The Press.
London, England, 1857-07-11 00:00:00

INDIA AND ITS GOVERNORS.

THE telegraphic despatch from Trieste, the
precursor of the Indian mail, is hourly ex-
pected, and will, in all probability, have been
received before morning. Under such cir-
cumstances it might be deemed an im-
policy to indulge in idle speculations, and
an impertinence to hazard stringent prophe-
cies in regard to the important events which
must needs have been in course of transaction
during the fortnight that will have intervened
between the 28th of May—the period to which
our latest advices extend—and the date of
the incoming news. The fact is almost beyond
doubt, that the Indian intelligence, now so
anxiously looked for by every humane
being in England, will be of a mixed
character. We shall, beyond all reason-
able question, hear of terrible retribu-
tion due to armed rebels. We shall hear
that Delhi and the minor, but still im-
portant, posts of Allyghur, Mynpoorie, and
Etawah have have been reclaimed by the
European and other troops acting under the
Commander-in-Chiefs orders. But, on the
other hand, we shall not be surprised
to learn that the horrors of Meerut and
Delhi have been re-enacted at Bareilly,
Peshawur, and Mooltan—not to speak
of mere outposts, where none dare
answer ' No' to mutiny." For that the Benge.l
army is generally—indeed. universally—im-
plicated it were useless to deny ; and we do but
proclaim a well-known truth in stating that,
whatever manifestations of loyalty may have
here and there occurred, the native infantry at
least is rotten to the core.
And how could it be otherwise ? A
dozen years ago, Sir CHARLES NAPIER in-
sisted that the system of picking out the
best regimental officers for the discharge of
civil duties would prove ruinous to the effi-
ciency of the service. He was pooh-poohed,

like every one else who presumed to suggest
to the East India Directors a remedy fo: any
abuse, and the result is now patent to the
world. No 'mina the military cadet
ripened lot° a good orer. and acquired suffi-
cierts knowledge of thy native language to
enable bim to sold thtercourse with his
math than he bt oved to a civil
appointment, sialply ause he is wil-
lino to veep, k• ma lower salary than
the regular civil employe. Such a state pro-
duces its natural effects. Left under the
care of inexperienced boys and imbecile
veterans, the Sepoy begins to discover that
the Soubadar is the best man above him; and
to him accordingly his respect and allegiance
is being gradually transferred. A regulation, we
may add, having the special sanction of the Court
of Directors, forbids a native solditr to go near
his officer's quarters on any pretence, unless
in full uniform and attended by the orderly
non-commissioned officer of his company, also
in full uniform ! Here is, of course, as was
doubtless intended, a de facto bar to anything
like friendly communication betwixt the
Sepoy and his immediate European superior.
Lord WILLIAM BENTINCIE, acting under instruc-
tions from the Court of Directors, reduced
the officer's pay in certain situations,
and almost simultaneously increased that
of certain native grades. That Noble
Lord established the centralisation system,
under which regimental discipline has col-
lapsed throughout the Bengal army. Then
the Sepoy took on himself to choose whether
he would march hither or thither unless extra
allowances were granted him ; and such were
granted once, and twice, and now we have seen
the end. It was foreseen long ago by those
who heard the mutinous Sepoys of the 64th
N. 1., say to their officers at Sukkur, in 1844 :
—" We don't care for you! We know you
" can't help us ! We look to the Government."
Yet the Sonde mutiny failed to prove an effi-
cient warning.

The East India Company have had ample
proofs and abundant warnings ; in spite
of which they have wilfully and wickedly
allowed the state of matters in their Bengal
army to progress from bad to worse. Such a
course cannot have been pursued without a
motive. Is it their object to force British
India prematurely on the Crown—with its
50,000,0001. or 60,000,000/ of debt alone, besides
other pecuniary outstandings—before either
the chartered term expire, or this country be
otherwise prepared to undertake the burden?
We do not envy the Directors of the East
India Company the position they occupy in
the eyes of Europe. The bankers of India
refuse them credit ; the princes of India cry
aloud at their tyranny and treachery; the
army of India in open revolt testifies to their
infatuated indiscretion, and shows how deeply
undermined are the pillars on which our whole
power rested. With the commercial, the
aristocratic, and the military classes all arrayed
against them, how can they appeal to the
country for any continuance of their steward-
ship ?