The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-12-10 00:00:00

Our 'iCnnbon Conaputt'unt.

(We aeem it right to state that we do not at all times
Ildentify ourselves with our Correspondent's opipions.

The summoning of Parliament for the 7th of Feb-
ruary has set speculation afloat as to whether the
approaching sessim, of the Legislature will be opened
by Her Majesty in person. The two sessions of the
Legislature elected in April, 1880, were inaugurated
by Commission; so also were the first two sessions of

the Parliaments elected in 1868 and 1874; while in
each case the third session was opened by the Queen

herself. The next being the third session of the
- present Parliament, it is hoped that the precedents of
its two predecessors will be followed, and that the
Sovereign will come to London to preside over the
opening ceremony of the, legislative deliberations.
There are yet two months to the time named in the
Royal proclamation, and the people of the metropolis
would then bs very glad to welcome the -Queen once
more to the capital of the empire.
During the first twenty years of her reign, it was
the custom of Her Majesty, when her health per-
mitted, not only to open Parliament, but to prorogue
it as well. The personal attendance at prorogation
ceremonies ceased a year or two before the death of
the Prince Consort; and since then the Queen has
opened Parliament six times. From 1861 to 1866, Royal
Commissioners, seated in front of the Throne, per-
formed the duty ; in the last-mentioned year and again
in 1867 the Queen went to Westminster herself ;
the next time was in 1871, again in 1876, in 1877,
and 188). That was the last—the seventh—Session of
the then expiring Parliament, which six week after-
wards was dissolved, and the present House was
elected.

The difference between the opening of Parliament
by the Sovereign an by commission, is that which
separates active life from passive inanition. In the
former case the streets are lined with people, the boom
of cannon echoes over the giant city, and there is a
stir amongst its vast population which speaks of the
public interest in the passing event, The eight cream-
coloured horses and the gorgeous state equipages
remind the elder portion of the multitude of the earlier
part of Her Majesty's reign, when the Court was kept
at Buckingham Palace and the Queen frequently
appeared in the streets to receive the cheers of her
people. The scene outside the Palace of Westminster
is one of bustle and animation; within it is one of
impressiveness and splendour. The body of the
House of Lords is filled with peers who have come up
to London in the winter from all parts of the kingdom
to pay their respects to the monarch of the realm ;
the galleries are thronged with ladies; the great
officers of State surround Her Majesty, flanked by
trumpeters, tabards, pm suivants, and heralds.
But when the ceremony is discharged by Royal
commission the scene is one which seldom fails to
convey depressing influences to the mind of the be-
holder. London is not a cheerful place on an early
day in February; it is frequently enveloped in a dense
fog; the "dim religious light "of the House of Lords
is the reverse of inspiriting on such an occasion, and
as a rule there are not a dozen persons present. There
is no rush to the bar of that illustrious assembly on
the part of the Commons to obtain good positions in
iront of the Sovereign, there are no crowds without,
and nothing in Parliament-street or Palace-yard to
denote that anything out of the ordinary run of things
is taking place.

The Royal Geographical Society have asked the
Admiralty to send an expedition to the Arctic regions
for the relief of the well-known explorer Mr. Leigh
Smith and his crew. About the middle of last June
Mr. Smith with a company of twenty-two hands all
told, set out from Peterhead in the steam yacht Eira,
of about 400 tons measurement, and provisioned for
fourteen months. A Norwegian schooner communi-
cated with the Eira early in July, since which nothing
has been heard of her. It is conjectured that the Eira
must have lingered too long in one of the openings which
the short but fierce Arctic, summer makes in the Polar
seas, and that the ice closed round her before she could
effect her escape. The fourteen months' provisions
were laid in rather as a precautionary measure
than with the idea of wintering in those frightful
regions. These would last the imprisoned men
until next August, and the Government is urged
to send out an expedition of help in case the
Eira should have to be abandoned, and the party
have to make their way across the ice - floes
in the direction of Cape Nassau, in Nova Zembla.
Mr. Leigh Smith expended out of his own fortune
about £20,000 in the cause of Arctic exploration, and
there can be little doubt that his services in geo-
graphical science entitle him to the fullest considera-
tion on the part of those who are responsible for our
maritime administration.