The Express.
London, England, 1849-06-11 00:00:00

Anil results of much compression, than we do the con-
sequence even of the liberated democracy of France.

NOT one of oar novelists ever invented or repro-
duced a scene of such striking interest as that pour-
trayed in a few supplementary sheets lately added to
the Punjaub papers. Lord DALHOUSIE having deter-
mined to put au end to the Sikh empire, to throw
the little Maharaja), though guilty of neither fault
nor crime, down from his throne into captivity, de-
dined enacting each a part himself, but sent Mr.
ELtiorr to perform it. That functionary having
executed his order, has written an ill-natured account
of it quits in harmony with tha spirit that perpe-
trated it.
What previous means were used to bring the Sikh
sovereign and his councillors to such an act of pros-
tration may be supposed, but are not recounted.
When we see wild animals tamed, we cannot but ad-
mire their docility, forgetting the blows, and the
starvation, and the searing iron necessary to bring
their wild and independent nature down to
such unnatural submission. In this inetanoe
the British operator does not directly tell the
measures of coercion employed to induce
the little Maharajah to give up his throne, but he lets
it be seen, when he relates that the boy-king seised
the pen and signed his abdication with a hurried
gest, and a momentary sa.ile, in the fear that reluc-
tance or delay might draw down the forfeiture of the
retiring pittance promised him by his dethronere.
That the old councillors of the Sikh court and
cabinet should be reluctant to attend and to perform at
such a scene, is but too natural. TEJ SINGH
excused himself on the plea of dines. Bat the inex-
orable ELLIOTT would admit of no excuse. He drags
poor TEJ SINGH to perform his part in the dethrone-
ment of his sovereign, and taunts him for having offered
the venial excite() of feigned illness. TEJ SINGH,
however, did not forget his dignity, and when called
to speak, he reminded the English commissary
That the kings of Europe, when they first humbled
NAPOLEON, did not dethrone him, bat offered
him his em i
re to reign over in independence. Pcor
DEENA NATH was mere cast down. He
looked upon the son of his great master, Rutogirr
SINGH, forced to strip off the robes of royalty, to lay
down his crown, to give up his jewels and his
wealth. Such a sight might well have made DEENA
NATH look sad and mournful. And what English-
man is there who, admitting even the necessity of
annexation, would not pity little DHULEEP, and
honour the natural and profound regrets of
his aged councillor? Not 83 Mr. Etuorr.
He takes care to tell ns that DEENA NATH
had no sympathy for his sovereign, no feeling fur his
country, he was merely affected for his own salaries
and jeglaires. We defy any novelist to depict a
character so mean, and so full of mean sentiments, as
Mr. ELLIOTT here depicts himself. lie had a nasty part
to perform, but he need not have made it more nasty
by such uncalled for reflections, such sneers upon the
poor Sikhs, at the very moment that he was robbing
them. _ _ _

Robbery may seem a hard word ; but is it an
untrue or unjust one? The little Maharajah DHULEEP
was not only obliged to abdicate his throne, but to
give u•+ the jewels that his father left him. The cele-
brated Koh-i-nor, or " fountain of light"—that big
diamond, fated never to change bands but by a crime
—is made the object of a special clause. Tee Maha-
rajah is commanded to give it up in order that it may
adorn the crown of Queen VICTORIA. A knowledge
of how this diamond was procured must be sedulously
concealed from the Queen. For we are confident,
that did she know it to have been rudely snatched, as
it has been, from the crown of an innocent and hap-
less young sovereign, never should the fruit cf such
unwarrantable and infamous rapacity be seen to acorn
her gracious brow.
These papers contain an autopsy, or post
tnortem examination of the Punjaub, which it
declares to be in an exhausted state, inca-
pable of prolonged existence, and with its
vital organs corrupted and decayed. The official chi-
rurgeons having thasperformed theirlast offices by the
dead, they leave the carcase to be pounced upon by a
new flight of their brethren, who come to prey upon
its subetance. The last Casettes 'rem India contain
a list of the happy gentlemen who are to carve their
filteen hundreds and two thousands a yr ar out of the
Paejaub. Seventy thousand a year is allotted to
these supreme officials, amongst whom we see the
muses of all those who distinguished themselves by
hatred and rivalry towards the Sikhs, and who in
many instances drove them into rebellion and war.
Verily, these gentlemen have got their reward.
We are sorry to see in these papers the principle of
absorbing all native powers, and annexing their
dominions, to be adopted by_the Governor-General,
not so much as a necessity, but as a desirable and
politic thing. As this is the very reverse of
all past Indian policy, at least in theory, and
certainly of the popular sentiment bath in the coun-
try and in parliament, it will be for the House of
Commons to look to it. Not only is the bus
declared our boundary, but a large portion of the
trans-Indus territory is declared to be annexed too.
And with enterprising governors like Major
EDWARDES, and suspicious and restless ones like
Captain Aenorr, we shall soon be on our old terms
of hostility with DOST MOHAMED and his relatives.
On nothing, indeed, does the Governor-General
more insist than on the necessity of rosining Pesha-
war, and of keeping an advanced poet beyond
the Indus to the very foot of the Khyber Pais. The
Economist told us last week that we could push
steamers and their cargoes up as far up as Jellalabad.
The same flattering tale of a lucrative trade with cen-
tral India is told now over again with fresh embel-
lishments. And having got nit already beyond the
Indus, we shall soon be driven by the Boards of
Trade and Control, in alliance with the Horse guards
and the Admiralty, to the Ozus and the Caspian, unless
parliament take the matter seriously into its consider-
ation.

