The Express.
London, England, 1866-01-03 00:00:00

(From the Patric.)

The Patric makes the remark that some years are so
dietteguiahed for the remarkable incident' which have
warred in them that they are sure to count in history.
Not such, however, will be the case with 1865 :—" On the
eostrary, the year which now terminates seems already for.
W gotten. hy has the remembrance otit:been so evanescent'
The ration is that it has been in reality only a year of
sketches, projects, and promisee. It leaves all its efforts,
desires, and hopes to the future. No situation has been
mutated during the last twelvemonths : no social or
politicel solution has been obtained either in America—
where the war his mused, only to give place to a struggle
of parties—or h. Europe, where all questions have been
brought forward without any being now better under-
stood or decided." The writer then refers to Italy as a
pool of his assertion. "At Florence the government, em-
bsrrased a delicate financial situation, is victorious in
the electoral colleges of the kingdom, but the year finishes
with a ministerial oriels, the lane of which no one can
foresee. So much for Italy. With the exception of the
transfer of the capital, not a fast that leaves an impres-
sion. In Austria the entire year may be summed up in a
happy attempt to draw closer the bonds of union
with Hungary, Transvlvania, and Croatia, but it is se
yet but an effort. The result must be looked for
ea 1866. The events of Germany, with which the
peat year has been so full, offer an absolutely similar cha-
racter. The two rival parties have drawn Deerer to each
other. At one moment, iadeed, they seemed to be about
to come to blows in order to settle the dispute. But the
convention of Clastein was signed, and has left undecided
the great problem of the predominant influence of Prussia
er Austria." The position of the two Danish provinces
remains still uncertain ; Poland is still persecuted ; Greece
is torn by internal dissensions ; Spain is unsettled ; Porta-
gal, Belgium, and Sweden only give lives without be-
ing able to point to any really important result.
The writer then turns to another quarter, and
remarks :—"Before reaching America, we find England on
sour way. There, also, 1865 has been a year of disappoint-
ment", 'The English government is living in retirement,'
see writer has affirmed, and the expression is but too true.
An indifferent looker-on of external events, and a timid
setae in the conflicts with America, the British government
has lost its greatest minister, Palmerston, with its most
illustrious political economist, Cobden ; and her political
rigour appears to be slumbering near those two tombs.
There was for a moment an almost cruel expectation. The
home policy would, it was said, at the disappearance of
Palmerston, redeem the faults abroad, and Mr. Bright
himself had promised himself electoral reform after
the death of the statesman who now lies in West-
minister Abbey. But nothing has been accomplished. Earl
Russell does not succeed in tilling up the blank left by Lord
Palmerston • and Mr. Bright, deserting the cause of the
people, is delivering speeches fit to make the manes of the
old minister leap with Joy. For the New World, 1865 has
ions nothing more and nothing lug. Does not war still
reign in North America ? The conflict, it is true, has none
ref those great slaughters, the horrible recollection of which
is indelible, but the war is the fatal one of parties. The
Union is not yet re-established, and we ask, when will
it be so? Aim Mexico, the mind, at least, is at re-
pose, if not completely satisfied. Is has the spectacle of the
triumph of order and the generous efforts of real civilisation.
II sees wounds healing up, confidence reviving, and the
first hopes becoming realised. The contrast with North
America is striking, but it is not less so, sad to ear, with
South America." The disturbed situation of the Southern
republic, is then touched on, the article terminating by the
following passage relative to the situation of the
French empire —" If now we consult for France
the calendar, of which the last entry has been
made, we find, the truth must be told, only pro-
miss" and hopes. The Emperor's journey to Algeria
in a manner opens the list; then comes the decree which
gives to the year 1867 the mission to undertake a great
work of universal peace. Those are the ooly great facts
that will produce a result. Let us not, however, forget a
happy period, the Regency of the Empress, so full of
pledges for the future, nor the generous acts of Majesty
in the prisons for the young—proceedings which will form
an epoch in the history of our great social reforms. Let
as also at the same philosophical and social point of view
refer to the campaign undertaken for the progress of
primary inatruc'ion, and of which M. Duria'a report was
the first memorable episode, as well as to the judicial reform
for the previsional liberation of persons under arrest."
(From the Opinion National.: )

The Opinion Nationale also has • rapid sketch of the
peculiarities of the past rear, the writer being M. Edmond
About. Ile says :—" I had thought for • moment of Riving
you a TON ism of the year which has just closed. Bot oa
the whole the matter has appeared to me scarcely worth the
trouble. It has not been brilliant, that year 1865.
Vast sums squandered ; a prodigious clatter every.
where : striker without any result ; ptovocations without
object; DAvenports; cafiis chantants ; an epidemic ; two or
three dramas which became positive b.ttles ; locressed
insolence in the luxury of the women of the demi-monde;
a long and useless discussion for and against crinoline; a
funeral service from Mgr. Dupeoloup ; very few dramatic
sucoesses ; the Biche as Bois played three hundred times
consecutively ; ■ session of the Chamber sufficiently
colourless; abroad, a distant expedition which never ter-
minates ; at home • budget paved with good intentions, but
which nevertheless inspires no very sanguine hopes ;
• municipal loan brilliantly carried through, and three or
four foreign ones. When shall we lose the habit of sending
our money to persons who never return it So many lot-
teries have been founded that a journal has been required
only to register the drawings. Periodicals of all shades have
sprang up in Prase', the roost numerous being these
without any political colour at all. With all this we have
set found time to release the prisoner+ at Cliohy. Is it
thin such a difficult matter to open a door *:"

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