The Press. — London, England, 1858-02-06 00:00:00

- 3''-~''~~~. ~d+ • • I %~= ~+,yw;.;. ~, . ~q, ije•c ~4 . t0.•10.,1411.111 1 1.11'... , * , .....”...M 1 / 4 1,...", 'of '''.."...."."1:".."41.,;'...: ' 4:•.,; ‘ A l, - -. :11 , 1 4 0. 1141 14 - 1 , ‘. s . .! , 04 . 7.79 ", . . I .. f ..,..... "4 7 ' ../t e 1 . •. 7 1 etrolri')!.ar. %I. ;Pc.n 11,. ,. // 1 /. fe - 11 - * s . T : • • . ,• • Imi P.I .. i '• ~ :. 1 1).:•'• i: L: t : . „ ,:'' 4,,,,i6-' _,....,w, .1 •I . ! : 1 I k:: t 1-L.'-1171'13 t4l JP! .P4ll ' )• - No. 249.—V0L. VI. g't V rtss. the Noble Earl's speech, and to contrast it with the warnings so repeatedly uttered by the Conservative leaders, without feeling that we had heard the last of Liberal foresight and Conservative faction. LONDON, SATURDAY, FEDRUARY G, 1858. The Premier seems, indeed, a victim to that species of recklessness which is thought by the superstitious to be a forerunner of disso lution. Not satisfied with outraging the coun try by his Cabinet appointments, he has given deep offence within the walls of Parliament by his contemptuous silence on the great questions of the day. He refused any infor mation upon India or Reform in December labt, because Parliament had met for other business. That business is disposed of, but ho is still as uncommunicative as ever. He has almost openly declared that he will not have his measures discussed by the public one day, if he can help it, before their submis sion to Parliament ' • and of the reckless rapidity with which he seeks to hurry them through the House when once brought in we do not require to be reminded. None share more largely in the dissatisfaction created by this conduct than Lord JOHN RUSSELL. Par liament and the public have both a right to Tea men should mistake the tendency of their own conduct and the character of their own motives while in the full career of action is so common as to be almost a law of human nature. So far does this self-deception emend, that we sometimes find people railing at the very practices of which they themselves are the most conspicuous examples. Who inite unconsciously point their own moral and adorn their own tale ; who on a retro spect of any past portion of their lives are astonished to see their conduct in its true colours; and to feel how completely, while denouncing this or that doctrine or policy, they were objecting only to the letter, while LONDON SATURDAY , FEBRUARY 6,1858. STAMPED I 7 _SIXPENCE. NSTAMPED..FIVEPENCE day; now telling us that the Company was to be abolished, now that it was to be retained, again that there was to be a clean sweep made of it, and still again that hardly any change was to be proposed—while those who were most boisterous in favour of annexations and resumptions are now most vociferous in de claring all this to be a mistake, and those who were for nothing less than exterminating the natives are now adducing the addresses of these natives as the best evidence of their title to public confidence and support—while such is the mean and contemptible position of the Ministerial camp, we have reason to be proud and thankful that we have nothing to modify, nothing to explain, and nothing to retract. From the beginning our course has been clear and consistent, because from the beginning we were guided by conviction and principle in what we wrote. It is, indeed, a subject of triumph to us that those who at one time took such pains to misrepresent us, should now have become such fervent con verts to our views—views which were not the result of momentary impulse, but have been clearly and constantly put f by us before the public for the last fosse him a considerable section of the more ad vanced Liberals is the hope of a sweeping Reform Bill. He has allowed a report to be cir culated that such is the nature of the measure he proposes to introduce. We believe that it is so. But whether it will ever be carried is a totally distinct question. But, however this may be, it is quite evident that ere long the Premier must renounce the double game he has been playing so successfully. The sus picions of the regular Reformers are fully aroused; the defection of influential journals representing the opinions of this party is marked ; and is a source, we believe, of con siderable annoyance to the Government. Everything indicates that the Premier will be brought to bay; that the country is weary of his tricks, and no longer duped by bis preten sions. China and India have opened our eyes to the truth ; and, sooner or later, the people will demand a Government