reference to the differences
existing between Great Britain and the United States.
The enlistment of American citizens in the British
army, the San Juan boundary, the alleged breaches
of neutrality during the civil war, the depredations of
the Xtabama, and the claims consequent thereupon—
al lthese and other difficulties were of constant recur-
rence. No sooner was one trouble with our kinsmen
removed, than another started up to vex the souls of
statesmen on both sides; and for a long while it
seemed as though our controversies with tie United
States were chronic and irremovable. When, how.
ever, the Alabama claims were disposed of by
being referred to arbitration, with a consequent pay-
ment by ourselves of three millions and a quarter as
compensati,m, better relations were established between
the two countries. Early in January last, however,
an unfortunate contention between some Newfound-
land and American fishermen, threatened once more
to involve both nations in a dispute of an unpleasant
chararter. These differences are, however, in a fair
way of adjustment; and we no longer look forward to
words of menace in the President's mess age. Indeed
the message of President Hayes to Congress on the sth
December, was conciliatory in tone, as well as wise
and statesmanlike in expression—attributes which have
not at all times characterised similar documents.

The roll of mortality is a heavy one. The numerical
losses of the House of Lords have not, however, been
so conspicuous as the political status of some of the
peers who have been removed. Foremost in point of
age and of commanding position is the veteran Earl
Russell, who was gathered to his fathers in his 86th
year, and after 65 years-Qf parliamentary life. Lord
Chelmsford has been removed at the age of 84; he
had been twice Lord High Chancellor of England.
The peerage has also lost Admiral the Earl of
Lauderdale, who was 75 at the time of his death ; the
M.rquis of Ailesbury, 67; Lord Kinnaird, 64; Earl
Bathurst, 87; the Earl of Ravensworth, 81; and
Lord Dynevor, 74. The obituary in the Commons is
of a more serious aspect. It includes the names of
Sir William Sterling-Maxwell, who was 58 when he died;
Mr. Richard Bright, 56; Mr. A. C. Sheriff, 68;
Mr. Sharman Crawford, 66; Sir Francis G-oldsurid,
70; Right Hon. Russell Gurney, 74: Mr. Wykeham
Martin, 49; Mr. Bolckow, 72; Mr. Ellis Eyton, 51;
Sir F. M. Williams, 48; Mr. G. H. Whalley, 65;
Mr. Jphn Dunbar, 51, and Mc. Richard Smyth, 50.
The mortality in the Lords has been rather below the
average, but that in the Commons is above it.

The year opened with associations of mourning for
the kingdom of Italy. On the let of January King
Victor Emmanuel, in receiving the foreign ambassa-
dors' pointed to the disturbed condition of the conti-
nent, and expressed the opinion that Italy by
strengthening her armaments would be respected,
as well as feared by other nations. Immediately
thereafter he was a eized with gastric fever, and on
the 9th, at the ate of 58, he died. Pope Pius IX.
from the windows of the Vatican, witnessed the
imposing funeral of the departed king; but on the 7th
February he, too, was taken to his rest, at the advanced
age of 86, and Cardinal Pecchi was elected his suc-
cessor in the Pontificate, taking the name of Leo XIII.
Of other deaths during the year we have to chronicle
the following : M. Bulgaria, a former Prime Minister
of Greece, 77; Sir Edward Creasy, historian, 66;
George Cruikshank. artist and caricaturist, 86; the
Archduke Francis Charles, father of the Emperor of
Austria, ; James Hales Friswell„ essayist, 52: Str W.
G. Gibson Craig, Lord Clerk Registrar of Scotland,
.89 ; Sir Gilbert Scott, architect, 66; Prince Lucie*
Murat, last surviving son of Joachim Murat,
King of Naples, 75 ; Dr. Selwyn, Bishop of
Lichfield, 69; Dr. Gregg, Bishop of Cork. 79;
William Cullen Bryant, poet, 84; George V. ex-
King of Hanover and Duke of Cumberland, 59; Sir
Thomas Duffus Hardy, Deputy Keeper of the Public
Records, 74; Admiral Sir George Back, Arctic ex-
plorer, 81; Mr. Charles Matthews, comedian, 74;
Dr. Saunders, Dean of Peterborough, 77; Adtairal
Sir Hastings Yelverton, 70; Cardinal Franchi, Ponti-
fical Secretary of State, 59; the Rev. George Gilfillan ;
Queen elhristina, of Spain, 72; Mr. George Payne,
sportsman, 75; Mr. George Bidder, late President of
the Institution of Civil Engineers, 71 ; General Sir
Thomas Biddulph, keeper of Her Majesty's Privy
Purse, 69; Mr. Justice Keogh, 62, the King of
Burmah ; Mrs Clara Balfour, lecturer, 70; Sir
Francis Grant, President of the Royal Academy, 75;
M. Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans, 7b; Bishop
MacKenzie, 70; Cardinal Cullen, 78 ; Charles, Duke of
Glueksburg, 65; m. Gamier-Pages, French politican,
75; Mr. Phelps and Mr. Alfred Wigan, so well known
in the theatrical world being added to the list of the
year's sad loss .s.

