The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-02-12 00:00:00

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The first week of February, 1881, will live long in
history as being remarkable for some of the most
momentous events which have ever been witnessed in
the annals of our Parliament. It is more than 600
years since Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester,
issued out writs for the summoning of an assembly
which was more the mother of the legislature of to-
day than any which had preceded it. From that
time we have to go down through many a troubled
period, -including the Wars of the Roses, without the
record of stirring Parliamentary scenes such as those
which have lately attracted the attention of the nation,
the empire, and the world. No doubt during the
civil wars between Charles I. and his Parliament, there
were many exciting episodes, as, for instance, when the
King went down to the House to seize five recalci-
trant members, who, being warned of his Majesty's
approach, escaped a few minutes before his entry.
Again, when Cromwell put an end to the existence of
the Long Patliament, the scene was one the descrip-
tion of which is read with interest to this day. But
for the sudden changes, the rapidly-shifting scenes,
the dramatic incidents, and the startling surprises
which followed so swiftly one upon the other, the
fint week of the present month stands prominently
out as one which has hitherto had no parallel in the
chronicles of Parliament, and in all probability never

will again.
Comparatively few amongst us can realise the
amount of physical strain represented by the sitting
of forty-two hours. Had the House been in Com-
mittee, it would have been competent to place any
member in the chair, thus giving a system of reliefs
in presiding which was practically inexhaustible. But
on this occasion the House was not in Committee so
that the Speaker and the Deputy-Speaker had to
divide the duty between them. Fourteen hours at a
stretch for the former and ten for the latter—so the
dreary work went on night and day until the Speaker
peremptorily shut up the discussion and would listen to
no more. Such a long sitting, and such action on the
part of the President were both unprecedented. Then
followed the suspension of nearly forty members of Par-
liament, and the passing, in a few hours of a new and
stringent standing order placing unparalleled powers in
the Speaker's hands for the regulation of the debates,
which will effectually prevent any such waste of
precious legislative time in future and contribute to
the speedy transaction of the important business in-
separable from the government of a mighty empire.
The marriage-rate of a country is, as a rule, an
indication of its prosperity; for if the sun is shining
there is not so much hesitation in settling down to
the responsibilities of life as when the sky is grey.
The Registrar-General has issued the statistics of
marriages for the September quarter of 1880, which show
that the rate, although slightly above the exceptionally
low one which prevailed in 1879, was below the
average rate in the corresponding periods of the pre.

vious ten years. It steadily declined in the seven
years from 1872 to 1879; but last year showed a slight
but satisfactory recovery. In the quarter now under
review the rate ranged from 8 and 9 per cent. in
Huntingd vishire and Shropshire to 16 and 17 in
Nottinghamshire and Lancashire. The recovery was
most marked in Hertfordshire, Staffordshire, the
West Ricting cf Yorkshire, Durham, and Monmouth-
shire.
The political excitement which has lately prevailed
has not interfered with the annual gathering of the
Associated CI-ambers of Commerce in London, where
they have held their usual three days of session, to-
gether with the dinner, where speakers irrespective of ,
party meet at he same table and discuss questions
apart from tne turmoil of politics and intimately
associated with that commercial life upon which
depends the prosperity af the country. At4the dinner
on the presen t occasion the principal speakers were
the Colonial Secretary, the President of the Board of
Trade, the Postmaster-General, and the Under-
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. By meeting
in the Parliamentary Session it is impossible for the
reports of the Chambers to receive that attention in
the press which the importance of the subjects de.
mands, and the meeting of this year was held in one of
the stormiest periods of our modern domestic history,
when the papers were full of the scenes which were
taking place within the walls of Parliament. At the
same time it must be remembered that it is most con-
venient to have these gatherings when peers and
commoners are in town. If they were held when Par-
liament was not sitting, it would be impossible to get
together anything like the representative men who
assemble at the Westminster Palace Hotel when the
Associated Chambers are in session.

