The Press.
London, England, 1857-09-26 00:00:00

REUGEES FROM, DELHI.

The Colombo, bringing the passengers and heavy
portion of the last Calcutta mail, arrived at South-
ampton on Thursday. Many of the passengers were
refugees from Delhi, Lucknow, and other parts of
Oude. Fortunately they started from those places at
the commencement of the mutinies. The language
of their husbands was, " Get out of the country with
the children as soon as you can, and never mind us.'
Many of them have never heard anything of their
husbands since. Some of the ladies escaped nearly
naked, lived in the jungle for days with their infant
children, starving, anti rarely able to get a handful
of rice to satisfy the cravings of hunger. Few
villagers were willing to assist them, and many of
those who were willing were afraid to do so. Not
the least interesting refugee on board the Colombo

939

was a little dog. It had escaped from Delhi by faith-
fully following its mistress and her children. It was
with difficulty anything could be gleaned from the
passengers, 80 loth were they to talk about the horrors
from which they had providentially escaped, and so
rejoiced did they seem at once more looking upon •
the peaceful shores of Old England. Some of them
give a frightful picture of the state of Calcutta and
the interior provinces of India. The persons in the
employ of the Peninsular and Oriental Company had
more than once sought shelter on board the com-
pany's steamers, the guns of which were shorted,
and on board which armed watches were kept night
and day. At Ceylon all the Europeans troops had
left for the Bengal Presidency, and none but sepoy
and Malay soldiers are lett at Point de Galle and
Colombo. The Malay soldiers are eager to fight the
sepoy mutineers, whom they cordially hate.

INDIA RELIEF FUND.
The country responds freely to the call for its aid is
favour of the houseless orphans, widows, and general

sufferers by the rebellion in India. Resolutions
expressing the deepest s3mpathy are everywhere
passed, and the most active measures taken to seaare
liberal subscriptio- s. At Taunton, Newbury, Sheffield,
Devonport, Tam" brtb, Yaraiouth, Bristol, Birming-
ham, Edin burg' ~ Chris teburch, Huddersfield, Halifax,
Bedford, Jersey, Exeter, Warminster, Lincoln, Stoke-
upon-Trent, Selby, Bradford, Sheffield, Weston.
super• Mare, and Islington, influential meetings have
been held, and though various opinions are expressed
as to the origin of the rebellion, the general feeling
of the public is unmistakeably against the apathy of
the Government, and in favour of a searching inquiry
at some future time.

At MANCHESTER the Earl of Wilton moved the
first resolution, and expressed his opinion that—

Whatever might be the causes of the present unhappy
state of things in India, and whatever opinions might be
entertained as regards the warnings previously received,
the wars with neighbouring States and consequent with.
drawal of troops from the Presidencies, the consideration
of these questions :must for the present give place to the
duty of strengthening the hands of Government in the
prevention of further outrages.
At GLASGOW, Sir A. Alison moved the first resolu-
tion, and in the course of his adthess touched briefly
upon the cause of the rebellion :
It is in vain to speak of the greased cartridges; the
revolt was organised by the Mahomedans years before the
greased cartridges were heard of. The greased cart-
ridge was a mere device to delude the sepoys. We must
not confound the military mutiny of the Brahmins and
Mahomedans with the glorious efforts—with some of
which all must sympathise—of patriotic virtue, in other
countries and in former days, for national independence.
The revolt lies in no sense been a national movement ; it
was undertaken for no national purpose ; even yet it is not
joined in, or sympathised with, by the great body of the
people. It is the work of a lict ntious soldiery, spoiled by
indolgeuce, panting for rapine, and teeming with lust, anti
cf those alone.

