The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JANUARY 16, 1858. may be the rooting out of their nest of iniquity, whether it be i n London or Paris. Both the Emperor and Empress NAPOLEON have won the esteem of England ; and on this occasion, represented by Lord COWLEY, we were not backwards in offering our sincere oongratu. lations to their Imperial Majesties upon their happy escape. At length we are enabled to unravel the tangled skein of tele graphic misstatements. We learn positively that Sir COLIN CAMPBELL has abandoned Lucknow, and that he has not got 12,000 men under his command. Those are two important facts corkveyed to us by tiro letters frotn India; and they are the most important, for they must materially influence the conduct of the campaign. We speak of the "campaign," for it must be clear to the perception even of Lord JOHN RUSSELL that this is a great war in which we aro engaged—that we are at war with Oude, and that the war, if waged a l'outrance, will neither be rapidly nor easily concluded. A retreat, therefore, from an advanced position in the enemy's territory, and the entire abandonment of that territory, is not to be regarded lightly. It is an open confession of our own weakness and of our enemy's superiority, and among Asiatics such an acknowledgment is not without danger. That a retreat was inevitable was clear the moment the real amount of Sir COLIN CAMPBELL'S force was known. That curse of every operation from Delhi to Lucknow, inadequate force, attended Sir COLIN CAMPBELL. Ho took with hi►n 4,000 men to open a campaign for which 40,000 would not have been too many, and, after effecting his primary object, he very wisely pre ferred being out of a territory swarming with the enemy, than shut up in Lucknow, and depending upon the energy of Lord CANNING for relief. But how discreditable to us, as a nation excelling in all the applications of science to the art of war—how discreditable to us is it that after eight months' preparation we should prove unable to con centrate on any given spot in India 5,000 European troops from Eng land ! Let us conceive, for a moment, the effect of 5,000 British troops concentrated at Cawnpore in October. It is impossible to overrate the enormous advantages which would have accrued to us if any steps had been taken in time to insure such a happy result. But reflection is useless. The Ministers denied the gravity of the crisis ; they refused to take a single step in advance, and an insurrection, which might have been quelled cheaply in three months, will now take as many years to suppress, and will cost us millions of money and torrents of blood. As to the general tenor of the intelligence by this mail being satisfactory, down to the latest despatch it is eminently unsatisfactory. With the exception of the single fact that Sir COLIN CAMPBELL continues well, and that the heroes of Lucknow have been brought off in safety, we are disposed to think matters are assuming a very serious aspect. In the first place, very grave doubts are felt about the security of the Punjaub. Sir JOHN LAWRENCE has sent the most earnest requests to Bombay for a couple of brigades and guns if they can be spared. At Delhi we have a very small force ; and we have yet to learn the effect of the retreat from Lucknow. Between Delhi and Agra communication is once more unsafe; and indeed from Delhi to Cawnpoie the whole country is infested with rebels. At Cawnpore we hold our own, but from thence to Allahabad the rebels are once more swarming ; and it is quite possible, if the Oude rebels make a push for Benares and the outlying districts, that Cawnpore may have to be given lip, and the head-quarters of the army moved down to Allahabad. The whole line of country from Delhi to Calcutta swarms with rebels, who attack our reinforcements, harass our convoys, and keep alive that spirit of plunder which is ever such a stimulant to the disaffected. This, therefore, can scarcely be regarded as a satisfactory state of affairs after eight months' effort to quiet the country. With respect to General WINDHAM'S conduct, we are not disposed to join in that hue and cry with which a certain portion of the British public run down an unlucky general. We know nothing of the official details ; but we apprehend that when everything is known, it will be found that General WINDHAM, completely outflanked by a numerous enemy with a heavy artillery, was compelled to retreat to preserve his communication with Sir COLIN and to hold Cawnpore. As to General WINDHAM having in the first instance been deliberately guilty of disobedience to the orders of the Commander-in-Chief, we must wait for better evidence before we accept the statement. General WINDHAM'S retreat is only another illustra tion of the position we maintain, that the characteristic of all our operations has been inadequate force. He had too few men to encounter such a powerful and well-disciplined army as the Gwalior rebels. Let us take heed that this does not occur again. What is the cause that recruits come in so slowly? We have lowered the standard, we have by every means in our power—from the pulpit and front the forum—appealed to tho patriotism of our countrymen, and yot the class from which our best recruits aro ob tained have not responded to the call. They have dwindled down to 800 a week, and our supply to India falls short of the demand by nearly 500 a month. We cannot accuse them of want of love to their country, after