The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-01-03 00:00:00

R Ell'o P.E

OF THE

YEAR 1879.

Eighteen hundred and eeventy-nine dawned upon
the world without much hope that it would be an
improvement on its immediate predecessors; and in
glancing back over the twelve months it can scarcely
he said that it has left behind it many agreeable associa-
tions, or that its departure will be viewed with regret.
When the task of retrospect is a pleasant one it is well
to linger over the memories of the fleeting shadows
bygone days have left behind them; and
,tally to recal those happier times which have
sed away never to return. The past year has been
more of gloom than of sunshine at home; and
's of disturbance than of peace abroad. In endea-
ring to plate before our readers the mein incidents
'le twelve months, we cannot but express an earnest
heartfelt hope that 1879 may bathe last of a series
favourable years, and that its succession may
the beginning of an era of general contentment
eroaperity.

The year opened with gloomy associations for the
highest personage in the realm. On the 14th Decena.
her, the seventeenth anniversary of the death of the
Prince Consort, the Princess Alice, second daughter of
the Queen, died at Darmstadt from an attack of
diphtheria taken whilst in attendance upon her sick
Lusband and children, and her funeral took place four
days later amid sincere and profound expressions of
grief in her own as well as in her adopted land. The
beloved Princess had been an assiduous attendant upon
her father in his last illness, and that her useful life
should have been blotted out at the early age of 35 was
felt almost as a personal loss in many a home in Eng-
land as well as in Darmstadt. But the working of
unalterable laws affects the most illustrious as well as
the humblest in the land. On the 6th December,
eight days before the death of Princess Alice, the Queen
had formally eignified her assent to a contract of mar-
riage between her third eon, the Duke of Connaught,
and the Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, a daughter
of Prince Frederick Charles, one of the famous com-
manders of the German army in the great war with
France nearly tan years ago. The Princess landed at
Queenborough on the 11th March following, and on
the 13th the marriage was celebrated at St. George's
Chapel, Windsor. Beyond this there is no distinguish-
ing incident in the history of the Royal Family to re-
cord during the progress of the year. Her Majesty,
accompanied by Princess Beatrice, spent a month in
ItalY IEI the spring, leaving this country on the 25th
March, and returning on the 26th April. The coin.
memoration a the Queen's Birthday on the 24th May,
When the Sovereign completed the 60th year of her
aP, was carried out on a more than usually exten-
e,lve scale of rejoicing; and on the afternoon of that
day the Prince of Wales, appropriately enough, de.
ei
.ared free from toll for ever five of the bridges span.
glleg the Thames—a highly appreciated benefit to
,urge masses of the crowded districts of London.
-the Prince celebrated his 38th birthday on the
9th of November, while the Princess completed her
36th year en the Ist of December—both amid the
heartiest good wishes for their long life and continued
haPPiness. Their sons, the Princes Albert Victor
Q(1 George, have pursued their studies in the naval
Profession; and on the 15th September their routine
of cadet life on board the Britannia at Dartmouth was
varied by the commencement of a cruise in H,M,S. Bac-
chante. The Duke of Edinburgh's active interest In the
naval service will have ample occupation in his new
Post of Superintendent of the Steam Reserves. Prince
beopold, now in his 27th year, and Princess Beatrice,
In her 23rd, are the only children of the Queen
remaining unmarried. The former takes frequent
ePPortunity of advancing the cause of educational
science and art—one oi the latest evidences of this
being his visit to Sheffield for the purpose of opening
the Firth college in that town. The Princess
Beatrice remains the constant companion of her
Royal mother, whether at Windsor, Osborne, or
BaLmoral.

