The Press. — London, England, 1857-08-29 00:00:00

THE WEEK. PARLIAMENT was prorogued yesterday, and the Queen's Speech was delivered by Royal Commission, It may perhaps be regretted, in the presence of the portentous events in India, that her Majesty's Ministers did not advise the Queen to deliver the Speech from the Throne. Yet in scanning the official document prepared by her Mikiesty's advisers it may be said that so weak and inefficient a com• position could scarcely have gained in strength even if delivered virts voce by the August Personage on the Throne. Never was a Royal Speech (it is now the received doctrine that it is the speech of the Cabinet for the time being) so decidedly unequal to the occasion. The first paragraph thanks the two Houses in conventional terms ; the second expresses cheerful views of the state of Europe; the third is a diplomatic refer ence to the Principalities, and to the due execution of the Treaty of Paris, which may mean anything or nothing; and it is not until the fourth paragraph is reached that the " extensive mutinies " are mentioned. Her Majesty is made by the Ministers to declare "her extreme concern" at those events, followed by " serious dis turbances," and then, rising into a style more suited to the occasion, the Queen is made to say that " the barbarities inflicted upon many " of her Majesty's subjects in India, and the sufferings which they " have endured, have filled her Majesty's heart with the deepest " grief." The conduct of the civil and military officers is then complimented in conventional terms. It would have been more cheering to the sufferers in India if the royal sympathy had been expressed upon the Throne, but there is evidently a designed under toning of the whole document. as if the Ministers wished to " hush up " the rebellion. In the next p trae,raph, the Queen is made to refer to these •• grave disorders," and the royal confidence is expressed that with the " powerful means at her disposal " she will be enabled to quell the mutiny. It would leave been judicious to have added a few words to the effect indicating that, if necessary, her Majesty would before Christmas again summon her faithful Lords and Commons, and expressing confidence that she might rely on their loyal assistance. A grateful acknowledgment of the liberal provision made for the Princess Royal follows, and her Majesty then expresses her satisfaction at the labours of the session ; and here the most ludicrous effort is made to exaggerate the work of Ministers. Typo- graphical artifices are employed in order to give an appearance of business accomplished. That Act, which we all remember from our childhood, for " Consolidating and Amending the Law relating to Bank ruptcy and Insolvency in Ireland " receives the honour of a special paragraph standing by itself, as if it were a great measure of legislative ability, instead of a mere amendment upon many an old law. The same respect is paid to other secondary subjects, and twenty-two lines are absorbed in expressing the meaning of one. In short, the entire Speech is feeble and diffuse, and utterly unequal to the emergencies of the time, as if the Ministers were not even yet penetrated with the immense responsibility devolving on them. But a want of firmness, dignityjand tone is not the only fault of the Royal Speech. It entirely omits all reference to the state of our affairs in China and in Persia. This omission is most remarkable in both cases. It was only the ()tiler night that the Noble Lord at the head of the Government expressed the strongest doubts of the good faith of Persia, and pointed out the absolute necessity of our retaining at Bushire a powerful force as a cheek against the evident unwillingness of the Shah to evacuate Herat. To say the least of it, our relations with Persia are critical ; and after the grave expressions of doubt which fell from the Prime Minister last week, the country in the presznee of the existing rebellion in India would have been glad for some reassurance upon the point. The silence of the Government at such an opportunity is extremely ominous. But to tura to Canton. Are our relations with the Government of China in so settled and satisfactory a state as not even to need an allusion. Have all those "acts of violence," "insults to the British " flag," and "infraction of treaty rights," so prominently announced in the Royal Speech of .Tanuary, been atoned for; or has that " pertina cious refusal of redress" been followed by the full satisfaction demanded ? Since the announcement in January that " measures of force " had been taken to " insure satisfaction," our merchants, driven out of Canton, have for nine months been cooped up at Hong Kong, our factories at Canton have been razed to the ground, we have had some horrible massacres of individuals, some gallant boat actions and great slaugh ter, and we have despatched a special plenipotentiary to bring affairs to an issue. All these events are ignored in the Royal Speech. Surely the promptitude of her Majesty's Ministers, who, dealing with an event that occurred in November, had, by the August following, with the wisdom and energy for which they are pre-eminent, despatched a plenipotentiary and six gunboats to avenge the national honour, de served a passing tribute. By this omission the country will under stand the real value Lord PALMERSTON places upon that Canton quarrel, which we were told so dearly involved the national honour. No satis faction has been obtained, no redress has been given, and the subject is put aside in the Royal Speech to make room for a common Parlia mentary list of amendments and measures. The news from India brought by the last mail is " horrible and " heartrending" There is no other name for it. Delhi not taken ; General BARNARD dead ; the cholera in the camp our soldiers dying; Sir HENRY LAWRENCE killed by the rebels ; and Sir Hroa WHEELER, THE PRESS, AUGUST 29,1857. one of the noblest and most capable of our Indian Generals, a victim of the fearful massacre at Cawnpore. In this bloody fate every sol dier of the garrison and 240 English women and children have shared. Again, at