The Press.
London, England, 1857-06-27 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

SATURDAY,

is one peculiarly appropriate to the present hot season ; and we won-
der whether the loungers at the bow windows of the Trafalgar, or the
boats' crews of Londoners pulling lazily along between Teddington and
Richmond one mellow Sunday evening at Midsummer, ever reflect upon
the misery of passing such hours in a steaming garret or a reeking gin-
shop in Whitechapel. There is, doubtless, a wide difference between
claret-cup and cream of the valley; but it scarcely represents a tithe
of the difference between the sensations of one breathing the atmo-
sphere of St. Giles's and another who is fanned by the breezes of
Richmond-hill, and lulled by the ripple of a river, that would not
know his own waters twenty miles further down. It is, then, for the
benefit of all our poorer fellow-citizens that we most earnestly
entreat the Board of Works not to be negligent about the good
work before them. Hampstead-heath already exists as a most
accessible and refreshing outlet for the population of North
London. Let it be the business of those who have the
power to watch most carefully over its preservation. Fins-
bury-park would provide such another. We are told that these
are charitable times ; but no greater charity could be extended to the
poor of London than the formation of localities in which their
children might often be removed from the corruption and contagion of
courts and alleys, and they themselves find a resouroe that would.
wean them from the ordinary temptations of a London Sunday
evening. It is then that numbers of the youth of this metropolis
make their first acquaintance with vice; and it is then that the con-
versation of vitiated companions, and the example of older offenders,
leads them to the first familiarity with crime.

The next Tndian mail is anticipated at least eagerly if not with
apprehension by the Government, for there is no concealing the fact
that if the state of India, with dissension among the Europeans and
dissatisfaction among the natives, is felt to be critical, the Government
at Calcutta, it must be acknowledged, is known to be irresolute. It is
in a state of suspended animation. Difficulties arc thickening round
Lord CANNING. The crisis demands a firm and manly course of con-
duct—a course to which all love of ease, all desire for retirement,
weariness of office, or dislike of responsibility, must be sacrificed ; and
we trust that the Government of Calcutta will by their conduct inspire
confidence in their power to check and suppress the disaffection in the
native army, and by wise, temperate, and 4.onsistent measures restore
British India to her usual tranquillity. With regard to the
grievances of the Sepoys, they should be inquired into and
redressed, and at the same time the British forces in
India should be largely augmented. A point ranch discussed in
connection with these Sepoy mutinies is the peculiar system the East
India Company adopt of filling up their diplomatic and civil appoint-
ments by regimental officers, and, in consequence, keeping for duty at
the head-quarters of their regiments a number of officers wholly inade-
quate to the regimental duties. The system is fraught with serious
evils, and these mutinies may to some extent be accepted as one result
of such mistaken economy. In THE PRESS of June 7th, 1856, we ob-
served :—" It would appear from the latest accounts that the Indian
" army is rapidly approaching a point in respect of under-officering
" beyond which it will be in the highest degree unsafe to go ;" and,
discussing the effect of the system upon the army, we remarked :

Now, without officers, regiments are at the best but imperfect machines ; discipline
is neglected, orders are unheeded, and all soldierly feelings and habits are forgotten.
That is the best state of things that can happen under such a want, if so long continued
as to be an habitually prevailing one. The worst state it is fearful to contemplate, and
will be unnecessary to describe. Those, however, can easily imagine it who know that
our native soldiery in India is composed of men who are not our countrymen, and who
bear towards us no feelings of natural allegiance ; men who are kept well affected to us
solely by the habit of being commanded by us, by the readiness with which we listen to
and redress their grievances, by liberal pensions well secured to them, and by regularly
issued and most excellent pay.
I •
The soundness and suggestiveness of these remarks every'one must
admit. Twelve months have scarcely passed before we see certain
Sepoy grievances, real or imaginary, not redressed, and in a moment
the unofficered native army is quivering upon the verge of open revolt.
We repeat now what we suggested then to the Indian Government.
Establish a staff corps—that is to say, place all officers employed upon
permanent duties apart from the regiments upon full-pay unattached,
filling up their vacancies in the regimental lists by the promotion in
succession of the officers below them—and the difficulty and danger
of the position will cease at once. General ANSON'S SelllollB atten-
tion was drawn to the existing evil last year, but his strong represen-
tations were neglected by the East India Company The time has
come when some effective step must be taken. The regimental
duties of each corps must be no longer neglected, while the. position
and influence of the British officer attached to the, Company's
regiments should be more accurately defined. The day of the
civilian is passed in India. It is to the soldier that in future the great
diplomatic and civil prizes will be awarded. They have proved them-
selves incomparably the most able administrators British India has
ever possessed ; and it is to the army entirely that we shall in future
look for fit men to fill the most valuable administrative appointments
in India. It is clear that the regimental duties of officers so withdrawn
from their men can only be performed by a substitute in full. The
formation of a staff corps is the simplest and best plan, and one re-
commended by the highest authorities upon the subject.

Her Majesty the Queen enjoyed her usual good fortune in
weather at the great ceremony of yesterday. It was a most brilliant
June day ; but it was intensely hot. At the moment that the royal.
cortege came upon the ground the scene was most animated and
effective. Aud the event was a great and noble one. The inauguration