Earlier text: A YEAR OF EVENTS

Oct. 25. Georgiana Lovering, a young girl outraged and killed at Northwood, N. H., by Franklin B. Evans.

Nov. 18. Ambrose F. O'Neill murdered by J. C. King in New York.

EVENTS, SENSATIONAL AND OTHERWISE.

Dec. 30. News of the Florida matters; the steamer fired into and laid under the guns of the Spanish man-of-war, Vasco Nunez de Balboa.

Jan. 22. Another revolution reported in San Domingo, against Baez, headed by Pimental, which is finally suppressed.

Jan. 24. The proposition to confiscate the property of Napoleon made in the French Assembly and received with derision.

Feb. 25. Publication of the report of the Bribery Committee of the Kansas Legislature, showing gross corruption in the election of Senator Pomeroy and on the part of his opponent, Clark.

March 11. Ejection of Jay Gould from the presidency of the Erie Railroad, which results on Dec. 15, in the surrender by Gould to President Watson of the Erie Company of $9,000,000 worth of property belonging to the road.

April 1. A report (suggestive of the day) of stupendous frauds, amounting to $160,000,000, upon the Government, by revenue officers, distillers and others, 700 being implicated.

May 1 to 29. Session of the Methodist General Conference at Brooklyn, N. Y.; lay delegates admitted for the first time.

June 8. First news of Livingstone's safety.

Aug. 8. Seizure of the Cuban privateer Pioneer at Newport, R. I., by the U. S. cutter Mocasson.

Nov. 22. Culmination of the corner in North-western corn stock, and a general panic in financial circles in New York.

Besides these we have had enacted the farce of investigating the alleged frauds in the New York Custom House, and the whitewashed report thereon; the famous sales of arms investigation in Congressional Committee, resulting in nothing; the settlement of the San Juan boundary question, favorable to the United States, and the final and peaceful settlement by arbitration of the Alabama Claims, by the Geneva Conference, during whose sittings there was so much denunciation of the claim for consequential damages on the part of America by the British Parliament and press, that they were withdrawn by the United States; the agitation of the question of civil service reform, with small results thus far; as well as the consideration and disposal of some other questions of national or international importance, among which is the pending one concerning the Credit Mobilier of America, concerning which Congressmen are striving through a private investigation to create a public impression that they were not bribed by gifts of its stock to vote in favor of the legislation asked for it.

During the year there has been a vast amount of agitation of the labor problem. Conventions have resolved, leagues have talked, societies have striven, and many of the trades have inaugurated strikes. In May, strikes became popular, the demand of the workmen being a recognition of the eight-hour principle. This began in New York, where some 20,000 or more were out at one time, and extended to some degree throughout the country, the demonstrations being most prominent at Boston, Pittsburg, Pa., and Providence, R. I. During the excitement the General Government aided the movement by declaring that all labor on Government works should be on the basis of eight hours a day, whether done directly for the Government or for Government contractors. The labor question has also received considerable attention, and has been the cause of several riots and strikes in the Old World, particularly in Austria, Germany, France and Denmark.

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RAILROAD ACCIDENTS,

during the year, have been a prolific source of newspaper comment. The causes have been as numerous as the accidents themselves, and may be epitomized as follows: Obstructions, malicious or accidental; misplaced switches, broken wheels and broken rails, collisions, boiler explosions and broken bridges. Without particularizing in regard to them we may copy a recapitulation of their number for nine months of the year, omitting those of November and December, which are still fresh in the memory of all, and not seeking to make a complete record:—

No. of Accidents.	Killed.	Injured.
February	21	18
March	27	3
April	22	13
May	27	9
June	44	63
July	31	35
August	53	14
September	71	24
October	90	29
Totals	386	208

AMERICAN POLITICS.

The presidential campaign, which has been the central feature of the political history of the year, exercised a controlling influence upon the events which preceded it, and the abortive attempts at investigating charges of corruption and malfeasance were as truly designed to affect the coming elections as was the course of the majority in stifling them at birth or shutting their eyes to the unpleasant disclosures which were made.

The first elections of the year, those in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island, all resulted in victories for the Administration party after warm contests. It became evident at an early day that the renomination of Gen. Grant was certain, and also that a number of the ablest and most respected leaders of the Republican party would not support him—the strength of their adherents remaining an unknown quantity. The two great parties called their conventions, paying no heed to the action of the so-called Temperance and Labor Reform parties, each put tickets into the field at an early day, but failed to make their influence felt in the slightest appreciable degree, or to obtain a single electoral vote. Another convention, called by the Liberal republicans of Missouri was, however, the object of great interest from the ability and character of those interested, the unaccustomed course of their action and the doubt felt as to its possible effect on the other parties. It assembled at Cincinnati on the 1st of May. On the next day a permanent organization was effected with Carl Schurz as President, and on the third day a platform and address were reported and adopted. Then the balloting for President, before. On the first, Charles Francis Adams led, followed in order by Horace Greeley, Lyman Trumbull B. Gratz Brown, David Davis and Andrew G. Curtin. On the second, Brown and Curtin were withdrawn, but Adams led until the sixth, which gave Greeley a slight preponderance, upon which State after State went over to him and he was unanimously nominated. On the second ballot for Vice-President Gov. B. Gratz Brown of Missouri was nominated, and the convention then adjourned. Its action did not give satisfaction to a portion of those interested in the movement and after unsuccessful attempts to get a candidate of their own they gave their support to Gen. Grant.

