The Press. — London, England, 1858-02-20 00:00:00

172 had nothing to do with the question at issue. They are loud in their abuse of the Oude Administration under its native Sovereign, and in their assertions of the imbecility exhibited by the King. The ground is not a very wise one in the partisans of the Ministera to take up, because it would be difficult to show how the King's Government could have been worse than their own, as portrayed in the Bengal Missionary Memorial, the minutes of Mr. HALLIDAY, and the Torture Report of Madras. Still more unwise is it to do so in the face of the actual condition of Oude. For the natives of the province, who must surely be the hest judges of the matter, have pronounced their opinion unmistakeably as to the relative value of the two Governments, by rising as one man in favour of that of the King, and endeavour ing, at the peril of their lives, to shake oar own Government off. It is useless to tell us what Colonel OUTRAM or Colonel SLEEMAN thought, in the face of such facts as these. Indeed, as to tiolonel OUTRAM, every one knows that he was wholly unacquainted with Oude before being appointed Resident, and went there with a mind made up for its annexation in accordance with the views which Lord DALHOUSIE had conveyed to him when he named him for the post. It is not usual for Parliament to call for the production of private letters ; but if it could have before it the one addressed by the Noble Marquis to Colonel OUTRAM at Aden, when he intimated to him his intended appointment, and spoke of " the sick man " on his hands with whom Colonel OUTRAM would have to deal, it would easily see that our information on this point is correct. As to Colonel SLEEMAN, if his opinion was latterly in favour of annexation, it had pre viously been the reverse; and his former views were more likely to be valuable than his latter ones, when his intellect had been weakened by illness, to be at last by paralysis broken down. But it is not what may be thought by colonels of a foreign race, ever ready to engage in the work of spoliation, that we are to con sider, but what is thought by the people of the country themselves; and their own view of the matter they have now given utterance to in a most decisive shape. We wonder, indeed, that any man of sense could dream of attaching to the opinions of such politicals in favour of annexation at.y considerable weight. For every one knows that Indian colonels }sliding high official appointments must agree with the Governor-General, unless they would revert to regimental duty and its compara tively miserable pittance, giving up the posts of honour and influence and vast emoluments which they possess. Colonel (firm/of did, to be sure, differ with one Governor-General, the Earl of ELLENBOROUGH ; but he took care not to go into opposition to him till he had lost his place. Up to that moment he was quite ready to carry out the Noble Earl's measures, which he afterwards spoke of with such viru knee ; it was only after he had been re manded to regimental duty that he discovered how iniquitous (though we, of course, do not think them so) those measures were. Can we, indeed, have a better proof of what annex ing colonels are capable of, than that which has lately been afforded us by the colonels of our worthy ally, the present Sovereign of France? If their opinion as to the justice and propriety of annexing England was to be adopted, how long would it be before we re mained free from the attempt? Have they not given quite as good reasons, according to their own opinion, for invading this country, as were given by our own colonels for the annexation of Oude? And can any one doubt that if their power were equal to their will, and they were really able to conquer England, they would have the slightest difficulty in fra'ning any number of reports afterwards to justify the act? How unsafe was pri vate property here might be shown by the Tinges' own description of garottes and burgla ries at Notting-hill ; details of Regent-street and the Haymarket might be brought forward to show our vice; while, with the aid of a little embellishment iu regard to our work houses and our prisons, it would be equally easy to establish our cruelty to suffering poverty, and our sympathy with crime. Why, it was but the night before last that Colonel THE PEESS, FEBRUARY 20, 1858. SYKES told the House of Commons that he had seen more misery in one small street in London, than in a whole Indian province. We are sure that any man of sense must see the fallacy of such arguments, and the folly and iniquity of annexation or invasions based on them. But even supposing that every detail of misgovernment in Oude was to be accepted as gospel that emanates from such interested sources, still tho ques tion as regards our proceedings there would be left precisely where it was. For, as Lord JOHN MANNERS clearly showed, if the country was misgoverned and the,. King was imbecile, there existed under a treaty, acknowledged previously as valid by both parties, ample means of remedying the defect. Under the Treaty of 1837, which had been duly ratified by Lord AUCKLAND—which had been confirmed by the Directors, except in regard to certain provisos, in which the alteration had not been adverse, but favourable to the interests of the King—which had been acted upon both by Lord ELLENBOROUGH and Lord HARDINGE, and which had been embodied in the collection of Indian treaties laid upon the table of the House of Lords—under this treaty the Go vernonGeneral was furnished with full powers to take all the necessary steps for securing, if need he, the future good government of Oude. This he might have done without trenching in the slightest degree on the rights of the Royal Family or the institutions of the State. He was entitled under it to place any portion or the whole of the Oude territories under the management of British officers as long as he might deem necessary ; and to in troduce any reforms into the Administration which he might think it desirable to intro duce. The entire cost of such reforms he was empowered to deduct from :he Oude revenue ; the only thing he was not entitled to do was to abolish the dynasty, destroy the institu tions of the country, and appropriate the sur plus revenue to British use. Everything necessary to secure the best interests of the kingdom he was fully authorised to do; and if that had been the object of the Governor- General, he had in the Treaty of 1837 the fullest powers lying ready to his hand. It is needless, however, to say that it was the surplus revenue of Gude and not the in terests of the people that our Government cared for. That, indeed, its organs