The Press. — London, England, 1855-05-19 00:00:00

MAY 19, 1855. the House that it was the most complete fallacy that could be put forward by any one that the Turkish question was of importance in an Indian point of view, and that he had great authority for saying so. Who the great authority was his Lordship did not say; and in the absence of any name the public may be fairly allowed to demur to the designation. The person may be a vary great authority on Indian subjects in Lord GRANVILLE'S estima tion, and in that of his party, and at the same time be a very contemptible one in the opinion of the world at large; just as the Duke of NEWCASTLE was a great authority with them on war matters, as was shown by their selection of him as War Minister, while the public at the time deemed him, and events have since proved him, the most unfit elan in the whole of Britain for the post. In our minds, and in the minds of most others, be they of what party in the State they may, there is on Indian matters no higher autho rity living than the authority Lord GRANVILLE was opposing himself to, namely, the Earl of ELLENBOROUGH. As regards the effects of the present struggle on India, we really cannot understand how any one that knows anything of our position there can for a moment doubt its importance. India is said by some to be an empire of opinions, by others to be an empire held by the sword—it is, in fact, both. It is the proved might of our arms, added to an opinion of their invincibility, that really holds in subjection the hundred and fifty millions of Hindoostan. As long as the prestige of our arms shall continue, that empire will remain ; but once let the people there see our armies baffled and our resources fail us, and numberless are the rebels to our authority, and countless their adherents, who will spring up against us on every side. Nor is it necessary to insure this result that our armies shall be baffled, and our resources fail us on Indian ground. In these days the connection between events in the East and in the West is far better understood than it was at the beginning of the present century, and news travels in finitely faster; but even at the beginning of the present century we may remember that it was the superiority of the arms of France in Europe that induced TIPPOO to rise against us, and led to the contest with him which ended in the taking of Seringapatam. Indeed, there is no one who really knows India that is not aware how greatly even the extremities of our empire there are agitated by the slightest appearance of a reverse in any quarter, and how insecure is the bond in which those vast subject populations are held. There was not the most trifling check sustained by us in Affghanistan which was not magnified in the bazaars throughout India, and looked upon as the prelude to a general rise. And nothing but the treachery of a Seik leader prevented the Seik armies, swelled by thousands of volunteers from every side, from marching over us, and thence onward to Delhi, after the almost fatal battle of Ferozeshah. In India the rise of an empire has always been as rapid as is the rise of a millionaire among speculators, but equally rapid has been the fall. In either case credit is the only support of it; and all will be lost when our credit, or, in other words, the reputation of our arms is gone. There may be dreamers in England who think otherwise, but those who really know India, know that our empire there is anything but an empire of affection. Nor must we fail to consider the effect that failure in the war with Russia may have on our alliances or relations with those countries on whose conduct towards us the tranquillity of India must always more or less depend. If success in war be necessary to success in diplomacy in the West, it is not less so in the East; and we may rest assured that when Austria and Prussia shall have ceased to fear us neither Persia, nor Cabul, nor Herat, nor Relat, nor Cashmere, nor Burmah, will be very long before they indicate unmistakeably their opinion of our altered condition. It is not in the power of countries which have forfeited the respect of great States still to command that of small ones. On the contrary, the moro THE PRESS. petty a State is, the more despicable, whether for friendship or for enmity, its alliance--the more audacious and shameless is the attitude it assumes towards the gigantic empire which has overshadowed it when once the supremacy of the latter is irretrievably gone. The fate of NAPOLEON after Austerlitz, and of NAPOLEON after Leipzic, is an apt illustration of the course that such petty principalities inva riably pursue. These dangers to India, and those greater internal dangers which we have above depicted, may be trifling in the opinion of Lord GRANVILLE, and of the authority he alluded to ; but they can never be deemed trifling by any one who really understands India. Nor do we think thtit they will be deemed trifling by any ono who, amid the distractions of pleasure or the toils of money getting, can afford a moment for calm reflec• tion on the present serious position of the whole British empire. VOLUNTEERS FROM THE MILITIA. IN a war like the present, with no danger of hostile invasion, the Militia is chiefly useful as a means of recruiting for the regular army. During the last eight years of the war with France, from 1807 to 1815, it was found in this respect of the greatest service. Whenever an expedition was in preparation, or the losses of a campaign had reduced to a dangerous extent the strength of the Line, an appeal was made to the Militia. The number of volunteers was extraordinary The establishment of the re gular Militia did not exceed 90,000 men, yet in one or two years their contributions to the army were 25,000 and even 30,000 men. That the present emergencies are less urgent than those of the Peninsular war,none will deny. Never was England in greater want of men, or more ready to welcome recruits who had un dergone previous training in arms. How far the Government foresaw the want, and to what extent during the past year they have deve loped this branch of the resources of the country, may be seen from a return which has just been laid before Parliament , and of which we copy the conclusion. Summary of Return of Militiamen who have entered the Regular Forces between lst January and 31st Decem• ber, 1854 . England and Wales BO,OOO Scotland Ireland 30,(X)0 Total who have K. entered the Regular Forces. .. .. 