REVIEW OF THE PAST YEAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1391, 25 April 1865, Page 8

REVIEW OF THE PAST YEAR.

A'k m Time*, Dec. 31.) P ro *l»e"iy hag been added fcttady niatr-rini _ period of English history. f) >' '"oral and social o^ 8 " '* l )ryt,al)l . v accompanied mit .v of politiS.;"P. W¥ «»«jt, and the unlfor°Us by tlie abstncsnf 18 ren ? tre ' 1 more eoaipicuafte J/f ( ' f Personal changes. Lord P»|lnto °«ee. is r8 f ' om hi » entrance hag i a *u«j ' ea( ? ue * whose public )*'' Principal opnonenu ,rtyorfortyy£arß,ando ' W< ' 2 (/,jr >neli and the 0 Z r ,T e !*" lhc antagonist of rt ;s n,fem herg, however r! Ugailantof PeeL Jr 4 wit) 'in the veir T n government hare he never «„ • r , he , Duke of Newca«tle, J ta tfcsrtian, possessed !' l ]' e ,ll « he « t rank as a U " d ""landing and a a ; Sz r c ;r-i ? »*«* courage Non, «f r *, e rflrer ( l«"Uty of f ec °Knis e a tlie e<iua,s more thoroughly ««S,S x 21 Bra " ■"i* l nffi es into at. from converting its adS? ll(ler Mr J{o ert P US i B .' neCUre ' Trai,Uf ' l to SS'"" 1 doctrine. o Vhi' 1,8 P»ed the Drin* t en he afterwinh ; . , mi^ ter '» later career, £¥ 8 a lrnt^-, 11 ' 6 , W,li « hb Of u a U l ' l T «nponrilv ?■ . r - U tl "" ie of hi» <'ri t !lr /I*?,' Bdlted , the iM ur<i to hi. " ca ">Paign, he liviS . (>ar,y P ,irt of the fltati. t s,rfcnuo 'iß exertions ? c '° Ju I " tice rendered 'H (■ r!? • >o ''titiaiiß wflr? and at the of his °[ P a 'li»le, also ZT ™peeted. hirtun higher Knalfoh a a WOf thy representa- *« ,k"**°»>»ia H " ln *«» Stat,. i )ut to attain a m.f. w ' ien 'he party Hi,.}, ha<l no teinStS"?" 1 ascenda ncy in the sitidjj j? re . w ell «uit w it„h i i W . MrftVerln °P' n ' ons life, it [ llrin K the carl; ' J character and dispothy \) |f|| u . Potion of big political I>We in K Z 'Tie hd'f h ° Pe l ° aUtti " m,,s t siicn i URe of Cotm.. I a cr edUable lUust "«>dS (,f ttßoneof the lopular member r ?' aml I,e »»» the e lar ge»t county in

England. Hit character, however, and perhapahii intellect, though graceful and cultivated, were deficient In force. It had been formerly ascertained that hia genial and overflowing courtesy was especially adapted to the temperament of Irishmen, and later expwienco proved that ho waa born to bo a Lord-Lieutenant, A dignified office, without any definite function*, could not havo been more appropriately filled. When the Viet)royalty haa beoomc a mere tradition, it wilt probably be long associated in Ireland with the memory of Lord Carlisle. His yeunger and more active sucecMor, Lord Wodehotm, appears likely to secure the popularity which seems to be the only attainable object of a Lord Lieutenant's Ambition. Ho has the good fortune to find the country alowly recovering from wrcro and long-continued distress. Time and pros • perity may, perhaps, gradually abate the discontent «n«J the propensity to internal discord which still interrupt the social regeneration of Ireland. Emigration has been lately •tiraulated by the great demand for labour in America, and in some degree by

the lawless manrouvre* of Federal agents or speculators. The priests, however, are naturally alarmed i at the decline of the population, and they have also ascertained that the Roman Catholic clergy in the United States for the most part favour the Southern causa The democratic agitators of Dublin resent the backwardness of the priests, but their differences were temporarily laid aside on the occasion of opening a monument which has at last been o ecitd in honour ;of O'Connell. It was, perhaps, natural that the tardy honours which were paid to the great demagogue should be combined with a factious and illegal demonstration. The streets of Dublin were obstructed by the emblems and processions which are dear to certain classes of Irish-

men, principally because they arc offensive to ProtesUuita or to Englishmen. The local Government thought it prudent to connive at the irregularity, and the whole affair would have been speedily forgotten if it had not provoked an untoward reaction at Belfast. A mock funeral procession conveyed an effigy of O'Connell through the Roman Catholic part of the town for the express purpose of provoking an outbreak. The labourers in the docks immediately accepted the challenge and vented their auger on their Protestant neighbours, and the ship carpenters in turn attacked the Roman-Catholic rioters in superior force. The magistrates and the police were inefficient and powerless, and for more than ten days the most prosperous city in Ireland was engaged in a quarrel which might have almost attained the dimensions of a civil war if it had not happily been comparatively bloodless. . . . The domestic annals of Great Britain have been happily monotonous. The single Parliamentary conflict of the Session has been followed during the recess by a tacit political armistice, and Mr. Disraeli himself has only appeared in public to recommend a particular cross in sheep-breeding, and to advocate, perhaps with a view to clerical votes at the approaching election, an undefined scheme of an ecclesiastical tribunal which is to be relieved from inconvenient restraints of positive law and judicial interpretation. The impending dissolution equally explains the recent revival of the agitation for Parliamentary Reform. Some of the supporters of the movement urge the large constituencies once more to exact on the hustings the pledges which were too readily given in 1859, to be violated «r evaded when in the following years tbejr were found incompatible I with the conscientious convictions of the House of | Commons. Other active Reformers astutely propose j to apply the question to the Liberal party while the I dreaded agonies of a canvas or a contest furnish ini struments of coercion. It is not improbable that in the next Session Mr. Baines and Mr. Locke King may largely add to the number of their professed adherents ; but in the course of five or six years reflection and observation have greatly modified the indolent acquiescence of politicians in proposals for virtually disfranchising the upper and middle classes of the community. Any Reformer who can devise a plan for admitting superior mechanics and operatives without swamping the present constituent body will deserve universal support and gratitude. Whatever may be the future fortunes of the reforming party, the present renewal of the controversy is merely occasional and factious. Public attention has been more strongly attracted by the progress and by the occa- j sional vicissitudes'of commercial prosperity. The exports and imports of the year have been unequalled in pecuniary value, and after a due correction of the j returns to allow for the dearness of cotton in a raw ; or manufactured state, the quantities are satisfactorily large. The revenue still answers with unwearied elasticity to each successive removal of fiscal pressure. The mills of Lancashire are once more at work, although the distress in the district has not been wholly removed. Farmers have profited by another harvest of more than average quality and quantity, and the difficulty in providing winter fodder, which must be the consequence of an unusual drought, will, to a certain extent, find compensation in the high prices which unfortunately prevail. Considerable uneasiness prevailed during the autumn in consequence of numerous commercial failures, but the alarm, which had never degenerated into a panic, appears already to have subsided. A rate of interest exceeding seven per cent, was maintained for four months by the wise caution of the Bank of England and of other great moneyed establishments. The soundness of the modern s'ystem or practice of the money-market was conclusively proved, and English traders are now only amused or astonished when foreign theorists propound the obsolete heresies of artificial capital and unlimited credit.