The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-11-12
THANKSGIVING Day.

Yesterdays HERALD contained Governor
Seymeur's proclamation of the usual thanks
giving day, to be kept Ia this State on 3Oth
inst. The same day has been chosen by the
States Of Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylva-
MIA, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Massachusetts,
and Michigan. Four others, Mary and, Wis
cousin, New Jersey and Florida, keep the Esd.
We have, in truth, notwithstanding our diff
culties, much ground for sincere thanksgiving
to Almighty Providence for the countless
blessings we enjoy. All over the world, this
favored country alone excepted, war is either
now raging or has ragged, or Is about to rage
Lives are being thrown away by the hundreds
on the banks of the Danube and those of the
Yang-tse-Keang. Pestilence sweeps away
countless multitudes from the Black Sea to the
Caspian. Civil connections render life q bur-
then in South America and its mother country
Spain. Political vicissitudes hang menacingly
over the whole Germanic Confederation. The
uncertainties Of war and the miseries of unpro-
ftable trade are spreading apprehension and
suffering throughout the British Empire. Rus
sia, locked in her own impenetrable borders,
seeks in vain an outlet for her produce: all the
money she has must be poured into the Impe-
rial Treasury, all her blood shed on the battle
field. On whatever side we look present peril
and future misery meet the eye.
Let us not boastfully impute 10 ourselves
alone the immunity we enjoy from such Gala
mites. The contrast Is not of our making, but
is wholly the work Of Higher Powec. 1t
might have been our fate to have been plunged
into wars, instead Of enjoying the blessings of
peace We might have been still suffering
under She pestilence which has twice visited us
during the year. If we are surrounded by
plenty, the glory is due to Him at whose word
the earth might have refused to yield her in
crease. Yet though 1t were impiety to claim
credit to ourselves for the striking contrast we
present to the world at large, that contrast is
not the less worthy of attention.
During the whole of the past year civil war
has ragged without intermission in Mexico and
South America. Nearly one half of Santa An
mas dominions has been distracted by haras-
sing contest between an invincible rebel and
discontented soldiery. Venezuela seems destined
to die under the fatal effects Of internal strife
on such soil, repablicanism only serves to whet
he native propensity for fighting, and free suf
frage becomes Q mere pretext for appealing to
the sword. Peru and Bolivia would never be
heard Of sere it not for their petty wars, whose
tenure Of life and property among the people.
Buenos Al res vainly strives to attain the posi-
tion due her in the commercial world the
love Of fighting is still too prevalent in that
meridian to admit of abiding prosperity.
In Asia, the close of the Burmese war has
given some relief to the region where it was
carried on but two short space of time has
elapsed for it's trace to be obliterated From
north to south China is laid waste The war
between the insurgents and the Imperialists
has not resembled similar contests among
civilized nations bloodshed aud rapine, mas
sacre and destruction seem to be the great aim
of both Of these wretched factions. A blood.
red track, with broken monuments and charred
ruins on either side, marks the progress of the
revolutionaries from the south to Nankin. To
the Chinese the year has been one of unmingled
suffering Nor is the western side of the Con-
tinent in much happier condition. The Rus
sian borders have been a scene of incessant
warfare: there is pluck still left among the
Sikhs and their ferocious neighbors.
Still more disastrous has the year been to
Europe. When it dawned Omer Pasha was
gallantly defending the banks Of the Danube
against the invading army of Russia 1t is
nearly closing, and he is there still, fighting
as desperately as ever. Two other Powers
are now embarked in the same work OF death,
and third is only waiting for an accident to
Its course, to do likewise. We hear
It said that nothing has been done by the allie.
this season What folly is this! Is 1t no
thing that the trade Of the Black Sea and
The Baltic have been annihilateds That
Archangel, Riga, ReveI, st. Petersburg and
Odessa have exported no produce Of any kind,
and receive I nothing from abroad In what
condition should we find ourselves II Boston,
New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Or
leans were similarly situete, and neither egress
nor ingress possiblei Then again, the trade and
agriculture Of Turkey have been necessarily
The counting houses of Constan-
,inople have Teen turned into hospitals, the
,loug hshares of the country parts converted |
INTO weapons Of war What sort Of harvests |
,ave been gathered In from the plains of Wal |
achia and Moldavia! Look over all these:
count the number Of families heretofore Deepen
lent on the mills Of Archangel, the timber |
'ards Of Revel and Riga, the corn depots Of
odessa: those whose daily bread was gained by |
illipg the earth anywhere near varna, Scutari
u Gallipoli: and the myriads Of others Deepen
lent upon these in their turn: all now beggared |
" the years campaign; and you shall assuredly |
confess that the allies have done q great deal Il