The Press. — London, England, 1857-10-10 00:00:00

996 grievance, if he might so call it, on the part of labourers' children to he remedied. It was shown that between 5,000 and 6,000 children, who were mere infants, were employed in agricultural operations, and some hundreds of thousands below fifteen. Also, it was shown that not above one-half of those who could attend school did so. and of that a half or a majority of that half left school before eleven, and almost all had left it before twelve years of age. He believed the real remedy, as far as remedy could be found for this evil, lay in a succesQion of small successes, such as night schools, book hawking societies, attention of the clergy, Sze. If these plaits were well carried out, he believed they would have pro ceeded a very considerable way in solving the difficulty, which he admitted to be a very great and a very press ing one. Other members aldressed the conference, after which a large party dined together at the Angel Hotel, when Mr. O. Sclater, M.P., addressed his hearers upon the advantages of a local over a cen tralised system of education. In the evening the Earl of Carnarvon delivered a lecture at the insti tution on the " Later History of the County of Hauts." THE PRESS, OCTOBER 10, 1857. fundamental maxim of any perfect system of representation —that eleh interest of the State should be represented in due proportion to its relative importance. (Cheers.) In conclusion, Mr. Du Cane made the following excellent observations upon his duty and that of his colleague with regard to the Indian revolt : On this head the path of our duty as your representatives does, I think, lie clear before us ; it has been given us in the admirable words of Mr. Disraeli," Combine, not to overthrow a ministry, but to save an empire." (Cheers.) I say, then, let the Ministry of this country put forth with out stint its utmost resources; let them go, if need be, even to the last ship and the last man, and let them not fear that their efforts will meet with aught of cold response in the hearts of an English people, or the voice of that people's representative assembly. (Cheers.) But while 1 would not wish that a tremendous national crisis like the present should be made the vehicle for a display of party feeling, I must frankly say that I cannot acquit the Ministry of all blame. I cannot say that I do not think they have something to answer for—they passed unheeded the prophetic voice of warning, couched in terms pregnant with emphatic meaning. they have neglected signs and tokens of the coming tempest ; nay more, when the storm had broken upon us, they misunderstood its magnitude and its direction, and persisted in regarding as the outbreak ofja few disaffected spirits a revolution that has shaken to its foundation the stability of our Indian empire. (Hear.) I will not now venture on the causes that have led to this crisis, they must be made at some future period the subject of a searching parliamentary inquiry; but this I do even now say, that in the withdrawal of our troops for the prosecution of our war with Persia, and the commence ment of our Chinese hostilities (of my opinion of which I think you can hardly yet be oblivious), is to be found the opportunity that has laid half India defenceless at the feet of those from whose name and deeds alike humanity recoils in abhorrence and in indignation. ( Hear.) Put sad as has been the commencement of this contest, of the ultimate result I have but little apprehension. We may have to put forth our country's utmost resources ; but this I do believe, that it is with a higher power and a purer aim that England will emerge from the struggle. It is with a strong hand and a mighty arm that she will execute at once her vengeance and her justice, and stamp out the last trace of mutiny and of rebellion front the very face of the land. She knows that she has an army that has nobly sustained its country's honour, and added to its own already imperishable renown ; and she will find, too, if occasion require it, statesmen who will not suffer that army's exertions to be paralysed by the oft-repeated tale of domestic mis government. (Cheers.) She will remember, too, when the earthquake shock has passed, and the fire has done its work, that vengeance is not all that belongs to her part; there is the still small voice remaining behind that speaks of the gentler duties of a Christian and a civilised nation, of the stability of an empire founded on a wise and . beneficent Government, and on measures securing at once the happiness and the prosperity of a great though a misguided people. In conclusion, I would say of India, as one of the most illustrious of the long line of England's statesmen wrote of the country that worshipped his genius and mourned for his loss, I would any in the words of Canning— The sword we dread not, of ourselves secure ; Firm were our strength, our peace and freedom sure. Let all the world confederate all their powers, Be they not backed by those that should be ours, high on his rock shall Britain's genius stand, Scatter the crowded hosts, and vindicate the land. The honourable gentleman sat down amidst loud cheers. Major BERESFORD said he wished to state, in ex planation that he had never alluded to any opinions given by kr. Disraeli, and that he had merely re ferred to the view which the press had taken as to the measure of justice to be meted to the rebels. Colonel Brasp. then, amidst loud cheers, proposed the health of Mr. T. J. Miller, M.P. for Colchester. Mr. MILLER, M.P., in the course of an able reply, pointed out the necessity of our encouraging in our colonies agriculture, trade, and