The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-01-04 00:00:00

Our Ijoithn Corrtsponbatt.

tWe deem it rigL'.; io state that we do not at all times
Tien,if, ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.)

New Year's Day no longer makes its appearance
amongst the nations of Europe accompaniel by those
uneasy feelings which were formerly amongst its

as=.ociations. The most restless of Continental peoples
twenty years ago is the most quiet, contented, and
prosper me to.day. Although some deduction must
now be made from the First Napoleon's famous asser-
tion that when France is satisfied Europe is tranquil;
there can be little doubt that for many years France
kept Continental thrones, figuratively speaking, in akind
of perpetual hot water. It was the custom of the late
Emperor Napoleon to receive the foreign Ambassadors
on New Year's Day, and as regularly as the first of
JaLuary c ime round, all Europe waited with intense
interest to hear what that powerful Sovereign had to say,
whether he smiled upon the representative of Austria,
frowned upon the ambassador of Prussia, gave a friendly
nod to the minister from Spain, or was cool, distant, and
reserved with the ambassador from England. Words,
looks,, and gestures were carefully noted and com-
mented upon throughout the lengthand breadth of the
Continent, all kinds of conclusions being drawn from
them. Exactly twenty years ago, on the let of
January, 1859, the Emperor, at-one of these diplomatic
receptions, approached the Austrian ambissador,
ard said with some se verity of tone that although the
relations between the two Empires were not such
as he could desire, he begged to assure the
Emperor of Austria that his personal feelings
towards his Majesty remained unaltered. That was
all. But when these few words, which proved to be
words of menace, and the harbinger of war, had been
telegraphed to every capital in Europe, the same
meaning was attached to them in London and St.
Petersburg, in Vienna and Berlin. In twenty-four
hours the depreciation of stocks an' .ecurities of
various descriptions repres-.7.;id the enormous
amount of a hundred ,otons sterling. War between
France and Ar-:,ria followed in the spring, and the
foundationii were laid of that Italian kingdom which is
now one of the great Powers in Europe. Happily
such New Year's days as those are gone, and no one
now has any occasion to fear what Marshal MacMahon
may have to say to the foreign ambassadors whom he
receives at the Elysee. Paris no longer awaits with
feverish expectation the quotations on the Bourse, but
is enabled to devote its undivided attention to those
New Year's celebrations which are to the French what
the commemoration of Christmas is to the people of
England.

The Queen's letter of thanks for the sympathy mani-
fe,sted by her subjects in her recent bereavement, has

been re-ad with interest not only in our own, but in

foreign lands. No one who remembers how the
Princess Alice nursed her father, and her brother the
Prince of Wales, will say that her Majesty's des-
cription is at all overdrawn, when elle speaks of
her as a bright example of loving tenderness,
courageous devotion, and self-sacrifice to duty. The
memory of the beloved Princess will always be
held in affectionate remembrance as having fallen a
victim to maternal regard and attention to her sick
children. There was something in her face which told
of a quiet and unostentatious goodness, and for years
to come her name will be held in reverence and esteem
by all classes of the people. By the way, what an
interesting collection could be made of the Queen's
letters upon all kinds of subjects during the forty-two
years of her reign ! We can all recollect the one
which Her Majesty wrote seven years ago, when she
spoke of those painful and terrible December days
in 1871, when the Prince of Wales lingered upon
the borderland between life and death, and on
many other occasions of national anxiety and
calamity her simple but touching words have
been listened to by a loyal and attentive people. It is
a long chapter in the history of England from 1837 to
1879, and some of its most interesting portions are
those appreciative and kindly expressions which have
been contained in Queen Victoria's letters to those
over whom she has so long been called upon to rule.
There is not one among us who does not hope that

with the gradually lengtbeniog days a rift will be seen

in the cloud of misery and distress which has so long
cast its gloomy shadow upon the land. The stagna-
tion of trade has made wretched thousands of working
men, who though willing to work can find no employ-
ment. In many populous manufacturing districti the
voice o: industry is no longer heard; the spindle and
the loom are still; the hammer and the shuttle are
silent; no smoke ascends from the factory; and the
once busy warehouse is as empty as Goldsmith's
Deserted Village. Strong and stalwart men go idle
while their wives and children are famishing with
hunger. Much of this gets into the newspapers, but
there is reason to fear that this is but a small
proportion of the privation which really exists. The
truly deserving poor and necessitous are not given
to parading their sorrows before the world, and
there are many instances in which wants are
made known when they have become so urgent and
pressing that they can no longer be concealed, but
when oftentimes it is too late to afford the requisite
assistance. There is, however, one bright spot in our
otherwise gloomy picture. The extent of the pre-
vailing distress has been speedily and widely recog-
nized, and measures for its mitigation have been
promptly taken. There are few towns in which some
organization for assuaging the miseries of the poor has
not been established, while in many places the muni-
cipal authorities have set a good example by providing
work for the unemployed. Public action and private
philanthropy will, it is hoped, enable the suffering
and deserving poor to tide over one of the most
dismal winters which has passed over us for a genera-
tion.

