The Press. — London, England, 1857-09-05 00:00:00

868 THE WEEK. Jr is " quite possible," we are told, that the next Indian mail may bring us " gloomier news." How tho Government journals reconcile this anticipation with their constant statements for the last week that "the worst had passed," and that the hour of " ven geance " had arrived, we leave them to explain. We believe it is possible, nay, more, that it is certain, this terrible rebellion has not yet arrived at its climax. We have to thank the apathy and inaction of the Government three months since for whatever misfortunes happen now, as we have to thank them, in the first instance, for sowing those seeds of rebellion which, ripened by the blood of our countrymen, have arrived at so terrible a maturity. We dare not hope that the massacre of Cawnpore will be followed by the relief of Lucknow. General HAVELOCK, with a handful of men, and without a siege -train, can scarcely with any hope of success attack NANA SAHIB in his fortress at Blutoor. If he advance towards Lucknow, he enters a district swarming with rebels and robbers. Ho has not sufficient force to maintain his communications; he has no carriage, and the country is a swamp. If he force his way in the face of these obstacles, Cawnpore will be re-occupied by the rebels; if he hesitate, Lucknow is lost; if he attack NANA SAHIB, his reduction is uncertain, while the fate of Lucknow will be sealed. Goo help those poor fugitives ! Straitened for provisions, failing in ammunition, and surrounded by thousands of bloodthirsty fanatics, their fate is terrible to contemplate. Still there is hope. Daring and genius overcome incredible obstacles ; fortitude and courage bear incredible hardships, and the very intelligence that relief is at hand will support both bands of heroes under every privation and difficulty. But what a condition are we in! Our scattered troops shut up here and there in a few fortified posts, a handful of brave men to thousands of armed rebels sweeping the country, a Sebastopol before us at Delhi, treachery and cholera in the camp, and the army of relief yet at sea! The only consolation we have is in the heroic courage our countrymen and women everywhere exhibit. Their heroism is worthy of their race. But skill and courage, fortitude and daring, have their limits. They cannot for ever compen sate for inequality of force. We have had one massacre at Cawnpore ; we may have others, which Providence avert, at Lucknow and Agra. Our sole hope at this moment rests in the incapacity of the rebels. Were their chiefs as skilful as their numbers appear inexhaustible, the soil of India would have ere this been soddened with the blood of every Englishman in Hindostan. It is frightful to contemplate our ►osition. And to whom and what do we owe it ? To that unscrupu lous aggression which perpetrated an act precipitating us into this gulf of misery, which was met by weak hesitation and wavering incapacity. The Ministers who countenanced the annexation of Oude, who gave to that measure their " unhesitating support," and then, when the crisis arrived that their flagitious act had aroused, supinely left our unhappy countrymen and wo men to an appalling fate, incur a tremendous responsibility. It is useless to attempt to screen them by arguing that they are at length aroused to the perils around us, and to say that " the hour of " surprise has drawn to an end." It is time that it should. The hour of retribution has yet to arrive. We have great pleasure in hearing that the Marquis of DALHOUSIE has placed the whole of his pension of 5,0001. per annum, and which was conferred on him by the East India Company without the inter vention of Parliament, at the disposition of the London committee for the aid of the sufferers from the Indian rebellion. This is as it should be. Tho election for Middlesex has passed off with the smoothness of a Whig family compact. One scat is left open to the commercial classes, and the other is reserved for the scion of one of the houses in the old clique. Mr. BYNG is, we suspect, a weak young man of good abilities, but without strong impulses. He wishes to take his own views, if people would allow him to do so, and he pleads hard for the right of free will. The fact that he is spoken of by the Whigs as their most rising man, and that he has committed himself to the " Ballot," shows the amount of ultraism which the aristocratic Whigs are ready to absorb. We admit that there is a tone of candour in this young politician's addresses, and we should expect truth and sincerity from one of his name. " This, however, I will and "must say," said the Honourable Gentleman, "that England " was forewarned of the dangers she had to expect in " India, and that England was not) forearmed to meet them ;' and ho enforced the truth that we had been repeatedly told we had not sufficient forces in India. We like this frank and manly admission from a Ministerialist. It is most important that a gentleman of Mr. BYNG's convictions should also have avowed an opinion in favour of transferring the government of India from the Company to the Crown. From the general tone of Mr. BYNO'S remarks we surmise that though the Hon. Gentleman is thoroughly " Liberal," yet his mind is not made up on the question which divides Whig circles, as to whether Lord PALMERSTON or Lord JOHN RUSSELL ought to have the leadership of the Liberals. A story is now current in the clubs bearing upon an incident in the Crimean war, and which, originally produced in the work of the " Staff Officer," was the cause of some excite• THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 5, 1857. merit and not a little acrimony. It will be remembered that the " Staff Officer" made a statement to the effect that Sir DE LACY EVANS'S real share in the Battle of Inkermann was not th a t w hi c h it had been represented to be, and that Lord RAGLAN 'S despatch awarded him a tribute of praise to