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

THE PRESS, JULY 10, 1858.

the first outburst of retribution, almost anything in the
way of material destruction at Delhi would have been pos-
sible, and almost anything that was possible would have
been justifiable. But every day that passed after the 20th
September made it more necessary for us to deal with Delhi
judicially, and therefore discriminatingly.

We will state what has been done. The city was
thoroughly plundered. The inhabitants had all fled during
the assault. The Hindus were readmitted gradually, and
still form the enormous majority of inhabitants. The
house of every Mahomedan was attached; the Mahornedans
are being readmitted into the city with great caution, and
every man of that creed must proye his loyalty before his
house is restored to him. With regard to those numerous
natives who lost their property during the mutiny and the
siege, it has been laid down as a rule that no man is en-
titled to compensation from the State unless he can prove
that his loss was incurred while he himself was rendering
active assistance to Government. Thus thousan Is have
been ruined. Between two and three hundred men have
been tried by a special commission, and hanged. The
capital crimes were these : to have aided or abetted the
murder or plunder of a European ; to have been a sepoy in
one of the mutinous regiments that fought at Delhi. The
punishment thus inflicted has been most severe. We have
seen a letter from an old inhabitant of Delhi, in which the
writer declared that Nadir irruption was a joke to
this business. He came and went, and all was over. Now
hell had been loose for eight months together.
Doubtless the punishment has been enormous ; but an
enormous punishment was indispensably required. It has
also been just. The city of Delhi had stood by and looked
on wLen the English were murdered. When the besieging
force entered we heard much of those who had been our
friends throughout; but where were those friends when
unarmed men and helpless women were flying before their
murderers ? It is an awful thing to punish a city, but such
punishment was needful, and was made as discriminating
as a wholesale punishment can be.
Doubtless in the terrible six days of the assault several
noncombatants were killed by an infuriated soldiery. But,
so far as we can learn after considerable inquiry, there was
far less violence of this sort than has been generally re-
corded in the ease of towns taken by assault, while all
witnesses are unanimous in declaring that there were atm-

lutely no cases of outrage committed on women. Doubtless
many individuals, even after the assault, talked recklessly,
and some few, we fear, acted brutally ; but from the first
the action of Government was such as we have described :
the guilty mutineers and murderers were hunted out and
hanged without mercy ; the unfriendly race of Mahomedans
was put on its delance, and banished for the time from
that city which had so long been the pestilent focus of Ma•
homedan intrigues ; all men, rich and poor, Hindu and
Islahomedan, had awful cause given them to recollect that
the very worst thing that could happen to them in this
world was to be ever again even the passive witnesses of
the massacre of European women and children.
The lesson has been tremendous, and will be remem-
bered i❑ all Upper India long after this generation of Euro.
peans and Asiatics has passed away. But after dispas-
sionate inquiry, it is our sincere belief, and we thankfully
record it, that the bounds of awful justice have not been
exceeded. Nor let it be forgotten that rewards have ac-
companied punishment. It is not a week since we saw
ourselves, in that very Delhi, a Mahomedan soldier of the
old mutinous Bengal army—a Hindustani—whatever our
prejudices ere most excited against—presented with an
estate of 3001. a year in hie native village, for himself and
his heirs for ever, because in the doubtful day he had stood
by the British, and succoured fugitives. Every man (and
there were many, and chiefly Mahomedans )who gave useful
information during the siege of Delhi, has been liberally re•
warded. The local Government at Delhi and the Govern-
ment of the Punjab have deserved well of their country.
On them, unaided by the council, unguided by the orders
of the Supreme Government—which on this vital subject
has maintained a mysterious silence—has devolved the
responsibility of giving the tone to the English policy of
retribution. At first, when the men were fierce and hot,
the authorities were charged with being slack, over•mer-
ciful, forgetful of their countrymen's wrongs. Now that
the hot fit is over—as men become indolent, secure, and
critical—there is a tendency to maunder about innocent
victims, and to blame the Delhi regime as having been too
severe. We repeat, that it is our earnest belief that a
statesmanlike course has been taken between the two ex-
tremes.

The punishment of Delhi has not been bloody. Hit had
been, we had c3mmitted a national sin ; it has been awfully
severe : if it had not been, we had been guilty of a national
suicide.

