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Leader (1850-1860), 24th December 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 17

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      Fro. 457, December 24, 1858q The Leabeb....

      fro . 457 , December 24 , 1858 Q THE LEABEB . 1417

      Notices To Correspondents. No Notice Can...

      NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . No notice can be' taken of anonymous correspondence-Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by J / he name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for" publication , but as a guarantee of his good faith-It-is impossible to acknowledge the mass or letters we receive . Their insertion is-often delayed , owing to a pr esa of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the ; merits of the communication . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .

      Office, No- 18, Catherine-Street, Strand...

      OFFICE , NO- 18 , CATHERINE-STREET , STRAND , W . C ., The commodious premises formerly occupied by-the Morning Herald .

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      IB * C

      ^—' V / — ¦ " » ' Friday, Decembek 24, 1...

      ^— ' V / — ¦ " » ' FRIDAY , DECEMBEK 24 , 1858 .

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      I & ixhlit Mara .

      There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...

      There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dii . Arnold .

      Our Christmas Bells. There Are Few Of Us...

      OUR CHRISTMAS BELLS . There are few of us but can reckon among our acquaintance some persons of advanced age , continually ready to tell us that the seasons arc not similar to those which they remember in the days when they were young . Then , they say , the month of May was indeed merry , March always came in like a lion and went out like a lamb , April was all smiles and tears , August was golden , October ruddy , November one continuous fog ; and there was always plenty of frost and plenty of snow at Christmas . Making allowances for the very different medium through which persons advanced in life

      regard an age which seems in almost everything changed to them , it must be acknowledged , even by those who have attained middle age , that the " seasonable" inclemency of Christmas has been , frequently wanting during these latter years , and that it is now a thing more of conventional representation than of actual occurrence . The woodcuts of our illustrated journals , and the openings of pur pantomimes , show us " Old Father Christmas" arrayed in all the panoply of a snow- 'broidered mantle and a beard hung with icicles ; the booksellers load our library tables with gorgeously-bound volumes , the letter-press all a propos of Christmas , and telling us of " yule logs , " bowls of " lambswool , " with crabs bobbing up and down therein , " bringing home the holly , " carol-singing in the snow , snow-balling ,

      skating , arid such wintry festivities . These are , for the most part , harmless hut vain imaginings , fitter for Hone ' s Year Book than for the record of the expiring days of eighteen hundred and fifty-eight . Christmas we havo with us , ever thanks to its Divine fcmnder . It is the same Christmas that we were wont to celebrate , the logs blazing in the grate , and the snowvflakes blinding the window-panes that the colonist at Hong-Kong or Melbourne keeps under a blue sk y and a hot sun ; keeps among vcrduro and flowers ; keeps in a straw hat , a white jacket , and pantaloons . But what a rarity is a cold Christmas , in England , now . All the other accessories of the time when there should bo tidings of comfort and joy for all men have come

      to hand . LeadenhaU-markct overflows with stubblefed geese , prize turkeys , and fat capons , plentifully beribboncd . Ohristmas beef enjoys all its blushing honours on the door-jambs of the butchers . In a million households the talk is of plum-pudding and mince-pies . The boys and girls como homo from school for the holidays , shouting and chattering as they pour from crowded railway trains with such a contagious joy and gladness that the faces of the sternest of station-masters expand into broad grins , and moroge porters aro with difficulty restrained from bursting into cheers of three times three . Hampers of country good things , baskets of game cross and reoross each other all over the land , in what Mr . Carlylo would term a Sahara walta of luggage ,, trains . There are Christmas parties , Christmas-trees , blind-man ' s-buff , forfeits ,

      snapdragon , holly and mistletoe wreath every available . part of our- ' walls ; , everything , in fact , appertaining to Christmas , is present , except the cold . Where is it , this December-due frigidity ? Where are the " froaen-out gardeners , " and the boys to knock importunately at the door , to ask if we don't want the snow swept off the step and pavement in front ? The " waits , " indeed , jet disturb us in our matutinal slumbers , but their ministrations are a mockery with the thermometer at its present temperature ; and " Old Father Christmas" is deprived of half his jollity when he is compelled to shield his hollycrowned head with an umbrella , pull off his skates ,

      and yield the pas to St . Swithin , with his army of disciples in oil-skin and * spatterdashes , plashing through the mud and the kennel-pool ^ . Yet , for all its unseasonable aspect , who will refuse to take Christmas for granted , and to thank Heaven for it ? The old English peasantry had a beautiful superstition that the sun dances on Easter morning ; our hearts indeed should dance for jap when from the belfries of churches new and old , with a thousand-toned brazen paeans , the Christmas bells proclaim that the happy time has come again . Yes , Christmas is once more among us . What matters it if the ground be half dissolved in

      mud or bound in icy fetters ? The bells can ring , their sounds can reach our inmost spirit , whether they permeate dully through the fogs or are ringing out " Wild Bells across the snow , " sharply clanging through the icy air . It is a very gOod ana pious custom to ring the Bells at Christmas ; and their voices are very , eloquent and full of kindly lessons to all who listen to their chimes aright . They ring remembrance of all the happy things that should be associated with Christmas Faith—the cheerful , hoping faith in that Promise which Infinite Wisdom and Mercy keeps before us , brilliant but steady : the rainbow of the soul , the eternal reflex of the star in the East which