which, whatever qualification it may lack, shall posdess the one virtue of sincerity. LEGISLATION ON INDIA. WHILE the Ministers and their ally, Lord SHAFTESBURY, are busy recanting their stories of Indian atrocities, invented to inflame the nation, and shifting round from one extreme to the other to suit the popular gale—while those who had been loudest in praising the perfections of the Double Government are now foremost in declaring it to be the cause of all our mishaps—while the special organs of the Premier have been changing their notes as to what is to bo the future of India, as public opinion seemed to vary from day to pany, who &is now so earnestly plying for inquiry, contributed very much to that malt. Nor has the subsequent course of the Conser vative party been inconsistent with the princi ples they then upheld. Without offering any factious opposition to the Government, they have not hesitated to state their views upon India in Parliament, as often as occasion for doing so arose. Nor have their organs been silent as to the opinions which they professed. They had thus long since become the recognised depositaries of that policy in regard to India which unites Conservatism and Progress in the highest degree. Conservatism in the shape of an entire abstention from annexations, re sumptions, confiscation of family jaghires or pensions, or interference with native rights or creeds in any way; Progress in the emancipation of land from the fetters that bind it, the facilitating the establishment of freeholds, an entire freedom both of thought and action, and the extension to all of the benefit of equal laws and competent and inde pendent judicial tribunals, which are the ne cessary foundation in every country for social advancement and material wealth. Our object has not been to make an India for the Eng lish, or an India for the natives, but an India for all. The empire is large enough for every lace and class, and there is not the slightest reason, therefore, for their interests to be con flicting. On the contrary, the interests of all, if only rightly understood, each other inseparably • public offices the ns and the qualification tires are so opposite possible that their clash. Under these cir(' no dread as to the ing India in Conservative - - -- - - lerstood, are bound up with .ably ; and even in regard to iature of these is so vari u ons of Europeans oNnito te, as to make la t i e.. it pretensions ;mil s : OttliF •,-,•- rr. -,- • • r-•:,-.7- - , i :'-- 0y..., _ k , zumstanees wp...eosilAgiek ~...( 1; result of legis f• .. • • -,, ..,..- ‘' ervative hand. •:, .-. .. - ''' - • s; .- 0 ' C%''•C •-ri i ........cv j 10.. 1 .?,,,,,, v p • - ... ip ),,yk t4 *-.... 4 at the donser;itives, as if theijitere its more special representatives ; ate' in point of organisation and defined" litift ciples the accusation might certainly be just. But if we desire to see those less favourable qualities which are said to be inherent in the system in full operation, we must turn to the conduct, not of its friends, but of its enemies . The sleepless acrimony and disingenuous detraction with which the Liberals have for years sought to blacken every man who bore the name of Conservative stand in curious contrast to their professed repudiation of party. None have benefited so much as the Liberals by the weapons they professed to abhor ; none have suffered so much as the Conservatives from the system they have con scientiously upheld. But there are signs of a change in public opinion. As one by one Conservative pre dictions have been roalised.—as one by one Conservative statesmen have appropriated the leading social questions of the day—as one by one the boasted qualifications of their opponents have appeared in their true light, and blunder after blunder astonished and incensed the public—there has gra dually grown up a feeling that the delusion has lasted long enough, and that it is not worth while to imperil the prosperity of the empire for the sake of keeping in such Liberals as Lord PALMERSTON, or excluding such Conservatives as Lord DERBY. The tone of the public press in relation to last Thursday night is highly significant. It cannot he concealed that the old faith in their idol is vanishing. Nor was the concurrent applause which followed the speech of Lord DERBY in the House of Lords a less gratifying indication that the Conservative party is ac• (Luning the confidence of the Legislature. It was, indeed, impossible to listen to the search lug exposure of mismanagement contained in . • 0' • A.l 4 J