The Press.
London, England, 1855-11-10 00:00:00

MR. DISRAELI ON THE POLICY OF

THE WAR.
THOSE persons who have charged Mr. DisRAELt
with a disposition to unite with any party in
opposition to the present Government, should
have taken the trouble to consult the speeches
he delivered last year on the policy of the
war, before making their accusations public.
Had they done so they would have found that
Mr. DISRAELI, while strongly censuring the
"ambiguous language and uncertain conduct"
of the Government, and severely criticising
Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S fantastical bearing at
the Vienna Conferences, was most careful to
guard himself against any expression of
opinion that peace was not practicable. Mr.
DISRAELI never gave any countenance to the
view that the war was to be a war of extremity,
or to be prosecuted for the dismemberment
of Russia, for the overthrow of Despotic Go-
vernment, or for any other of those wild
schemes which are now put forward to disguise
the real question at issue.
The complaint now urged with increasing
force against the Government, that it shrinks
from the duty of distinctly declaring on what
conditions an honourable and lasting peace
might be based, found expression in Mr.
DISRAELI'S speech of the 6th of July last, in the
debate upon Lord JOHN RussELL's part in the ne-
gotiations at Vienna. In the short but weighty
speech delivered by Mr. DISRAELI on that
occasion, he explained the reasons which led
him to conclude that the negotiations at
Vienna could not have a satisfactory result,
and then continued :

I do not say that i am on that account an advocate of
those interminable hostilities we have heard of, or of a war
which is to be waged without end, and without purpose. On
the contrary, though this is not the occasion for doing so,
I shall never shrink on the right opportunity from laying
down the principles on which I think a peace, and a last.
ing peace as far as human affairs permitted, might be
attained. I have already, on a former occasion, referred
to some of the modes by which such a peace might be
established, and to-night I shall not again advert to them
even by inplication. But that a peace may he obtained
that will secure the independence of that part of the world
which we look upon as the main element of the political
balance we wish to uphold, I firmly believe, and I equally
believe that it could not have been obtained by the plan
which the noble lord so easily accepted, and so cordially
sanctioned at Vienna—Times Report, July 7.

This was not the language of a man who
contemplated an aimless war, or who supposed
peace to be impracticable. It was, on the
contrary, the language of one who felt that the
difficulties of the question were to be solved
by the skill of statesmen. How far the fact
that the siege of Sebastopol was undecided at
that time, weighed on the mind of Mr. DISRAELI,
in determining him to declare against a con-
tinuance of the Vienna Conferences, we cannot
say. But undoubtedly the general impression
among intelligent and patriotic men was, that
to conclude a peace while the enterprise
entered on by the Allies with so much pomp
remained undecided, would have been damag
ing to their military reputation, and even
have shaken the stability of their Govern-
ments. That obstacle is now removed. The

SATURDAY,

Allies have achieved a great success, and the
ground is clear for establishing "principles on
" which a lasting peace may be attained."
Though it may serve the purposes of faction,
and gratify the envy of politicians who are
painfully conscious of Mr', DISRAELI'S intellec-
tual superiority, to represent hint as destitute
of fixed principles, yet the Words of no states.
man of his day *ill se well sward examination
when the itninediqte kpadon for which they
were Spoltah is past. Three years ago, before
a popular movement in favour of Administra-
tive Reform was thought of, Mr. DISRAELI dis-
cerned its necessity, and laid down the princi-
Dles on which it was to be based. It was Mr;
ISRAELI who was one of the first to perceive
the serious aspect the Eastern Question was as-
suming, when Lord JOHN RUSSELL was writing
humble and deprecatory despatches to the
Emperor NICHOLAS. We have seen that the
principles on which a satisfactory and lasting
peace may be established have long been settled
in his mind ; and his character gives us warrant
for concluding that he will not, when the pro-
per time arrives, hesitate to proclaim them, or
fail to use his best efforts to give them effect.

