The Press.
London, England, 1857-10-17 00:00:00

MR. PEASE, M.P., ON INDIA.

AT a meeting at Darlington on Monday, called to
organise subscriptions for the Indian Relief Fund,
Mr. H. PEASE, M.P., moved the first resolution. He
said he would only express his opinion that the time
could not be far distant when the British public
would no longer submit to have so fair and vast a
region governed as India had been, in such a
manner as to implicate our character, whether as
statesmen, as merchants, as philanthropists, or as
Christians.

The Rev. J. G. PEARSON seconded the resolution.

Mr. JOSEPH PEASE (late M.P.), in moving a vote
of thanks to the chairman, spoke at some length on
Indian affairs. As an Englishman, he took shame
to himself for the way in which we had abused our
power over 150,000,000 of human beings :

It had been his lot to sit for many years in the House of
Commons, and must say he felt shame as an English-
man that while the smallest and most trivial personal
dispute would bring houses of from 300 to 500 members,
and while senators would sit patiently to hear the cavil-
linga and personal piques snd prejudices of individuals,
Lord Glenelg and others wh .m he had himself assisted
found it the most difficult thing in the world to keep forty
members together on a subject affecting the interests of
millions. But the time was coming when England would
say to her representatives and her Government., that if she
was to have the shame and disgrace of misrule she would
et any rate inquire into the cause. The agricultare of
India ought long ago to have made us independent of that
cotton supply with which the United States vauntingly
flouted us in the face when we spoke against her abomi-
nable traffic in human flesh and blood, and of the sugar
supply from all the slave labour in the world. But Indian
agriculture had been shamefully overlooked. In religions
matters it had been worse, and the state of things was
such as no Government could long maintain provided a
Christian people know how to do its duty. He had no
desire to coerce, but if the native Indian wanted to burn
widows or murder children in the name of religion he
would certainly prevent him. And then as to our general
policy. A hlue•book informed him that 1,000 millions
sterling had been drawn from India without any return on
earth that he could ascertain.

A subscription was commenced in the room. The
venerable Edward Pease (father of railways) sent a
donation of 15/. in a letter, in which he requested
its application to the relief of the widows and
orphans of civilians. He sympathises with those
belonging to the military rank, but in choosing their
profession they knew what was before them, and he
could not in any way countenance an employment
forbidden by the Saviour.
After the reading of this. letter the meeting
broke up.

THE BARNARD CASTLE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY,
which claims to be the oldest of its kind in the
country, held its annual meeting on Tuesday. At
the dihner, held at the King's Head Inn, Lord Harry
Vane, M.P., presided, taking the place of the Duke
of Cleveland, K.G., who was prevented attending
through indisposition. In proposing " The Army
and Navy," the noble lord said, although this toast
followed the compliment paid to Royalty as a matter
of course, he felt that at the present moment it was
one which would be received with deep interest :
If ever there was a time when Englishmen should hold
their army in high honour and show their appreciation of
its merits, that time was the present, when, in small
numbers, surrounded by myriads of enemies, they had
exhibited the most heroic valour and a constancy unassail-
able, braving every danger and maintaining the British
flag unsullied. At a moment of such great and paramount
interest Englishmen must be prepared to award to their
army and navy more than the accustomed honours. We
had at all times been accustomed to see those services
perform their duty in a manner to command the admira-
tion of England and of the world, and more than ever was
it now admitted by all nations that an army could not have
acquitted itself more honourably than did our brave fel-
lows who had bad to make a stand against such fearful
odds on recent occasions. We were led to anticipate that
when a larger number of troops had been assembled our
prestige would be vindicated, and that the army would be
able to sustain everywhere the renown it had so honour-
ably acquired. He called upon the company to drink "to
the Army and Navy," with three times three.
THE EDUCATION OF THE C: 0 •.• . OF MINERS was
considered on Monday at a me- ,'1: eld in Leeds,
in connection with the West t ' . ire Northern
Association, for awarding prizes •0'- , • children of
pers3ns employed in coal and irons ..• i ines, when
a number of prizes varying from 11. to likt, together
pith certificates, were distributed. The 4object of
allittire
the association is similar to that of those • ed
by Mr. Tremenheere in Staffordshire, De t
Warwickshire, and Worcestershire, and which aye
been attended with so much success in improving the
educational status of the rising popttlation of those
districts.

1012

THE WEEK.

