The Express. — London, England, 1853-12-26 00:00:00

Ehe erinseoo# TO CORIMSPONDKNTS. fludded Eddied el ••Tia• Lahr...," ....Lamm' the we ••rhwlV;' ta publ.stved every hues lay odd ►r:d olgta, .0 toot toe pSM• lihertroweito in•en•led far Kspefta," Lowlee Eveuor yam, imust Ge.t tM lam*, IV. Ikniverierinet, ►y TIN uLloot as the vubacatiurs. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BLIDGE. Tul. DAT —lllurstng, 146. Aftirrenor., Pre. Tio.vtakaaw —Norma, li6. pa AtterovuD, I 29111. LOXDOX, MONDA Y. DECEMBER 26. ON the tenth day after Lord PALMLE.STON'S resig nation, his deserted and disconsolate colleagues we re •till to seek for a successor eligible in their eyes. His vacant office had been hawked round the narrow circle of conventional eligibilities, but n.l of them had declined the offer. Sir Jsmes GRIIRM was of opi nion that the Admiralty was a more congenial berth for him. Lord Jolts Russet'. bad no desire to en cumber himself again with a load of departmental business. Sir GEORGE GREY had misgivings as to the reception his appointment might encounter in public. So many declinatures brought the Coalition to their wits' end ; only one other possible arrange ment seemed to remain to coax Lord PAL. 11E11.41.):s back again. And accordingly his Lord ship has had long remonstrative visits in flicted upon him by diverse members of the Cabinet, and his and their friends out of doors have been for the last few days busy demonstrating—to their own conviction, if not to that of their hearers—how de sirable it is that the noble Viscount should quietly return to Downing-street, and how perfectly consis tent such a termination of the fracas would be with the dignity and self-respect of all parties coecetned. If the resignation of the ten days, and ire consequent hunt for a Home Secretary, is to end, Lie the figure of a country-dance, with the parties who have been poussetting, swinging corners, chassiing down the middle and up again, resuming their places to go through the sync movements again, we have nothing to say against it. RUSSELL, PALMERSTON, and GLADSTONE, is, on the whole, a more palatable olla-podrida, than DERBY, PALM ER , ToN, and DIS RAELI would have been—apparently the only alter. pative. We have nothing for it but to wait in trembling but watchful hope till time shall show whether or not the reconciliation has been purchased by a sacrifice in whole or in part of the promised measure of reform. The public, indeed, will make its remarks if Lord PALMERSTON resume office. A public separation aid re-union, with the causes of both shrouded in the mysterious twilight that ever broods over Dowaing-street, will give rise to as much damaging conjecture as a similar freak played by a married couple. Sooner or later the Ministry will be weakened by the present escapade ; a re petition would be fatal, for who could repose confidence in men who, while occupying highly re sponsible offices, quarrel u tout react, then kiss and become friends again, no one can, but by conjecture, imagine why or wherefore? All this is obvious—is, indeed, the current subject of remark wherever two or three are gathered together. But little is said of an anomaly in our administrative arrangements, which ridiculous Ministerial squabbles like these are, however, fisted to obtrude on public notice. if Lord Patneestox is sought and won back it will be be cause a substitute hu not been found for him ; and if a substitute has nut been found for him, it is because the men among whom it is deemed necessary to pick and choose are so few in number. Now, why is the rasp of choice so narrow ? Because it is thought absolutely necessary that in order to be a Minister a public mac must belong to some one or other of our half-dozen aristocratical connexions. He must be a son, nephew, brother of the old revolution houses of BED FORD. C verge's'', and Co.; or he must, by wealth or ability, and along apprenticeilip of unwavering sub serviency, have merited adoption into some such clan Or college. The office of Minister in this country, like that of Pootifex, Flamen, or Augur, in old Rome, is practically attainable only by those who by birth or adoption belong to a narrow circle of families. It is high time that this servile and conventional superstition should be put down. It deprives the country of the services of men who could serve it well; it encourages in the priv:leged class a cold and supercilious habit of discouraging and repressing rising talent; it is continually leading to petty womanish tea-table scratching', scolding", and re own:illations like that which is so confidently antici pated in the case of Lord PALMERST,'N. It subjects the country to ridiculous and emasculated Cabinets. And the most provoking part of the affair is, that the Liberal section of the aristocracy, are the greatest sinners in this respect. From the time when " All the Talents" were hooted out of office for inefficiency till 1830, the Whip were kept under by the Tories, mainly in consequence of the greater readiness of the latter to open their ranks to receive young and rising talent. In fact, the Tory party (so called) of the latter half of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century, has been princi pally formed of mutineers whom the morgue arislo cratique of the great Whig houses had from time to time driven into the arms of the Court. In the organisation it has till very lately retained, it was originally patched up by the coalition between Gwent 111. and the younger Fin to put down the coalition between Fox and NORTU. But Pitt owed in great part the position he attained so early to his hereditary hold on the connexion which originated in the discontent of " the Cobham Cousins" at the way in which they were snub bed and kept in minor offices by the Whig levi athans of the day. Every allowance being made for the daring and commanding temper of Pin IL, his alliance would have been of comparatively little value to GEORGE 111. but for his hereditary rank among the GitEVILLF-s and their and his father's followers. The coalition party which supported the KING and PITT has ever since been a kind of refuge for the destitute for ambitious rising politicians, who were, or feared to be, kept out of employ by Whig clannishness. CANNINGS, PEELS, CROKERS, and Roses—orators, steady plausible " men of business,' unblushing jobbers, all who could be useful, were received with open arms by the Tories; while the Whig leaders kept scowling upon every volunteer recruit as a new rival for offices in expectancy. A deviation from the traditionary policy of the party led to their lesion with the Can ningite seceders from the Tory camp, and ultimately to the Whig accession to office in le3o. A repeti tion of this violation of the hereditary practice of the party has lately renewed the lease of their political life by the coalition with the Peelite seceders from the Tory camp. But unluckily these new recruits have been trained in the school of a man ae jealously bent upon being the one great statesman of his party as Sir ..... 