The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-03-19 00:00:00

THE BURDEN OF A CROWN.

The Pall Mall Gazette remarks :—The distinctively,
Russian manifesto of the new Emperor will be scrutin-
ized in vain for any hint as to the policy which
Alexander the Third will pursue at home or abroad.
It is dignified in tone, and has been favourably
received throughout Europe. The reference which it
contains to the "heavy burden" which has been laid
upon the new Czar is no mere figure of speech,
and he will need all the assistance which he
invokes in his endeavour to promote "the good of
our dear Fatherland." "You will find the burden
heavy," said the dying Nicholas, as the sovereignty of
eighty millions of men was passing from his shoulders
to those of the late Czar, and now the same phrase
reappears in the manifesto of Alexander 111. Nor
will he find the burden much more easy to bear than
that which has crushed his father with its weight. It
is too great a burden for any man to bear, and the
autocracy would be more tolerable to the autocrat if
the responsibilities of government were shared to some
extent with the representatives of his subjects.

An account from Omaha,dated February 17, states
that thousands of cattle have been killed by cold and starva-
tion. On the Western Plains 590 dead cattle were then in
sight of the railway from Ogallala to Big Springs, a distance
of nineteen miles.

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A memorial has been forwarded to jr. Gladstone
by the Congregational Church at Bourne, praying for a
peaceful solution of the Transvaal difficulty. The Pastor
has also sent a letter to Mr. Gladstone, in which he says he
feels sure that the right hon. gentleman and Mr. Brigktt at
all mots, are in sympathy with the prayer of the memorial
The Senatus of the University of St. Andrews
haying received a number of petitions on the subject of the
university education of women from associations of ladies
in Fife and Forfarshire, and also from the L As of the
university, have approved generally the object .of these
petitions, and agreed to grant separate courses of system3tic
university instruction to women as soon as a sufficient suna
of money is raised for the purPose.

A solemn requiem service for the late Emperor was
celebrated in London on Monday in the Russian
Ambassador's chapel. This buildmg, which is in the
rear of a private house, No. 32, Welbeck-street, is
so small that there was scarcely room for all the
members of the diplomatic corps who attended. As
these arrived they were received by Prince Lobanoff in
a room of the house. A few Russian ladies, the Countess
Granville, and the Countess de Bylandt, all in deep
mourning and thickly veiled, entered the chapel im-
mediately on their arrival, and stood or sat on the
north side, the south aide being reserved for the
males of the congregation. Shortly before the hour
for the commencement of the service the Duke
of Cambridge, wearing his Field-Marshal's uniform,
passed into the chapel, followed by Earl Granville,
who wore a Windsor uniform and the star and riba.nd
of the Order of the Garter; Sir Charles Dilke, M.P.,
Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,- Count
Munster, the German Ambassador- Count Karolyi,
the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador ; Count de Bylandt,
the Netherlands Minister ; the Italian, Spanish, and
French Ambassadors • The Chinese Ambassador,
Marquis Tseng ; the Japanese Minister; and, later,
the Turkish Ambassador, Musurus Pasha, accom-
panied by Paul Musurus Bey and Djemal Bey ; the Per-
sian Minister, Prince Mirza Malcom Khan; the Danish,
Swedisi, Belgian, and American Ministers, and many
Ministers and attaches of other legations. The prin-
cipal members of the Russian Embassy present were
—Count N. Alderberg, Secretary; the Councillor,
M. Davydoff : Prince Dolgorouky, Major-General
Gorloff, the Military Attaché; and Captain Linden,
the Naval Attaché. The Russian Consul-General,
M. Alexander de Berg, was also present. The
Prince and Princess of Wales passed through
the standing congregation to the only two chairs
in the chapel, which were placed to the right or
south side, near the altar mils, where the Duchess
of Edinburgh sits when she occasionally attends;
the corresponding place on the north side being
filled by the large painted sarcophagus, which re-
presents the tqmb of Christ in the Good Friday
services. The Prince of Wales, who was in the
uniform of a field marshal, wore a band of crape
on the left arm. The Princess of Wales was dressed
in black, with crape on the bonnet, and a deep veil
which entirely covered the face. Lord Colville of
Culross was in attendance on their Royal Highnesses.
The Duke of Teck arrived somewhat later. Those
who have not been inside the chapel may picture to
themselves an oblong apartment, having its greatest
length from west to east, comfortably carpeted
throughout, lighted ordinarily through a central
dome, though on this occasion many wax candles were
burning in a massive gilded chandelier, hung from
the dome; the walls of a light, warm, brown tint,
decorated near the east end by two well-executed
paintings of saints, one on each side; and nearer the
west door by two small circular framed pictures,
before which little lamps are hung. In front of
the altar steps, where the catafalque would stand, had
been placed a low table covered with black cloth, on
which crosses were worked in silver braid. On this
stood a silver cross, a silver cup containing rice, and a
large wax candle ill a silver candlestick. 'Within the
altar rails a high and richly-decorated stone screen,
with three doors, shuts in the apse where the holy
table stands. On the panels of the doors and the
bays between are beautiful paintings of the Virgin
and child, the Saviour, the Archangels Gabriel and
d Michael, an of St. George and St. Nicholas. Two
red silk embroidered and painted banners rise
above the altar rails.- The large central doors
through which the priest alone may pass, being opened,
showed the holy table draped in black, and above it a
silver candelabrum bearing seven candles in a row.
Through the smalleroide doors two priests could be seen,
who, however, took no part in the service. They were
the Greek Archimandrite and the priest attached to the
household of the Duchess of Edinburgh. The offi-
ciating priest, the Rev. E. Smirnoff, and ,the deacon,
I wore what appeared to be black velvet copes em-
broidered with silver. The priest read certain prayers,
and the deacon, with sonorous bass voice, intoned
the musical portion of the service, the responses
being chanted by three men singers, who, also robed in
black, stood within the altar rails. The music, which
was that used in the chapel of the Emperor, was a
service arranged in the time of Nicholas I. by Lvofl.
There was no organ or instrumental addition to the
music, the only accompaniment to the mournful
chanting of the deacon and singers being the sound of
the chains as the priest swung the censer to And fro.
After the third prayer for the soul of the Emperor
Alexander Nicolaievitch the congregation extinguished
I the lighted tapers they had been holding, and with
I an invocation in memoriam the service closed.

