The Press. — London, England, 1857-11-21 00:00:00

N0.238.—V0L.V. LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21,1857. (Tilt Vrtss. obtain no considerable loans in India. What they could squeeze out of the fears or hopes of the petty rajahs in alliance with us they have secured. But that mine—and it is not a very creditable one—was soon worked out. The necessity of an application to Parliament was, therefore, obviously a mere question of time; and with its usual fatality in all that relates to India, the Government has selected the worst time possible for the act. Its object, of course, was to stave off the evil day as long as possible ; not out of any regard to the in terests of the country, but out of a considera tion for interests far dearer to it—its own. It knew that when the public grant money, they like to have some information as to the manner in which it is to be spent ; and Ministers are not quite au fait at Indian matters, nor does Lord PALMERSTON happen, like Lord ELLENBOROUGH, to have all the ways and means and military details of an Indian campaign at his fingers' ends. The veil of secrecy the Premier saw must be withdrawn from the Cabinet's proceedings in relation to that country, and no very remarkable exhibi tion of genius would meet the eye. While, of course, some more tangible form of ex planation of the state of things there would be required by Parliament, than the con fused mass of rubbish with which the people have been overwhelmed by the Minis terial press. This was the secret of the denial that India could possibly require financial assistance from England which the Government and its organs so sedulously put forth. This was the true reason for the re ception which Lord ELLENBOROUGH'S proposi tion for an Indian loan met with in July last. This was the motive for our being told that of all the wants of the Company that of money was the least. This was the cause of our being assured that it would ask for no assist ance from England in a financial shape. The object of the Government was secured by the deception; inquiry was set at rest; and the multitude began to think comparatively little of a revolt which was not, after• all, to burden their pockets in any way. It is needless to tell the readers of this Journal that we were not deceived. We knew that the whole thing was a deliberate fraud. But it answered the pur• pose of the Government, and the sole end which Lord PALMERSTON ever has in view was served—namely, that of escaping from the difficulty of the moment, no matter at what eventual cost to the nation, or embarrassment to his successors in the conduct of affairs. A policy of this kind, however, though it may be successful for the moment, is never long without producing most bitter fruits. Dishonesty, whether public or private, always sooner or later brings on itself the necessary punishment of the offence. Nor will the pre sent case, we may be sure, prove any exception to the rule. On the contrary, there seems every probability of the heaviest retribution on all, both Government and people, who have been parties, whether actively or passively, to the affair. Money, which was plentiful in July last, is now at what may be called the panic rate. Specie, which might hava been largely exported then without much detriment to com merce, can only be sent to India now at the risk of adding greatly to our embarrassments here. The public securities in India, which might in July have very speedily recovered themselves under the influence of a loan in England, are now utterly unnegotiable, and are likely to remain ruinously depressed for a desire of the Rol ttll3 • r STAMPED .. .. SIXPENCE. lINSTAMPED -IPITEPENCE. long period to come. The Indian exchequer has, in fact, collie to that pass that it will pro bably require for years to be propped up from home. Nor is the condition of the people here now such as to make them tolerant of the increased burdens that a loan for India will entail upon them, as they might have a been found to be in last July. It is not the modi cum of glory that has been reaped there (or rather of glory's fruits, for the glory has been most abundant,) that will compensate them, not only for our great disasters, but for the heavy pecuniary price of them that will be thus imposed. Our struggling merchants and manufacturers are in no mood for paying Indian income tax ; still less are our starving artisans in any humour for additional taxation on the necessaries of life. Nor is there likely to be that feature in the proceeding which so often tends to make us bear such burdens calmly—a prospect of a speedy relief. On the contrary, unless the whole system of Indian government be soon and completely changed, it will be years before India will cease to be a deadweight on our finances, a charnel-house for our army, an ulcer eating the country's life and strength away. These are the points