14 1 , DERT WALPOLE (to whom. by the way, he bore some resemblance in other points), and are of course almost as little disposed to open their ranks to new men ns the Whigs themselves. hence it comes that we find the Coalition Ministry, like the Whig Ministry, when a vacancy occurs, running the round of a few place men who are conventionally regerded as the only t,igib:e candidate, for office, and if an arrangement cannot be made with them, giving it up in despair. And yet out of the official circles you will not meet with half-a-dozen men who do not believe—who do not know—that, to use a homely proverb, "there are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it ;" that take any dozen of Parliament men at random, it is odds but you get as efficient a Cabinet as can be manufactured out of those who are assumed to monopolise all " official aptitude" for these high posts. Look at the DERBY Ministry. A more hopeless collection of i texpe ' rienced men than the party out of which its officials had to be culled cannot well be imagined. Yet from ' sheer necessity, the Aristocracy standing aloof, Lord DERBY was obliged to dispose of the greater part of his high offices to commoners, and all the world wondered how respectably the least promising of them acquitted themselves. Assuredly the great Duke—the descendant and representative lof the illustrious family of SMITUSON—was the worst failure of the batch. Now, if Lord DERBY, as the leader of the collective toryism and narrow-mindedness of politics, gained so much by a compulsory extension of the range of aspirants to office, what might not the leaders of the party to which the intelligence of the nation naturally in clines, hope to effect, by voluntarily following his example ? Would Mr. Firzitov, Lord PALMERSTON'S deputy (we purposely select for an example a steady going working member, little, if at all, elevated above common-place), make • much less efficient Home Secretary than Lord PALMERSTON ? And yet the hereditary superstition which limits the choice of Ministers forbids his being thought of, or any public man of his standing. And, so Cabinets boggle and boggle, as the Aberdeenitea have been doing these ten days, only, it would seem, to get out of a difficulty by coaxing back a man they had rejected. What does this prove? Their selfishness I first , their lolly next, and their weakness above all. COILS are frightfully dear and—How can they be cheapened? becomes as interesting question. Lower freights would be one step towards cheaper coals. Ministers intend (so Rumour says) to propose to Par liament the opening of our coasting trade to foreign chipping. This is a measure we have repeatedly urged the necessity of; seeing that whilst our mercantile shipping for the long voyage and for foreign trade generally is rapidly increasing, no con siderable augmentation of coasters is concurrently in preparation. Any and every addition to our present means of transport coastwise will therefore be wel come. It is indeed quite possible that such a measure may not at first add very largely to those means, and there is no fear of the coasting trade of the greatest of all maritime nations getting permanently into any other hands than those of its own people. But, without antici pating a great influx of foreign vessels to our coast ing fleet as a consequence of opening the trade, it may reasonably be expected to have a very consi derable effect in improving the efficiency of our own coasting vessel,.. and by that improvement our means of transport will practically be increased. The truth is, that our coasting trade wants a fillip such as com petition only can give it. At present it is a monopoly, and the pressure of a little rivalry will in all pro bability quicken speed in loading and discharging, and navigating our coasters, improve the seaman like qualities of their skippers, and promote subordi nation and good conduct amongst the men. Perhaps it will also tend to a more general use of the screw propeller, au end very much to be desiderated. With the best coals now selling in the Coal Exchange at 325. and even 335. a ton, this question of the coasting trade is a matter of very great im portance to London and its millions, for never, we believe, were stocks either in private houses or on the retail merchants' wharves so low as they are now. In June last the quotations had fallen to Ids., and as the highest point reached in the previous winter was only 225., and the price of fuel had for two years before been unusually moderate, people generally I were persuaded that coal would remain permanently cheap..' Stocks consequently I‘ere not renewed, and 1 1 here, at the commencement of a severe winter, coal is selling for almost as much as when, some forty years ago, it was charged with 71. 6d. a ton duty. In 1813 the price of coals, charged with that duty, was 445. a ton ; and in 1830, when it still had a duty of some 4s. to encounter, it was only 275. 