The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-30 00:00:00

THE PRE gB3.

Irish famine and the expedition to the Crimea—
the Civil Service, with abundant zeal, did not
exhibit that aptitude for mastering new situa-
tions which nAdit rooked for from the
officials of the energetic people in
Eue.
It la (viol*, the tip, that an inter
reform the phil ivice is required not
pnly b lings of the few, but
from ne,cestiities e Executive. On t 4
refo Which cdttie " within," we despilt
under the present Mirtliptry I and of the reforms
which come "from without," the new Society
at Drury Lane has not as yet been prolific.
We believe that Administrative Reform so
earnestly slemanded, and so urgently required,
must be devised by practical statesmanship.
The Association has not as yet made a solitary
practical suggestion of its own. It has only
echoed clamour, and adopted the hints of
journalists. But it would be unfair to taunt
the Society with not having a plan fit for dis-
cussion. The difficulties of the case are really
so complex that it requires great zeal and long
familiarity with the conditions of political life
in England to establish the principles and
arrange the details of measures equal to the
wants of the occasion. It is useless to blink
the fact that the reform wanted must mainly
depend for its efficiency on the vigour and
statesmanlike views of the leading politician,
whose position and abilities will authorise his
taking the whole subject in hand, as Mr.
BURKE did with " Economical Reform," after
the American war. In saying so much we by
no means disapprove of competent persons
laying their views before Parliament and the
public. All sound plans have a right to fair
examination and candid discussion. But on
such a question Abbe SIEYES and his pig3on-
holes must not be forgotten.
We conclude for the present by iterating the
expression of our own belief that consolida-
tion of offices and simplification of duties must
be one of the leading points to which the
Official Reformer must direct his attention.
That by itself is one leading object for con-
sideration as between the State and the Civil
Service collectively. Then, as to the relations
between the Civil Seirvice and the individuals
who compose it, we believe that a brighter
career must be opened up to proved abilities ;
that the status of the class of civil servants
must be raised; that promotion must be more
rapid, in order to compete effectually with
commercial life and its prizes ; and, lastly,
that opportunities for personal distinction
must be afforded by publicity being given to
the toils of each individual. We attach great
importance to all of these considerations, espe-
cially the last. On each of them we shall
speak in detail on future occasions. We sin-
cerely believe that the subject is of the highest
practical importance ; and we rejoice to
observe the profound thought and marked
originality of the views upon this great question
enunciated by the Conservative Leader in the
House of Commons.

THE FINANCIAL CRISIS IN INDIA.
IN the remarks which we published some
time ago regarding the new Five per Cent. loan
for India we anticipated the position in which
the Government there would find itself in
volved by its injudicious tamperings with the
public credit. We showed that its late finan-
cial operations were of a kind to destroy all
public confidence, and that the result would
be an extreme difficulty in raising money for
the public service there on any reasonable
terms whatever. What we then predicted has
taken place exactly. The persons who ordi-
narily embark in these loans have been so
dissatisfied with the proceedings of the Go-
vernment that they have for the most part
suspended all further dealings with it ; and to
meet the outcry against it the Government
has published the grounds on which it rests
its defence. These, so far from proving
satisfactory, have only more deeply involved
it, by showing the present embarrassed state
of the Indian finances; proving, as they do,
that the loan which it called " the Public
Works Loan " is really issued to meet an

SATURDAY,

enormous deficit in the land and opium
revenue of India. The upshot of all this is
that its credit has become so damaged that
only four hirridred thotlintfid rounds have been
subscribed for out of the two millions and a
half roguired, and theie seems no alternative
left, in the opinion Of inost eople, but a Six
per Cent. tban, or an it pli on to Parliament
for asisistaiice. Openi g a X per Cent. loan,
laowet r, *Old only iUM e financial crisis
t
by fur er destroying iiiihlle confidence in the
imi
resour 9f India. There can be little doubt,
therefore, that an application to the House of
Commons will eventually become necessary,
and that next session, if not this, it will have
to take steps to supply the financial deficit
and restore the financial equilibrium of
India.