Bishop Berkeley kmg ago declared that "westward
the course of empire takes its way." This is true not
only of empire, but of emigration. In the last three
months of 1880 there were 37,500 British emigrants
who left the ports of the United Kingdom, of whom
62 per cent, went to the United States, 5 to British
North America, 15 to the Australian Colonies, and 16
for all other places. Compared with the correspond-
ing quarters of recent years, the proportion of emi-
grants to the western Republic showed a further
marked increase, while a corresponding decline
occurred in the proportion of emigrants leaving
for the Australian colonies and British North
America. It is certainly remarkable that of the
people who leave our shores, those who go to our own
Canadian Dominion are but one-twelfth, and those
who go to our Australian Colonies are but one-fourth
of those who prefer settling in a foreign land. Of
course the United States constitute a much vaster
territory than either the North American Dominion
or the Australian Colonies, but this would 4 account
only in a partial degree for the facts indicated. The
truth appears to be that the climate,of Canada is too
cold to attract mealy new residents, while that of the
United States erdbraces every variety which can be
represented by its shores being washed by both the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The climate of
California, on the slopes of the Pacific, is one of the
most delightful in the world. The State is enormously
rich in mineral wealth and in the splendid products
of its soil. As to the comparatively small number of
emigrants to Australia, probably the immense
distance has something to do with it; and neither
the climate, the productions, nor the mineral wealth
can be said to equal those of the southern States of
America.
Every week is now giving us longer days, and con-
sequently more sunshine, so that it may not un-
naturally be concluded that the worst of the excep-
tionally severe winter has now passed. It began very
early, for October was the coldest month of that name
since 1842; heavy rain was general and frequent, and
snow fell all over the country on the 20th. As snow
was lying heavily on the ground on the 20th January,
there was just three months between the first ap-
pearance of the winter and its cailminating point. In
November the temperature was extremely variable,
but Decenber was exceptionally mild, the first half
being dry, while rain fell almost continuously the last
half of the month. Only nineteen days of the quar-
ter were frosty; but this comparative mildness was
swiftly followed in the middle of January by some of
the bitterest weather ever remembered in this country.
The death of Mr. Thomas Carlyle, in his 86th year,
removes from our midst one of the most eminent his-
torians of this century, and one with a massive style of
writing peculiarly his own. Born five years before
Lord Macaulay, he has survived that brilliant writer
by more than twenty years. Macaulay will perhaps
best be remembered by his History of England, while
one of Carlyle's greatest works was his French Revolu-
tion. While Lord Macaulay shone in his unsurpassed
word-painting, the choice nature of his diction,his graphic
narrative, and the splendour of his grouping's, Mr.
Carlyle had no rival in his power of surrounding every
detail with transcendent interest, and in presenting
his work in a fascinating way which, although it
might excite criticism from the singularity of its style,
could not fail to attract and to absorb. During his
long life he must have got through an enormous mass
of work. Of simple habits and of unostentatious life,
he lived for years in Cheyne-rovv, Chelsea, a retired
part of London, where existence is comparatively un-
disturbed by the roar of traffic which rises from the
busy parts of the giant capital. Mr. Carlyle was
born in 179, not far from the period of the beginning
of the French Revolution which he has so power-
fully described. The wealth of detail which he threw
into that work, more especially in his descrip-
tion of the capture of the Bastille on the 14th July,
170, was nothing short of marvellous. He could re-
member well the sensation caused in this country by
the reception of the news t f the Battle of Trafalgar
more than 75 years ago, and was doing good work
when the power of Napoleon Bonaparte was finally
broken at Waterloo. He had lived in the world half
a century before many of the prominent actors now
upon the stage of human life were born. Of such a
man his fellow countrymen may feel justly proud,
the fruits of his genius confer lustre not only upon his
own name, but add to the fame and the reputation of
the land to which he belonged.
A. very full meeting of Metropolitan commanding
officers has unanimously decided that it is desirable
that there should be a volunteer field-day on Easter
Monday, the 18th April. Many officers spoke of the
success of last year, and there seemed to be a general
feeling in favour of going again to Brighton; but a
sub-committee was appointed to visit any suitable site
that may be cffered, and to report thereon at a future
meeting. The volunteers generally are represented as
being desirous that there shall be a review on Easter
Monday; and, if nothing unforeseen occurs, the