The Press.
London, England, 1854-09-09 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Government was felt; reckless virulence was
restrained ; more moderate counsels prevailed
amongst the Indian public ; and what was
dangerous in the days of Lord Wellesley was
harmless when Lord William Bentinck ruled
India. In the following remarks of Lord
Metcalfe there is weighty sense :

Viewing the question more generally, it is, whether an
arbitrary interference with the press shall be substituted
for the freedom which has for many years been allowed.
I have, for my own part, always advocated the liberty of
the press, believing its benefits to outweigh its mischiefs;
and I continue of the same opinion.
Admitting that the liberty of the press, like other
liberties of the subject, may be suspended, when the
safety of the State requires such a sacrifice, I cannot, as a
consequence, acknowledge that the present instance ought
to be made an exception to the usual practice of the
Government ; for, if there were danger to the State either
way. there would De more, I should think, in suppressing
the publication of opinions than in keeping the valve open
by which bad humours might evaporate. To prevent men
from thinking and feeling is impossible ; and I believe it
to be wiser to let them give vent to their temporary anger
in anonymous letters in the newspapers, the writers of
which letters remain unknown, than to make that anger
permanent by forcing them to smother it within their own
breasts, ever ready to burst out.
It ought not be forgotten (as it frequently
is) that the question of liberty of the press
turns on the point whether the censorship
shall be placed in a nominee of the Govern-
ment or in twelve men in a jury-box. Careless
writers on our Constitution forget that noto-
rious libellers can be effectually punished with
the aid of trial by jury, though the operation
has its delays. To be sure there are writers
of the Mr. Snake species in The School for
Scandal who live by the badness of their
reputation, who can be only " scotched," not
crushed. But exposure renders them in-
nocuous.
We confess that, in our view of the case, the
freedom of the Indian press was a mere ques-
tion of time which must have forced itself
upon the authorities. Recollecting the very
decided views of Lord William Bentinck upon
the subject, we think that Lord Metcalfe's
acts in relation to it have been, to some extent,
overpraised.
In summing up the character of Lord Met-
calfe as an Indian ruler Mr. Kaye says :
It would be a mistake to endeavour to enhance the
merit of Charles Metcalfe's success by saying that circum-
stances were hostile to him, and that he rose to eminence
in spite of obstacles which would have kept down other
men. The truth is, that circumstances were in his favour.
I have had nothing to record of those early hardships
Which, a few years before Metcalfe's entrance into public
life' tried, as in a furnace, the endurance of men struggling
for fame and fortune. It is interesting to read or to hear
of a Munro lacking the means to provide himself with a
pillow or a blanket —of a Malcolm starving in secret,
because he would not borrow money to buy himself a
dinner—of a Tucker disputing with the rats for the
possession of a miserable cellar. Metcalfe had no such
trials at the outset of his career. Everything went
prosperously with him from the first. When he was a boy
he wrote in his commonplace-hook, among other passages,
the suggestiveness of which will be better appreciated by
those who turn back to them after they have followed
Metcalfe's career to the end and made close acquaintance
with his character—" He is the most clever who is best
able to profit by good fortune when it comes to him." It
was his good fortune to he the son of an East India
director, to be patronised in early life by Lord Wellesley ;
and always to have an influential friend at Court. By this
good fortune he was well " able to profit." One Governor-
General alter another recognised his abilities, and ever in
the most critical conjunctures sought his assistance and
advice. All, with one exception, continued to regard him,
long after their official connection had been severed, with
the strongest feelings of admiration and affection. To the
success of every Administration under which he served he
largely contributed. It is not always that the impression
of men's minds is stamped most indelibly on the circum-
stances of the times when they occupy the highest stations.
It often happens, on the other hand, that their most
enduring actions are those to which another's name is
given in the history of the world. There are many names
which more frequently occnr to the annalist of our Indian
empire during the first thirty-eight years of the present
century ; hut there is no one man who had really a
larger share in shaping the events which are the staple of
history, or who did more in his generation to make our
Anglo-Indian empire what it is, than Charles Thevhilus
Metcalfe.
Lord Metcalfe returned to England, and
resided for some time at his paternal seat of
Fern-hill, near Windsor. He was ambitious
of a seat in Parliament, but it is stated that
his friends found him "impracticable," and
he recoiled from the courses which appear to
have been necessary, even with his Radical
politica, to secure his election. At an impor
taut crisis he wits selected by the Melbourne
Ministry for the governorship of Jamaica, as a
successor to Sir Lionel Smith. The post was

