The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-31 00:00:00

most notorious, bro .t, until very recently, wholly
unsuspected crimis als ! JOEN SADLEIR'S gigantic
forgeries and why' esalo embezzlements, consum-
mated by his crave a suicide upon Hampstead-heath
on the 6th of Febi -nary, being followed not long
afterwards by the a iscovery of the enormous pecula-
tions of Wm. Roast ►x, and a little later on by the still
more startling rave lation of the complicated frauds
of his accomplice, :LEOPOLD REDPATH—frauds ex-
ceeding, it is act-nary calculated, the gross aggre-
gate of 200,0001. sterling I Again, the crash of
the Tipperary Bank, in the spring, finds an un-
happy balance of :ill in the autumnal crash of the
Royal British Bank, announced in the Palette as
bankrupt on the. 24th of October. Associated
with all which fc mging and swindling, with all
which systematic peculation and wholesale em-
bezzlement—there comes to us in this dreary
financial and commercial retrospect of 1856, the
Idismal remembrance of the more than doubled
Income Tax still iniquitously weighing down the
resources of the nation ! And with this Monster
Evil yet glowering like a hideous and paralysing
incubus upon the prostrate strength of the Em-
pire—the thought of some 80,000,0001. or
100,000,0001. sterling, of some 20,000 or 30,000
brave soldiers, of much blood and of many
tears, squandered to no end upon the late calami-
tous war with Russia—or if to any end at all that
can be exactly estimated, to the end of a grand
Diplomatic "Sell," to the end of a great political
" Do," to the end of a notorious national Degra-
dation.

Secondly, in a Social point of view-1856
has surely been productive of little that can be
regarded as matter for self-gratulation. Apart
from the bursting open of so many " whitened
sepulchres," as evidenced. in the revelation of the
monstrous crimes of a mercantile character,
already particularised—there has been, as it ap-
pears to us, a most deplorable stagnation even in
the " efforts" towards any comprehensive im-
provement. Reform, as a watchword, has all
this while been held in abeyance. In spite of
the boasted Peace ! Precisely as though we were
still engaged in a momentous and all-absorbing
contest with the Russian Autocrat ! Everything
almost still sustained at war prices—every-
body hampered more or less onerously by the
drag of a doubled Income-Tax—everywhere the
signs amongst us of the ill effects resulting from a
sanguinary and utterly futile Struggle against
Russian domination : we have had no compensa-
tion at all, not the smallest, not the shadow of
the shade of a compensation, in the way of an ap-
preciable boon in any one of our great reform
movements. A circumstance accounted for, perhaps
—apart from the deadening influence of a War
without any good results, without even the
secondary advantage of an Indemnity wrested
from the foe—by the simultaneous downfall
of almost all our great political reputations.
Statesmen, by twos and by threes, like the
masts of the State Vessel—have we not seen
them suddenly, as it were, go by the board ? So
rapidly, entirely, and disastrously for their in-
Iluence upon the country at large—that we might
as well look to the Ticket-of-leave System, the
System productive onlyof murders, burglaries, and
garottings, for the diminution of our criminal
population—as look to my Lord JOHN RUSSELL,
or to Sir JAMES GRAHAM, or to Mr. WILLIAM
GLADSTONE, for any great boon to the people !
Or for the building up in place of the present
Ministry upon Sufferance, in lieu of this
Cabinet of an Emergency, instead of this
faineant dictatorship, as it may be called,
of iriSCAtUlt PALMERSTON—of some strong, popu-
lar, energetic Administration. Othdrwico to ex-
press the existing very remarkable "situation "
—We might as reasonably look for the evidences
of social probity amongst us in the Adulterations
of our Food, and even (horrible to tell !) of the
very drugs sold for the alleviation of human suf-
ferings by our Apothecaries (Adulterations,
" proved." through the Lancet, by Dr. HASSELL)—
we might, we say, as reasonably look for the evi-
dences of social probity amongst U 3 in these
notorious and undeniable Adulterations—as look
for the auguries of legislative benefactions in the
" burst-up " fame, and influence, and popularity,
of so many of our grand "Conscript Fathers,"
the Dii Majores of the Imperial Legislature ! tc
Thirdly and lastly, Politically considered-
-1856 must perforce, we take it, be admitted to
have proved rather a Failure. Not simply by its
dearth of good in the way of Reforms. Not
merely by the Parliamentary decease of so many
distinguished Athletes in the arena of Statesman-
ship. But viewing the year 1856 politically, we
mean, in a wider sense—regarding it, that is
to say, in reference to our Foreign Relations !
True, without doubt—and we thank HEAVEN for
it gratefully and with all imaginable reverence—
the glorious Alliance, knitting France and Eng-
land together by the bonds of a most intimate
friendship, has still been uninterruptedly sus-
tained, as we hope it will yet, please Gon, be
indefinitely perpetuated I But—beyond this—
where in our relations with the rest of the world,
where during the past twelve months can there
be found any substantial or even specious advan-
tages ? With Russia we have made Peace--. 30.
called. But—scarcely have we done so when we find
ourselves plunged into a contest with Persia, by the
instigation—notoriously and incontrovertibly--of
the councils of the AUTOOHAT ! Our interposition
between the King and the people of the Neapoli-
tan Sovereignty is despised and of no avail. Our
Ambassador is suddenly and almost ignominiously
expelled by the United States Government from
Washington. And fast upon the gulping down of
this insult from flrother JONATHAN with the wryest
of faces—JOHN BULL has to stand, hat in hand,
bowing and smirking his thanks for the courtly
gift of his old arctic venture of the Resolute.
Receiving, as best he may, and precisely as Van-
keeclooaledora wills it—first his " kicks" and then
his "halfpence," If, moreover, we are, at one
end of the year, nominally making peace with Rus-
sia, and at the other end of it virtually going to
war with it again through Persia—we are, in
this same muddling 1856, getting once more at
loggerheads with JOHN CHINAMA.N at Canton,
bombariing his forts, and placing his jeopardised
dynasty between two fires, that of British war
vessels and that of the army of the Re-
volutionists ! Open war to the east and to
the west of Asia—war with Persia and
war with China—a hollow truce in Europe—un-
certainty, if not ill-blood, in America ; these are
among the foreign boons of 1856 for England !
Have we much cause, therefore, let us ask—now
that we have east a retrospective glance over the
past twelve months—have we much cause, com-
mercially, socially, or politically, for self-gratula-
tion ? Alas ! about the only solace left to us is
to obey the great Drill-Master Time--" Right-
about-Face !" And to look onwards to 1857—
hopefully !

In another part of this day's impression will be
found a considerable portion of the report of the
Federal Council of Switzerland on the affair of
Neuchatel. This very important and interesting
document, which was laid before the Federal
Assembly- at Berne on Saturday last, enters fully
and clearly into the history of the negotiations