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

INIIMINI U.sih t ( 11 itt#6s /:3» k ' t N0..235.—V0L.V. LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31,1857. STAMPED .... SIXPENCE. UNSTAMPED ..FIVEPENCE. Ctt dress. give the assault at once thus justified by the event. With an army more than double as strong as his was, General WILSON, himself an artillery officer, deemed it advisable to wait the arrival of the siege-train before ho made the att3mpt. And the resistance offered, even after several breaches had been effected. must demonstrate incontestably that if General BARNARD had done as his critics said he should have done, he would have sacrificed both himself and his army by the act. In awarding laurels to the hero of the day one is too apt to forget the labours of those who have preceded him; but wo hope that while England shows its gratitude to General WILSON, it will not be unheedful of its tribute of honour to the memory of General BARNARD as well. To his coolness and sagacity we are indebted for the existence of the victorious army, which would have been perilled beyond redemption by a more early attack. Though Delhi, however, has fallen, and all the prestige been acquired that must neces sarily attend upon so glorious a deed of arms, ` jeopardise the final issue by sup ' that our task is done. A mutin:!ers that were in LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1857. DELIII, the ancient capital of the Moguls, has at last fallen, and the descendant of the house of Timour is a fugitive in feminine disguise. His end will be worthy of his career—a life passed in the harem finishing in a craven's death ; for by this time he has probably fallen into the hands of our countrymen, and to whomever else they may extend mercy we may be sure that they will show none to him. Nor should they. We are not of the class who cried for indiscriminate vengeance ; indeed, we have been steadfastly opposed to this from anything but unconditional surreni the townspeople he has given quarter, and of course, as far as possible, the protection will be extended to their houses and property as well. The palace and the dwellings of those who have aided the Emperor in his treason will, necessarily, be given up to plunder; and we have no doubt that, notwithstanding all that may have been carried away, an ample share of booty will reward the army's toila. Of that army it is impossible to speak too highly. For nearly four long months they have shown an amount of courage and endurance under almost superhuman difficulties that will for ever secure for them their country men's esteem. Day and night the strain on them has been unceasing, and sleep has hardly visited their eyelids ere they have had again to rise and face the foe. It is impossible to conceive what a herculean task has been theirs; labouring and fighting incessantly from morning till night, and from night till morning, amid rain and swamps, and under a burning sun. On some oceousions they have been engaged for more than fifteen hours con secutively without food or water, till they have literally dropped from their inability to move another step. Nor has the crowning act of the drama been less heroic. Six days' con tinuous fighting after the city had been entered, and our long list of dead and wounded, prove their stern and determined valour, and the obstinacy of the foe that they have been opposed to. The present return represents but the casualties of only the first two days ; so the supplementary list will probably bring up our whole loss to an amount not less than that incurred in the most sanguinary Indian engagements of modern times. Nor will it fail to convey a mournful consolation to the friends of the late General BARNARD to see his decision not to first to last. But the perpetrators of the atroci- we must not jeopardi ties have merited their fate, and still more have Posing for a moment Dewrrtion of the those who, like the Emperor of Dat.nt, have larte is To - escaped, &eon to plaot timossolvos a' Amu saisososatot w i a vast c i ty on heal -As to the rest, General Witsow would wounded to attend appear to have acted with great discretion in col:Tiered guns and the circumstances in which he has been placed. h able lio rprobablepresent that t , From the mutineers he has refused to accept They may, to be st anything but unconditional surrender ; but to such cases happens ; on our to, and with our re ___ guns and arsenal to secure, it is probable that the army at Delhi will be r the present to follow them with effect. may, to be sure, disperse, as often in cases happens ; but wherever they go to they will give us trouble yet. Nor do the still extending mutinies both in Bengal and Bombay, and the still-extending disturbances, bode us a very quiet time. There is many a hard day's work still in store for our army, and there will be