THE PRESENT STATE OF INDIA.
THE present state of India is not very en-
couraging even in the opinion of those most
enamoured with the conduct of the powers
that be. Mr. VERNON SMITH'S estimate of its
financial position—unfavorable as it appeared
to the public when announced in the House
of Commons—is held to be much too flattering
a picture by people on the spot. The Santhal
insurrection has not been put down, the con-
quest of the rebels being postponed till the
cold weather sets in. Meantime, a proclama-
tion has been put forth by Government, offer-
ing an amnesty to the insurgents, promising
a redress of any grievances they may have to
allege. In itself this measure is a good one;
but had it been preceded by some show of
power in the Government, it would to the
minds of all sound thinkers have been of more
effect. From the sublime to the ridiculous
there is but one step ; and when a Govern-
ment that talks so largely does so little, that
step is passed. It is not good either to teach
the natives of India the lesson that the readiest,
if not the only, means of obtaining justice is a
recourse to the sword.

The other chief items of news by the last
mail from India are the attack on Brigadier Mc
KENZIE, the murder of Mr. CONOLLY by the Mop-
lahs, and the dissemination of a pamphlet by a
Mahomedan writer, calling on all good Mussul•
mans to take up arms. The leading journal
has taken these facts as evidence of a hostile
combination throughout the Mahomedan
population of our Eastern empire. There can,
however, be no doubt that on this point it is
entirely wrong. Brigadier McKErizix is a well-
meaning, good man, but as fanatical in respect
to his own religious views as the most bigoted
Mahomedans are in respect of theirs. His in-
terruption therefore of a noisy religious pro-
cession—which in any other person would
have been set down to its true cause, the desire
to mitigate a nuisance was taken as an
insult to the faith of the party, and hence the
murderous attack on him from which he so
narrowly escaped with life. Substitute Maho-
medan enthusiasts for Cockney ragamuffins,
and it was a mere facsimile of what might have
been the case of Lord ROBERT GRosvENOR with
the London Anti-Sabbatarian mob.
The murder of Mr. CONOLLY had equally
little connection with the Mahomedan popu-
lation of India at large. The Moplahs to
whose revenge he was sacrificed are the
descendants of an Arab tribe, wholly uncon-
nected with the Mahomedans of the rest of
India. They had been long settled in the
collectorate he ruled, and his system of admi-
nistration had for years given the deepest
offence to them. He was an able man, and
an honest one, but unhappily one of the new
school of Indian statesmen who seem to
think that the vigour of power is best shown
by its wanton abuse. Constant risings of the
people under him were the result, and it was
at one time a question with Government whe-
ther he might not advantageously be removed.

NOVEMBER 10, 1855.

The decision, however, though not after
much discussion, was taken to support him,
and at the very moment when he was about to
be raised to a seat in council his murder took
place. It is a disaster which on every account
is deeply to be deplored, but it can surprise
no ono acquainted with the circumstances,
however much it may excite our horror and
regret. It is a satisfaction to know that his
murderers have at the hands of our soldiery
met their merited fate; but we do hope that
th time is not far distant when any real
gri ivances suffered by the natives shall find
reiress from our authorities without the hands
of either being imbrued in blood.
The attack on Brigadier McKniiziE, and the
murd r of Mr. CoNoLLY, being thus shown to
bs cases resting on grounds peculiar to them-
s_lves, there only remains the pamphlet call-
ing on all Mahomedans to take up arms
against us, and this has no doubt emanated
f som some one interested in preventing our
annexation of Oude. Nor is it wonder-
ful that strong endeavours should be made
by the Mahomedans to preserve from our
grasp this the last but one of the remaining
gr •at Mahomedan States of India. If the
question were one merely concerning the
Sovereign personally, neither they nor any
one else would trouble themselves about the
business. But the question is not merely
personal to the Sovereign, for annexation
involves the ruin of every nobleman, office-
holder, pensioner, and landowner in the
State as well. It involves the ruin of all the
moneyed class who have mortgages on the
properties of such persons as are in any way
their creditors besides. It involves, further,
the ruin of all the dependants of these people,
and of all who live and thrive by the expendi-
ture of the Court. These form, combined, a
mass of interests which our reviewers and
journalists do not appear to take into consi-
deration, though we apprehend that the case
would be plain enough to Englishmen if it
were ever, which Heaven forbid, brought home
unfortunately to ourselves. While, then, such
mighty interests are at stake, we must not be
astonished if we meet symptoms of an inten-
tion to resist us, such as this brochure which
the Indian police authorities have seized
betrays. Its object iu calling on the Ma-
homedans of India to unite in a crusade
against us, is clearly to deal out to us the
same measure which the Company purposes,
if not anticipated, to deal out to the Sovereign
and nobility and Court of Oude.