11,809 196 . .. 260 .. .. Total 120,000 It will be said, and with truth, that on the 31st of December, 1854, the Scotch and Irish Militia were only just beginning to be en rolled. But whose fault was that? The acts for their enrolment were passed in the begin ning of August. They ought to have been passed in the beginning of February. They were delayed, as Lord PALMERSTON informed the House of Commons, in order to save the expense. But with respect to the Militia of England and Wales, with an establishment of 80,000 men, how is it that only 11,807 have joined the regular forces, of whom no less than 1,483 enlisted clandestinely and against the orders of the War-office? We are told by Mr. PEEL that at no time have more than 50,000 been actually enrolled. But whose fault was that? The Government must have been aware of the deficiency. Why did they take no steps for its remedy? Again, we shall be told that the Militia would have volunteered in greater numbers if they had been sooner embodied. But whose fault was it that they were embo died so late ? One-fourth was the proportion allowed to volunteer, and the return will show that it was very nearly obtained from the 50,000 militiamen of England and Wales. Now, one-fourth of the complete establishment of 120,000 would have been 30,000 men. The difference between 30,000 and 12,265 is the loss which the regular army has sustained by the negligence of the Government, in not completing the complements. and in deferring the organisation and embodiment of the whole Militia of the United Kingdom. MR. LAIARD'S POSITION. 463 IT is easy to "pooh pooh" a man like Mr. LAYARD who has fallen into errors. We are not disposed to underrate the damaging effect on a politician's career, when he prefers per sonal charges which he declines to retract after their refutation. Some years since Mr. COBDEN made a censorious statement about a former speech of Lord DERBY, founded on a mistaken version of the Noble Lord's senti ments on the Ballot. The correction was of an important character, and the Member for the West Riding immediately adopted it. We are sorry that on a recent occasion that prece dent was not followed by Mr. LAYARD ; but while censuring him so far, we are disposed to think that the manifest attempts in Ministerial quarters to crush the Honourable Member somewhat blunted the ordinary soundness of his perceptions. But enough has been said on that point. In the terms in which Lord DERBY on Monday alluded to " the imprudence " of language, expression, and imputation" resulting from Mr. LATARD'S " impulsiveness " of temperament," most reasonable persons will concur. Nevertheless, in spite of these trippings from too much impetuosity, it is plain that Mr. LAYARD continues to be a source of serious trouble to the Ministry. The race of " tribunes "of the people " seems to have vanished fur the present under the influence of favours from Downing-street. Philosophical Radicals have become placemen and Privy Councillors. Arithmetical exaggerators of the aggravating kind have died out with the worthy and almost forgotten JOSEPH HUME. The Gracchi of Finsbury, Marylebone, and Southwark have become merely historical characters. The virtuous OSBORNE still enjoys his place, though Middlesex does not enjoy him. Mr. WHITTLE HARVEY is Commander-in-Chief of City Police, and Mr. CHARLES PEARSON has ceased his tempestuous talk. Demagogues pro hoc vice are defunct. Mr. HATTER knows the use of " Mint sauce " for composing the stomachs of hungry agitators. An O'Connell redivivus, like Othello, would find his occupa tion as " gone " as an Irish estate under the hammer of an Encumbered Court Commis sioner. The Cabinet has mesmerised baooss's Club, and subsidised its " Reform" rival in Pall-mall. The true Liberal creed of the day is that no man can graduate as a patriot unless first he be registered as a placeman. To keep fast in office is the object of the Ministerial campaign. What adds to the peculiarity of the crisis is, that the chiefs of Opposition have on the worthiest motives refrained from embarrassing an overtaxed and effete Cabinet. Indepen dent Conservatives, also, for the same reasons, have hesitated to assail Ministers, oven when their blunders are most visible. Patriotic responsibilities, and a foresight of impending conjunctures, have modified or silenced the expression of Conservatism in many most influential and independent quarters through the country at large. It is at such a time, therefore, that a poli tician "unattached," like Mr. LAYARD, might exercise considerable influence by concen trating attention on the continued vacillations of authority. But without distinct purposes no English public man can obtain influence. This is one of those periods when " the practical" and "the right" are identical. Flashes in the pan are of no use in besieging the blunderers in office. In the meanwhile, it cannot be denied that Mr. LAYARD has done good service iu the Committee on Sebastopol. In many instances the examination fell entirely into his hands, and he extracted important evidence from reluctant lips. He foiled the ingenious efforts of some of his colleagues who tried to lead the witnesses into blaming " nothing but the " system." At au early p eriod he pointed out the flagrant blunders in t he cond uct of the war, and before the expedition had gone to Sebastopol he had given information as to the pre looking to their transport * leuimio /Bata Government valuable ressing necessity for )rt service. But Mr.