The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-05-11 00:00:00

THE EMPLOYMENT OF INDIAN
TROOPS IN EUROPE.

The Times (in a leader on Monday) discussing the
policy of the employment of Indian soldiers for the
special kind of service to which the troops on their
way to Malta are destined, and the abstract right of
so employing them, observes that the view we take on
the first of these points must be determined by our
general view as to the nature of our Indian Empire.
if the feeling of India is so entirely hostile to us that
we are in real danger from any development of the
resources of India, or if the military spirit of
India can be aroused only to be turned ultimately
against ourselves, the doubt suggests itself whether
we have any right to hold the country at
all. In most matters, however, relating to
India we have been proceeding on the very course
which is now pronounced unsafe. We have done all
we could to improve the material position of India.
We have been educating the natives of India, imper-
fectly, indeed, but to the best of our power. We have
aimed at carrying on the administration of India with
the largest possible amount of native help. If we are
to follow a policy of repression and to keep India
down to the point which may best suit our own con-
venience, we must confess to a good many past mis-
takes and must retrace our steps in civil as well as in
military matters. As for the doubt whether Asiatic
soldiers can rightly be employed against Europeans, we
can attach no great weight to it. If the soldiers we
have just summoned to Malta are called upon to fight
at all, it will be against a Power which is not entirely
European. Europeans and Asiatics will, in fact, be
engaged against Europeans and Asiatics on the other
side, and, as Mr. Bourke very truly observed at
King's Lynn last week, they will be as well disciplined
and as humane as any they will be called upon to
meet. As to the constitutional question, we may be
Quite certain that if Parliament expresses its dis-
approval of what the Government has done, the whole
business will be at an end, and the troops will be sent
back again. '

The Times (in a leader on Tuesday) is not surprised
at the discussion which was raised yesterday with re-
ference to the despatch of Indian troops to the Medi-
terranean. It thinhs, indeed, with due deference to
Sir Robert Peel, that it was proper for many reasons.
The circumstances of the case were sufficiently novel
to warrant it. But though the inquiry was justifiable,
the defence was sufficient. As for the cry that the
native army of India may be employed some day to
crush English liberty, The Times cannot profess to be
alarmed by it. It is an extreme instance of suscep-
tibility on the part of those by whom it has been raised.
On the other hand, one cannot but feel that it would
have been better and more respectful to Parliament
if the Government had seen fit to give the information
the withholding of which was made matter of com-
plaint yesterday. Technically, no doubt, the Govern-
ment may have been within its right, but it is not well
that the occasion should be needlessly created for re-
sorting to a defence of this kind. Nothing would
have been lost by an early and frank statement, and a
cause of irritation would have been avoided which the
Government at the present crisis is not doing wisely
to excite. It was a mistake on the part of the Go-
vernment to keep Parliament in the dark, The penalty
is toile found in the course of the debate of yesterday,
and it will be found again when the opportunity for
discussion is given which the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer promises.

"The state of Prince Leopold's health excites con-
siderable anxiety, the slightest exertion completely pros-
tratihg him."—Truth.

The Duke of Buceleuch Was entertained at dinner
in the Music Hall; Edinburgh, on Tuesday, night, on the
occasion of his jubilee year as landlord. There were be-
tween fonr and five hundred gentlemen present, including
many of the tenants from the ducal estates. Among Others
present were the Marquis of Lothian, Lord Elphinstone,
Lord Napier and Ettrick, the Earl of Dalkeith, Lord Henry
Scott, Lord Walter Scott, Lord Mark Kerr, nir James
Fergusson, Principal Sir Alexander Grant, the Lord Provost
of Edinburgh, and Lord Curriehill, After the dinner the
chairman presented the Duke with an address, setting fcrth
the admiration entertained for him as a landlord, and at a
ipter strte the toast of his races health was enthusiasti-
cally receiml.