The Press.
London, England, 1857-07-25 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 1857.

THE present crisis is undoubtedly of the
gravest character, and causes great alarm.
Although Government was " forewarned," it
has unhappily turned out that it was not
" forearmed." But Parliament is still sitting.
and the duty that devolves on the House of
Commcns is of immense importance. There
has been positive imbecility in the recent mis-
management of Indian affairs. There has
been neglect of advice, and disdain of prudent
counsels. A blind security has been fostered.
Alarms have been scouted; sagacious remon-
strances have been spurned.

The effect of the Indian crisis on the domes-
tic affairs of the country is visible in animated
discussions in every circle as to how the
Whigs mean to carry on affairs. " Reform "
is virtually shelved. The Premier will be
only too glad to ride off from it upon any
excuse ; and " the indifference " which Lord.
PALMERSTON expressed for the opinion of Lord
JOHN RUSSELL, simply means that there is an
end of the only question in the Premier's cal-
culations on which the Noble Member for
London could b 3 troublesome to the Govern-
ment. It is known that a large portion of the
Liberal party has long been looking for some
plea to escape from a new Reform Bill ; and,
right or wrong, they will seek for it in the
peril of the Indian empire, and rely on the
chapter of accidents for further dilatory ex-
cuses. The old form of Parliamentary apology,
" Besides, Sir, this is not the time, etc.," will
be adopted eagerly by Ministerial supporters
only too glad to escape from their pledges.
The spreading schism in the Ministerial
party, and the serious doubts as to whether
the departments responsible for Indian
affairs are properly filled, are the subjects
of the day. Many of the Liberals are
impracticable on the whole subject of " Re-
form "; the majority of them use it as a mere
phrase. By these latter Lord JOHN RUSSELL
is considered as a politician whose fashion has
passed; and even if " Reform " were upon the
cards, they would plot that the question should
be taken out of his hands. Lord JOHN Res-
SELL shows signs of thoroughly understanding
the nature of the feelings entertained towards
him by his former supporters. If they dis-
like him, he despises them. Ile does not fear
their enmity, as he knows by experience that
their faction must have some leader ; and,
after Lord PALMERSTON, the Noble Member
for London is resolved that none other but
himself shall lead the Whigs. Quick in per-
ception, with an unceasing passion for keeping

LATEST EDITION.

himself beforo the public eye, Lord JOHN
RUSSELL will not fail to teach the Premier that,
after all, "indifference" is not the tone to he
taken with a statesman under whom Lord
PALMERSTON acted for twenty years.

Besides this rising schism in the Whigs,
which is hourly increased by the Indian
crisis, and by the certain shelving of Reform,
there is a more pressing public question as to
whether special departments have administra-
tive abilities equal to the urgency of the
occasion. The offices upon which the strain
will be heaviest are the War-office and the
Board of Control. It will not be asserted by
any one that Lord PANMURE signalised himself
by remarkable talents. When the Duke of
NEWCASTLE ceased to be responsible for the
conduct of the Crimean contest, a " Secretary
of State for War" was specially appointed ;
but, in point of fact, the war was managed by
a sub-committee of the Cabinet, meeting on
every Monday, as if the War•oflice had been
under a commission. In the organisation of
departments, in the choice of officials, in the
development of resources, Lord. PANMURE
showed no fertility of mind, nor boldness of
design. Nor did his administrative acts show
any atrong desire to anticipate or fulfil the
national wishes. He had long experience of
the War.office, and he knew its details, but no
improvements can be associated with his
rule. We may be certain that if Lord PAN-
MURE had done anything particularly credit-
able in the War-office, a step in the Peerage
would have been conferred upon him long
since, and the old earldom in his family
might possibly have been revived.
Many there a;:e, also, who wish to know
what special aptitude Mr. VERNON SMITH
possesses for filling the Presidency of the
Board of Control. Mr. SMITH has been in
Parliament for nearly thirty years, and the
Whigs have always treated him as a mere
subordinate. His relationship to a leading
Whig grandee has more to do with his official
elevation than any abilities that Mr. SMITH
ever displayed. Tame, decorous, and re-
spectable, Mr. VERNON SMITH IS the incar-
nation of routine. Lord JOHN RUSSELL set no
great value on his services ; and in his own
case we admit that Mr. SMITH showed some
sort of resolution. We have never heard of
any political acts, any luminous speeches, any
intellectual exploits, which would induce us
to think that Mr. VERNON SMITH was equal to
the task of smoothing the asperities and
healing the divisions in the East India Di.
rectory.

We must confess, also, to entertaining strong
doubts that Sir CHARLES WOOD is not equal
to the First Lordship of the Admiralty in a
time of pressure. As yet, he has shown in
this crisis no peculiar activity, no bold deci-
sion, no sagacious views. In quiet times, Sir
C. Woon is an efficient politician of the
secondary class, and he has far greater abili-
ties than Mr. VERNON SMITH; but no oue
could ever assert that Sir C. Woon was a first-
rate man. In thought he is sharp, not deep ;
in manner he is smart, not strong. A political
novice is easily vanquished by him, but he is
not equal to taking up the foils with an emi-
nent debater. It is tho weakness of Sir
CHARLES WOOD to think that he excels in
" putting people down ;" and there are a large
number of respectable personages in the
public offices who entertain towards him feel-

Lord PALMERSTON, we fear, underrates the
magnitude of this crisis. Diplomacy, or Par-
liamentary adroitness, will not conquer the
difficulties before him. The occasion requires
the immediate application of practical abilities
of the highest kind. The speeches of Lord
ELLENSOROIIOII have been left without reply.
and the suggestions of his great experience
have been thrown away upon the-chiefs of the
departments most responsible. Orders have
been sent to outlying stations to forward all
the available troops, but we have not seen
regiments speeded from this country with the
activity that we might expect. The question
of Indian Finance complicates the crisis, and
Sir CORNEWALL LEWIS Can find no hint in
Tacitus or Thucydides that would be avail-
able in present circumstances to a British
Chancellor of the Exchequer.
We have ourselves much confidence in the
Legislature and in the opinion of the en-
lightened classes. We trust that the House
of Commons will teach Ministers that trifling
with the national expectations cannot be
allowed to go on longer with impunity. There
has been time enough lost already. Govern-
ment must act with more energy ; and in order
to do so, the departments involved should be
placed in proper brands.

