The Press. — London, England, 1857-09-26 00:00:00

940 THE WEEK. WE continue to have such cheering pictures drawn of our prospects and position in India, that the unimportant element of truth is alone wanting to restore the British public to their usual placid indifference towai ds Indian affairs. Although we may place no great confidence in the Government or their supporters, we have too much faith in the manly feeling and in the shrewd sagacity of the British people to believe that they will permit themselves to be hoodwinked much longer. We are congratulated this week upon having " a secure " place and a solid foundation" in the " confidence " of the people of India. We aro told that " the poor villagers have not risen even " against our refugees." We are told that " the services of men and " cattle are at our command," that " supplies are cheap and " abundant in all our camps," that " our relations with " the country at large " are " just as usual," and that " our communications everywhere, from Delhi to the Surlej " in the west, and to the Himalayas to the north," are " so thoroughly " uninterrupted that for all military purposes the country is our own." Unless the Times had written this, no one who has paid the least attention to the phases of events or the current of opinion could credit such statements being put forth at a moment when the few acres our fortified posts cover are all that we can claim of Central India and Bengal. It is not easy to unite contradictions which cannot be recon ciled ; but if we have so " secure a place" and " solid foundation" in the " confidence of the people," what has prevented the suppression of the rebellion ? We appeal to every letter written from India, to every refugee now in England, whether confidence is felt in the native population ? If we dare trust them with a musket we could raise from their ranks a million of men iu a month. But the Times knows as well as we do that all confidence is at an end between European and native. For years past in every great frontier ‘s ar, at the moment of action it has been necessary to double the European garrisons at every important military post. That, at least, was not a sign of much confidence upon either side, and will any one maintain that we are now in a better position than we were eight years ago ? But the Times has yet stronger proof of this same confidence ; the poor villagers " have not even attacked our refugees." Perhaps not, but have they fed them? The testimony of the refugees themselves is at least as good as the assertion of the Times. Some of the ladies now arrived by the Colombo " escaped," writes a correspondent from Southampton, " nearly naked, and lived in the jungle for days "with their children, starving, and rarely able to get a handful of rice " to satisfy their cravings of hunger, for few villagers were willing to " assist them." And how is it, if the villagers are so innocent of all complicity in this great conspiracy, that the " evidences of our people's handiwork," as we read in a letter of an officer en marche, " consisted " of natives hung by fours and fives on the trees by the roadside." But then, again, we have another proof of secure confidence. We enjoy the services of men and cattle " at command," supplies are " abundant and cheap " in all our camps, and our communications " uninterrupted." Surely, if this were the real state of the case, we should not read of garrisons isolated and cut off by starvation and massacre, of hazardous retreats, desperate defences, and the most heroic advance through the heart of a country " swarming with the enemy." Why all this, if the non-military population are well effected? As to our communications being uninterrupted to the north and west, the Times is welcome to the assertion, for the real lines of communication through which our beleagued garrisons look for assistance are exactly in the oppo site direction.' They are to the east and southi; and the pleasant security of the Great trunk Road to Calcutta, together with the amiableness of the River populations on the Ganges, and the perfect safety of every road from Delhi to Bombay, are so much matters of fact that we need not dwell on them here. But to conclude, we referred last week to the injudicious as well as contemptible nature of these efforts of journals to blind the country to the real state of our position in India. We are not surprised that the Govern ment should find obstacles to encounter and difficulties to overcome in inducing men to enlist in the ranks of the line, so long as these journals continue to impress upon the country that our posi tion is not one to cause alarm, that our success is not problema tical, and that the emergency is not so great as reflective men believe and the Government well know. With such misre presentations constantly placed before them, the people of this country fail to comprehend the peril of the moment ; they do not se e th a t i n India with us it is but a step from a convulsion to a collapse, and, taking their tone from the sophistry prevalent "in high places," they feel no interest to enlist in the service of their Sovereign. The time is rapidly approaching when a more healthy feeling will be aroused. The country then will no longer be content to swallow soporifics, applied by those who would hide their own falsehoods, or screen the ignorance and incapacity of others. The statement, which appeared first in this journal, that the Mar quis of DALHOUSIE, K.G., had devoted his pension of 5,0001. per annum to the relief of the sufferers from the Indian rebellion, and which statement has ultimately proved, unfortunately, not to be realised, appears to have had its origin in some remarkable circumstances. A leading article in a morning contemporary avowedly under the influ ence of the existing Ministry, had announced that among the available ways and means for carrying on the war in our late Indian posses sions, was to be the confiscation of all those pensions granted to the King of DELHI and others who had contributed to the destruction of our authority. It seems that the late Governor-General rashly con cluded that his own pension entered into this category; and it was under the