The Press.
London, England, 1857-08-15 00:00:00

THE PRESS, AUGUST 15, 1857.

showed that warnings had been received and ne-
glected by the Government months previous to the
outbreak which took place :
Thus the tiovernor-General had evidence in January,
February, March, and April warning him of the mutinies
among the troops on the subject of religion, and that they
said they were determined to die for their religion. The
idea had been disseminated ever since 1831 that the Go-
vernment were making war upon caste, upon the laws of
inheritance, and the fundamental customs of the Hindoos,
and the natives believed that the Government meant to
overthrow their religion. Yet on the 7th of February, in
the midst of all these warnings, Lord Canningwrote to say
that three regiments might be withdrawn from India for
the China war. Indian troops were also wanted for the
war with Persia—a war undertaken with no other plain
reason that he had ever heard except that the Shah had
not modelled his epistolary correspondence on the examples
of the Polite Letter Writer. Lord Canning rightly said that
he could not spare more than three regiments, that he daily
received communications telling him of fresh mutinies,
and that he had issued repeated proclamations assuring the
people that the last thing the Government intended to do
was to meddle with their caste or their religion. But, un-
fortunately, the people would not now believe these prows-
tations. This was the effect of the radical blunder that had
been committed. If they chose to embark in such a policy
as he had described, they ought first to have collected an
adequate armed force around them. He had it from high
military authority that if they really meant to overthrow
and root out the institution of caste, according to the re•
commendation of the writer in the Tinter, they must have,
not 56,0(X), but 300,000 men for the purpose. It was clear,
therefore, that the nature of their policy was as important
an element in this question as the number of their troops.
When the hon. member for Lambeth told them they ought
to be governed by the opinions of eminent military men he
seemed to forget that when such men men gave their
opinions they were never acted upon. They had had
warnings as to the rotten condition of the Bengal army
from Sir C. Napier, from Lord Melville, from Brigadier
Jacob, and a dozen other high authorities ; but those
warnings had remained unheeded. Even General Hearsey
told them, quoting the language of Lord Metcalfe, " I fear
we shall wake up some fine morning, and find that her
Majesty has lost India." He maintained, then, that the
Government had shown neither watchfulness, foresight,
nor judgment; otherwise they would long since have dis-
covered the real state of things in India.

Mr. V. SMITH protested with considerable warmth
against the assertion, which he denied, that the Go-
vernment were not aware of the gravity of the events
in India, but he defied Mr. Whiteside to show from
the papers that " any person in India had the least
suspicion of a general rising of the sepoys in the
Bengal army." In conclusion, be defended the
conduct and policy, as well as the judgment and
vigour, displayed by Lord Canning.
Mr. DISRAELI, briefly expressing his surprise at
the tone adopted by Mr. Smith in replying to Mr.
Whiteside, passed on at once to consider the more
important question brought before the house by Sir
De Lacy Evans, and observed that be could not
consider Lord Palmerston's reply quite as satisfac-
tory as he should have wished : '
I must observe of the noble lord's reply that he under-
rated our position in India, and overrated the disposition
of Europe; and these are very dangerous sentiments on
the part of a Prime Minister of this country. I agree
with the hon. baronet the member for Buckingham, that
the state of affairs is most grave ; and I think it is much
to Le regretted that from the first, on the part both of the
Government and of the country—the country, of course,
taking its tone from the Government—there has not been
a due sense of the vast and imminent danger to our em-
pire and to our national power which in my conscience I
believe to exist. and which, though it ought not to appal
us, is one for which we should be thoroughly prepared. I
think there is no mistake so great on the part of a Minister
as to undervalue public peril. Certainly there is no greater
mistake on the part of an English Minister. The English
nation is never so great as in the moment of adversity.
In prosperity it may be accused, and very justly, of being
ostentatious and, perhaps, insolent; in its middle fortunes
it may often prove itself unreasonable; but there never
has been a time when a great sense of responsibility has
been thrown upon the people of this country when they
have not answered to the occasion, and shown that match-
less energy which has made, and will maintain, their
position as the leading nation of the world. (Cheers.)
The opinion of the noble lord, however, seems to be
either ►hat the emergency is not so great as I believe, or
that if it is so we shoulci veil its hideous proportions from
the people of this country. In either case I think the
noble lord's opinion is erroneous. The noble lord says
to-night—" This is an affair of pounds, shillings, and
pence. We are going to do something, but more we can-
not do, because we must look to the resources at our
disposal." Now, that is not a proper tone to take. If the
noble long really believes the empire is in danger it is not
becoming in him to say that the resources at his disposal
are limited, and that the measures he adopts in such a
great emergency must of course Le of a proportionate
character.

