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

HAMBURG.

In Germany confidence is becoming restored.
The National Bank of Vienna has come to the
aid of Hamburg, by lending 10,000,000 mares
banco (about .20,000,000 francs), at six per cent.,
repayable in a year.

City, Eleven o'clock.
Consols for Account

1204

THE WEEK.

OF all the telegrams which have arrived from India during this great
crisis, those received within the last twenty-four hours are about the
most contradictory and the most incomprehensible. Does anybody
clearly understand the exact amount of force with which Sir COLIN
CAMPBELL will advance from Alumbagh? Tho East India House
despatch states that Sir COLIN CAMPBELL reached Cawnpore
on the 4th of November, and crossed the Ganges on the
9th "with 5,000 men of all arms," Colonel GREATHED'S column
having previously advanced from Cawnpore, where it arrived
on the 26th of October, to Alumbagh, "reinforced by 5,000 men." The
Foreign-office despatch admitting the arrival of Colonel GREATHED at
Cawnpore says that, " reinforced by 5,000 men, the column advanced to
Alumbagh, where it awaited the arrival of Sir COLIN CAMPBELL." Sir
COLIN CAMPBELL, it proceeds to say, reached Cawnpore on the 3rd of
November, " where he remained till the 9th, waiting, it is presumed,
reinforcements, which must bring up the force at Almubagh, when he
joins, to close on 10,000 men." And, lastly, the Times Trieste correspon-
dent, who in all probability is the most accurate in his numbers, states
that Sir COLIN CAMPBELL crossed the Ganges on the 10th with, "it is
" believed, about 1,500 men ;" and that " Colonel GREATHED'S column,"
under the command of Brigadier GRANT, waa at Alumbagh awaiting the
arrival of the Commander-in-Chief. From these statements we may extract
two facts which afford us solid satisfaction—namely, the arrival of
Colonel GREATHED with his column at Alumbagh, and the advance of
Sir COLIN CAMPBELL from Cawnpore. Upon these points there appears
to he no reasonable doubt. The telegrams differ in dates, but we may
safely assume that by the 10th of November Sir COLIN CAMPBELL had
crossed the Ganges, and that Colonel GREATHED'S column,
under the command of Brigadier GRANT, was at Alum-
bagh.
But here the confusion of figures arises, and upon no
unimportant point,—the exact force composing the column of Brigs- '
dier GRANT and the column which accompanied Sir COLIN
CAMPBELL. Tha East India House and Foreign-office de-
spatches would lead us to believe that the two columns together
would amount to 10,000 men. Now, this appears to be incredi-
ble, if we take into consideration one or two facts. Brigadier GRANT'S
column, when it started from Delhi, consisted of 1,800 men in
all. After marching two hundred and fifty miles and fighting two or
three battles in as many weeks, it is not to be supposed that on reach-
ing Cawnpore its ranks would be materially increased. Then, again,
the reinforcements which had arrived at Cawnpore since the advance
of OUTRAM and HAVELOCK were not of any very great strength, or
surely they would not in inactivity at Cawnpore have permitted
HAVELOCK and OUTRAM to run this dreadful risk for an entire
month, sending only 600 men and six guns as far as Alumbagh;
and Sir Court CAMPBELL, we may rely upon it, arrived at
Cawnpore without bringing any material addition to the force. He
could not have carried with him 2,000 men, or 1,500, or 1,000, at the
rate he travelled from Raneegunge ; and, lastly, we know that rein-
forcements from Calcutta have been despatched up country only at the
rate of about 3,000 men per month. OUTRAM and HAVELOCK had been
shut up for a month in the Residency, they stripped Cawnpore of every
available man when they advanced, and how, therefore, can we accent
these exaggerated statements of the force at the disposal of Sir COLIN
CAMPBELL? For our own part, we believe that when Sir COLIN CAMP-
BELL crossed the Ganges he took with him not more than 1,500 men,
and that these, joined to the forces at Alumbagh, will give
him a force of some 6,000 men for the relief of Lucknow.
The question then arises, will he be able to effect the relief of Lucknow,
assuming that Lucknow holds out to be relieved. No one can
doubt that Sir COLIN CAMPBELL with 6,000 men will be able to cut
his way through the 60,000 rebels surrounding Lucknow ; but we must
not conceal from ourselves that the rebels, since the advance of
OUTRAM, are trebled in number, and animated with the most deter-
mined spirit of resistance. They have strongly intrenched themselves
in Lucknow, and how the Oude matchlockmen fight under cover we
have already learned to our terrible cost. Lucknow is a hornet's nest.
that Sir COLIN with his few thousand men must penetrate and pass
through to relieve the Residency at Lucknow. That he will do so we
have every confidence ; but after he has reached the Residency,
what then ? Six thousand men, and the majority, we fear, not
British soldiers, are scarcely a match I'm 60,000 Oude matchlockmen
under cover. Again we learn to deplore that fatal apathy of a
Government which for a third time compels the relief of this heroic
garrison to be attempted by forces scarcely equal to the occasion. What
misery has not been inflicted upon England for the last few days ! And
we must wait yet to be relieved of our apprehension and our dread.
With respect to the rest of India, the intelligence, though meagre,
is sufficiently full to show us that the rebels are active in the
field at Mchidpore, Robileund, Dinapere, Saugor, Bundeleund,
I and n other places and districts. We appear to have beaten them in
several engagements, but our losses are generally reported to
severe. Of the l'unjitith and Bombay little is said. On the whole, wo
think the rebellion shows remarkable signs of activity for one " dying
out,' and we see every reason to believe that great and arduous work
is yet in store for our army.

