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number of visitors in the period embraced in the accounts , the report states , has been 1 , 384 , 163 , being an- increase of 20 , 000 on the average of the four ^ receding years , and . a marked proof of the favourable estimation in which the Palace is held by the public , as shown by the gatherings of Foresters atnd Odd Fellows surpassing those of the previous year . The exhibitors' department is reported to be making steady progress , and in a sounder co ndition than heretofore . The alterations , improvements , and repairs in the building are most specially referred to in the report , which also alludes to the appropriation of ground for practice by the London Rifle Brigade ; arrangements being also in progress with other metropolitan , The directors to
corps for the same purpose . go on state , that the construction of the Victoria station , and of the line for connecting the West End Bail way thereto , is proceeding rapidl y * and there is every prospect of their being opened early in the coming summer . This direct communication with the centre of the West-end of town cannot fail to cause an important addition to the traffic to the Palace . It will also prove indirectly beneficial , by encouraging building operations in the surrounding districts . The houses which the company are erecting on their property at Dulwich Wood are approaching completion . The report submitted to the last general meeting having been printed before the conclusion of the Handel Festival , only a short general reference to it was then possible ; the favourable full
financial anticipations therein expressed are y borne out . The directors record their sense of the valuable assistance and the cordial co-operation which they received in carrying out the undertaking from the committee of the Sacred Harmonic Society . The great services rendered by Mr . Costa to the festival are also specially referred to . As the Crystal Palace is now fitted up with the most complete and extensive orchestra in the world , at a cost of nearly £ 7 , 000 ( the whole of which has been paid out of revenue ) , and as the great transept is an unrivalled locality , the board , in conjunction with the committee of the society , have under their consideration the establisment of periodical musical festivals , eqjial at least in extent to the Handel Festival . It is proposed that the first of these shall take place in 1862 . The directors are unable to report an adjustment oj Kail
the difference between this and the Brighton - way Company . The Crystal Palace Art Union is stated to have been very successful during its nrst season , and there is a prospect of a considerable increase , in its operations for the coming year . More prominence will , in future , be given to pictures among the prizes ; and such arrangements have been made for this as will be to the mutual benefit both of- the company ' s picture gallery and the art union . . , It is not without regret that the unbiassed spectators of the Crystal Palace progress observe the shareholders insist
prominence that certain upon giving to their ill-considered wish for more dividends , at the . expense of the efficiency of the staff , arid of diminished attractions . We aTe fain to think , when we hear , not the reported orations , but the ipsissima veroa—all maim and halt , as they often are—of such shureholders as these , that they must be , not thoso who have borne the burden and the heat of the daywho have seen and paid the way of the undertaking through good and evil report ; and under iauity management , over the turbid waters of jobbery into tho rest of comparative prosperity—but the now lmve
holders of last week or last month , who may cannily speculated in stock at frightful discounts , with a view , first , to . realising speqdy and exorbitant interest for their money , nnd then , to a ro-sulci ot their holding at prosperity prices . Though mtlo faith can bo reposed in those members ot tho present board , who aro of the more fee-seoking and ornamental orders , and though the independent observer cannot viow without npprohension the proposal to shares into
confound tho democracy by converting stock , it is impossible not to support the board in their sagacious resistance to thoso "killers of tlig goose for tho goldon egg , " and in tUe » r recognition of tho principle of popularisation , or , in otlier words , of providing the greatest number of happinesses for the greatest number of visitors . 1 I o directors of tho Crystal Palace , to whom the cnunoiatlon of that principlo may bo ascribed , may bo many and various . It lias probably been , and it ot
probably will be , a portion of tho plattorm ovory candidate , past , present , and to come . JJut , piatitudo . though it seems , its working out lias been practically loft to Messrs . England and Horaley , two junior members of tho present board , whom , it is the fate qf the shareholders to lose 11 rotation , " as the phrase goes , at midsummer next . By what contrivance tho roulette wnooA or fortune has been made to indicate for retirement tie tyro candidates who were carried into office on tne shoulders , as it were , of a long board-ridden and tardily-roused proprietary , we are not advised , nut
the result is no less to be deplored ; and this coming to the knowledge' of the press , it seems to us the duty of the press ( ever invited to familiarise itself with the working of this institution ) , to pass timely word of warning to the general body , that the lot of retirement has fallen , or will fall , upon the men who have been mainly instrumental in reversing the progress of the Company on a downward gradient , and in procuring that respectable dividend that once would have been too large to dream of , but is now small enough to be sneered at . By their commonplace and common- sense deeds they have sinned , we believe , against the demon of red-tape directorism that never learns nor forgets ; and by whom their re-election is , we hear , to be opposed ; and if they are cast out , their places will , in due course , be filled up as the Act directs , with men of the old leaven . But , if those whom it concerns will neither hear nor move , why should we be chorus ?
