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They will require to have the insinuation contradicted that the Consort of the Queen has attended the conference of Cabinet Ministers -with , the Sovereign . They will require , in short , to be assured that Coburg objects have not embarrassed the actions of the responsible public servants of England . For explanations on these points they will not look to the Sovereign , who can do no wrong ; but to the Ministers , who are answerable , with their credit and with their heads , for a
faithful performance of the duties with which they are entrusted , by the people as well as the Sovereign . The declaration of war by Persia against Eng - land is of no great importance in itself . It will , probably , oblige our Government to send a force to take possession of some Persian ports , in order to teach the Shah his place ; but ths chief importance of the preposterous act on the part ot that Sovereign is in disclosing the extent to which Russian intrigues have gone . We have already mentioned our belief that some of these branching
encroachments of Russia are intended to divert this country , and to alarm our too sensitive people at the prospect of engaging with so destructive and all-grappling a kraken ; but probably the power of Russia will prove to be as fictitious as that monster of the deep ; and we have signs already that the giant is labouring under internal disease . A state of siege has been declared in the Cx-imea and Bessarabia . Why ? Because there was a tendency to insurrection in these provinces , in sympathy with Turkey . Jfor is Bessarabia the only part of Russia that is doubtful . Prince Paskiewich will not advise the
withdrawal of troops from Poland , for fear of consequences . In short , there is reason to suppose that the great Goliah of the North is in a consumption . On the field of Europe nothing more interesting has occurred than the opening of the church of the Waldenses at Turin ; nor is that incident the only mark of the growth of public freedom , religious as well as political , in the sole
constitutional state of Italy . Correspondents mention the freedom of the people in Genoa , and the circulation of Bibles from Nice . In short , Sardinia is rapidly moving towards a truly English state of constitutional freedom . There are parts of Europe upon which this country may rely for sympathy and co-operation , not only on the score of parchment treaty-bond , but on the score of genuine feeling and common objects .
At home , independently of the muffled Ministerial crisis , there is nothing more important than the meeting at Birmingham for the reformation of juvenile offenders , and Lord Ashburton ' s proposal to encourage the teaching of common things to the uneducated classes . Lord A . slibur ton ' s proposal is truly practical , and it evidently will be carried out . That is to say , instead of teaching only reading , writing , and arithmetic , which the sanctimonious have truly said is not education , Lord Ashburton ' s proposition is to teach the people the Avay of life—household duties
—pra ctical science in the humblest sciihc of the word . If the same common sense could be taught to some of the classes called educated , it would extend the benefit ; , and would perhaps facilitate not only the teaching of common things to common people , but also such improvements as tho idea of teaching boys and . girls the way they should go , instead of sending them to prison to learn tho way they should not go ; our practice heretofore . But , again , thin reform will bo accomplished ; the character and tho jiHseniblagci at Birmingham confirm
tho ( supposition . Another reform is intended by the judgment in the ca . NO of the J ' Jinjmror . steamer at the Edinburgh Court of Session . The . ICmpcror wns a pleasureboat plying on tho Clyde ; a , certain party had engaged it for Sunday excursions ; they landed at si ' pier belonging to , Sir James CoUuihoun , near the Garoloeh ; Sir Jiunea is n Sabbath observer ,
and he prohibited them from landing ; they still landed ; he put up barriers ; they broke down his barriers , vanquished his servants , and still went to the Gareloch ; on which he took them into court . If you build a-public pier , said the Lord . Justice Clerk to Sir James ,- and take revenues from it , you cannot claim a better position for your pier
than for all p ublic piers j and there is no law in Scotland to prevent travelling on the Sunday by river , highway , or public pier . When the- Scotch know that there is no law to force them to stop at home ,- they will begin to feel a less cowardly dread of tire " meenister" who tells them they must stop at home or in kirk .
