Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1855-01-12


TIES-DARK SIDE or THE PICTURE
The whole civilized world will doubtless exae-
r,ence sensation of relief tfat the wear 1854 is
ended-that tie book is closed--thst is malancho-
ly chapter Of accidents drawbacks aud Of general
and local eaamities is among tie things cftha past
that we are done with il, and that with this day
opens new calendar gloomy enough under The
surrounding circumstances, yet iul OF promises and
expectations of better things Better times may be
before rs, of more Inerciful dispensahons to man
kind, of more genial seasons and more ausplclous
harvesis. With anticipations such as these, we
may to the dark side of the picture OF the old
year, and turn it back again to the wall, and pass
OF with a spirit of hope into the future.
Seldom indeed within our recollection has there
been year so darl1ly overshadowed by general
calamities national misfortunes and local disasters
and suferings as the eventful and gloomy year
which has Just expired The great financial and
commercial revulsions of 1887 did not bring to us,
with all its train of bankruptcies, explosions and
general ruin, so mucn OF positive suffering to the
working classes of our great cities the combined
causes which have brought about the existing la
mentable financial and commercial depression. The
year l847, of the Irish famine and the Mexican
war, with all its evils elsewhere, was to year OF
unexampled prosperity; for while upon the one
hand our armies marched triumphantly into the
Mexican capital, and dictated peace and the ces-
the other hand the destitution of Ireland stay
ed by the voluntary contributions of our people
from their superabundance of bread. There are
no such redeemng contrasts in the record OF 1881,
between cur fortunes and those of other nations.
If the cholera has decimated the Russian and al
lied armies of the East il it has spread terror and
desolatOn along the shores of the Mediterranean;
if it has fearully added to the bitter cup of misery
of unhappy Mexico, it has not left us exempt from
its ravages, as the cemeteries from Long Island to
the western shores of the Mississippi will abund-
antly tell If the vineyards of Madeira and France
have been bghted; if "the isles of Greece" and the
fertile fields Of the Holy Land have been wasted by
drought, we, too, have shared, and are now realiz
ing the disastrous consequences OF suspension of
our usual summer and autumnal rains. Thousands
and tens of thousands of cultivated acres have fail
ed to yield 1.-THE OF their expected returns and
vast districts Of valuable forests and fields rendered
inflammabe by the continuous summer heats have
been consumed by fire. Would two hundred mil
lions of bushels cover our loss in Indian corn alone,
according to the estimate of an average CROP in the
great grain growing States, from Virginia to Mis-
souri,? We know not; but in connection with the
vast accessiOns to our population from Europe we
feel the pressure in the existing famine prices
for breadstufls and provisions All the country
over there may be nearly an average crop, as COM
pared with other years. from the larger quantities
of land cultivated but there is larger for
our increased population, while Indian corn as an
article OF export, commands price which is stead
lily diminishing our supplies.
If earthquakes have Frustrated cities and flo
Gusts have laid waste whole provinces appropriated
to mans subsistence in Central America and Mexi-
co, fires storms and foundations have been scarce
ly less destructive to us. The bountful rice crops
of South Carolina and Georgia, harvested and rea-
dy for the thresher, were to great extent des-
trOyed in a single equinOctial. If the fleets and
transports Of the Allies have been partially swal-
lowed up by the tempestuous EuXine, our CONNER
cial marine, steamers and sailing craft from the
banks of Newfoundland to the Mexican Gulf, has
suffered almost in the proportion. And if our
Northern border States have been parayzed by the
cholera in their business operations, the States of
the extreme South have suffered even more deeply
from the yellow fever.
Again --ifthe Russian war has deranged the e.
nancal and commercial affairs of Western Europe,
we feel the disturbance through every vein and
artery Of our vast commercial and financial ex-
changes superadded to the confusion, distrust and
Distress created by Schuyler frauds, bank eXplo-
sions and commercial and manufacturing failures.
Neutral in military sense, we are a party to the
European war with Russia and the Allies, IN its de-
rangements and suspensions Of the business inter-
ests and enterprises OF peace We are in the posi-
sition of an innocent sufferer from the wranglings
and quarrels OF his neighbour and hence we have
counseed the right and the duty of our government
to interpose with the European belgerents in be-
half of pacication.
But the long, wasting and disastrous year has
ended; its chapter OF accidents and calamities are
among the things of the past, though we fear that
the worst Of our experience Of the consequences
has yet to come. We are admonished Of the Ne
cessity OF practising the saving principles of econo-
my, prudence and withal liberal and wisely d.
rected system of public and private charities. The
unemployed and the destitute must be relieved
through the winter. There should be no famine in
our midst, while we are exporting breadstufs and
provisions abroad
Meanwhile while short crops with US on the one
hand and the blockade Of Russia on the other, have
cut off the main supplies of the rest of the world
for grain, -four, beef and pork, to meet their local
Deficiencies what Is our manifest policy in an agri-
cultural view2 Plainly that our farmers, with the
return offspring should appropriate as much as pos
sibe to wheat aud corn. They will thus open their
fields Of inviting labor to thousands of unemployed
but willing and abe wOrkingmen. In this view
our farmers might do much even now to diminish
the number Of willing hands with nothing to do.
Peace or continued war; good prices for breadstufs
and provisions may be relied upon, however large
our crops ofthe present year. Let our farmers act
accordingly. There may be an abatement Of the
evils of the existing depression with the return of
spring; but there can be no established or general
relief to our commerce or manufactures short Of
abundant crops of breadstus and provisions for the
year 1850. In view of this achievement we wish
our farmers and the whole American people a Hap
py New Year.
THE SINGLE AN.-The Lebanon Herald, without