With our own enormous present outgoings
to meet, in addition to loans to Sardinia and
guarantees to Turkey, it may be very hard to
have to sulimit to further taxes to supply
deficits in India. But we cannot throw off
India without descending from the highest to
the lowest position in the scale of nations.
The maintenance of her credit is thus a neces-
sity of our own existence ; and if we have been
content blindly to commit her revenues to an
irrespcnsible clique in Leadenhall-street to do
as they like with, why of course the nation,
like the creditors of a late celebrated banking
firm, must be content to bear with the conse-
quences of its confidence or its folly. It
knows perfectly well that the Directors are
few of them wealthy men, and that they have
avowedly sought the dike for the opportunity
of enriching themselves and their families
which it affords. It knows that the only stake
they possess in India or in its revenues is a
thousand pounds stock a piece, which might .
be lost without any great injury to them to-
morrow. It knows that the interest of this
stock is guaranteed by Parliument as long as
there remains a farthing in India to collect or
borrow ; and that whether the affairs of that.
empire be flourishing, or whether it be on the
verge of bankruptcy, a uniform interest of
ten and a half per cent. per annum on their
capital stock will he equally paid to the
Directors. The nation knows that the Direc-
tors have thus nothing personally to gain from
economy, and can suffer no diminution in
their dividends from the most wanton pro-
fusion ; it must not, therefore, be surprised
that they should prefer the latter course, the
more especially as the principal recipients of
this expenditure are the relatives and nomi-
nees of the Directors themselves. To suppose
that a Direction so constituted would carefully
husband the millions intrusted to them would
be to suppose them to be above the ordinary
temptations or weaknesses of human nature;
but to what extent they have really trifled with
the revenues left to their disposal will never
be accurately known till their affairs shall be
submitted to a searching Parliamentary in-
vestigation. We have ourselves some know•
ledge of what constitutes the item of " assets
in Indian accounts, and we do not hesitate to
say that it would somewhat astonish the
matter-of-fact members of the House of
Commons to see of what the millions set
down to credit under this head are made up.

Under these circumstances it is very clear
that however anxious a certain party in Par-
liament may be to shirk the subject, the
Indian difficulty is one that must sooner
or later be boldly faced. Last year there was
a deficit of eight hundred thousand pounds,
and we then predicted that this year the deficit
would be even greater. A different view was
taken in the City article of the leading journal,
but our own apprehensions have proved to be
correct, and the present requirement of India
to meet its current expenses is two millions
five hundred thousand pounds sterling. Of
this sum one million eight hundred odd thou-
sand are necessary to meet the deficit for the
past year in the two items of land and opium
revenue alone ; and every one who knows any-
thing of the matter must know that any pro-
spects of these items being more productive
under the present system in future years is
hopeless. There is, to be sure, one plan by
which the land revenue might eventually be
raised to at least three times its pi istine
figure, but it would involve a total change in
the present system of collection, and the

1
i

JUNE 30,1855.

patronage of the appointments connected
with this has hitherto been too valuable a per-
quisite for the statesmanlike alteration to find
avour with the Directors.

For this deplorable condition of the Indian
finances the great Conservative party are not
responsible. When the Coalition insisted in
hurrying their India Bill through Parliament,
the Conservative leaders deprecated and to
the utmost of their power exerted themselves to
prevent all hasty legislation. Their councils,
however, were not listened to, and we are now
reaping the fruits of this ill-digested mea-
sure. So far as it has yet gone the evil is not
irremediable, but with a deficit increasing
yearly at an enormous rate, it is clear
that the ways and means of the Indian
Government will soon have reached their
utmost limit. The crisis is patent—it is im-
possible to shut our eyes to it—and the only
question for Parliament to consider is, whether
it will fairly face the difficulty and boldly deal
with it, or whether it will wait till the Directors
and Mr. VERNON SMITH conjointly shall have
involved in inextricable embarrassment the
finances of our Eastern empire.