commerce, and that to the want of the due encouragement of these arts we must, he thought, attribute our present lament. able position in India : Let us, then, learn from the past our conduct for the future. If we have committed error, let us not deny the truth, but manfully face it, and endeavour in future to pay that debt which probably our late want of attention has en tailed upon us in that country. I believe that during the next session of Parliament the mind of the members must be occupied with the momentous question as to the future government of India, and with that question to the exclu sion of every other; I believe we shall best do our duty to our country, and best discharge the high duties we have to perform in that assembly, if before we leave the important subject of India we adopt a system which will put that country upon a basis rendering impossible the return to those horrors which we have experienced. I do not wish to forestall this subject, but I cannot help feeling that the East I ntha Company has been too much of a trading com pany —I Hear, hear)—that it has confined itself too much to the pecuniary advantages which its operations were to obtain for it, and that it has attended but little to the more important objects which it ought to have had in view. i think it will be a very serious question for Par liament to deal with, whether that company shall exist any longer, or whether the Government itself shall be made responsible for the proper government of that important department of the empire. Now it has struck me with astonishment that whenever the Indian debate has oc curred in the House of Commons it has lagged on wearily before they got half way through it. Only on one occasion previous to our minds being aroused by accounts AGRICULTURAL MEETINGS. THE annual meeting of the Winckford :Agricultural Association was held at Castle I-I sa liti4liain on Tuesday last. After the usual distribution of prizes, the lealiny gentlemen dined together at the Bell 'lnn, Mr. 0. S. Oxley presiding. After the usual loyal toasts ha•l been drunk, the health of the members for North Essex was proposed by Mr. Ashurst Majendie. The Right Hon. W. BERESFORD, who rose first, after acknowledging his desire to perform his duties as a Conservative honestly, faithfully, and zealously, re ferred to the subject of the Indian mutiny, and expressed a strong opinion in favour of " retributive justice " upon the rebe:s in India. He thought Delhi " should be burned with fire and razed to the ground," and adduced many examples from Holy Writ in favour of this course : In his opinion it was nothing bat mawkish sentiments• lily to tali( of sparing the polluted places. Although he confessed he wits in favour of destroying Delhi and the other places in which these atrocities were committed, and although he would punish with death who had com mitted these hideous crimes, not sparing one, still he agreed to this extent with those who talked of mercy, that as the mutinies were not general, and a great portion of India was unainted with crime, he would not extend the measure of justice to all parts and all people. The right hon. member regretted the recent reduc tion of the army, and expressed an opinion that Lord Palmerston " had done all in his power to meet the Indian emergency," in tact " had done his best," and that he deserved support. In conclusion, the right hon. member expressed that he should not be considered a " turncoat " if he supported Lord Palmerston. Mr. DU CANE, M.P., in the course of his remarks upon his political stewardship, said he could claim little political capital in a session so barren of legisla tive results. Referring at once to Lord Palmerston's Conservative tendencies and Conservative affections, Mr. Du Cane observed that as it is "in the affairs of every-day )ife, so it is not, the less true of political alliances, that noscitur a sociis is a safe and a sound maxim ": In all bodies (says Mr. titirke) those who will lead must also in a considerable degree follow; they must conform their propositions to the taste, talent, and disposition of those whom they seek to conduct. The hon. member then alluded to the question of Reform : In the absence of any definite measure on this head, it is not, of course, for me to bind myself by any hasty or ill advised pledge. There is an old and simple proverb which says " First catch your hare," and so I say, first show me your measure of Reform, and then I will give my candid opinion as to its merits. ( Hear.) But this decla ration I will plainly make, that any measure of representa tive reform to which I will give my support must be some thing widely dift'erent from the last abortive creation of the ever fertile brain of my Lord John Russell, the levelling tendencies of which were but flimsily veiled by the specious drapery of a minority clause. (Cheers.) It must be , Aoineth n g widely remote from that mischievous proposition of Mr. Locke King's, to extend the county franchise to the 101. householder, and thereby convert the whole county electoral system of England into one vast and uniform borough representation. (Cheers.) Now, a uniform suffrage is to my mind, after all, but another term for the government of a country by a single class, and the lower you extend the suffrage on the principle of uniformity, so sure will you find the governing class in that which is just above its lowest level. If there is one error more glaringly apparent than another in the con struction of the Reform Bill of 18*2, it is the fact that it has given an undue pre-eminence in the representation to that very class., the 101. householder, to the diminution of