Tax intelligence from India by this mail, which appeared unusually
Satisfactory upon the surface, is not, we fear, of a nature entirely to
assure us of our security, or to relieve us of our apprehensions. The
spirit of insurrection is far from being suppressed. The Bombay
army, there is no denying it, is rotten to the core; and at the last
moment of the mail leaving such serious symptoms had exhibited
themselves at Vellore among the Madras cavalry that a powerful
British force, with artillery, was ordered to proceed at once to the spot.
This is not reassuring. The mutiny first spread through Bengal much
in the same manner: partial disaffection was succeeded by the decided
mutiny of solitary regiments, and the rest is now matter of history.
Similar first symptoms have appeared in Bombay and Madras ; and
unless the speedy arrival of British troops from the Cape and England
place at the disposal of the Government a British force sufficiently
powerful to overawe the population and disarm the suspected
troops, some very serious consequences may be looked for.
With regard to Delhi and Lucknow, and Bengal generally, it is
clear that our tenure of the ground we hold within the ring of
British bayonets, wherever they be, depends more upon the capacity of
endurance possessed by our troops than upon the skill and audacity
of our generals. Lucknow has been miraculously preserved hitherto,
and its relief would seem at length to be at hand ; but then again
the force with which OUTRAM is advancing to the assistance of HAVE-
LOCK will not, after all, so materially increase the physical power of
HavaLocx—it will not raise his brigade to more than 2,000 men; and
it was with a force numerically not much less that he first advanced
from Allhabad. The question, then, that remains to be decided is
whether with that small force he will be enabled to clear the way to
Lucknow? We have, justly, every reliance upon the fortitude and valour
of his troops ; but, as we said at that time, skill and courage, fortitude
and daring, cannot always compensate for inequality of force. The
rebels are numerous, well provided with artillery, and strongly for-
tified ; and however despicable in the open field, they are not to be
regarded lightly when behind intrenchments. If a more powerful force
were at HAVELOCK'S command, we should feel no apprehension for the
result of this third attempt to relieve Lucknow ; but we
warn our readers against exacting impossibilities from men who
have proved themselves superior to every peril and equal to every effort
The capture of Delhi, which must come sooner or later, and which is
perhaps nearer at hand than details would justify us in anticipating,
we shall not regard with any particular satisfaction, and for this
reason, that while we see the utter inadequacy of our army to invest
tine city, and the free egress and ingress the rebels still command, •we
doubt if they will remain to be destroyed in detail. A part, if not the
whole, of the lesson of Sebastopol it is quite possible will be repeated
at Delhi ; the rebels, if they do not set fire to the town, will desert it
en masse in a single night. Whether we shall gain on the whole by such a
diffusion over the country of the rebel element remains to be proved.
The Punjaub continues in a state of feverish tranquillity. The con-
firmed death of GHOLAB SINGH must be regarded as a gain. We do
not look forward to the collection of the autumn revenue with much
confidence. On the whole, therefore, the satisfaction to be derived
from the intelligence brought by this mail is purely negative. The
position of the contending forces is in the main unaltered; every day
that it continues so is a gain to us ; but six long weeks must at least
elapse before the English reinforcements arrive. We now begin to
appreciate the value of the time so recklessly wasted by the Govern•
meat in the earlier stages of this perilous insurrection.

The speech of Mr. GLADSTONE at Chester is extremely remarkable
for the character of its important admissions and its eloquent confes-
sions. If other public men had spoken in a similar tone, faction
and personal malice might have joined their defamatory forces for the
purpose of vilifying such speakers of plain truth. Let us see what
fell from the Member for the University. " Unfortunately," said Mr.
GLADSTONE, "if ever there was a people who had cause for great
" national humiliation, in regard to a great national crisis, I do not
" hesitate to say that it is the people of England at the present
" moment." He then proceeded to say—" The effect of our curious
" contrivance for governing India was that it made India to us a foreign
" country." He went still further, and said boldly and broadly—
" England knows nothiny of India." That is strong, very strong and
plain language, and more still remains. We request of
our readers to observe what follows Whatever the cause
" of the outbreak, you may search the records of history far
" and wide before you come across an instance of so vexatious
"and extraordinary a failure on the part of a governing power in the
" administration of its political trust." Mr. GLADSTONE, at least, seems
anxious to free himself from underrating the crisis. We see nothing
but what is creditable in the frankness of his words. The Right
Honourable Gentleman's eloquent statement of our past errors we
commend to notice, and there certainly was nothing mealy-mouthed in
his language. We were glad to see that Mr. GLADSTONE thought it
proper to protest against the ferocious spirit manifested in some
quarter s. " The cry that went out from this country was, I hope, but
" the passion of the moment;" and the eloquent speaker then alluded
to the unfavourable effect of that savage cry, as regards the character
of England on the Continent. Mr. DISRAELI has already spoken with
energy on the same theme, and there are symptoms that other public
men of station and influence will endeavour to direct the public feel-
ings from adopting NANA SAHIB as a model for English justice,
and for English policy. A few days since there was a " cry "
against Mr. DISRAELI for having uttered words calculated
to recall the public mind to a sense of duty, and to stop the
hysterical expression of abject alarm and frenzied thirst for

