The Express.
London, England, 1857-09-26 00:00:00

CRISIS.

A grand banquet took place at Dover on Thursday
evening to celebrate the return of two liberal members for
that borough in the pereone of Mr. R. It. Orborne and Sir
W. Bunten, Bart. The feativel area hild in the new Town

Thu.purty waa a very
.

one, between 400 end

NV of the el;ctot's sitting taws to dinner. -Among the com-
pany present were Mr. kfugmesn, M.P. for Sandwich,
thumson, Captain Noble, Mews. &maker Finials (who pre-
sided), T. Birch (the Mayor), 8. M. Latham, T. B. Base,
M. Chorchword. -

—The weal loyal and patnotle touts having been duly
honoured, . . .

The CHAIRMAN, in highly eulogistic terms, gave The
Iledth of the Borough me=bers."
The toad was drunk amid vehement applause.
Mr. R. B. OSHOHNI, M.P., on rising to respond was
with embusieetie cheers. Having briefly acknow-
ledged the warm sod flattering reception which the
assemblage hod accorded him, the hon. gentleman arrived
et the all-engrossing topic of Indian milieus, and asked,—
What ear doer not tingle, what heart dote not throb at the
recital of the cruel fate of men killed, not in fair fight in de-
fence ef their country, but assaainated in cold blood by those
whom they formerly led to victory? What family in this
wide land ham not to mourn the loas of some loved one bar-
barously murdered in this sad outbreak? When I look
to my friend, your chairman, I cannot fail to recollect
'hat one of the first victims to this 'Winded revolt—for
it is no longer a mere mutiny—was Colonel Finals, of
the 11th Bengal Infantry, who, while expostulating like
• gallant commander with his men, was suddenly shot
down, not, I em happy to say—which is one redeem-
ing trait—by the Kiloton of his own coma, but by men
of the 20th Native infantry, who had been insti-
gated to rebel. Let us on We WWII= I pray,
have no false sentimentality—no mawkish: maudlin
philanthropy. Lot us have no cant about mercy to
the miscreanta who have not only imbrued their bends
in the blood of their leaders, but are a satire on their
kind. Some well-meaning men, mere remarkable for
their pious imbecility than their common sewn, are now
advocating increased eubeeriptiona for missionary efforts
in India. I am not one of three who deride the labours
of the missionary, but there is a limo for ell things, and I
think this the most inopportune of all times for urging such
an appeal. Soldiers are requited, not preachers—rifles,
not tracts. Not only have we an empire to preserve, but
fiendish outrages to avenge—entreges perpetrated upon
Englishmen and Englishwomen. (Cheers.) his a consolation
amid the wilderness of crime to turn to those bright spots
where the beroiam of our countrymen has been so nobly dis-
played. The conduct of the young Lieutenant Willoughby,
of Rayner, of Forest, and of the soldier Scully, who stood
by them to the last, equals anything in classic story, and
nokte one proud of the name of Englishman. (Loud cheers.)
What doll we say of the deeds of General Nicholson, who
routed the Seelkote mutineers, and, I believe, left not a
non of them remaining? What of that hero of the day,
whose actions give the lie to the popular notion that old
men are unfit for command, I mean Gener•LHevelock—

(hue' cheers)—who, in eight days, marched 1.16 mike
end fought four pitched battles with the moat glo-
rioes sweetie ? And, mark you, he had to march
in the month of July, under an Indian sun,
the strokes of whioh were more to be feared than the
bullets of the enemy. (lieer, hear.) Then :ire indeed
het,. who 'eight well be placed in an English W.ilballa.
(liear, hear.) What, too, shall we say of Major E 3 re, who
with 200 men released six Englishmen abut up with forty
Sikhs in Ai rah, and gallantly holding out against a host of
rebels--what but that they are worthy of their °Denny, and
that having done their duty *broad, something remains to be
dote by us at home ? I hear and read great abuse of the
right hon. gentleman at the head of the Board of Control, of
what it is thought a very good joke to say that because he
bears the name of Smith he cannot be llt for hie position.
I know Mr. Vernon Smith to be a man of irreat industry and
great ability, and I regard three attarks upon him so most
ungenerous and unfair. Moreover, if anybody be to blame

