The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-01-01 00:00:00

',oda eartspoutant.

Ight to state that we do not at all times
i with our Correspondent's opinions.]

New Y Day- ',al the present ncesslon finds
)t only En 3, but the whole of Europe more
ixious than for a long time previously. The
zdow of impending war broods over the
Natinent, and no one seems able to guess
bother the cloud will pass away or break into a
.ower, dispensing death. Were it not that a
ontinental might vitally affect the interests
of England, and that the presence of the
thsmder - cloud must exercise a hampering
effect upon us, we in this country would
have better reason to rejoice on the opening
day of 1887 than we have had for some years.
Trade continues to show a steady, though as yet
limited, improvement, and, if that position of
thew be maintained, the position of the mass
of our countrymen cannot fail to be ameliorated.
This is a consummation devoutly to be wished,
and all will hope that our prospects will go on
brightening as they have begun. But the Conti-
nental shadow floats across the vision of our
public men and lowers their spirits, for they
know not what a day may bring forth. Their
recollection uneasily turns back to a time nearly
thirty years ago, when New Year's Day inaugu-
rated a crisis which ended in a war. A remark
passed by the late Emperor Napoleon to the
Austrian Ambassador, at a reception at the
Tuileries, was the beginning of the letting out
of waters, and the end was strife. It is most
earnestly to be hoped that no such evil omen
will attend the commencement of 1887; but it
is useless to disguise the fact that the leading
statesmen in every European country look
anxiously at the prospects of peace dining the

