New-York tribune., 1867-01-01
TILE rE1R IND ITS CHlNGES.

THE YE1R AND ITS CHANGES.
II is a long while since we have bid ow
readers a Happy Ncw-Year with such well
founded satisfaction at the history ol i'c
year Just passed, and such confident an
ticipations of good fortune in the year
to come as We greet them with to-day
The last twelve months have been a
period of trouble throughout the world
but ont of the trouble has come peace
and through much tribulatiOn mankind hS
made long strides in the way OF progress.
Fierce battles in Europe have resulted, we may
hope, in that national unity for the sake OF
which Italy and Germany have suffered ana
struggled so long. Conservative England has
been aroused to a sense that equal nights ana
Justice cannot long be denied TO any class o1
men in any country. Even the unhappy course
of affairs in Ireland, pregnant as it is with IN
dividuol sufferings. and full of bitterness to
the ardent patriots who looked for the birth
this year OF new republic, and the over
throw of a giant wrong Is not without a
prospect of better things and we have good
reason to trust that the rights which Ireland
has failed to conquer by revolution she may
attain in part when England, terrified by gath
erinc troubles at home and abroad, is compelled
to adopt policy of justice and generosity. in
Mexico, republican principles have received
cheering yindicatiOn, and almost IN the very
day when petty kingshipS and feudal pilnci-
palities were topping 10 their ruin III the Old
World, the daring attempt of European sovcr-
cigns to impose an empire upon unwilling sub
iectsl was being signally discounted in the
l., al
of long wars with redoublcd strength and lustcr
The whole world seems to have studied the
lessons of our own contest, and taken fresh
heart, and given new promise of the future.
If we look at home we have surely every
reason for gratitude and hope. The echoes OF
the late combat are still rcyerbcrating; but
order is gradually coming out OF the turmoil
policies are shaping themselves issues are grow
ing clearer; men of good heart are less and
less perplcxed TO know the right from the
wrong. and the people are learning 20 dlstln-
guish more carefully their true friends from
their false, the guides who would lead them to
permanent peace and prosperity from the
guides who would lead them TO destruction.
The firm stand which the peoples representa-
tives have taken in the defense OF the right,
have applauded and sustained them; the firm
ness with which Congress is now following mp
the path which it traced out last year; the
passing Of the Civil Rights bill and the Dis
trct Of Columbia Suffrage bill; the resolutc
inquiry into the NewOrlcans massacre, and
similar wrongs-all these things afford us Ger
tainly abundant food for satisfaction. And in
matters of more material kind, the progress
made during the year has been 10 less marked
and gratifying. The great enterprise,
so long deferred, so often defeated, OF
bringing two continents into instantaneous
communication with each other, has at last
been perfected; and another enterprise-that of
laying an iron rail across the whole of our
broad contincnt-an enterprise which twenty
years ago would have been, like an Atlantic
telegraph thought wild chimera, is rapidly
advancing toward completion. The year 1866
has seen the railway laborer digging up the
Great Plains of Kansas and Nebraska, sacred
only yesterday TO the Indian and the buf-
falo, and its close hears the whistle of the
locomotive on the summit of the Sierra Nevada.
And just as we are about TO bid farewell to this
year, news comes to us across the great sub
marine wire that America, having again vindi
Gated her reputation for daring and enthusiastic
adventure by sending three yachts on race
across the stormy ocean, has shown also the
superiority of her naval constructors by beating
with these little sailing vessels the great steamers
Of England's favorite passenger line.
So, proud of what we have done confident of
what we are going to do, thankful for the past,
resolute for the future, let us turn to- good
friends, enjoy ourselves for the day forget cares
q few hours, and wish each other all Happy
New-Year.