The Parliamentary records of the year are not freught
With great excitement or momentous results. On the
sth December, 1878, both Houses met in order to pre.
vide for the expenses of the Afghan war, which had
been entered upon by the Government of India in the
Previous month. The policy which had led to that
conflict was warmly challenged in both Lords and
Commons ; but Ministers secured a majority of 136 in
the former, and of 101 in the latter. Parliament ad-
journed for the Christmas recess on the 17th December,
and reassembled on the 13th February. Custom did
not admit of a second speech from the Throne, that
having been delivered in December; but, on the first
night of the Legislature meeting in February, the
Prime Minister in the Upper House, and the Chan-
ceticr of the Exchequer in the Lower, sketched the
course which the Ministers intended to pursue during
the session, It was not long before the growth of the
natiotud expenditure attracted the attention of the
OPPosition ; but a motion of censure upon the
Achninia. tration, brought forward by Mr. Itylands,
was rejected by a majority of seventy-three
votes. Some of thew subjects known as Parlia-
ulentar7 annual questions also engaged attention. On
the 19th February a Burials Bill introduced by Mr.
Balfour was talked out. A week later a measure
by Mr. Monk dealing with the consecration of church-
/archh was rejected by 160 to 129. On the 403 March
air. Trevelyan's County Franchise motion for extend-
ing the borough household qualification to the shires
Was defeated by 291 to 226. Three days afterwards
the House of Commons rejected a motion for giving
women the right to vote at Parliamentary elections
by 217 to 103. On the 11th Sir Wilfrid Lawson's
resolution for giving ratepayers the power of local
option on the licensing question was thrown out by
252 to 164. On the 3rd April Sir Stafford INTertheote
introduced the Budget, estimating the year's income
at R,81,055,000, and the expenditure at £81,153,573.
The changes in the adjustment of taxation were of the
slightest possible character, an addition of 2d. per lb. on
the tobacco duty being the most conspicuous. On the
4th May Lord Thurlow's motion in the Upper House in
favour of opening the National Museums and Picture
Galleries on Sunday afternoons was rejected by eight
"tel. Two days afterwards the Prince of Wales
Presented a petition to the House of Lords in favour
of the Bill for legalising marriage with a deceased
wife's sister. On the same day a resolution affirm-
ing the desirability of abolishing actions for breach
of promise of marriage, except when pecuniary loss is
Incurred, was carried in the House of Commons by
Mr. Herschill by 106 to 65. On the 12th of the same
month a Bill for prohibiting unlicensed horse races
within ten miles of London was read a second time in
the House of Lords, by 84 to 57. On the Ist July the
Public Health (Interments) Bill was read a second
time by the Peers. On the Bth their lordships pained
the Irish University Bill through a similar stage.
The other work of the session was then gradually ,
wound up, and on the 15th August Parliament was '
Prorogued by Royal Commission.
The attention of Parliament was not, however,
occupied exclusively with the subjects above mentioned.
On the day of its adjournment for the Christmas
rheess. the 17th December, 1878, a document wan pub-
lished at Natal containing the elements of future war.
It was an ultimatum sent by Sir Bartle Frere, Her
Majesty's High Commissioner in South Africa, to
Cetewayo, the King of the Zulus, bringing to a crisis
the dispute between that sovereign and the British
Power. As the ultimatum was not accepted by the
Zulu king, war was declared; and on the 12th of
January the British troops crossed the Tugela and
invaded Zululand. Ten days afterwards an enormous
host of the enemy, estimated at from 15,000 to 20,000,
surprised the British camp' at Isandula, fully 500 of
our men being slain. The Zulus, flushed with success,
pushed on to the frontier with the evident intention of
invading the colony of Natal; but Rorke's Drift, a
border mission station, they were met with such
determined resistance by a handful of soldiers,
eighty in all, under the command of Lieutenants
Chard and Bromhead, two engineer officers, that
after several hours of desperate fighting, the Zulus
Withdrew, and Natal was saved. Her Majesty and the
War Office have made full recognition of this splendid
service. Sir Bartle Frere sent home for reinforce.