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Terrible Fire and Loss of Life . —Between two and three o ' clock this ( Friday ) morning a fire broke out at a house occupied principally as offices in Little George-street , Westminster . There were in the house at the time four women and three children . The flames gained complete mastery in a wonderfully short space of time , and before help could arrive the lives of two women and two infants were sacrificed ; the others are saved but are much hurt . The Tasmaxian Submarine Cable . —The first submarine electric cable of any considerable length in this part of the world has now been successfully laid and open for public use . The 120 miles of Bass ' s B 2 , s L [ : ¦
Straits is thus annihilated , so far as the communication of intelligence is concerned ^ and the island of Tasmania is for many important purposes as closely united to the mainland of Australia as though no sea rolled between them . This , it will be admitted , is a work of some magnitude for these colonies , and is creditable to the enterprise of Victoria and Tasmania , who have themselves found the whole of the funds for the undertaking . In this case the object to be gained is worth even same annual expenditure in excess of returns , if the line cannot be maintained without it ; for there can be no question that to Tasmania the advantage of instant communication with these colonies must be very great . The annual j ¦
trade transactions between that island and the mainland are stated by the Launceston papers to be now represented by a sum amounting to more than £ 1 , 000 , 000 sterling ; and , as the markets of the one colony are entirely regulated by those of the others , it cannot be otherwise than a matter of deep importance that a close intercommunication should exist between them . One chief source of risk and expense said to be connected with this line is , that it has been laid in four separate sections—fir » t , from tlie north side of King ' s Island to Cape Otway , on the Australian coast , then in the opposite direction from King ' s Island to Hummock ' s Island , thence to Circular head on the north coast of Tasmania , and from
that point along the coast to the entrance of the Tiimar , where it joins tlie land line to Lauuceston and Hobarc Town . From this arrangement the shore-ends of the cable are numerous , and all of them are said to be considerably exposed to injury from the nature of the places at which tlie landings have been made . Under those circumstances it is being urged upon the Governments of Victoria and Tasmania that they should at once incur tho additional expense of procuring from England sufficient surplus cable tbnialco good any injury which either of the four sections may sustain ; and this , wo think , is a very reasonable suggestion , seeing how many chances of accident tho lino is exposed to . Moonisii and Spanish Tkoovs . — A letter from
Gibraltar says ;— " Persons who have boon . lately and frequently in Morocco oxpress their conviction the Moors will fight desperately , under the influence of fanaticism , and of that utter contempt of death which is ono of their well-known characteristics . With regard to the armament nnd equipment of tho bulk of their army , it is difficult to obtain positive information . The chief arm , both of infantry and cavalry , seems to bo % ho espinyarda , or long musket , of which sonig handsome speoimona havo already been taken , and aro no > v in the Spanish camp . An English officer , lately in Morocco , fetching away British subjects tolls mo he saw eomo of their cavalry with bayonets fixed to tho end of their guna , which thus are converted into lances of considerable length . I no
same authority , which I consider a good ono , expressed confidence in tho bravory of tho Moors , but said that yooti European infantry ought to march through -thorn in tho plains , both hprso and foot . The question is whether tho Spanish infantry will provo good enough to do this $ whethor those young soldiers have nerve and resolution sufficient to withstand without iliuching or confusion tho florce onset of those wild desperadoos of the desert , and to receive them with a closo flro and a firm , unbroken lino of bayonets .
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¦ "THE LEADER " OFFICE , Friday Evening , Dec . 23 rd .
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FRANCE . The French Cabinet has this day ( "Friday ) , by telegraph , informed the Powers concerned that the opening of the Congress will not take place before the 19 th January next . The Constitutipnnel publishes an article signed by its principal editor , M . Grandguillot , approving in general the contents of the pamphlet " Ls Pope et le Congress , " declaring , however , a resolve to combat some of the propositions made by the author .
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¦ . ¦ RUSSIA AND PIEDMONT . The policy of Russia is inferable from Z'Inualide Russe , which to-day attacks the Ost Deutsche Post , refuting the allegation of that Austrian mouthpiece , which went to deny Piedmont a deliberative voice in Congress , attributing to the kingdom of North Italy only a consultative presence , and placing Sardiniain jiiat respect onalerelwith Naples , Portugal , Spain , and Rome . The Russian oracle scout 3 such a notion , and positively says : — " Piedmont alone can have any pretension to represent Italy in Congress , for the simple reason that , if the people were polled from the Alps to the Straits of Messina or Cape Lilibseum , the universal suffrages of the peninsula ¦ would be in ekact accordance with the already established vote of the inhabitants of Tuscany , Rornagna , Parma , and Modena . "
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INDIA . Bombay journals of the 26 th ult . have been received this morning . The Governor-General and Cnmmander-in-Chief left Cawnpore on the morning of the ofcli , and arrived at Futtehghur on the 12 th . They encamped at the Luckpeere Bagh , and immediately held a station levee . The durbar was held next day , and was attended by a large number of nativo chiefs . Lord Canning ' s camp is expected to be at Delhi about Christmas . Of the state of the rebel army in Nepaul , the rumours are perfectly contradictory—it is now saul that the Nana intends to maintain lus positionthen that he intends to retreat . One report is that he is dead , another that there was a consultation in his camp , and that the several leaders agreed to unite their forces and place them under his orders . " Ono thing is certain , " says tho Bombay Ga : ctic , •« that our troops have talcon the field against tho rebels . " It is now stated ngain that Jung BalmJoor is to give us his assistance in driving thorn ont of Nepaul . In Central India , it is feared that it will bo necessary to carry on tho war in tho jungle . Tlie hill tribes in tho Doccan arc giving somo trouble , nnd u party of Rohillas havo been creating disturbances nonr Hingolco . Tho Bombay Times has been told that a very important chango is about , to take place in tho constitution of tho executive council of the Viceroy , which is to bo modellod somewhat after tho fashion of hor Majosty ' s cabinet . The members of council will become secretaries of state , ami , as such , responsible for tho conduct of all matters in thoir several departments . Wo aro told that tho how Indian cabinet will stand as follows : —froaiilent and Soorotary for Political Aflhlrs-7 . ora Canning . Home Secretary—Sir Bartlo Froro . Secretary at War ^ -Sir James Outra m . Minister of Finance—Right Hon . Jamos Wilson . The power of opinion will give India a good government yot . We are also assured that the iulmission of non-official members to tho Logielativo Council has boon decided upon .
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Xo . 509 . Dec . 24 , 1859 . ] THE LEADER , 1391
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 24, 1859, page 1391, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2326/page/11/
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