The Press. — London, England, 1857-06-13 00:00:00

THE WEEK. THE publication of the text of the Treaty of Peace with Persia is the first official document placed before Parliament concerning a war undertaken and a peace concluded without the authority of that Par liament. If it is not easy to account for the origin of the war, it is even more difficult to explain the conclusion of such a peace. From the terms of the Treaty, the advantages gained appear so questionable that no doubt can exist but that a rational and moderate diplomacy, in the place of a hasty and ill-considered policy, would in the first instance have placed affairs upon a more satisfactory and less costly basis. We are told that her Majesty's Government have not only acted in a manner " consistent with the true interests and dignity of England, " but with a generous consideration of the true interests and dignity of " Persia." Well-balanced phrases, but not consistent with matters of fact. Without entering into the history of those petty and con temptible squabbles at Teheran which led to tho withdrawal of Mr. MURRAY and the expedition to the Persian Gulf, we may observe that when FEROUK KHAN arrived at Constantinople exorbitant demands were made which one by one we afterwards gave up, including every point of the slightest benefit to this country. " The " obnoxious stipulations," to use Lord COWLEY'S own words, " not abso " lutely necessary to the attainment of peace " involved British establishments at Karrak and Bushire, and the payment of the war expenses, which are now relinquished. The dismissal of SADR AZIM, insisted on from the first as a sine qua non, is given up, the indemnity to be paid to the people of Ilerat is thrown overboard, and a special privilege, viz., the right of protecting native subjects attached to the Mission, is to be surrendered, under a certain contingency, as an equivalent for Mr. MURRAY being received on his return to Teheran with honours rather galling to Persian pride. To conclude, the independence of Herat is guaranteed, provided in all cases of dispute the friendly offices of England do not fail to adjust a settlement of the case in point, at best but a hazardous and objectionable stipulation; and this is the sound and satisfactory basis upon which our amicable relations are re-established with Persia, and the independence of Herat secured ! The commence ment of the war and the conclusion of the peace, if they have not met with censure, can lay no claim to approbation. They are alike consistent with that shortsighted, hand-to-mouth system by which of late our Foreign Policy has been unhappily characterised, and as yet exhibit in a remarkable degree how much more easy it is for Ministers to evade a Parliamentary inquiry than to govern well at home, or support the interests, the honour, and the dignity of the nation abroad. The following extraordinary advertisement appears in a prominent place of the Dublin Evening Mail of June 6th : THE LORD LIEUTENANT will receive Persons who have been presented at his Levees and Drawing•rooms, and Officers of the Garrison who were not in Dublin when they were held, at the VICEREGAL LODGE, upon the Four Saturdays commencing with the 13th of June, from Four to Seven o'clock. That is, certainly, the most cavalier sort of invitation that wo ever heard or read of in Court annals. Observe the elegance of the polite phrase "persons " applied to " Ladies and Gentlemen " of presumed courtly consideration, just as in public tea-gardens " persons " are requested " not to pull the flowers." Then mark " his levees and drawing-rooms," just as if they were only poor Lord CARLISLE'S, and not the receptions of " His Excellency" her Majesty's Viceroy. No date is affixed to this official document ; no place is mentioned whence it was issued, whether from " the Castle " or " the Chamberlain's office ;" and no particular dress is indicated for the " persons " to appear in ! The time chosen for the receptions, too late for luncheon and too early for dinner, would seem to hint that the " persons " are to be treated to a " teetotal " entertainment, aided with large slices of " the cold shoulder." The gatherings announced in this undignified style are intended probably as precursor associations for the total abolition of the Viceroyalty. To degrade an Institution first, in order to destroy it more easily afterwards, is a recognised Machiavellian art. As long as her Majesty's Viceregal representative holds a Court at Dublin, the routine of official decorum should be preserved. Lord CARLISLE may invite " persons " to Castle Howard in any style that his Lordship pleases. He may do so in billets-doux of his own flowery composition, or he may order his under-butler to scratch a line to " the persons," and tell them to " come early and not stay long ;" but we submit with all respect that " His Excellency the Earl of CARLISLE, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland," might in Viceregal affairs follow precedents which statesmen like CORNWALLIS or WELLESLEY were happy to adopt. B u t, p oss ibl y, wo d o L or d C ARLISLE some injustice, and investigation might prove that the uncourtly document had been penned by an ex-official. Time was when the Irish journals never appeared without " Lord NORBURY'S Last," and research might prove that this " advice to persons " was not Lord CARLISLE'S, but " Mr. 11011814AN's very last " ! The debate on the motion of Mr. KINNAIRD in the House of Com mons on Thursday evening, and the speeches of Mr. VERNON SMITH, Lord JOHN Russ- d Mr. M, - - of the Directors, and of the President of the Board of Control. They each and all allow that the picture of utter and shameless mis management drawn by the Bengal missionaries in their memorial is not overcharged, and they only objeet to the inquiry prayed for, on the ground that inquiry is useless, as the allegations are con fessedly proved. The single palliation offered on the part of the Directors is, that they are as alive as any one to the evil, and have written out a despatch in which their sentiments on it are conveyed. But no one who knows