earii

lglani

war

coming year.
A Ministerial crisis in Christmas week is un-
precedented in recent history, and the dying
days of 1886 were much disturbed in conse-
quence. This is the fourth Ministerial crisis in
eighteen months, and even the politician of
longest recollection can scarcely supply a parallel for
such a number in so short a time. The first of
the four was in June, 1885, when Mr. Glad-
stone's second Administration was defeated on
the Budget in the House of Commons; the
second was in January, 1886, when a successful
amendment to the Address effected the removal
from office of Lord Salisbury's first Ministry;
the third was in the following July, when non-
success at the polls rang the death-knell of Mr.
Gladstone's third Government; and now the
fourth has come with the resignation of Lord
R. Churchill as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
English politics at this moment are obviously in a
transition state' and this will account for a con-
dition of things which no one could have
prophesied, and which is not particularly
agreeable now that it has been reached.
Ministerial crises usually occur while Parlia-
ment is sitting, owing to the obvious fact that in
most cases it is a defeat in the House of
C•mmons which provokes them. But the last
two have taken place while the Houses were
"up," and the most recent of all has happened
when most of the members and other prominent
politicians were out of town. The consequence
has bee7a that some of the outward and visible
signs of such crises have been wanting from
that which has just taken place. If a crisis occurs
when Parliament is sitting, the lobbies are
thronged on each occasion that the Houses meet,
and the prospects of the coming Ministry are dis-
cussed with the greatest eagerness and from
every point of view. Even when the Houses are
not in session there is much excitement visible if
the majority of members are in town, for the
political clubs are centres of activity on such
occasions, and hall and smoke-rooms are the
scenes of ceaseless motion and endless talk.
Christmas naturally found the clubs almost de-
serted, and the contrast between the eager
throngs usually to be seen in them when a crisis
takes place and the scattered remnant to be ob-
served a few days since was very striking to those
who had opportunities for comparison. Perhaps
it was as well that there should have been this
difference, for the "festive season" is not one
which should be marred by excited and even
ailgry political disputation; and if we have been
saved from some of this by the time at whi-1
recent resignation occurred, many wil'
it is semething to be thankful for
it !.4 OLIO of the most striking,
eination which skating,,,e- - •
tees, that the pastile_so%
pointnients which ac.
England, though poetically
of settled Governrasnt, is _
of settled weather; and even wben a keen frost
sets in, no one can guess how long it is likely to
last. But hope springs eternal in the skater's
breast, and no sooner does the Ice King begin to
assert his sway, than he takes ,out his skates,
carefully examines every screw, and makes up his
mind that the time for enjoyment has arrived.
And then there comes, not exactly 'a frost, a
killing frost "—and he would rather like that—
but a thaw, a thorough thaw; and the skater,
with as much resignation as at short notice he
can muster, has to put back his beloved imple-
ments of progression into their accustomed
places, and sigh for the ice that has gone. Two
or three times already this winter has the fate
thus described befallen our skaters, and they are
living in dread that there may be more. So fre-
quent are such disappointments that it has
passed into a standing joke that no sooner is the
date for a skating match decided than the thaw
pets in. The wonder is that, with such limited
opportunities for pursuing their pastime, English
skaters are so accomplished in the art. -
Parents who just now have their children
home for the holidays will be apt to sympathise
with the protest which has publicly been made .1
against a proposal of BOMA schoolmasters to
celebrate the Queen's Jubilee by giving an extra
fortnight's holiday in the coming summer. The
aggrieved parent who raises the protest points
out thst his sons already have seventeen weeks'
holiday out of the fifty-two, and he very decidedly
objects to these being made nineteen. Fathers
all over England will heartily agree with him in
the complaint, for the ever-increasing length of
school holidays is becoming a burning question,
and one about which there will soon be a
loud outcry. In some schools every pretext
is seized for taking the • children from their
lessons. Not only are there the allotted holidays
at Christmas and Easter, Whitsuntide and Mid-
summer, with an extra one in the autumn to
keep the others in countenance, but the anniver-
sary of the birth of the founder is religiously
observed, that of his death is similarly honoured,
a like compliment is paid to the saint's day after
. whorn the school may be named, and, if it be
situate in the metropolis, Lord Mayor's Day is
•not unlikely to be added to the total amount of
time allotted for idleness. There is no other
hntiaess in the whole list of occupations in which
there is so much leisure allowed as in school-
keeping, though there is many another which
is equally exacting. It is difficult for parents to
c:ombine against any extension of present holiday
facilit ;es; but the timely protest which has been
raised against the proposed celebration of the
Queen's Jubilee by a further period of leisure for
" our boys" is not unlikely to have good effect.
Reference to the Jubilee is a reminder that
the project for establishing an Imperial Institute
in its commemoration is at length taking
definite shape. The committee to which it was
referred has very carefully exa-eined the pro-
posal, and they have agreed upon a report which
appears to have been generally accepted. They
have pointed out the very large proportions of
the project, and have not shrunk from facing the
difficulties which undoubtedly lie in the way of
its realisation; and it is this candid spirit which
has won for their report wider acceptance than
might otherwise have been the case. The site
they suggest is at South Kensington, and this
will, doubtless, displease many; but it has to be
remembered that this site has in its favour not
only comparative cheapness, as vouched for by
the committee, but the warm approval of the
Queen. It may fairly be urged, as an answer
to many objections, that an institution designed
solely in honour of her Majesty should
be erected upon the site that she likes best; and
unless the reasons to be urged against that site
were well-nigh overwhelming, the wish of the
Qevr -reild scarcely be ignored with propriety.
It is felt on all hands that any national memorial
of her fifty years' reign ought at once to be
worthy of her, and of the country of which she
has so long been sovereign; and it would have
been a beginning of bad omen if the site had
been such as she could not heartily approve.
Opinions will still differ as to whether South
Kensington is the ideal spot for such an institu-
tion; but objectors are now likely to be silent.

DEATH OF AN ARTIST IN A
WORKHOUSE.
Mr. William Dove, for many years recognised as
a leading marine artist in the North of England, has
died in the Whitby Workhouse. He won many
laurels in the art world of Liverpool, and one of his
paintings was dedicated by special permission to the
Duke of dinburgh. The deceased earned a great
• deal of money while at the height of his fame. but
trecumstances brought him to the workhouse, where