6d. a ton; yet here in 1833 it is quoted, all Government duty having long since been repealed, at 34e. Having had coals at 14s. in both March, 1830 and 1851, and at only 6d. a ton more in March, 1 1 1832, and having seen them at 15s. in the summer of this year, we may well shiver at the present cost of fuel. The consumption dead in London during the last twenty years hu gone on very rapidly increasing, and that without much reference to prices; until now, in 1833, we nee just double the quantity we did in the year 1833, u a tabular statement in another column shows. In the present year 18.53, our consumption of coals will have reached 4,000,000 tons, of which probably railways and canals will have brought upwards of 600,000 tons. The ratio of increased con sumption is greater than the ratio of increased popu lation; for during the last twenty years it has certainly not doubled itself, and the increased con veyance of coals by rail has, there can be little doubt, diminished the area supplied through London, many districts being now served direct instead of from the Thames. With consumption increasing at this rate, even in spite of prices now quite doubled, it is satisfactory to observe that metropolitan de pendence on the North of England and on shipping as a means of transport is somewhat dimi nishing; though as yet the amount of coals brought by railway and canal has had no effect on the value of sea-borne coal. On the other hand, it must be recollected, that the question whether railways can permanently carry coal at a profit is yet node cided ; for though it is true present high prices give them a profit, and a large profit, those prices, it is to be hoped, are only accidental; and the effect of the wear•and tear of coal traffic on railways has to be ascertained. Nor can it be overlooked that, if rail ways are largely to increase their coal transport, the number of their rails must either be increased, or the traffic will fearfully augment the dangers of rsilwey travelling. Within the last twenty years the coal trade in the north has undergone a perfect revolution. The Tyne has ceased to retain its "coaly " pte-eminence ; many of the collieries famous in its history have been given up, some exhausted, others unremunerative ; and the Wear and the Tees have become much more impor- ' tent rivers. The discovery of coal beneath the mag nesian limestone led to the working of much larger mines as well as to the production of much superior fuel, and by means of railways from the Tees a great inland district has been opened up in Auckland, previously a very poor and worthless district. In that period, too, a class of middlemen who bought from the collieries, and bold in London, has been done away with, and coals are now almost invariably sent south for the account of the various collieries; and so the only charges between them and the retail mar•• chants are factorage and the abominable City Tax. Whilst, however, the capacity of Durham to supply coals has been greatly developed within that period, new sources of demand have opened on it, in the enor mous extension of cur steam fleet, in the coke re quire(' for railway locomotion, and other mechanical purposes, and in the growing demand for British coal in foreign countries. The example of France seems likely to he followed by Belgium, and perhaps by Germany also ; and though, owing to the obstruc tions created by an absurd system of retail trade THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 26, 1853. in Paris particularly, the recent change in the French tariff may not greatly increase French con sumptiou of our best household coal, it will lead to a I very great demand for manufacturing coal for the purpose of supplying France with British iron. That change will, it is said, create a demand for some 600,000 or 800,000 tons of our iron annually, and as, ; on an average, it takes three tons of coal to make a ton lof iron, the effect on our coal trade most be very considerable. Moreover, on the Yorkshire side of the estuary of the Tees a new and most important iron field is being worked, situate near • small port, which a few years ago was created because of the difficulties of navigating that river up to its old capital Stockton, at a spot called Middlesborough, where there is now a rising town with docks, railways, and an important trade, on what, twenty years ago, was a beach, or little more than a fishing village. Middlesborough is in truth the marvel of the north of England. Ironstone, worth ten years ago Is. ad. or 2s. a ton royalty, is now doubled or trebled in value; small needy pro prietors have suddenly (to their own great surprise) become rich men; furnaces are rising up right and left ; and there are people who deliberately enter tain the opinion that instead of Middlesborough ex porting its 10,000 tons of coal a year, in not many years it will be obliged to import coal to supply its iron works. Time of course alone can show how this will be; but there can be little doubt that the manufacture of Middlesborough iron will have some effect on the London coal market, by increasing local consuar„ition. There is, however, abundance of fuel in England to give us a cheap supply; and nothing will more tend to reduce present prices than increasing the means of transport, and reducing the enormous coal freights now obtained. So if Ministers really do intend to ask Parliament to throw open our coasting trade, they will do a very sensible thing, and one that London, as well as the Coal Trade, will be very grateful fur. THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY. There are so many pleas in support of the demand made by different classes of etnp/oyJs for a holiday to-day, and they have operated with such success, that in many quarters the holiday will be general. The Bank of England and the Inland Revenue Offices and other similar places, which cannot be positively closed, will be closed to-day as much as possible. The wharves and docks will transact no business. The closing will be general in the princi- pal streets. The Custom-house will be shut up. The Post•ofce will merely perform those offices which it usually performs on Christmas•day. Lord Palmer ston's refusal to allow the holiday to be extended to the offices in his department will thus probably occasion less real cause for dissatisfaction than would have been the case had such a refusal taken place in other divisions of public life. It is a promising sign of the times that the de mand made for a boon to the labourers come in the shape of a request for a holiday, and not I for a mere gratuity. We can all. remember something of the way in which gratuities to labourers of most classes were spent formerly. They were used for the purpose of mere selfish and sensual debauchery. The pour-boire of the continent, and the " drink your health your honour " of the British or Irish labourer, showed clearly enough by the very form of expression the intended destination of the required gratuities. We have not quite emerged from the state of society which this indi cates. We believe however that servants and labourers are coming to the conviction