London is suffering from a permanent siege on its eastern frontier ; and the enemy , only visible when he assumes the shape and substasceof a fog , inflicts deadly injuries upon our health . In plain Iano-ua ^ e , there is a vast district on both banks of the Thames , undrained , pestiferous , fog-creating , killing . In Woolwich , numbers die from the effects of this malaria . Some time ago Sir Cullen
Eardley called attention to the subject , held a meeting , appointed a committee ; and that committee has now published a satisfactory report showing how the evil may be got rid of by selfremunerating drainage . We presume that Government will aid , at least not obstruct , the movement , which , it is truly said , will contribute to the moral health as well as the physical comfort of multitudes . The elections of Common Councilmen and
wardofficers furnished the opportunity for eliciting in the several wards of London a very general declaration in favour of the Royal Commission , and the strong feeling in favour of thorough reform ; retaining the municipal institution to develop it into real self-government of the people . It is satisfactory to see how this idea of self-government is gaining ground through the whole body of the community . We do not await the Reform Bill of Lord John Russell with much interest ; but we do await the revival , in more active times , of the organic life which ought to reside in the people of England .
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THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE . The Canada steam-ship , which left Boston on the 7 th instant , and reached the Mersey on Sunday night , was the bearer of the President ' s Message . As the first document of the kind issued by Franklin Pierce , it has attracted more attention than usual j and although not a startling production , like the inaugural speech , it possesses the business-liko qualities of modesty , brevity , and decision . We proceed to lay before our readers such parts of the text entire as will interest them , and the other portions abridged ; fora short message is still a long document .
In the preliminary paragraphs , General Pierce alludes to the yellow fevor as the drawback upon general prosperity ; recommends trust in God ; and declares his " deepest conviction , that we can place no secure reliance upon any apparent progress if it bo not sustained upon national integrity , resting upon tho great truths aflirmed and illustrated by Divine revelation . " Having disposed of these matters , General l'iercc informs us that foreign relations are littlo changed . There is tho Fisheries question , but that be hopes to settle favourably to America ; thero are questions in Central America , but tho Minister in London is instructed to settle these ; and there is
Sl'AIN AN 1 > CUHA . " Independently of our valuable trndo with Spain , wo have important political relations with her , growing out of our neighbourhood to tho islands of Cuba arid i ' orto ltico . , 1 Jim happy to announce , that oiuco the last Congress no attempt h have boon lmido , by unauthorised expedition . *] within the United States , against either of those colonies . Should any movement Jm manifested within our limits , all tho means at my command will bo vigorously exerted to repress it . Several annoying occurrences have taken placo at Haviuhi , or in t , he vicinity of the " island of Cuba , between our citizens
and tho Spanish authorities . Considering tho proximity of that island to our shores—lying , ns it does , in tho track of trade between Koine of our principal cities—and tho suspicious vigilance with which foreign intercourse-, particularly that , with tho United States , is there guarded , u repetition of such occ . mrencra may well bo apprehended . As no diplomatic intercourse is allowed between our consul at Havana and the ( Jirptain General of Cubit , ready explanations cannot bo made , or prompt redress afforded , where injury lias resulted . All complaint on tho part of our citizens , under the present arrangement , must ' be , in tho first place , presented to this Government , and thon referred to
Spain , Spain again refers it to her local authorities m Cuba for ievastigation , and postpones an answer till she L heard from t ! ioa » authorities . To uvoid these irritating an 1 vaxatious demons , a proposition has been made to provide ft a direct appeal for redress to the Captain General by onr consul ; in bfchalfof our injured fellow-citizens . Hitherto the Government ofSgain has declined to enter into any such arrangement . This Course on her part is deeply regretted fbr , without aome- arrangement of this kind , the good un ' wrstajadinff ; Ijetaveen the two countries may be exposed to occasional tafcerruption . Our minister at Madrid is j n structed to renew % a jffoposition , and to press it again upon the cansiiftpation of n « r Catholic Majesty's Govern ¦ ¦ '¦¦ ¦¦
¦ mentv . .. - . - . ¦ ; - .. ¦ ¦ -. . , . : "' ** For several j « ar «| Spain h «» been calling the attention of this Government to a-claim for losses by some of her subjects in the case of the schooner' Amistacti This claim is believed to rest on the obligations imposed by our existing treaty with that country . Its iusties was admitted , in our diplo . matic correspondence with tho Spanish Government , as early as March , 1817 ; and one of my predecessors , in his annual Message of-that ' year , recommended that provision should b ° made for its payment . In January . last it was again submitted to Congress by the executive . It has received a favourable consideration by committees of both branches but as yet there has been no final action upon it . I conceive that good faith requires its prom . pt , adjustment , and I present it to your early and favourable consideration . "
General Pierce announces his approval of the act of Captain Ingraham in the harbour of Smyrna , and the arrival of the Hungarian Koszta in the United States ; and he declares that he will carry out and enforce the principles and policy laid down in the despatch of Secretary Marcy to the Austrian Government upon all proper occasions . "With regard to Brazil , negotiations are in progress to throw open the navigationof ' the Amazon . There are questions in dispute with Mexico ; among others , a boundary question . The new Minister to China is instructed to extend the commercial relations of the United States in that quarter . Nothing is known of the intentions of the Emperor of Japan with regard to free trade .
