The Press. — London, England, 1855-09-08 00:00:00

The Viceregal presence is an awful scourge to the com munity at large. His establishment is composed of all the blackguard riffraff of Calcutta, and under the covering of their red and gold liveries these fellows commit the most diabolical enormities. You are aware that the very time selected for the viceregal march from Cheenee to Simla was of all seasons the most important one to the cultiva tors of the soil. It was the season at which the kurreef (autumn) crops required watching prior to cutting down. and at which the rubbee ( spring) sowings ought to take place. But not a particle of consideration was shown to the poor creatures whose all depended on their presence in the fields. They were dragged by thousands by the Commissioner's chttprassus away from their homes, and kept for weeks in herds and droves of four and five hundred each at every ten miles of the road by which the was about to return. Gentlemen travelling along that road have told me that these poor creatures were in the plight which you may remember a Sinithfield flock of sheep to have been when well worried and driven along by the drovers and dogs. That the picture here given is not over drawn will readily be believed by all who know India, or whose eyes are beginning to be opened to what takes place there. Indeed, we have heard on undoubted authority of a com manner-in-chief of one of the minor Presiden. cies having two thousand labourers pressed to act as porters for him for a seventy-mile tour, in addition to the countless carts and bullocks which the Government found and paid for Under such a system of dealing with the cul tivators of India generallyi there can be nothing more probable than that the railway officials had been supplied with labourers in the same manner from ltajmahal, and that these people, removed as they were from any previous public road, and unaccustomed to such proceedings, had reflised submission. The flogging of the refractory according to Indian practice, and the resentment of their brother hillmen, would naturally follow, and then the outbreak which has thus for the pre sent disturbed the peace of our Eastern empire. Be this, however, as it may, the subject of forced labour calls imperatively for the India Board's attention ; and it will be the fault of the President if, along with the torture abomination, it be not at once swept away. That it cart be abolished without in convenience to the State was proved by the late Sir CHARLES NAPIER, Who neither tolerated it nor any of the enormities revealed by the Madras Commission in his admirable a.nd most efficient government of Scinde. MR. ROEBUCK'S CASE. IT appears that the personal and political friends of Mr. Rossucx have resolved on appealing to the public to give the Honour able Gentlemen a testithonial, which is likely to assume a pecuniary form. We cannot be expected to sympathise with the case of a politician whose principles are so adverse to our own, and we confess to a strong prejudice against " tributes " of the sort paid to the late Mr. O'ComiEm. and some others. But we admit that there are exceptions to all rules, and, though not amongst the admirers or sup porters of Mr. ROEBUCK, we cheerfully acknow ledge that the Member for Sheffield's position is peculiarly distinguished from that of other public characters. As a matter of some per sonal interest his case is worth consideration. Mr. ROEBUCI was gifted by nature with Many of the qualities which gain notoriety in free countries. Fearless in word and deed, he had that boldness which rivets popular atten• tion, and his fluent tongue, and trenchant rhetoric, rapidly secured him prominence in polemical encounters. Agile in intellect, acute in detecting fallacies, and dexterous in exposing them, his eloquence was logical in form and bitter in expression ; and after the prosing of a dull documentary economist, all sides of the House used to relish his pun gency. Taken sandwich fashion between the conventional twaddle of a Ministerial subordi nate, and the mouthing% of a provincial sena- tor, the speeches of Mr. ROEBUCK were often most agreeable, and in a tame debate he was as welcome as pickles with cold meat. He served up 13enthamisth a la sauce pigaante ; and without a party; or without high Bonin' or Tlit PRESS. professional position, on many and important occasions he was heard with attention, and even pleasure, by the most impatient assem bly in the world. But, though capable of being effective in Parliament, Mr. ROEBUCK wanted that phy sical strength requisite for success at the Bar. To aspire to the gains of a mere chamber lawyer would have been torture to one of his active temperament, while his weak frame forbad that strenuous exertion which is required for an advocate. Thus he had the gifts and the defects which enable a man to signalise only his name, but do not enable him to amass a fortune. Three years of laborious work at the Bar would probably have cut short his career. It is possible that the consciousness of his physical defects preyed upon a sensitive dis position, and that at times he was soured by seeing men of parts inferior to his own gain position rather by their muscles than their minds. Crotchetty as a politician, he was capricious in the freedom with which he used to exercise his talents for etching public olia racters in aqua fortis. He was a democrat in theory, and yet he was not a demagogue in habit. If he railed freely, he never disclaimed personal responsibility, and against secret and systematic abuse of any character, even of his greatest foe, his manly nature would have recoiled. Often severe and censorious on his contemporaries, there was no one in public life on whom he bore so hardly as on himself, for the artistic acerbity of his speeches often suggested a character the reverse of his own. Caustic, tetchy, and irritable, he was certainly neither mean nor treacherously vindictive. His faults were chiefly those of the lip, and his health, not his heart, was mostly to blame for his escapades. As his want of stamina prevented his suc cess at the Bar, so his exemption from all party sympathies deprived him of all hope of Ministerial reward. It was a real misfortune to him that he should have commenced public life under the auspices of the Benthamites, whose main position was, " Whatever is is wrong." He was equally the opponent of the two great hereditary parties in Parliament; and no one spoke with more contempt of the ignorant multitude out of doors. But, though he displayed in issimo all the faults of a Ben thamite of the closet, he never showed the convenient oblivion of " first principles " ex hibited by some of his former coadjutors in the Westminster Review. He has never sunk into a recreant, or fled from his old flag, and disappeared from the Radical