that a better reward for services may be found than a possibility of getting drunk. We can tend a man to a better elysium than a pothouse. It is a fact that year by year the numbers who devote a holiday to purposes of rational recreation and amusement increase in a greater ratio than that of the increase of population. Freedom of admission to public institutions has been gradually extended. The working classes, by means of cheap literature, have rendered them selves more capable of finding amusements than formerly. A taste for scenery and for those sciences that may be cultivated in the open air has developed itself. For merly a working man out on a holiday would take a certain road, because it led to a particular alehouse. It is an even chance now that he will direct his course along it, because it leads to a good view, or because it gives him facilities for gratifying a taste for fresh air or something equally commendable, which a cheap literature has brought out in him. He can now walk into museums, and be furnished, at a cheap rate, with catalogues and explanation of their contents. There are numerous means opened to him of knowiog some thing more of the world than when he had no other idea of amusement than looking at it with eyes muddled with porter through an atmosphere thick coed with tobacco smoke. Next year these facilities will be marvellously increased. It is difficult to calculate what will be the effect of the opening of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham on the character of the labouring classes. They will have instruction and amusement presented to them in their most agreeable shapes. Half an hour spent in the building may give them a better idea of geology than they could have acquired by a year's study from books without examples. The same with other sciences. The vast majority of them will indeed never become philosophers, but they may become cognisant of the matters of which philosophy treats, and thus acquire tastes which may go far to wean them from, or prevent their ever falling into, degrading habits. It becomes a Buty then, to advocate a holiday, when the classes who will enjoy it have so many better modes of employ ing it than formerly, and when those modes are on the increase. The augmented intelligence of these classes is our best warrant for the probable good effects of a slight cessation from toil, and increased, facility of rational recreation—and we may look for ward hopefully to a period when a holiday will be reckoned a certain means of national culture. CHRISTMAS DAY. (Berm the Examiner.) Christmas-day, we hope, will find all Englishmen in the usual good humour to morrow. Pudding is dearer than we could desire—so is the Christmas fire—but there is wherewithal to make holiday heirs.. And since this greatest of our festivals happens this year to fall on a Sun day, men of business throughout the land, with almost per fect unanimity, have agreed that those whom they employ shall not be deprived of the additional most welcome day of rest which Christmas usually furnishes. We are all to a►stain from work by mutual consent next Monday. There is an exception, as might have been expected, but it comes from an unexpected quarter. To a request that the government offices might on that day be closed, we see with regret a reply from Lord Palmerston which would certainly have been more appropriate in the mouths of the Glasgow Presbytery. Government, says in substance the late Home Minister, allows a holiday en Christmas-day only in order that the clerks may sit under their respective religions ministers, and as they will all be able to do that in the usual course on Sunday, he can see no need for an extra day of relaxation. The army of Downing -street is therefore to keep Christmas as the gentlemen of Seance break their fast, in memory of the day when Gargaatua was there, and all the breakfast his mare got was but a little yawniag and gaping. We repeat that we are carry for it. The performance of religious duties ought truly to form I the chief part of our Christmas celebration. But happily we do not confine ounelves at this season to the mere cere monies of religion. It is Christmas for us out of the church doors, and beyond the shadow of the pulpit. We keep it l as a yearly feast of mutual kindness and good will, which sends its influence far on into succeeding months. Our custom being so, we did not aspect that government, and of sll men Lord Palmerston, would object to recognise and sanction that general national feeling. Christmas-day itself, however, we all have. Its beef, its pudding, its good humour, and above all its gossip, will not fail us. If Lord Palmerston has annoyed some of us by the denial of one privilege, he has obliged all of us with another, in giving us plenty to talk about. For three suc cessive December frosts Lord Palmerston has been doing his best to crack and split up cabinets. He is becoming one of the institutions of the season. In a year or two he will take his regular place in our almanacks side by ride with lunar and other changes. Against some den or other in December there will have to be chronicled a Transit of Palmerston. Not at all cheerful is the other Christmas topic that will be rife at tomorrow's tables. The prospect of war has just now a dread interest, such as might belong to a ghost story or a fireside tale of peril. Yet no doubt the best will be made of it. Certain is it at least that an immense number of bad jokes will be made cat of the connexion which the wits of families will detect between Turkey the country and Turkey the bird, aed the worst of these jokes will lime a reception given only to the bat at other times. For the be. ginning and end of an English Christmas is good humour, and the strong desire of every man to please and help those who surround him. No season ever was kept holy in a truer way than this. There never was conceived a better, and in good truth we may say a sublimer way, of giving forte to a religious celebration, than the custom we have 01 consecrating Christmas as the season when, in all of us, if at any time, AU genetoui feelings flourish and rejoice, Forbearance, charity indeed and thought, And resolution competent to take Out of the bosom of simplicity All that her holy customs recommend. Even in our holly and oar Cllfiltalli cheer there it some thing sacred, as we so interpret them. Particular customs of Christmas may have been dropped in modern days, but manifestly, we think, the really wholesome spirit of the sea son has of late years gained in strength. May it so continue, still strengthening. May we prosper in proportion as we keep our Christmas heartily and well—enjoying it ourselves as hospitably as wo may, extending its enjoyment and hos pitality where we can, and being now, if ever, charitable both in act and word. RESUMPTION OF OFFICE BY LORD - .