The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1868-12-29 00:00:00

Vaud Conutti expren.

TUMIDLY, DECEMBER 29, 1968,

GOOD BYE TO 1868.

In the excitement of the great battle of
life, we are apt to keep our eyes ever fixed
1012 the future, peering into the impenetrable
darkness which veils all that is before us, and
so to forget all that is past, not considering
that every year leaves its mark upon us, and
upon the world wherein we live, whether we
stay to observe it or not. 1868 is no
exception to the rule, and our children's
children will look back to the year just
closing upon us as the birthplace of much of
the weal or woe that they will have to ex-
perience. In the physical, as well as the
social world, it has been an eventful year;
tens of thousands of our fellow men have been
hurried out of the world, and as many more
have had their earthly hopes blighted by the
earthquake and the tornado in South
America, and the famine in Africa. In the
political world, while Prance and Prussia have
stood face to face in anything but friendly
mood, with ever increasing armaments, as
gathering strength for the mortal struggle,
in Spain we have witnessed a revolution that
must over take its place among the most
remarkable that Europe has witnessed—re-
markable not only for the unanimity of all
classes, for the marvellous secrecy with which
it was planned, as for its bearing upon the
prospects of the Papacy, and therefore of the
world itself. The last, the strongest hold, of
that spiritually despotic power, it seemed to
the eye of man impregnable. Whatever men
may hue hoped, or wished, they never ven-
tured to express any expectation of that which
has now occurred; they knew not that while
'every approach was carefully guarded against
the entrance of light and liberty, the walls
themselves were crumbling and decaying, until
as by the earthquake's shock, they have
silently, but completely sunk down, and left
the country free and open. Whatever else
1868 has done for us, or taken from us, we owe
the year that is past great thanks for removing
that great blot from the face of Europe.
If wecome nearer home, it has been a busy
year in Church, and in State. After many
months of patient labour, and steady perse-
verance under difficulties, and against oppo-
sition that would have made many men give
up the task as hopeless, our Church's Pro-
testants= has been vindicated, as far as
externi, Ritualism is concerned, and Mr.
Mackonochie and his friends find themselves
defeated, with the consolation of having to
pay the cats, both of the original suit, and
of the appeal. Never was a more one-
sided judgtnent given than that of the
Court of Arches; never has a judgment
in an inferior court been so completely ex-
posed, and condemned by a higher court; and
henceforth these innovators know that if they
want to play at prieds, they must do so out-
side the walla of the Church of England.
They may affect to despise the judgment; but
it will sarely tell upon the whole party, and
rob them of every pretence to sincerity, while
they continue in the church. 1668 has a
claun upon us for this decision.
In our own political world there has been
an unusual amount of excitement. "The
leap in thedark" has been taken, the result is
left for other years to declare; and 1868
leaves us "still in the dark" as to the future.
The change ii the House of Commons is not
so great as might have been anticipated; the
new Ministry not so extreme as some hoped,
and others feared. Nor do we think that
another year will see any great changes in the
constitution el England. To theorize in oppo-
sition is one thing; to put those theories into
practice when in office is another, which in
some measure accounts for the wonderfully
soothing influence of office upon the most
turbulent spirits.
The present season brings with it as usual a
large amount of distress and poverty, from want
Of employment, somewhat alleviated this year
by a good harvest, and a consequently cheap
, loaf; and although our highly favoured town is
spared the vast extent of destitution which
is found in the Metropolis, yet the eye of
' charity will not look far for real want and
distress even in Dorchester, though such cases
, be isolated and few; and the hand of charity
need not be idle, if there be a heart that really
feels dissatisfied with its own abundance,
while others are known to be in want.

Whilst therefore we can part good friends
with 1868, we at the same time wish all our
friends (and our enemies too if we have any),
a happier year than ever in 1860. May it
bring health to the sick, comfort to the
mourner, prosperity to all, and when it leaves
us may we all look back upon it with a grate-
ful sense of all its mercies.