The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-19 00:00:00

I 0 WON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1857.

THE frequent Cabinet Councils which have been
held during the past week are not without pe-
culiar significance. Ministers are conscious of
their weakness, and dread the approach-
ing session. Great differences of opinion are
known to exist among them ; and over and
above the dangers of disunion, their marked
inferiority in debate must cause them the
deepest anxiety.
Notwithstanding these circumstances, it is
probable, we believe, that the composition of
the Cabinet will not be materially altered.
No man of talent will link himaelf to a broken
Cabinet for the sake of a bad cause ; and what-
ever is to be demanded of the Parliament of
1858, we now see before us the men who are
to do it.

The Premier doubtless feels grateful that
he is not as other Premiers, or even as Lord
JOHN RUSSELL. He gives tithes of every
principle he possesses, and has naturally
gained the support of conflicting sections of
politicians ; he has a broad phylactery of
Liberalism, and loves applause in public ;
and we fear that, if we examine his preten-
sions a little more closely, we shall find we
might protract the parallel.
As the Premier, however, is the Cabinet, and
as we decline to take the word of either him-
self or his high priests at such a moment as
the present, we must beg our readers to regard
his past career with some degree of attention,
and ask themselves in what respect it is calcu-
lated to inspire confidence.
It is now nearly three years since Lord
PALMERSTON attained the highest object of
political ambition. At the period of his ac-
cession to power the 'Abbe mind was still in
a state of bewildered indignation. Whole
armies had perished, great battles had been
won, and England was not victorious. The
incapacity of public men was universally
derided, and the nation was prepared to
believe any statesman who should boldly
assume the helm. With practised skill Lord
PALMERSTON seized the opportunity. Ile
remembered, if the country did not, that our
real difficulties were over—that the blunders
of that fatal winter had not been wasted—that
troops, commissariat, and transports were now
equal to their work—and that whatever reverses
might await us, the time was past when they
could be laid to the door of the Ministry. By
taking office under these circumstances Lord
PALMERSTON had all to gain and nothing to
lose. The event justified his choice. His
followers invented a convenient phrase, and
Lord PALMERSTON, we were told, had " con-

i1e1q.41.6 l/MlloV 111/ll{.l •••••,...J., ~
PALMER3TON had all to gain and nothing to of Reform. Yet we woum neg rue r.ugiarin 111111 IIoZGIL ti. 4. 1%.,..4".•,0,,,. ••• -.-- - -
lose. The event justified his choice. His people to reflect whether this is the Minister those who have been hitherto the objects of
followers invented a convenient phrase, and in whose hands they will be content to con- denunciation by it in every shape. It is not
Lord PALMERSTON, we were told, had "con- fide the management of that vast subject. very pleasant to have its statue taken •: •• its
" ducted the war to a triumphant conclusion." The Parliamentary battle of the coming year pedestal among the Bacons and, , : .1 .. • -
But Lord PALMERSTON is celebrated for his will be fought upon this ground, and the fate and the Somerses, and shove " 1te:1r,..,.. 444 14
mastery of foreign affairs—that is to say, the of our Indian empire for perhaps another Franeises and the Ferdinan
- - Cr,
management of foreign Courts ; and if he did half-century be determined by the issue. among them removed down ..: ig4r
not destroy Sebastopol we should at least How have the Ministry established their place. Still, as necessity has
ii% . `..'lj -.
. , .141.
34 4:LA
expect that he made the most of its destruc- claims to confidence? By denying the mag- degradation can be shown to harm
...,- :;1i;s4; ~:. .! 7;
tion. So much, however, can hardly be predi- nand') of the crisis till irreparable disasters no fault of our own, we may be!'.•74 ‘,.
eated of a peace which left Russia virtually had occurred ? By neglecting the transit of bear it patiently as a trial that i• ... . . il . • ' cs<: 1.,p4
• ,
. ..
- . •

1218

gone like other trials, and the only moral to be
drawn front it is to think in future more
charitably of those who are habitually ex-
posed to similar ones, and more humbly of
ourselves. But different will be the case if we
have none but ourselves to thank for the
result. The question, then, that Parliament
when it reassembles will have to consider and
deride on is not whether the circumstances in
which the rebellion in India has placed us have
justified these extreme and lamentable
courses, but whether it was or was not the
fault of the Government that we were placed
in such circumstances at all. That it was the
fault of the Government we hold to be indis-
putable, and we would beg to recall to the
minds of our readers a few of the facts upon
which this conviction rests. We all know
that the Bengal army, several regiments of the
Bombay army, and most of the contingents of
native States were largely composed of men
from Oude ; and we also know that the mass
of the Bengal army, these regiments of
the Bombay army, and the contingents of
native States in which such men have been
enlisted, have all rebelled. The only instance
of a native regiment on the Bombay side
revolting where the men were Mahrattas was
in the case where they came from a lately-
annexed Mahratta State. We also know that
the chief seat of the rebellion is Oude.
We further are aware that Sattara, Jhansi,
and Nagpore, where the rebellion has similarly
put forth most prominent symptoms, are other
lately-annexed native States. And in each
minor case, as about Poonah and the Southern
Mahratta country, where such feelings have
been displayed, the centres of the intrigues
have been the families and retainers of the
princes and jaghiredars whom we have
dispossessed. In Madras, where there have
been no such influences, no rebellion has
occurred. It is very true that the native
princes whom we have left undisturbed have
shown some a zealous and some a doubtful
adherence to us; but this only proves the
more clearly our position that the native
princes and chiefs are not by nature hostile to
us, and are very ready to fulfil their treaty obli-
gations towards us when we on our parts have
not broken faith with them. It is those only
whom we have deposed, or who have learnt
through their agents, who have a golden key
to all the Council records, that we have deter-
mined to depose them, that have taken
advantage of the sepoys' feeling towards us to
rebel against our rule. Among the intended
victims of our policy, it is well known that the
principal was the heir apparent of the King of
DELHI, and among the actual sufferers the
King of GUDE. That the Government itself is
as fully aware as we are of the fact of the
discontent we have thus occasioned, there
cannot be a better proof than the allegation of
Lord GRANVILLE on the subject of the Anglo•
Indian press. The chief crime he could
bring against it was that it had mentioned
that it was in contemplation to annexßaroda.

and the Rajpoot States, and that nothing was
more likely to drive all the native princes of
India into rebellion than the bare suggestion
of the Government's contemplating such an
act. If the idea that annexation was merely
contemplated was likely to be productive
of such consequences as these, what must
have been the effect of actual annexation in
the case of so many native States? We are at
a loss to understand how the Ministerial
organ in the Lords could get up and aver that
no disaffection had been created by annexation,
while telling us on another question that the
consequences of even a casual mention of
impending annexation in a newspaper was so
dangerous to us, as to form a perfect justifica-
tion for gagging the Anglo-Indian press.
But, whatever opinions Ministers and their
organs, either in the House of Lords or else-
where, may have thought fit to give utterance
to on the subject, the letter of " Civilian," in
the Times of Tuesday last, is quite sufficient
to set the ttnint at rest. It is dated Allahabad,
the Ist of November ; and no matter what the
value of its views in other respects, they are
clearly trut-:woi thy in this. In this letter the
writer distinctly says, what we have all along
asserted, that the rebellion in Oudo has
originalied, not so much in the personal de-
privation of the King, us in the total destrue.