The Press.
London, England, 1855-07-28 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

But we have been diribing only the
MOLESWORTH of aspirations. - The borough of
Southwark knows a personage of that name ;
and it is with a Ai baronet with a large
estate in the baron*, a votary of the ballot,
and wilt no oldactien la trimmers, and WWI
vast resources of patronage, that they Kra
practically conversant. The Baronet of theb'
acquaintance is preciuss to them for his riches,
his hailuences glad liar connection with
tilo
Cabinet. It is not the first time that a coati-
' tion has been struck up between revolutionary
theorists and political jobbers. But what the
Radicals of Southwark may do is of com-
paratively little importance when compared
with the more serious questions as to whether
Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTH is fit for his new
office, and as to whether he has come to it

fairly?
Upon his aptitude for the Secretaryship of the
Colonies, it is enough to say that Sir WILLIAM
MOLESWORTH has never displayed capacity for
affairs during his extended career of upwards
of twenty years. With abundance of leisure,
he was certainly able to digest blue-books,
and speak pamphlets (not speeches) to the
House of Commons. Apparently very for
mid able on paper, he was never effective on
his legs. Even when a question seemed to be
shaped specially for his hand, he failed in de•
cisivoly grasping it. Thus, on the Corn Laws
he was immeasurably surpassed by Mr.
CHARLES VILLIERS, Mr. COBDEN, and Mr.
BRIGHT, and none of his voluminous writings
on the subject ever approached the vigour and
variety of General PERRONET THOMPSON.
In dealing with individuals, Sir WILLIAM
MOLESWORTH has never shown tact or facility.
He tried to form a party nine years since, and
to lead it. In doing so he utterly failed. He
imitated BURKE, however, in one respect. His
speeches cleared the House ; but, unlike BURKE,
his speeches were made, not for posterity, but for
" flimsy." The accuracy with which they were
given to the world was considered a marvel
lous feat in stenography. But it did not re-
quire much acquaintance with Parliamentary
circles to know that the editor of " Hobbes '
was quite capable of producing an original
work to illustrate the title of "Every Man his
own Reporter."
On the other question, as to whether the
present Secretary for the Colonies came by
his office fairly, we should like to inquire—
" How long has he been a Palmerstonian ?"
It is no secret that certain friends of the new
Secretary openly boasted during the Cabinet
dissensions last autumn that " MOLESWORTH
" supported Lord ABERDEEN, and went with
" him on all occasions." That such assertions
were made and believed in is beyond doubt.
But a change has again come over the " philo-
sophical" politician. He has again migrated
when the Aberdeen regions were visited with
severe weather. One of his quondam asso-
ciates was likened to a " bird of prey " by Lord,
JoHN RUSSELL; and it is plain, by his facility
in flight, that Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTH Would
be classified in any political museum as " a
bird of passage."

THE "LEADER" OF THE HOUSE OF

COMMONS.

IF there is any one feature in our English
domestic manners more strongly marked
than another, it is our dislike to " scenes," or
those passages of personal display in which
the coarser elements of character are glaringly
revealed. On Thursday our Prime Minister
again came out with his blustering language,
and overbearing demeanour. This arrogant,
menacing tone towards those members
who wished to discuss the important question
of " Limited Liability," was quite unprovoked.
The Prime Minister attempted to crush there
by holding them up as " monopolists." But
if he had his wits about him, Lord PALMERS-
TON should have remembered that such a
style of debate neither suited his own per.
sonal antecedents, nor the dignity of Parlia-
ment. He is raising the question, whether
the House of Commons ought to endure such
manners in the person who is called upon to
lead the Lower House. If such a tone of
speaking be continued, either Lord PALMERS-
TON cannot long continue to lead Parliament,

SATURDAY,

or the Commons cannot long remain respected
by the community.
Of coarse, the obieet of such defiant de-
portment was plain to every one. Domestic
legislation has been entirely neglected by the
Cable* and, to make a show of work, the
Minintry at the lant menient endeavour to
pass the Limited Liabilky Bill. Owing to
the differences of upinioa on it in the corn-
' meroial world, such Mr measure should receive
compiate discussion. It was not introduced
until after Whitsuntide, and at the eleventh
hour it is brought forward by the Cabinet.
Under such circumstances it is really most
offensive to talk cant about a measure being
opposed by "the few" while the interests of
" the many " are concerned in its enactment.
If so, why leave the measure till the end of
July ? Why consume the time of the
House of Commons about the Scotch Educa-
tion Bid and the Irish Tenant Right Question,
abandoned the other day? In such a case
attempting to coerce the House of Commons
is scandalous. Yet there might even be
temper in doing that. There is no necessity
for a shouting tone, an uplifted arm, and a
swaggering air, in addressing the gentlemen of
England. The exact reverse of such attributes
are required from a man who is ex officio the
Leader of the Commons. For once the Whig
families seem to have been right in their long-
continued opposition to making Lord
PALMERSTON their leader. Good breeding,
not gross bullying, even if " Patrician," was
deemed by them a prime requisite for the
office, and the House of Commons ought to
have even more self-respect than " the
families." The Premier must be taught to
change his manners u.s quickly as he has done
his principles.

