The Press. — London, England, 1857-10-31 00:00:00

THE PRESS, OCTOBER 31,1857. ring to the year 1852, on his first entry into Parlia ment, Mr. Du Cane remarked that we had then a Ministry in power who, to judge from the legislative results they left behind them, had recollected and acted upon the maxim " Never postpone till to morrow that which you can perform to-day " : We have now a Ministry in power who, if we are to judge them by the legislative results that session after session they leave behind them, appear to have ever before their eyes the converse of the proposition, and delight in " never performing to-day that which they can succeed in postponing till the morrow." Five years ago, too, we Con servatives of Essex had leaders whom we could follow, statesmen in whom we could place confidence ; we had moreover broad and definite distinctions of party. We are new told that party distinctions are at an end, that we have no confidence in our leaders or our leaders in us, and that one man, and one alone, is fit to preside over the desti nies of our country. But, though I trust I shall never lay myself open to the charge of factious hostility to any Minis try that may be in power, though at a national crisis like the present I shall ever be ready, heart and soul, to assist all measures I conceive calculated to crush the foulest of rebellions, and exact a signal justice for the outraged honour of my country, I must confess that I do not feel myself called upon utterly to abnegate all party ties, or tender a blind and implicit allegiance to a Palmerstonian dictatorship. (Loud cheers.) In our anxiety for India, we must not entirely lose sight of the progress of domestic legislation— and here I must say, that if Lord Palmerston has Conservative principles at heart, he is I fear an adept in the somewhat jesuitical maxim " That language was made to conceal thought"—for it is seldom if ever that he has them on his lips. And I say this, that the man who, with one set of principles at his heart and another on his lips, attempts to guide the cause and restrain the vagaries of a miscellaneous following for the most part cf no principle at all, does so with the sword of a Damocles suspended over his devoted head—that man can only maintain his position by repeated conces sions on vital points of policy, a course damaging alike to his own political reputation and to a public confidence in public men. Look for instance at the progress of his Church legislation. It was well said by Sydney Smith of the late Lord Melbourne, " That he was quite satisfied with the Church as it stood, but if the public had any desire to alter it, why in God's name let them do so." I say to you, " Ex uno disce omnes ;" as with one Whig Premier so with another; the mantle of a Melbourne fits well on the shoulders of a Palmerston. He can change his front with the dexterity of a Protens, he can avoid a pitched battle with the caution of a Fabius, by Conserva tive aid he can defy the ballot, and laugh to scorn any sweeping wholesale measure of Reform ; but he will not raise a huger to preserve the Christian character of our legislative assembly; he can view with indifference the slow but fatal process of Church spoliation. We have a House of Lords, it is true, who have the spirit and the courage to defend those interests we are nigh powerless to guard, but as with Irish ministers' money this year, so possibly it may with English church•rate next year, until step by step, and stone by stole, the foundation is under mined, and the fabric crushes in ruin on our heads. (Loud cheers.) With reference to the revolt in India, Mr. Du Cane congratulated his hearers upon the brighter news dawning on us, but he protested against accordin g an unlimited confidence in Government : The man's heart must be cold indeed that does not re joice at the brighter nature of our last intelligence ; that does not join a fervent hope that each succeeding mail may bring us intelligence of a similar character, and that step by step—slowly perhaps, but not the less surely—those who have earned for themselves the appel:ation of fiends in human shape, will be made to feel the stern and un compromising weight of an English justice. It is, in deed, a signal and terrible retribution that we must exact, and while we deprecate the idea of an indiscriminate ven geance, let no one doubt for a moment that it will be exacted to the utmost limit accordant with the justice of a Christian and a civilised nation. But, in the. name of justice also, do I deprecate the tone that has been assumed by certain organs of the press as regards those whose con scientious scruples lead them in any way to differ in opi nion as to the course pursued from the first by her Ma jesty's Ministers. We are told in the history of our country, that in days long since past any one who ventured to express the slightest disbelief in the existence of that bloodstained romance, the Popish plot, was held up to public odium as a " stiller of the plot," and denounced as a traitor• to his king and country ; and so in these days, any one who presumes for a moment to question the doc trine of " Palmerstouian infallibility " is denounced at once as factious and unpatriotic, and as seeking to make a national crisis the vehicle for a display of party feeling. Now, that any man who would, nom mere motives of faction, seek every opportunity to harass the Government in a crisis like the present, who would oppose their mea sures for patty purposes, and endeavour to extract poli tical capital from their embarrassments—that such a man would be most deservedly