At SUNDERLAND Mr. G.Hudson, M.P.,put the origin
of the mutiny in a new light :
The rebellion (he said) was created by the Musanlrnans,
who had induced the sepoys to throw off their allegiance
from a belief that England was receding from her high
position and could no longer avenge herself or assert her
rights. He knew it to be a fact that the accounts of the
Crimean war, and of our disasters there, had been circu-
lated among the sepoys with are avidity that was perfectly
marvellous. No sooner had a paper been received than it
was translated from the English into the Hindoo language,
and the natives were taught to believe, in their ignorance,
that those descriptions cf the position of our army in the
Crimea were proofs that they might venture upon the course
they had now taken.
At King's Lynn, Isleworth, Waltham Abbey,
Windslr, Eton, Maidstone, and, indeed, in every
town and county throughout the kingdom have
meetings been held.

We are happy to be able to announce that the
Sublime Porte has instructed its ambassador in
London to forward to the Lord Mayor the sum of
LOOM. as his donation to the Fund for the Relief of
the Sufferers by the Mutinies in India. The im-
portance of this expression of sympathy from the
acknowledged bead of the Mahomedan religion will
be at once perceived.
The London committee for taking steps for afford-
ing relief to the sufferers in India met on Wednes-
day in the Egyptian-hall, Mansion house. They
formed themselves into a Relief Committee, a
Finance Committee, and a Correspomknoe Com-
mittee, for carrying out a scheme for the distributiin
of the fund.

THE PORTRAIT of the late distinguished Bishop
Illomfield is to be placed in the town hall at Bury.
Subscriptions for this object have been handsomely
commenced by the Marquis of Bristol, Earl Jermyn,
and Lord Arthur Hervey.

940

THE WEEK.

WE continue to have such cheering pictures drawn of our prospects
and position in India, that the unimportant element of truth is alone
wanting to restore the British public to their usual placid indifference
towai ds Indian affairs. Although we may place no great confidence
in the Government or their supporters, we have too much faith in the
manly feeling and in the shrewd sagacity of the British people to
believe that they will permit themselves to be hoodwinked much
longer. We are congratulated this week upon having " a secure
" place and a solid foundation" in the " confidence " of the people of
India. We aro told that " the poor villagers have not risen even
" against our refugees." We are told that " the services of men and
" cattle are at our command," that " supplies are cheap and
" abundant in all our camps," that " our relations with
" the country at large " are " just as usual," and that
" our communications everywhere, from Delhi to the Surlej
" in the west, and to the Himalayas to the north," are " so thoroughly
" uninterrupted that for all military purposes the country is our
own." Unless the Times had written this, no one who has paid the
least attention to the phases of events or the current of opinion could
credit such statements being put forth at a moment when the few acres
our fortified posts cover are all that we can claim of Central India and
Bengal. It is not easy to unite contradictions which cannot be recon-
ciled ; but if we have so " secure a place" and " solid foundation" in
the " confidence of the people," what has prevented the suppression
of the rebellion ? We appeal to every letter written from
India, to every refugee now in England, whether confidence is felt
in the native population ? If we dare trust them with a musket we
could raise from their ranks a million of men iu a month. But the
Times knows as well as we do that all confidence is at an end between
European and native. For years past in every great frontier ‘s ar, at
the moment of action it has been necessary to double the European
garrisons at every important military post. That, at least, was not a
sign of much confidence upon either side, and will any one maintain
that we are now in a better position than we were eight years ago ?
But the Times has yet stronger proof of this same confidence ; the poor
villagers " have not even attacked our refugees." Perhaps not, but
have they fed them? The testimony of the refugees themselves is at
least as good as the assertion of the Times. Some of the
ladies now arrived by the Colombo " escaped," writes a correspondent
from Southampton, " nearly naked, and lived in the jungle for days
"with their children, starving, and rarely able to get a handful of rice
" to satisfy their cravings of hunger, for few villagers were willing to
" assist them." And how is it, if the villagers are so innocent of all
complicity in this great conspiracy, that the " evidences of our people's
handiwork," as we read in a letter of an officer en marche, " consisted
" of natives hung by fours and fives on the trees by the roadside." But
then, again, we have another proof of secure confidence. We enjoy
the services of men and cattle " at command," supplies are " abundant
and cheap " in all our camps, and our communications " uninterrupted."
Surely, if this were the real state of the case, we should not read of
garrisons isolated and cut off by starvation and massacre, of hazardous
retreats, desperate defences, and the most heroic advance through the
heart of a country " swarming with the enemy." Why all this, if the
non-military population are well effected? As to our communications
being uninterrupted to the north and west, the Times is welcome to
the assertion, for the real lines of communication through which
our beleagued garrisons look for assistance are exactly in the oppo-
site direction.' They are to the east and southi; and the pleasant
security of the Great trunk Road to Calcutta, together with the
amiableness of the River populations on the Ganges, and the perfect
safety of every road from Delhi to Bombay, are so much matters
of fact that we need not dwell on them here. But to conclude,
we referred last week to the injudicious as well as contemptible
nature of these efforts of journals to blind the country to the real
state of our position in India. We are not surprised that the Govern-
ment should find obstacles to encounter and difficulties to overcome
in inducing men to enlist in the ranks of the line, so long as these
journals continue to impress upon the country that our posi-
tion is not one to cause alarm, that our success is not problema-
tical, and that the emergency is not so great as reflective
men believe and the Government well know. With such misre-
presentations constantly placed before them, the people of this country
fail to comprehend the peril of the moment ; they do not see that in
India with us it is but a step from a convulsion to a collapse, and,
taking their tone from the sophistry prevalent "in high places," they
feel no interest to enlist in the service of their Sovereign. The time
is rapidly approaching when a more healthy feeling will be aroused.
The country then will no longer be content to swallow soporifics,
applied by those who would hide their own falsehoods, or screen the
ignorance and incapacity of others.