• -. The ministerial journal; of this morning thus an nounce the return of Lord Palmerston to his former office in the administration. The Times says : It berme our duty, in consequence of intelligence which had reached us, to state on Friday, the 16th of December, that Viscount Palmerston had tendered his resignation of the office of Secretary of State fur the 'Unmet Department, and had, therefore, ceased to form a part of Her Majesty's government, if his resignation was accepted by the Crown. That announcement was strictly accurate, and, accordingly, Viscount Palmerston has not attended the meetings of the Cabinet which have been held since he expressed his intention to resign. It is, however, well known that the important office of Home Secretary has not been filled up or accepted by any other member of the go vernment ; and we have now the satisfaction to learn that the resignation of Lord Palmerston has lot been de finitively accepted, but is withdrawn, and that the Secre tary of State for the Home Department will retain—we can hardly say resume—his former position in the prevent ad ministration. Explanations, honourable alike to all the parties concerned in this transaction, have been exchanged, and, as difficulties which had arisen between Lord Palmenton and his colleagues were limited, as we have already stated on a former occasion, to the questian of par liamentary reform as dealt with by Lord John Russell, it bas been found possible, without any sacrifice of principle, to place the government again on a united, and we hope • permanent basis. The Chronicle states the event in the following terms : Ten days ago we announced that Lord Palmerton had mined office. We have now the far more agreeable duty of congratulating the country on the removal of those dif• Menet, which threatened, at a singularly critical period, to deprive the nation and the government of the benefit of his ability, experience, and judgment. The noble lord resumes, or, more strictly speaking, retains—the position which he has so efficiently occupied since the formation of the present cabinet; and, at a moment which peculiarly demands the united action of all our leading statesmen in the assertion of great common principles of national policy, the English Ministry presents once more a firm and un broken front to Europe. gbe Court. WINDSOR, Dac. 24. The dinner party yesterday included the Duchess of Kent, the Earl of Clarendon, the Lady-in-Waiting to the Duchess of Kent and the Baroness de Bpsth. The Bead of the let Life Guards attended in the Castle during dinner, and performed th e followi ng compositions : March on H. ueeelre Boat, "Cheer, Bor Cheer" Overture or Introduction ((leilda) Ole*, "Mroner Vaodunek" Sir 11. 8. Bishop Walter. 8 /Ina" 'Haney rantema, littr den Motifs de Dom Ilebratlea Donieetti rein, " Ginnie" Delay Masquerade (Ocarina Brother.) Her Majesty's Private Band afterwards attended in the evening, and played the following selection : Overture, " La Barcarolle" Celeetloa, lieraglio" Meant Duo, "Marco Spada" Auber The Queen and Prince walked in the Home Park this morning. The Earl of Clarendon left the Castle this forenoon for London. Du. 25. The Queen's Private Band was In attendance at the Castle yesterday evening, and performed the following pieces °vent" " Okras" Wilber iotrodoctios. "M.rie" Bank' Mounts Ilisootto, Trio awl Male (dl foots) The Queen and Prince, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, sod Princess Alice, the ladies sad gentlemen of the court, and the domestic household, attended divine service this morning is the private chapel of the Cutie. The Duchess of Kent was also at the service. The Hon. and Rev. 0. Wellesley officiated, and adminis tend the holy sacrament. The Earl of Clarendon »turned to London ottpaturday from Windsor Castle. Despatches were sent to the Governors of Ceylon and Hong Kong on Saturday from the Colonial-office. The Observer says :—" Hilt Serene Highness Prince Leopoid of Saxe Coburg Gotha arrived on Saturday at the Cutle from town on a visit to her Majesty. The Prince reached London daring the night, having travelled v» D•ver from the Continent. His Serene Highness slept at Mivart's Hotel, Lower Brook•street, and proceeded from the metropolis on Saturday to the Cutle. The royal dinner party on Saturday evening included her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, his Serene Highness Prince Liopnld of Sase Coburg, and the ladies and gentlemen in waiting. Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg is expected to be the gust of the Queen for a short period only, his Serene Highness intending to leave the Castle on Monday neat (this day). for the purpose of embarking on this Lisbon packet, to pay a visit to his elder brother, the King Regent of Portugal. " DIPLOMATIC APPOINTMENTS.—The lion. Henry Elliott, now Secretary of Legation at the Hague, hu been appointed Secretary of Legation at Vienna. Mr. Nivea Moore, Cooaol at lityrout, has been promoted to the rank of Conaul•Oeneral in Syria. MINISTERIAL MOVEMENTS. Lord Aberdeen left town on Saturday afternoon for \Vinds r Curie, to have an audience of the Queen. Ilia lordship returned to London the care night. The Duke of Nevrcratle has remained in daily attendance at the Colouial•ot6ee. Lord Grenville arrived in town on Friday, the day after the Cabinet bad their long • ' gof five hours and a half. The noble earl remains in London. Sir William Mulesworth is detained from Joining a circle of friends in the country, and remains in town. The Hight lion. William Ewart °Winona and Sir James Graham also continue in the metropolis. Lord Palmerston has attended et the Home•ofce within the :list day or two. His lordship's Under-Secretary of S•atc, the lion. Henry Fitzroy, came to town in the middle of last week. Sir George Grey, who arrived in town in the early part of the wetk from his country resi.lence, Eillodon, North umberland, took his departure on Saturday night (or lallodon. THROUGH TOLLS.