New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-12-31
THE YEAR.
quarters.

not been period of unbrOken peace thcre mas
been neither campaign nor expedition tending
TO make discord in Europe. There have been
bostilities only in remote quarters OF the world
Inhabited by savage races. CetewayO has been
defeated by hostile tribes the False Prophets
fanatical horde has crushed the khedlves tmOr-
GUS and ill-disciplined regiments in the White
Nile country and the IIovas and the Tonqulnese
have offered resistance to the ambitious prof.
Gets of the French in Madagascar and on the
Chinese frontier These hOstilities have not
excited jealousy among the European Powers
and are of secondary importance. Notwith-
standing the recklessness with which the Ferry
Ministry have cOurted a campaign with China,
there has been no suspension of relations and
there is q strong probability that war will be
ayerted. While the military establishments are
maintained on the same scale, European dip
lomacy is becoming more pacific III Its ten
denotes. The Interior effect of the combination
between Germany and Austria Hungary, into
which Italy has been admitted, is to render war
on the part of France or Russia impracticable
and in this way to prolong the general arm
istice. A year of tranquility and profound
peace cannot be anything but positive gam to
civilization.
To peace has been added fair measure of
prosperity There has been no failure of the
harvest either in Europe or in America. Even
Ireland has been highly favored in this respect
and throughout the world an impulse has been
given to commercial and industrial enterprise.
The Governments have prOlitcd by good crops
and easy times. In the United States there has
been large reduction Of the National debt and
the best mode Of dspOsng of the surplus rev.
cnue has become question of the first lmpor-
lance. In Great Britain the revenue returns
disclose increased elasticity and the financial
condition of India is not wOIse than it has BEEN
In Germany there has been n gradual develop
ment of home industries under the protective
system. Italy has resumed specie payments
without difficulty and has acquired increased
financial stability. There are signs of impro re-
ment in Russian and Spanish finance; and if
France is an exception to the rule, the embar-
easements of its treasury are attributable to
rccklessness and extravaganza. TO these in
dcations of prosperity arc added substantial
gains in legislation. In the United States a
serious attempt has been made to counterfeit
the evils of the Civil Service and Congress has
disposed of vast amount of necessary work in
the course of short session, revising the tariff,
reducing taxation and postage, and ailording
| the country remarkable display of legislative
| industry. In Great Britain likewise there has
| been n most active session of Parliament and
many wholesome measures have been enacted,
so that even the indefatigable Premier is satisfied
with the results. Neither the French nor the
Italian legislators have been idle, and in Ger
many the Falk Code of repression and intol-
erance has been repealed. Governments,
moreover, have received less caDriciOus and
more loyal support, the improvement in France
and Italy being noticeable Even in Russia,
where there Is no Parliament, there has been
progress in Government, for the ccremOnials Of
the Coronation evoked an unmistakablo dem
onstration of public sentiment in favor of the
Car. In Ireland, too, where the supremacy of
public law was menaced by assassins, criminal
agencies have been steadily repressed.
While the retrospect reveals many salient
features of progress in pacific tendencies, gen
eral prosperity and methods of legislation and
administration, 1888 has not been regarded as
a good year. From the outset it has had a bad
reputation. 1t has been year of universal dis
trust and apprehension. Business men in the
United States have plOdded or staggered along
from month to month, oppressed with the haunt
ing thought that panic was impending They
have been over cautious and unduly suspicious
and have passed the year fighting shadows. In
England the public offices have been constantly
garlisoned and the Ministers of the Crown have
been protected by body-guards Of detectives.
In France there has been pitiable lack of civic
courage, Ministers, Deputies and people re-
peatedly losing their self-possession and secretly
dreading the collapse of their political system
Even the practical German Chancellor has been
unable to convince himself that he has taken
sufficient precautions against France, but has
busted himself with new diplomatic man1uvres
and combinations. In Russia the Car could
not be crowned until all the Nihlist suspects
in the prisons had been mercilessly tried and
sentenced. Each Nation in its own way has
been cOnjuring with its morbid fances and tor
menting itself with unreasonable fears and fore
holdings. The English and the Egyptians have
looked for the appearance of the False Prophet
at Khartoum and Cairo; the British in India
have made the Ibert bill the ground of fierce
agitation and even in Australia tho chances of
foreign aggression are magnfed. Everywhere
there is the same element of distrust and suspi-
ciousness. Everywhere there is nervous trepida-
ton without adequate cause.
Then there have been other dsquieting
elements besides morbid apprehensiyeness.
There has been long series of narrowing
calamities in various quarters of the world.
There have been foundations and cyclones;
terrible shipwrecks and ship-launches; panics
in burning hotels circuses, schools, theatres,
and bridges an outbreak of cholera; earth
quakes and volcanic eruptions of extraordinary
magnitude. Nations and races have, moreover,