the legitimate influence of the landed interest, and the almost entire exclusion of the elements of intelligence and education. Let us hope that in any measure of Reform they may bring forward the Government will seek to amend rather than extend the errors of the bill of 1832, and that they will bear in mind that which is the - of the dreadful atrocities committed in India dhl a debate take place in the llotio.e of Commons. On a motion being made to count the house out, there was not a house exist. ing, but several members came into it, and forty were soon counted up, and so the house lagged on. It will be our duty, and a solemn duty it will be, undoubtedly, to give our attention to the important subject, and if that should be the effect, dreadful as the course has been, horrid and revolting as the acts committed have been to the mind of man, when we contemplate them, I trust some good will come out of the dreadful evil, and that for the future there will be no cause to dread the repetition of it. Several toasts of a local character followed, and the meeting did not break up until a late hour. THE EAST BEaKS ASSOCIATION met on Tuesday at Strutul Farm, and in the evening a dinner took place at the Town-hall, Maidenhead. The health of the Queen having been drunk, the Belgian Minister, in an animated speech, proposed " The Army and Navy." Alluding to India, M. VAN DE WEYER said, "in the face of such dangers, in the rresence of a crisis which it would be childish to diminish the extent and pnbable duration, they (the n•eefing) would, he was sure, feel and think with him that they were to testify their admiration for the English army and navy not only by patriotic sympathetic effusions, not only by toasts and cheers, not only by words, however eloquent or stirring, but by the strongest and most useful combination of all the possible means to increase that noble band of de fenders ": Let them all put their shoulders to the wheel—let them put their hands and heads together—let them make in a practical way to the sterling sense of the one and to the pound sterling of the other—let every band that can be spared from the field and farm be employed in wreaking vengeance upon the butchers of innocent people. The Hon. Colonel WOOD, in reply, said he cer tainly wished that the militia had been called out immediately on the first intelligence of the mutiny reaching this country, and that liberal bounties had been offered to volunteers to join those corps, and also that more liberal pensions were offered to those willing to devote their services to their country. If these means had been adopted, he thought that we should by this time have had an army of between 30,000 and 40,000 ready to assist their gallant coun trymen in the East. Captain VERNON had no fears of the result; no maladministration of the East India Company could lose us India. they were told the Government of the East India Company had been exemplary and paternal. People who were well governed did not rise against those who governed well:— He doubted the policy that took the crown from the heads of monarchs, confiscated kingdoms, brought down the landmarks of nations, and gave no nationality in return, leaving the waves of popular commotion to surge and fall, bearing on its waters the wrecks of hereditary thrones. He thought he had a right to doubt that policy which, after an exercise of a century, revolted all races, from the fiery Mahomedan to the patient Hiudoo. Still he had no misgivings as to the result. What we hail wou by the sword we should keep by the sword. Mr. Palmer, M.P., and Mr. Vansittart, M.P., also delivered brief and telling speeches upon the position of affairs in India. MR. HERBERT INGRAM, M.P., at the Rickmansworth Agricultural Association last week, spoke strongly against the apathy of the Government towards this Indian crisis, and in favour of more vigorous means being adopted : I must say that I do not think that Government has been at all up to the mark in providing a force adequate to crush this unhappy revolt. They should have at one:: called out the militia, and have made every man, high or low, rich or poor, assist in the defence of the country. As I before said, we ought to have the ballot, and each one, young or old, on whom the lot might fall, should be re quired to Join the militia, or, if he could not serve h im self, he should be required to find a man to serve in his place. This, as a matter both of policy and economy, should be done at one move, and not by driblets, as that would cost a great deal more money. Mr. Ingram also advocated the abolition of the East India Company, and, referring to the suppression of the rebellion, said:— I cannot agree with those who say that we ought with out mercy to sacrifice the principal cities of India. The Christian religion teaches us mercy, and therefore, although the sepoys have no right to expect the least mercy at Our hands, let us not by imitating their conduct sanction their barbarity. Let us be above that, and show that the Chris tian religion forbids us to take into our hands that ven geance which belongs to God alone. THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH GOVERNMENTS have been apprised by that of Russia that Prince Gslitzin, who was sent to the Crimea to make inquiries con cerning the alleged violation of the graves of British and French officers and soldiers killed before Sebas topol, has inflicted severe punishment on the offenders, and that strong measures have been adopted to prevent a repetition of the offence. DR. GOULBURN, Head Master of Rugby, resigns at Christmas. The election of his successor will tali%) place on November the 12th.