at the period unblushingly proclaimed. Nor did the Governor-General, in the famous minute recapitulating the fruits of his administration, forget to dwell upon a topic so agreeable to the sordid mind. Fourteen hundred and fifty thousand pounds were added annually to our wealth, he told us, by the annexation of Oude. Then there was, besides, the plunder of the palaces and of the treasury of the King. We read the other day of the vast amount of royal jewels brought away by the army under Sir COLIN CAMPBELL from the Residency at Lueknow, where they had been under seques tration; and many more had before been sent to Calcutta and sold. There was, besides, a large sum in ready cash. How the seizure of all this royal property, and the appropriation of it to British uses, was to serve the people of the country with whose sufferings our Go vernment affected so deep a sympathy, it would puzzle the most ingenious occupant of the Treasury benches to explain. Nothing could prove more clearly than acts so shame less that spoliation was our chief, if not our only object, in the annexation of Oude. If our wish was to improve the condition of the natives, we had a sufficient field in our own territories, without going elsewhere. But the same rulers who refused, on the score of economy, to reform the infamous police of Bengal, were wonderfully philanthropic when they thought they could get a million and a half sterling per annum, besides a vast sum in jewels and cash, by extending their nub/ and beneficent system to the kingdom of Oude. But why go on tearing the mask from these Pharisees when L or d J OHN M ANNERS h as torn it from them so effectually in the House? His speech will find a hearty response in the breast of every truehearted Englishman in the land; and show that if we be a nation of shopkeepers, we are not without. some sprink hng of men, who do honour to their illustrious descent. Sortign 6orrespanbliqt. PARIS, Feb. 18. THE violent language made use of in the Rou se Of Commons and at some public meetings has created a certain irritation in the minds of the ;p eop l e of France, with the exception, as you may naturally suppose, of the Republican party. The L eg i t i m i sts of the Faubonrg St. Germain, the Orleani s t s , and in. deed several conscientious republiaans,are indignant at the unfair way in which the conduct of the En. peror has been misrepresented. The question is constantly asked,—" What object have these speakers in view? Do they wish to break up the alliance between the two countries? It so , let them boldly say so. Do they wish to bring about a general war? If so, let them be assured that, although every effort would be made to avoid so great a calamity, they would find France prepared." It is the height of absurdity to attempt to separate the Emperor from the French nation. The people will not accept such an argument. I have no wish to be considered the defender or even the partisan of the Emperor of the French; but this much is certain, and known to every Lug. lishrnan who has resided for any length of time to France, that the majority of the nation are Bona partists, and that were it possible to put to the vote to-morrow the choice of a ruler, Louis Napoleon would have nine-tenths of the votes of the nation. The people require peace and tranquillity —they now possess it. They require the extension of their commerce ; and never have the merchants, manufac turers, and shopkeepers been so prosperous as they now are. In short, commerce and agriculture are daily improving in importance. There can be no doubt that every Frenchman would be desirous to possess the same constitutional liberties as those enjoyed by Englishmen, but no one is so mad as to suppose it possible. France for more than half a century has suffered from a chronic revolution, and it requires a strong and decided hand to steer and guide the great State vessel. Once let "conspiracy and crime " cease, and Louis Napoleon, you may rely upon it, will be prepared to give such free institutions to France as France will be in a posi tion to enjoy. The nomination of the Due de Montebello as Ambassador to the Court of St. Petersburg is most significant. The Due de Montebello—the possessor of a large fortune, the owner of vast estates--has always been a steady friend of the Orleans family, and ever since 1851 has retired into private life. The nomination of his brother as aide-de-camp to the Emperor first drew him from his seclusion, and his unhesitating accep tation of the high post offered to him confirms his adhesion to the Empire. The duke, who is the eldest son of the late Marshal Lanues, is nearly fifty-seven years of age. He is married to an Eng lish lady named Jenkinson, and has seven children, tho eldest of whom is a midshipman in the navy. I cannot too often caution you to be on jour guard against the news given by certain foreign journals. One of them lately gave as positive that a coolness had arisen between the Courts of Madrid and the Tuileries, owing to the Queen of Spain not having sent a special mission to the Emperor immediately after the attempt to assassinate him on the 14th of January. Now, what are the facts ? On that same evening of the 14th, the Duke de Rivas hastened to the box of the Emperor at the Opera, and expressed himself to their Majesties in the warmest terms on their miraculous escape. The next day the duke went to the Tuileries with the diplomatic corps, and a few days afterwards the Empress received from the Queen of Spain an autograph letter. This letter PM presented by the Duke de Rivas. You thus see that all this pretended coolness is pure invention. lam enabled also to deny the report that the French Government has any intention to increase the num ber of French troops now in Rome. Another difficulty has arisen in the great Danu bian question. Up to the sth inst. the European commissioners had not been able to come to amy agreement as to the framing of the general report to be presented to the Paris Congress. There are three projects put forth for this report—one by the English commissioner, a second by the French, Russia n, I'russian, and Sardinian commissioners, and a thir d by the Austrian and Turkish commissioners. Notwithstanding that 11.tvaria has thought proper to publish officially the Danubian Riverian Conven tion, I have good reason for saying that the Paris Congress will examine this interesting subject, not as &fait accompli, but will make such alteratioos as may be found necessary in the interests of the fees navigation of the Danube. The Saone will leave Brest on the 20th with 700 men for China. Count Persigny will leave Paris for London in the course of next week.