The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-02-28 00:00:00

141)ur onoit litirrtsponVent.
[We deem it right to state that we do not at all Umes
identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Travellers amid the snows of Russia have testified
to the interest felt by the people of that inhospitable
clime in the description of countries with brilliant skies
and lriag summer days. To the isolated dwellers amid
the barren steppes of the froz3n wastes these pictures
seem to resemble those distant lands, far away beyond
this earthly dream. It has, therefore, often puzzled
many who understand why, with a desire to move
further south, and to fix the seat of govern-
ment at Constantinople, the great Czar Peter
should have gone northward from Moscow and
built a new capital altogether in the remote
frigid zone which includes St. Petersburg. Some
historians attribute it to overweening vanity, so
that his nerne might be given to the future metropolis
of his vast empire. The transfer was made as recently
as in the reign of our own Queen Anne, and at that
time Moscow had been the capital of Russia for a
period of 6?.0 years. Founded by Dolgorouki, far
back In ancient Muscovite history, the occupation of
the south of Russia by the Mongols led to Moscow
becomiug the capital, and for centuries it was re-
garded as a holy city by the peoples. The inhabit-
ants rf Moscow did not therefore thank Peter the
Great for going to S. Petersburg, for they saw no
necessity whatever for his doing so.' It was not until
a hundred years later that Napoleon penetrated to
Moscowl with an army of invasion ; so that, although
the possibility of such a contingency might have
cccur -3d to Peter the actual fact had not presented
itzelf to his mind in the way in which the Russians
demonstrated the result in 1812, when by setting fire
to the city they destroyed the vast French army by
depriving them of winter quarters and causing them
to perish amid ice and snow.
-tecent events in St. Petersburg have once more
drawn the attention of the public prominently to that
city. Those who have been there tell us that the
united magnificence of all the other European capitals
is surpassed by the appearance of St. Petersburg as
the traveller approaches the environs of the city. Yet,
for purposes of commerce, it is far behind many places
less imposing and leas attractive to the eye. The
Neva is blocked with ice several months in the year;
and, if we can imagine the Thames regularly
closed to the ships of all nations from Novem-
ber to May, and fancy the effect upon the trade
of the capital, some idea may be formed of the
lifeless condition of St. Petersburg during the long
northern winter. When Pater selected the site it was
a vast dreary marsh, open to the waters of the
Gulf of Finland; but as no obstacles were to him in-
surmountable, he had the marsh drained as well as
this could be done in ':,ose days, and then filled up
with logs of wood. The cathedral of Ivan Veliki is
reported to stand upon a huge raft; and one historian
complacently remarks, "When the raft rota the
cathedral will vanish." Sometimes the waves of the
Neva forced back from their month by a stormy sea
burst their banks in the heart of the city itself; and not
long ago tore up the pavement in front of the Winter
Palace. Indeed, gloomy predictions have been made
that this splendid capital, which suddenly rose like an
ignia fatuus from the marshes of Finland, will as
suddenly disappear. There is one thing that seems to
have guided Peter in the choice of the place, and that
was to mender it impregnable to the attacks of a naval
Power. With this view the redoubtable fortress of
Cronstadt was constructed—a series of forts of tre-
mendous strength, which even our own Baltic Fleet
did not think it expedient be attack when Great
Britain was at war with Russia a quarter of a century
ago.

The phrase "Leap-Year" is a curious one, and but
for the fact that centuries have a-sociated with it a
particular meaning, it would be difficult to understand
the significance of the term. We know that in Ip-
year the twelve months consist of 366 days instead of
35; but comparatively few in these busy times
inquire why this should be, The truth is, that the
arrangcment of the caientlar has in all sees occupied
the EMer.tion of the greatest intellects. Half a century
before the beginning of the Christian era, Julius
Cxsar, who seems to have been an astronomer as
well as a warrior, an historian and a statesman,
fixed the solar year at 365 days and six hours,
so that every fourth year would make exactly a day.
But as ages rolled on it was found+that the year was
really eleven minutes short of this calculation, and by
the time the sixteenth century arrived, this had made
a difference of ten entire days. The earth was in Get
ten days ahead of the sun, the vernal equinox falling
on the 11th March instead of on the 21st. So Pope
Gregory took the matter in hand, knocked off ten
days from the year 1582, and decreed that a
year beginning every fourth century only should
be bissextile. Thus 1700 nor 1.800 were not
leap years, nor will 1900 be; but there will be an
added day to 2000, 2400, 2800, and so on. In this
manaer three days are retrenched every 400 years,
the annual lapse of eleven minutes representing that
period of time. Thus the year of the calendar is
made to correspond as nearly as possible with the
true solar year, and future errors in chronology will
be avoided. The reckoning is as complete as it is
possible for the human. mind to make it; and as has
been shown, many a great intellect has been employed
upon it.

