The Press.
London, England, 1854-10-14 00:00:00

OCTOIMII 14, 1854.

He has been charged with flattering the army;
but, if he flattered it, he flattered it from a
wise policy of restoring to it that self-confi-
dence which it had lost; and, if he showered
honours upon it profusely for its victories, he
did so but to prepare it for further success.
The noble and spirited order issued by him on
the subject of the illustrious garrison of Jellal•
labad may, when read in the study, appear too
florid—as what similar appeal to the soldiery
will not, when read by the impassive civilian
sitting by his fireside in England? But well
we know the thrilling effect it had upon those
to whom it was addressed. There was not one
man in that vast army who did not feel his
bosom burn with a noble emulation to do
similar feats of daring, even if he died in their
performance. Nor was the effect on native
powers speculating on our supposed weakness
less electric. The Seiks, purposing to attack us,
shrunk from the encounter: Scinde and G wa-
lior were the only States which were unable
to appreciate the qualities of the new Gover-
nor-General they had to deal with; and, under
the fierce attacks of Napier at Meanee and
Gough at Maharajpore, those powers fall. The
reward meted out by the Company to Lord
Ellenborough and to that heroic commander
the Conqueror of Scinde are matters too no-
torious to be enlarged on. But, in each case,
it should be known that the real secret of the
hostility shown to these great men by the direc-
tors was their refusal to prostitute their patron-
age to the subserving of the private interests
of the directors' friends, and, above all, the en-
trusting the government of the newly-conquered
provinces to military administrators,—an in-
fringement of the monopoly sought to be
maintained by the Company in favour of their
civil servants, who are chiefly their own sons
and nephews.
Lord Ellenborough was succeeded by Lord
Hardinge, under whose guidance and with
whose personal aid the glorious battles of the
first Seik war were won. Then came Lord
Dalhousie, by whom the boy-King was set
aside in whose name the Company ruled over
the Punjaub, and whose rights they had
pledged themselves by treaty to maintain ;
and that province was annexed to our domi•
nions in punishment for a rebellion with which
the infant of whom we were the guardians
could have had nothing to do, and which
the mismanagement of our own officials
had in fact created. Of Lord Dalhousic's
general government it would be premature to
give the history; but this we may say, that a
more overrated and self-sufficient personage
never held the reins of power in any country;
while we are sure that the course of absorption
and confiscation of native States and Jaghires
which he is pursuing will bring its own punish-
ment with it, and sow the seeds of innumerable
disturbances after he shall have left India.

In making this résumé of Indian history
under her British conquerors it may be asked
how it comes that we have so little progress
in the condition of the people to record? The
fact is, that, excepting at the Presidencies, the
condition of the people has everywhere retro-
graded ; aud, with those exceptions, it is not
new cities, but the ruins of old ones, that
everywhere meet the eye of the traveller
through British India. If ever he comes
across a fine old town still bearing about it the
marks of prosperity, he may be sure, without
inquiry, that it is the capital of some native
State that has not yet been annexed. The
cause of this is, that we have everywhere des-
troyed the ancient foundations of property
and prosperity without creating new ones.
The old feudal estates have been confiscated
without our affording, by means of permanent
settlements and the sale of land, the oppor-
tunities necessary to enable a new class of
proprietors to spring up in place of those who
have been thus extinguished. After reducing
all in India to one dead level, we have with-
held from the natives all power of rising above
it. A society so constituted rests on false
foundations ; for no country can flourish in
which the element of a prosperous landed
proprietary is wanting. If the Company would
relax its laws on the subject of settle-
ments and sales a substantial proprietary
would soon spring up ; but capitalists will
not be content with the position of serfs ;
and, while that is the best position the