The Press.
London, England, 1857-10-31 00:00:00

THE PRESS, OCTOBER 31, 1857.

He was not by any means one of those mawkish senti--
mentalists who said there should be no punishment by
death, for he contended most strenuously that every man
should lose his life that had committed a murder. He
thought we should punish those who were at the head of
the mutiny, but not have any of that indiscriminate ven-
geance that had been advocated. Still he said that every
leader of the mutiny should be shot. He did approve of
Lord Canning 's proclamation, for he did not think it
right to burn down villages and their inhabitants indis
criinivately.

Lord BROUGHAM, who was entertained at a grand
banquet at Penrith on Wednesday last, remarked,
with regard to India, that it was a saying of Pox, and
characterised by the wonted sagacity of that great
man, when some one said to him, "Why, this is a
war only on a point of national honour." " I should
like t..) know," said he, " any war that could be de-
fended on any other ground but that of national
honour. Unless you wage it on that point, you had
better not wage it at all ":

On this great Indian question my noble friend Lord
Ellenbotough—of whose great and brilliant success as
Governor of India no one can entertain a doubt—has re•
cently stated that if we are driven out of India we are safe
nowhere, and therefore he calls upon the Government to
strain every nerve to retain it. He has also stated that
after this great struggle is over—which I hope is only a
struggle with an armed body of mutineers, and that the
naives ns a body are not with them—two things will re•
main to be done to prevent the recurrence of the mischief
and to recover what has been lost. To lose it or give it
up is impossible. To divide it with another is equally
impossible, for we aro habituated to dominion and inured
to empire. A third point that will have to be determined
will, it is urged, be the limit of retribution and the penalties
to be exacted. lint I believe that that question will long
and long have been disposed of before Parliament will be
called upon to decide it. Far be it from me to recommend
needless severity to any one or to any place : still further
from me to wish every possible means not to be taken
whereby the innocent can be separated from the guilty ;
but that severe punishment is needed—that retribution is
almost a matter of course—that justice, according to that
banner ( pointing to a banner on the wall on which were
inscribed the words '' Justice and Mercy,") must be
placed above mercy. The other banners which I see be•
fore me—" Peace and Harmony," " Honour and Loyalty,"
—may allow them to be placed on the same level, but
justice and mercy must follow in the sequence which that
banner bears—justice must precede mercy.

THE INDIAN RELIEF FUND.

AN influential meeting was held at the Shirc-hall, in
Worcester, on Saturday last—

To consider how we can best prove our sympathy for
the sufferings and misfortunes of our ccuntrymen in India ;
and, further, to consider the propriety of sending up an
humble address to the Queen to assure her Majesty of the
deep pain with which we have heard of recent events in
India, and of our conviction that, in her efforts to sup-
press the rebellion which has broken out in that country,
and to re•establish her authority, her Majesty may rely
with confidence on the support of a loyal and united
people.
The chair was taken at half-past one o'clock by
the High Sheriff, Mr. E. V. Wheeler, and among
those present were—Earl Beauchamp, Viscount Elm-
ley, Lord Southwell, Sir J. S. Pakington, M.P., Sir
T. E. Winnington, M.P., Hon. Colonel Rushout,
M.P., Mr. Laslett, M.P., Sir 0. P. Wakeman, Sir E.
A. H. Lechmere, Mr. H. H. Foley, M.P., Mr. W.
Coventry, Sc.
The first resolutior., " that a subscription be
raised in the county," having been pr. posed by Earl
Beauchamp and seconded by Colonel Rushout, M.P.,
Mr. ACTON, a Roman Catholic magistrate, supported
the resolution, and in a brief speech vindicated the
Boman Catholics from the imputation of a want of
patriotism in this crisis. At the same time, it was
the deep conviction of his co•religionists that the
Patriotic Fund was not well managed, and that the
Catholic body did not receive fair play in its appro-
priation :

He grounded that assertion on the fact that 231,0001 of
the capital was appropriated to Protestant orphanages
and endowments, while the application of a party of Roman
Catholic gentlemen iu Ireland for an allotment for the
education of Catholic children was refused, although one-
half of the Crimean army were Catholic soldiers. lie
hoped that the Roman Catholic r.ohlemen and gentlemen
in both Houses of Parliament would, early neat session,
raise the question of the distribution of the Patriotic
Fund.

Sir JOHN PAKINOTON said that the Patriotic Fund
Commissioners had not been influenced by religious
prejudices in their distribution of the fund, and he
felt convinced that, upon investigation, Mr. Acton
would find that he had been misled by erroneous
reports. _ _

lord Southwell and Viscount Elmley having
proposed and seconded the next resolution, ex-
pressing condolence with the sufferers in India, Sir
JOHN PAKINOTON rose to propose au address to the
Queen, expressive of the sympathy and devotion of
the inhabitants of the county of Worcester for the
profound grief of her Majesty at these painful events,
and to assure her Majesty of their " firm resolve to