New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-01-01
1881.

| out in the perspective of the old year. One Is
hidcOus ana portentous casting a shadow
| across the open gateway OF the future. Ihe
other is benignant, shedding a gracious eildl-
gence over the dull levels of AnglO-SaXon
civilization. These commanding facts are
the assassinations in two capitals and the
revision of the New Testament. The
asSassnatlOns have occurred in opposite quar-
tS.fs Of the worlds horizon under the most
conflicting conditions of political progress.
| Long before his reign was cut short
all the "uses" of reform had grown
d" stale, flat and Improbable 10 Alex
ander H., yet in view of the GROWING
achievements of his reign--emm cipaton and
agrarian revolution--he must be regarded as
the highest type of Russian autouqcy; and,
ccltainly in sef-development, civic virtue, in
| tellectual vigor, practical sagacity an' moral
! consciousness, James Abram Garfield was
thoroughly equipped for public seryice-waS,
in fact, the ideal American President. Yet
| despOtic Car and the liberty-l0ylng,
| law-abdng President of free and
| progressive republic have shared the
| ignobe fate of assassination. The right of the
| Almighty to dispose of the lives of rulers and
the destnes of nations has been usurpcd by
creatures of the earth-black flies buzzing un-
der the chariot wheels of State. The Mill
lists have pronounced judgment and executed
their decree in the fanaticism of unbelief and
in a frenzy of revolutionary despair. Their
lideOus crime is peculiarly national, being the
outcome of a corrupt church and political des-
pOtIsm. Yet Guiteau, acting from sheer ma
levOlcnCe and the wantOnncsS OF dcpravcd
partisanship, was as proud of his work as the
NiEulists were of theirs, and moreover, by
descent, birth and training was as tuli-blooded
an American as they were Russians.
Passing now to a brighter topic, tins has been
year of Bible study, well as OF assassination.
The translation of the New Testament has been
brought to a close after nearly eleven years of
critical study and the English-speaking world
has had the best text presented to it as
nearly as possible in its true meaning, so
far as the original Greek was concerned. The
work has represented the best scholarship of
the day, and may be looked upon as the most
conspicuous achievement of modern textual
criticism. Enormous editions of it have been
sold, and unquestonably a powerful impulse
has been given to Biblical study. But has the
outcome been commensurate with the eXpecta-
tons excited in religious circles We fear
easily When the world found out that the
Revised Version had not touched the fund
amental doctrines of Christianity, and
that the accepted text was substan-
italy accurate and far more natural and
rhythmical it apparently ceased thinking
about it. When King James'S version was
published it converted frivolous nation into
a sedate and serious race of GOd-fearing,
tyranny hating cOlonistS. In this generation
the seed falls on stony ground The Revised
Version does not seem destined to make an
OvermasteTing impression on the AnglO-SaXOn
world. 1t will leave it very much as it found
it.
If we cannot find in tho promise afforded by
Biblical criticism full compensation for the
warning of the assassinatons, we must take
up the parable of political progress as eyinced
in the chronicles of the great nations of the
world. We do not refer necessarily to material
progress. Statistics are oftentmes misleading.
Essential progress is not implied by the fact
that the population of the United Kingdom
exceeds 100000 or that the subjects of the |
Empress of India are increasing ut the rate of |
100000 in a decade, or that an army of |
10000 volunteers can be massed at Windsor |
on a few hours notice; nor, again, by the |
most startling disclosures Of the immigration |
figures at Castle Garden, or the enormous |
weight Of the masses of capital stored in our
own country. Pressure of population, facility |
of military organization and the weight of |
material resources are not of themselves con-
elusive evidence of progress. What is of !
crucial Importance is manly citizenship, pro-
gressve tendencies in administration and par
4
moral consciousness.
What then, does the retrospect of. 1881 |
Weld, besides the portents of assassination and |
the doubtful promise of the Revised Version |
In nearly all the European States general |
elections have been held and the common
movement is in the direction of liberal ideas
ana institutions. In Hungary and Spain, the |
most progressive political organizations have |
been sustained on an appeal to the people. In
Austria the constitutional factions, alarmed by |
the decentralzing tendencies of fantastic
coalition, have suddenly presented united |
front In the Fatherland Bismarck has utterly |
failed in his attempt to crush the
Liberal movement In France Repub-
licanism has met with no internal |
reyerses, albeit it has Haunted its resources
with unbecoming zeal in the Mediterranean.
In England what moral triumphs have been
scored by a statesman who has had the cour-
age to abandon Candahar and to make peace
with victorious rebels in the Transyaal, and
also the unwcaried patience and resolutc will
90 force a great remedial measure through
Parliament in the face OF obstacles seemingly
And is it "a small matter that
the American people have passed through the
fiery trials of faction and assassination without
losing their self-control or their faith in the
permanencc of their institutional Viewed by
the highest standard, it has been thoroughly