ments, which were promptly despatched. The news
of the Isandula disaster reached London on the 11th
February, and on the 19th the first transport sailed
with additional troops for the Cape. On the 27th the
House of Commons granted a vote of credit for
£1,500,000 on account of the Zulu war, which, upon
the arrival of the reinforcements, was vigorously
Prosecuted, The campaign, short as it proved to be,
was characterised by some very severe fighting. The
Zulus shut up Col. Pearson at Ekowe for several
week's ; but Lord Chelmsford was enabled to relieve
that officer on the 4th April. A week previously a
large force of these savages attacked General Sir
Evelyn Wood at Kambula, but the assault was re-
pulsed with great loss to the enemy. Meanwhile the
Policy which had brought about the war was impugned
In both Houses of Parliament, Lord Lansdowne in
the Upper House, and Sir Charles Dilke in the Lower,
moved a resolution censuring the Government for not
haring recalled Sir Bartle Frere. This was rejected
by 156 to 61 in the Lords, and by 306 to 216 in the
Commons. Late in May Sir Garnet Wolseley, who
had returned from Cyprus, was appointed to the chief
military and civil command in South Africa; and
whilst he was on his way thither, an incident happened
Which directed the eyes of the whole civilized world
Upon the Zulu war. On Whit-Monday, the let of
June, Prince Louis Napoleon, better known as the
Prince Imperial of France, who had joined the Staff
of Lord Chelmsford, was surprised and slain by the
Zulus whilst on a reconnoitring expedition. His
body was brought to England and interred at
Chiaelhtirst on the 12th July, the funeral being at-
tended by the Queen, the Prince and Princess of
Wales, Princess Beatrice, and the Dukes of
Edinburgh, Connaught. and Cambridge. A week
previously the Zulus had been totally defeated by the
British troops under Lord Chelmeford at Ulundi; and
on the 21st of the same month the coast chiefs of
Zululand formally submitted to Sir Garnet Wolseley.
Cetewazo, becoming a fugitive, was pursued and
captured in the North-east portion of his territory,
and has since been detained at Capetown. With this,
military operations were rapidly brought to a close;
and by the end of September, the English troops
had finally left Zululand, the country having been
divided into districts, eaeh ruled by a chief nominated
by Sir Garnet Wolseley. But it hastince been found
necessary to employ the colonial forces against the
Banta chiefs—Moirosi and Becoceni—whose strong-
holds have been stormed and taken, the former being
killed and the latter captured, and their followers
di/Merged,

Dividing public attenticn with the Zulu war have
been the military operations in Afghanistan. When the
year opened Shere All was a fugitive from his capital,
and in a few weeks afterwards he was dead. His son
Yakoob Khan, was proclaimed Ana Ger ; and on
the Bth May he arrived in the British Cen3p
and made overtures for peace. These having been ac.
oeptad by the Viceroy of India, a treaty was signed
at Gandemak on thaalth of llskt month, Yirhich, it
WM expected would have secured a future good under-
standing between the British and Afghanistan.
The British troops were ordered to fall back within

the nc:-.• frontier, and for a time all went well.
On the 4th August the thanks of both Houses of Par-
liament were voted to Lord Lytton and the army in
Afghanistan; and Sir Louis Cavagnari having been
installed as British resident at Cabal, there were great
hopes that a settlement of the relations between Great
Britain and Afghanistan had been arrived at. On the
3rd of September, however, some Herali regiments
rose in revolt at Cabal, and massacred Sir Louis
Cavagnari and the members of the British embassy,
The British troops, under General Roberts, at once
marched upon the Afghan capital, and with very
little resistance occupied the city. The abdication of
Yakoob Khan and his summons to Calcutta by the
Viceroy, and the events which followed, are fresh in
the recollection of our readers. The victory of the
forces under Sir Frederic Roberts over the Afghan
tribes at Sherpnr, on Dec. 22nd, is the latest incident
in a straggle which has now lasted intermittently more
than twelve months, and the satisfactory termination
of which would be heartilf welcomed by the people of
this country.