LORD PALMERSTON AND HIS
CABINET.
WE have alluded elsewhere to Mr. ROEBUCK'S
motion. Let us now briefly glance at the
circumstances which have brought it on.
Four months ago Mr. ROEBUCK, by his motion
for the appointment of the Sebastopol Com-
mittee, overthrew the Ministry of Lord Am-
In doing so Mr. ROEBUCK was the
exponent of public opinion. The vote was
regarded, rightly, as a vote of censure. The
majority of more than two to one was almost
unparalleled in the records of Ministerial cen-
sures. There is an instinct in English opinion
which seldom errs. It was surmised that the
Cabinet of Lord ABERDEEN had a leaning
towards Russia, and that the war was dis-
honestly carried on by Ministers not in
earnest in its prosecution. We ourselves com-
mented from time to time upon the want of
earnestness as regards the war which the
financial measures of Mr. GLADSTONE dis-
played. The suspicion of a leaning towards
the enemy of England, at a time of war, was
sufficient to seal the doom of that Cabinet.
The extent of its leaning, amounting to little
short of treason, was then unknown. The
debate consequent upon Mr. DISRAELI'S motion
of the 24th of May gave us an insight into the
deliberations of Lord ABERDEEN'S Cabinet, and
elicited from Mr. GLADSTONE and Sir JAMES
GRAHAM the ignominious confession of its
real policy. We shall consider presently how
fur those revelations bear upon Mr. ROEBUCK'S
approaching motion, and upon Lord PALMERS-
TON and his Cabinet.
Lord DERBY, when commissioned by her
Majesty on the 31st of January to form a
Government, considered (and who will not say
rightly?) that the daty he owed to his Sovereign
and country at such an emergency was para-
mount to all party considerations. He thought
the country required a strong Government,
and he sought the aid of Lord PALMERSTON to
form one. It is well known that party sacri-
fices and personal sacrifices were '6 ffe red,
which at least proved the disinterestedness of
the Conservative leaders. Our readers will
not have forgotten the dextrous artifice by
which Lord DERBY'S patriotic intentions were
frustrated. Lord PALMERSTON, pieferring a
weak Government of which he should be the
head, to a strong Government of which he
should be only a leading member, by a disin-
genuous manoeuvre supplanted Lord DERBY
and succeeded in forcing himself upon his
Sovereign. He then possessed a prestige and
influence in the country. He had not then
been discovered. But how stands the matter
now? If there was a member of Lord ABER-
DEEN'S Cabinet who more than another must
have been and was cognisant of the treachery
which has since been disclosed, that in-
lual was Lord PALMERSTON. The publicch
only surmised it ; Lord PALMERSTON knew it.
If there was an individual more than any
other who ought to have protested against the

DEEN.

THE PRESS.

Russian tendencies of that Cabinet and

broken it up by resigning, it was Lord
PALMERSTON. Did he resign? Did he pro-
test? And what was his first act when com-

missioned by her Majesty to form a Govern-
ment? Why, to make the acceptance of office
by the most Russian section of Lord ABER-
DEEN'S Cabinet a sine quii non in the formation
of his own!

Fortunately for England, the firmness of
Mr. ROEBUCK brought about another Minis
terial crisis. Sir JAMES GRAHAM, Mr. GLAD-
STONE, and the Peelites retired. Sir Jams

GRAHAM is not always discreet ; frequently he
. .

is mischievous.

On the occasion of his re

tirement he volunteered a etatement which now

acquires signal importance in connection with
Mr. ROEBUCK'S motion. In joining the

Government of Lord PALDIERSTON he had

supposed, as a matter of course, that the
nomination of the Sebastopol Committee
would be resisted. He had made no stipula-
tion upon. that subject, but there was one

pledge, and one only, which he felt it to be
his duty to exact from his Noble friend.
We shall quote his words as reported in the
Times of Saturday, Feb. 24th. He had before

- -
observed incidentally, but significantly,
" With the exception, I think, of Lord l'Ax-

" MLIRE and Lord CANNING, all the members
" of the present Government in the Cabinet
" are the identical persons who were members
"of Lord ABERDEEN'S Government " He then
proceeds,—",l will tell the House, however,
" there was one difficulty, which with me was
cardinal, and upon which I .was entirely
satisfied. I wished to know from my Noble
3 friend now at the head of the Government,
" whether there was to be any change in the
" foreign policy of Lord ABERDEEN'S Admi-
" nistration, to which we, as colleagues, had
" given an unanimous consent, and also
" whether with reference to the negotiations
" now pending at Vienna there was any
" alteration with respect to the terms which,
" in our opinion, would be consistent with a
" safe and honourable peace. Ithought it my
" duty to satisfy myself upon these points,
" and my Noble friend, in the most frank
" manner, gave me explanations which were
" entirely satisfactory."
Let our readers now just consider what
has been here disclosed by Sir JAMES GRAHAM
himself. Why, that he regarded the adherence
by Lord PALMERSTON to Lord ABERDEEN'S
foreign policy, to which as colleagues they
had given their unanimous consent, as a
cardinal point; and that Lord PALMERSTON
had declared his adherence to that policy in
a most frank and satisfactory manner. But
what was that foreign policy to which Lord
PALMERSTON so readily promised to adhere ?
The answer to this question is to be found in
the speeches of Mr. GLADSTONE and Sir
JAMES GRAHAM on Mr. DISRAELI'S motion of
the 24th of May. Mr. WHITESIDE on that
occasion denounced that policy as a pro-
Russian policy, and its advocates as the
advocates of Russia, and his bold denuncia-
tion was enthusiastically responded to by the
House of Commons. We say, then. it is
clearly and incontestably established, first,
by the declaration of Sir JAMES GRAHAM, of
Feb. 24th; and, secondly, by the speeches of
Mr. GLADSTONE and Sir JAMES GRAHAM on Mr.
DISRAELI'S motion last month, that Lord
PALMEasToN frankly and unhesitatingly
pledged himself to the Aberdeen pro Russian
policy, which is execrated from one end of
Great Britain to the other. Is it, then, right—
is it safe that Lord PALMERSTON should con-
tinue at the head of the Government? From
motives of personal ambition he prevented
the formation of a really strong Government
under Lord DERBY, in whose honour, and
spirit, and earnestness the country might have
confided. He now turns out, on the evidence
of his late colleagues, who are discarded by
the country, to be equally, if not more criminal
than themselves. Mr. ROEBUCK proposes to
bring the question to an issue. Is there a
Conservative who can hesitate as to the ver-
dict he must give ?

