The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-22 00:00:00

JULY 22, 1854.

present Ministry (we should be glad to
know, by the way, who has confidence in it) ;
and their next was expressive of a determina-
tion to substitute for any further reliance on
it a recourse to those methods of making their
grievances known in England which the con-
stitution allows. Deprived necessarily by
their position of any share in the representa.
tion, they have decided to appeal to the jus-
tice and good feeling of the British Legisla-

ture.
The resolutions adopted at this meeting
will probably not be favourably regarded
by Sir CHARLES WOOD. But, happily, h. e
is not the nation; and all men of sense in
this country will view the proceedings of the
Madrasees with unmixed satisfaction. We
have long felt that the natives of India had
substantial cause of complaint, though amid
the darkness with which the India-house en-
velops everything it was difficult to see exactly
where the mischief lay. The Madrasees now
propose to point this out to us themselves,
and we have no doubt that they will do so in
terms both temperate and respectful.
To ourselves it has seemed incomprehensible
how the India-house should have been able to
mystify the people of England on the subject
of the natives of India so long ; for the speci-
mens of those races who are daily to be met
with at the balls and parties of her Majesty
and the leading nobility must be sufficient to
prove to any one not absolutely blind that a
people farther removed from barbarism is no
where to be found. Their manners are
marked, not by rudeness, but by Italian court-
liness and refinement. Was RAMMOHIIN ROY
a barbarian, or With DWARKANATH TAGORE, Or
is ALI KHAN, of Surat, who is now in Eng-
land ? Yet these men were, or are, no strong
exceptions to the common run of their
countrymen. They may be taken as types of
the classes of natives throughout India to
which they belong. Then, again, as to public
spirit, the last mail acquaints us that a native
millionaire of Bombay, who had already de
voted more than two hundred and fifty thou-
sand pounds sterling to works of public utility
or charity, has now devoted a large sum in
addition for the purpose of supplying that
want of pure water for the community
which invariably recurs in every hot sea-
son, and which it was the Government's own
duty long since to have removed. It is need-
less to add that the work will be one of
benevolence, as the water is to be supplied
free of charge.
Nor is the sagacity of the native and his
capacity for business less conspicuous, as the
position attained by him in that career which
alone is open to him incontestably proves.
The millionaire whom we have just alluded
to made every shilling of his enormous
fortune himself. The son of a poor bottle-
dealer, he has by his own energy and talents
raised himself to be the owner of several
ships, to be the largest China merchant in
India, the possessor of the finest equipages
and town and country houses at Bombay, and
the owner of some millions sterling. But,
though by his charities he has become con-
spicuous above his countrymen in his wealth,
he is not singular in his success. There are
numbers of other natives in the three presiden-
• cies almost if not quite as rich, and who have
made their fortunes in the same manner by
commerce and trade. In a late war in India
one native banker contributed four hundred
thousand pounds on the spot to the loan then
opened without contracting his circulation
in, the smallest degree, and a principal
European house at one of the presidencies
was some years since saved from bankruptcy
by a loan of half that amount from a native
friend. Indeed, the whole of the brokerage
ofi the trade of India with England and
Chinais conducted by natives : in nearly all
the houses there are native partners, and no
English mercantile house has ever found
itself able to exist in India without their aid.
Nor are the honesty and good faith of the
natives in their commercial dealings less con-
spicuous than their success—a fact, indeed,
which their success goes far to demonstrate,
ithout honesty and good faith it would
been impossible for such commercial
nce to be attained. Another remarkable
of their integrity may be found in the

tents.

THE PRESS.

readiness with which their bills of exchange
on Caubul, Bokhara, and other places in
Central Asia are taken—places wholly beyond
our jurisdiction—and for the payment of
which the good faith of the drawer is the only
guarantee.
With facts like these before us, it will
require something more than Sir CHARLES
WOOD'S assertion to convince us that men so
eminently gifted with every quality conducive
to success should not thrive as well in
agriculture as in commerce, if in the former
line those qualities were only afforded equal
scope. For the natives cf India are essen-
tially an agricultural people : the only reason
why capital has shrunk from agriculture in
that country the reason which in England
would drive it equally from the land. A land-
lord here who, coming into possession of a
property long totally neglected, would neither
expend a farthing on his land himself nor
afford any one else the slightest induce
ment to do so, would be deemed a lunatic if
he expected anything but a beg arly rent-roll
and a pauper tenantry as the result. Why,
then, should we wonder if the same system be
productive of precisely the same cense•
quences when pursued by the East India
Company at Madras ?