The year was not a month old before France passed
through thu most peaceful revolution it has ever
witnessed. On the 14th January M. Gavy was
elected President of the Chamber of Deputies, which
had met at Versailles. For some time previously the
course of political events had shown the difficulty of
Marshal MacMahon co-operating with the majority
of the representatives of the people, and‘on the 30th
of the same month he resigned the Presidency of the
Republic, his term of office under the Septennate,
having nearly two years longer to run, M. Grdvy
was at once elected his successor, M. Gambetta taking
his place as President of the Chamber of Deputies.
Dufaure •having withdrawn from political life, a
new Cabinet was formed early in February with M.
Waddington as President of the Council. The incon-
venience of the Parliament meeting at Versailles,
twelve miles from Paris, had been felt for years; and
now found practical expression in the Chamber of
Deputies, which on the 22nd March, passed a resolu-
tion in favour of returning to the capital. This was
adopted by the Senate on the 3rd July, and on the
2nd August following, the French Parliament met for
the het time at Versailleer Taking up their quarters
in Par I, the last week in November, the Senate in
the Palais Luxembourg and the Deputies in the
Palais Bourbon, the two branchee of the legislature
have conducted the latest of their deliberations in
separate buildings, Paris to this day being without a
suitable building for the accommodation of the
Parliament of one of the most enlightened, flourishing,
and prosperous oountries iii Europe.
Crossing the Pyrenees into knife, ie will ise
that the year has not made many contributions to the
history of that kingdom, One of the most noteworthy
incidents has been the marriage of King Alfonso, on
the 29th of November, to the Archduchess Christine of
Austria. His Majesty had remained a widower since
the summer of 1875, after a few months of married life
with his cousin Mercedes, a daughter of the Duke of
Montpensier. Unfortunately, tho reioicinge over the
king's second wedding were marred by come of those
destructive floods which have passed over different
countries in Europe during the past few months. It
is only recently that these have swept down upon
Spain ; but in the beginning of the year they were
especially disastrous in Efungary, where an entire
town was destroyed. The last days of Szegedin made
up a story of mournful reading for the English
people; and a charitable fund for the relief of the die-
tress sufferers was opened by the Lord Mayor of
Lowtore meeting with an open-handed and generous
response equal to the sad necessities of the occasion.
But it is a melaaceoly duty for the annalist to have
to record, in connection with Ipain, that as the year
was waning to its close, an attempt was made by
a riling man to assassinate the King as he was
driving, accompanied by his newly-wedded Queen,
through the gate of the palace at Madrid.
The extraordinary social condition of the widely.
spreading empire of Ramie has, more especially in
the later months of the year, been the subject of grave
anxiety in Western Europe, On the 14th of April a
determined attempt to assassinate the Ceiu• was made
in St. Petersburg; and like many a previous effort
of the regicide, it happily failed. The criminal was
arrested, and speedily tried and executed. The
Emperor almoct immediately thereafter took his de-
parture for Livadia, where he remained several months.
Meanwhile not only in the chief cities of Russia, but
in the villages, and in the most sparsely-populated
districts, the most repressive measures had been taken
to stamp out the Nihilist Conspiracy. That
they did not succeed was abundantly manifest in
the fins weel, of December, when upon the return
of the Emperor from Livadia an attempt was made
to blow up the Imperial train as if, was entering
Moscow. Fortunately the train blown up and
wrecked was not that in which the Czar was
travelling; it merely contained some of the Imperial
baggage. Once more, therefore, the life of the
Russian sovereign was saved; but the carrying
out of the idea, which must have post months
of preparation, only shows the desperate lengths
to which the revolutionary spirit has run la
Russia. The police have hitherto failed to trace the
secret conspirators, who continue to issue preclansa.
done of defiance • and warning against the Czar,
Such is the state of Russia within a score of years
of the dawn of the twentieth century, England has
had a Parliament 605 years; yet even to this day
there is no legislative assembly in the greatest empire
upon the Continent of Europe, no representative in.
stitutions for dealing with the wants of an enormous
and ignorant population. And lacking these institn.
done, which may be considered as the safety valves
for a state, there are not wanting those who think that
the whole of tho e()C141 system of Russia may collapse
at any moment.
