The Press.
London, England, 1858-02-13 00:00:00

THE PRESS, FEBRUARY 13, 1858.

154

troversy which should put the friends of religion on

their guard.
Lord J. RUSSELL denied that the existing machi-
nery for inquiry was sufficient. The official inspec-
tors of schools were already overburdened with work,
and had besides no authority to pursue investigations
into any other than the establishments under the
supervision of the Privy Council on Education. In
these schools there wero about 530,000 scholars,
while the whole number of children receiving educa-
tion in various ways was more than two millions, and
at least three millions more were growing up in
ignorance. There was, therefore, much to be learnt
and much to be done, and he was persuaded that the
proposed inquiry by a royal commission would prove
highly useful in collecting facts and preparing the
way for legislation.
Sir J. PAKINGTON, in his reply, proposed to omit
the words in his resolution, " whether the present
system is or is not sufficient for its object."
Mr. COWPER assented to the motion in that form.

Mr. HADFIELD having withdrawn his amendment,
the house divided upon she original motion as
amended by Sir J. Pakington, which waa carried by
110 to 49. _ _ _

On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHE-
QUER, the committee on savings-banks was nomi-
nated.

Sir J. TRELAWNY obtained leave to bring in a
bill for the abolition of church rates.

Lady Havelock and Sir Henry Havelock's Annuities
Bill was read a third time and passed.
The house adjourned at five minutes before one
o'clock.

NOTICES OF MOTION.

TUESDAY.
Mr. GREER—that on an early day he should move that a com-
mittee be appointed to inquire into the nature, ongin, and
extent of the tenant right custom in Ireland.
Mr. CAlRO—that on that day fortnight he should move for
leave to bring in a bill to provide for the cullectiou of agricul-
tural statistics in England and Wales.
Lord Besx—that on an early day he should move for leave to
loiroduce a bill to legalise marriage with a deceased wife's
sister.
Mr.

when the Navy Estimates came under
consideration, he should move that a sufficient additional sum
be voted to her Majesty, the amount of which he should be pre-
pared to state at the time, in order that the wages of the ill-paid
dockyard labourers might be increased.

THURSDAY.
Lord ERURY—that on an early day after Easter he should
move an address to the Queen for the appointmtut of a royal
commission of learned and discreet persons to consider the
liturgy and services of the Established Church.

THE WIVES AND FAMILIES OF OUR
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS.
THE distress which prevails among the wives and
families of oar 40,000 soldiers now on foreign ser-
vice has attracted the attention and enlisted the
sympathies of certain actively benevolent persons.
A public meeting was called on Wednesday at
Willis's-rooms, when his Royal Highness the Duke
of Cambridge presided, and addressed a crowded
audience with effect. Alluding to the condition of
the married soldier, the duke spoke against matri-
mony in the army :
I am persuaded that a more unfortunate thing for the
service could not happen than to encourage the marriage
of soldiers ; and for this simple reason, that a soldier
taken individually is a man well to do in his class of life,
whereas a married soldier has unquestionably to struggle
hard to gain his daily bread, and not his own bread
only, but the bread of those who are dependent on him.
In fact, a married soldier and his wife and children are
placed in such a painful and unfortunate position that I
am satisfied that those who consider the subject, whether
military men or civilians, can arrive at but one conclu-
sion with respect to it.
His Royal Highness then described the objects to
be attained by the institute proposed to be estab-
lished as being to encourage the honest and hard
working, to obtain employment for such as are in a
position to work for their living, and to send the
children of the association to school.
Lord SHAFTESBURY moved the first resolution,
which was seconded by Sir J. PAKINGTON, who
alluded in the course of his speech to the charges
brought against the Patriotic Fund committee :
Nothing could be more base and unworthy than to pro-
stitute a great and noble charity to purposes of religious
proselytism. Of the thousands who had fought and bled
by the side of his Royal Highness in the bard-fought fields
of the Crimea, no small proportion consisted of Roman
Catholics from the sister country. Of that large army
which had gone to India, a large proportion again con-
aisted of Roman Catholics, and God forbid that in re-
lieving their wives and families, and when acting in the
sacred name of charity, they should ever be influenced by
such unworthy considerations. The imputation might
indeed be raised against them, but, at all events, they
would not deserve it.
Various other resolutions were proposed, a com-
mittee appointed, and a subscription-list opened
before the proceedings terminated.