open to a charge of want of patriotism, lam ready most fully to admit. But when am told that it is the duty of every true patriot to accord to the Ministry of Lord Palmerston not only an act of ob livion and of absolution as regards the past, but an act too of unlimited indulgence as regards the future—when I am told, too, that unless we subscribe an unhesitating assent to all that issues from the mouth of the oracle, we are seeking in the oracle's own somewhat memorable words " to make the humiliation and degradation of our country a stepping-stone to power," then say I, as a humble mem• Mr. J. W. BULLER, M.P., proposed the next reso lution, recognising " the unshaken fidelity of several native princes and of the great bulk of the native population of India." He trusted that we should see our Indian empire soon restored to English rule and to the blessings of good order and government, that for the future we should rule India on the same broad principles as we ruled our own great country, and that while we allowed the fullest toleration, and permitted every man to enjoy his own religious opinions, we should not miss an opportunity properly and legitimately to support what we believed to be the truth. Mr. BALDWIN FULFORD seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously. Mr. C. TRUTHS, M.P., proposed, and Mr. Simi- FAST seconded, the resolution to assist to the utmost the efforts that are making for the relief of the suf ferers by the rebellion. The motion was carried with acclamation. Sir J. DUCKWORTH moved that a subscription be set on foot in the county, which was seconded by Sir J. KENNAWAY, and agreed to. A committee was then appointed; and at the close of the meeting the High Sheriff received upwards of 1,2001. Meetings continue to be held throughout the country, and the most liberal subscriptions made from all quarters. MR. BERESFORD AND MR. DU CANE AT SAFFRON WALDEN. THE Right Hon. W. Beresford and Mr. Du Cane met their constituents at Saffron Walden, on Saturday last. Mr. BERESFORD, in the course of his speech on this occasion, said that two questions would he pro minent in the next session—lndia and Reform. As regarded his approximation to Lord Palmerston's views with reference to the present crisis, be was not "one whit a Whig the more" than he was twelve months ago. When he said he did not think it would be right, in the present crisis, to harass a Government which he firmly believed was doing the best it could in that crisis, he would remind them that there were Whig questions, which if put forward he should take his stand against, in defence of the Conservative and agricultural interest. If a Whig Ministry should bring forward any radical motions, who would be so forward and so ready to rush to the rescue as he ; but he did know that the empire of England in the East was threatened at this time; and he did also know this, that the present Minister was most anxious to save that jewel in the British crown. With regard to the Reform Bill, to a certain degree at least, it was a dangerous measure, for if upon a stiff incline they put a large stone in motion, they could not tell how far it might go, nor whom it might strike in its progress. He was not, however, in opposition to the remedying of existing evils when he said that the present Reform Bill was a dangerous experiment ; but he must assert that he was not perfectly enamoured with the projected Reform Bill. He remembered it was brought forward for political purposes, and with a view to the annihilation of the Tory interest, and therefore how could he be greatly enamoured of that measure? With regard to India as a military or parliamentary question, he did not think they could fathom the causes of the present awful outbreak—but their duty now was to put it dawn ; they were to punish the guilty so as to prevent its happening again, but not with vengeance. Yet while he deprecated indiscriminate slaughter he asked for justice. As to the future he could say but little, for when they had put out the rebellion and quenched the mutiny it would be no easy matter to say how India should be governed : Whatever had been the faults of England, its rule of India had been mild to a degree in comparison with that of its native princes ; and that, he feared, had indirectly rsther tended to the promotion of the rebellion than to checking it. He feared there had been faults in the Go vernment of India ; he feared it was too true that acts of tyranny had been perpetrated. But, admitting the very worst, English rule in India had been that of a paternal nature, instead of the most absolute despotism and tyranny. He believed the great sin they had committed was in keeping the Bible out of the Government schools. He was no advocate for proselytising the people, but from the schools under the patronage of a professedly Christian nation the Bible ought not to have been excluded. The Bishop of Oxford might perhaps call this timidity, but he ( Mr. Beresford) looked upon it as a recreant denial of the Saviour and his Gospel. They should not force religion down the throat of the Hinioo, but they should never draw hack and deny that which they believed to be sacred and true. In conclusion, the right hon. gentleman explained his recent speech at Castle Hedingham, with a view "to set himsllt right with his constituents." He bad spoken in support of Lord Palmerston because he thought that his Government was doing " the best it could" in the present crisis. Mr. C. Du CANE, who was very warmly received, then addressed the meeting at some length. Refer- 1059 ber of the Conservative party, that