ror7au;;;ed.".ini:n;anssernenl of Indian •ffair'a, that blame
ought to attach not to an individust, but to the united cabi-
net. Enos log Lord Palmerston to be beyond the reach of
the atone of their ill-will. these critics judiciously select a
kw popular minister as the object of their animosity. And
speding of absent men, I think we ought to give
our entire confidence to Lord Canning, who is ewe in
a position so difficult and trying, but whose ressaurse
hitherto have been at once energetic and highly judicious.
Immediately on the commencement of this outbreak he seat
not only to the Cape, but to Aden, the Mauritius, China,
and Ceylon for troops; and there are now, either in India or
on their wey thither, 6.5 battalions of infantry, II regiments
• ,avalry, I troop of Horse Artillery, 3 field batteries, 6
cobipanies of Royal Artillery (a corps that never before vi-
sited India), and 4 companies of 'Loyal Engineers, making a
MIA, besides marines, of 84,000 men, who, before the month
olNovernter, will be assembled on the plains of India. Now.
you will ask, What of your owe department—the Navy ? It
so happens that that department has nothing to do with QUO.
taking up of transports for this war; that is all included, sad,
I om happy to say, paid for—a very material consideration,
so • e Anil ace when the bill I. brought in—by another
• oority. There have riled, however, or are now under
enter, nut fewer than 59 transports, and tenders for a great
m. qty more have been gent in. I hope, therefore, we shall
swot boar that an end has beta pat to this monstroua con-
germ/. I for one abet not he saddled until I hear that
&lid, on which I look es the modern Gomorrah, has been
mid to the ground. The punlehment, I think, should
be commensurate with the crime. Sure I am, that no
long as one stone of that c.ity is left upon another, so long
wilt the Riede° and the blahomedam point to the *pot
where bliss Jennings was cut to piece. amid the fiendish
radiation of brutal and bigoted Asiatics. Being only •
subudinate member of the government, I speak
sp.k without authority, but I shrewdly expect that if you

