The Press.
London, England, 1857-08-01 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1857.

No. 222.—V0L. V.

Vress.

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1857.

AMID the mass of rubbish uttered by the
Ministers and their organs upon the subject
of India, the magnificent speech delivered by
Mr. DISRAELI on Monday last stands out in
bold relief. The Right Hon. Gentleman has
won for himself the most distinguished position
as an authority upon Indian affairs by the accu-
rate knowledge he displayed of the nature of the
crisis we are involved in ; of the causes from
which it sprang, and the proportions which
under Ministerial mismanagement it seems

probable it may reach ; while finally he pointed
out with unerring sagacity the only course by
which it can effectually be met and effectually
mastered. The speech of Monday night will
be accepted by the country as the most com-
prehensive and masterly exposition of Indian
.
Dr

fices as the Bengal soldiery have made until
maddened by the ill-usage, not only of them-
selves, but of their fellow men. The atro-
cities that have been committed show how
fierce is the hatred that has been engendered
against us, and that the contest really is not
one between the Sepoys and their officers, but
between the natives and the whites. All this,
however painful, it was necessary to point out,
because it was impossible to devise a remedy
for the disease till the causes of it should have
been clearly set forth. It may suit the pur-
pose of Ministers to say that this was un-
patriotic, for it must naturally be their object to
depreciate a speech which tells so damagingly
against themselves. But this has always been
the contemptible expedient of a guilty Govern-
ment. As little weight is to be attached
to the objection made by some to Mr. DIS-
RAELVS speech that the disclosures in it were
indiscreet, as showing to foreign nations the
true nature of the struggle in which we are
engaged. Foreign nations, we may relyjupon it,
are neither blind nor,deaf. They are not depen-
dent upon speeches in the House of Commons
for the information they receive. Indeed, the
very same papers which are the loudest in urging
this objection are themselves the first to pro-
claim that the conspiracy against us has been
long known on the Continent, and that it is
Russia who has been the prime mover of the
whole affair.
We wish that we could discover in the
course pursued by the Government any dis-
position to act upon the truly noble and
patriotic principles laid down by Mr. DISRANLI.
We wish that we could see any intention
manifested of conciliating the feelings we
have outraged, and soothing down the nation-
alities we have provoked. We wish that we
could perceive any likelihood of the vengeance
to be taken on the mutineers being accom-
parried by an equally rigid dismissal from the

LATEST EDITION.

service of the Government of those through
whose misconduct the crisis has been finally
brought about. If the Sepoys are to be con-
demned, as of course they must be, for their
violence, we should be glad to see some steps
taken to punish also the officials by whose
disregard of their religious feelings, ac-
cording to the Government's own account,
that violence was caused. If the affair be one of
greased cartridges, then what penalty can be
too great to inflict upon those by whom such
cartridges were directed to be given out?
But besides this there are the other points to
meet on which Mr. DISRANLI so forcibly dwelt.
We have not only to satisfy the natives that
no further attempts shall be made upon their
religion, but we must convince them also that
we are prepared to abandon henceforth the
system of confiscating their principalities and
estates. If the Government does not do this
we can tell them that their attempts to restore
order will meet with signal failure ; and that,
no matter what news their telegraphs may
from time to time bring them, the end of all
will be utter ruin and disgrace. They may
confine the King of DUDE and his Minister,
but they will have made no impression upon
'mong the natives which
-•s of the King any
establish a

the

the people be only as wellaffeeted to us as
Ministers and the Directors state. Why, then,
do the Europeans at Calcutta pay enormous
sums for guns and revolvers, and enrol them-
selves in self-defence ? Wherefore is all this
work made about the outbreak, if it be con-
fined to the Sepoys' ranks, and if all the
rest of the people are tranauil and well dis-
posed towards our rule? The Government,
however, both here and in India show conspi-
cuously by their acts that, however desirous
they may be of blinding Parliament and the
public, they do not themselves believe the
tale that they put forth. They know as well
as we do that if the natives generally were
loyal, they need trouble themselves very little
about what a few thousand mutinous Sepoys
could do. They are aware that without aid
and without sympathy from the people they
could get neither money, nor ammunition, nor
shelter, nor food. They know that at the
mandate of each magistrate the culprits would
be fallen upon by the zemindars, and speedily
brought in, whether alive or dead. But the

the notion be to notorious and patent -facts.
But nobody is taken in by them ; they do not
even deceive themselves. They know as well
as we do that Mr. DISRAELI'S view of the crisis
is the true one. and their own version of it is
the reverse. They are not blind themselves,
nor can they blind the people of England to
the fact that the outbreak is in reality the
result of long misgovernment, and that the
mutineers are the exponents, not merely of
the military, but, which is far more important,
of the national discontent.

prezieublve KIM 1.1.121,31.G11.) c.e.p•losvay. aa
affairs, and stamps Mr. DisasEr.t as the states- that public feeling among the natty
man, who comprehends the crisis and the alone gives to the efforts of the K
policy it demands. particle of effect. They may est
The Ministerial theory of spontaneous corn- censorship, but they will have done
buation Is one that will not find ready accept, to Ow that irritation which the DV
anoe among Men of sense. The flames of of India do not create, but only exprei
mutiny do not spread in the manner those may disarm whole regiments. but I
in Bengal have done without some adequate not by that means put an end to the I
cause. Masses do not make such sacri- feelings that prevail. On the contr
Rannal getlaiPry have made until will only add fuel to the fire by

attempt to palm upon the English public a story
so absurd, only tallies with their conduct from
first to last. Blind they were in the outset,
and now they are attempting to blind others
when they can no longer deceive thetaselves.
They still cling to the hope that in the chap-
ter of accidents something favourable
turn up. As Lard ELLEN/1011011GB j 1111417 :2111
they resemble the ostrich, which, putting ILI
head into the sand, imagines that it is safe.
They aver that it is nothing but a military
mutiny, because that affords the solution most
consistent with their credit, however opposed

I