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    NOTICES TO COBRESPONDENTS . No notice call be taken of anonymous correspondence-Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the 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 of letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a pr ess of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the communica-Wo cannot undertake to return rejected communications ..

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    dragon , 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 " frozen-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 , yet disturb us in our matutinal slumbers , but their ministrations are a mockery with the thermometer at its present temperature } and " Old Father Christmas" is depr ived 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-pools . 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 joy when from the belfries of churches new and old , with a thousand-toned brazen pseans , 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 . " and 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 f ilded every moment of the Great Exemplar ' s life , aith , 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 an 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 . Bcmember 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 fuel , but 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 ,

    OUR CHRISTMAS BELLS . Tiiere 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 ibi *; and there was

    always plenty of frost and plenty of snow at ¦ Christinas . Making allowances for the very different medium through which persons advanced in life regard au 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 our pantomimes , show us " Old Father Christmas" arrayed in nil 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 , and such wintry festivities . These are , for the most part , harmless but vain imaginings , fitter for Hone ' s Year Jiook than for the record of the expiring days of eighteen hundred and

    fifty-eight . Christmas we have with us , ever thanks to its Divine founder . It is the same Christmas that we were wont to celebrate , the logs blazing in the grate , and the snow-flakes blinding the window-panes that the colonist at Hong-Kong or Melbourne keeps under a blue sky and a hot sun ; keeps among verdure 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 lime when there should he tidings of comfort and joy for nil men hnve come to hand . Lcadcnlmll-market overflows with stubblofed geese , prize turkeys , and fat capons , plentifully beribboncd . Christmas beef enjoys all its blushing

    honours on the door-jambs ot the butchers . In a million households the talk is of plum-pudding and mince-pics . The boys and girls come 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 , nnd morose 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 form ft Sahara waltz of luggage trains . There are Christmas parties , Christmas-trees , blind-maa ' s-buJF , forfeits ,.

    snap-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 case of absolute distress and an impostor . But thon the ex-Lord Mayor may hear the bells with very different ears to his fellows . Mayors have odd cars , 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 tho mayors and Midascs in donkcydom .

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    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 Washington , 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 , he distinctly disavows any violent course of action , p laces 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 unfulnlment 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 , m 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 to claim any island lying off that portion of the territory which 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 lluatan 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 lums upon the construction of a treaty originating in the dispute about territories in which we iiave no concern ; the territories being of small value , and situated in that neck of land which unites the two continents of America . Our Government lias given up the claim to search American vessels in order to ascertain the nationality of the flag , and really there remains no serious question between us , unless our Foreign-office should revive newquestions about tho 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 the substantial matter in dispute lies on the west side of tho Atlantic There are several subjects of dispute with Spain , but the principal consists m tho refusal of Queen Isabella ' s Government to settle the long standing Cuban claims . In 1844 . duties were levied upon American ships contrary to the stipulations between tho two countries . Ihe American Government has persevered in demanding justice for fourteen years . At last the Spanish Government has yielded ; but , instead of offering satisfaction , it consents to pay a sum just short of A 3 000 dollars—one-third of the sum claimed ; and with a curious mixture of pride and meanness , Tt avows that this concession is made not m dofercnoe

    PRESIDENT BUCHANAN ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS . The United States arc at pcaco with all tho world , excepting with reference to one limited portion of this great globe , and that a very long way off . from England . The President ' s Message has been criticised in this country , as a mattor or course , because it is tho stated rule to criticise tho Message of the President , and commonly in a hostile sense In former documents , within our recollection , tho oritio at least found matter for discussion in the turgid stylo and pretension of tho writer j but tho

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    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 . — -De . Arnold . ' ¦

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    v— ^ \ -S FRIDAY , DECEMBER 24 , 1858 .

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

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    No . 457 , December 24 , 1858 , } THE LEADE R . . 1417

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 24, 1858, page 1417, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2274/page/17/