The Press. — London, England, 1858-06-12 00:00:00

plan seem to be fully portion of the " Opposi bent on affixing an motley part•, or rather headed by rival leaders who • they were out of place. considerable difficulty, goodly designations which worn out. The "Great obsolete. The " Friends • revived, but the people The " Liberal Body " 11. The " Popular suspicion of irony. " The - le last new invention, and iporaries seem to think it a pardon the attempt to unpleasant associations sound like condensed protest against a new ible, perhaps, than those a whit less fallacious. mischievous delusion to with "progress." Putting oscillation (though aptly to and fro of much .), even in the physical or discordant motion of power. Sir Toby instance, who utterly "to his house in the at the Vine," till at towards the tavern, and and the equally genial, gab, who in vain traced his college, till at length hit him on the nose." variety of movement " Charleys " of their be quoted as good And in the political good. The movement impeded real advance ibined, and ill-directed by the downward ip—now by the external agitation—anon by the • of the two, they have mum of noisy restless real progress. Session wasted in wrangling or changes, while the improvements in the political system were executed as to make two advocates do not deny. . great field-day Lord J. blows the historic trump of 'services rendered to the Cannas, 3lithridatieumque party the honours due , the shortcomings of Reform Bill are fully if " Liberal press " and in the House. These well justify us in broadly men now in opposition name of " the Party of further and more direct charging them with a re progressive tendency, if • performances to those which they wish the accept in satisfaction of a do not mean that any programme of the measures movement party, in the returning to power, has among the heads of the , party, at Cambridge e doubt even the those various section framing a sufficient followers, as Russell -theists, and the "New any confession of faith. learn from the debates both Lord JOHN Rus- TON are prepared on perilous innovation, , popularity. But we general voice of the by anticipation certain of the "Party of Pro official millennium, and The advantages of the p appreciated by a large port ton" pram They are 1 attractive name to a mot a ggregate of parties, header were out of repute before tl But the task is one of cm from the number of goodl , the firm has already won Whig Connection" is obst of the People" might be re are not consenting. T 1 suggests mutiny and No. Party" conveys a suspici Party of Progress" is the le some of our contemporaries decided hit. Now, we can - well par escape from the various um belonging to names which satire. But we must pr.( misnomer, more plausible, already "used up," but not It is a vulgar but most mi confound "movement" witl out of the question mere osc illustrative of the useless Whig agitation heretofore) world spasmodic, irregular, impedes progress by waste in the old epigram, for ii failed to make his way " Square from his friends length he set his face tov drifted home sternwards; a but less fortunate, Cantab, abnormal spirals towards him " the ground rose up and 1 exhibited, doubtless, a vi highly interesting to the ' day, but could scarcely examples of progression. world the same law holds g party have continually im ment by desultory, ill-comb activity. Working now pressure of a dictatorship— impulse of democratic agi combination or antagonism contrived to unite a maxim ness with a minimum of re after session have they wa declaiming about organic simplest and most obvious working of our social and either neglected or so exec holes in mending one. This charge their ablest a Indeed, save that on a gn RUSSELL occasionally blows Whiggery, and tells of serN last generation " Cannam bellum "—arroga ting t 3 a p to the Engl ish people, 1 " Liberalism ' since the IL not freely admitted by the by the leading " Liberals " admissions alone might well denying the right of the me to their newly-coined flan Progress." But we have fw grounds for denial—for cha wrelre rather than a pro o a ok from their past p promises for the future v national credulity to accept longstanding debt. We d thing like a distinct prograr to be expected from the mi event of their unhappily ret yet been agreed upon amm different sections of that house or elsewhere. IN possibility of bringing th leaders to unite in fr symbol," or their various des, Msnchesterians, Pam-t Connection," to join in ar And it is comfortable to le o f Tuesday night that bot, SELL and Lord PALMERST Certain questions to resist "en at the cost of some rely mean that the g s L i b eral " press claims by rne uures from the hands 01 g r ess" in their expected offi THE PRESS, JUNE 12, 1858. that those measures are essentially retrograd e. First, we have the B a ll o t, which 200 Li berals are prepared to adopt as a " Shibboleth," though (by the way) they use the word in very different senses. Is the Ballot progress? Is it progress to give up the long struggle by which public opinion has gradually gotten the better of bribery and intimidation, and accord a legislative impunity to malpractices which it will no longer be possible to detect ? Is it progress to reduce the elector, who now goes in broad daylight to exercise in the face of his country a trust for his country's good, to an irresponsible worker by secret mechanism, exposed to degrading suspi cions if he work honestly, but screened from punishment or exposure if he abuse his trust ? Again, is it progress—we do not say to extend the suffrage by a process of equalization, but to carry it lower than we have as yet seen it carried in our great towns ? What probability is there in the assumption so continually paraded by a large portion of the press, that a less educated and less independent class of electors would by the mere virtue of supe rior numbers be sufficiently enlightened to return representatives superior to those of whom our present House of Commons consists ? Surely it is more probable that a lower class of electors would produce a change for the worse, if any. To bring the masses up to the qualification, whether pecuniary or educational, would be pro gress—to bring it down to them looks sadly like retrogression. Once more—what would be the effect of that unconditional sweeping away of Church-rates now so generally advocated by the men of the movement ? To say nothing of the Act itself; which is merely to appropriate (" con vey, the wise it call") for the benefit of the few a charge to which they are legally