There is nothing which fills the House of Commons
like a question of Privilege. The word has no longer
the terrible sound which it had in the days of Charles
1., still, in many respests it is yet full of meaning,
The privileges of Parliament are indeed of three kinds
—first those appertaining to members Individually;
secondly, those belonging to either House in its collec-
tive capacity; thirdly, those of both assemblies jointly,
The Lords and Commons, acting concurrently, can
assume the supreme power whenever the Throne is
vacant, or the Sovereign incapable of exercising the
royal functions, as happened at the Revolution in
i 88; in 1788, when a Regency was offered to the
Prince of Wales, though George 111. recovered so
speedily that it became unnecessary; and at two sub-
sequent periods in the reign of the same sovereign.
The separate privileges of either House are ex-
tensive, but uncertain and indefinite. Amongst these
are the power of committing offenders to prison;
of publishing matters which if not issuing from
such high authority might become the subject of
proceedings in a court of law; and of doing anything
not directly contravening an Act of Parliament
which may be necessary for the protection of either
House in the exercise of its constitutional functions,
In the daily proceedings of Parliament questions of
privilege take precedence of all other business. The
privileges of individual members of Parliament are
freedom of speech and person, including exemption
from arrest, except in indictable offences; actual con-
tempt of the courts of justice, or to felonies or
misdemeanours under the laws of bankruptcy. One
peculiar privilege possessed by members of the House
of Lords is that of keeping their hats on in any court
of justice or legal tribunal; but this is one - -
these days, is seldom or never exercised.
An international system of coinage has long been
advocated; but civilized lands are apparently as far
off as ever from taking practical steps to carry it out.
There can be no difficulty about the media of ex-
change ; for gold has been for ages and still is the
king of metals. None other is so available for the
w ,rk required of it, and its intrinsic value is
Ina estrnctible. Next ranks silver, the value of
which was recognized in the earliest ages. These two
metals have functions which fit them to be the
re; iia cf exchange, They can be easily manipulated
and moulded, and can be made into convenient
sir for the purpose of being impressed with words and
figures. Gold is the most perfect medium used in the
civilized world, it is a legal tender to any amount,
while silver in England is a legal tender only to the
extent of forty shillings. That considerable incon-
v,nience attends the pram"; system of dealing between
one country and another cannot be open to question,
and it would seem to be comparatively easy to find a
remedy. It has lgien estimated that at the present
thee nine hundred millions sterling of gold, and
six huadred mAlions sterling of silver are in circula-
tion in England. Frotr, 1816, when gold currency was
made the standard in this country, it has worked well;
still there is ample room for a larger silver currency.
Silver is the great circulating medium of the poorer
classes; and some economists have not hesitated to
declare that the poverty existing amongst the peorer
classes might be traced to the fact that gold has
always b3ea at its full value, whilst silver coin-
age, so largely in circulation amongst them, has
suffered depreciation. Inasmuch as the English
sovereign Las a standard value all the world
over, a material dap is made towards an inter-
national coinage if the various nations were
interested sufficiently to take the matter up; for
next to an international language a universal system
of coienge and weight.] and measures would be the
greatest boon.

The Japanese Minister made one of the moat inter-
esting speeches which were delivered at the annual
dinner of the Associated Chambers oz Commerce,
testifying as it did to the industrial progress
made in recent years by the country whose represen-
tative he is in London. It has lately come to
the knowledge of our foreign office •that a new
cotton factory has been established at Hinieji, the
building of which and the putting in of machinery was
entirely undertaken by Japanese workmen, without
any foreign help whatever. A cloth factory has also
been set up near Tokio, the manager being a native of
Japan, who has undergone a thorough technical train.
jug in Saxony, winding it Up by marrying a German

wife. Among the improvements of the day an inge-
nious artisan in one of the Japanese towns has found
oat how to utilise dogs' hair for making coverlets
and such-like articles, and a considerable trade
is already being carried on both in the raw material
and in the manufactured goods. The silkworm trade
is also being encouraged in Japan. An association
consisting of twenty-one silk-growing villages are die-
satisfied with the present arrangement of selling their
" cards " to Italian agents, and have determined to
.start a branch establishment in Italy, and thus do
their own exporting and commercial transactions
without any middleman or foreign agency. Agri-
cultural matters are also exciting a good deal of
attention, and a company has just been started
for horse and cattle-breeding, which is in con-
siderable favour with investors. In our universities
and public schools Japanese students very frequently
carry off high honours.
This is the time for holding the half-yearly
meetings of the railways and other public companies,
and generally the chairman, in bidding good-bye to
1879, expresses no wish to see another such a
year. Bad commercially, and, if possible, worse agri-
culturally, it will long be remembered as one of the
worst of modern history. The Chairman of the Great
Northern told the shareholders that the dimi-
nution oCagricultural produce, even as,oompared with
1878, which was only a moderate year, represented a
lessened conveyance over that line amounting to
80,000 tons. Yet the Great Northern is by no means
the largest of our railway systems; there is the Mid-
land, stretching out its long arms from St. Pancras
to Glasgow; there is also the London and North
Western; and most extensive of all, the Great Western,
now represented by a length of 2,000 miles, If these
have suffered in anything like the same proportion, tin
loss through the failure of the harvest must have been
enormous. However, the general feeling at these
meetings appears to be one of confidence that the
worst is past, and of hope that that .we have entered
upon a brighter and mom prosperous path. We are
promised a warm and genial spring and a hot summer;
and a combination of the twain would go far towards
reinstating both commerce and agriculture in the
position which it is necessary for them to hold if in
the face of modern competition we are to retain our
high place amongst the wealthy nations of the world.