The Portland daily press., 1870-12-31
states have discontinued their Joint arrange

political institutions in the interest OF pro-
gress and the amelioration Of the condition Of
mankind. Among these we may mention as
perhaps the most important, though at first
glance it seems Insignificant, the enactment OF
a law in the territory Of Wyoming on the 10th
of December, 1869, by which women are COM
pletely emancipated from all thespolitical disa-
bilites to which they are subject elsewhere.
Since that date woman have voted, held office
and served on iuries without any of those I'M
pleasant consequences that have sometimes
been anticipated. In Utah also women are
permitted to vote.
The other events of the kind we are de.
scribiny are the establishment of Republic
in France on the 9TH of September, the found
ing of a constitutional monarchy in Spain in
place of the Bourbon despotism the end OF the
fearfully oppressive temporal authority OF the
Pope and Cardinal Antonell at Rome, the
release OF Venetia from Austrian rule, the
restoration of virtual autonomy to Hungary,
the treaties negotiated by the lamented Arson
! Burling anne between China and the West
ern powers, ami the reform bills passed by the
British Parliament during the Disraeli and
Gladstone ministries.
1t should not be forgotten. either, that Spain
and Prussia have abolished capital punish
ment.
And it may be doubled whsther the over
throw of the cruel dictator Lopez in Paraguay,
who at the end of five years desperate strug
gle was killed on the LIST of March, 1870, of
+ Theodore of Abyssinia and of Macmillan of
Mexico ought not to be reckoned in this cat
egory.
In view of all this who can hesitate to accept
| the poets prophecy that
AH men shall be priests and kings
| One royal brotherhood, one church made free,
By love, which is the law of liberty!
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION.
"A fitting supplementary achievement to
those above mentioned is the progress made-in
/ rendering the social and commercial inter-
course of the nations swift and easy. "Sup-
l Elementary" we say, because the reader as
i ISOLATION made possible by telegraph lines,
railroads. and canals, is of all things the best
calculated to render the peoples more homoge-
neous, and to establish what the French would
call the solidarity" of nations And solidar-
ity means liberty and peace. The enumera-
ton of these great works is sufficient to fill the
mind with most gratifying astonishment.-
And first we may regard the telegraph line ex-
tended to California in 1861 and the Pacific
railroad finished May 10th, 1862 as interna-
tional works, for they greatly facilitate the in
tercourse of Europe with Asia. Then there
are the first transatlantic cables ever laid, one
l in 1866, the second in 1867 and the French ca
BILE from Brest to Duxbury, Mass, in 1862
The very important cable between Bombay
/ and Alden was laid in March of the present
year. The Suez Canal was completed in No
vember, 1869. Only last Monday the Mt Gents
tunnel, nearly eight miles long, connecting
France and Italy by road under the Alps,
was completed. Nor should the rapid progress
4 on the Hoosac Tunnel, the survey of the 18th
mus of Panama for ship canal, by Com
mander Ssfridge, be forgotten. How long
! will it be at this rate before men will discard
1 the narrowness of patriotism and become gem
| erous cosmopolitans How long
Till the war-drums throb no longer and the battle
flags are furled
In the Parliament of man, the Federation of world?
GREAT EVENTS.
Moreover, the decade is remarkable for the
number of countries that during its continu-
ance have passed through some of the most
important crises OF their existence
THE UNITED STATES.
since the Revolution. The election in Georgia
last week by means of which every seat in the
national legislature is filled for the first time
in just ten years marks the end of one of the
most tremendous conflicts in which men have
ever engaged. On the 9th of January, 1861,
the first shot Of the war for the Union was fir
! ed at the steamer Star of the West. The Su-
preme Court and Congress have fixed the legal
date of the close of the war at Aug. Goth, 1866,
when President Johnsons proclamation an
nouncing that fact was issued, though all arm
ed conflict ended in May, 1865.
The impeachment of President johnson,
who was acquitted by one vote on the 26th day
of May, 1868, was the first event of the kind
that ever occurred in our history, and was at
the time regarded as threatening the stability
of our institutions.
The assassination of President Lincoln, on
Good Friday, 1865, was also unique event in
our history, and it is devoutly to be hoped it
will continue to be so.
The passage of the legal tender act Feb. Is,
1862 has had an Important inaas.oe upon the
business world, and the passage of an anti-re-
pudiation resolution by the House of Repre-
sentatives by vote of 1913 to 1, on the LIST of
December, 1869, was most effective measure
for re-establishing confidence in the nation s
financial integrity.
Though the war has had an unfavorable eff
feet on the material prosperity of the country,
there are now within its limits 1880 miles of
railroad; in 1860 there were only 28,771. The
decrease in the amount of tonnage owned by
American citizens is the most obvious, and ap-
parently the most incurable of the evils occa-
stoned by the war, if we except the irreparable
loss of blood. The census returns are not vet
full enough to furnish any precise details as to
the increase of population.
BRITISH AMERICA.
The time is memorable one for the Cana
das, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, be.
cause they were united under single general
government in the summer of 1866, and be-
came the Dominion of Canada" Canadians
will also remember this period for its series Of
Fenian raids and the termination of the recip-
rocity treaty with the United States--both
events seriously damaging the financial pros
perity of their country. The beginning and
rapid progress of the European and North
American and the Iptercolonal railroads fur
nish means for the ultimate recovery of lost
ground, while the movement looking toward
annexation to the United States, especially in
Nova Scotia, will, in few years perhaps, give
the whole Of British America participation in
whatever prosperity the United States may en-
joy. The withdrawal of British troops from
Canada during the past year seems to pave the
way for such consummation.
The organization of the Red River territory
and the revolt of Reihle and his French half
breed associates, a year ago, has attracted some
attention. The territory is now called "Mani-
tobah," and Col. Wooley has succeeded in es-
tablishing order there, though Reihle and 9TH
ers have fed over the American border where
they plot mischief
Newfoundland is not disposed to unite its
fortunes with the Dominion, for on the Sd of
last February an NATURALIZATION resolution
was passed by vote of q toS.
MEXICO.
1t has been the heroic age of Mexico. The
French invasion soon after the beginning of
our war was successful, and Marshal Bazaine,
who has since been so thoroughly beaten by
the Prussians, here won his laureIs. The
withdrawal Of the French after the close of
our war and the capture and execution of
Macmillan in 1867 put an end to the short
lived triumph of "the crowned inidel Of