AvEnAgtE PRICI33B or BErzirsH CORN.—The following
are the a rerage prices of British corn for the week
ending March 12, as received from the inspectors and
officers of Excise :—Whetl 428. 3d. ; barley, 325. id.;
oats, 21s. 9d. per imperial qr. Corresponding week
last year :IF-Wheat, 44e. 8L; barley, 345. 10d. ; orts,
225. 3.d.

CARLYLE'S TRIBUTE TO HIS WIPE.—In Cockney-
dom we anent our two-and thirty years of hard battle
agahist fate—hard but not quite unvictorious—when
she left me as in her car of heaven's lire. My noble
one. 1 say deliberately her part in the stern battle—
and, except myself, none knows how stern—was
brighter and braver than my own. Thanks, darling,
for your shining words and acts, which were continual
in my eyes and in no other mortal's. Worthless, I
was your divinity; wrapt in your perpetual love of
me and pride in me, in defiance of all men and things.
Oh, was it not beautiful, all this that I have lost for
ever ! and I was Thomas the doubter, the unhoping,
till now the only half-believing in myself and my
priceless opulence.—Carlyle's Reminiscences.
AmArrium IRE.—Angry Wife of his Bosom. "
wish I was dead and cremated, and my ashes put in
an urn on your dressing-room table, and then perhaps
you 'd be ts-s-sorry ! "—Facetious Monster (a member,
we regret to say, of the Stock Exchange). "My dear,
that wouldn't end the family jars—it would only begin
them ! "—Punch.

ADVICE TO YOUNG AUTHORS. —Under this title the
Cincinnati Inquirer has the following :—"Mark Twain
said this afternoon that he had made out of his books
about 125,000 dols, clear, and out of his last book, 'A
Tramp Abroad,' 40,000 dole. and out of his lec-
tures and plays, in addition to his books, enough
to bring the whole aggregate up to 250,000 dols.
He said that the sum ought to have been over
400,000 dole, and that he had just now discovered that
he had printed his books on a false basis, that he ought
to have published the book himself, and paid his
publishers a percentage for selling them, instead of
letting them pay him a percentage for writing them.
He said he had written a novel and was preparing the
plates himself, and meant to put it out by hiring the
publishers, instead of being hired, and that all writers
ought to take that position—that the book publisher
was the hireling and not the author—and thus many
of our young men who have written well and hard
would have been in independent circumstances long
ago. He said the American copyright laws were of
very little good to authors.
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HIGII ART BELOW-STAIRS.—The modern Jeames of
Bukley-square is going in for 'Estheticism and
Cultchaw. In his pantry he sits gazing on a lily in
an old cracked blacking-bottle. He calls it the "Lily
of the Valet."—Punch.

A DanEmor BARQUIL—The barque Sotide, which
arrived at Falmouth on Tuesday, reports having
passed in lat. 52 south, long. 50 west, on January 8,
an iron barque of about 800 or 1,000 tons burden. All
her fittings had been burned out, and her cargo of
coals was still burning. The vessel had a white figure-
head and a head-board, on which were, besides some
undistinguishable letters, the following: "Frank E."

