The Press. — London, England, 1855-07-21 00:00:00

678 the interests of a worn-out Ministry has been held in supense too long. Is the deplorable inaction of laKt autumn about to be repeated ? Will Parliament separate and leave all the powers of the State in the hands of LOrd. PALMERSTON ? If so, we ?roust be prepared to accept all the consequenoes of ths.t. Ministerial instability which Lord JogN Rusasu. warns us is far more dangerous than would be a total change in the aitasasteg *Ltd compagition Government. THE CONSERVATIVES AND THE REGISTRIES. WE directed attention not long since to the necessity for the supporters of Conservatism adopting measures through the country for organising their power, and not longer defer ing the consideration of the state of the registries. The Liberals in various districts are already beginning to take thought for the next general election, and apathy now on the part of the Conservatives would be criminal. Momentous consequences must be involved in the result of the next general election ; and the existing state of the political world shows that it is not likely the present Parliament will be allowed to die a natural death. This session is the third year of its duration, and nothing is less probable than that it will_continue without dissolution until 1858. In urging our Conservative friends through the country to be vigilant and active at the present time, we do not mean that they should plunge into a course of political agitation, or busy themselves with great public demonstra tions of their principles or their power. The registries should be steadily maintained with out raising the excitement of electioneering contest, and the roll ought to be kept clear of unsound votes. While anxious to quicken the action of the Conservative body in its local connections, we disclaim any desire to annoy or cause vexation to bond fide Liberal voters, but we strongly desire to purify the registries. If we do not betimes take steps for that object, it is plain that our opponents will sap our strength, and seriously injure the action of the Conservative element in the country. Turning to the prospects of our party gene rally, we may remind our friends in the coun try that since we last addressed them on this topic the scandals of the Cabinet, the retreat of Lord JOHN RUSSELL before the attack of the Conservatives, and the general disrup tion that may be witnessed in the Liberal ranks, all show that a great political victory is within the reach of Conservatives, if they stand together firmly and exclude dissension from their ranks. Although not respon sible for the present war, the Conser vatives give a firm and loyal support to the Crown, and have left a memorable in stance of an Opposition conducted without faction, and unsullied by any attempts to interpose obstacles in the service of the Executive. The superior moral tone of the Conservative party, its more chivalrous temper, and more dignified conceptions of public spirit, are pro ducing much effect even upon bigoted adhe rents to Liberalism. The opinion is begin ning to spread far and wide that upon either the ventuali' • of the present contest be best secured by at the helm They power in support of with strength for a len peace could be honour, the Con it better than the rushed into a war ions of its probs.- maiderations which ives in their duties and should nerve on behalf of the which they are of the eventualities of the the public interests would be the Conservatives being at can command more social pot the Executive to arm it wit prolonged contest ; and whet made with safety and ha servatives could conclude it imbecile Ministers who ruE without any definite notion ble results. These are cont should stimulate Conservativ to their own political body, I them to sustained exertion honourable connection in THE PRESS. CABAL OF THE SUBORDINATES. :F the servants in a gentleman's house were to dictate to tlieir muter a choice of friends or associates, or if the ensigns in a regiment were to itlt3truet the peneral of division nieen the appointment f sad officers for the day, we shoghl think that the world was about tq be twined upside doeni, Yet, in the last feer days, as strange promedtggs have been wit nessed amongst her Mnjeety's Ministers. The subordinates jumped this time into the place of Cabinet Ministers, and dictated to the Pre mier upon the ejectment of Lord JOliN RUSSELL -from office. The circumstance is really so extraordinary as to justify particular remark. Let the Ministerialists disguise it as they may, it is plain that their subordinates were acting in the personal interest of the ember • rassed Premier. It was under him that they held their offices, and it was to him that they looked for a continued enjoyment of pay and patronage. The question, however, comes, as to who incited their well-timed insurrection against Lord JOHN RUSSELL? Who whispered them their cue ? Who told them to take the initiative? Their unanimity of action was really wonderful, in the supposition that they were as " independent" Liberals as they pro fessed themselves to be. But after all it is not a case for wonder. They were Palmers tonians all of them for the time, and, as Mr. BRIGHT told them in trenchant terms, on Thursday, " Here we have men who owe to " the patronage and favour of the Noble Lord " the Member for London their partial " emergence from Parliamentary obscurity, " and they have joined in this disreputable " and contemptible cabal against him," and the House vehemently cheered the whole of that spirited passage in the effective address of the Member for Manchester. The meanness of the plot was of a double kind. Certain persons in the Cabinet were content to extricate Lord JOHN RUSSELL by such underhand proceedings, and " Liberals" were found ready to act the part of tools for the occasion. No other term can be applied to such conduct than that it was " a diere " potable and