The Express.
London, England, 1857-11-28 00:00:00

_.-=-. _-.=
(stamed Id. Additional.) [TWOPENCE.

(Front Pablieole'e" letter in the Weekly Dißpatch.).

_ .
First, ma to the compeny's government in India ; is it so
meta* as many seem in haste to conclude, that it ought to
he superseded? General Thompson says no; and who
doubts General Thompson's patriotism, his philosophiad
mind, or the opportunities which be has had for actual ob-
servation and experience? As a punitive measure, the
causes for the abolition of the company have yet to be put
in proof. An empire has, indeed, grown under its hands
from very small beginnings, and those merely commercial.
Bat let it be remembered that this gradual ill-
largement of territory was at first merely dam-
sive ; that one aggression often involved another; that
mutt has been done, not by the company, but by the poli-
tical authorities In spite of the company, which has thus had
annexation forced upon it, even while protesting against the
policy. lam not pleading either for the justification of the
company, or in palliation of its doings, but simply to show
that It is not to be dismissed with a summary condemnation.

The division of responsibility, which is almoit unGilingly the
annihilation of responsibi'ty, between the directors and the
Board of Control, is doubtless a great evil. But it would,
sloe, be an enormous evil to &boll.), the company and throw
the entire patronage of India into the hands of the minister
of the day, who would be very likely to become, in that cam,
not only the minister of the day, but the minister for all time,
" till death did as pert ;" or till the full-gorged leech should
drop off from sheer repletion. India was very little to what
it is now, when the King, the Commons, and the country In-
dignantly scouted th►t bill of Fox and North which would
have mado Indian patronage a perpetuation of the Coalition
Ministry. The power which India would enable the mender
to command would be the greatest peril that can be foreeecn
to the liberties of the British people. Give its title to the
Queen, if you like, and make her Empress of liindoostan ; but
' make not Lord Pelmerston premier of Hindeostsn, which
would convoy the mastership of England. As seems to me,
it would be much better to avoid the divided responsibility
and double government by cutting away the Board of
Control, rather than the Court of Directors. Nave Mill in
parliament end in the cabinet • responsible minister for
India. There let him be answerable for the management of
the dependency and it/ accordance with the Imperial policy.
But fora council, let him have the directors, elected by a
oonatitueney presumedly interceded in India, and surrounded
by a stair of men whose lives and powers have been devoted
to an intimate knowledge of the country and its inhabitant/.
Subject to satisfactory examinations, let the patronage re-
main there; It is • wholesome middle-class patronage, free
from that aristocratic taint which inheres in government
patronage, and perverts it ever to class purposes. In some
such mode sa this, I would, se at present informed, suggest
whether the governmental part of the question might not be
disposed of.

Tile SOCIETY of ARTS: The Council of thin
Society have published the arrangementa for examinations
which they propose to substitute for them hitherto in force.
The society abandons; oral examinations, and will set papers
in London to be worked out by the candidate on the spot.
There are to be two examinations—a previous one, to he car-
ried out entirely by local boards ; and a final one, by means
of papers sent trom London, which the local boards are to
see worked. Judgment will afterwards be posed by the
Society's board of examiners, and the awards, prime, and
certificates will be communicated to the parties concerned.
The pekes and first-clma certificatm will be awarded at
some local centre of importance. The council will afford
some aid to the travelling expense of the candidates who
may desire to come up and receive their certificates.
With the view of isolating to bring the proposed titles of
"Associate in Arts of Oxford" and "Associate of Arts
of Cambridge" within the reach of the members of Watt-
lutes in union with this society, the council will grant to
each youth, not leas than 18 or more than 18 years of
ago, who shrill obtain, in 1858, three of the society's anti-
fieates of the first class in the subjects contained in the Ox-
ford and Cambridge programinre, the sum of 61. towards his
expenses, if he attends at the University and undergoes the
examination there.
FESTIVAL AT ST. GEORGE'S MlSSlON.—Thurs-
day, we learn from the Union, the annlvereari_of the open-
ing of the iron church, in Calvert-street, Wapping, wee
kept by a feetival at the parish church of St. George's in the
East. At 8 a.m., the Holy Sacrifice was offered. The cele-
bration of the holy Communion took place at eleven.
Among there present were the Hon. and Rae. R. Liddell, of
St. Paul's Ktughtsbridge, the Rev. W. 1. E. Bennet, the
Rev. W. Upton Richards, and the Revs. 0. C. White mud
A. Poole, of St. Harmless. The altar was " properly vested"
and adorned with cram, flower yams, end lights. Round the
sanctuary rich damask hangings of crimes wen placed with
• dorsal of green silk. The sanctuary was decorated with
scrolls, evergreens, and flowers, and two eases were plead
upon the &ovine at each end of the altar. The chorister*
and lay arks vested in the north-wen sacristy, and the
clergy in the one on the other side of the principal entrance.
Soon after eleven a procession was formed which chanted the
Entreat Deus to a Gregorian tone. The following I. given
as the order of the procession Banner—Banner. Two
Masters of the choir; Choir-boys, two and two; lay clerks ;
verger; deacons, two and two; priests two and two; the
preacher; two astistant priests; gospeller—epistoler;; the
celebrant. The Holy Communion wee choral throughout,
with the exception of the offertory mutation. the organ play-
ing during communise. After the creed, the Rae. W. Bennet,
Vicar of Proms Selwood, preached a germ& The offeatory
amounted to 2011.