The break-up of the intense frost much as it inter-
fered with the exhilarating pastime of the skater, was
an enormous relief to vast numbers of the population.
It is surprising how helpless a great and powerful
community becomes in the face of such a frost as that
which lately visited this country. No gas, no water,
no means of locomotion—such are two or three of the
minor miseries of life at such a season. Statistics have
been-produced to show that this winter has been the
most severe since 1814. The ice upon the Thames was
then so thick that all sorts of games were played
thereon by the Londoners. Tents were erected, and a
thorough carnival was kept up. As there were no
railways, and no colliers could come up the river, coals
were only to be had at a large increase t.f the pre-
vious rates. There was a severe frost in the winter
of 1854, but it was nothing like so intense as that
which we have lately experienced. So exceedingly
severe has been the freezing power, and so hard have
the roads in many parts become, that country carters
have been compelled to have their horses' shoes sharp-
ened at the smith's forge every two or three days, in
order to enable them at all to make their way. Yet
the extraordinary cold has not been without its com-
pensating advantages. It hashed the best effect upon
the lands which were ploughed in the later autumn;
it has killed countless weeds—the pest of the farmer
—and has destroyed myriads of insects which,
after what are called "open winters," commit
such ravages on the young and tender plants in
the spring. The frost has also a mellowing power on
the soil, and especially upon that of clayey lands,
which gives redoubled strength to vegetation, and is
the sure promise of good crops in the coming season.
For once we have had our winter at the proper time,
and need not now fear those bitterly cold east winds
which too often sweep down upon us in the spring,
and do incalculable damage to the budding verdure.
It is clear that no effort will be spared to make
successful the great Agricultural Exhibition which
is to be held in London this year. The
Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of
England, in conjunction with the Lord Mayor's
Committee, have already arranged for the distribu-
tion of prizes exceeding £13,000 in value, and additional
prizes are in contemplation, • The Mansion House
Fund now amounts to about £7,000, and every efrort
will be made by the authorities to make the gathering
as successful as so many of our large provincial towns
have made it year after year. It would be rather a
reflection on the capital of the empire if in this respect
it were compared unfavourably with Manchester or
Birmingham, Liverpool, or Leeds. Whilst upon this
topic a brief reference may be made to the forth-
coming Australian International Exhibition at
Sydney, which has been fixed for this year. It will
not be devoted exclusively to agriculture, but enough
will be seen of the farming of that great colony to
prove its excellence.
The month of January is a elate which within five
years witnessed the deaths of two monarchs who in
their lifetime had been often associated, and who were
prominent figures in the great political world of
Europe. It was On the 9th of January, 1873, that the
Emperor Napoleon breathed his last at Chislehurst—an
exile from the land in which he had had su3h a
splendid reign. On the same date in 1878 Victor
Emmanuel passed away, but under different cir-
cumstances. When Napoleon 111, was proclaimed
Emperor of the French, Victor Emmanuel was merely
king of Sardinia, and it was as such that be joined
France and England against Russia in 1855. When
Napoleon was at the height of his power the
Sardinian king was but the ruler of a petty princi-
pality, which he lived to see grow into a first-class
power, represented by an ambassador in each of the
chief European capitals. Lombardy and the Duchies,
the Two Sicilies, Venetia, and at last Rome itself,
came into the possession of the Italian sovereign ; and
while his former friend and ally died in a Kentish
mansion, his last hours were spent in the Quirinal, one
of the most famous of Rome's historic palaces, They

both visited London almost together in the spring of
1855, when their soldiers were fighting side by side
with ours in the Crimea; and it is one of those
coincidences which sometimes make so strong an im-
pression upon the human mind that after a chequered
career ending so differently, they were summoned
from the world at the same date, and with half a
decade of years between them.
As a consequence of the winter Session Parlia-
ment will this year meet four weeks later than it did
last—on the 13th February, instead of the 17th
January. There will consequently be a month longer
in which honourable gentlemen will be able to talk
politics in the provinces, and to express their views
re•pecting the war in Afghanistan, the carrying out
of the Treaty of Berlin, the prospects of the Ministry,
and the hopes of the Opposition. A member addresses
his constituents with ranch greater advantage than
he cften addresses tha House of Commons. Those
whom he represents look forward with much interest
to his annual appearance amongst them to render, a 3
it is termed, an account of his stewardship; he is re-
ported to the extent of several columns in the local
newspapers, and great store is set by his opinions
on the subjects which come before the High
Court of Parliament. But in a large proportion
of cases the scene is a very different one when
the same member rises to speak in the House
of Commons. Listlessness, inattention, and hum
of conversation, derisive cries, and interruptions,
ale frequently the accompaniments of an ordinary
member's speech, except of course in the case of the
occupants of the two front benches. In what is known
as the dinner-time, that is to say from seven to ten in
the evening, there are often not a score of members in
the House; whoever speaks addresses the reporters,
and it is no uncommon occurrence for observations
which have extended over half-an-hour to be con-
densed into twenty lines of a London newspaper.
After ten o'clock the House fills up on both
sides, and the prominent men of either party
take the floor. It is a rule with Mr. Gladstone
to send into the reporters' gallery a note stating
how long he intends to siSeak, and as this is passed
round the conductors of the journals are enabled to
estimate the quantity to be produced and the space
which will be required, and to make their arrange-
ments accordingly. Taking a speech of an hour in
length to make about three columns of small type, it is
easy enough to reckon how much will be wanted to
give fully the speech of a statesman who has held such
a prominent position in the public life of this country.