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the 21 st of this month ; so that , even weather permitting , the ships would not make any demonstration off , not to say on , Sevastopol before the middle of January . La Presse states , on the authority of a private letter from oneof the ships of the Anglo-French squadron , that the demandi of the Porte that the fleets should enter the Black Sea was refused , because tTie feet destroyed at Sinope was under orders to convey munitions to Circassia , and to excite Russian subjects to revolt . Is this credible ? Meanwhile , the
indefatigable impotence of diplomacy appears not even yet to hare exhausted all attempts to make things comfortable for Russia , and to avenge- Sinope by an armistice , if not a pacification . We believe , however , that events will be too strong and too swift for words ; and it may , perhaps , be found comfortable for our Ministry to meet Parliament on the last day of January with a more striking vindication than any note or protocol . Admiral Dundas may supply a brief and telling paragraph to the Queen ' s speech .
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It is stated that Dr . Bowring will succeed Sir George Bonham as Governor of Hongkong .
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The weather , so frosty yesterday morning at daybreak , rapidly relaxed soon after , and by ten o ' clock there was a south wind and a sudden thaw ! The skaters looked with dismay upon the rapidly dissolving ice ; when , lo ! about noon another change , the wind in tlie north once more , and the slushy streets and thawing snows grew hard again . What will it be to-day ?
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THE OPENING YEAR AND OPENING WAR . Tiik beginning of the year 1854 presents in some respects a parallel , in others a contrast , to tho beginning of 1853 . In January last tho condition of the country was not only prosperous , but it had been so , and it continued to be so . We began the year with a rising revenue , notwithstanding the reduction of the sugar duties and the commutation of the window-tux , with Consols at p .-ir , and 22 , 000 , 000 ^ . in the Bank of England , with exports showing a progressive increase during the previous
year over the year before it , and with everything promising a continuance of prosperity , save only in one momentous point , ; the weather hud been wet , and the hopes of a , change to rescue the crops were disappointed by a continuance of weather in which cold alternated with dump , and the gloomy sky ol January , 1 8 /> , % finds its natural fruit in the dear bread of January , 1 M 4 .
It was expected that the prosperity would continue , and it did continue , and lias continued , notwithstanding sonic further disappointments . The cotton trade appeared to have got well over the disturbances brought forward by / also reports of a short cotton crop in America ., when there was a redundant crop ; but the export trade had been stretched to a point which forbade further
expansion . While the exports have enormously increased , the price per piece has greatly diminished . The enormous emigration , progressively increasing upon an average of 300 , 000 a year , was kept up . The continued imports of gold from America and Australia stimulated trade , which was further stimulated by the demands of Australia and America upon our manufactures , especially in iron . Other trades followed the prosperity of the great staples ; building has increased immensely , not only in London , but even in secondary and third rate towns , and wages rose almost in all trades . The demand for a rise , however , was resisted in
Stockport , and , though ultimately yielded there , it has been partially resisted in Manchester , and wholly in the district in which Preston is a centre ; and thus it happens that we have the continued strike in Lancashire . The woollen trade lias , upon the whole , been steady ; coal and iron , which were flourishing at the commencement , have received a new impulse from the reduction of the import duties in France . The flax trade Is extending in the north of Ireland . The report of the American President of the
universal prosperity . , in the Union , and of reduction of import duties , especially that upon iron , to 25 Instead of 30 per cent ., promises a further impulse to wade ; and thus , notwithstanding the high , price of bread , and sundry new demands upon the poorVlaw , the condition of the country is really sound . l Perhaps at no time after a short crop has the comntry . been really so little distressed as it is now , the poor-rates so little burdened with paupers . Consols , indeed , are not at par , but they are at 94 ^ , have been again above 95 , and are now oscillating about the level of 94 . The speculators
have used immense exertions twice over to create panics and bring Consols down ; they succeeded in reducing them below 90 , but scarcely for a moment . Notwithstanding the adverse prospects abroad , such is the soundr . tateoftra . de , and such the substantial confidence in Government , Consols continue comparatively high ia price , with , a perfectly firm market . The clearness of bread was expected ; if the check in the cotton was not quite so much expected , it can be accounted for on causes not peculiar to the year , and general prosperity can be accounted for on still broader causes . Our
expectation has been justified by its continuance , and on the same grounds we look forward with confidence to the year now opening . Politically there has been a very serious change . As at the end of 1852 , so at the end of 1853 , we have had a Ministerial ciisis . The Derby and Disraeli Cabinet broke up , and Lord Aberdeen induced the leading men of all parts to unite in forming a national Cabinet , conservative so far as discretion went , but liberal so far as it accepted the opinions of the community at large , and the
duty of accomplishing deliberately sanctioned improvements . The main function of the Cabinet was to restore that confidence in the Executive which had been shaken by the inconipctency and Inconsequence , r . nd detected corruption of the previous Cabinet .: that purpose was answered . Lord John , however , thought himself bound to introduce a Reform Bill , and this brought to a point the difference between Lord Palmerston
and his colleagues , which appears to have turned mainly on the conduct of affairs in the East . Lord Palmerston resigned his office on the 15 th December , he fulfilled the expectation of many by " continuing" in his oflico on the 24 th . The Cabinet is re-united , no longer for the purpose of establishing confidence in the Kxccutive among the English people , but for the purpose of maintaining in Europe the presence ; of a united Government and a united nation .