It is always a bad sign when a Prime Minister finds it difficult to
d!!-pose of a vacant Garter. Although the honour is very great, Noble
Lords do not wish to lay themselves under obligations to a Minister,

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 12, 1857.

unless they concur in his principles, or strongly support his personal
claims. Two Dukes and one Earl have certainly refused the glitter-
ing insignia of our highest order of chivalry, when recently tendered
them by Lord PALMERSTON. They have appeared to think that such
an acceptance might be interpreted as an act of infidelity to their
particular connection ; yet one of these Dukes is the head of an illus-
trious old English race that in late years has been particularly stead-
fast to the Whig connection. These rejections of the Garter, with tho
circumstances of Lord HARROWBY being in the Cabinet, and Lord St.
GERMANS receiving a high appointment at Court, along with the fact
of the Jewish Disabilities not being taken up by Government, have
naturally caused much animated observation.

Lord PALMERSTON'S reply on Thursday to the simple question of
Sir JOHN PAKINOTON was a laboured effort at explanation of that nature
which usually fulfils the old proverb—" qui s'excuse eaccuas. Sir JOHN
PAKINOTON asked whether it was true that Lord STRATFORD DE RED-
CLIFFE had telegraphed, and when, to her Majesty's Government that
he had obtained the permission of the Sultan for the passage of
troops across the Isthmus of Suez. Lord PALMERSTON in his reply not
only answered Sir JOHN PAKINOTON'S question in the affirmative, but
with marked hesitation he entered into a lengthy explanation why the
troops were not sent overland, and his explanation is remarkable :
" If, for instance," he said, " we sent 5,000 men, there would be great
" difficulty of transport, Sm." No one expected in July that 5,000
men should have been sent at once by this route. Besides, setting
the figure of men at 5,000 is altogether too high an estimate
for Ministers whose conception of the rebellion and its
necessities was so mean as theirs. The point, however, is, not
the difficulties which the transport of 5,000 men would have in-
volved, but the ease with which 500 could have been forwarded. Every
argument in support of the conduct of the Government urged by Lord
PALMERSTON on this occasion was felt by every one in the House,
and apparently by none more so than the Premier, to be one more
point against Ministers. When he urged the want of cover for the troops
at Alexandria or Suez, every one recalled the fact that the roomy
hulks belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Company at Alexandria
and Suez were as available then as now. When he referred to troops
being subjected to " severe heat" while steaming down the Red Sea, what
is that, may be asked, to a three weeks' calm upon the Equator ? And,
lastly, the Noble Lord reached the climax when he declared that, in a
national point of view, it was of importance in putting down the
mutiny " that we should do it with our own means in every respect,
" and that it should not be competent for any foreign nation to say
" that, if it had not been for certain facilities afforded us by friendly
" Powers which might have been withheld, we should not have been
" able to accomplish our purpose." This argument would apply quite
as forcibly to our generals as to our men. The plain history of the
whole matter is that the Government underrated the crisis, and thought
it much more agreeable to speculate in comparative inactivity upon our
chances of success than to endeavour by a vigorous application of tho
means at their disposal to place that success beyond a doubt.

We are sincerely glad that Mr. DEEDES has been returned for East
Kent without opposition to his claims. At the general election Mr.
DEEDES was defeated on a narrow majority by Sir EDWARD DERINO.
The poll stood—" For Dering, 2,858 ; for Deedes, 2,216 ;" and certain
anti• Conservative politicians rejoiced loudly at the defeat of Mr.
DEEDES. In any election for East Kent it would be only natural that
the name of Dering (one of the most ancient of Kentish families)
should command great weight. On the present occasion neither the
Liberals nor the half• Liberals have been able to start a candidate for
East Kent ; and although we do not concur on all points with Mr.
DEEDES, we are convinced that his conduct as representative for East
Kent will give ample satisfaction to his numerous Conservative sup-
porters. It is really extraordinary to observe how on second thoughts
" the country " has reversed so many of the judgments of the last
general election.

The means by which the reinforcements sent from this country to
India have been forwarded will, we sincerely trust, become the subject
of a searching Parliamentary investigation. The question is one of
the utmost importance, and one which has influenced, and will con-
tinue seriously to influence, the fortunes of the war. It is not with the
view of insisting that this Minister or that Minister is to blame that
we refer to the subject; but, for the satisfaction of the public, we
think the point in dispute, whether or not the troops despatched were
forwarded in the most expeditious manner at the command of the
Government, should be satisfactorily cleared up. It is a question
which concerns the Cabinet collectively. The responsibility does not
rest upon any special Minister, but upon her Majesty's Government ;
and in this view we are supported by the opinions of various members
of the Cabinet who at different periods during the last session ex-
pressed themselves upon the point at issue. On the 6th of July last the
Earl of CARDIGAN urged upon Government the necessity of despatch-
in►g the reinforcements by steamers instead of sailing-vessels, and
what did Lord PANMURE reply? He said that after the most anxious
consideration " the Government" had arrived at this conclusion—
" That from the difficulty in procuring steam-vessels of the requi-
" site description, and the delay caused by the number of in-
" termediate points at which they are obliged to touch, sailing vessels
" would reach their destination as soon, if not sooner, than steam-vessels."
It is reasonable to suppose that if these difficulties existed on tho oth
of July, they were in full force four days afterwards. Yet on the 10th
we find Mr. VERNON SMITH, in reply to Captain VIVIAN, announcing
that as 4,000 additional men were to be sent out to India at once, the
" Government" had resolved to despatch in steamers, not the whole

bib.