ranks in the form of a Cabinet Minister, or a new Baronet, or a Privy Councillor. If trimmers like a MOLEEWORTII, or a B. HALL, Or incomprehen sibles like Mr. ROBERT LOWE, are deemed worthy of reward, it would be strange if no compliment of any sort were paid to Mr. ROEBUCK by those who were often glad to have the aid of his abilities. The propriety of giving a pecuniary tribute to such a politician must bb decided on en tirely by the Member for Sheffield's friends. Personally unknown to ourselves, we have no concern in the Honourable Member's affairs ; but we admit that he has often been a Manly opponent, and his freedom from time-serving we applaud. He Was not a slave to the plat form. He never qttailed before a parish vestry, or kept up an illicit social intercourse with beadles, or overseers, or subaltern re porters. He was not a Radical of the Brum magem school, and he never would have suited the Marylebone " gents." There was some thing gallantly aspiring and intellectual in his efforts, and in forcing on the Committee for Inquiry into the Conduct of the War, in the opinion of men of opposite connections, the Member for Sheffield perfornied a great public service. Nor can we conclude without expressing our surprise that, after a generous article in a great leading organ, a literary supporter of the Premier should have disparaged the claims of Mr. ROEBUCK. Lord PALMERSTON iS, for the time, a quasi chief amongst the Whig families, and in that capacity we may remind his Lord- ship that even the idol of Brookes's, " Mr Fox," condescended to accept six and thirty thousand pounds from his subscribing ful lowers after he had lost five times that amount at the gaming -table. tikititbat CONFLAGRATION AT HAVRE. A DESTRUCTIVE FIRE broke GUI. OR the evening of the 29th ult., in a large spirit warehouse belonging to Messrs. Bernachon and Levionneis, Rue Scudery, at the cerner of the Place du Commerce, at Havre, One of the cellarmen was drawing brandy from a large cask, when unfortunately the cock fell out. He placed one hand on the orifice to prevent the es. cape of the liquid, and tried with the other to pick up the cock, but the brandy spurted through his fingers on to the flame of the lamp, which he had placed on the ground. Flames immediately shot up, and in a moment reached the large wooden vessel which was nearly full of brandy. The liquor instantaneously caught fire, and the man was so much burned that he was obliged to withdraw his hand from the holey The brandy then burst forth in large quantities, and it was immediately caught by the flames. In an in credibly short time the conflagration reached the other casks in the cellar, which were filled with spirits, and caused them to explode successively will' a loud report. Their contents materially increask d the violence of the fire, and the flames not only filled the cellar, but escaped by the different issuts; and than, being fanned by the air, soon burst through the roof, shooting up to a prodigious height, and e i_ tending even to the opposite side of the street and to the trees in the Place du Commerce. Above the cel lars of Messrs. Bernachon and Levionnais were thb premises of Messrs. Mortier and Marette, sailmakers, which were also filled with inflammable materials ; and these having caught fire added fury to the flames. Very shortly after the conflagration had commenced, a strong body of firemen, large detach ments from the garrison, and an immense number of the inhabitants assembled; but it was soon evident that the fire was too furious to be extinguished, and that all that could bo attempted was to prevent it from extending. In spite, however, of the Most ac tive efforts, it reached the premises of Messrs. Dus saquier and Co., in which were a vast quantity of bottles of champagne, and eighty thousand boxes of pilchards, and there destroyed everything. A ware house belonging to Messrs. Yrigoyen and Son was with its contents likewise destroyed ; but, fortunately, only a few hours before 900,0001. worth of cotton goods had been shipped from it for the Havannah and Mexico. The fire also extended to the premises of Messrs. Pitray and Co., and destroyed them, to gether with four hundred bales of cotton ; but it went no further. Although, however, the flames were prevented from spreading, they did some damage to the houses on the opposite side of the street. At length, after raging for upwards of four hours, the fire began to decline, ana was eventually extinguished, partly by means of water, and partly by means of vast quantities of sand being thrown on it—the latter being the more efficacious method of the two. At oue time it was feared that burning fragments might be carried amongst the shipping in the dock ; but, fortunately, the wind was not high, and the vessels escaped. Shortly after the fire had begun, a man named Thomas, who was formerly fireman, but who had been for some time in the ser vice of M. Troteux, hastened into the cellar, thinking that his practical experience might enable him to suggest means for extinguishing the flames; but he Was in an instant completely surrounded by them, and was burned to death. Several other persons were burned or otherwise injured in the course of the conflagration, but none of them seriously. Prince Jerome, attended by his aides-de-camp, arrived shortly after the fire had commenced, and remained on the spot until it had begun to decline. Several of the Russian prisoners actively assisted in bringing up water, or doing whatever was required. The total amount of damage done is estimated at 500,000 f. IT is stated that Sir John Villiers Shelley, Batt, M.P., will be the chairman of the New Board of Works, under Sir B. Hall's Act for the Local Managt ment of the Metropolis . A WORKING ENGINEER, of the name of John Ross, residing in Montreal, claims to have discovered anew motive power which will waft a ship across the Atlantic Ocean in three days. IN pursuance of a notice issued by the Governor and Directors of the Bank of England, the transfer books for Bank Stock were closed on Thursday the Bth inst. until the 18th of October neat. A LARGE NUMBER OF ARMS has recently been for warded to Sir James Brooke, K.C.8., Rajah of Sa rawak. It may be inferred, therefore, that something of importance will soon be heard from that quarter. THE REV. CHRISTOPHER SMYTH, one of the curates of St. Nicholas, Yarmouth, has lately ascended to i the highest point of Monte Rosa, hitherto deemed in accessible ; and has since succeeded in reaching the summit of the monarch of mountains, Mont Blanc, by a new route, and without the aid of guides. AT A RECENT SALE of the Marquis of Exeter's stud, Lord Londesborough purchased Stockwell, the winner of the St. Leger, for 3,100 guineas ; at the same sale Nutwith was sold for 1,000 guineas, and Ambrose fot 780 guineas. likii..