The Press. — London, England, 1855-11-24 00:00:00

1110 number of years the Colmies were under Lord BATHURST, and it would be difficult to say what special qualities were possessed by that Nobleman for so arduous a post. Then came Lord RIPON, a weak though accomplished peer, who never realised the expectations of the promising FREDERICK RowNsoN. Next they were given to Mr. HusK►ssox, who had many of the special aptitudes required, ex= cepting moral firmness. They were next handed to Sir GEORGE MURRAY, an extremely clever man—rapid, eloquent, and versatile — but whose military experience did not qualify him for the regulation of Tariffs and Differen tial Duties. Yet there have been worse appointments than that of Sir GEORGE MURRAY. _ The Reform Cabinet of 1831 intrusted the Colonies to Lord RIPON for a second time; but he proved inefficient, and Earl GREY, desiring to reinforce his party, judiciously put them under the commanding character and vigorous understanding of Mr. STANLEY, now Earl of DERBY. But the attack on the Church Estab lishment broke up the Reform party. Acting with firm independence, Mr. STANLEY left the Colonial-office, and the department was given for a short season by Lord MELBOURNE to Mr. SPRING RICE. Then, in his short Ministry, Sir ROBERT PEEL gave it to Lord ABERDEEN, whose unconciliatory tone was ill calculated to smooth colonial asperities, and whose diplo matic artifices were enough to suggest that "foreign affairs" (then managed by the Duke of WELLINGTON) would be more suited for his peculiar method of letting mischiefs do their work. Lord MELBOURNE, in his second Cabinet, handed the Colonies to Lord GLENELG—ex cellent at prize poetry, and elegantly second rate in Parliament, with some chance of lasting reputation from his having been the subject of the terrific invectives of Lord BROUGHAM in the House of Lords. Lord GLENELG being driven from office, the Melbourne Whigs hoped that Lord NORMANBY, of Dublin Castle distinction, would suit the Colonies ; but mere showy qualities were as useless in such an office as an opera company in the backwoods. Lord NORMANBY had nothing to sparkle over in the Colonies, and King Stephen bewildered the light hearted marquis. Then " Lord JOHN " took a dash at them, and some of his eloquent hits were made at that time (1840-1) ; for his energy, though desultory, contrasted favorably with the benevolent langour of indolent GLENELG, and the Mantalini air of superfine Lord NORMANBY. _ It is to the honour of the Conservative party that it made an effort to introduce great abilities into a department which had suffered so severely from its consignment to second class statesmanship. Lord DERBY and Mr. GLADSTONE were admitted, even by their poli tical adversaries, to have all the Secretarial qualities demanded for such a post; and the masterly way in which Lord DERBY dealt with Canada contrasts brightly with the wretched peddling of the Melboarne Whigs. And it is a singular fact that to the gifted son of our Con servative Chief Lord PALMERSTON also looked for aid in the first instance when wishing to meet the demand for " the right man in the `right place." Sir JOHN PAILINGTON also was not a month in office before it was admitted by all parties that Lord DERBY had made a capital selection. Of the character of such appoint ments as Earl GREY—tetchy, wayward, and capricious—and tho Duko of NEWCASTLE— formaI, solemn, and without a rival in the ap preciation of red tape—we need say nothing. The colonial scandals of their time are too recent for criticism, and too numerous for ex culpation. We have gone into this retrospect for the purpose of testing this new appointment. It IS evident that the Colonies have suffered as grievously from the incapacity of the mediocre Ministers as from their internal difficulties. What could be expected from giving over fifty dependencies of the Crown to officials—we cannot call them statesmen—of the stamp of a Spring Rice, a Gleuelg, a Goderich (Ripon), a Normanby, or a Duke of Newcastle ? It is precisely under such men that business falls in arrear, MI that com -, iordtp t i: . ( LF , ' ,i 440 THE PRESS. plaints are not redressed. It is no wonder that, under such a. system, King Stephen should have been so lopg dominant. And now comes M. LABOUCHERE to uphold that tradition of medlperity which acts like a spell in the Colonial Department. What has he ever, vtritten, or spoken, or done, that indicated vigorous intellect, an originative capacityb or a statesmanlike spirit? For twenq-six years he has been in Parliament, and he has never. stamped his name upon a single measure. Upon a current question, with complex problems for solution, he has not prompt logic or intuitive perception. It is notorious, and cannot be denied, that he utterly failed in Dublin Castle, when Lord J. RUSSELL made him Chief Secretary in 1846-7 Mr. LABOUCHERE reeled and staggered before the famine, although Sir WILLIAM SOMERVILLE (who is no Solon) managed with some credit to get through the work with the aid of Lord CLARENDON. Yet Mr. LABOUCHERE had great help, as the much respected Earl of BES BOROUGH—the head of the Ponsonbies—was the Viceroy at the time, The crisis did not require an orator, nor a diplomatic mind. That rare character, " a really good man of " business " was demanded, and Mr. LABOU. CAERE decidedly failed to supply it. There was never more deplorable official mismanage mentin Dublin Castle than at that time. Poor laws, with outdoor relief, were suddenly introduced to cure a famine, property was swallowed up, and estates were virtually con fiscated. " The dog was told to eat its own tail," as the Archbishop of Dublin wittily remarked, and from such suicidal blunderers " the Exodus " was precipitated, and the recruiting sergeant in Ireland has good reason to know that there was once a Labouchere in Ireland. Between the Colonial and Irish Office de partments there is considerable analogy. De putations puffed up with provincial import ance, and with hereditary grievances of a real and fictitious character, worry both depart ments. Mere mannerism will not encounter such persons with success. You can best explode their