the noble manner in which they came forward during the late war; we cannot believe that they listened unmoved to the tales of the atrocities committed by tho mutineers in India. We fear THE WEEK. Ir one was to judge by the newspapers, nothing of great domestic importance has occurred during the week just elapsed. The growing schisms and the clashing principles of discordant sections in the Cabinet receive no illustrations in the Ministerial organs, though it is perfectly well known that animated discussions of a particular kind have taken place. This reticence on the part of Ministerial prints contrasts rather oddly with the unqualified panegyric on English jour nalism which a leading organ has been republishing from the Revue des Dear Mondes. Apart from the contradictory reports as to the intentions of the Cabinet, there has been little in our domestic politics to quicken the current of events. Fresh news from India (discussed elsewhere) has arrived, and all sorts of speculations as to the defeat of General WINDHAM have been hazarded. The marriage of the Princess Royal, the bride's trousseau, and the fair patrician damsels who aro to act as bridesmaids, have supplied private circles with endless subjects for talk, and a volume might be filled with stories of the diplomatic artifices employed with a vain hope of obtaining places for witnessing the important and interesting ceremonial. London has been startled by the report of an attempt to assassinate the Emperor of the FRENCH, a species of crime which was far more frequent in th e days when Louts PHILIPPE was on the Throne. His Imperial Majesty will acquire increased personal popularity by the characteristic courage which he has signally displayed on this occasion, having been received with " enthusiastic cheering" by the " immense multitude " waiting for him in the streets ; and the intelligence of his safety has given wide 'satisfaction to all classes of society in London, and to none more than our mercantile world, who well know into what an abyss France would be hurled iu case of any accident to the Emperor. The great Indian question has been receiving renewed discussion in it s various aspects. On Wednesday a Special Court of Proprietors was held by requisition, " respecting the continuance of the powers of " the Company." The debate which ensued was not equal in ability to what might have been anticipated, and was certainly below the level of the talent shown in India-house politics fifty years ago, and later. In connection with the propagation of Christianity in the East Indies, the Church Missionary Society hold a meeting on Tuesday. It was presided over by the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, and the speech of the day was that of the Bishop of LONDON, who " called on the whole united Church, and every section of it, not only of " the Protestant Church, but of the whole body of Christians throughout " the empire, to unite heart and hand in the attempt to advance the " kingdom of CHRIST." The tone of ardent enthusiasm in which the Right Reverend Prelate spoke will be admired by many, but it will be condemned by not a few. "It was the fashion," said the Bishop of LONDON, " to scoff at psalm-singing soldiers ; but there had been a day " in England when it had bee* seen what psalm-singing soldiers could do.•" This allusion to the " Ironsides " of CROMWELL was not in good taste; and it was scarcely discreet, as the Bishop of LONDON must recollect that the extravagance of Puritanism produced a violent reaction in another direction. The Duke of WELLINGTON was no free-thinker or free-liver ; and that illustrious man had unaffected reverence for religion, but his Grace " did not like Methodists in the army." These are questions, however, on which differences must always exist; but the preservation of our empire must first be secured, and then will be the proper time for judicious consideration of the proper means of Christianising our Eastern possessions, if it be the will of PROVIDENCE that so great a glory be reserved for us. It is impossible to over-estimate the universal sympathy that the Emperor and Empress of the FRENCH will meet with at the hands of all Europe. A cruel and dastardly attempt to destroy them has failed of its object, only to fix them firmer in the hearts of their people. The reception given by the Parisians to the Emperor and Empress upon their return to the Tuileries on Thursday night may be accepted as an exposition of the public feeling of France. And the feeling, we are sure, will be reciprocated throughout England. The escape of the Emperor and Empress was miraculous. Tho shell, if thrown, must have struck the carriage, or, having been previously placed in the road, the carriage-wheel must have passed over it; and this would best appear to explain the three explosions reported as having been distinctly heard, for it is scarcely possible that three shells should have been flung rapidly, in order, at the carriage as it passed. The carriage was much shattered, ono of the horses killed, several of the escort wounded, and upwards of sixty persons in the immediate neighbourhood of the explosion more or less injured. Three have since died. This atrocious attempt has, we have little doubt, been committed by one of the same band of bloodthirsty assas sins who sent PlANotti to the scaffold. These fiends are the pest of Europe ; and we sincerely trust that one result of this foul conspiracy . 1 iellh