strain of this unnatural war—so fierce the work
do. Your readers will also remember how Sir Colin)
advancing from Allahabad and concentrating his
force at Alumbagh, prepared to baffle the horde of
murderers that were hanging about the Residency
of Lucknow. He reached the suburbs of the cit.),
—a place of narrow, dark, tortuous lanes—and,
taking his point d'appui, began fighting for the Resi-
dency. A line of strong posts, needing only occupa-
tion, stretched between him and its walls, and these
were won and garrisoned in rapid succession. The
last of them, " Banks'-house," as it was called, com-
pleted the line, and " rested," in military phrase,
upon the Residency. This done, a furious can-
nonade was opened upon that part of the enemy's
position which expected attack from us, and at mid-
night the garrison was silently withdrawn under
cover of this feint. Each exterior line of the rescued
retired through its covering picket, and Sir Cohn
waited " to crush the enemy," had the plot been
detected by him and opposed. Sir James Outram,
Sir Henry Havelock, and Sir Colin Campbell met at
last on that dark November night, and the sepuy
wolves were baulked of their bloody feast. Of course,
before so perfect a plan could be carried out, much
hard fighting was to be done. At the storming of
the Secunderabagh, in which Sir Colin established
his position, feats of arms were wrought that deserve
a Froissart for narrator. Our blue-jackets and big
guns, under Captain Peel, came into fine work here.
That gallant gentleman, dissatisfied with the work
his little pets were doing, carried them with a cheer
right under the walls of fort, and at fifty yards'
distance blew defence and defenders to the winds.
" Never," says the commander-in-chief, " had 1 seen
anything like that in war;" and he adds, with a
licensed waggery, " the captain took up his position
as though he had been laying the Shannon yard-
arm and yardarm alongside a frigate." And when
the gates were breached, and the dark entrance
open, our men poured in like a torrent. The long
covered corridor was piled and filled with bodies,
behind and upon which the fresh-corners fought in
blood and smoke and twilight till English rage and
English steel settled it, and the frantio defenders of
that desperate passage ebbed out at its inner end.
Then began, too, a stern work. No quarter given or
asked, but all of those steaming heaps that had lire
to lose were dragged forth and silently and swiftly
passed into their punishment. By such men and in
such a conflict Lucknow was regained.
Leaving Sir James Outram at Alumbagh, where
he still overawes the subjected city with some .1,000
men, Sir Colin Campbell passed on to Cawnpore.
His train of ladies, children, sick and wounded, ex-
tended on the dusty road for six long miles, and these
were all to be guarded and Cawnpore quickly reached,
where his presence and aid were indispensable. The
Gwalior Contingent, which had long hung about
General Windham's camp there, had at last tempted
him out into the field, but it seems clear that the
general was deceived or had bad information, for
he met, and gained some success in his meeting,
with what was clearly only the advanced guard of the
rebel contingent. This took place about eight miles
frum the city, to which with two captured guns the
general retreated. This was the 26th. On the 27tli
the united insurgent army drew near, attacked and
drove in our force, who were obliged to abandon bag
and baggage and find safety in the intrenchnieuts.
On the 2rtth the enemy held Cawnpore, looting
the camp, and, among other bitter insults, hanging up
on our own gibbet poor Captain Mackinnon, who had
by a sad mischance fallen into their hands.
What would have come of this is more than most
would like to say had Lucknow detained Sir Colin.
But on the 29th the first dawn showed the com-
mander's white tents under the sandhills of Cawn-
pore, and after him, over the bridge of boats, and
occasionally fired at, came his men and their convoy.
The ladies and sick were either put in safety or
despatched to Allahabad, and Sir Cohn again girt
him for battle." On the 6th he opened a tremendous
cannonade, a verticle and horizontal fire, before
which the rebels gradually melted. On the 7th they
abandoned ail they held in the town, and on the
evening of that day, seven or eight miles outside it,
got their last thrashing from the commander's
column of pursuit.
This in its totality has been Sir Colin's Christmas
work. The details of the last success are not supplied
e
yet. But what I have given you will illustrate and
xplain those authorities which I send you for the
good news, and from them you will learn what littla
else there is to interest your readers from Bombay
and Madras.

LORD CANNING'S INDIAN POLICY.
A PARLIAMENTARY PAPER, published on Saturday
morning last, gives a copy of the letter of Viscount
Canning (in council), dated the 11th of December,
1557 ( No. 144), in defence of his Indian policy, with
sundry iuclosures. Lord Canning's letter of D. c. 11
enters into a detailed explanation of the measures
taken for the punishment of those who have been