In another, and a far different land, the year has
witnessed a revolution, and happily one of a peaceful
character. Perhaps, in some respects, there
could be scarcely a greater contrast than be-
tween Russia and Egypt the one embracing
vast unbroken solitudes, barren, sterile, and
surrounded with every attribute of barbarism; the
other the cradle of the civilization of the human race,
and possessing a splendid climate and a magnificent
Boil. The eternal snows and the ice-bound rivers of
htl2.3lrd Are exchanged in Egypt for rainless skies, long
summer days, and a fertilising stream which is a veri-
table river of water of Lila to thp people. It is un-
necessary in this record to allude to those
elptm-
stances which induced England and France to inter-
fere with the financial arrangements of the Khedive ;
it is sufficient to say that Mr. Rivers Wilson and
M. Blignibreo were appointed by the respective
Governments to exercise a supervision over the admini-
stration of Egyptian finance; and, on the Ith of April
last, great wats the surprise in London arid Paris at the
intelligence that the Khedive had dismissed Mr,
Wilsen and M. Bligni4res, and had formed a native
Cabinet, which should have the exclusive control over
Egyptian affairs, free from the penetrating eye
of the foreigner. This, however, was more than
the patience of the two Governments could stand;
pressure was brought to bear upon the Sultan;
and, on the 26th June, the Khedive wao deposed,
his eon, Tewfik Pasha, being appointed to
succeed him. The two principal Governments in
Western Europe therefore retain their influence in the
eounoile of Egypt, which requires only a wise and
capable ruler to make it, through the development of
its great resources, one of the most flourishing and
prosperous nations upon either cf the for Clontinents.
During the year some progress has been made in
consolidating the autonomy of those States in South-
Eastern Europe which it was one of the results of the
war of 1877 to remove from the rule of Turkey.
Prince Alexander of Eattnnburg
was appointed by the
Sultan as Prince of Bulgaria, the seen° of those bar-
barities, which, three years ago, shocked the whole of
civilized Europe. Sir Henry. Drummond Wolff, M. P.,
has acted as British Commissioner in Eastern Ron-
melia, and has endeavoured to bring order out of the
chaos which neceeserily reigned there after the war.
In Bosnia and the Herzegovina, which the Treaty of
Berlin handed over to an Austrian occupation,
the people have gradually settled down quietly
under their new rulers,
Turning to other parts of Europe, it will be
found that the year has been comparatively free
from those disquieting rumours which frequently
lead to complications and result in wars. Of
Italy, for many years a disturbing element in
Europe, nothing but that which leads to a peaceful
tendency has been heard. Italy is now a first-class
Power, is represented by an Ambassador at each of the
European Courts, and with her position, so strongly
contrasting with that of twenty years ago, is appar-
ently content. Between the Piedmont of 1859, with
Turin as its capital, and the Italian kingdom of 1870
settled securely at Rome, there is a difference which
almost defies recognition; and the peopls, content
with what they have won—sometimes in peace, at
others in war—have devoted themselves to making
the most of their resources. Ms true thatswe occa-
sionally hear of them constructing a moncter gun,
larger even than our own eighty ton eannon, nna rf
their ambition to be a great Mediterranean
power; but it is a principle which is now
recognized by all European states, that in
order to be respected they must be feared.
It was one of the last canons of political faith enun.
dated by the late King Victor Emmanuel, and the
Italian kingdom is not singular in giving practical
expression to It.
Germany seems to shave been disturbed less JOY
internal politics than in previous years; and the
principal domestic event of the twelve mouths
hew been the celebration of the golden wedding of the
Emperor and Empress.