contemptible cabal." The Par liamentary system has come to a strange pass when the minors take the places of the majors in logical reasoning, and when rules official are reversed in order to turn inferiors into superiors, and make the underlings of Down ing -street the principal instruments of Ad miniAtration. It is impossible that in a country like Eng land political power can long remain with a Government that stoops to such miserable in trigues. Nothing can be solid or permanent when intrigue becomes the leading principle in a Ministry ; and the career of the chief of the present Cabinet is a prolonged plot. One time he conspires against a colleague, and at another time he coquets with the lowest Radicals He rises on the shoulders of the Whig families only to trip them with perfi dious dexterity; to gain some low object he would embrace his greatest foe ; and to achieve some personal purpose he would desert his oldest connections. His career shows that, though Lord PALMERSTON wants the moral power for a chief of a Cabinet, he has all the requisites for the promotion of a cabal ; and the finale of his political life will probably show that the sources of his elevation will yet be traced to the causes of his downfall. LORD GRANVILLE AND THE MADRAS PETITION. ON Monday evening Lord ALBEMARLE pre sented the Madras petition of grievances to the House of Lords, and in doing so made some observations on the Company's govern ment of India which were of the most damna tory kind. The Directors, who in the House of Commons had denied the existence of torture, he charged with a deliberate violation of the truth, and he assured the House that the forthcoming Report on the subject would SATURDAY, prove the charge. Then, as to their conduct as landlords and rulers generally, he stated that a bask wonid be gkovtly laid before the house every page of which would establish the fact of their habitual plops neglect and sys temaile mismanagement. So complete and continued had been, in hie Lordship's opinion, the Dirowne 404001 of all the duties of their poskion, ee to render it impossible to leave (lie government of India any longer in their 1141118. Now, as Lord ALBEMARLE lends a general support to the present Administra tion, we trust that this address of his will afford a sufficient vindication of the course which we have all along taken in regard to the affairs of India. It ought to eonvince the most sceptical that it is in no spirit of partisanship that we have given utteranee to the severe reflections which we have from time to time published ou the subject of Indian misgovernment. When men of the most opposite parties in the State agree upon a particular subject, it may be fairly pre sumed that the conclusion which they have thus separately arrived at is not far from the truth. Lord GRANVILLE showed by the tone of his reply that he had no idea of damaging his reputation by an out-and-out defence of the abuses of the Company's government All that he ventured to allege in their favour was that a hundred and twenty out of the twelve hundred miles the Lahore and Calcutta Rail way is to consist of had been completed ; that the electric telegraph had now been estab lished throughout India; and that whatever might be the abuses of the land revenue sys tem at Madras, it was thought by many that so large a rental could be raised in no other way. As regards the railway, however, it is notil very clear what possible benefit t he Madras ryot can derive from the existence of a hundred and twenty miles of railway at Cal cutta, when he would have to travel on foot about a thousand miles before he could reach the nearest station on the line. Equally futile is it to tell men who are starving, and who are neither known to nor cared for by a soul beyond their homes, that they may for a pound or thirty shillings send a message by the tele graph to the other side of India if they please. The electric telegraph in India, like the electric telegraph in Russia, is a very valuable instrument for the Government, but it has not much bearing on the present condi, tion of the serf in either State. Then, as to the rapid construction of the telegraph in India, if any argument at all is to be derived from that, it would be rather adverse to the Government than in favour of it, as showing how speedily the Directors can overcome the most serious obstacles when their own inte• rests are at issue, and that they only become oppressed with doubts and difficulties when the object is to benefit the people at large. Three thousand miles of telegraph have been constructed in India in exactly half the time that it has taken to prepare the returns on the salt tax called for on Sir JOHN PARING TON'S motion by the House of Commons. Respecting the remark of Lord GRANVILLE as to the doubtful possibility of raising an equal amount of land revenue in any other manner than that now pursued at Madras, we would beg to refer his Lordship to an article on the Madras land revenue published in this Journal on the 7th of October last. From this he will see that no doubt need remain on his mind upon that score, for we there showed that, under the change of system described, not only might an equal amount of land revenue be levied, but a much greater, and that without giving rise to a murmur or affording the very slightest occasion for com plaint whatever. Nor is there anything ex traordinary inthis,ifor force and cruelty will never in any country extract half the amount from the occupier that under a rational system would be voluntarily paid as rent. The only result of the arbitrary and tyrannical measures now pursued in Madras, and more or less in most other parts of British India, is to drive all men of capital from the occupation of laud, to throw it into the hands of paupers who have not the means to cultivate it properly,- to make that an impossible rent which with r the application of capital would prove a very