The Press.
London, England, 1858-07-10 00:00:00

unbecoming declaration, that from the first " his
" spurs had been in the sides, and his reins on the
" neck, of the Court of Directors," a slow and
unwilling horse.
With regard to the late Government, the Com-
mittee speak less clearly and decisively; but the
contrast between the explicitness of all the other
Resolutions, and the laboured obscurity of those
which relate to the Cabinet of Lord PALmEtts-
Tort, leads us to the conclusion that the obscurity
is the result, not so mach of a want of distinct-
ness of opinion, as of a desire upon the part of a
Committee, the majority of whom had been
strong supporters of Lord PALMERSTON, to let
their old friends down easily. They give us a
faint idea of their opinion, but avoid expressing
it in plain terms. _

The Committee, after examining all the best
authorities upon the subject, are of opinion that for
the future steamers should always be made use of
as far as possible in urgent cases. They are con-
vinced also that if they had been used in greater
numbers, the reinforcements would have reached
India more quickly than they did. The Com-
mittee have no doubt that the overland route is
by far the best for occasions of emergency ; and
they consider that, apart from the political consi-
derations which have been advanced as a defence
by the late Government, " It is much to be re-
" gretted that the steps which were taken in Sep-
" tember (nearly four months after the intelli-
gence was received which induced Lord ELLEN-
BOROUGH to call the attention of the House of
Lords to the insufficiency of our forces in India)
" were not resorted to at an earlier date." The
value of the pleas put forward by the late
Government in Parliament, and by Mr. VERNON
Smrru before the Committee, depends, there-
fore, entirely upon the reality and gravity of the
political considerations. With these we are
unacquainted. Their character even has never
been communicated to Parliament, and
the Committee felt themselves precluded from
pressing Mr. VERNON Smrru to explain them.
Tie question then naturally occurs—Were
there really any such considerations at all ?
Hid they ever any existence, or were they not
called in for the occasion to serve as a convenient
shelter ? Where are we to look for them ? In
Turkey, or in Egypt ; in France, or in Russia ?
We profess we are utterly unable to see in our
relations, actual or possible, with any of those
countries, any political cont►ngencies whatever
sViich should make us hesitate at any time to
take advantage of the Overland Route for the
transmission of troops in or out of uniform. It
would be perfectly absurd to talk of Turkey
h wing any voice in the question of the uses to
which the Pacha of Eovvr may put his railway,
and as regards himself we may depend upon it
that the greater use we make of it the better
pleased he will be. His railway is not a political
device, but a commercial speculation. Neither
was any jealousy evinced by any other Euro-
pean power upon the subject. They were not
so foolish. On the contrary•, they contemplated
the Egyptian railway as the resource to which
we should naturally have recourse for the trans-
mission of our troops upon an occasion in which
ti nc was everything; and many of the conti-
nental journals have expressed their surprise that
we made no larger use of it.
We do not believe in those political considera-
tions which have been put forward so pertina-
ciously and so mysteriously. Neither, it is evi-
dent, did the Committee; although the remains of
attachment to the ex- Premier prevented them from
giving full and explicit expression to their
opinion. What do they say upon this point ?
They say :
"3. That the Committee cannot judge of the
validity of those political objections as they felt
themselves precluded from inquiring into theru;
but that they ceased to prevail in the first week
of September, when the more serious character
of the war and the lateness of the season for ships
departing for Calcutta led to a formal requisition
from the Court of Directors, and to a compliance
with it on the part of the Cabinet."
The political considerations, be their nature
what it might, the Committee were not ac-
quainted with ; but be it what it might, these
considerations ceased to prevail when the more
serious character of the war was, in Sep-
tember, four months too late, recognized by the
Government. The words, " lateness of the sea-