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

upon the operations that gallant officer intended to undertake,
but wo will venture to say that no man who is acquainted
with that part of Bengal, and with the locality of the river
Gogra, anticipates any immediate or successful result from the pro-
posed expedition. With respect to Calcutta, we shall be gratified to
learn that it has passed unscathed through the Mohurrum. The intel-
ligence from Madras cannot be but unsatisfactory. One cavalry regi-
ment having refused to proceed to Bengal, the Government is placed
in this dilemma :—either they must avoid ordering any more of the
Madras regiments out of their Presidency, and thus virtually submit
to the dictation of their troops ; or they must run the risk of
encountering, first the refusal of the troops to obey orders, and then
—their revolt. In the one case our prestige will be shaken, in the
other our position imperilled at Madras. With regard to Bombay, we
trust that the mutiny has not extended. As to Delhi, its fall is scarcely
to be expected ; while to the Punjaub we confess we look with some
little apprehension. In the official report brought by the last mail
it was stated that the whole of the revenue was " collected." As the
period when the revenue is to be paid is the one which will test the
loyalty of the Punjaubees, it is right that this statement of Mr.
EDMONSTONE'S should be correctly understood. The only revenue paid
at the time of Mr. EMONSTONE'S despatch was that due upon account of
the spring crop, which does not yield one twentieth part of the revenue
of the district. It is from the autumn crop that the principal revenue
is collected ; and as we observed that the spring revenue was
generally paid under compulsion at the point of the bayonet, and
in several instances only after a severe struggle with the villagers,
we may reasonably conclude that the real difficulty will commence
with the collection of the heavy autumn revenue, the first instalments
of which are due at this present moment. Upon the whole, therefore.
we do not anticipate much that is satisfactory or consoling by the
expected mail. We hope, however, for the best.

The course followed by Cardinal WISEMAN and Archbishop Cum.xx
with respect to the " Indian Relief Fund" fully justifies our recent
observations on the new Papal policy of the Court of Rome. We
believe that there never was a time when, with a few insignificant
exceptions, the laity of the Roman Catholic body more sincerely
desired to live in harmony with their Protestant fellow-subjects. But
their clergy will not permit them to do so, and the old style of constant
" agitation " is still kept up. Archbishop CULLEN writes, let it be
observed, from " Rome," and there can no longer be any doubt about
the new policy being entered upon. That policy may be summarily
described as one of active propagandism. Every opportunity is to be
taken of advancing Roman Catholic interests ; a complete junction is
to be of bebreen the English Roman Catholic nobility and the
Irish Roman Catholic democracy. We see the symptoms of it even in
the current week. Thus on Monday the Dublin correspondent of the
Times produces the Pastoral of Archbishop CULLEN, and makes upon it
the following judicious comment :—" Why does not Dr. CULLEN
" honestly and aboveboard caution the flock committed to his care
" against subscribing to the Indian Fund? Such a course would be
" more intelligible than dealing in inuendoes, and creating doubts as
"to the objects to which the money may be ultimately applied." On
Wednesday these doubts and inuendoes were promptly confuted by
Lord St. LEONARDS, one of the trustees of the Crimean Relief Fund,
and the fame of Lord Chancellor SUDDEN stands unsullied in Ireland
for his impartiality in the highest legal post in that country from 1841
to 1846. He deserves the praise given by DRYDEN to SHAFTESBURY:—
In Israel's courts ne'er sat an Abethdin,
With more discerning eyes, or bands more clean.

On Friday, not satisfied with the statement of Lord ST. LEONARDS, the
Duke of NORFOLK publishes a letter, and challenges Lord ST.
LEONARDS to move for returns in the next session of Parliament. That
is to say, the doubts and inuendoes are to be left to do their work till
the next session of Parliament, and we could not get the returns until
March or April, when some of the popular enthusiasm will have cooled
down. The Roman Catholics are a numerous body, but they are not
rich in proportion to their numbers, and it is a miserable policy on the
part of Cardinal WisEmAN and others to adopt the plan of having a
separate fund. Archbishop CULLEN asserts that " nearly one-half of
" the army consists of Roman Catholics," which is a strong exaggera-
tion. The Roman Catholics are apt to tabulate all " Irishmen" as
" Roman Catholics," forgetting that the Protestants of Ireland are
powerfully represented in the army. We must on this point remind
both Cardinal WISEMAN and Archbishop CULLEN that in the Peninsular
war, long before " Emancipation," Irish Roman Catholics
swarmed is the ranks, and fought loyally with the gallantry of their
country. They did so in days when their Church had not the privi-
leges now enjoyed by it; and we think that clerical incendiaries will
labour in vain if they try to sectarianise the feelings of the Roman
Catholics in the army. Their sentiments, and those of most of the
laity of their persuasion, will on the present occasion be those of the
Irish poet :

Shall I ask the brave soldier who fights by my side,
In the cause of mankind, if our creeds agree ?
Shall I give up the friend I have valued and tried,
If he kneel not before the same altar with me ?
We are happy to see that the Times correspondent of Friday mentions
the fact as evidence of the good feelings of our Roman Catholic fellow-
subjects, that "all, or nearly all, of the respectable members 'of the
" Roman Catholic communion heartily joined with their fellow-citizens
"in paying due deference to the Queen's proclamation." Can we
wonder that there should be extreme jealousy of the Roman Catholic
Church, when its chief ecclesiastics thus seem bent on keeping alive
sentiments of severance, of strife, and of disputation ? We say "of
severance," because nothing could have been easier than for Cardinal
WISEMAN to have appoiutod a religious service for the same day as that