WHO'LL BE A MINISTER?
THE perplexities of Lord PALMERSTON'S present
position, the difficulties which he has to sur-
mount, the dangers which he must elude, are
altogether of so novel and peculiar a character
that they seem to us to form an appropriate
subject of examination by the student of
English history. The period, too, when the
crisis has come, is equally worthy of remark.
If we are to accept as veracious the testimony
of the Ministerial organs, the Premier has
emerged from the clouds of thick darkness
which ominously enveloped him, and is in
full confidence of the country. If they are to
be credited, his past transgressions are con-
doned, and his many backslidings forgiven.
His adherents in vindication of his character
have ingeniously adopted what is known in
the Senate as the system of pairing off. The
" ayes" and the " noes' are pitted against
each other; the negative and the affirmative
on the same question are found in equal
abundance, and are made to do duty as the
occasion requires. So that, for instance, when
he is charged with weakness and vacillation
at Vienna, it is astutely answered that he was
bold and spirited at Melbourne. But in spite
of the alleged success of these dexterous
manoeuvres of the partisans of the Noble
Viscount, it is, as we have said, a singular fact
that recent events have seriously endangered
the existence and impaired the popularity of
his Administration. And we see in the causes
which have conduced to such a result cogent
grounds for concluding that he is still a
Minister upon sufferance, identified with no

THE PRESS.

policy, and trusted by no party, who cannot
command the support and has not enlisted
the sympathy of the country.

We believe that it will be generally admitted
that a Government strong in its principles and
in its following is at no loss to distribute the
various offices of which it is composed. Poli-
tical ambition, although unadorned by those
ancient ideas of honour and consistency which
an enlightened age has declared obsolete, and
pronounced defunct, is one of the characteris-
tics of the era in which we live; and a power-
ful Minister will not find himself in any strait
when seats in the Cabinet are _ vacant. His

difficulty will be of an opposite character. Hi:
trouble will be to choose between rival candi-

dates, and to adjust conflicting claims. Public
men generally are not averse to the distinction
and emoluments of power. Certainly, the
Liberal party has never been famous for any-
thing but a voracious appetite for its good
things. How comes it then to pass, that Lord
PALMERSTON discovers it to be a hard task to
supply the places made void by the death of
Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTH, and the removal of
Lord CANNING to India? Some weeks have

now elapsed since the exigency arose, and, as
far as we can learn at the hour we write, the
labour is still unaccomplished—commenced,
we know, it has been, and not very auspiciously.
The Noble Member for Tiverton has never been
remarkable for much delicacy of feeling, or
depth of sensibility. As for insulting his
supporters, ridiculing their pretensions, and
proclaiming their incapacity, he cares for none
of these things. Unable to find on his own
side of the House any one fit to take charge
of the Colonies, he crosses over the way with
that elasticity of movement and airiness of
manner which distinguish him, and solicits
the co operation of Lord STANLEY. There was
about this artifice, palpable as it was, a seem-
ing magnanimity greatly to be admired. Lord
STANLEY occupies a position in the country to
which the adventitious advantages of rank
and fortune would have been unequal to raise
him were they not illustrated by a high order
of mental attainments. His masculine intel-
lect, with its powers of independent thought—
its industry, and its honesty—have made him
one of the most conspicuous and respected
statesmen of the fuze. And we do not, there-
fore, wonder that Lord PALMERSTON should
consider him an acquisition which it would be
well worth all the risk of failure, and all the
reproaches of the neglected ones, to secure.
But as Lord STANLEY naturally enough de-
clined the proffered honour, as we were from
the first satisfied he would decline' it, Lord
PALMERSTON is in a less enviable condition than
before. The last state of the man is worse
than the first. He has acknowledged that
capacity should be regarded above all other
considerations in selecting the Colonial Secre-
tary, by placing the office at Lord STANLEY'S
disposal. He has confessed that among his
own confederates such capacity did not exist,
for he resorted to a prominent member of the
Opposition to obtain it. Where then is he to
look for aid in this aggravated dilemma?
From the Cabinet he can scarcely expect any
assistance, and will probably receive no sym-
pathy. His trumpet has given no un-
certain sound as to the qualifications any
member of it possesses for a post of such
responsibility. And what will the Adminis-
trative Reform Association say, if in his choice
he shall seem to prefer rank to merit, or to
sacrifice public interests to private ambition?
Will not its chairman, in the indignant wrath
of conscious patriotism, summon a council,
and issue a manifesto? Lest this outrage
upon our nerves and upon LINDLEY MURRAY be
committed, we trust Lord PALMERSTON will go
to work very cautiously. Is there no blustering
demagogue whose prating he can silence by
making him aplaceman? Is there no buddi▪
ng
Bernal Osborne available in the political
market?
To the rumours which are current on the
subject we cannot attach any credit. When
we are told that Mr. VxurioN SMITH or Mr.
LABOUCHERE is to have the Colonial seals,
because Lord STANLEY refused them, we
feel more than ever the truth of the old sayi▪
ng
that there is but one step between the sublime
and the ridiculous ! And FREDERICK PEEL
too ! Will any one believe that an office which