In our own islands as wi-,11 as in other countries the
year has been marked by extraordinary anch abnormal
atmospheric conditions. The mild weather which
broke up the frost at the end of 1878 was speedily
followed by weather
pbittereriod in o
fi its
timeinte severity,nse
unparalleled and
i
extending over
modern history. The hopes that a hard winter would
be followed by a
genisl spring were not realieed
Eastern brought ;
sec"aihno showers
o
w hf
torrents
cheerlessrents o f
B rain,
thetae
falls
ewo
ofiftshnth
ow continued
snow,
and
sleet
ued even
into May ; Whitsuntide catci
whieh characterised the whoi-
e northern
seer. The Show of the Royal Agricultural Society at
Kilburn,near London, which the firs
opened n t week
of July, was utterly spoiled by the wet weather, the
loss to the society being about £12,000,, The incessant
rains so damaged the crops that the harvest e
worst in recent years. This, coming after a succession
of unfavourable seasons, told adversely on the landed
interest: a Royal Commission of Inquiry w 5 appointed
by the Government to suggest remedies
for the agc
inve
tural depression, and it is now pursuing its a sga.
tions. Meanwhile there has not been a revival in.
trade to that extent which some hopeful antions.
dons had led us to expect. Just as the c?n•
tinuons rains had interfered with the prosperity
of the agriculturists, the long and severe winter
affected numerous out-door industries; the work-
ing classes found themselves with less to spend
upon comforts and luxuries; and the farmer
also was compelled to be a less frequent customer of
the tradesman. It is true that the closing months of
the year have shown gigue of that move towards com-
mercial prosperity, the arrival of which had so long
been looked for with such anxiety. The iron trade,
more particularly, has taken a forward step; and there
is the high authority of the Prime Minister himself
for the revived demand for chemicals, thus indicating
a renewed activity In several departments of homes
manufacture.

' The roll of mortality in both branches of the Legle.

lature is rather a shorter one than usual. The House
of Lords has lost the Dukes of Newcs4tlo,,Pertland
and Roxburghe, the Earls of Durham, and FIN, and
Lord Lawrence, who won his peerage by his skilful
administration as Viceroy of India from 1863 to
1868. From the ranks of the House of Commons some
well-known names have disappeared, including those
of Mr. McCarthy Downing, who sat for Cork County,
and who died at the age of 55; Mr. Isaac Fletcher,
Cockermouth, 52; the Hon. C. W. G. Howard, East
Cumberland, 65; Mr. Isaac Batt, Limerick City, 65;
Mr. Alexander Whitelaw, Glasgow, 56; Captain
Stacpoole, Ennis, 49; Mr. W. Wilson, Donegal, 43;
and Mr. Roebuck, Sheffield, 77. Religion, philo-
sophy, art, science and literature, have also been
called upon to mourn the removal of some distin-
guished representatives. Amongst other names are
those of Mr, E. M. Ward, painter; Dean McNelle ;
Mr. Charles Neste, Senior Fellow of Oriel College,
Oxford, formerly MP., for that city and Professor
of Political Economy; Mr. William Howitt,
the well-known author; Mr. Elthu Burritt, the
"learned blacksmith;" Sir Antonio Panizzi, for many
years principal librarian at the British Museum; Mr.
William Lloyd Garrison, the eminent advocate of
emancipation; Baron Lionel de Rothschild; Sir John
Bhaw-Leferre, Clerk of the Parliaments; Sir Rowland
Hill, originator of the Penny Postage; Sir Anthony
Cleasby, one of the judges of the Court of Exchequer;
Sir Richard Kindersley, formerly Vice•Chanceller of
England; Mr. J. Baldwin Bucketone, one of the best
known of English oomedians ; and Mr. Hepworth
Dixon, an eminent and popular author. In other walks
of life death has carried off Marshal Espartero, whose
name occupies so conspicuous a place in the modern
history of Spain; Prince_genry of the Netherlancie,
younger brother of the King of Holland; Mr. R. H.