SATURDAY,

arduous, and the new governor had many dif-
ficulties to overcome. The ability that he dis-
played in his West Indian office is visible in
the fact that at a trying period he was selected
by Lord Stanley (the present Earl of Derby)
for the still more arduous office of Governor-
General of Canada. We regret that our space
does not enable us to dwell upon the moral
heroism and the physical fortitude shown by
Lord Metcalfe in his Canadian office, while he
was slowly dying under the excruciating dis-
order of cancer in the cheek. His sufferings
are dreadful to contemplate, even when related
at this distance of time. But the courage
which he displayed was witnessed by one who
could appreciate greatness of Spirit. Mr. Kaye
thus records the feelings of Lord Derby (then
Colonial Secretary) to Lord Metcalfe :

At a later period there seem to have been obstacles to
his elevation to the peerage, well understood by men
acquainted with the Ministerial secrets of the day. Some
of Metcalfe's friends wrote to him that there were so many
men in England hungering after nobility that Peel had
declared he would not complete the work of the Whigs by
swamping the House of Imrds. But the case of Sir
Charles Metcalfe had now become a special and exceptional
one. There were both public and personal reasons why
at such a time it should be clearly and unmistakably
manifested that his services were appreciated by the
Ministers, and that he was supported and upheld by the
Crown. In the great struggle which was pending between
the Governor-General of Canada and the popular branch of
the Legislature, it was expedient that all possible weight
should be given to the authority of the former—that in
such a juncture the trumpet of the Imperial Government
should give no uncertain sound. But 1 believe that when
Lord Stanley suggested to the First Minister that the
time had now arrived for conferring upon Sir Charles Met-
calfe a special mark of her Majesty's favour, he was moved
as much by his generous admiration of the heroic con-
stancy of the man who, under the pressure of the severest
bodily suffering, was steadfastly pursuing the path of duty,
and with surprising energy and resolution fighting the
battles of the Crown—as much, I say, by his generous
admiration of the patience and fortitude of the man as
by his sense of the prestige and authority to be con-
ferred upon the Governor-General. He was eager to
alleviate—as far as human agency could alleviate or
compensate—the sufferings of so brave and true-hearted
a AIM

At the instance of Lord Stanley, Sir R. Peel
submitted to her Majesty the name of Sir C.
Metcalfe for the honour of a peerage, and her
Majesty thus replied:—
Windsor Castle, November 30, 1844.
The Queen hastens to answer Sir Robert reel's letter of
this morning relative to Sir Charles Metcalfe. The Queen
most highly approves Sir Robert Peel's suggestion that
Si! Charles Metcalfe should be raised to the peerage ; for
he has shown such a desire to do his duty in the midst of
so many difficulties, and such extreme disinterestedness,
that he richly deserves this mark of the Queen's entire
approbation and favour.
The terrible disease of which he died conti-
nued to make progress, but he did not flinch
from the difficulties of his post, although Lord
Stanley wrote to him as follows:—
My dear Lord,—Your confidential despatches, Nos 52
and 54, the latter of which reached me on the 14th inst.,
touch upon subjects of the greatest interest, as bearing
upon the future prospects of Canada. I sincerely deplore
the report which you send me in No. 52 of your own state
of health, and highly appreciate the honourable feeling
which in such circumstances leads you to express a reluc-
tance to be relieved whilst affairs are still unsettled. Ido
not attempt to conceal from you the importance, in a pub-
lic point of view, which I attach to your continuance in
Canada at the present moment, or the extent to which I
think the difficulties of the province would be aggravated
by any change in the Executive there ; but, whilst I say this
most sincerely, I must say with equal sincerity that I
should consider myself most culpable were I to accept of
the continuance of your services at increased risk to your
health ; and I must, therefore, leave the question altogether
in your hands, only giving you an instruction opposite to
that which I should think necessary for many men, not to
permit public considerations unduly to overweigh the corn•
siderations which you owe to yourself. I venture to hope,
however, that as your general health is not impaired, and
the climate is not unhealthy, moderate employment would
be even more beneficial, as well as more agreeable, than a
life of constrained inactivity in this country.
Mr. Kaye thus records the last sad scene of
his dying hours :
But still he bore up manfully affainst the weight of his
sufferings. He would mint betske himself to the sick-
room, or adopt the habits of a confirmed invalid. He was
very regular in his hours. At nine o'clock every mot ning
he was ready for family prayers. After breakfast the news•
paper, or some more substantial work, was read aloud to
him ; he dictated letters to his friends, and transacted
any necessary business. At four o'clock he was always
present at the dinner-table; and afterwards, as the days
lengthened, he was generally dri'en out for an hour or
two in a close carriage. In the evening it was his choicest
pleasure to listen to music. The performances on the
harp of his sister, Mrs. Smythe, who dwelt with him, and
whose continued ministrations did much to soothe the
anguish of his last days, were a solace to him ever grate-
fully acknowledged.