POOR LAW REPORT.

Tix sixth annual report of the Poor Law
Board is before us, and we propose to supply
our readers with a short analysis of its con-

______
The amount expended on pauper relief in
England and Wales during the last year (1853)
amounts to 4,939,0641., or, in round numbers,
a little under five million sterling. This sum
exceeds by 40,0001. the expenditure of 1852,
and constitutes an average charge of ss. 6d.

per head on the entire population. The in-
crease, slight as it is, may be ascribed mainly
to a rise in the price of provisions, and not to
an aggravation of pauperism ; indeed, 1852 was
a year of exceptional prosperity, and the
charges of 1853 aro lower than those of any
other year since 1842.

Of paupers, the total number in receipt of
relief on the Ist of January, 1853, was 799,443.
In 1852 the corresponding number was 835,300,
showing a decrease of nearly 30,000. The
same comparative returns, taken on the Ist of
July of each year, show a decrease of more
than 56,500.
The pauperism of last year may be roughly
classed as follows :
Insane persons, a little over 15,000
Vagrants, rather less than ... 1,500
Adult, able-bodied persons ... 126,000
(The last item indicating a decrease of 11,090
since the corresponding period of last year.)
It is thus shown that five-sixths of the in-
mates of workhouses are persons bona fide
disabled from industrial occupation by age,
infancy, or infirmity.
Not much assistance has been given to in-
tending emigrants, it being probably thought
that the work of depopulation proceeds fast
enough, and that the demand for labour in
this country already ex Beds the supply. Less
than 500 have been sent out, while in '52 the
number was 3,271.
A table is given, which we insert, throwing
light on the comparative prosperity, or the re-
verse, of various counties. We must, however,
observe that statistics of this kind, to be useful,
ought to be carried back farther than one
year :
The following are the rates per cent. of the increases
and decreases on the expenditure of 11458, as compared
with 1852, in the several counties of England and Wales:—

INCREASE PER CENT.:—
Bedford
Berks
Buckingham .. 3'l Lincoln
Cambridge.... 41 Middlesex .... 21 Wilts
Chester
Cornwall
Cumberland .. 2'4 Northampton
Derby 3'4 Nottingham .. 11 Caro arvon .... 31
Devon o'4 tisk,' d
i e.ii bet
Essex 4l Somerset .... frci Mcrioneth .. 121
Gloucester o'9 Southampton . 21 Pembroke .... o'l
Hertford ll Stafford 2l Radnor , lB

675

DECREASE PER CENT.:—
Durham Ol Warwick 3l. Anglcsea .... 31
Hereford .... I'l Westmorland . 11 Brecon
Lancaster .... 61 Worcester .... 01 Glamorgan
Leitester .... 31 York /.'.. Rid.) 10'2
Northumberld. 21 York N. Rid.) 11
Salop

THE SPANISH INSURRECTION.
TUE politics of Spain have for a long time been the
most picturesque and the least important in Europe.
No other history is so interspersed with melodrama
as the Spanish. Sovereigns in peril, mysteries and
Court intrigues, degraded Minisiers, and lucky
soldiers of fortune, meet us at every page. Pity it
it is that so much bravery and enthusiasm should
eventuate in such contemptible results! " The
" provinces rise, the Constitution is proclaimed, and
" the nation is to be regenerated." So has run the
news from the days of IttEoo, and Spain seems as
far off as ever from a proud throne, supported by a

