The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-05 00:00:00

1170

the level of the mutterings of a Pytho-
ness, to be read in any sense hereafter,
as events may happen. Such a proceeding we
do not hesitate to denounce as an insult to
the Queen, an insult to her people, and an in-
sult to either House; and if the whole king-
dom,he not reduced tolthe level of the lacqueya
of Lord PALMERSTON, we hope to see him com-
pelled to alter his language to the great
council of the nation whose aid the Sovereign
in her difficulties has invoked. _ _

But, however indignant we may feel at such
an abuse of his position by the Premier, we
know that after all no insult of any kind was
meant. His absolute refusal to explain arises
not out of any disrespect for the Sovereign or
the Legislature as the nation ; he simply refuses
to tell the House what he means, because he
does not happen to know himself. He has
just as much idea of what his course will be
in February as he has of the events which
February will bring forth. His knowledge of
India and its affairs may be gauged very
readily by the anecdotes which Lord DERBY
gave to the House of Lords regarding his
India Minister, Mr. VERNON Smith. It may
be equally tested by his speeches and those of
his subordinates in the earlier part of the
present year. It may be judged of by the
measures he has taken since. By his sending
out troops in such a manner as to take the
longest possible time in getting to their desti-
nation ; and by neglecting to send them at all
for mouths after they ought, if he possessed
any foresight, to have left these shores. By
his sending out cavalry without horses, artil-
lery without their batteries, and infantry
without tents. By his trusting to finding all
these things in readiness for them at Calcutta,
which in the existing state of India was like
expecting to find a London tavern at Thn-
buctoo. By making no provision in conse-
quence to meet the wants which are for the
present rendering the majority of the troops
in Calcutta useless now that they have got
there. By leaving the Calcutta Government
unsupplied with those funds which must be
disbursed by it like water if it would make
war with effect. By sanctioning all the
measures of Lord CANNING which have alienated
from the Government of India its natural and
best support. By delegating to the Company
the work of raising the European cavalry so
emergently required in India; thus wasting
the public money in the enlistment of a parcel
of homunculi who, without horses to learn to
ride on, or men to drill them, or buildings to
accommodate them, encumber the barrack
floors at Warley, and will be utterly useless
for the purpose for which they are embodied.
The public in England are accustomed to
laugh at Mahomedans and their doctrine of
fate, which serves them with a ready excuse
for their shortcomings or blunders on any
point. If good or ill fortune is decreed to
them they say it will certainly happen, and
acts !of caution or prevision are alike unne-
cessary and ineffectual. But if this be not the
system that has been adopted by the Govern-
ment in regard to the Indian revolt, we shall
be glad to know on what other principle its
proceedings have been based. The plan from
first to last has been pretty nearly to allow the
outbreak to settle itself Whatever has been
done, has been done admittedly without assist-
ance either from the Governor-General or
from the Government at home; whatever re-
mains to be done finds its progress barred in
limine by the want of money, and huts, and
hitteriea, and transport—in short, of all that
it was the duty of the Government both here
and in India to supply. If, in spite of these
wants, the superhuman energies of our com-
manders shall make the work of restoring
order progress satisfactorily, the Government
will take credit for their victories as if won by
itself. But if reverses should be our lot, then
some scapegoat will be fixed upon, which it
will of course declare answerable for all its
mistakes. In that event the paternal and bent-
fieent Company will, of course, be held up to
tie country as the real authors of its ills, and
the Direct( es offered as a sacrifice to propi-
tiate the national cry for vengeance that will
then arise. The Premier knows by experience
(as can be vouched by all who have ever been
connected with him) that it is a most conve-
nient thing to have a Jonah to throw over.