The Portland daily press., 1877-12-29
The Old Year.

The year now closing has been an eventful
one at home and abroad. 1t has witnessed
in this country spectacle that would be pos
sible in no other nation; the peaceful adjust
ment of dispute over the possession of the
government between two political parties of
nearly equal strength, both believing firmly
in the Justice of their claims and both terribly
excited by the fresh recollections of political
campaign notable for its bitterness even
among the many bitter presidential contests in
our national history. In any other country,
it mas safely be assumed, the conditions
would have led to war, and hostile factions
would have appealed to the dread arbitra-
ment Of the sword. Here fifteen representa-
tive men took into consideration the ques-
tions in dispute; and the conclusions arrived
at by the majority of them were accepted By
the people as final settlement. The man
ner in which the electoral controversy was
settled will hereafter make one Of the most
conspicuously creditable pages in our annals,
and in the estimation of our children will hold
place of honor only less high than the estab-
lishment of the Union and the war for its
preservation.
But while we have settled dispute which
menaced the national existence we have be-
come subject to an i'll which threatens the
constitution of society itself. The great
strikes of last summer are ominous warnings
to us OF danger which is a continual threat
to the stability of European governments, but
which heretofore we have never been called
upon to meet. At last we stand face to face
with the problem which has so long vexed
the statesmen and economists of the old ma
tions, the equitable adjustment of the rela-
tions between labor and capital, and the prop
er provisions to be made for the care of
great, idle and desperate population. We can
no longer claim the immunities of youth.
Our hundredth birthday brought the perplex.
tiles and responsibilities, as we'll as the
strength of manhood. But we can at least
hope for as good success in solving this last
and greatest problem of society as has reward
ed our endeavors to settle questions of gov
ernment which had been abandoned in de
spair by all men before our time.
For the rest our history during the year has
not been remarkable, As happens not un-
frequently the savage tribes of our borders
have risen against the hand that fed and pro-
tected them; and one of the young heroes of
the civil war has fallen victim to their mad
fury. The nation has lost, in the person of
Senator Morton, one of its foremost states.
men and most patriotic citizens. But save
these the country has been free from great
calamities. There has been a notable in
crease of material prosperity. A wonderful
harvest has brought wealth to our Golfers, and
the blessing of an honest and stable currency
within our reach. Only the knavery and
madness of dishonest and misguided men in
ooa ts0a'~s
dium Of exchange in use by the rest of the
world.
Abroad a great war has ragged during the
Iarger part of the year. and the old quarrel Of
the Russian and the Turk is being fought out
to the end. The downfall of the Ottoman
empire seems close at hand. Among other
blessings which the new year may bring is the
expulsion of the Turks from Europe, and the
establishment OF Christian States In the lands
of the Bulgarian Kingdom and the Byzan-
tine empire. The only other event of great
note in European politics is the growing
strength of republican government in France.
Absolutist and military chiefs have received
a warning rebuke which will deter them for
many years from attempts against the peace
of the State, and the French people have de-
veloped capacity for self government which
is pleasure and surprise to the lovers of free
dom throughout the world.
On the whole the Old Year has not used us
i'll. Let us hope that the bounty of the New
will be even greater, and its chastisements less
frequent and severe.