unanimous people.
If ISABELLA had been a Sovereign of sense and
spirit, she might have done much to assuage the
evils of protracted civil wars ; but, infatuated with the
love of unworthy pleasures, she has tempted the
insurrection, that now dares her armies, and con-
fronts her palace. Province after province has pro-
nounced in favour of the movement. It bursts up
in all directions with the fierce intensity of genuine
discontent.
Whether NARVAEZ at the head of the royal forces
will be able to subdue it cannot be told for a few
days. He is himself a remarkable man, bold,
versatile, and subtle. But he has no common men
opposed to him. ESPARTERO and O'DoNNELL are both
above the average of Spanish leaders. 'Though
dilatory, like many Spanish statesmen, ESPARTERO
administered the affairs of the Regency with a
" respectability " unusual in the ministerial annals of
Madrid, and O'DONNELL has many brilliant qualities
to conciliate the regard of personal followers. Their
objects are not yet plainly visiole. Have they the desire
of proclaiming another regency—that of Isanzu.A's
daughter—and deposing the Queen herself ? Would
such intentions be acceptable to the Spanish people,
or permanently practicable?
One thing, however, is quite clear, that the jiresent
system, along with some of its more peculiar fea-
tures, must be entirely changed. There is a spice
of something like moral indignation in the insurrec-
tion which elevates it beyond the habitual disturb.
ances of Spain.

THE "DEBATS" ON OUR CABINET.
ONE of the advantages which we derive from a
Coalition in the eyes of foreigners may be seen by
reading some remarks in the Journal des Debate of
Tuesday last, in answer to our protest against the
assumption that Lord ABERDEEN'S band of "free
" companions" represented such a Cabinet as the
English Constitution contemplated
" Another English journal, the PnEss," says the Debate,
" has accused us of having misapprehended the spirit of
the English Constitution when we remarked that a
Ministry comprising fifteen persons, and ctrnposing a
little parliament in itself, could not be a Ministry of
action. We do not wish to disparage the parliamentary
system, as we might be reminded of the fable of the fox
which had lost his tail. But what we said was that fifteen
persons, representing nearly the same number of distinct
opinions, could hardly form an homogeneous Administra-
tion. Discussion is the function of Parliament, not that
of the Cabinet. Sir Robert Peel might with impunity
have twenty-five colleagues in his Ministry, because he was
really Premier—the chief and head of an unanimous
Administration. But in the existing Ministry where is
the chief ? Where is the head ? What is the name of
the Prime Minister ? And how can a Government in-
cluding three or four Prime Ministers do anything? Lord
John Russell's organ will ask us perhaps, Why do you
meddle with our affairs?—to which our simple answer is,
You meddle continually wits► ours."
Now, the Wats here simply mistakes the violation
of the Constitution committed by the Ministers for
an ordinary result of our parliamentary system. It
supposes that a Government living by sufferance and
depending from day to day on the general loyalty of
the Opposition to carry the measures rendered ne-
cessary by the war—a Government made up of noto-
riously heterogeneous materials, and the bead of
which apologised for taking office—is as much a
result of our system as was the late Administration,
or any other, where the idem nolle et idem relit of
Cicero, the only true bonds of political friendship
and honour, were visible in every part.
But our French contemporary is certainly excusa-
ble for mistaking the Aberdeen jumble for a result
of our parliamentary system. No system can ensure
perfection, but ours at least provides that, where the
country has been insulted by such a pretence of Go-
vernment QS the present, Parliament, at the proper

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11111111

676

L Alb!Oki._

time, can relieve us from the infliction without
violence, though we may pay dearly for the mischief
occasioned by its temporary usurpation.