if that be patriotism, I will have none of it. [ hold that in a crisis like the present, it is the duty of an Opposition to accord their utmost assistance to the Ministry of the day, so long as they believe that Ministry to be in earliest; but if it should appear, as it did during the past session, that they are failing to realise the importance of the emergency, that they are mistaking both the magnitude and the direction of the movement, then say that the leaders of the Opposition would be no true patriots if they did not openly and fearlessly sound to the country the voice of warning. This is the course that has been pursued by the Oppo sition since the commencement of this c3ntest. Yon may trace it in the speeches of Mr. Disraeli and Sir John Pakington—you may view it in the eloquence of Sir E. B. Lytton, and in the noble heart-stirring appeal of Lord Ellenborough. This is the course, I trust, they will par sue to its termination. It is a course that I for one unhesitatingly pledge myself to support them in, believing, that in so doing, they will be pursuing a course at once conservative and patriotic, redounding to their own honour, an 3 maintaining the dignity of their sovereign and their country. (Loud cheers.) The hon. member resumed his seat amidst hearty and long-continued cheers. FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE. Tuesday, October 27. BANKRUPTS.—DAVID Ma/minimum, Minories, City, impor ter of foreign goods—lsaac Rose, Tooley-street, Southwark, jeweller—Slß SAMUEL HANCOCK, KW., Emmett% Eden-bridge, Kent, cattle -dealer and sheep salesman—BENJAMlN HAYDEN, Bermondsey street, Bermondsey, linen draper—Tuomas Songs- VILLE, Abbey-nursery, Garden-road, St. John's-wcod' nursery man, seeosman, and florist—Jews Itinee, Jun., Leadenhall street, City, tailor—JOHN BENJAMIN LINOS and JOHN LINOS, H igh-st reet, Southwark, cheesemongers—HENßY INOALL, Crutched•fliars, City, wine merchant and 6eneral commission agent—JEREMIAH SELF, Crown-inn, Bishop's Waltham, Hants, innkeeper—PATßlCK MONAGHAN, Wolverhampton, newspaper proprietor—Cnaates WILLIAM KERBY, Nottingham, contractor —DAVID OLIVER, Grange-mill. Kinoberworth, Yorkshire, miller —JOHN WILKINSON, Warrington, Lancashire, grocer-4°BElm Wool:, Salford, timber merchant—JOSHUA NICHOLSON, Hexham, Northumberland, butcher and cattle dealer. SCOTCH SEQUESTRATION.— bangs DURNO, SIM* )rumbitele, farmer. Friday, October 30. A: IhLL, Bristol BANKRUPTCY ANNU. cabinet maker. BANKRUPTS.—GEORGE W. STEVENSON, Fore-street, Cripplegate, general merchant —WlLLlAM TREEBY CHAFE, Davonport, ironfounder —SAMUEL MENDEL : Fenchurch-street, commission agent—GEonas: GOSSLINO, Upper Bermerton street, Middlesex, baker—JEREMIAH SELF, Bishop's Waltham, Southampton, innkeeper—WlLLlAM Pt/exalt - row, Barge-yard Chambers, litleklerSbary, commission agent—SAMEEL RAWNS LEY, Halifax, brush manufacturer—GEOßGE BAKER, Fulham, Middlesex, flour factor—EDWARD ROGERS, aswestry, draper— WILLIAM E. WATERS. Haverstock-street, City-road, milliner— THOMAS G. WHITE, Aldermanbury, lace warehouseman—JAMES CLCREE, Kingsland, timber merchant—EDWlN and WIILIAH SUNDERLAND, irldbury,Worcester, bill Wawa—ROBERT HINDRY MASON, Sunderland, printer—JAMES MUSTO. JOSEPH MUSTO, and ROBERT W. Mono, Cambridge-road, Mile-end, Middlesex, millwrights—JOHN WOOLSEY, Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, ironmonger-oEollos TINDALL, Wickenby, Lincolnshire. wheel- Wright—WILLIAM ALLts - ros LAMPRELL, Long•lane, City, car penter—HENßY WHITMORE, Stockport, tailor—HENßY HASTOW, Manchester, mercer and draper. SCOTC II SEQUESTRAT !GK.—thou:a, linarnz and Co., Glagow, merchants. THE ANNUAL REPORT of Dr. Letheby upon the state of the public health in the city of London presents some features of interest. It appears that the mortality last year was 286 less than the average. Out of the City population of 130,000 there died in the course of last year 2,904 nersons. The yearly mortality used to reach 3,763. In comparative longevity, while the mean age of death in all London among adult males is a little less than 51 years, the merchant, shopkeeper, and domestic servant will live to be nearly 57 years old ; the butcher, poulterer, and fishmonger about 53, and most of the other classes from 50 to 52 ; though the painter, dyer, costermonger, hawker, bargeman, and waterman survive only from 48 to 49 ; the printer and com. positor to hut 45, and the baker and confectioner only to 42. Among females the difference of occupation is not so striking except in the cases of the wives of cabmen and publicans, who, instead of living to the mean age of 55, die at 49, and the poor needlewoman, who sinks into the grave at the average age of 40. The mean age at death of adult males in the City is 51, and of females 55. Each class of persons appear to have its own prevailing malady. Thus— phthisis seems to be the chief disease of needle women, printers, bakers, cabmen, and policemen ; fever prevails most amongst domestic servants, needlewomen, and cabmen ; bronchitis and pneu. mbnia among labourers, painters, butchers, coster. mongers, and hawker`; brain disease among pub licans, porters, watermen, and bargemen ; and liver diseases are the especial attribute of the publican : there is a significance in all this, for it points to the peculiar habits of the different classes, and indicates how much is to be effected by prudence and self control. Cizrax KELSO, of Salt-bill, Windsor, was ridden over by a tailor last Monday, while crossing the Slough-road, and killed on the spot. The coroner jury have returned a verdiet of " Manslaughter against the tailor.