THERE could not be a more docileteamto drive than
the farmers were wont to furnish. To the hustings
or the hall they could be driven, wheelers and leaders,
without the one being even restive, or the other once
turning round. Now they break loose on all occa-
sions. Ni matter to what they are harnessed, they
kick, ,mash, and fly off in a score of direction..
A mectiag was held at the Shire-hall of Gloucester
on Saturday, of which the object was apparently to
harness the farmers to Mr. DISRAELI'S little
go-cart, the Hinging of local taxation off the land
upon the industry of the country. But none, even of
the farmers, could be got to draw steadily this
ricketty conveyance. Even Mr. I. KERSHAW, who
had the especial charge of it, soon Bung Mr. DISRAELI
retllwaspdalh
.ebyditwchhi,chinevoerdryerpotot
ostaf get:
toisortecothsethid.
intinraxlith'en of 63." Instead of recom-
mending any of the nice, safe, little manipu-
lations of No. 17, Old Bondetreet, Mr. KER-
SHAW started the very broad, very radical, and
only efficient remedy for existing distress, namely :
.One-fourth off the taxes, and one-fourth off the
rents." If the farmers will but follow the counsel
that Mr. KERSHAW'S own conscience suggeste, in-
stead of the resolution which Old Bond-street gave
him to propose, they will go on and prooper.
Cheap government, the genuine corollary of free
trade, was the sentiment with which his owa com-
mon sense inspired Mr. PETER MATTHEWS. He
was eloquent upon it. But his protectionist prompters
gave him another theme on which he got so much
astray, that we doubt if he could tell himself what he
was driving at. He too, however, was for great re-
ductions in rent and taxation. So liberal, indeed
were the tenant farmers, that Lord Duax, although
he evidently attended the meeting in order to stem a
protectionist tide, was on the contrary carried away
by the movement for economy and reform.
" Mr. Matthews," mid Lard Doris, " oomplaised of the
want of cheap government. So ad he. That gentleman
wanted to have a redaction in local rates. So dial/. Well,
rogiollndottorathinjaoententtinga. "Tthmilheennhmtepat :3. 11_111"tiliZnithwilathweifaevourmagistraseassid lichteerur in Wir
dmesm.
So was he. They mid that the present distrera was owing Se
the torn laws of three menthe old. (4 Oh, oh, falte,"and a
cry of ' three yeah.') Three years I why they had had
own at 10.55. within that period. The real cause of the dis-
tress was the bad crop, and infamous quality of last year.
Why, good men was now worth 605."
Finally, the meeting was about equally divided be-
tween the DISHAIIII motion and one of Mr. GRANT-
LIT BEaKELET, demanding an entire revisal of
taxation.
- Whether we contemplate the discussion or its re-
salt in a meeting of agriculturists, we cannot bat
consider both as highly satisfactory, and as a sign
that right sentiment and independent feeling ire
making fast way amongst the farmer class. But it is