The Republican convention met at Philadelphia on the 5th of June, and after adopting a platform intended to contain a bid for the support of every class of voters, no matter how diverse their opinions and sympathies, and renominating Gen. Grant, selected Henry Wilson for the second place on his ticket, instead of the willing Mr. Colfax, who withdrew his numerous declinations to be a candidate only to find the convention could get along without him.

The public now waited the action of the Democracy. From day to day the movement for accepting the Cincinnati nominees gained strength, and when the day came there was no doubt that a large majority of the party favored the course. The convention, although resistance was made, yielded to the will of the constituents and nominated Mr. Greeley on the first ballot, by a vote of 686 to 38 for all others, and Gov. Brown with like unanimity. Squarely placing itself on the broad and liberal platform of the Liberals Republicans it cut clear from the obstructive policy which had been its ruin, and set out on a new career. Certain members of the old party, some unwilling to give up its name and traditions, and others eager for the notoriety to be gained, called a new convention, which met at Louisville, Ky., Sept. 3, and put Charles O'Connor and John Quincy Adams in nomination. For the next month the contest was warmly waged. The unexpected reverses in Vermont and Maine did not dishearten the Liberals, but the October elections showed the great central States to be lost to the coalition, hope was abandoned and the defeat became a rout. The incidents of the campaign, its scandals and slanders, its fabrications and follies, are still fresh in our minds, and need no recounting. Of the electoral votes, Gen. Grant received five-sixths. The death of Mr. Greeley between the day of election and that on which the electors cast their votes compelled his supporters to divide their ballots, the larger majority being thrown for Thos A Hendricks of Indiana, and the remainder being divided between B. Gratz Brown, C. J. Jenkins of Georgia and David Davis.

Beyond the presidential campaign and its issues the political history of the country for the year will be chiefly marked by the disgraceful condition into which unscrupulous and corrupt State officials on the one side, and reckless Federal appointees on the other, have been allowed to place the State of Louisiana—a condition without precedent and long to remain, let us hope, without parallel.

ENGLAND.

In England the year has been comparatively uneventful. The dangerous illness of the Prince of Wales, from which his recovery for a long time seemed doubtful and the grand thanksgiving pageant by which his restoration to health was marked, were, perhaps, the most prominent topics of the early year. The farm laborers' strike for increased wages, the yet unfinished discussion of the new school system, the temporary and probably final overthrow of the pretensions of the Tichborne claimant and by no means stronger term, arising from the adverse decisions in the Alabama and San Juan controversies by the referees, were also fertile subjects of newspaper comment. Parliament was prorogued early in Au- gust, having accomplished nothing of notable interest, unless it be the passage of the ballot bill and the crushing defeat of woman suffrage. The republican agitation, led by Sir Charles Dilke, which was a feature of the spring debates, ended in words. The position of Mr. Gladstone's ministry, the most important change in which has been the accession of Sir Roundell Palmer to the woolsack, is at least as strong as at the beginning of 1872.

FRANCE.

The Government of France, which calls itself, for good reasons, undoubtedly, difficult as they are for us to understand, a Republic, has maintained itself through the year, and seems as reluctant as ever to give up its powers. The venerable Thiers, always on the point of resigning in disgust at the ingratitude of his countrymen, grasps the symbols of power with a firmer hand than ever, and has succeeded, in spite of his numerous conflicts with the Assembly, in keeping the upper hand. Discussions on financial questions, such as would naturally arise from a deficit of eighteen million dollars in the revenue for the first half of the year, have been long and bitter; but the popular loan, offered in the summer, met with an astonishing success. With the outer world the Republic has been at peace, and its critical relations with Germany have been so managed as to avoid any serious difficulty. The process of recovery from the wounds of the great struggle of 1871 is as rapid as could be looked for. That a struggle will sooner or later ensue between the various political factions is not unlikely, but for this year, at any rate, it has been skillfully avoided.

SPAIN.

Spain has been a field for unhappy excitements at different periods throughout the whole year. Amadeus, of the royal house of Savoy, having ascended to the throne, Don Carlos, a descendant of the legitimate rulers of Spain, early in the year entered his protest against the election, and succeeding these there have been numerous uprisings of his followers, which have been suppressed after somewhat well-contested battles. The Carlist insurgents have not, however, been quieted, and although Don Carlos himself has been obliged to flee the country, they are liable to inaugurate another outbreak at any moment.

RUSSIA'S SOUTH-WESTERN MOVEMENT.

Russia has been extending her southern and western borders, so that she will have two good commercial ports and a naval station on the Persian Gulf. This she has done by treaties with Tartar tribes, mostly of a commercial nature. England, alarmed at the prospect of Russia's coming naval power, utters her protest against any conquest in the direction of Affghanistan, but it is hardly possible that she will risk a war for the independence of the latter.

MEXICO.

Mexico is now in a state of comparative quiet, for that country. President Juarez dying early in the year, he was succeeded by Lerdo, then Chief Justice, to whom Dias and the other chiefs who had opposed Juarez gave in their adherence. Since then the country has enjoyed a degree of tranquility, with the exception of a revolutionary movement which was defeated near Matamoras by troops under the command of Cortina.