OUDE AND CASHMERE.
IN a late article on Nagpore and Tehree we
gave an authentic example of the principle on
which the Company deals with successions in
the native States of India. If the country
is rich, and worth annexing, it seizes upon
the territory, and plunders the Royal Family
of their private property as well. If, on the
other hand, the district is one likely to be
productive only of difficulties and loss, it is
left to be governed as it may, and the absti-
nence from spoliation is trumpeted forth as an
act of generosity quite unparalleled. We shall
exhibit in the present article a further il-
lustration of the principle which really guides
the Company in its conduct towards native
States. The Company, be it remembered,
professes to be guided entirely by the purest
benevolence, by the deepest sympathy with
suffering humanity, and by so ardent a devo-
tion to the cause of justice, virtue, and civili-
sation, that it deems it a crime in any native
sovereign, to be expiated only by dethrone-
ment, if he falls short in the slightest degree
of the very exalted standard which it lays
down. Such is the principle the Company
professes to act on. We shall see how far
their profession is in accordance with their
practice in their respective dealings towards
Oude and towards Cashmere.
Oude is, as all the world knows, the richest
native State in India, and it certainly lies
most invitingly exposed to seizure by us. It
has long been greatly coveted by the Com-
pany, but the Company has hitherto held
back its hand for very shame. The worst that
has been proved against it iathat the King is
not a very moral man, and prefers retirement
and the indulgence of his pleasures to public
business, as Christian sovereigns have occa-
sionally done before him. As to the rest, a
good deal is said about the misgovernment of
Oude by the servants of the Company who
are seeking grounds to annex it ; but probably
an equally dark picture would be drawn of the
Company's government by the servants of
the King of OUDE. One thing is certain, that
when Oude was under a worse king than the
present, Bishop HEBER testified to the false-
hood of these charges, saying that the country
was everywhere cultivated like a garden, and
that the people were in no respect worse off,
and in many respects better, than those living
under the Company's rule. The Honourable

U

I

JULY 28, 1855.

FREDERICK Ron, a civilian of most unimpeach-
able honour, testified to the same thing. MILL
tells us in his history that similar complaints,
with a similar view to annexation, were in his
day made against Oude ; yet that it was clear
that our own territories in Bengal were, on
the whole, very much worse governed. WIL
sox, in his continuation of MILL, speaking of
Oude in modern days, says :

The frequent assertions of occular witnesses are on
record that Oude was in as prosperous a condition as the
Company's own provinces, and that, whatever grievances
the people might endure, they considered them light in
comparison with the unrelenting pressure of the revenue
system of their neighbours (under the Company's rale),
or the wearisome and vexatious processes of their courts of
justice. Certain it is that the subjects of the King of
Oude never showed any disposition to seek a refuge from
their miseries in the contiguous districts under British
rule, and that the tide of migration, so far as it has in-
fluenced the undulation of the population, was more
inclined to set in an opposite direction.

Such being the state of the case, we may
fairly question whether annexation might not,
at any rate, be suspended for the present ; but
the Company talk high and loudly of their
sacred mission, their reverence for virtue,
their horror of vice, and the necessity of
punishing frivolity in native princes by de-
priving them summarily of their thrones.
Stipulations and treaties are not, it is said, to
stand in the way of the performance of so
holy a duty, nor the fear of misrepresentation,
grounded on the fact that annexation would
bring about a million of yearly additional
income into the Company's pocket. Such is
the way the Company talks when the question
is the annexation of Oude. But, before we
yield consent, let us see how it fulfilled this
sacred mission it so feels the responsibility of
when it fell to its lot to dispose of Cash-
mere.

Some nine years ago Cashmere fell fairly,
by right of conquest, into the Company's
hands. It was their own, to do as they pleased
with ; and this is what they did. For the sum
of seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds
sterling they sold it to GOOLAB SING, the pre-
sent ruler of it, and sent their own troops to
put him in possession of it. GOOLAB SiNo's
character it would be impossible for us to
depict properly, for the simple reason that it
is too horrible for an English pen to describe.
Suffice it to say that he had risen from the
position of a common trooper to that of chief
favorite of RUNJEET SING by the most shameful
means—that in the infamies he had been
guilty of he had exceeded everything ever
heard of previously even in Eastern life—and
that his cruelties and atrocities were on a par
with his infamies, his common practice being
to cut persons who had offended him joint by
joint to pieces, and to flay alive the ryots who
were unable to pay him his rents. Lest we
should be thought to exaggerate in drawing
the picture of this most horrible monster, we
shall proceed to quote what is said of him by
Major CARMICHAEL SMYTH in his " History of
the Reigning Family of Lahore," and by Sir
HENRY LAWRENCE in his " Adventures in the
Punjaub"
- -

Ambitious, avaricious, and cruel by nature, he reduced
the exercise of his cruelty to a system for the promotion of
the objects which his ambition and avarice led him to seek.
He exercised the most ruthless barbarities, not in the heat
of conflict or in the flush of victory, nor in the rage of an
offended sovereign against rebellious subjects—ha de-
liberately committed the most horrible atrocities for the
purpose of investing his name with a terror that should
drown all thoughts of resistance to his cruel away.
I have been now twenty-five years in India, and during
the whole of my sojourn in the East I have never heard of
so infamous a miscreant as the Rajah of Jummoo
(Goolab Sing), though I am acquainted with the evil deeds
of such wretches as Kam Ran and Yar Mahomed, his
vizier, with whom the British Government, to their cost,
at one time were connected.—Carmichael Smyth's History.

He (Goolab Sing) has overrun the whole district between
Cashmere and Attock, and inflicted such terrible vengeance
on the people of Sudan, a large district south•east of
Moogufferabad, cutting up, maiming, and flaying, to the
amount. it is said, of twelve thousand persons, that the
men of Dundi and Satti, two adjoining territories, sent in
their subscription, but begged not to see his face. Of
Goolab Sing I have heard tales which I can hardly believe
myself, and therefore will not task my readers' credence
with them.—Sir Henry Lawrence's " Adventures in the
Purkjaub."
Such is the monster to whom, coolly,
deliberately, and with a full knowledge of
the man, the Company sold Cashmere and
its inhabitants—the consideration being the
payment of seven hundred and fifty thou-
sand pounds. Yet, with that blood-money