The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-07-07
were the British "orders in council?"


c. Mes.
The Milan Decree was an order issued
by Napoleon in December II. 1871. forbid
ding all intercourse between the Con-
tinent and Great Britain. He was ruler
OF the Continent at the time and his in
tentiOn was TO boycott England into SUD-
mittig 10 him. This was the second de-
cree OF the kind. The first was$he Berlin
decree Of November -. 1896 This pro-
voked the British orders in council OF
January 7th and November IL, lSl. which
forbade any trading with French ports
our American vessels were between the
upper and the lower millstones, forbid
den BY Napoleon 10 trade with England
under penalty Of seizure; forbidden by
the English TO trade with any country.
whose ports were held by the French un-
der a like penalty. SO. on our side Con-
gress passed the embargo act IN De
cember. 1897. which detained all vessels
IN American ports and ordered all Amefi-
can vessels TO return 10 their home ports.
Beautiful Duchess of Dcyon>hire.
Was the Duchess of Devonshire famous
as a beauty or for having been painted
By Gainsborough? The picture, / believe
was stolen; has Il ever been recoveredt
Did Agnew buy it? II so. what did he
pay for IL? iNQtiHhNDO'
She was famous long before Gainsbor-
ourh PAINTED her. she was the beauu-
fuI Lady Georgianna Spencer before the
Duke OF Devonshire married her IN l7H
Niessrs. Agnew q Co, picture Dealers
bought the portrait Of the Duchess az a
sale at Christie's FOR u0i00. about 49,
80 The pcrfiait was cut out OF the pic
ture during the night of May 2i-25, 1876.
10 has never been recovered IL has been
said that Agncw found ont that the pic~
tire VS. not by Gainsborough. He could
not sell IL and be did care 20 expose him
self to dcrson rs the victim Of a fraud,
as DE had the reputation Of being the
most expert picture dealer and c0nnois-
eeur Bon London. 10 get ont OF his diff
Guilty. the story gees. bic had the picture
stolen.
Government of the British Isles.
How are the British lies govorned2
B. j.
They are governed hy sovereign ana
two houses Of Parliament. or house OF
Lords. the members az which inherit
their membership, and House of Com-
mons. Che members of which are elected
by the people The latter house is, 30
effect, the governing body of The British
lies To manage matters. an Executive
Committee called the Ministry, is form-
ga. composed OF members of both houses
Such a Ministry lasts as long as u Us sup
ported hy q majority of The House oi
Commons When 81 loses that majority
another ministry is formed. This 100 or
government applies 70 the British isles
as a whole. and controls foreign affairs
and domestic affairs as well, the latter
% a much greater extent than our 'on-
gross does or late years. the Ministry
D nurfa Ilf4Uruf.I choir
troi.ty I'm local matters 20 local govern
ment boards. chosen by the votes in varl-
ous districts. Municipal authorities have
more executive power than is usual IN
this country. and less legislative power
and in some parts OF England the yes
tries of the Established Church Of Eng
land have governing powers in other
than church matters. Except in name,
the government Of the British Isles is
I'm effect a republic.
Nineteen Hundred a Leap Year.
Why is not the year 1000 lean year.
W. I. S.
When julius Caesar reformed the cal-
endar and devised what we call leap year
he found that the year was 3t5 days.
five hours. 20 minutes long. or eleven min-
utes short of So and one-qu9rter days
Caesar doerecd that ten minutes should
Doe added 20 cdch year, ana iHat it' , 'A4
should consist Of 3s5 days. the four-quar-
tor days being added together every
fourth year. when the year should con-
slst Of 3CG days But these ten minutes
were borrowed from tho future and DO
the course of iG0 years. they amounted
% ten days Pope Gregory xii. went 10
work 20 reform Caesars work. To restore
these ten days and start even again, he
ordered that the year l5S2 should consist
of only 315 days and that october am
should be- followed by October 18th. thus
dropping the ten days that had been gain-
"a by borrowing Further, me ordered
that 20 avoid future complications, the
centural years should not Doe leap years
unless they were diYisihle by four hun-
drod So 100. lso0. and 1900 are not leap
years. though 4HO will De. Thus we bor~
row eleven minutes each year for 80
years. more than pay the loan back 10y
giving up three leap years in every four
hundred years and when the fourth hum
dredth year comes around find ourselve-
with credit balance that justifes our
celebrating the event by taking an ex-
ira day.