1063

was deemed worthy of the Noble Lord the
Member for Lynn, could by any insane incon-
sistency be assigned to the Under-Secretary
for War? The thing is altogether incredible,
and yet who from so dull a lot is the coming
man ? We confess we are perplexed. But
till we know the fact, we will not suppose that
Lord PALMERSTON will commit an act SO
suicidal as the promotion of any of those
standing dishes of incompetency, those stereo-
typed mediocrities with which the Whig family
abound. His first idea was a good one—it
was bold and it was original. Let him by
adhering to it in spirit, show that he is wise,
not by impulse, but by habit. The " mulier
" tormosa superne," should never " desinet in
piscem." The Minister who would have made
Lord STANLEY Colonial Secretary on account
of his ability, in spite of his politics, can never
confer the onerous distinction on a Whigling
on account of his politics, in spite of his
incapacity.

THE CONDITION OF THE ARMY.
WE have heard a great deal lately of the drunk-
enness and want of discipline among our
troops in the Crimea, and the country has
been with justice alarmed at the report. The
Times correspondent has drawn a most vivid
picture of the former, and innumerable private
letters teem with complaints of the latter.
But we would hope there are certain conside-
rations which may tend to some extent to
alleviate the uneasiness we must all of us feel
upon the occasion. We must not, in the first
place, believe all that we hear. We know very
well that drunkenness is a vice which always
makes itself disagreeably prominent. Mankind
are very prone to generalise. A score of
drunken men in a day would make a powerful
impression on the spectator ; but he might
not, perhaps, remember that he sees the worst
of it In three words, we think it quite
possible that the accounts may be exaggerated ;
but, even if they are not, it is, we hold, our
duty to consider whether there be not many
extenuating circumstances. A soldier's life
naturally presents many incentives to dissipa-
tion : these are exaggerated by hardship, and
hardship is heightened by monotony. " Pry-
" thee, Jack, let's go drink a glass of wine, for
" I am fit for nothing else," says a gentleman
in the Spectator—for " wine" read " rum," and
how truly do the words express that state of
mind to which many of our soldiers must be
reduced ? Total inaction—partial despondency
—respect for their officers relaxed—none of
the excitement of war—as the forced march, the
ambush, the skilful manoeuvre by day or the
daring surprise by night—to keep up the
high-strung courage of the man, and the
cheerful obedience of the soldier, which to-
gether make up the essence of the military
character. Let us not be too hard on the un-
happy man who compensates himself for their
absence as best he may.
Yet, though we make all these allow-
ances for the offenders, we are far from
wishing to lighten the responsibility of their
superiors. Has all that is possible been done
in the way of checks and counterpoise ? We
ask not the question as implying any doubt
that it has been, but we should simply like to
know that it had. This is a fair question for
publicity. What restrictions have been placed
on the soldier's facilities for getting liquor ? Is
it possible, as is intimated, that he has the full
run of the drinking-booths, with no limit but the
depth of his pocket, and that very amply fur•
nished for the occasion? If it is judged
inexpedient to exercise any physical control
over his movements in this respect, is there no
moral influence to which he can be subjected?
What has become of the schools and libraries
of which we once heard so much ? Have the
books. which we understood were sent out,
gone the same way as the blankets and the
port ? There are very good reasons why this
should not have happened. But, then, what
has become (of them ?—are they utterly in-
sufficient in quantity, or useless in quality ?
Then, of the schools ?—are there no teachers,
or are there no scholars? All these are mat-
ters we would give much to be informed. on,
fur they are exactly those with which civibaxip

a