to which our states men, when Parliament assembles, will do well to address themselves, for these are the points on which the future of England as well as of India depends. As to thanks and rewards to our brave heroes, there will he no opposition offered to anything in reason that the Premier may propose. But it will not do to allow him to ride off from his responsibilities to the nation, upon motions for rewards for victories in which neither he nor any of the Cabinet, nor even the Governor-General of India him self, has had the slightest share. Our army in India has acted nobly, and its services cannot be overrated; but we must be careful to see that the rewards and honours intended for it be not put to other uses by those through whose hands they must officially pass. It would be too absurd for us, in the face of all Europe, to allow the laurels destined for the brows of a Wilson and a Havelock to be turned into a screen to hide the imbecilities of a Canning and a Vernon Smith. That, however, is what the Ministers are evi dently aiming at; though if the people of England be not more abject, and servile, and contemptible than the Hindoos themselves, it is an attempt in which they will most signally . r LORD PALMERSTON AND MHZ PRINCIPALITIES. ';- AT the Congress of Paris, held to detirmine the provisions of the Treaty of Peace, Lord CLARENDON warmly supported the project of the union of the Danubian Principalities. Ile agreed with Count WAtEwsxt that he con ceived the union of these provinces satisfied " the requirements brought to light" by an attentive investigation into their " true inte " rests," and he relied especially on the utility and expediency ration " the wishes wishes have beer and without er cause which ind PALMERSTON W of taking into serious conside- ishes of the es44 -7 Cl**ese een consulteg:s.. 3ndeavouring 00 •.,,,. ~ f*6 luees the Goner _,_,. ~... ..... 1 ,,. Low stronglyr • • ' r" 'ouulans, and s " '" ,l lv IF: I ' . , k, 0 . -. i ... , ...... " ' wo ... ... ...- I'l - i . ..• N--s-, LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1857. THE detailed intelligence which has reached us from Calcutta since the date of our last issue confirms to the fullest extent the esti , mate of the state of things there which we then expressed. There is no transport for our troops—the Commissariat has completely broken down—the number of tents in store is wholly inadequate—the Ordnance Department is unable to comply with the indents for guns and stores—and, to crown all, the finances are in such a condition as to make it impossi ble to carry on the contest without the assis tance of large supplies of specie from home Then, again, the army at Delhi is too much weakened to be able to follow up its success with effect ; and, if the opinion of Sir COWN CAMPBELL is to be relied on, nothing can be more critical than the position of HAVELOCK'S force at Lucknow. For all this the Govern ment of Lord PALMERSTON is directly respon sible, because it is owing solely to its obstinacy and incompetence that those counsels have been rejected which would have long since put every garrison in India in a state of safety ; which would have enabled our generals effectually to follow up the victory at Delhi; and rendered innocucus all the efforts of all the rebels at Lucknow. In regard to every point, the advice tendered by the Conservative leaders has been conspicuous for its sagacity from first to lest. They advised the establish ing the base of our operations on the Pitlijaub ; and the proclamation of the Governor-General on the taking of Delhi sets forth that the whole has been done from the Punjaub alone, no aid having been afforded by him from Bengal of any kind. They advised the opera ting in such masses as to be able wholly to erush the mutineers when they attacked them ; anti the inability to follow up the success at Delhi is the fruit of a neglect of their advice. They spoke of the great increase of moral influence and security that would arise from placing Calcutta under the guns of some men of- war ; and we find that the arrival of some war steamers, frigates, and a line-of battle ship, has done more than anything to contribute to the feeling of safety that now pervades that city. They advised in July the raising of a loan at once for India ; and though the suggestion was then rejected, the Government has been obliged to adopt the plan at last. Then, however, the Money Market was easy—now it is tight: and then a loan in aid of India might have saved the public securities there from that ruinous de pression to which, owing to the shifts that the Indian Government was put to, they after wards fell. Of course the determination to call Parlia ment together on the 3rd pro:eino affords us no surprise. We knew that the Company's legal powers of borrowing in England would soon be exhausted, and that they would LATEST EDITION. :*".‘ ; 1 •