A 1 g cursorily to the views he had expressed a
few weeks since upon India, and to the acknowledged
fact that the present disaffection in the army was
rapidly spreading among the native people and
princes, the right bon. member expressed a doubt
whether the Government were adopting measures
adequate to the crisis :
Ile has mentioned the troops which may be expected
soon to assemble in India and the resources on which he

counts. He says if more should be wanted he can call
Parliament together and can appeal to the House of Com-
mons and the country ; and no doubt he will then obtain
sufficient support to undertake any other measures that
may be required. But what I want to impress on the
house is this,—the present year is gone. This is a Cain.
paign, and, of course, from the nature of time cirenm-
anuices, from the surprise of the whole affair, a most
disastrous campaign. The gallant general had indulged
in the hope that Delhi is taken. Ido not indulge in that
belief, and I think it unwise that a person of the gallant
general's authority, unless he has strong reason for the
conviction, should give weight to such a rumour, because
I conceive that you will never get the people of this
country to brace up their energies to the necessary point
if they suppose that the next mail will bring intelligence
of some event which will induce them to rank this affair
with a Chinese or Persian war. _

SitDx L. EVANS: I did not express any confidence in
the event alluded to.

Mr. DISRAELI : It is not my wish to misrepresent the
gallant general, but I think it is much better to have the
impression that Delhi is not fallen, or will not fall easily,
in order that we may be ready to meet that probable result
by a preparation of our resources accordingly.
We will assume, for it is probable, that in the present
year we shall do nothing. The commencement of the
next campaign will be in November. Now, what I wish
to impress on the house and the country is that everything
depends on the next campaign. All Europe and Asia will
watch your efforts, and if lour efforts and energies are
adequate, commencing in November, the opportunity will
be at your command, and you may save your empire and
establish it with renewed force and vigour. (Hear, hear.)
But if in the next campaign you have varying fortunes,
and nothing determined and decisive—if it is to be an
affair of campaigns, and you enter into a third campaign,
you will then find other characters on the stage, with
whom you will have to contend, besides the princes of
India. (Cheers.)
The noble lord says the business of a Minister is not
to underrate the danger, but at the same time he ought
not to take an exaggerated view of it. That is one of
those platitudes which really convey no meaning ; but I
maintain that it is the duty of the Minister to make him-
self thoroughly master of the circumstances with which
he has to deal, and to form a sound and prescient opinion
on what may occur. (Hear, hear.) We have had before
great trials—we have been despoiled of rich territories
and seen our empire shaken; but surely in the past we
might see some vision of the future if the present is to
be governed by negligence and indifference, and by a
Minister who systematically depreciates the danger you
have to encounter. (Cheers.) The other night 7,•0u
passed a resolution to the effect that you will rally round
and support the Crown in the present danger. What good
does a resolution of that kind ? A resolution formed after
due deliberation—formed upon ample knowledge of the
subject—a resolution of such a nature doubtless gives
moral support to the Minister and lends strength to the
Crown ; but a resolution, the creature of perplexity and
ignorance, does no !rood• to the Minister and adds no
strength to the Crown. It really does harm, because it
conveys throughout the country the notion that the House
of Commons is doing something when in fact it is doing
nothing. (Hear, hear.) At the commencement of our
American troubles there never occurred a disaster or a
danger but a member of Parliament was at baud to pro-
pose a resolution of confidence in the Minister or for the
support of the Throne ; and what did it all cud in ? (Hear,
hear.) The course of events will always baffle mere
words, and a resolution of the House of Commons, unless
it embody a policy and be the expression of an assembly
which knows what it is about, gives no strength to the
Minister, but only misleads the nation. (Hear, hear.)
That is the position in which we are placed at the present
moment. There is not in the house or in the country a
due sense of the gravity of the emergency. Viewed by
itself, it would respire our utmost energies to meet; but
he who views the present state of affairs in an isolated
manner is unworthy of being the Minister of this country.
(Hear, hear.)
I heard with peat pleasute from the right hon. gentle-
man that a large body of irregular troops was coming from
the Punjaub to assist us in our campaigns. I am disposed
to be generally sanguine, and I have little doubt that,
under the guidance of the energetic and able men that
our military force still possesses, we may expect very bene-
ficial results from that movement. But if we could com-
bine with that movement an expedition up the Indus, then
success, I think, would be certain instead of problematical;
and you may rely on it that unless your operations in the
next campaign, on which all depends, are on a great
scale—unless you throw the lion's paw of England over
the whole of the peninsula, by advancing from the
Punjaub on one side, and by ascending the Indus on the
other,—unless you act with that decision and on that
great scale, it is doubtful 'whether you will effect your
object. (Hear, hear.) I do not say that the resources
you indicate will allow of operations of that kind, but I
do not think that anything should be left to chance, and
your expeditions should therefore be on a great scale.
The noble lord says that it is difficult to induce men to
enlist. The ordinary motives for enlistment are supplied
by bounty and pension ; but depend on it that one means
by which more than by any other you may induce men
to enlist in the service of their sovereign is by impress-
ing on them that their country is in danger. (Hear,
hear.) The moment you raise in the country a high
feeling you will find that you have a motive power which
will effect your purpose as forcibly as bounties or pensions.
(Hear, hear.)
The people of this country, however, do not understand
the danger in which they are placed. The scene is remote
from them ; they listen to persons in high places, from
whom they naturally take their tone, and they infer that
the country is not in danger. ]low was this awful busi•