FACTORIES' REPORT.
WE opened the report from the Inspectors of Fac-
tories, recently issued, in the hope that it might con-
tain some authentic evidence on the state of the
Lancashire districts, especially of Preston, that great
battle-field of capital and labour. Our expectations,
however, are disappointed. Mr. LEONARD HORNER
passes altogether over the " strike " question, as too
well understood to need farther explanation, moral-
ising at the same time on the uneducated state of the
people, the want of intercourse between masters and
men, and the necessity (? ) cf a compulsory educa-
cation bill, which should make it a penal offence in
the parents not to send a child to school. Is there
anything in bureaucratic employ which fosters a ten-
tency towards despotism ? We should almost think
so, and the above is not the least significant illustra-
tion of the fact. It is noteworthy that in the case of
children employed in mills such a law as here sug-
gested actually exists, and is enforced. Mr. lioatiEtt
has therefore a right to argue that Parliament has
acknowledged the principle for which he contends.
His plea is simply the following—that only educated
persons appreciate education; ergo, ignorant parents
will not send their children to school; whereby the
evil perpetuates itself, and cannot be remedied ex-
cept by governmental interposition. But his assump-
tion, though plausible, is unfounded. Parents, them-
selves ignorant, do desire teaching for their children ;
children of quick brains desire it for themselves—it
is the value of infant labour to the parent, not
the apathy of the latter—his poverty or covetousness,
not his indifference—that leads him to keep the child
at home. Setting out from mistaken premises, it is
no wonder Mr. HORNET arrives at a wrong conclusion.
It is satisfactory to see that in some parts of the coun-
try employers are beginning to cultivate a more friendly
spirit among their " hands "—treating them not
merely as " hands," but as working men and women,
whose comforts should be considered, and whose
goodwill is worth securing. It used to be the custom
to open the mills only during working hours, leaving
the operatives, male and female, to find shelter
as they could. Now many of the Glasgow mas-
ters provide rooms for their accommodation, places
where they may cook their meals, and other like con-
veniences. Sir JOHN KINCAID reports that this prac-
tice is on the increase—one good example makes
many imitators.
A long history is given of the rules respecting ma-
chinery hastily promulgated by Lord PALMERSTON,
and as hastily withdrawn. The whole proceeding
seems to have been a blunder, the more unfortunate
as there is room for much improvement in this re-
spect. Preventible accidents are frequent, and often
fatal. The best workmen seem to grow careless
when constantly employed among machinery. Hence
the necessity for greater precaution than either mas-
ters or men care to observe.

THE Irish news of the week contains little matter
of importance except such as has arisen from the
pending assizes. These, happily, aro light, and
show a welcome improvement in the state of the
country and its population. So limited, indeed, is
the criminal business to be disposed of that the
sessions are not likely to occupy one half the time
usual in former years. At Waterford there has oc-
curred that almost unprecedented event, a " maiden
assize."
Is A CIVIL CASE tried) at Wexford Assizes on
Tuesday the orphan children of Mr. and Mrs.
Macsweeny got five thousand pounds' damages
against the Great Southern and Western Railway
Company, on account of the loss of their father and
mother, who were killed by the railway accident
at Stratfan last autumn. This is the largest amount
of damages ever had against any railway company in
Ireland.
THIRTY-FIVE PRISONERS, chiefly belonging to the
Roman Catholic party, engaged in the late disgrace-
ful riots in Belfast, were brought before the local
magistrates on Monday, and sentenced to pay fines
of 40s. each, or undergo two months' imprisonment.
The man Russell, who was stabbed, is still in a
dangerous condition, and the party charged with
committing the offence remains in custody.
INAN ADMIRALTY ORDER has been received in
Limerick for 408/., payable to a poor man named
Hickie, as wages due to his son, Cornelius Hickie,
shipwright on board the lost Erebus and Terror, ex-
ploring expedition of Admiral Sir John Franklin.
Tse Roscommon Messenger states that Mr. John
B. Dillon, one of the colleagues of Smith O'Brien in
the unfortunate proceedings of 1848, has obtained
permission to return to Ireland.

THE PRESS.

V rue6ings in V arliwnt.

THE WAR MINISTER.
The vote of supply for the expenditure to be in-
curred on account of the new Secretaryship for War
was moved for on Monday by Lord J. Russell.
Some serious debating on the whole question of the
war policy of the Government, and the recent changes
in the functions of the Colonial Secretary, had been
anticipated, but the announcement that Ministers
intended to propose next week a " credit vote" for
war expenses to come led to a postponement of the
discussion, which it was thought more expedient to
take on the wider question then to be opened. Mon-
day's proceedings accordingly presented little more
than a dry abstract of the official details involved in
the proposed division of the secretarial functions.
In describing these changes Lord J. RUSSELL re-