vengeance. The " cry " soon lulled, and now another " cry "is heard.
" Organs," in the meanwhile, have become attuned to a new key ! Such
is the popularis aura! Well might Mr. GLADSTONE say, "We find, after
" all, that we are not wiser or stronger than other people." We
rejoice to find two public men of such distinction and political im-
portance as the Right Honourable Members for Bucks and the Uni-
versity standing up manfully against a temporary outburst of wild
fury. " Those passions which may be excusable there, become odious
" and unnatural when excited here " Tt was neither the Earl of
ELLENBOROUGH, nor Mr. DISRAELI, nor Sir BULWER LYTTON, nor Sir
JOHN PAKINGTON, that spoke that. It was Mr. GLADSTONE; and we
advise those who attacked Mr. DISRAELI a short time since, and who
now praise Mr. GLADSTONE, to be more cautious at another time how
they interpret the real leanings of the public mind. The plain
fact is that our Parliamentary records prove too strong
a case as to our own neglects of India for us to deal
in wholesale acts of iudiseriminate vengeance. Let it be remembered
that WARREN HASTINGS has never been accepted as a model for English
justice and statesmanship. Let us recollect that, even to the last, the
Crown and its various advisers of different Cabinets refused WARREN
HASTINGS the peerage which he ardently coveted and constantly
solicited in vain. Let us not forget that all Lord MACAULAY'S brilliant
rhetoric and fascinating power of narrative have not blinded thou-
sands of readers to the fact that the dazzling essayist has glossed over
some of the foul crimes of HASTINGS,and that his elaborate article, with
all its literary beauties, fails lamentably in judicial severity, and in
what Mr. GRATTAN so eloquently termed " oppression's natural scourge,
" the moral indignation of history." Neither the Duke of WELLINGTON
nor his brother the Marquis WELLESLEY followed the precedents of
HASTINGS, and we trust that the English people will never enthrone him
in a political Walhalla.

The Times this week, in discussing the question of the amount of
native sympathy and resource we have met with in India, remarks,
"in justice to Lord DALHOUSIE'S policy," that if the origin of the
insurrection is to be found in the annexation of Oude, that act,
" though it might have precipitated the revolt," had " certainly tended
" to deprive it of its vitality ;" and hence argues that if a King of
Oude had reigned at Lucknow at the time of this revolt, his army and
treasure would have furnished the rebels with " a far more formidablo
head" than they have been now able to acquire. That the King of
OUDE " would have " helped conspirators against our rule is an assertion
entirely contradicted by all previous testimony as regards the good
faith of that Sovereign. Lord DALHOUSIE himself bore testimony to
that fidelity in the following terms :

The rulers of Oude (observes Dalhousie, in his Minute) have yet ever been
faithful and true in their adherence to the British power. No wavering friendship has
ever been laid to their charge. They have long acknowledged our power, have submitted
without a murmur to our supremacy, and have aided us, as best they could, in our hour
of need.

This is Lord DALHOUSIE'S opinion; and we should remember tho
hours of our need. The meaning of the term " have aided us as
" best they could " is, that the King had lent us a million of money,
which we owed, and found inconvenient to pay, at the time of the
annexation ; and which, under any circumstances of conspiracy or
rebellion, would have at least proved a material element in keeping
the King securely to our cause. To endeavour, therefore, to excuse
the annexation of Oude by an assumption of the King's possible trea-
chery towards us, if he had been on the Throne, is simply sily, illo-
gical, and unsupported by fact.