Dana, an eminent American author and poet; Shere
Ali, Ameer of Cabul ; Marshal Von Roon, thc3
Prussian Minister of War; Elizabeth Patterson
Bouaparto, widow of Jerome Bonaparte; Prince
Louis Napoleon, killed by Zulus, as already recorded;
and the Anglican Bishops of Colombo and Jerusalem.

With the roll of the departed a review of the year
may be brought to an appropriate close. That to
which the nations now bid farewell has been more
remarkable for its shadows than for its lights, and
will be remembered more for Its gloom than for its
sunshine, 41thtIggh, for the greater part the year has
been free from great and appalling eatastespides, such
as those of 1878—when the Princess Alice calamity
upon the Thames. and the Abercarne colliery disaster
in South Wales accounted for a leas of nearly a thousand
lives between thena—zn9verthelpss, it was not per-
mitted to close without its sad reccrd c'l disaster by
sea and land; for while society at home was engaged in
Christmas preparations, there came the tidings of the
loss of the steamer Borussia ; and before the festivities
of the season had closed, on the evening of the last
Sgnday of the year, a portion of the Tay railway
bridge gave way, hurllng a train with its iivin freight
to destruction in the surging waters beneath. This
catastrophe, involving a loss of about seventsefive
lives, shrouded the closing hours of 1879 in sadness.
Still, from some points of view, the year will leave
morf) satisfactory memories than that which went im-
mediately before it It; hgeine,es *flea there
have been no such vast commercial collapses
as those which distinguished the autumn of
that year, and carried misery and ruin into
thousands of households; yet as the waves con-
tinue to roll after the storm which caused them has
ceseed, ep the effects of these gigantic bank failures
are felt in many parts of the land even to this day.
These are a legacy from a previous year,
and cannot be charged to that which is now so
swiftly passing away. Rain and tempest, and frost
and snow the year 1879 has brought us in abund•
:lace ; hgt it has kept our commercial interests free
from financial panic. It has seen Qreat Britain
engaged in wars with two savage peoples on two differ-
ent continents, one of which, undertaken for the better
security of our important and poptilous Eastern
empire, is still in progress. It all the hopes and ex-
pectations formed at the down cf thp yea.; have not
been realised, its end is more full of promise than was
the beginning. The clouds which so long hung over
our trading prosperity—which is the very heart and
spirit of our national life—are slowly lifting at last,
Liddina us look forward to brighter skies and to
happier days. In city and in town, in village and in
hamlet, there is a pleasant custom of greeting the new
year with a merry peal of bells. Stroke after stroke
of the midnight hour is solemnly tolled forth, and as
the echoes of the sound die away amid the silence of
the darknese, seemingly lost in the illimitable realms
of space, each stroke bears with it all that
is left of the material history of the dying
year, and represents the fleeting life even
then lingering in its flickering embers. And
when twelve has been reached, and has sent out
its monrnfol clangour upon the wintry wind,
the wail for the departed is changed into a chorus of
joy at the arrival of a young, new, and vigorous
successor. In the homes of crowded populations, and
behind the walls of vast cities, where millions are
asleep, as well as amid the tranquilising scenes of rural
tft,e delis frond litetuy oLoorlo opmcl fe,rth a merry
peal. Through the quiet streets and squares of towns,
and amid the calm retreats of sequestered valleys,
through hill-side and on moorland, swelling
o'er hill and dale the bells welcome the new
year as a time of hope for a new, freshened, and
invigorated ezisteace, Not a rponle4t is lost by Time
In pressing forward, and the season Is not one for vain
regrets at chances lost or opportunities wasted in the
past. It is one of cordial good wishes, of cheerful
anticipations, and of the beat resolutions, and with an
e".rnest trust in the solid foundation of each, we
heartily wish all our reuder.
A HAPPY NEW YEAR !