THE COLLEGES IN THE UNITED STATES.—From the
annual report of Dr. Eliot, President of Harvard Uni-
versity, it appeared that scattered over the United
States there are 360 colleges or institutions called
universities—only 28 of which were in existence sixty
years ago; and of these all but two were at that
period distributed over twelve of the thirteen original
States. More than one-third of these 360 institutions
charge no tuition fee, or only a nominal one—under
thirty dollars a year. Among the latter are forty-
three agricultural and mechanical colleges, endowed
by the Government.
THE INDIAN CENSIIS.—The humours of the Ist
Indian Census c ontinue to be reported by the Indian
journals. Thus in the Darjeeling district the coolies
firmly believed that a man from each house was to
have his right arm cut off; and another prevailing
idea was that a child was to be taken from each house
and laid on the tramway as a sacrifice to the British
Juggernauth, so that parents were careful never to
leave a child alone in the house when they went out
to work, lest it should be spirited away in their ab-
sence. The belief that each person would be marked
extended to several other districts.
A VOICE FROM A VETERAN.— What is the use,
demands an "Old Soldier" of your newfangled Army
Organisation? Wait till you are drawn into an
European war, and then let your Army be licked into
shape.—Punch.
A NOVEL INvErrnoN.—The Jerusalem, Captain
Mark Breach, which sailed from Gravesend on Friday
in last week for Melbourne, has on board a novel in-
vention for shipwrecked sailors, the capabilities of
which are to be tested during the voyage. The in-
vention, which is called "a despatch box," and is the
design of Mrs. Dean, of Hastings, is a little boat
three or four feet in length, being built upon the
principle of a life-boat. It carries a sail on which is
a Scripture text executed in phosphorus. The idea is
that, when a vessel is wrecked, the fate of the ship
might be written down, and the record deposited in
a despatch box on the deck of the little boat, and the
craft committed to the mercy of the waves. With a
moderate wind the boat will travel four or five miles
an hoir. Captain Breach intends launching the boat,
which has been named the Little Jerusalem, about 300
miles off Scilly Isles. Certain despatches and in-
structions will be placed in the box, and a lighted
lantern will also be placed on board.

DOD GOLD PANTRY AT WINDSOR CASTLE.—A corre-
spondent of the Daily Telegraph writes :—" The cus-
todianship of her Majesty's gold pantry at Windsor
Castle, just rendered vacant by the death of Mr.
Goring, is an office of great trust, as may be inferred
from the fact that when the Queen entertained the
Farinperor of Russia, shortly after the marriage of the
Duke find Duchess of Edinburgh, gold plate to the
value of some £2,000,000 is said to have been used.
At a rough gticta the Royal gold and silver services at
Windsor Palace are ptobably worth about £3,000,000."

THE " ATALANTA " FVNEi. —On Friday in last week
the Lord Mayor of London, presided at a meeting of
the'Committee of the Atalanta Irtmd, when it was
decided on the motion of Admiral Ryder, to open
negotiations with the Royal Patriotic Commissioners,
with a view to their administrating the subscription
amongst the wives, children, and relatives of the
unfortunate men who met their deaths by the
foundering of the vessel. Upwards of £0,300 has been
received at the Mansion House, and a goodly balance
remains.
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LORD DERBY AND THE TRANSVAAL , WAR.—At a
meeting held in the Town Hall, Birmingham, to urge
a peaceful solution of the Transvaal difficulty, a lettfar
was read from Lord Derby, who wrote, "I desire a
peaceful settlement of the Transvaal difficulty as
strongly as you can do. Ibelieve the Cabinet to have
the same policy, and I am content ta leave the matter
in their hands.''

CARLYLE'S BEQUEST.—Craigenputtock, the estate
which Mr. Carlyle has bequeathed to the University
of Edinburgh, is on the wild borderland of Galloway
and Dumfries, six miles from the village of Dunscore,
which is about ter miles from the town of Thornhill,
on the Glasgow and South-Western Railway. At
present,it is let on lease to the nephew of the deceased,
Mr. James Carlyle, who does not, however, reside
there—a shepherd who takes charge of the twenty-
five score of sheep on the farm occupying the house
in which the sage wrote Sartor Besartus. It is a plain
stone building, such as is to be found in almost every
Scottish homestead—a window on each side of the
door below, and three windows on the upper story.
There are a few trees which shelter the approach or
avenue, but the general prospect in winter is bleak
and bare.

THE PROPERTY OF MARRIED WOMEN.—Mr. Jacob
Bright and Sir Gabriel Goldney, together with others
have placed their names on the back of a Bill for the
purpose of consolidating and amending the Acts re-
lating to the property of married women. Should
this measure become law a married woman will be
capable of contracting and holding property as a ferns
sole, and questions between husband and wife are to
be decided "by any fudge of the High Court of Justice
in England or Ireland in a summary way."
AN ASTRONOMICAL CENTENARY.—Sunday (13th) Was
the centenary of the discovery of tbe planet Uranus
by Herschel, at Bath, while engaged in the telescopic
comparison of a large number of stars. The dis-
covery was made about 11 p.m.; and the six satellites
were discovered between 1787 and 1797, also by
Herschel. The name given by Herschel to his new
planet was Georgium Sidus, in honour of the reigning
King, George 111. But this name gave no satisfac-
tion to astronomers, and after a variety of sugges-
tions that of Uranus, at the proposal of Bode, was
adopted.