The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-03 00:00:00

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TUESDAY MORNING, JAN. 3, 1854.

THE close of one year and the commencement
of another is an event of too much interest to
allow us to pass it unnoticed, or without availing
ourselves of the opportunity to remind our readers
that we are not regardless of the progress of never-
ebbing Time. The remark that the year just closed
has been a most eventful one, has been so often
made with reference to previous years, that. it has
become an observation too trite to excite attention :
still there are many circumstances worthy to be
recalled, which have had their rise in the year
1853, though their ultimate results may be long
distant.

England has had a year's experience of a Coali-
tion Ministry, the income-tax renewed for seven
years, and real property subject to a tax on succes-
sion. To commercial enterprise and industrial
activity, 1853 has been a year of halcyon days,
high prices, and unlimited demand ; but human
nature is never satisfied, and long before the season
had closed, reports from all quarters teemed with
complaints of operatives out on strike for higher
wages—so that prosperity failed to bring content,
and full employment was the precursor of absolute
idleness. Those who indulged in dreams of cheap
bread, awoke to the reality of dear food of all kinds ;
while the reflecting mind may have learned the
useful lesson that every earthly good has its alloy
of evil, nothing being perfect but the hope of
good things hereafter. The dilatory manner in
which measures for sanitary improvement have
been carried on has received a salutary warning in
a visitation of the cholera, which, though slight at
first, and temporarily checked by the frost which
has lately set in, may return with far more viru-
lence on the approach of warmer weather, should
the interval not be wisely used in the application
of the means within our power for the promotion of
cleanliness, by better draining and ventilation, and
a more ample supply of water. The lull in politi-
cal agitation, during the Parliamentary vacation,
has not been unprofitably employed in discussing
the wants of our poorer fellow-creatures, the best
means of affording the advantages of education to
the rising generation, and the most efficient mode
of dealing with the increasing number of juvenile
delinquents. The interests of the Church have
not been neglected—for two members have been
added to our Colonial Episcopate ; inquiries have
taken place into the great seminaries of learning,
Oxford and Cambridge : and though little direct
benefit may be anticipated from the labours of a
Ministerial appointed commission, the stimulus to
self-examination, which has resulted, may not be
without a beneficial effect. In our relations with
Foreign states, there appears to be less cause for
congratulation—for after, like. Judaea of old, the
land has had rest for nearly forty years, we hear of
wars and rumours of wars ; and none may safely
predict how long we shall be spared from once
more being called upon to put forth our strength
to secure the safety of the British Empire, at the
cost of war taxes and a heavy addition to the
National Debt.

Ireland, more than decimated of her population
by famine, and pestilence, and voluntary expatria-
tion, has had an Exhibition of Industry and Art,
displaying to the world at large that her latent
energy and skill only required the stimulus of
encouragement to give them fair play. Scotland,
after a century and a half of union with England,
has determined to speak out and demand her full
share of the rights which her patient submission
has failed to obtain from a sense of justice.

The colonies have not been without interest.
Australia has started in the race like a young
giant, her gold fields surpassing the wildest
dreams of Oriental enthusiasts, and attracting im-
migrants by thousands and tens of thousands;
while the wants of the latter have opened an ex-
port trade for our home produce, which, as yet,
seems to know no limit. It is a circumstance
also worthy of observation, that, although
the almost fabulous accounts of the discovery
of gold excited many apprehensions of too
great an abundance, we have really experienced a
gradual tightening of the money market, through
the decreasing store of bullion in the coffers
of the Bank of England. The long war •
which endangered the peace of the Cape of Good
Hope has been brought to a conclusion, and now
we are promised new supplies of colonial produce.
The West Indies have partially recovered from
their long suffering, and at length given up their
claim to hold ,the purse-strings independent of
the Governor.. Canada has hardly supplied us
with an incident for comment, except to sympa-