The Press.
London, England, 1855-11-03 00:00:00


THE PRESS.

own democratic passions in a time of war
would cause to the " States." The heteroge-
nous variety of ,14 - I,elements would then
be. glaringly r*Oalt. e' -the eruption of its
voief elem a Union would burs l
A
the wilt ft e o
-I Its unsettled sdf
questi wotilif gill he " States " asunder.
The s o q>f tiolt Ibuld become fearfullj
ports s, afi Old assume a geowt
plum its -well al 110011tarian aspect. g
relations between tN. Notthern and Southern
States would in war Ogileygte a far worse state
of things than Unit which existed between
England and Ireland for the twenty years
anterior to 1801.
On the other hand, nearly all our serious
questions are definitively settled. The " Irish
difficulty" has vanished. The New Poor Law,
and its consequent "Chartism," have ceased to be
effective disturbers. No doubt a war with Ame-
rica would seriously injure our principal textile
manufacture, and we admit that for the inter-
ruption of amity both nations would pay dearly.
But no person can calmly weigh the eventuali-
ties without perceiving that America would be
precipitated upon anarchy. It would take her
several years before her establishments could
be put upon a war scale, and she would be
taught the lesson that even the valour, states-
nianship, and wisdom of her justly renowned
WASHINGTON, JEFFERSON, and FRANKLIN might
have been fruitless without the help of the
House of Bourbon, aided by the degenerate
conduct of Lord NORTH.
But these painful contingencies need not
further be discussed. We only allude to them
to show, that if the last dreadful alternative
were decided on, England could have no
grounds for apprehension, though deeply
lamenting a struggle with a people of her own
kindred. The present misunderstanding may
yet be peaceably settled. It has been partly
fermented by the irritating conduct of certain
subordinate agents employed by our Ministry,
and by American agitators who have taken
advantage of the fact of Lord PALMERSTON
—the former upholder of a firebrand policy—
being Prime Minister.
But we entreat of the Americans to dismiss
from their minds those exaggerated notions
about Lord PALMERSTON which mischievous
spirits amongst them are so anxious to diffuse.
Let them recollect that the Noble author of
" The Ashburton Convention " received the
hanks of both Houses of our Parliament, and
hat Lord DERBY, the head of the Conservative
party, was Colonial Secretary, when former
grounds for bickering were skilfully and suc-
cessfully removed, at the time when a swag
gering course, like the antecedent conduct of
Lord PALMERSTON, would have been fatal to
the best interests of both nations. The thorny
questions arising out of " right of search"—the
M'Leod and Caroline steam-boat affair—Ore-
gon and President Poix's fiery messages—
were all peacefully settled, and creditably, to
the honour of both countries. When Parlia-
ment meets, the present Ministers will have
to account for, and explain truly, the nature
of some of their proceedings in relation to the
unfortunate " Foreign Enlistment" project.
We trust, in the meanwhile, that the good
sense of so great a people as the Americans
will prevail above the faction of agitators, who
menace them with a series of internal broils
even worse than a foreign war.
In conclusion, we may remind them that
when President Pots, in December, 1845, used
the language of dogmatism, if not defiance,
that his irritating speech was answered in the
next month by the Queen from the Throne,
who " regretted the unsettled state of the
" Oregon question," and added, "that no effort
" on her part, consistent with the national
" honour, should be wanting to bring the con-
" troversy to an early and peaceful termina-
" tion "—words of seasonable application at
the present time.

THE NEW GOVERNOR-GENERAL.
IN our two preceding issues of the l3th and 20th
ult. we noted some of the more prominent points
which should engage the attention of the new
Governor •General, and we shall now advert to
the remainder of the more striking measures
which all Who Wife the wolfed of India at

SATURDAY,

ll*

heart will look for without failure at his hands.
The first of these is a total reform of the Corn-
pany's JrAicial fijrgtetii, *lrieh in its present
state ftffoltils no sectifity fair Orson or property,
and it inkitiMpetent and riiifitted to the ends
ofjuiiiice in the Idgt deMe. The remedy is
obvitfils, filfd dons* ice Me appointment as
policiifnu Ptrate4 at tiirtifif`esidencies and at all
the iiktger cities and towns in the empire of
none but ilign of legal education, and in the se-
lection as judges for the Mofussil tribunals of
barristers who unite a sufficient acquaintance
with the native language with that experience
as advocates which affords the best, if not the
only, effective judicial training. There aro
not wanting in India at present men possessed
of such qualifications, but whose adiltecement
to the Mofussil bench is impossible in conse-
quence of their not belonging to the favored
service; and it is not to be doubted that were
such an opening offered there would soon be
plenty of other similarly-qualified candidates
from the Scotch and Irish bars, and from the
bar of England. If a civilian or a military
officer can master the language of India suffi-
ciently to qualify himself for public employ-
ment in a few months, it is not to be supposed
that men so much more highly educated as are
ordinarily the members of the bar in this
country would find the slightest difficulty in
doing so likewise. Indeed, it is not improbable
that such a measure might be the means of
bringing on to the bench of India in the most
legitimate manner many men of the higher
ranks among the natives of India. They
would probably be led to enter themselves for
the bar in India or in England with the very
object of qualifying themselves for the
judicial office to which some standing at the
bar would then afford the necessary introduc-
tion.
The next part of the Indian system most
loudly calling for reform is the Police System
which not even the stanchest of the Govern-,
went supporters ever venture to defend. The
model for the reform of this has happily been
laid down by the late Sir CHARLES NAPIER, in
his Scinde police, which has called forth the
warmest encomium, even from men most
hostile to him. Lord DALHOUSIE has taken it
as his model in the Punjaub police. Sir
GEORGE CLERK took it as the basis of his re-
form of the Bombay police. Lord HARRIS, it
appears, proposes to reform the Madras police
on the same principle ; and the sooner it is
made to supplant the former system in Bengal,
the north-west provinces, and the whole of
the rest of India, the better for the Govern-
ment, as well as for the people at large. The
finest specimen of a European police force is to
be found in the Irish constabulary intro-
duced by Sir ROBERT PEEL, and the finest
specimen of an Indian police force in the late
Sir CHARLES NAPIER'S police of Scinde.
The question of Education will, of course,
come before the new Governor-General, and it
is to be hoped that he will take the sound
view, and not fritter away the small amount
of funds allotted to it by the State in the
maintenance of vernacular schools. Of these
there are abundance for every requisite pur-
pose as it is, and it is a mere waste of the
public money to foster more. The object of
the State should be to impart European, and,
above all, English knowledge ; and to that all
the money that can be spared for education
should be devoted. This, followed by the
gradual introduction of the English language
into the Mofussil law courts, and the opening
up some of the better paid offices of the State
to natives possessed of a sufficiently high
educational qualification, would very soon
alter the face of Indian society, and draw infi-
nitely closer the bonds of union between it
and ourselves. It is the extinction as much
as possible of the vernacular language that
should be our object, and the substitution, as
far as may be, of our own. The spending
money to extend their influence and perpe-
tuate them is the most suicidal policy that we
could pursue.
Roads and Public Works are matters of
obvious importance, but the new Governor-
General will do well to act cautiously as to
the amount of public money he devotes to
gua-
them, either directly or in the shape of