marked
" that daring former wars the functions discharged by
the Secretary for War and the Colonies related principally
to the conduct of military affairs. The colonies were then
of comparatively trifling importance, and the official busi-
ness arising from them presented few points of much com-
plication or urgency. Now, however, the case was different.
Colonial questions furnished an amount of occupation suf-
ficient to monopolise the undivided attention of a Secre-
tary of State ; and, as soon as the country was engaged in
a serious war, it became obvious that some redistribution
of the duties was absolutely necessary. After enumerating
the principle on which this change was to be based,
namely, the concentration of control over the several de-
partments of military organisation under one single and
responsible head, the noble lord briefly sketched some of
the propositions that had been offered for accomplishing
that end, and dwelt especially upon the reasons which had
led the Government to reject the plan recommended by
the late Duke of Wellington, who considered that the
Master-General of Ordnance, being necessarily best ac-
quainted with the military necessities of the country,
would be most eligible as chief adviser of the Sovereign
upon the affairs of war. Pointing out the distinction be-
tween the military and the political questions connected
with the administration of the army, he explained that ac-
cording to the plan now proposed by the Government the
former should remain under the control of the professional
chiefs, the Commander-in-Chief and Master-General of
Ordnance, who would also decide all questions relating to
military promotions, patronage, and pay. The civil and
political functions would be allotted to the new Secretary
of State for War, while matters of detail would continue,
as at present, under the supervision of the Secretary at
War. The Commissariat, he added, would fall to the Se-
cretary of State for War; the embodied militia would be
controlled by the military chiefs, the disembodied militia
by the Home Secretary. Various changes and improve-
ments in detail might be hereafter accomplished, but these
must be developed in the course of time and of experience;
and little progress in that direction could be expected at a
moment like the present, when the office was so newly
constituted, and the practical business of the war so ur-
gent. Lord John Russell then detailed the internal me-
chanism of the new Secretary's office, described the per.
sonnet of his staff, and concluded by moving that a sum
of 17,300/. should be voted to defray the additional ex-
penses which the change would necessitate up to March
31, 11355."
Sir J. PAKTNC,TON expressed his extreme disap-
pointment at the meagre outline just given of the
Ministerial intentions :
The plan now sketched, be contended, offered a very
imperfect cure for the anomalies which existed in the ad-
ministration of military affairs. The army was practically
divided into six sections, namely, the regular forces, the
artillery, the militia and yeomanry, the embodied pension-
era, the commissariat, and the dockyard battalions. Each
of these sections was placed under the control of a different
head ; while the single practical step now announced con-
sisted of a transference of the commissariat from the Trea-
sury to the Secretary for War. The existing anomalies
had been often and long since set forth in the reports of
parliamentary committees; and many proposals made for
their removal, and the consolidation of the different de-
partments under a single head. But to all of these the
Government had paid no attention, but had treated a new
Secretaryship fur State, without defining the duties which
the department would have to discharge. Adverting to
some points of detail connected with the change, Sir J.
Pakington inquired what distinction was to be drawn be-
tween the functions of the Secretary at War and the new
Secretary of War, and could not believe that two Cabinet
Ministers were necessary to superintend one department
of administration.

The SECRETARY AT WAR gave a variety of instances,
actual or possible, to illustrate the distinctions be.
tween the military and civil duties which it was in-
tended to apportion among the military and political
departments of the War Ministry, when reconstructed
according to the scheme of the Government:—
He proceeded to defend that scheme, urging that it
was calculated to do much good so far as it went, and en-
forcing the reasons that had induced the Ministry not to
go further at the present moment. Respecting his indivi-
dual functions, he explained that the Secretary at War
could not be considered as an administrator of the army.
He was the delegate of the Treasury, entrusted with the
anditorship and control of the details of expenditure on ac-
count of military services; and to the existence of such a
minister he attributed the recognised result that the ex-
penses of the army were more economically administered
than those of the navy. He believed that it was expe•

