New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-01-03
THE OLD YEAR.

..ed great events of 1853 1t would not be read save
bv few and IS the essentially greatest events OF the
wear may lie In produced but yet unaPpreciased ioea
az .ome uurecoQrized Of genius, we might %
serving ND the ordinary pratte Of Congress or Change
=. commanding stand point vital element In pro-
res. and destiny instead Of the highest manifestation
efls53.
Tn looking At the year. we that although liberty
. hesr checked progress has not been denied Tran-
ou;tv for the most part has reignsd throughout the
State, fEope The political eye, turned inward, is
lookps to social evils and their each month
or almost each day presents some brilliant
ripening and ripened fruits Of progress In England
we perceive greater result than political changes
which resound in history in the attention given to the
condition of the people While her institutions are
essentially ieudal and the superintendent nightmare
Of Churchand-State Hattens the individual man INTO
an almost seuless pauper I" regards his true
Personality yet little BY little, we see the
advance of the People to the high tabe-and OF sere
lance and dignity which their brthrght Ireland
msery too seems to have touched the deepest sound
inv. of DESPAIR. and now her course is upward The
tyranny of the British Government exercised
through free trade socalled and numerous minor OPP
pressions caused Ireland to wilt away and become the
bowling mendicant of the nineteenth century taking In
her maramus. broken meats from Turk and Christian
ake-but this extreme sorrow has passed. and though
immigration may continue leaving the existence OF tue
Cet in the island mere souvenir, while his blood is
mixed I'D with our own yet the process is not one Oh
actual agony Whatever defects too, the immigration
system may labor under (Which this journal has so
largely exposed lately and placed under the notice OF
CopRress) they must be remedied, and the lmmigra-
ton Bridge across the Atlantic cease to have such pit
falls of disease and death In evidence of the advanc
ing condition of the people Of England take the nstu
top of the Model Lodging Houses for the Poor Here
in this CITY might we take useful lesson from London
in this regard We find statistics of popular arch-
lecture which are important as facts and prom
ses of progress and dignity than all the defeated revou
tons of the Continent since 1913. We find the People
giving evidence of power in substantial i'm
proyements of their condition When we learn that
for few shllings week the sober laborer
can have personal comforts and decences which could
not be commanded by the Duke of Norfolk in the time
of Queen Elizabeth-can inhabit room with a car
pet of some sort upon the floor, ventilated chamber,
and bath in his own domice-the whole dwelling
well guarded by porter against fire and robbery-we
feel the grandeur of the epoch in which we live, more
truly than when we read Of big mouthed treaties,
swelling protocols trucslent Aunkeying diplomacy,
OF all other mpertinent swndes of the past which
vet thrust into our own Having these facts be-
fore us as regards London, let the noisy and
hollow ones 90 unnOticed in annual survey the de-
cayng power in India the absence ofstupdly promised
English mercantile profits in China; thecheckmates of
officials whether the himbe rigger PalmerstOn in
out.ofoffce; specuations whether Her Majesty is
going to give yet another possible heir to the hrone
all these ordinary details worthless in Englands
history for the year compared to the single fact that
the people beginning to be treated human beings,
worthy of soap andwater, clean linen, fresdes and
books These, us, the heroics Of hisory-ofthe
history Of the year-and not the ordinary rubbish of
speeches victories, privileged achievements short
comngs.
Turning to France we find her paying the penalty of
forgetting in IS45 that a change of Government in a
highly taxed country must bring reduction Of taxes,
or it must fall Our revolution question of taxa
ton. 1.-The Revolution" said Robespierre of the
French, sis question of money If the Provisional
Government is unable to reduce taxes, they are I'M
able to found Government France is like sick pa
tient on bed who turns to any position to gain
moments respite from pain. She has turned to Louis
ders. While cOndemning her present ruler we may do
justice to many things in France The regard shown
for human life in railway cars that in houses and
streets in broad contrast to the cheap estimate held
of il in this country. So too, the laws delay which is
blot national name, may be conrasted with its
ready execution in France. The present Emperor will
hold his place in all probability if the material interests
prosper under him, and he can diminish taxation by
reducing the army ndnayy it u.s. we see no evidence
of such reduction. The comparative prosperity of
France at this time is due to the fact that it contrasts
with the DEFICIENCIES of the revolutionary years of 1913
and 1e49 when the COMMISSIONS of society caused great
dstresses people economical TO the last SOU but now
the quiet which regns in France stimulates trade and
industry, which are paraded in triumphant parallel
with the stagnatOn and ideness of the revolutionary
period
Spain is improving. Since 1912 great efforts have
been made to mend her manufacturing interest Hap
PLY for this, her Government is not totally imbece
like that of Portugal and has excluded the wares of
British monoposts. BY this means is developing par
ticulary the production Of her own iron-that touch
stone Of civilization.
Italy repOses but does not stagnate. Even Rome
becomes more and open to strangers every year.
who distribute wealth and ideas among her citizens
Piedmont hasa more positive resurrection railway is
building from Turin to Genoa which it is expected will
double the population Of those cities. The principles
Of religious liberty steadily progressing especially
in that part of the peninsula
Prussia is growing in prosperity She is completing