fictitious grievances by showing that you are able and ready to redress real wrongs. Illusions vanish before a states man of practical capacity. But Mr. LLBOB CHERE has not the faculties which master men or which mould circumstances. Sensible on common affairs, he is not shrewd, penetrating, or profound. We recollect the amusement of some mem bers of Parliament, when, on Mr. LiBOUCHERE'S appointment to the Irish Secretaryship in 1546, an English county member expressed his doubts " whether LABOUCHERE was `rattling' " enough for a Secretary for Ireland." " Ah!" said a whimsical Hibernian legislator, " he's " rattling rich, and when we catch him in " Dublin we'll make him bleed like a brick." That sanguinary operation was performed in Dublin to the pecuniary contentment of those who understood what to " bleed like a brick " meant. He kept " open house " in Ireland, and his dinner-table was in perpetual requi sition for stopping the famine of patriots requiring to be filled with good things. The colonial mind is less affected by "the rebellion of the belly " than the soul of an Irish patriot. There is a sternness about the colonial grievance-monger that would not relax before the hospitable board of Mr. LABOUCHERE. John Colony is very clear-sighted and rather cross-grained. He is to be subdued by real skill rather than baffled by compliments. " The colonial Hampden "—as poor CHARLES BULLER said--" is a sort of hybrid Britisher. " When he has a mouth full of wrongs his " mind discovers Scotch plausibility, Irish " volubility, Welsh irritability, with but little " of English gullibility." Routine of the Whig Families is of course the sole cause of this weak appointment so much to be condemned. Mr. LABOUCHERE married Lady MARY HOWARD, and is admitted a Whig jure matrirnonii. As Mr. ROBERT SMITH passes for a Vernon, so the new Colonial Secretary may with the patent of the Fox Club call himself Howard Labouchere. Rival jokers at the clubs have given reasons for this appointment. Some have thought it was to make a show of having an extra Com moner in the Cabinet, and that Mr. SbUTII SATURDAY, should no longer plume himself on being its solitary " Mr." Others have surmised that the fact of Mr. LABOINIipE having in early life travelled with tArd D*RBY was the real reason, As the Premier in his difficulty had gone to Lord STANLEY, ans as the Noble Mem for T g's Lynn had declihed, Lord PALM ERS • TON ought that the next best thing wa s t o offer t to, one who hid 4 relled with Lord STANbiY's Atther. yor He' orthy of note, that the mast distinguished fact in the life of Mr. Lisouollime is that he made an American tour with Lord DEBBY. His official life, however, shows that he did not sympathetically catch th e energy hereditary in the STANLEY& ... OUR CIVILISATION IN THE EAST. IT is a standing topic of reproach against us by foreign nations that we are too much a people of professions, practising very little those high principles which we so perpetually preach. That there is some foundation for the charge it is impossible to deny, and it is, therefore, doubly incumbent on those of us who believe in our mission of civilisation and enlightenment to root out from among our selves all cause of offence. To leave flagrant abuses in our own system unnoticed while playing the monitor so pragmatically to the rest of the world, would be to destroy at once all hope of usefulness, and to sink from being leaders in the van of progress into the posi tion of a parcel of political Tartuffes. Holding these views, from which we think that no man of earnest truthfulness will dissent, we cannot but record our strongest protest against an act of the grossest barbarism lately perpe trated with the sanction of the Government of Madras. It is an act calculated to degrade us to the level of the lowest of the natives of India whom it has been our destiny to con quer, or even lower; for the most debased of them do not extend their atrocities to the dead. The act we protest against is as follows, and we are sure that the recital of it will call up the same feelings in the breasts of our readers which we do not hesitate to say are felt by our• selves. It appears, then, that the Moplahs who lately murdered Mr. CONOLLY have for the last twelve or fifteen years been perpetually guilty of outbreaks against that collector's authority —outbreaks which have been always accom panied by bloodshed, and which, have, there fore, very properly been put down by the sword. As such outbreaks seem to have been unheard of before that Gentleman went to Malabar, it may be inferred that there must have been something very galling in his system of administration to produce such effects. A wise Government would, therefore, have instituted some more searching inquiry into his acts there than the Madras Govern ment has done. However, that is a point into which we shall not enter at present. If the Moplahs thought fit to resort to force to effect those objects the accomplishment of which they should have sought for by legitimate means, the only course for the authorities was to recur to the same alternative for their re pression, and the responsibility of the lives thus sacrificed lay on the Moplahs' heads. So far, therefore, the Government of Madras had the feeling of the public entirely on its side. In an evil hour, however, it allowed exaspera tion to get the mastery over all other con siderations, and descended to carry its ven geance beyond the grave. The Moplahs, it must be remembered, are a Mahomedan people, who, like all Mahomedans, have an extreme respect for the dead. Their interments are accompanied by prayers over the corpse not very dissimilar to those in use among Christian men. Iu them they consign the soul of the departed to the merci ful protection of its Maker, and the body to its mother earth, pending the general resurrec rection, in which, in common with ourselves, they hope to rise again. Of all the points of the Mahomedan religion, that of the sanctity of the grave is the one which is the most deeply felt. This may be seen by the vast and beau tiful cemeteries in the neighbourhood of Mahomedan cities, it being held a sacrilege to P