SATURDAY,

client to maintain the office he held as a separate depart-
ment, and declared that, whether the contemplated changes
enhanced or diminished its importance, he should allow
no personal feelings to prevent his co-operating in their
accomplishment.
Colonel DUNNE and Mr. G. BUTT having briefly
expressed their dissatisfaction at the Ministerial
schemes,
The vote was agreed to.
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE.
Lord J. RUSSELL on Monday gave notice that he
should next week have occasion to move fora vote
of credit in supply, for the purpose of carrying on
the war. He could not then state exactly the precise
amount of the vote, but the estimate would be laid
on the table by Thursday.
Mr. DISRAELI on Thursday remarked that it
would be convenient to the house if the Leader of
the Government would say when he would lay on the
table an estimate of the amount required in the form
of a vote of credit for the expenses of the war, and
when be would propose to take it into consideration.
Lord J. RUSSELL said that her Majesty had been
pleased to order that a measure should be delivered to that
and the other House of Parliament, and in pursuance of
that message it would be the duty of Ministers to propose
a vote of credit on Monday next, which would amount to
the sum of 3,000,000 i. The message would be presented
on Friday (yesterday). It would propose that the sum in
question should be voted for the purposes of the war. It
would not be necessary to take any further vote in com-
mittee of ways and means, as the votes which the home
had already granted would be sufficient. The message
would be taken into consideration on Monday.

PUBLIC REVENUE BILL.
The Public Revenue and Consolidated Fund
Charges Bill stood for third reading in the House of
Peers on Monday, and the motion for that purpose
was duly proposed by Earl GRANVILLE.
Lord MONTEAGLE moved as an amendment that
the bill should be referred to a select committee. He
pointed out various risks and inconveniences which
he thought might arise from the measure, and re-
ferred to various classes of public functionaries who
would suffer under the injustice of having their ap•
pointments submitted for annual discussion in Par.
liament. The bill also violated the independence of
the House of Peers. By disallowing the salaries of
the officials who collected any tax, the House of
Commons could effectually annul that branch of tax-
ation without going through the formality of a bill,
or asking the consent of the Peers. Lord Monteagle
also urged that the increased number of miscella-
neous votes, which this bill went to swell, would
almost double the time now appropriated to financial
discussion, and to that extent lessen the time that
could be applied to legislative purposes. Desig-
nating the bill as anomalous in character and unjust
in principle, he prayed the house to refer it to a
select committee, in order that it might be more fully
considered.
Lord BROUGHAM supported the amendment, al-
luding especially to the police magistrates of London,
who, though discharging judicial functions, would be
left at the discretion of the House of Commons if the
bill passed.
The Duke of ARGYLL defended the bill, and in-
stanced various classes of functionaries, among
others the members of the Board of Health, the
Poor-law Board, and the Insolvent Commissioners,
who held their offices dependent upon annual votes.
He contended, therefore, that there was nothing
exceptional in the provisions of the present bill.
The Earl of DERBY said that the intention of the
Government of which he had been a member was to
bring under the control of the House of Commons,
not the mere net receipts of the customs and excise
and other sources of revenue, hut the gross amount
of that revenue, and to let the house vote the annual
cost of collecting it. If this bill had only gone thus
far he would have supported it, but he objected to
placing under the control of the House of Commons
judicial or quasi judicial offices.
Lord CAMPBELL concurred in thinking that the bill
required further consideration.
Earl GRANVILLE, yielding to the strong expression
of opinion in the house, consented that the bill
should be referred to a select committee, upon the
understanding that it was not to be thrown over
to anothe: session.
The bill was accordingly ordered to be referred
agreeably to the tenor of Lord Monteagle's amend-
ment.

THE BRIBERY BILL.
The consideration of the bill was resumed on
Thursday, when a very protracted discussion took
place respecting the form of words by which candi-
dates on nomination, or members before taking their
seats, were to declare themselves innocent of bribery.
Finally, the " declaration," after two divisions, was
settled according to the following formula :
" I do solemnly and sincerely declare that I have
ingly made, authorised, or sanctioned, and that 1 will
ingly make, authorise, or sanction, any payment on
my election, otherwise than through the election °Mei
excepted and allowed by the Corrupt Practices Prevet
(the present measure), nor have knowingly done, or will
do, any act contrary to the provisions contained In this

not know-
not know
account at
eer, aaoe AB
iention Act
ill hereafter
tug act."