The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-31 00:00:00

tion of making .any real concessions. It ifas
not until the present week that the official journals
announced the resignation of that Minister, and pub-

lished a letter in which the EMPEROR called upon
M. OLLIVIER to form a responsible Ministry. Thus
fell personal government, after eighteen years' exist-
ence. It remains to be seen if the EMPEROR'S
attempt to combine Imperial with responsible Minis-
terial Government will prove successful. It-must be
c)nfessed that the list of new Ministers announced to-
day does not give rise to very sanguine expecta-
tions.

Turning to the other continents, we find few events
calling for notice. In India there has been a serious
revenue deficit, although a surplus had been announced.
Investigation is still going on in that country with
respect to the cost of the Abyssinian war. A new
treaty has been signed between our Government and
that of China. In Africa the chief occurrences have
been the opening of the Suez Canal, already mentioned,
the supposed discovery of the source of the Nile by Dr.
LIVINGSTONE, and certain unhappy incidents in the
African Church which do not need to be detailed.
Our colonies are, on the whole, thriving, and even the
one exception, New Zealand, is emerging by degrees
from the distress which it has long suffered. In
America there has been a happy absence of striking
events. The national debt of the United States has
been reduced in a marvellous manner, and there
are fresh miracles of the kind in store. Presi-
dent r GRANT, though one of the foremost soldiers
of the time, is a man of peace, and is busy in
completing the work of reconstruction. It is to be
hoped that he will have the satisfaction of bringing
about the settlement of the dispute between his
country and ours. It is no fault of ours that it was
not
_settled at the beginning of the year. The
failure of the CLARENDON-JOIINSON • treaty is
still too fresh in our recollection to need more
than this passing notice. In South America
-the war, that has for more than four years been
waging hetween Paraguay and the allied forces of
Brazil, Upiguay, and the Argentine Confederation
appears to be at an end, for President LOPEZ has
fled. Cuba is still in a state of insurrection'; and if
it were not that the politicians of the United States

are very anxious to make us acknowledge ourselves
wrong in recognising the belligerency of the Southern
Confederacy, the Washington Government would
long ago hive recognised that of the Cubans, and
probably something more.
It remains only to mention the chief persons who
have died during the year. The most noticeable
was Lord DERBY, who, however, as we have seen,
died a few weeks too late to save himself from a
melancholy ending to his long4career. Lord STANLEY
of ALDERLEY, Lord BROUGHTON, Lord DELAWARR,
Sir WILLIAM CLAY, Mr. ERNEST JONES, and Gene-
ral PERRONET THOMPSON were English politicians of
a less prominent type. Literature, science, and art
in this country have" lost Viscount STRANGFORD,
Sir H. ELLIS, WILLIAM CARLETON, WILLIAM
JERDAN„ Sir EMERSON TENNENT, Sir C. DILKE,
PETER CUNNINGHAM, Dean WADDINGTON, ALEX-
ANDER DYCE, Lady DUFF GORDON, Professor CON-,
NINGTON, Professor GRAHAM, and Mr. CRESIVICK.
A gallant old general, Lord GOUGII, has died at the age
of 90. The Marquis of WESTMINSTER deserves mention
as the wealthiest of peers, Mr. PEABODY as the most
munificent of Commoners, and Lady PALMERSTON
as the most gracious of hostesses. The removals
from the Episcopal Bench we have already men-
tioned. The Judges' Bench has lost ex-Chief Justice
LEFROY, Mr. WALSH, Sir GEORGE HAYES,
and Mr. PATTON, the last under very
distressing circumstances. Among eminent
foreigners who have died during the year
we find the names of LAMARTINE, Marshal NIEL,
the Marquis DE MOUSTIER. M. TROPLONG, Baron
JoMINI, Count GOLTZ, BERGENROTH, the explorer of
the Simanca archives; Baron LEYS; SAINTE BEUVE,
Prince of Critics ; FORCADE, Mr. FESSENDEN,
General PIERCE, Mr. STANTON, HECTOR BERLIOZ,
and Madame Gnisr. Happily, it is not a very long
list, and it contains remarkably few names of the
foremost rank. In this respect, at all events, may
1870 resemble 1869.