---
seas related to us? The President of the Board of
Control got up and told us that the Governor-General of
India wrote in high spirits; and the right hon. gentleman
is now irritated because the conduct of Lord Canning
is criticised. lam not disposed to speak of Lord
Canning with any severity. He has had little experience
in India, and is little responsible for the state of that
country. I believe it to be a fact that he has displayed no
ordinary energy in the present state of affairs. It is
some consolation to see that there is anybody who dis-
plays energy, and therefore do not let us grudge to him
the credit which that noble virtue should command.
(Hear, hear.) But no one can deny that Lord Canning
was caught napping, and that his first measures showed
him to be irresolute and vacillating, from no moral defect,
hut from the position in which he was placed. I cannot
shut my eyes to the fact that Lord Canning is very little
responsible for the position of affairs in India ; but he
is surrounded by men who have created that position of
affairs which has resulted in such disaster—( Hear, hear)
—they are the very men who have been the private
councillors during the last ten years, and they are the
very men whose conceit and arrogance have endangered
the Indian empire. \Ve must not repose, then, with con-
fidence on Lord Canning when the Council of India is
composed of individuals who are the prime criminals, and
who ought to be called to account for the present state of
affairs. \Ve must remember that the Governor-General
of 1 ndia is Lot an isolated individual, and that when we
criticise his policy we criticise the policy and conduct of
those who, as it were, have been bred arid born in that very
system which has broken up with—l will not say such
fatal—but with such humiliating and disastrous conse-
quences. (Hear, hear.)

With these general views I am of opinion that the noble
lord has altogether from the first underrated the state of
affairs in India, and I cannot agree with the noble lord—
although I should not have introduced the subject—in his
views of the disposition of the European powers. I
should have treated the subject abstractedly: I should
have said that I could only suppose that the great powers
of Europe would behave, probably, at a moment of
danger anti etowittoney to England, as the great powers
of Europe have believed before. ( A laugh.) What is the
state of affairs? What has happened within the last few
days ? What was it that induced me to make the inquiry
of the noble lord to-night about the strange proceedings
that have happened at Constantinople? (Hear, hear.)
Why, if it hal not been for the absorbing interest which
the state of India commands, you would have had a much
more agitated Parliament about what has taken place in
Constantinople than about what has occurred in India,
while out of doors, no doubt, you might have excited
much moro public passion and feeling than at present. All
this, however, is now hushed over, and though I was told
to•night, and have heard with great satisfaction, that those
circumstances will lead to no estrangement between Eng-
land and France, I only understand that that is so because
the noble lord has renounced the whole of his policy, and
has, in a manner which I think must astonish everyone,
absolutely agreed that all that arrangement by which he
has been agitating that part of the country in so
unsatisfactory a manner for a very considerable time
must at once he cancelled and blotted out from the record
of his political deeds:—We are in a position of perfect and
complete alliance with France because under the pressure
of circumstances we have entirely changed our policy.
(Cheers.)

Yet the noble lord says that there is nothing in the
disposition of any European power which ought to occa-
sion us the least annoyance. Sir, 1 would not trust the dis-
position of powers more than the disposition of individuals.
When men are in great estate, possessed of all the accidents
of fortune, and living in the sunshine of perfect prosperity,
they have a great many friends who have confidence in
them, who admire them, who compliment their courage and
their pluck and their power; but when the hour of disaster
comes, when we lose our fortur.e and our high estate, when
we are supposed to be in great perils and difficulties, it is
astonishing how those individuals will walk on the other
aide of the way and pass us unnoticed, or, if we appeal to
them for character and support, how they wilt either refuse
to know us, or will say something probably that will be to
our disadvantage. (Hear, hear.)

Sir, I have more confidence in the spirit of this
country—so high as it is at present, and in its resources—
so ample as they now are, if wisely administered, than I
have at this moment in any European alliances, or in any
policy which would depreciate the real dangers that we
have to encounter in our own dependencies. t Hear.) We
must meet those dangers with stern, unbending courage.
Onr resources must be upon a greater scale than they have
yet been stated in the expansive project of the Government.
Etch week, indeed, they seem to take a more serious view
of the situation ; but the original vice of the mean and
small conception with which the intelligence of these dis-
asters was first received still is impressed upon all their
plans. They are not large. enough, or deep enough, or
comprehensive enough. If we get into a third campaign,
which will be the inevitable consequence of our not avail-
ing ourselves of the resources of the country in a proper
manner, depend upon it we shall be on the eve of a great
disaster for England. At present it is my solemn convic-
tion that if we make up our minds thoroughly to combat
the difficulties which we have to encounter, we must bring
an irresistible force into India before eight months are
over, and we must accompany that irresistible force with
some announcement of a policy which 150,000,0000 f people
may rally round with confidence and hope. So acting, it is
my conviction that we may emerge from this struggle, not
with shorn powers, not with diminished lustre, but with
that increased character which always avails to those who
show their confidence in themselves, and who possess
energies which they can use with effect. Then, sir, we
may still hold India, we may still maintain our empire,
and we may continue to enjoy those amiable dispositions