It is for the House of Commons to think of
these things. Changes must be made, and the
sooner they are effected the better will the in-
terests of the empire be looked after. Neither
at the Board of Control, nor at the War-office,
nor at the Admiralty, are there leading officials
with the qualities imperatively demanded by
this crisis. Administrative talents equal to
the occasion are not to be found in Lord
PALmEnsToN's "appendages," and India is not
the field upon which the Noble Viscount ap•
pears to most advantage.

THE COMING INDIAN DEBATE.
MONDAY evening is fixed, in pursuance of the
suggestion of Mr. DISRAELI, for the discussion
on the state of India, in the House of Com-
mons. There can be no doubt that the
audience will be in proportion to the impor-
tance of the subject at the present juncture.
and we trust that the result will be to place
more clearly before the people the true nature
of the struggle that we are engaged in. There
is no use in mincing the matter ; the most
painful truths are preferable to the most Bat-
tering unction on such occasions. The former
may lead us to follow even at this the eleventh
hour the path that alone can lead to safety,
while the effect of the latter would be surely
to allay the pain of the nation, as opiates faci-
litate the departure of the dying man., There
has been already too much of. cenetialment
regarding the state of India, and too great a '
neglect of the advice that has been proffered
as to the remedies to be The late
Sir CHARLES NAPIER strove in viiin to driiw.the 7
attention of the country to the-eviis•he fore- .
saw. And we ourselves, for months past, have
pointed out the inevitable consequences ox

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such neglect. It is not, thank GOD, even now
too late to benefit by these lessons, if the
public will only divest their minds of party
feelings and party trammels, and seek for
counsel in those quarters in which it must be
clear that sound advice alone is to be found.
It does so happen that on this question the
advantage is on the Conservative side, and
that, from Lord ELLENBOROUGEI in the House
of Lords, and from Mr. DISRAELI in the House
of Commons, we are likely to learn much more
as to the past, the present, and the future of
the crisis, than from any nobleman or gentle-
man on the Ministerial benches. In times

like these the country can only look for safety
to those who clearly show forth to it that the
key of the situation is in their hands.
The fallacy put forth at the outset by the
Government is now, we hope, abandoned by
all—the fallacy that this has been a mere
Sepoys' mutiny, and that iu it there was no
occasion whatever for alarm. If, to be sure,
by alarm bo meant unmanly fear, that is what
nobody could ever lay to the charge of the
Noble Earl who has stood most prominently
forth on this occasion. He who voluntarily
faced the terrific fire at Maharaj pore was not
likely to be in any state of personal panic at the
events which are now taking place some thou-
sands of miles away. But to suppose that any
statesman really acquainted with the position
of our Indian empire should feel otherwise
than alarmed at the present condition of it,
would be to suppose him careless of the in-
terests and of the honour of his country in the
last degree. For nothing can be plainer to
such a man than that our officials have been
to the very last in a state of total ignorance
regarding the true condition of the empire they
had to govern. And, indeed, if they are even
now alive to it, they have to thank the very
• advisor whom at the outset they sought to
silence. Even still, indeed, they show by the
replies to the questions put to them that their
eyes are but half opened to the stern realities
of the situation they have to face.
It cannot be too strongly impressed upon
the minds of the British public that this is
not simply a Sepoys' mutiny. The whole con-
duct of the outbreak shows that it is an affair
that neither was nor is confined to the Sepoys'
ranks. The case of the chawpatties or cakes
that were sent through the country is one that
neither did nor could have taken place with-
out the aid of the village communities in the
several districts through which the cakes were
passed. Then, again, the Sepoys are all men
belonging to the rural population, and it is not
likely they would have resorted en masse to so
desperate a step without communicating with
their relatives and friends. Besides, it is
known that for a long period the greatest dis-
affection among the people of India towards
our Government has prevailed, and late Indian
papers inform us that this spirit had, by
several of the collectors, been distinctly
pointed out. Indeed, it would be impossible
that disaffection should not prevail, consider-
ing what lately has been the spirit of our rule—
annexation, confiscation, abolition of pensions,
and a curtailment of allowances on every side,
accompanied by a contemptuous disregard of
the religion and feelings of the people, whether
Mahomedans or Hindoos, such as had pre-
viously to the advent of Lord CANNING'S pre-
decessor been quite unknown.
Knowing this to be the true state of affairs,
we await with less anxiety than the Govern-
ment appears to do the coming Indian mail.
While we think so speedy a fall of Delhi im-
probable, we are perfectly assured that even if
successful there we shall be almost as far as
ever from the conclusion of the affair. No
doubt the fall of Delhi would be a great gain,
as the spectacle of its continued defiance of us
would inflict on us a very great moral loss.
But onr rulers must not deceive themselves
with the idea that when they shall have taken
Delhi their difficulties will end. The late Sir
CHARLES NAPIER used to say that he should
not fear meeting a hundred thousand natives
in pitched battle, but that a guerilla war in
India was a thing which neither he nor, he
believed, any other general could cope with
And with no less than five and twenty
different stations on the Bengal side up in
Arms the proportions of a guerilla war may

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