many a stronghold to re duce. Many a brave fellow yet will fall a victim to the climate or the bullets of the enemy before the affair is over. After what has occurred the whole native army in all the Presiiencies must be deemed untrustworthy, and on our own soldiers the heat and burden of the day will fall. Every man that is now in India will be needed ; the stream of recruits from England to supply casualties must be kept up ; and all the energies of our Com missariat and Ordnance and Finance depart ments will be taxed to the uttermost to main tain effective the flying camps that Sir COLIN CAMPBELL will of course establish. It is in reference to these points that the highest military genius is so necessary; it is in refer ence to these points that incapacity is always productive of such disastrous results ; it is in reference to these points that the Duke of WELLINGTON showed such masterly ability ; but in India these functions are now wholly severed from the office of commander-in chief. On the Council Board at Calcutta, even more than on Sir COLIN CAMPBELL, our army's success or failure will depend. We wish we could see in that Council any signs of being equal to the occasion—we wish we could perceive any ground for that confi dence which we would willingly bestow. But with every respect for Lord CANNING, with every sympathy for the unforeseen and truly difficult position in which he has been placed, we must confess that we do not think the public interests are likely to be consulted by retaining him in his office, unless he will cease to be guided by those evil counsellors by whose advice he has hitherto allowed himself to be swayed. His exchequer is virtually bankrupt ; his commissariat arrangements are the laughingstock of Calcutta (though a source of anything but laughter to the troops) ; and his arsenal there is so bare that there is but one nine pounder battery to meet the requisitions of the artillery that are arriving, and that have left their guns at home. He is precisely in that position, in fact, in which he requires all the zeal of the army, and all the aid and patriotism of the European independent com munity of India, to pull him safely through. Yet he selects this as the moment to insult and paralyse the army by placing them under the orders of civilians, in respect both of their operations and their administrations of mar tial law. And at the same time he drives into the most implacable hostility the whole Euro pean independent community by placing gags upon their press, by issuing orders for their disarmament, by depriving them of all the liberties they are constitutionally entitled to, and, finally, by threatening to revive the laws which once enabled the Company to deport front India on the instant any European who, whether wilfully or by inadvertence, had occasioned the Government offence. Subjected to insult ing imputations on their loyaltiand patriotism which are wholly undeserved, they are made by him victims of a despotism as absolute as that of Naples, and more galling from their being unaccustomed to wear such chains. To doubt the infallibility of Colonel BIRCH, or Mr. BEADON, or Mr. GRANT, is now as great a crime in India, as it is in Rome for an Italian to doubt the infallibility of the Pope. Nor are the censorship and the Index Expur gatorius less rigid in the former than in the latter land. Is this the way, we ask, to recon quer India ? Is this the way to enlist the sympathies, the purses, the heartfelt efforts of our fellow-countrymen either here or there for the accomplishment of that great task? Surely, common sense must answer no. If we would engage our fellow-countrymen to enter heart and _ soul into our plans, we must show them that these are simply to subdue the natives who have risen against us. and not to rivet on their own limbs the most galling of chains. If British efforts are to save for us India, they must be the efforts of British freemen and not of British slaves. THE GOVERNMENT AND REFORM. Ix is most amusing to observe the continued apologies of the Liberals for not bringing for ward prominently the subject of " Parlia mentary Reform." In vain they strive to hide the dissension in their camp ; in vain they seek to turn the public mind in other quarters. The fact cannot be concealed—a " Reform Bill" from Lord PALMERSTON is mere moon shine. The heart, and take issue Reform B employed to fact remains evidently shelved. call themsel remains to be seen. One portion e Premier is n• c , ' - • ..er at i .i.,, the Ministe.el •. . vtier i • -! —7 , -, . / +-r on any qui ~, . ..._ - ....; a unii 11.--- /.4. *L „ e Sill. Deelauo i ' , • ...o hide this s 9 1:riv .t ',.. IMI &e ' 24, ^fii.l.Vo- Ad s wish that nr„o7• t. ,,„,..,; . wish that ' :1 1 ,-44-:' , '. . .0 Whether th l 4' Wey viii - • ;elves) will be a"- , t'l. •. do so ) be seen. One portion of their