The statement, which appeared first in this journal, that the Mar-
quis of DALHOUSIE, K.G., had devoted his pension of 5,0001. per annum
to the relief of the sufferers from the Indian rebellion, and which
statement has ultimately proved, unfortunately, not to be realised,
appears to have had its origin in some remarkable circumstances. A
leading article in a morning contemporary avowedly under the influ
ence of the existing Ministry, had announced that among the available
ways and means for carrying on the war in our late Indian posses-
sions, was to be the confiscation of all those pensions granted to the
King of DELHI and others who had contributed to the destruction of
our authority. It seems that the late Governor-General rashly con-
cluded that his own pension entered into this category; and it was
under the somewhat precipitate influence of that sentiment that his

THE PRE S S, SEPTEMBER 26, 1857.

Lordship conceived the gracious expedient of devoting these resources
to those who in a moment of remorseful modesty he recognised as the
victims of his peculiar and highly remunerated policy.
The pension accorded to the Marquis of DALHousIE for the
annexation of Oude, the now universally admitted cause of the
rebellion, was not granted by Parliament, but by the East India
Company—an exercise of authority by that unhappy and anomalous
body which was much questioned at the time. As one of the con.
sequences of the rebellion will eventually be to bring the whole of
Indian finance under the control of Parliament, there is little doubt,
that, in the stern revision of the expenditure of India which the now
notorious insolvency of the Company must brine about, the House of
Commons will avail itself of its privilege to counteract the uncon-
stitutional grant of the Board of Directors. With these prospects, the
original intention of the late Governor-General seems not unworthy of
a statesman of his distinguished discrimination.

The interview between the Emperors NAPOLEON and ALEXANDER is
not regarded in England with any mistrust. The Emperor NAPOLEON
has proved himself, since he ascended the Imperial Throne, faithful
to his engagements. We believe that France has no view of self-
aggrandisement upon the continent of Europe, and we regard this
interview in no other light than the friendly rapprochement of two
sovereigns desirous to secure and consolidate the peace and
prosperity of Europe. An interview avoids much diplomatic finesse.
Questions, which in the labyrinth of protocols studiously framed to
conceal the truth, might possibly become complicated, are openly dis-
cussed in all their intricate bearings, and in the presence of frank
concession and mutual goodwill are amicably arranged to the satisfac-
tion of all. We have reason to believe that an interview between the
Emperor NAPOLEON and the Emperor FRANCIS JOSEPH will take place in
October, awl that, if his health permit, his Majesty the King of
PRUSSIA will be present on that occasion.