wish to praetors India you must be prepared to pay for it.
If you had • young officer in command at Meerut I believe
you would have this insurrection crushed in the bud,
and had Colonel Gillespie, who promptly cut down the di/l-
a/forted soldiery at Yellers and mead an empire, been an
aged decrepit officer, I have no doubt that an exteneive
mutiny like the resent would have broken out at • much
earlier period. leer, hear.) But it is not in the manage-
ment of the native army alone that mistakes have been
made. Errors have taw lore communed in your mode of
governing India. Like true John Bulls you have been
guided solely by your own notions awl ideas without re-
gard to their adaptability to the Asiatic temperament.
You forgot that those men have sa conerientious an objec-
lion to using the fat of the cow as many of my friends hen
have to another animal—(laughter)—and although, no
doubt, the pressed cartridge affair wee • mare pretest, still a
large body of sepoys really supposed that their caste was to
be taken away, and Christianlty to ho timed upon them at
the point of the bayonet. Another mistake was made when,
la 1836 • great Indian statesman gave unlimited freedom
to the native press. I have always entertained a great re-
spect for the press. Its conductors are our masters—bene-
ficent masters' too. If we lose a good deal on the one hand,
we gain touch on the other, in the shape of public liberty,
by their freedom from official censorship. BM to graft
, upon ea Asiatic constitution the unrestricted freedom of the
press was certainly one of the maddest schemes that ever
entered the mind of any ruler. The consequences of
that measure were foreseen and foretold by a great Indian
administrator—Sir Thomas Metro—who, although favour-
able to native participation in the government, nevertheless
put on record • minute ui which he warned na that a native
free pram would undermine the discipline and subvert
the allegiance of the sepoy. Another matter in which we
have been going too fug is our imprudent interference
with Hindoo customs. It would have been a trifling
matter for us to abeisio from meddling with a !Endo°
woman's inability to remarry. Indeed, ft as not an micas-
-1:12011 thing for en English widow to regret her not having
lived under a similar restriction—(laughter) ; and, there-
fore' there could have been no great harm in allowing
the Asiatic relict to Ilve in single blessedness upon her
happy recollection of her defunct Hindoo. (Loud
laughter.) Coming to the question of reform, Mr. Osborne
said i—Another question, which I have no wish to blink, is
that of a further reform of parliament. I first appeared
before you as the advointe of such a measure, and I am still
advocate it. But, if we are to have another
fa:rrrend to
Bill, I do regret that them is one eminent public man
who, whatever may have been his phi lad backelidings, is
yet • flee specimen of the English geutleman and the English
liberal, and whose name is iedissolubly intertwined with the
brightest triumphs of the liberal cause—l regret that Lord
John Russell—(ebeers)—is not a member of the preeeat
government. Ho is far too neetel a man to be con-
signed to the decry shade of • back bench, (Hear, hear.)
Lord Derby, with that wit and elm'''. nce which no pre-
eminently distinguish him, once deserthed the government
of Lord Palmerston as consisting of Lord Palmerston alone.
Of course the conservative leader did not coudeacend to
notice so insignificant en individual as myself. (A laugh.)
I have not the honour of a mat in the Cabinet—l am not
highly enough connected for that. lam not a Brahmin.
(Laughter.) But the noble earl spoke of Lord Palmer-
ston sad his appendage.. Tbere may indeed be scene In-
stances in which appendages are eel wholly worthless. The
key which winds up the watch is an appendage. But
that Is neither bier, nor there. Lord Derby wished to
ridicule the ministry, and therefore could not tate small
matters into account. I maintain, however, that • go-
vernment, composed as u the preeett government, with
that essential element, community of sentiment and
unity of action, can be much more safely depended upon
at a crisis than a cabinet made up of orators. Mr.
Osborne concluded by saying - —I think the nation feele con-
fident that Lord Palmerston will bring this miserable Indian
revolt to the same happy termination as that to which it was
his good forts= to bring the late war with Russia.
(Applause.)
The remainder of the proceedings was enlivened by a
lively passage of arms between the hon. member for Sand-
wich and the Secretary of the Admiralty.
Mr. HI GESSFS, in responding for the "Health of the
Liberal Members of the County, described himself as one
who had seen through the error of tEr conservative principles
and :editions in which be had been leased, end who had
renounced the tory party at the risk of a rupture of family
ties. Avowing himself a fellowsr of the band of liberal
members who sit on the leek minieterial benches and ac-
knowledge the leadership of Lord J. Russell, he said
that the men with whom he acted wire resolved to 11f.111.10 a
calm, wise, but firm attitude on the question of parliamentary
reform. He then anitnedvcried on what he regarded as the
tone of official reserve on the legit-tamed subject, and on
several other pinta in which the liberal party were deep
interested, which had ennead, rised the able and, eloquent ad-
dress of hie hon. friend, remarking that it had smacked too
much of red tapeiern.
Air. OSPOUNE rejoined by saying that his hon. friend,
new convert to the liberal creed, with a seal not uncommon
to neophytes, political as well es religious, but which was
not always tempered with sigli.iitnt discretion. had thought
fit to pan some severe stricture. ten hie alleged reticence on
the great questions of the day, and had in fact accused him
of dancing a hornpipe in red tape to his constituent..
(Laughter) Whether his own enlicagues in the govern-
ment would think that he had spoken that night with too
much reserve might perhaps be reasonably doubted. (A
laugh.) From the ability at all times displayed by the hon.
gentleman, he predicted that he too would one day certainly
become the member of a government, in which event he
might yet be glad to have his own lips sealed with a little of
the official was. (Renewed laughter.)
Among other toasts were the "Health of Mr. Rice," the
late member for Dover, " Prosperity to the Trudyof the
Ancient Port," "The Chairman," and "Mrs. Osborne and
the Ladies." The last sentiment was fittingly acknowledged
by Mr. Osborne, who took occasion to announce • subscrip-
tion of 10/. from Mrs. Osborne towards the Dover fund for
the relief of the sufferers in India.