A glance at a few of the principal names thus
insoribed upon the long scroll of the departed brings
to a close the brief retrospective view which we have
taken of 1878. Few years in recent times have
furnished a less satisfactory historical review. Periods
have come and gone which have found the country at
war, or suffering from temporary cotnmercial depres-
sion, or when we had fresh in our memories the re-
membrance of great disasters. We were at war at
the end of 1855; we were under a financial cloud at the
close of 1866; but it is seldom that the two have been
found in combination. But as " Hope springs
eternal in the human breast," and as proverbially the
darkest hour is that which immediately precedes the
dawn, it may well be hoped that a brighter year is
now in store. If there are many showers there is also
much sunshine' between the sowing of the seed and
the reaping of the harvest; a beclouded night, which
does not permit even the stars to be discernibre in the
firmament, is often succeeded by a day of brilliant
sunshine; the stormy sea, which has eugulphed a fleet
of ships at noon, is wont to dance and sparkle in the
moonlight as its waves break solemnly upon the
sandy beach ; the tide which rises in an cverwhelm-
ing flood, again recedes towards the ocean. DJ an'a
mental constitution renders him peculiarly susceptible
to the ever moving influsnces which are exerted by
each revolving season. Circumstances producing pre-
cisely similar results are viewed differently in the dull
gloom of December, and in the bright light of a
summer morning. The leafless trees, as their long
gaunt arms are wrung in the winter gale, convey an
idea of utter desolation; whilst, clothed with foliage,
and their branches merry with the song of birds, they
suggest some of the most delightful lessons in the
picture which Nature has painted for the instruction
of man's mind and the elevation of his soul. There-
fore, although the bygone year has been in some
respects one presentiug unfavourable aspects, it may
be fairly assumed, reasoning from the analogy of ex-
perience, that the causes which have operated to pro-
duce these results will, as on former occasions, pass
away. The record set down in the chronicle before
us is not, after all, without relief. The year which
opened with the great shadow of actual war in Europe,
witnessed the conclusion of peace amid the long
summer days; and although Great Britain in the
succeeding winter found it necessary to engage in
hostilities with an Asiatic Power, there is no reason
to believe that the difficulty thus dealt with will be of
_anything but a temporary character. After a period
ot anxiety which has lasted so long, the people may
now be safely justified in looking forward to a time
when the mists shall clear s.Way front tWe'Politital sky,
and when the security of cur Indian empire, with its
sunlit cities and its fertile plains, shall be as sub-
stantial as that great chain of mountains which
marks its boundary.

-It is a time-honoured custom, at_micinight of the

-

31st December, alike in the populous community,
and in the peaceful hamlet, to ring out the Old
Year and to ring in the New. Welcome the: coming,
speed the parting guest. ! As the flickering embers of
the dying year momentarily revive amid the sounds
which tell of the flight of its final hour, let us hope
that its darkened memories will have disappeared
amongst the echoes flung out upon the wind from
many an old church tower, and that as the wail of
sorrow over the departed is turned into a song of joy
at the coining of its successor, so may the new year be
greeted as the harbinger of better times and of return-
ing prosperity. At a season pre-eminently of good
wishes and of well formed resolutions, of determina-
tions not to dwell upon the past, and to take advantage
of th4p benefits which the elowly-lengthening days may
have in store for us, we will close the page of retro-
spect, upon which the tints of shadow have been
freely cast, and cordially wish each and all our readers

A HAPPY NEW YEAR,