The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-07 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 7,1857.

There is one rule that is equally applicable to all countries,
let the system of policy be what it may, and that rule
will take upon myself to extract from the fifth on the list
of the great English poets:—
Honour and shame from no condition rise,
Act well your part, there all the honour lies.
It was mainly on tkat admirable and universally recognised
principle that, to my delight, I saw the ceremony of this
day conducted. I can well imagine that a peasant or a
yeoman, " acting well his part," might find in the accla-
mations of his countrymen and the applause of those
under whom he had served " where all the honour lies."
I can imagine that even a prince may he a working patriot
—that he may devote his high intellect, his energy of
mind and body to the zealous and persevering discharge
of important and interesting public duties. I can imagine,
as I have said, that even a prince may be so little dazzled
by the luminous atmosphere in which he moves as to be
able to see and to distinguish a meritorious comrade in
the obscurest ranks of the private force ; and I can imagine
that even a prince, not bound by the dignity of chief
command, may, at a moment of State exigency, sound
with his breath the bugle for recruits. These are things
that, republean as I am, I can imagine possible.
Whether the imagining in your Letter knowledge of men
and things can be made a tact among British princes it
is not for me to determine. lam not one of the jury for
the trial of that fact. I am, 93 I have said, a stranger.
You are the panel, and if you find that there happens to
be among British princes one of whom all these imagin-
ings of mine in reference to individual merit become a
plain fact, why your finding as jurors of such a verdict
would be conclusive upon the judgment of those who
hear it.
Referring to the crimes of the mutineers, Mr.
Dallas said :
Mutiny and murder are heavy crimes ; they are dark
and gloomy crimes ; but they are crimes known to us all,
and they are crimes committed in almost every community
and under almost every Government. Penalties are speci•
deafly provided for these crimes in the respective criminal
codes of various countries. Let such crimes be punished
wherever they occur according to the law. That is the
first and clearest principle of action. But there are other
crimes—crimes, at least, of another character—which be-
come so monstrous as to assume the attitude of enmity to
the human race ; not merely crimes committed with refer-
ence to the power of India, not merely crimes inimical to
England, not merely crimes inimical to Europe and its
civilisation, but crimes that constitute their perpetrators
what pirates are, what cannibals in the Fejee Islands are,
enemies of the human race, and meriting, not from one
nation, not from one people, but from the whole of the
human race, summary and peremptory extirpation.
The LORD MAYOR next gave the toast of " Her
Majesty's Ministers," to which Lord GRANVILLE re-
plied in an exculpatory speech on behalf of Lord
Canning. Lord Granville, carefully abstaining from
offering any opinion of his own upon the recent
events in India, denied that Lord Canning
had " forgotten what was due to justice," or that he
had " interfered with the military authorities," in
whose hands the punishment of the mutineers must
mainly rest, upon the ground that Lord Canning had
frequently written to him (Lord Granville) express-
ing a certain "soreness of heart" that retribution
had been delayed upon "devils in human form."
Lord Granville, in conclusion, and amidst much
impatience and interruption, denied that Mr. Grant
had been sent up to control the military authorities
in the north-western districts, held up to admiration
Lord Canning's " great moral courage " in suppress-
ing the liberty of the British press in India, and,
finally, asserted that Lord Canning had " broken
the neck " of one of the most formidable mutinies
which have ever occurred in our dominions.
Several other toasts followed, and the proceedings
terminated at a late hour.

THE LORD MAYOR ELECT, Sir Robert Carden,
was on Monday received by the Lord Chancellor,
who, with the usual formalities, signified her
Majesty's entire approbation at the choice of the
citizens of London in selecting Sir Robert for the
office of Chief Magistrate.
AIR. C. DroczNs presided at the annual dinner of
the Warehousemen and Clerks' Schools, held on
Thursday, at the London Tavern. Mr. Dickens
made a humorously descriptive speech upon the
schools he did not like, and warmly advocated the
interests of that which he then represented. The
subscriptions announced amounted to 2,242/.
THE SNOW'S•FIELDS RAGGED•SCHOOT.S were opened
on Wednesday, in the presence of the Earl of
Shaftesbury, who delivered an appropriate address
on the occasion. These schools, situated near
Weston. street, Southwark, have been built at a cost
of 7001., exclusive of 2751., the purchase money of
the freehold site. They are intended to receive 400
of the destitute children with whom the neighbour-
hood abounds. The buildings comrrise a school-
room (a lofty airy apartment of forty feet in length
by twenty feet in width), a committee-room, and a
library and reading-room. Lord Shaftesbury, in
the course of his address, adduced as an instance of
the good effect of these schools upon the mind and
habits of the lower classes, the excellent tone of the
letters of the private soldiers now in India:—
Ho referred to that because the private soldiers were
drawn from the poorer classes, and it was among these

classes especially that the effect of such institutions as
these were put forth. He could instance the conduct of
the gallant troops before Delhi, who, though their feelings
must have been worked up to the highest pitch of excite-
ment by the massacres of their countrymen and country-
women which had taken place, never retaliated except in
a manner becoming English soldiers. He had seen a
letter from a young friend of his who was with his regi-
ment before Delhi, and he stated that, during the assault,
every time the order came to load and fire, the cry also
came along the line, " Spare the women and children !"
- —•—

THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS and Sir B.
Hall held a conference on Thursday on the subject
of the drainage. Nothing was definitely decided on,
but Sir B. Hall gave the Board of Wnrks a clear
intimation that Sea Reach was the best outfall for
the main drainage, and that Government would not
contribute towards the additional 1,500,0001. re-
quired for the construction of the drains to that
point. A further conference between the engineers
and the referees Sir Benjamin hoped would bring
about a conclusion satisfactory to all parties.
THE DEATHS OF THE METROPOLIS have risen from
088 to 1,047 in one week. Typhus and scarlatina
are the principal causes of disease. Three cases of
cholera are also reported. The births for last week
amounted to 1,785 children—a high average.

1083

The noble duke also condemned the theory of
"compulsory conversion":—
He said that Government power must neither be used
to control nor disturb the religion of the natives. Com-
plete toleration must be given. When he said toleration,
he meant not only must compulsion of every kind be
avoided, but that which was as bad, namely, seduction—
which he could only call a broad species of fraud—must
be equally avoided.
THE delivery of prizes at the East Lancashire
Union of Mechanics' Institutes took place on Wed-
nesday. Sir J. P. Shuttlewortb, the Bishop of
Manchester, and Sir J. Pakington were present and
addressed the assembly on this occasion.

IN consequence of the extraordinary mildness of
the season, on the 20th of October two large dishes
of raspberries and one of red currant,s were gathered
in the gardens c.f the Duke of Richmond, at Gordon •
Castle, in Banffshire.
THE CONSZRVATIVE LAND SOCIETY IN SOUTH
LANCASHIRE have just completed their thirty-
second land purchase, and are now in posses-
sion of a valuable building estate near Manchester.
It is beautifully situated in the picturesque suburb
of Prestwich, and will be offered for allotment at an
early date.
THE AMERICAN STEAMER Vanderbilt, coming up to
Cowes on Thursday, grounded on the Brambles, a
well-known shoal between Cowes and Calshot Castle.
She was aground for ten hours, lost an anchor, and
carried away her chain cable.