—On Wednesday the collector at Newcastle-on-Tine was summon. d before the bench at that t.,era for using threatening language to a person who refused to pay him 44. for a butt of currants, but who bad offered him 2d. The collector having offered an apology ant paid the costs, amounting to 2'. 15s. 2d., the case was withdrawn, but it was admitted that the toll which bad beta collected for years was illegal.) CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENTS. The business of to-day in recreation. The opera tions of business are suspended or compressed to the smallest dimensions, so that the employed may not lose 012111 of their accustomed days of relief. The hearty frankness with which this concession htis been made by the heads of the mercantile and trading establishments g e Ily is a re markable and a very pleasant sign of tha times. In the public offices and in some of Ole higher mercantile estab lishments more difficulty has had to be encountered, but the cessation from business will be very general. The Poet office will have no delivery after 12 o'clock. There will be al Corn Exchange, nor, indeed, will any of the markets be open except Smithfield. The Custom-house will be closed in deference to the wishes of the dock companies, and in structions have been issued to the authorities of the outports to follow the same course as in London, if the merchants should express a desire to that effect. The committee of the Stock Exchange have passed a resolution not to open the " house." The transfer office if the Bank of England will also be closed ; and as the bankers presented bills on Saturday, and were enabled to collect a large amount, the holiday will be very general. The usual caterers for the public amusements have not neglected this very unusual opportunity. The Sunday papers of yesterday give notices of the different Christmas pieces, amongst which will be the following: HAYMARKET. Mr. Buckstene comes before the public with a new ver sion of a popular fairy tale, of which the authorship is attri buted to Southey. Its title is Harlequin and the Three Bears ; or, Little Siloerhair and the Fairies. Little Sil verhair, wandering in the forest, is attracted by sweet melody to the " Lotus Lake, the abode of Victoria Regis, the Queen of the Water Lilies." The pretty little intruder is received by the fairies with the utmost delight; they feast her with d►inties, and she remains with her enter ' tamers till morning. Little Silverhair having thus uncon sciously been made the means of prolonging the existence of the fairy band for another century, returns home quite changed in her nature, having, during her brief association with the fairies, become possessed of an insatiable curiosity and a propensity for meddling with everything she sees. Squire Alldibe, the landlord of the place where Silverhair and her mother reside, courts the girl, but her affections are bestowed on Sweet William, a brisk young sailor just come home (rem sea. She snatches the presents brought her by the rival suitors, and runs into the forest, where she comes upon the house of the Three Bears, while the hot porridge which they had prepared for breakfast is cooling. The grumbling of the bears at finding their chairs sat upon, their porridge eaten, and their beds disturbed, is nest the most vivid reminiscence of the nursery. The bear having at list caught Silverhair, and being about to cut off her head, she begs that they will give her a hammer and a long nail before she dies. The bears consent, and the sly little gipsy takes advantage of their eonfidexce by nailing their three tails together to the floor. By a superursine effort , however, the bears break away from their fastening, and again seise her. At this moment, when her death ap pears inevitable, the fairy Queen makes her appearance, and the transformations lake place. The concluding scene of the harlequinade is the British fleet at Spithead, going out to sea, led by the Queen of England in her yacht the Fury." PRINCESS'S. The attraction held out by the management of this theatre is a comic Pantomime, entitled Harlequin aid the Miller and hie Men; or King Salamander and the Fairy of ti. A-sire Lake. Great liberties have, however, been taken with the original text of Pucock's melodrama. The pantomime commences with the scene of the Azure Lake, in which the fairy (King Salamander's natural foe, and always throwing cold water on every thing he does) in forms her nymphs and royal body guard of " picked men all " that, having got into hot water respecting Griadoff, the miller, with &demander, she has despatched John Dory (her Envoy Plenipotentiary) to her enemy's court, with a declaration of war. The scene changes to the Palace of King Salamander, where his fiery ma jesty receives John Dory and his despatches. The lat ter is only saved from being despatched himself by the timely_ arrival of the fairy army. The latter achieves a victory over the Fire King's forces; upon which Salaman der requests, as a last chance, that he may be allowed to visit the earth *gaits for the purpose of rendering assistance to the mortal Grindoff. This wish is acceded to, and the audience are immediately carried to the banks of a river on the terrestrial sphere, with Kelmar's cottage, " the Jolly Anglers," and distant view of Grindoits mill. The consecutive scene is the mill. The Fairy of the Azure Lake makes her appearance in the chat acter of the miller's guardian angel, and frustrates the machinationsof Salaman der. An extensive change then takes place at the milli which finally fades from the view, and discovers " the enchanted realms of Fairyland." In this scene the trans formation occurs. LYCEUM. Mr. Planche la about to furnish his annual Christmas ex travaganza to the world at the Lyceum Theatre. The story runs that "once upon a time" King Sublimes held tranquil sway over the " Peaceful Nandi," but he was unceremo niously kicked from his throne by his cousin, King Peri wiggilus, and obliged to Sy with his family to the " Ver dant Valley," where they take up their abode in a humble cottage, and live as peasants unknown to the usurper. One of the three daughters of King Siblimus fell into a lake during their flight, and is believed by its royal parents to be drowned. A benevolent water nymph, Aquamarine, saves the life