      the Shepherds saw in the plain before Bethlehem . Love—the kindness and affectionate forbearance , the meekness , and merciful long suffering , that gilded every moment of the Great Exemplar ' s life . Faith , and'Hope , and Love , do the Christmas Bells say nothing more ? They do indeed , if we will but tune our ears for the resonance to strike the chords of hearing fitly . They tell us of charity—they enjoin charity—they remind us that the anniversary of the Great Sacrifice of Unselfishness is the season for us humbly to walk by its example , by charity , not only in thought , forgiving our enemies , surrendering our hatreds , atoning for our evil thoughts ,

      but charity in deed , material charity , charity to those who have au equal need and right to our help . Remember the poor and needy , the Bells should cry to every human heart . Remember the Soup Kitchens in want of funds . Remember the Coal Clubs . Remember the Poor-Boxes at the Police Courts , and the Blanket distribution societies . Haply for the very poor the mildness of the season mitigates in some degree the horrors of Christmas without food or fueI , Tnit a dozen hours may cause such a change in the temperature that thousands

      may perish for want of that positive Black Bread of the poor , Coal . Sir Robert Walter Carden , ex-Lord Mayor , wishes for penal enactments against those who stop a beggar in the street and give him sixpence . Those who listen to the Christmas Bells in a good spirit have never heard a prohibition against open handto-hand charity , not indiscriminate but discriminating ; giving every rational being credit for possessing the perception enabling him to distinguish between a enso of absolute distress and an impostor . But then the ox-Lord Mayor may hear the bells

      with very different ears to his fellows . . Mayors havo odd ears , sometimes . So had Midas . But the Christmas Bells will ring charity into men ' s hearts for centuries and centuries to come , we hope , in spite of all the mayors and Midascs in donkey dom .

      President Buchanan On Foreign Affairs, T...

      PRESIDENT BUCHANAN ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS , The United States arc at peace with all the world , excepting with reforenco to one limited portion of this great globe , and that a very long wav off from England . The- President ' s Message lias veen oritioiscd in this country , as a matter or course , because it is the stated rule to criticise the Message of the President , and commonly in a hostile sense . In former documents , within ,,, our recollection , the oritio at least found matter for discussion in the turgid style and pretension of the writer ; but the

      present Message is invulnerable , at least on that score — nothing more clear , unpretending , and solid has ever been laid before the public , at least in its style . Mr . Buchanan has been as sailed by English , writers for asserting once more the Monroe doctrine . But ^ although , we may find an allusion to that independent and dignified President , we fail to discover any assertion of the principle which , is so disliked on this side of the Atlantic—the dogma , that the Republicans confederated around the central district of Columbia are to possess the whole of the New World , while the old fogies of the human creation may be left to contend with the Old .

      Nothing of the sort will be found in . the Message of James Buchanan any more than it will in the letters of WashingtoQj or the writings of Jefferson . The President again has been severely condemned for putting forward pretensions to the acquisition of Cuba . But here again , while he professes distinct opinions which are shared by the greater number of his countrymen respecting the advantages that would accrue in reference to a new disposal of that island , lie distinctly disavows any violent course of action , places the grounds of his reasoning before the world , and has been equally consistent in his conduct and his representations . We shall , however , understand the position of the American Government much , better , if we keep our eye strongly

      fixed upon the map . America has no quarrel in Europe . There are still questions with England . The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty remains in its position of unfulfilment on both sides—England reluctant to give it up > and yet incapable of enforcing its stipulations . But upon what substantial ground does the difference of opinion rest ? It is the construction of a treaty regulating the relations of Great Britain and the United States jointly and severally towards what are called the Five States of Central America . The

      dispute originated , as everybody knows , in an untenable attempt by this country to attain possession of certain islands lyingoff the coast of Honduras . We , some time since , established ourselves on the coast of Spanish Honduras as squatters or trespassers for the purpose of cutting mahogany . Our power enabled us to make good our position ,, still as intruders , but we never succeeded in establishing any kind of sovereign rights . It is impossible , therefore , to plead the authority of public law if we were tp claim any island lying off that portion of the territory whicn we actually occupy , for such a claim could only be recognised as involved in a sovereign authority

      which we do not possess . But the islands , of which Ruatan is the principal , lie off that portion of the bay on which our squatting is situated ; they lie on the other side of the bay . In fact , after the islands were seized the British Government perceived that the claim was untenable , abandoned it , and authorised Sir Henry Bulwer to enter into the treaty with Mr . Clayton . It is needless to go into the complications which have been introduced into the subject by the several patronising preferences which have been given to certain of the Central American States- —by England to one , by the United States to another . For our present purpose ,

      all we have to observe is , that the sole misunderstanding between Great Britain , and the United States turns upon the construction of a treaty originating in the dispute about territories in which we liave no concern , the territories being of small value , and situated in that neck of land which unites the two continents of America . Our Government has given up the claim to search American vessels in order to ascertain the nationality of the flag , and really there remains no seripus question between us , unless our Foreign-office should revive new questions about the flag , except that idle , tedious , and altogether fictitiously got up dispute about the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty , With another European state President

      Buchanan has more serious differences . But again tue substantial matter in dispute lies on the west side of the Atlantic . There are several subjects of di &~ puto with Spain , but the principal consists in the refusal of Queen Isabella ' s Government to sottla the long standing Cuban claims . In 1844 , duties were levied upon American ships contrary to the stipulations between the two countries . The Amoripan Government 'has persevered m demandina justice for fourteen years . At last the bpanisii Government has yielded ; but , instead of offering satisfaction , it consents to pay a sum just short o { 4 , 3 000 dollars—oner , tlnrdfc of the sum claimed ; and with ft curious mixture , of prido and meanness , it avows that this , concession is made not in deference

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 24, 1858, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24121858/page/17/