WANTED AN ORATOR.
NATURE, we arc told, abhors a vacuum, and at
present there seems a great void in the Official
Reform Society of Drury Lane. Relays of

speakers are put on every week, but as yet
there has not been ono thoroughly effec-
tive political address at its gatherings. The
logic of the speeches is not sharp, the matter
used in them is of dubious character, and their

rhetoric is not very effective. The Society only
says aloud what the various journals have been
proclaiming for weeks in terser style, and with
more sterling vigour. There is an amateurist
air about the performers at the new Society
which almost tempts one into thinking that
they merited being quizzed by the Premier on
their " Private Theatricals."

This week it was expected that Mr. DICKENS
would have broken new ground, and started
forward as the Cobden of the Association.
People were discussing whether Boz would
gather as many laurels in politics as in litera-
ture. " Why not? SHERIDAN had dazzled in
" his comedies, and shone in St. Stephens."
The names of other " double-firsts" in lite-
rature and politics were recalled, and coteries
debated and looked oracular as to whether the
special faculty of Mr. DICKENS was suited for
politics, with its nocturnal logic, its complex
modes of reflections, its requisites for dealing
with men of the world, and not with the
children of the brain. Then, would Mr
DICKENS surrender all the time necessary for
mastering facts, and becoming familiar with
social questions ? These speculations were
soon set at rest by Mr. DICKENS. "By liters-
" Lure I have lived, and I am perfectly aware
" that I cannot serve two masters." And so
those who dreamed of seeing Mr. DICKENS try
his powers in a hand-to-hand struggle with
the great Whig families, beheld their visions
of a new Liberal chieftain vanish.
After such statements as to his intentions,
Mr. DICKENS, of course, does not come within
the category of politicians. Decided purposes,
party attachments, and avowed principles, are
requisites for a leader of other men in England ;
and Mr. DICKENS, on deliberation, has thought
it better to confine himself to letters. Judging
of his powers by his display on Wednesday,
we think that he has acted wisely. His ad•
dress, succesfful with a mere platform au-
dience, was far too Piekwickian to command
the attention of a stubborn and jealous
audience like the House of Commons. It was
the very quintessence of caricature to assail
the " comic old gentleman," the Premier, in a
speech studded with carefully conned jokes.
Serious political passion, an undaunted and
sustained resolve, would sway the masses
at the present time, but prolonged bur-
lesque, though exciting smiles at the mo-
ment, raises sneers afterwards. Capacity for
affairs is one thing, aptitude for exciting the
risible muscles is another. The people
hunger for the proofs of a strong will, which
would lead them on through the obstacles of
improvement. Since they cannot have a
CHATHAM, it is but sore comfort to get a Jos
GRIMALDI, with his " roars of laughter,"
cheers and loud laughter," &c.
We should be sorry to see the society full
into the hands of mere holiday speakers or
amusing comedians. There is solid business
cut out for it to perform, and the enthusiasm
with which the crowd hailed Mr. LAYARD testi-
fies to the presence of strong political feelings
The errors of the Member for Nineveh were
overlooked on account of his zeal. The
speakers who followed Mr. Thomas were
tame and ineffective. Mr. M'CULLAOH, an
ex-Private Secretary to an ex-Secretary for
Ireland (Mr. LABOUCHERK), fell foul of the
President and Vice-President of the Board of
rradc, because " one was a Peer, and the
" other the son of a Peer." This is a pitiful
mode of arguing Administrative Reform.
There were far more flagrant cases of appoint-
ments upon which Mr. WCULLAGH might have
commented. Could he not have put it to his
auditors, Was it right to appoint a barrister
like Mr. PH INN to a high post in the Admi-
ralty, over the heads of several officials who
had been working in that department for
several years? Or was it right to nominate
Mr. HowzrA. over all the officials in the War-
office ? We should like to have the opinion
of the assemblage at Drury Lane taken upon
facts of that description, which have nothing

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