Agra, after an " obstinate battle," we have lost 140 killed and wounded out of the small garrison, and from their having had recourse to the desperate measure of a sortie. Then we have a mutiny and a massacre at Sealkote, and a rising at Hyderabad. This is terrible intelligence. Let us not attempt to deceive ourselves. It is pregnant with matter for the gravest reflection. In the first place, what is our condition before Delhi. a. fortnight since we were told that we had 13,000 men before the city, and that the assault was imminent. The truth has now come out. We have 2,000 men before Delhi, and we have the cholera in the camp. The rebels, better stored, better fed, and better sheltered, continue their occasional !sorties ; our men are harassed to death, the rains have set in, and, if we may credit the general opinion of well-informed persons in India, Delhi will not be captured for some months. If we pass from Delhi to Cawnpore, a terrible disaster appals us The gallant WHEELER, with his heroic band, surrounded by thousands of bloodthirsty fanatics, has succumbed, after a noble defence, to meet a horrible fate. Lucknow, it is true, holds out; but it is straitened for provisions; the Governor is driven to sorties to keep off the hordes which surround the defences, and they have lost their noble leader. In a word, its position is not reassuring, for we dare scarcely hope that General HAVELOCK will be able to leave NANA SAHIB in his rear and push forward to its relief. But if the position of Luckuow is far from satis factory, that of Agra is most critical. The garrison, after an obstinate battle, driven within its walls, and surrounded by 10,000 mutineers, who, sweeping the country from Neemuch, have swelled their ranks with every vagabond within reach, and pant for the plunder of the town and the massacre of our heroic soldiers. For the rest, there is too little detail yet for us to pronounce upon the mutiny at Sealkote, the rising at Hyderabad, or the disposition of the Punjaub, on the one hand, and of Bombay and Madras upon the other. But this great fact is now clear to us, the rebels sweep the province of Bengal, and though they recoil from our terrible bayonets, those, alas ! are too few and too scattered to maintain any definite ascendancy. In a word, our position is most hazardous. It is true that, with the exception of Agra, we have defeated the rebels wherever we have come in contact with them; but the success of General HAVELOCK in the recapture of Cawnpore was only purchased after three desperate engagements. This at least proves NANA SAHIB to be nut easily disconcerted, and to have both the will, the capacity, and the means to give our generals serious trouble. Yet it is not so much the force of the rebels that we dread—we won our ground in the face of greater odds ; but it is the thought that pestilence and famine as well as battle may thin their scattered ranks, may strike down the bravest hearts, and render them in camp, in town, or in garrison, an easy prey to cruel massacre. It is this that we dread, that they will be worn out before relief is afforded, and a Cabul massacre repeated. It is this dread, as a morning contemporary well expresses it, which makes every earnest man " writhe with impa tience " at the flippancy with which in anticipation the great deeds of the army, now scattered at sea, are boldly foretold when concentrated at Calcutta. Our soldiers and civilians—nay, our very women and children—at this moment display under terrible catastrophe and disaster the most illustrious example of fortitude and daring ; but before relief can reach them from England, their very bones may whiten the plains of Bengal, and instead of suc couring the besieged, we may find that we have Hindostan to re conquer. The country must arouse itself to a full sense of the danger which threatens our very existence in India, and of the terrible fate our countrymen are so gallantly struggling against. The rebellion we may rely upon it is not yet exhausted ; the flame is burning slowly, but alas surely, and may yet wrap the whole of Hindostan in its em brace. The troops sent omit are not adequate to the crisis. We must have an expedition up the Indus—the whole country from the Indus to Delhi is favourable to military operations during the rainy season— and we should despatch the troops with all haste across the Isthmus of Suez. If that fatal inertness of the Government which has brought such misfortune and disasters to our doors is persisted in, and entire reliance rested upon the troops despatched, the country must ho prepared to submit to the most serious sacrifices, and to encounter heartrending calamities. For some time past there have been many reports that a large increase to the Peerage was intended. It was said that her Majesty would in this fashion celebrate the completion of the first twenty years of her august reign. Some said that the marriage of the Princess Royal, others that the majority of the Prince of WALES would be the occasions on which the prerogative of the Crown would be employed. The journals have discussed the subject, and a leading one has attempted to cajole Lord JOHN RUSSELL into consenting to become a Peer. His position we have discussed separately. With respect to the number of new Peers there are various reports. Lord ROBERT GROSVENOR is certainly to be one, in fulfilment of a former promise. The name of Sir FRANCIS BARING is mentioned, but that family already has a title in it, and we are not aware that its public services would justify a second ennobling. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE. it is said, will be raised to the rank of Duke, taking the title of Kerry. A Scotch Peer is spoken of for further promotion and a Scotch Baronet is also mention as about to receive an English Barony. The Earl of LISTOWEL also (nephew to General WiNneam) is not unlikely to obtain an English Barony. For two generations Lord LISTOWEL'S family has held places about the Court, and his Lordship joins the Marquis of LasspowNE and Earl of KENMARE in nominating the members for Kerry. He was severely wounded at the battle of the