-That necessity is the more urgent from the changed aspect of foreign politics . At the close of 1852 , there was some very slight shadow of doubt as to the state of our relations with France ;; we nave within tho lust few days drawn closer the firm alliance Avliieh has subsisted between the two countries : lmt , \ j ( m { Pnlmorston ' s continuance
m ofiice is understood lo indicate that the ( Joverninonl ; adop ( n u , very energetic policy in defending Turkey ngninsffUust-iia . The semi-Ministerial Touch has declared that u we are entering upon a state of war . " Russia is collecting new means of aggrewion from the extreme south to the extreme north , instituting Persia to disturb our frontiers in India , and commanding Sweden
to close her ports against us in the north jt * not to be supposed , however , that our awn G W vernmerit has been idle ; it is evident that th have sought an alliance for us in Europe , amon f those states which , incline to . ' a constitute i freedom . The people of England and AmeS are daily learning better to understand the com mon interest , winch they have in accepting th duty of being the Champions of Freedom for the worldOur coloniesfroAustralia
. , m to Norfh America , have received the last -gifts ' -of s If government ; the West Indies are ¦ . offered th same , with pecuniary assistance for Jamaica ^ and , should our Ministers adopt a rpni „ ' tional policy , there is every reason to sunt > oso that they will enter upon the contest which awaits them with the support of a united empire At the beginning of the year 1853 every L would have turned upon the maintenance of peace ; at the beginning of 1854 there is not a
class which does not begin to feel resentment at the forbearance too long sho wn to the commo n enemy . The exchequer is strong to sustain the Government 5 trade is preparing to accommodate itself to a new state of the world for a time and the confidence , even of the timidest class in the country , is shown by the firmness of the quotations on the Stock Exchange . The promise of a declaration of war on the part of our Government is hailed . with-. satisfaction , by the people ; and a hope is dawning that , instead of leaving the extremes , Democracy and Absolutism , to ' . light out
the weary fight ot anarchy on the field of Europe , our Government will unite with its natural allies —whether sovereigns or peoples—to make constitutional law respected , and to release the nations which the insolent leaders of Absolutism , are unjustly holding in thralL
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LORD PALMERSTON AN . QTHE LANCASHIRE STRIKES . The working-classes who are on strike in the North have not yet responded to the challenge which they have received from several quarters ; —they have not yet made good their assertion * that on commercial grounds the masters would be able to pay them ten per cent , more than the current rate in wages . We are well aware that in again calling our friends in the North to this point , we incur the risk of seriously damaging our popularity amongst them : at the same time that , assuredly , the
masters will not consider us to be their organ or friend . But we have quite another , and higher solicitude—to establish the truth , and especially to establish that practical truth upon which alone the working-classes can really stand . We know that after the first fit of impatience at reading our words has passed , many who were irritated for the moment will recognise the friend whose honesty prevents him from flattering ; and even if it were not so , even if the Leader depended on its workingclass readers—which it does not—we would sooner let it go down , a sacrifice to truth , than sustain it at the cost of aiding what we regard a *
delusion . . It is most important ' that the working classes should see with perfect distinctness the actuai state of the ense against them . In order that ¦ tfl £ true merits of their interest may be undcrstoo and appreciated , they ought to see the facts wii the same kind of perfect distinctness with wine " they sec a piece of sculpture—it should stand ou J .., * ,. .. . * .,. . ii __ j- ^ a > limn can hardwith distinct outline that no mm w
, a , so mistake the point about which ho is talking . We have before us three documents , n » which must have obtained much attention n <^ the working-classes : they are , first , a » c * ' j from an address to the " Master Spinners Manufacturers of Preston ; " next , a small P I ' called " The Strike , a letter to the working- * : i ... - tneir inoveiiuiu i
on position and ; . » , « v , v shire Man ; " # and thirdly , Lord ^^ : ^ % ^ J . to the Operatives' executive council at 1 * ''" Now although tliere is much in the Home d ^ tary ' s letter which is indisputable , it 11 Pl - . ' ( Il ( . us , that not one of these documents fully " case . < ir < rH " The Lancashire Man pntfl forward mm V £ l 0 nients to show that the capitalist has ft > fc j n dictate his own terms for admission to w
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M . Visconti , the Imperial architect , who designed the magnificent completion of the Louvre , and of the Hue de Rivoli , and the tomb of Napoleon at the Invalides , and who was the director of all the great public works now in course of execution in Paris , has died suddenly .
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The report of M . Soule ' s death in a duel with the Due d'Alba at Madrid is not confirmed by letters from Madrid of the 23 rd inst .
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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . " Physiology and Phrenology" in our next . J . A . Langfoed ' s Sonnets should have a place , if in our crowded columns place could be found . We have been obliged to decline a great many verses lately from the same cause . Even for verse in type a long while space has been wanting .
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There is nothing so revolutionary , oeeauae there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the 3 train to keep things fixed when all the world i 3 by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Die . Aun ojj ) .
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SATURDAY , DECEMBER 31 , 18 S 3 .
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1258 THE LEADER . [ Saturday .
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* Thin littlo pamphlet is puMMhod by Mr . . lol '" ^ " ^ ju of tho Strniid , and by Meuhm . Johnsoni mm V v 0 | , nvo Munclicstcr . Wo « uy an extract of tho ndclrcsH , j ^ ^^ . only wen llmt jjuksjiko which whh piiMialiMl H 1 tho entire ttateuionUms never been sent to «« -
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 31, 1853, page 1258, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2019/page/10/
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