The inauguration at Birmingham this week of the "National
Association for the Advancement of Social Science " has attracted con-
siderable attention. We are glad to observe that the society does not
propose to meddle directly with the subject of political institutions.
We cannot help fearing, however, that even as it is the facilities for
conducting such a society have been a little overrated, and the
analogy between its proposed objects and those of the elder Associa-
tion been too hastily adopted. Lord BROUGHAM, who in his inaugural
address drew the distinction between them with great clearness,
stopped short, as it seems to us, just at that paint when a further com-
parison becomes perilous. It is perfectly true that science has been
greatly promoted by the system of learned societies, not-
withstanding the differences of opinion which may ha•re
arisen between their members. But the real truth of the
matter is that no man is personally affected by the difference
between " the Newtonian and the undulatory theory of light.'
No man's income suffers ally diminution because of the war between
electricity and magnetism. When Lord BROUGHAM, therefore, recom-
mends that people should treat differences of opinion which affect
their every-day life with great calmness, he is surely indulging in very
sarguine anticipations of human progress. No symptom of an
approximation to this state of serenity can be discovered at present, and
this is the real reason why men's political progress so constantly lags
behind their intellectual and scientific advancement, and why it will
almost always be impossible, while men remain what they are, for
"kings to be philosophers or philosophers to be kings."

The middle of October sees everybody returning to work—some
refreshed, some reluctant, some eager to re-enter the arena, some dis-
pirited at the thoughts of it. Among the former class must certainly
be ranked the Metropolitan Board of Works, though whether the First
Commissioner participates in their zeal may reasonably be doubted.
The satisfaction of the public with the present arrangement is not
likely either to continue very long if things go on for the future as
they have done all along, and are still doing. The principal occupa-
tion of the Board appears to be the construction of plans fur the
drainage of the metropolis for Sir BENJAMIN HALL to pull to pieees.
Those gentlemen show amazing alacrity in this somewhat unprofitable

labour—not unmixed, however, with some little natural acrimony
at the fastidious appetite of the official tyrant whom they are
compelled to supply with food. At the meeting of the Board,
held on Wednesday last, the rejection of another " dainty
dish " by the great Sir BENJAMIN formed the subject
of discussion. We cannot congratulate the public on the results
arrived at. Neither the original motion, nor the amendment
subsequently carried, can he said to expedite matters much. 'The
latter contents itself with simply tabulating the differences between the
Board and Sir B. HALL, and regretting that they cannot agree with
him. Why, the whole public has been regretting the same thing for
the last twelve months, and nothing has come of their regret. Sir
BENJAMIN may or not merit the epithet betowed on him by the indig-
nant Mr. TAYLOR, who said he was a " second NANA SAHIB ;" but if he
does not slay by the sword, he seems indifferent to the fact that he will
probably do so by the pestilence if something is not soon agreed upon
between himself and his subordinates.

The zealous and admirable friends of national education seem still
t o be confronted by their old difficulty—one, too, to which it is very doubt-
ful whether Lord LYNDHURST'S definition will apply. We cannot, indeed,
help thinking that in the meeting at Basingstoke last week the
Earl of CANARVON had the advantage of his senior, the Dean of SALISBURY.
When the advantages of education, said the former, and the marketable
value of labour come into collision, the weaker will go to the wall.
When we come to reflect on the amount of education which every
labouring boy could receive, and the comparatively small service it
would be to him in making any appreciable rise in life, we cannot
wonder at the feeling of the parents, in whom, too, all sentiments of
ambition may well be supposed to have been deadened by the daily
struggle for existence. As far as the farmers are concerned, we
cannot presume to contradict those who have devoted so much time
to the consideration of this question, yet we do not very well under-
stand how there can be much of " skilled labour " in a boy of twelve or
fifteen years of age—sufficient, at least, to make his three (lays' work
as good as the six days' of another boy who was not skilled. We
cannot see how the use of the globes, or the rule of three, would aid a
lad in driving a team, milking a cow, or hoeing a turnip-field. But
upon this supposed superiority is based the chance of persuading the
farmers to consent to the half-time system. The ath °cotes of this
view maintain that it is supported by facts• To such an assertion,
and front such a quarter, we can only make a silent bow. We heartily
hope that it may be so. For at present the crime, credulity, and vice
which is rampant among our lower orders is a disgrace to a philan-
thropic nation. Crimes of violence are certainly not on the decrease,
even if we leave out such cases as are known to have been the work of
previously convicted persons. Life is held shockingly cheap even
among classes considerably above the lowest. Recently murders have
been perpetrated which betoken not only ignorance but degeneracy of
race. The knife has been freely used : a symptom of national corrup-
tion which we hold to be real cause for anxiety. All these are reasons
why the cause of education should receive all the support which the
wealthy and enlightened can afford to it, and why, too, every man
should lay aside crotchets—look realities in the face—and strive as
much as possible to progress from words to deeds.