We now come to home affairs , which are varied and full of interest . "We are thus not only at . peace with all foreign countries , but , in regard to political affairs , are exempt from any cause of serious disquietude in our domestic relations . " The controversies , whiclxhavo agitated , the country heretofore , are passing away with the causes which produced them and the passions which they had awakened : or , if any trace of them remains , it may be reasonably hoped that it will only be perceived in the zealous , rivalry of all good citizens to testify their respect for the ri g hts of the States , their devotion to the union , and their common determination that each one of the states , its institutions , its welfare , and its domestic peace shall be held alike secure under the . sacred aegis of the constitution .
" This new league of amity and of mutual confidence and support into which the people , of the republic have , entered , happily affords inducement and opportunity for the adoption of a more comprehensive and unembarrassed line- of policy and action , as to the ; great material interests , of the . couiitry , whether regarded in themselvea or in connexion with the powers of the civilised world . " The United States have continued gradually and steadily to expand , through acquisitions of territory , which , how much soever some of them may have been questioned , are now universally seen and admitted to have bet'n wise m policy , just in . character , and a great element in tho advancement of our country , and , with it , of the human _ race , in freedom , in prosperity , and in happiness . The thirteen states have grown to bo thirty-one , with relations Touching , to Europe on tho one side , and on the other to tho distant realms of Asia .
" I am deeply sensible of the immense : responsibility wncli tho present magnitude of the republic , and the diversity and multiplicity of its interests , devolves upon me : tho alleviation of which , so far as relates to the immediate conduct of the public business is , first , in my reliance on the wisdom and patriotism of the two Houses of Congress ; and , second y , in tho directions afforded me by the principles of public polity , affirmed by our fathers of tUo epoch of 1798 , sanctioned , by long experience , and consecrated anew by the overwhelming voice of tho people of the United States . " incurring to thoso principles , which constitute the organic basis of union , wo perceive that , vast as the functionsnwd duties of tho Federal Government , vested in , or entrusted to , is three groat departments , tho leg islative , oxecu ~ tive , and iudieial . vet tho substautivo power , the popu '
force , and the large capacities for social and material uvolopmertt exist in tho respective states , which , nil being themselves well constituted republics , as they preceUeu , » they alone are capable of maintaining and perpetuating American Union . Tho Federal Government has its appropriate lino of action in tho specific and limited powers cw forrud on it by tho constitution , chiefly us to those tinny 11 » which tho states have a . common interest in their y olll r u "' to one another , and to foreign Governments : while- the f , maas of interests which belong to cultivated inc "' , . ; ' ! , - nary business of life , the springs of industry , all the u » sified personal and domestic affairs of society , rest tiCC" | \ upon tJio general reserved powers of the people of the s states . 'A hero is tho effective democracy ot tho nation , thero tho vital essence of its being and fto greatness .
RISVIUNTUIC AND l'UBUO WKU'I . . " Of tho practical consequences which flow from nature of tho Federal Government , tho primary one >» . duty of administering with integrity and fidelity . t" « * Iruut reposed in it bv tho constitution , especially m . { y plication of the public funds , ns drawn by taxation " » people , and appropriated to Bpeoifio objects by y \^ u ^ n llappiiy I have no occasion to suggest any 1 'unc ; il | .. l ' m oot , in tho financial policy of tho Government . Oura iU
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1226 _ THE LEADER . [ Saturday ^
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 24, 1853, page 1226, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2018/page/2/
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