somewhat precipitate influence of that sentiment that his THE PRE S S, SEPTEMBER 26, 1857. Lordship conceived the gracious expedient of devoting these resources to those who in a moment of remorseful modesty he recognised as the victims of his peculiar and highly remunerated policy. The pension accorded to the Marquis of DALHousIE for the annexation of Oude, the now universally admitted cause of the rebellion, was not granted by Parliament, but by the East India Company—an exercise of authority by that unhappy and anomalous body which was much questioned at the time. As one of the con. sequences of the rebellion will eventually be to bring the whole of Indian finance under the control of Parliament, there is little doubt, that, in the stern revision of the expenditure of India which the now notorious insolvency of the Company must brine about, the House of Commons will avail itself of its privilege to counteract the uncon stitutional grant of the Board of Directors. With these prospects, the original intention of the late Governor-General seems not unworthy of a statesman of his distinguished discrimination. The interview between the Emperors NAPOLEON and ALEXANDER is not regarded in England with any mistrust. The Emperor NAPOLEON has proved himself, since he ascended the Imperial Throne, faithful to his engagements. We believe that France has no view of self aggrandisement upon the continent of Europe, and we regard this interview in no other light than the friendly rapprochement of two sovereigns desirous to secure and consolidate the peace and prosperity of Europe. An interview avoids much diplomatic finesse. Questions, which in the labyrinth of protocols studiously framed to conceal the truth, might possibly become complicated, are openly dis cussed in all their intricate bearings, and in the presence of frank concession and mutual goodwill are amicably arranged to the satisfac tion of all. We have reason to believe that an interview between the Emperor NAPOLEON and the Emperor FRANCIS JOSEPH will take place in October, awl that, if his health permit, his Majesty the King of PRUSSIA will be present on that occasion. The report that the Government have decided upon forwarding troops to India by the overland route is incorrect. Her Majesty's Ministers are not in the habit of arriving at rapid conclusions. The transport of troops across tho Isthmus of Suez, we have Lord PALMERSTON'S authority for saying, is attended with considerable " inconvenience," and no little "expense," and, although it, is not possible that any of the reinforcements from England can reach Calcutta before November, and that upon every hour may hang the fate of thousands of noble lives, her Majesty's Ministers do not consider these events of such grave iin portaace as to call for any hasty or rash decision. The subject of the overland route has recently been under discussion. It was originally proposed that the 51st Regiment, now in Dublin, should be despatched as private passengers, dressed in plain clothes, and we believe the pro position met with favour in high quarters, but the health of Lord PANaluaE requiring the relaxation of a week or two's deer-stalking, tho matter has been indefinitely postponed. It is anticipated that the arrival of the expected mail from India will bring intelligence of such a " cheering nature" as may render the necessity of any extraordinary efforts in the transport of troops unnecessary. The feeling of pity and commiseration fur our Indian sufferers is not confined to England or to France. The munificent gift of the Emperor of the FRENCH has been followed by a similar donation from the Sultan, whose contribution is not without significance, and will have peculiar effect throughout the East. At home public meetings aro held in every county and town, and, amidst the warmest expres sions of sympathy, the most liberal subscriptions aro freely given. In general the political bearing of the crisis is avoided, but here and there speakers express their opinions. Sir ARCHIBALD ALISON, on Wednesday, for example, in the course of his address urged with some force a theory which we thought exploded— that the insurrection was a " mere military mutiny." "It is in vain," said Sir A. ALISON, "to speak of the greased cartridges. " The revolt was organised by the Mahomedans years before the " greased cartridges were hearl of." That may or not be the case, but Sir ARCHIBALD ALISON, immediately atter admitting this long ripening conspiracy, adds, "We must not confound the military " mutiny of the Brahmins and Mahomedans with the glorious efforts " of, &e. The revolt has in no sense been a national movement; it was " undertaken for no national purpose ; even yet it is not joined in nor " sympathised with by the great body of the people." In the first place, what does Sir ARCHIBALD mean by the term "great body of the people?" Does he mean the Sikhs and Mahrattas ? If so, we admit his assertion to some extent ; but if ho means to say that the rebellion has not been joined, and is not supported by, the mass of the Brahmin and Mahomeda.n population, we venture to thiuk that Sir ARCHIBALD ALISON comes under the category of those persons described by the Colombo refugees, " who have even now " nothing like a correct notion of the extent and character of the insur " rection." If the " great body of the people" are not supporting the insurrection, why is it not put down? If the people were well affected, what difficulty could the local Government experience in suppressing the revolt at once ? They could raise with ease 10,000 recruits for every rebel Sepoy. Sir ARCHIBALD ALISON is too sagacious a man not to see that his theory is fallacious to a degree, and utterly opposed to all fact. The mass of the people may be very loyal and well affected towards us, but why have we so many kings, nawabs, rajahs, ranees and moulvies, shut up in prison ? Surely it is not on account of their fidelity. Do the villagers feed and assist our wretched refugees, or do they too often finish the bloody work the Sepoys had begun? There is not a letter received in England or Scotland, except perhaps from some credulous friend of Sir ARCHIBALD, which breathes that calm I I