The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-12-27 00:00:00

THE EXPIRING YEAR.

THE retro:zrective glances over the year
_ _

which in a; few short few days will have
joined the long list that have preceded it,
are most satisfactory from a negative than
from an affirmative point of view. If there
have not been those advances towards our
former prosperity which we hoped for at its
commencement, it cannot be said that it
leaves us worse than it found us. In the
opinion of competent authorities our position
is gradually improving. If it brought us a
long and bitter winter for which it would be
difficult to find a parallel in recent times, '
and a more rainy summer than any since
1860, it has not left behind it a long and
gloomy train of material disaster. From
great calamities such as those of .. 878 this
year has been remarkably free. Giant
catastrophes upon land and water have not
carried death and desolation into hundreds
of homes; the year does not end, as its pre-
decessor did, with the sounds' of mourning
in the Palace; nor with the wreck of fortune
and reputation caused by hugh commercial
collapses. Notwithstanding the agricultural
and trading depression which still undoubt-
edly exists, the sky cannot be said to have
been so dark this year as last. The worst
that can be said of it is that the firmament
has been grey; and there are indications that
the clouds will break, and that the sun of
prosperity will soon :again shine upon the
land.

Looking abroad during the year there is
ample opportunity for observation and reflec-
tion. France has gone through a revolution
far more peaceful than many of those which
in times past have caused the streets of Paris
to flow with the blood of some of the best of
her citizens. lfarshal McMahon himself cut
short the term of the Septennate, which
would have run to the end of 1880, and early
in the year resigned the Presidency of the
Republic, which in a quiet and matter-of- i
fact way, and without the slightest indication '
of disordor or convulsion, was transferred to
M. Grevy. The French Chambers have left
Versailles, and have taken up their legitimate
place in the capital, and it is hoped that in
times of excitement the deliberations of the
Legislature will not be overawed by unruly
mobs. Leaving France as a contented and
prosperous people, chastened by suffering
and adversity, and crossing the boundary of
the Moselle into the German Empire, the
condition of the country bespeaks the pre-
sence of the vast military organization which
has made the Teuton nation without a rival
in Europe. The year has passed without a
repetition of those attempts on the life of the
aged Emperor which characterised the sum-
mer of 1878, and the principal event in Ber-
lin this year has been the celebration of the
Golden ;Wedding of the Emperor and
Empress. But going further northward into
the Empire of Russia, a condition of affairs
is presented of the most serious character.
Twice has the life of the Czar been attempted;
and the whole social state of the country
seems to be undermined with the machina-
tions of a secret conspiracy that stops short
of nothing, however desperate, to secure the
attainment of its ends, Russia perhaps in
some respects resembles France before the
outbreak of the first Revolution; and should
the floodgates at some future time be broken
down, and the mighty pent-up volume of
disafThction let loose, the scenes of 1789
might possibly find a parallel in our own
day.
England has, during the year, been en-
gaged in two wars with savage foes, one of
which is still in progress, while the other in
&,tith Africa has to all human appearance
been brought to a conclusion without the
possibility of renewal on the part of the
barbaric military power which it was deemed
necessary to stamp out. Let us hope that
the unfortunate struggle in Afghanistan will
soon follow the example of ,the conflict in
Zululand, and come to a close, and that our
Empire may once more be at peace and enjoy
a long period of repose.