The report that the Government have decided upon forwarding
troops to India by the overland route is incorrect. Her Majesty's
Ministers are not in the habit of arriving at rapid conclusions.
The transport of troops across tho Isthmus of Suez, we have
Lord PALMERSTON'S authority for saying, is attended with
considerable " inconvenience," and no little "expense," and, although
it, is not possible that any of the reinforcements from England
can reach Calcutta before November, and that upon every hour
may hang the fate of thousands of noble lives, her
Majesty's Ministers do not consider these events of such grave iin-
portaace as to call for any hasty or rash decision. The subject of the
overland route has recently been under discussion. It was originally
proposed that the 51st Regiment, now in Dublin, should be despatched
as private passengers, dressed in plain clothes, and we believe the pro-
position met with favour in high quarters, but the health of Lord
PANaluaE requiring the relaxation of a week or two's deer-stalking, tho
matter has been indefinitely postponed. It is anticipated that the
arrival of the expected mail from India will bring intelligence of such
a " cheering nature" as may render the necessity of any extraordinary
efforts in the transport of troops unnecessary.

The feeling of pity and commiseration fur our Indian sufferers is
not confined to England or to France. The munificent gift of the
Emperor of the FRENCH has been followed by a similar donation from
the Sultan, whose contribution is not without significance, and will
have peculiar effect throughout the East. At home public meetings
aro held in every county and town, and, amidst the warmest expres-
sions of sympathy, the most liberal subscriptions aro freely given. In
general the political bearing of the crisis is avoided, but here and
there speakers express their opinions. Sir ARCHIBALD ALISON, on
Wednesday, for example, in the course of his address urged
with some force a theory which we thought exploded—
that the insurrection was a " mere military mutiny." "It
is in vain," said Sir A. ALISON, "to speak of the greased cartridges.
" The revolt was organised by the Mahomedans years before the
" greased cartridges were hearl of." That may or not be the case,
but Sir ARCHIBALD ALISON, immediately atter admitting this long-
ripening conspiracy, adds, "We must not confound the military
" mutiny of the Brahmins and Mahomedans with the glorious efforts
" of, &e. The revolt has in no sense been a national movement; it was
" undertaken for no national purpose ; even yet it is not joined in nor
" sympathised with by the great body of the people." In the first
place, what does Sir ARCHIBALD mean by the term "great body
of the people?" Does he mean the Sikhs and Mahrattas ? If
so, we admit his assertion to some extent ; but if ho means to say
that the rebellion has not been joined, and is not supported by, the
mass of the Brahmin and Mahomeda.n population, we venture
to thiuk that Sir ARCHIBALD ALISON comes under the category of those
persons described by the Colombo refugees, " who have even now
" nothing like a correct notion of the extent and character of the insur-
" rection." If the " great body of the people" are not supporting the
insurrection, why is it not put down? If the people were well affected,
what difficulty could the local Government experience in suppressing
the revolt at once ? They could raise with ease 10,000 recruits for
every rebel Sepoy. Sir ARCHIBALD ALISON is too sagacious a man not
to see that his theory is fallacious to a degree, and utterly opposed to
all fact. The mass of the people may be very loyal and well affected
towards us, but why have we so many kings, nawabs, rajahs, ranees
and moulvies, shut up in prison ? Surely it is not on account of their
fidelity. Do the villagers feed and assist our wretched refugees, or do
they too often finish the bloody work the Sepoys had begun? There
is not a letter received in England or Scotland, except perhaps from
some credulous friend of Sir ARCHIBALD, which breathes that calm