of the child, and giving to it the name of Car pelona, from the abundance of carp in the lake into which it fell, carries it to the palace of the usurping Periwig gilus, by whom the girl is brought up, and who in coarse of time becomes a lovely creature. Prince Brutus, the usurper's deformed eon, falls in love with Carpelona, but she refuses the offer of his ►and. The old king refusing to coerce her will, the filial prince dethrones his father, and would have taken possession of Carpelona, had not the fairy Verdant carried her away to the Verdant Valley, where she ands an asylum in the hospi table cottage of old King Sublimus and his Queen, who have no idea that she is their daughter. She there falls in love with Corin, who turns out to be the younger son of King Periwiggilus, whose life had been attempted by his cruel brother, Prince Brutus, but had been preserved by an eagle sent for the purpose by the benevolent fairy. Their happi ness is, however, interrupted by Prince Brutus discovering the retreat of Carpelona; his guards seize the lovers, and carry them to his capital, where they are about being burnt by his orders in the public square, when old Perriwiggilus discovers that the shepherd youth is his son. The remain ing portion of the denouement is brought about by the ap pearance of the benevolent nymph, Verdant, who frustrates the machinations of the m►lignant fairy Amazonia, and her protege, Prince Brutus. DRURY-LANE. The pantomime at this theatre is supplied by M. R. L. Blanchard, and is entitled Harlequin Xing liunitningtop and tAe Land of Toys. Prince Chameleon, the victim of ennui, disgusted with poetry, painting, music, and all other sources of gratification, is about to throw himself into • stream, when be is arrested by the spirit of Happiness, who leads him to the territory of Toys, in the islands of Youthful Delights. Here, in the midst of processions and revelries, an alarm is suddenly sounded by penny trumpets that the Queen of Beauty is about invading the realm of Toys. Refuge is taken in the "Hall of Sports and Pas times," but the Queen of Beauty is too potent, and the Prince enters the " Labyrinth of Love," where he finds Happiness in the possession of True Love, who is discovered in the " Bower of Beauty." A novel effect forms part of the transformation scene by the suspension in mid-air of a group of fairies, who appear poised like so many Ariels without any apparent means of support. A juvenile pan tomimic company will subsequently appear, and lend the miniature contrast to the full-sized characters of the Drury Hs rlequinatie. ADELPHI. The Adelpbi management have abandoned legitimate pantomime, and soared into the realms of German mysti cism. for the subject of a gr►nd magical spectacle, called Number Nip, the Spirit Bride. It is an adaptation from the French, and is founded upon the Rosicrucian theory of the gnomes and sylphs. Tht plot, which involves a variety of incident., and some very novel stage effects in representa tion, is sim?le enough in its outline. Number Nip, King of of the Gnomes, by a certain compact has become subject to the Count of Wallenstein, and can only be set at libtrty on certain conditions, to be fulfilled by a bride on the day of her espousal. To accomplish this, Erletta, a sylph in the power of the gnome, is compelled to assume a mortal shame, and her endeavours to secure the love of Count Rudolph form the action of the drama, which abounds in magical wonders. SADLER'S WELLS. Here the piece is one with the good old title of Harlequin and Toni Thumb ; or, Mother Goose's Goldin Gosling,- The first scene is a vision of Guildhall, Clog and Magog, and the civic accessories of that gorgeous and gorging kind customary to Guildhall on festive occasions. 'Progress appears, and, shattering the put to fragments, Mother 1 Goose and her goslings are the on!y things left entire • Tom Thumb is proposed for the Ch r i stmas novelty, a n d the next change accordingly brings to v i ew the cottage of Toes Thumb, where all the historic achievements of the si n , hero are duly represented. Finally the little tne n ik, n is carried off by a raven, and alights on the summit of Gia nt Grumbo's Castle, where he rescues the Princess, en d Pet forms ell sorts of valorous deeds. He is, however, owel. lowed at last by the Giant, to whom he performs the offic e of an emetic. He is next swallowed by a fish, and ski. mately finds his way to King Arthur's table, where be is extracted from the interior of a fine salmon, and rewarded by the king with the hand of his daughter, whom be has saved. The harlequinade follows. OLYMPIC. The Adventures of Columbus form the subject of a red pantornine, the story being told by action aloae. The opening introduces us to Lethe's Wharf, in the Realm, of State Quo. Stagnant', the presiding (airy of this dreary and slow region, has an altercation with Roeketine, the Genius of Go•a-bead, who, not satisfied with the march of improvement in this world, is seeking a new one by mess of Columbus. With their mutual defiances, and promises of aid to Columbus on t►e one hand, and or obstruction on the other, the fairies start on the Viaduct of Dame Ignotum, leading to the realms of Pro Magnifico. Columbus is in. troduced to the King and Queen of Spain by Donna Do lores, whom he has captivated ; he obtains his three ships, but before be sets out on his voyage, he performs many wondrous feats of arms. We have neat a balcony scene, in which Don Tremendo, his rival, is not only cut out in the love of Donna Dolores, but pressed for sea by the 1 crew of Columbus, while the lady follows, as in the pathetic ballad of " Dilly Taylor," we are introduced to the deck of the Santa Maria, the caravel of Columbus The Santa Maria sails RCM!e the stage to the islands of the 1 New World, in front of the vast carved temples, which the travels of Stephens and the illustrations of Catherwood, I first made known to us. Here we follow the Spaniards in their first c.ntact with the savages, who, under their cacique (Tazemaneatemala) and minister (Pokeistingerin everymanslett), at first receive the wondrous strangen hospitably at a banquet, when, to the disgust of Columbus ' and Dona Dolores, it is found that the dishes area la canni bal, and the indignant navigator rising, so outrages the feelings of the savages by his denunciation of the horrid banquet that he is about to fall