which he had no just title. Sir 1)E LACY EVANS, accepting the merit erroneously attributed to him with tranquil complacency, and somewhat thrifty, moreover, in his acknowledgments of the brilliant services of Sir J. PENNEFATHER on that memorable day, broadly and flatly contradicted the assertion of the " Staff Officer," referring in support of his denial to the official repnrt of ,General PENNEFATHER himself, dated Bth November, 1854, which described him as " arising from his sick-bed on hearing the can " nonade and riding to the field," and stated that " his countenance, " advice, and directions were most valuable and cheering to him during " the action." The " Staff Officer" upon this very properly withdrew the remark in question from his second edition, adding at the same time that as "his authority was indispil l table, he only did so, pending fur " ther inquiry into the matter." That further inquiry, it appears, has now been made, and it has resulted in the substantiation of the Staff Officer's original assertion. Sir J. PENNEFATHER has admitted that Sir DE LACY EVANS did not appear on the field of Inkermann until the battle was over ; that, although when his attention was called by his aide-de-camp (who was copying the rough draft of his despatch) to the inaccuracy of that portion of it which concerned Sir DE LACY EVANS'S part in the engagement, he had directed him to write it as it stood ; he did so, in a spirit of generosity and chivalry, feeling a sort of pride in sustaining the reputation of so gallant an officer. An observation Sir JOHN made shortly after this period, when he found by the news papers that Sir DE LACY EVANS allowed himself to enjoy an undisputed monopoly of the credit of the eventful transactions of that day, was the basis of the " Staff Officer's " statement. This observation we have reason to believe Sir JOHN admits was actually made by him. So that, if this be an accurate version of what has occurred— and we believe it to be strictly authentic—we have two results to notice. The one is, that the Staff Officer is relieved from the charge of misrepresentation, seriously affecting the character of a veteran and distinguished officer; the other result is, that the eminent services of Sir J. PENNEFATHER in one of the most remarkable conflicts in the history of warfare will no longer be overshadowed and obscured by the undue exaltation of a general who, great as his reputation may be, did little on this occasion to merit the praise so thoughtlessly awarded him. Reports are floating idly about that Mr. VERNON SMITH will shortly retire from the post of President of the Board of Control. The name of more than one Right Hon. Gentleman has been mentioned by anticipation in connection with the event. We believe that there is not the slightest foundation in fact for these statements. Lord PALMERSTON appreciates the amiableness of Mr. SMITH too well to supersede him by a less pliant and more dangerous successor. A most scandalous libel on the people of Ireland has lately ap peared in one of the Dublin journals : Sweeter than the voice of love is the news of English discomfiture in India to the breasts of the Irish people. There is not a vessel of England which is wrecked, there is not a general of hers who is slain, there is not a battalion in her service which is routed and overthrown, that the people of Ireland do not gloat over with the greatest satisfaction and delight. Wherever England draws the sword, or lights the match, Ireland prays for her defeat. And there is more to the same effect, which we have quoted elsewhere. Such sentiments find no echo in any portion of respectable or influential society in Ireland. Was it the case that during the Crimean war Ireland held back in any way from bearing her full con tribution to the exigencies of the period, while her gallant sons won their fair share of the laurels awarded to the brave? We observed with pleasure the vigorous and united efforts made by the Roman Catholic clergy to swell the amount of the " Patriotic Fund." In this present crisis Irishmen will not forget that in every list of the massacred vic tims there are many Irish names, and their proper national pride will re member that Sir HENRY LAWRENCE was an Irishman. They are not likely to be oblivious of the fame gained on Indian soil by Sir EYRE COOTE, Lord MACARTNEY, the WELLESLEYS, the gallant GouoH, and many others. In the time when JOHN MITCHELL wrote about " vitriol" and " glass bottles," such distempered stuff might have been palatable to a few lovers of strong words ; but that day has passed. Irishmen respect the sex, and they are honourably proud of the women of their country. Would it not be coarse calumny to assert that the manhood of Ireland felt less keenly than English or Scotehmen the ferocious treatment of women and children by the mutinous Sepoys? Those outrages have deprived them of all sympathy. There was much feeling for the French when the Bastille was destroyed. But the savagery of the Jacobins in 1793 completely changed the current of opinion in Eng. land and through Europe generally. So with the mutineers in India. Their brutalities, their unmanly deeds, and their atrocious savagery, would have stained The holiest cause that tongue or sword Of mortal ever lost or gained. With such hateful acts and such odious cowardice no men worthy of the name of Irishmen could ever sympathise. The difference upon the question of title betwixt the Emperor of Austria and the Emperor of all the Russias is somewhat. amusing As it turns upon a matter of history and involves a principle it is also instructive. For both parties the ground is dangerous. The Emperor of AUSTRIA assumes that, being King of Hungary and of Bohemia as well, he alone of all the potentates of Europe possesses the imperial and royal prerogative in its duplex signification and honour, and by this dogmatic assertion he claims to ignore the title of King of Poland