Catarina in Venice " is the first part of a nicely-
written story; and " The Millstream" is a very
pretty copy of verses.
Of the Dublin, we have a very uneven number;
some of the articles possessing unusually high merit,
and others falling proportionately below the average.
Among the former we may class "Olympia Morata,"
" The Lady Agnes," a very beautiful and spirited
translation from the German, and "The Identifica-
tion," an Irish murder story. Among the latter, the
paper on Sir E. B. Lytton and "The True Story of
a Cock and a Bull." The first mentioned, though
unavoidably very interesting, is florid and feeble,
and after all amounts to little more than a catalogue
such as Mr. George Robins might have given us.
It professes to deal with his genius and his works,
and yet gives nothing more than their titles, with the
dates of publication. To announce as a great fact
in the life of such a man that, when a member of
the Cambridge Union, " lie was unanimously chosen
by that society as its president," inevitably reminds us
of Mr. Thackeray's University snob. The following

fact however, if true, is curious ; but we should
greatly like to know the authority on which it rests :
Conspicuous among the more remarkable speeches de.
livered about this time by the young President of the Union
was one arising out of a discussion upon the comparative
merits of English and American institutions—a logical,
and yet impassioned harangue in vindication of monarchy
and aristocracy. It attracted considerable notice, even
beyond the precincts of the University, and obtained for
the stripling orator the tempting offer (am soon as he
should have attained his majority) of a seat in Parliament
—an offer at once declined, however, by him from a clot.
racteristic unwillingness to enter, first of all, as a were
nominee within the walls of the Imperial Legislature.
The cock-and .bull story is not a very wise production,
nor is the title altogether new. It relates, of course,
to the recent alarm about France, pooh•poohs all
such apprehensions, goes in strongly for the French
alliance, and derides " the balance of power." We
would not indeed deny there is an element of truth
running through this writer's theory ; but we cannot
believe that the day is even dawning when statesmen
will be able to discard the political maxims which
have hitherto regulated their conduct.
We have this month a capital number of Bentley.
The political articles are wholesome ; the tales satis-
factory ; and the other papers, one on the Mediterra-
nean, the other on Eugene Sue, are much above the
average. The latter especially seems to us the model
of a brief memoir.

In the New Monthly the author of " Ashley '
pursues her craft with success. " The Stranger "
lets u' into the secret of the married happiness that
waited on Lord Hartledon and Lady Maude, as well
as an intimation of some criminal mystery over-
hanging the former. Of the remaining papers we
do not see any that call for special notice.

Tait this month is rather commonplace. " Woman
and Womankind," however, is nicely writtea ; and
" The Head of the Firm " is a tolerably interesting
story.

The Irish Metropolitan maintains itself at much
about the same pitch as hitherto. But it wants
variety—six out of the eleven articles in the present
number being stories. The author of " Whitefriars"
does not shine in " The Irish Brigadesman."
The English Woman's Journal continues to be ably
conducted. The present number contains an in•
teresting article on Harriet Hosmer, an American
young lady who is achieving great success at Rome,
as a sculptor.
Our two serials, The Gordian Knot, and Daven-
port Dunn, improve in every number. From the
former we give the following excellent passage :
Philip was engaged, or Philip was out of town, or Philip
somehow was out of the way when he should have been at
his wife's side; and he did not much improve matters by
intimating, in answer to her gentle remarks—they nem
came to remonstrances—that she could always do exactly
as she liked, and might therefore be god enough to allow
him similar liberty. Poor cuild! she did not want to do
exactly as she liked; she wanted Philip to prescribe her
daily occupations, and to stand as closely by her as he
could, to see that she followed out his wishes, and reward
her with his affection for so doing. He had no idea of
any such employment—infatt, he looked upon matrimony
as an honourable sinecure, a view not permitted of gods
or men. Margaret gradually grew very unhappy.
Unhappy, certainly. And yet if she had complained—
had brought her state before any private tribunal of people
of the world ( I think she would have died first), there
would have been a marvellously strong case for her
husband, and a poorish one for herself. I think I hear a
shrewd good•natured worldly friend summing up the
evidence for her benefit. " Really, my dear Mrs. Arundel,
the court can't help thinking that you have been very
advised to make a stir in this matter. Do look into your
history. There were you, a pretty country girl, without
fortune or connection, married by one of the pleasantest
and beet fellows about town, and a member of a capital
family into the bargain. They treated you with all
affection ; the father furnished a nice house for you, you
have a good allowance, a charming baby, and really every-
thing that a woman can want in the world. And though
a black cloud threatened you—and there really would have
been an excuse for black looks—everybody has made light
of it, and you are treated with the utmost consideration.
And just because your handsome young husband, who has
so many social qualities that people court him, likes occa-
sionally to stay out a little late, and to have a little pleasure
in which you could not as a mother take your share, and
because he does not go into lovers' transports when you
meet ( you admit that he is a perfect gentleman), you come
forward and say you are unhappy. Upon the court's word,
Mrs. Arundel, you area little unreasonable. The court can
tell you that hundreds of girls would only be too happy to
be unhappy on such terms. We fear, ma'am, that your
health is not very good, and i• acting on your spirits and
temper, and the court strongly recommends you to try
little sea air—Scarborough, now, is a very charming place,
or Lowestoft ; —suppose you try six weeks of that sort
of thing, and see whether it will not bring you to • better
sense of your advantages. As a religious kind of woman,
you must be aware that for what we have received the
Lord is asked to make us truly thankful, and so forth ; and
the court sincerely hopes that you habitually attend to
yonr religious exercises. The court is very sorry, Mrs.
Arundel, but we must really dismiss your petition, with
costs."