a sacrifice to their wrath, when Stagnant& and Kockeline appearing, the transforma tion takes place. SURREY. With the aid of Alfred CrowquiD, the story of " kicg Mutliu " has been made the subject of a pantomime. ASTLEY'S. Mr. Nelson Lee has harlequinised Old Bidy Btdio,.b .10141 , step to Bretalfurd. After a fairy induction, we are introduced to " Billy Button's Apartment." Billy receives a letter for his vote, enclosing ten pounds for his journey to Brentford. After many mishaps, he dresses in his beet, and proceeds to a livery stable, where he inquires of Mr. flocus, a knowing horse dealer, for a quiet animal to take him to Brentford. One is brought, and Billy tries to mount, but the horse begins kicking and gallops off with his terrified rider. We next arrive at the " Interior of a Toilur's Shop," with nine tailors stitching away, when Billy Button plunges in with his horse, smashing the window, and causing the ut- most consternation among the tailors. We then find our selves at the hustings in Brentford town. Speechmaking and heads breaking are the order of the day. The great hero of the fun arrives clinging to the neck of his steed, who, being engaged to take him to the kuetings, does so, and throws hint off there. This incident brings to his aid the Fairy Queen, who transforms the characters. STRAND. Boxing-night is to be celebrated by an entertainment lefeunded on one of Hoffman's fairy tales, and entitled Har pist and Ksng Nutcracker; or, the World of Toys. The first scene inculcates a sanitary lesson, by representing the ar rival of the spirit Malaria at the dwelling of poor Reinhold, and its ultimate defeat and disappearance, ur.der the in fluence of the fairy Abernethia, who is perpetual chair woman of the Industry and Good Health Association. Next we are taken to the Town of Toys, where King Nutcracker arrives, attended by the kernels of his various regiments, cpmposed of picked men from the best toy-boxes in the Lowther-arcade, and other equally celebrated military depots. The town is afterwards besieged by General Bonbon at the head of artillery, and a gun laden with brandy balls and a variety of other equally dangerous mis siles, such as peppermint-drops and ladies' fingers, having been discharged against the battlements, the inhabitants gladly capitulate. The anis al of the fairy Abernethia puts an end to the hostilities, and the usual transformations take place. Amongst the other exhibitions now open few will, per haps, be more popular than Mr. Wyld's Great Globe, Leicester-square, where lectures upon the Arctic Regions, the stat of war in the East, and every other incident of public importance, are added to its various other attractions• The Polytechnic Institution has its usual combination of information and amusement. The Gallery of Illustration, Regent street, continues its succession of pictorial and dioramic novelties. Mr. Albert Smith has returned with the congenial frost and snow of the last week or two, and is as amusing as ever in his descriptions of the anent of Mont Blanc. Fur the scientific and for those who delight in wax-work, there is Dr. Kahn's Anatomical Museum, and Madame Tussaud's Exhibition. Mr. Henry Hatch buys a " Tourist's Ti.ket " for the ac commodation of his visitors, whom he takes on a panoramic, musical, and descriptive tour through Ireland ; and Mrs. Gibbs, near the Polytechnic, mixes legends, traditions, anecdotes, and ballads, with her pretty scenery and descrip time of some of the wildest and most beautiful of Irish scenery. For the lovers of really fine music, there is the Hungarian Band, Adelaide Theatre. A rival promenade concert room has been opened by M. Moriato, at St. Mar tin's Hall, Long acre, and we have no doubt it will also have its full share of visitors during the holidays. In Lei cester-square, Burford's Panormnu are still as attractive as ever, the present being a very effective view of Constanti nople, with the English and French fleets and all the details of the magnificent scenery of the locality. The Colosseum and Cyclorama are so well known, and so generally ad mired, as to scarce need cur commendation. To the young holiday folk the frost will be no obstacle to a visit to the gardens of the Zoological Society, where the greater part of • forenoon may be pleasantly and profitably passed. Nor, lastly, should the exhibition of the drawings of the students in the Schools of Art, now open at Kensington Gore, be forgotten. The admission to-day will be by ticket ; afterwards it will be free. CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE WORKHOUSES.—Yester day tlie inmates of the different metropolitan and suburban workhouses wets liberally regaled wish Christmas fare. A comparison of the returns of last year shows a tendency to increase in the amount of metropolitan pauperism, although there are only three unions in which the amount of that increase is at present considerable. In St. Pancru alone there is an increase of 1,576 persons receiving relief. The total number receiving relief is at present about 100,000. CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR'S HOLIDAYS AT MAN CHESTER.—The Stock Exchange at Manchester is to be clewed today, and else on the 2nd January. Most of the large mercantile and manufActuring firms have given notice of a similar course, and these holidays are expected to be generally observed. The banks open for a few hours on account of bills falling due on those days. IMPORTATION OF COAL INTO THE PORT OF LONDON. Years. By Railway Total Tonnage. Shipping Tonnage and Canal. 1833 2,010,409 7,077 2,078,685 7,404 2,298,812 7,958 2,398,362 8,162 2,626,997 8,723 2,581,085 9,0v3 2,625,323 11,340 2,666,889 9,132 2,909,144 10,311 9,723,200 9,691 2,628,520 9,466 2,583,520 9,693 3,442,181 11,997 2,997.32.5 10,488 3,321,761 11,911 3,476,116 12,267 3,378.007 12,074 3,637,878 12,633 3,694 884 11,765 3,742,249 12,036 No returns by railway or canals. 4' 72,255 5 65,6m1 6 33,570 7 8 41,341 57,806 9 38,861 1850 84,574 1 271,312 2 411,520 TUE PRESTON STRIFE.—PREt4oN, DEC. 24. No change can yet be repoetid in the position of the con tending parties. The returns show that the number of in employed hands relieved this week was 15,781 ; last week. 13,502 ; in , '279. The amount paid to the hands this week was 2,9381. 12s last week, 2,9067. 71. h 1; increase, 301.45. 9d. 1810 of6c Still lien kno the grei the cite tie' am