The Press.
London, England, 1857-10-31 00:00:00

make every effort and to submit to every sacrifice
which may be necessary for the complete and per-
manent re•establishment of your Majesty's authority
in India." Sir John Pakington, in proposing this
loyal and patriotic address, said it was right that our
people in India should know that they have the
sympathy, support, and gratitude of the British
public ; and that we should tell foreign powers that,
whatever may be our domestic differences and party
distinctions, whenevor we feel ourselves in the prs-
sence of a great national calamity we come forward
as one man to assert our power and vindicate our
rights. Passing rapidly through the different phases
ct this rebellion, and congratulating his hearers upon
the recent good news, Sir John Pakington pointed
out that, as saon as the rebellion was suppressed,
the question of the future government of India
would arise :

Is India to be governed hereafter as she has been go-
verned to this time ; or is she to be governed hereafter in
a manner tending to the credit and security of England,
and to the civilisation and happiness of the Indian people?
Questions will arise in reference to this of the deepest
importance. The first question will he—ls the extra•
ordinary idea that a vast country like India can be governed
by a company of merchants to be carried out; or is it a
case in which the direct authority of the Crown of England
ought to be exercised? Twice has this double govern.
went been tried, and twice it has been found wanting. The
next question will be—What is to be the mode of raising
the revenues of India? Are we to continue to raise the
revenues b an oppressive land or salt tax, or from some
unworthy and immoral source such as the sale of opium'?
A third and not an easy question will relate to the native
army. Are we to abandon the native army ? Are we to have
a native army organised and recruited in a manner violating
every dictate of common prudence and common sense, or
an army organised on a different principle, so that it may
be efficient, and so that we may regard it in England as an
effective force? Lastly, let me refer to a question which is
already deep in the minds of thinking Englishmen, and
which is perhaps the most difficult of all. Hereafter, in
India, is the flag of England to be prostituted to the sup-
port of the barbarous rites of Indian superstition ? Or
are we to govern our Eastern empire in a way which,
without violating the prejudices of a people, shall do
honour to and uphold that Christian religion which we
believe and know to be founded on Divine truth ? (Cheers.)
In conclusion, the right hon. baronet said he was
glad to have this opportunity of expressing what be
felt on this subject. When the rebellion should he
quelled and the British Crown supported in its au-
thority in India, he was sanguine enough to believe
that we might look forward to brighter and happier
days for India. He was sanguine enough to believe
that as, by the inscrutable dispensations of Provi-
dence, Ireland had dated her return of prosperity
from a periAl of famine, so India might date her
regeneration from these deplorable transactions.
Mr. FOLEY, M.P., seconded the resolution, which
was carried with acclamation.
The meeting then separated.

At a county meeting held at Castle Exeter last
week, the Earl of FORTESCUE moved the first resolu-
tion, and in the course of an eloquent address on the
occasion said, in allusion to the victories of Havelock
and the arrival of reinforcements:—

I hope and believe also that with the sweeping march of
these armies throughout the land the stern hand of British
justice, while it makes strict inquiry and inflicts condign
punishment upon all who can he proved to have been
willing actors in the late dreadful mutinies, will at the
same time be accompanied and tempered with British
clemency and justice. I hope that wherever doubt exists
the benefit of that doubt will be given to the accused party,
and while we inflict punishment on the guilty I trust we
shall acknowledge and reward the fidelity shown by many
of the native princes of our alliance, and that we shall also
acknowledge and reward the unshaken allegiance which has
been shown to us by a large portion, happily, of the native 4,,
population. And, gentlemen, when peace and order
shall have been restored, as I trust, by God's help, they
will be restored throughout the length and breadth of
British India, then I hope that due consideration will be
given to some improvement in the administration of our
Indian empire. After such a disaster as the present the
British public have a right to inquire, and the represents -
fives of British interests in India have also the right to
inquire, whether a form of government combining the rule
of the BritiAl Crown with that of a mercantile body is the
best form of government that can be devised for that
great portion of our empire. To that inquiry the British
empire and the Indian empire have a right to receive an
answer ; and I trust that the deliberations of the next
session of Parliament will have the guidance of Provi-
dence to direct to the best solution of a question so deeply
involving the interests of that country and so vitally
involving with the existence of our empire in India the
happiness of the many millions in that country com-
mitted to our charge.
Sir J. YARDE BULLER seconded the resolution :
For himself, he was not an alarmist. He had not the
slightest doubt the whole would by and by be set right by
the determination of the British troops ; and when the
rebellion had been suppressed, and peace and • order
restored, then would be our time quietly and calmly to
inquire what was the origin of this outbreak, and what
had been the mismanagement and misgovernment that
had brought it abaut. That subject would form one of
the most early and important matters for the next session
of Parliament.