anything of that body will believe for a moment that it is in earnest, or that it has any other object in view than to gain time. Its desire is to stave off an inconvenient inquiry till the storm shall have blown over which it is unable to face. For who can suppose for an instant that it has not been all along as well acquainted with the state of things prevailing in Bengal as it is now ? Many of the Directors have served in India, and the others know it or have the means of knowing it thoroughly through the official documents which periodically come under their review. But what have they done on these, what course have they pursued towards those who have endeavoured in any way to put a stop to the infamies habitually perpetrated there ? What they have done is, instead of rewarding, to punish such persons, and seek to drive them from their service as men too impracticable, or, in other words, too honest and enlightened, to aid in carrying out their rule. In every department of the State, whether high or low, their treatment of all who have sought to introduce reforms in India has been the same, even though they have been the very reforms for which in England they have been glad to take the credit in their hours of need. Thus Ross, the abolisher of the transit duties, was told by the then Directors that nothing but his age and high standing prevented their summarily dismissing him from their service ; while METCALFE, the Governor who gave freedom to the press in India, was driven by the Directors to abandon all connection with them, and the remainder of Lis life might have been lost to, his country had it not been for the sagacity of the Ministers of the Crown. What the worth was of the man thus sacrificed by the India-house, Jamaica and Canada attest. With respect to Mr. HALLIDAY, it must be clear that strong influences have been brought to bear to induce him to modify so greatly in his second minute the views originally expressed in his first, but it is no use to attempt to stifle discussion in the face of the facts that have been disclosed. It must be a subject of congratulation to the Conser vative party that they cannot in any way be held responsible for the lamentable state of things in India which this debate has shown to exist. At the time of the renewal of the charter Mr. DISRAELI and Lord STANLEY divided the House against the proposition that the inquiry which had been commenced into the state of India should be so sud denly closed. They protested against a farther lease of power being granted to those who held it, until they should have some better proof of the uses it had been applied to than the well-prepared official evidence which had been submitted to the House was calculated, in their minds, at least, to afford. But Parliament was deaf to the appeal, and the Company obtained a further renewal of power, which it is now clear has been shamefully and systematically abused. The debate of Thursday has had excellent effect. It has at last thrown a fair light and given us a few tangible facts upon the gross misgovernment permitted in our Indian empire. It is generally admitted that an after-dinner apeech is not be judged by the strictest rules of either logic or veracity. Excited himself, the orator ventures on assertions which an excited audience drinks in without reflection, and forgets next morning. But he knows that the impression will remain. A new idea has been implanted in their minds, and it is exactly because they cannot recollect the pro cess by which it got there that they aro prevented from detecting its fallacy. To this twofold temptation of venting his generous ardour and disseminating his private opinions without fear of refutation it is no wonder that the postprandial politician should very frequently succumb ; and a more remarkable instance than that of Lord HENLEY. at Northampton, last week, we seldom recollect to have met with. A cooler denial of the patent facts of history we really never encountered. " There is no connection," says the Noble Viscount, " between farming and Toryism." He might as well say there was no connection between himself and his own skin. As long as human nature remains what it is, the dwellers in the country will continue Conservatives, and the dwellers in towns Radical:4. Rural pursuits and the contemplation of nature have, by universal admission, a tendency to tranquillise and purify the feelings, to develop a love of stability and affection for existing things, and, iu a word, to promote those tastes and that tone of mind most favourable to aristocratic and monarchical ideas. Commercial life, on the contrary, is more favourable to the growth of a sanguine and rest less temperament—ever on the alert for change, ever devising new channels of business, and a stranger to the softening influence of na tural beauties. Each has its good and its bad points. But the dis tinction we have pointed out is as old as the origin of civil society, and has been copiously illustrated by poets, politicians, and philosophers, from ARISTOPHANES to ADDISON. Before we can throw over the evidence of three thousand years, we must be schooled by a somewhat pro founder teacher than an amiable young nobleman, who has hitherto shown his regard for the family motto by remaining in retirement. Lord JOHN RUSSELL, and Mr. MANGLES; will afford the King of NAPLES I There can be no doubt that the introduction of really good beer an excellent opportunity of calling the attention of the Western into the houses of refreshment throughout this metropolis would bo Powers to the fact that the alleged misgovernment in his territories is one of the greatest boons that could be conferred upon the working not at any rate half so bad as the admitted misgovernment in our own. classes, and not, perhaps, upon them only. But we confess that " A The truth can no bnger be concealed, it rests on official authority— Thirsty Soul" has not succeeded in making clear to us how this result the authority of the Liouteuant•Governor of Bengal, of the Chairman would be brought about by the abolition of the licensing system. THE PRESS. SATURDAY, 580