liable for the benefit of the many—will the result of that Act be progress? Will the poor man's religious in struction be better cared for when the very maintenance of the material fabric of the "poor man's church " is left precarious ? Or, to look at a broader application of the same principle, is the Voluntary System, as a substitute for a recog nized National Church, truly describable as pro gress Surely, if so, it is a progress such as IIoGARTH depicted by way of solemn warning ; a course leading towards schism unlimited, religious lukewarmness and indifference—we had almost said, national infidelity. The national religion might survive the national recognition of Christianity, but he must be bold in paradox who would contend that it would be stronger for lacking that recognition. We might pursue our theme further, and point to such startling indications as the Man chester scheme for an Indian despotism. But we have said enough to furnish the outline of a picture which every thoughtful man may fill up for himself. Conservatives are too apt to act merely on the defensive. Let them carry the war into the enemy's camp, and inquire by what right or title the men who have imperilled our national honour, and who to regain office would connive at the fiercest attacks on our national institutions, are to shelter their past delinquen cies or meditated schemes of mischief under titles of unmeaning self-praise. Let them point out boldly, that quiet and order are main elements of prosperity—that restless movement is not progress. INDIA-PRESENT POLICY AND FUTURE LEGISLATION. " OrDE is quieting down. Air. " has restored the talookdars and established the " zemindaree system, to the content of the " people."—Telegram of Times' Correspondent. Had this piece of information been despatched previous to Mr. CARDWELL'S motion, or before his Allies had found it advisable to repudiate Lord CANNING'S Proclamation in order to place them selves in a position to, as they said, vindicate him ; and, as they hoped, avenge and replace them selves, it is not improbable that it would have been announced in a footnote to have " mis carried for the present." As it is, as the voice of the country has declared loudly and unmistake ably in favour of the course indicated in the 555 famous Despatch of Lord ELLENBOROUGH and enforced by the decision of the Cabinet of Lord DERBY, and as the events of each successive day confirm public opinion, it reaches duly the Times office, and is disseminated promptly among its thousands of readers. It happens that we have also received intelli gence of the same character, which entirely agrees with that transmitted by the correspon dent of our contemporary. Our information is contained in a private letter from a gentleman in a high legal position. The letter bears date April 22nd, and the following is the passage bearing upon the Proclamation and its influ ence : " Lord CAN published in Lucknow a mad Proclamation, that every man's land in Oude was confiscated—conciliation being clearly the only politic or just course. Every one was horrified ; but the authorities here have since contrived to make so many exceptions and qualifications that it is hoped the mischief will be diminished ; and meanwhile they have kept the Bedlamry out of the newspapers." We put forward the telegram of the Time: correspondent, and publish this extract from a private letter, not for the purpose of defending the policy enforced by Lord DERBY with such wise resolution and prompt decision. Such policy now needs no defence. Not only is the attack silenced, but the bitterest and most unscrupulous of his opponents find themselves compelled, either by interest or by conviction, to adopt and profess it as an article of faith whenever they rise to make an assault upon the Ministerial resolu tions. We quote the extracts for the purpose of showing the public what a narrow escape we have had, and to whom we owe it. Had matters been in the hands of Lord CANNENG, instructed and directed by the reckless Cabinet of Lord PAL-. MERSTON and Mr. VERNON SMITH, desperation would have prolonged to an indefinite period the contest in Oude, and we should have lost proba bly for ever the opportunity of obtaining any better or higher influence over its population than that created and maintained by sheer mili tary force and supremacy. Had Lord PALMERS TON and Mr. VERNON SMITH remained in power, or had the intries of the Cambridge-house Alliance succeeded,and Mr. CARDWELL'S motion been carried, that would have been our position. Oude would not have been tranquillized, nor her people conciliated. We might have obtained the acquiescence of fear, but never the quiet arising from mercy and justice on the one side, and con fidence on the other. There is everrospeet of that issue to the conflict being secured now, and we shall have owed it to the policy which the Government of Lord DERBY conceived and en forced exactly at the right moment. They, the Government taunted with having no policy and no measures, will have done this in the teeth of a most formidable-looking faction; trusting only to the justice of their cause and the goo d sense o f the House of Commons. At home, in Parliament, preparation for Indian legislation continues to progress very, very slowly, and public opinion out of doors can scarcely be said to form itself more rapidly. Every day's discussion, indeed, shows us more clearly how much mischief has been done, and how many impediments have been created, by Lord PALMERSTON'S precipitancy, and the over-eager haste with which he attempted at the close of last year to catch the momentary feeling of the country, and make use of it to invigorate his dying Cabinet. His conduct then was just of a piece with his conduct about China. The country felt alarmed, angry, horrified; and Lord PALmEnsToN, warned by the Parliamentary and political influences of the Russian war, suddenly and adroitly shook the East India Com pany out of his bag, and halloed the public lustily on. It was very good fun at first ; but the matter has become a great embarrass ment now, when it becomes necessary to settle down to the subject in earnest, and people begin to discover that they do not know half so mach about India as is necessary. Mr. GLansTolitz, with his usual ingenuity, found a loophole through which he thought Parliament might escape and retire, till a more convenient season and ad ditional knowledge should enable them to return to the subject with more advantage and better chance of coming to a conclusion. The Right Hon. Gentleman expatiated on his new device with 4 _ I