The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-31 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The Times observes that the political tranquillity which
notwithstanding the occurrence of the election, has pre
vaned throughout the United Kingdom is not to be attr;
bided to exceptional prosperity. The comme7clal &Tres
sion which has lasted since the spring of 1866 still con•
tinnes, and the low rate of interest indicates both the stag•
nation of regular trade and the natural indisposition ci
capitalists to embark in speculative adventures. In the lasi
days of the year the announcement that the Lancashire
cotton•mills ar about to work half-time proves that one
of the chief branches of English industry is still suffering
from want of demand. The traffic returns of railwtye
exhibit a similar want of elasticity ; but the gradual ceen.-
tion of the controversies on revenue and capital which
were eagerly prosecuted in the early part of the yeas
represents an improvement in the condition of the com-
panies, as the financial confusion of their affairs has been
gradually disentangled. While an unusually productive
harvest has cheapened food and diminished the necessity
for purchases of foreign grain, the hot and dry summer
which ripened the wheat crop was extremely unfavourable
to the production of roots and fodder, though even this
shortcoming has been much alleviated by the unusual
mildness of the weather up to the new year.

The Post, in surveying the results of the yaar just con- I
chided, considers that what has been done has been done
thoroughly. Looking back over the course which the
year just ended has run, we may hope that it has been on
the whole a year of progress in the way of improvement for
this country. The events which mark the advance, if few
in number, are conspicuous, and ha a manner isolated
for identification, by the circumstance that they are
accomplished. Thus it appears to be matter for
congratulation that a national obligation has been
fulfilled by the successful conclusion of the Abyssinian
war, and that we have at last arrived at a settlement of
the Reform question. Also, before the year closes,we have
the satisfaction of knowing that a little difficulty with
China, arising out of the irrepressible missionary
activity which has sown the seeds of trouble there
and elsewhere, is abated. And it can hardly be
premature to acid that our differences with the United
States of America are composed. Trade, too, though
it has been dull and depressed, is, we trust, recovering,
surely though slowly, from the effects of a panic
caused by the abuse of public confidence. The result of
the appeal to the enlarged constituencies may be included
in this survey, as may the change of Ministry which it
has brought about ; but, strictly speaking, these are
accomplished facts in the sense that they constitute a
certain roint of departure. What they nbw give is a
better understanding of things. We have a new Parlia-
ment and a new Administration, and we are again in the
straight constitutional path.

The Herald observes that the few hours which remain of
a year are always spent in reflection upon the past, and
anticipations upon the future. There is no deception
about the year 1868. This is positively its last day. It
is not like a last appearance, to be repeated ; it is not like
the Last Mohican or the Last Man, whom nobody ever saw,
or the Last Minstrel, whom nobody, let us hope, has yet
heard. It is not like the last opera, the last novel, the last
song, the last lion, or the last scandal, because these never
are the last, but are continually being overtaken by their
posterity. It is really and genuinely the closing of a book.
The word " Finis " is written there unalterably and
indelibly. It is going and will be gone before the next
sunrise, with the whole procession of its triumphs and
failures, its trophies and calamities, its signs and wonders.

The Telegraph declares that the year that ends to-day
is remarkable, politically, for the virtual close of one great
controversy—that on Reform ; and for the opening up of
another momentous question, the disestablishment of the
Irish Church. Many minor improvements may be made
in the Reform Acts which were passed by the last House
of Commons elected under the Act of 1832 ; but, as
regards the kernel of the question—the main qualifica-
tions for the borough suffrage—a household franchise
has been universally accepted as a settlement for the
present generatirn. During the year 1863 the two
minor Reform Acts—for Scotland and Ireland—have
been placed, with slight modifications which were due
entirely to local causes, on the same basis. In fact,. this
supplcmen' ary task of the Ministry• was so divested of
party considerations that it formed no obstacle whatever
to the introduction of the great subject of the session, the
Irish Church. It was early anticipated that the year
would be devoted in the main to the state of Ireland.
Looking at the prospects of the ensuing season, it
remarks that the new year begins with a new
Ministry, with many new men, in office, a new
tone and policy for Ireland, and a new policy of
economy for the empire. If 1869 does not fulfil the pro-
mise of its commencement, it may have the consolation
that it will not be the first year which has behaved in the
same disappointing fashion.

The Star, in examining the /),,litical changes of. the
~ar, remarks that Mr. Gladstone's Government has been

so lately formed that it need not be criticised. Its com-
position is, at any rate in one particular, certain to prove
conspicuous in history ; unless, indeed, the recognition of
great popular principles, which has been so handsomely
and sympathetically made, should blot from the memories
of future annalists the recollection of long years in which
the ruling classes remained undisturbed in the conviction
that eminence, ability, and trenchancy in a Radical were
insuperable disqualifications for responsible participation
in the government of the country.

The Daily News, in its summary of the events of the
past twelvemonths, observes that if the year has been
One of small gains, there are few losses to count up. Lord
Russell's retirement from active political life, and the death
of Lord Brougham, remove two conspicuous figures from
the public scene. In France, almost the last conspicuous
representative of the cause of Catholic and Legitimist
liberalism, as well as a great political and forensic rota•
bility, perishes in Berryer. In Rossini and Charles Kean,
musical and theatrical art lose earnest and devoted
cultivators. The deaths of Dean Milrnan and Archbishop
Longley remove the best representatives of the scholarly
freedom and the Christian dignity of the Church of
England. The appointment of Dr. Tait to the see of
Canterbury, and the judgment given against ritualistic
practices in the Mackonochie case, foreshadow the
uprising of a great Church question, which, however, like
the Irish land question and the English pauper question,
is less for the coming year than for the coming generation.
But it will be wise to take account of these things in time,
hnd to begin early what must be a long and difficult
work.