Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-09-22 00:00:00

SPAIN.

MADRID, SEPT. 19
A governmental order permits the free import
of ee'realg up to the month of July.
The Hojas announces that the Cortes will mee
in October.

A. letter of the 16th, in the Courrier de Paris,
says:—
The ministry est mort et bein mort. We are altogether
in a provisional state. It is possible that the cabinet may
prolong its death agony for a week or two, but its time is
past. It is generally thought that it will not hold out till
the meeting of the Cortes.
The Dutch frigate Van Vas3non, 45 guns, had

arrived in the port of Barcelona, to attend the
Prince of Orange.
,The ministerial crisis in Spain is considered to
be extremely serious by the Pays, which describes
the Narvaez cabinet as in a chronic state of resig:
nation. The " moderates" appear to be definitively
estranged from Narvaez, and the V►calvarist gene-
rals are not inclined to prolong their truce with
him any .longer. It is doubted whether he can
possibly hold on till the Cortes meets. The defal-
cation from Narvaez of a French Government
organ, which has hitherto Supported him, is very
significant.

THE INDIAN MUTINIEig.

PETITION OF THE CALCUTTA INHABITANTS

TO PABLIAUENT.

At a meeting of merchants, and others, at Cal.
cutta, the annexed petition to the Horn Legisla-
ture had been adopted

Petition of the British inhabitants of Calcutta t°
the Lords and CJMMOIS of Great Britain and

Ireland, in Parliament assemblal.
" The humble petition of the undersigned British
inhabitants of Calcutta, most humbly shuweth—
" That your petitioners view with daily increas-
ing anxiety and alarm the condition and prospects
of British India,

"They do not despair of its speedy re-conquest
by the forces of her Majesty, but it is undeniable
that, with the exception of three or four .places of
strength, the whole of the North-West Provinces,
as well as the newly-acquired kingdom of Outle, ii
lost for the present. In addi:iou to which Tir-
hoot, Behar, and Chota Nagpore are in danger.
" Throughout India tha native belief in the
prestige of British power has been destrojed, and
where the Asiatic has no dread et! physical force
he has no respect for moral influence.
"Over thousands of square miles, where three
months since Englishmen travelled in security
unarmed, at this moment European women for
themse:ves and their children court speedy death
as a blesiing.
"On every highway lie the dishonoured and
mutilated remains of our coutftrywomen and their
children, and the bodies -of British soldiers and
unarmed Men foully murdered. •
" The Government of the East India Company,
to whose care the interest° of Great Britain in the
East have been confided, possess from their consti_
tution abSolute power. They have a perpetual
majority in the Legislative Council, which is corn-
posed entirely of official persons.
" They have the sole appointment to all offices,
with the exception only of those of the Governor-
General, the Commander-in-Chief, and the Judges
of the Supreme Court.
" There are no private or corporal rights that can
be effectually opposed to them, nor is there any
representation of public opinion.
"In the country desolated by the rebels there
are hundreds of civil servant, judges, magisrates,
and collectors, village chowkedars and policemen
in tens of thousands, and more than 2,000 commis-
sioned military officers—European and native ;
and yet, if we may believe the Government, there
was not in all this vast establishment to be found
one person to acquaint the authorities or the
existence of a conspiracy spread over countries
many times larger than the area of the British
Isles, and in which upwards of a hundred thousand

soldieis have joined:
" The rebellion broke out an' found the govern-
ment totally unprepared No efficient commissa-
riat, no organised means of procuring intelligence,
and, with a few brilliant exceptions, uo men of suffi-
cient capacity for the emergency. 'At the com-
mencement of the outbreak Delhi, the largest
arsenal of ordnance in the North-West of India,
the important military depot of Cawnpore, and the
fortress and arsenal of Allahabad, the key of the
Lower Provinces, were without a single European
soldier to defend them. The two former fell into
the hands of the insurgents.
" On the 25th of May last, when a number of
regiments were in open revolt, when many trea-
suries had been plundered and many important
stations fallen into the hands of the rebels, the
Secretary to the Home Department officiary
informed the inhabitants of *Calcutta, in answer to
loyal addresses tendering aid and per6oaal service,
that the mischief caused by a passing and
groundless paaie had already been arrested, and
that there was every reason to hope that,in the
course of a few days tranquility and confidence
would be restored throughout the Presidency;;,
" From that hour to the present the policy trf
Government has not undergone the slightest
change. -In the teeth of events the most startling,
in defiance of warnings the most emphatic, they
steadily persisted in ignoring the fact of danger,
for which they had made no preparation.
" On the 13th of June they passed a law which
destroyed the liberty of the press, and placed every.
journal in India at the absolute feet of the execu-
tive authority. _ _

" Your petitioners refrain from here commenting
on this act of the Government, uncalled for by the
occasion, repugnant to British feeling, and sub-
versive of the principles of the British constitution.
This was done at a time when the G3verunient
were receiving universal support from the English
portion of the press.
"Your petitioners felt themselves bitterly
aggrieved by the attempted imposition of what is
known as the Black Act, but their feelings in that
respect never hindered them for a moment in
coming forward to assist the Government with
heart and haul. Their offers were coldly declined,
though ultima`ely accepted when danger was too
apparent. At the present moment not only does
Calcutta owe its chief security to. European volun-
teers, but Government have invite 1 the enrolment
of paid corps for service in the interior.
" The whole trace of the presidency has suffered
more or less, .many branches of it are ruined
entirely. The sale of imports is almost nominal,
the cotton goods of England are not to be disposed
of even at great sacrifices. The export of silk,
indigo, and sugar, mad other articles of exp.ort will
suffer 'considerable diminution for some seasons to
come in consequence of the destruction of many
factories and the loss of much capital.
"In the train of the revolt it is more than
probable that. famine with all its Indian horrors
will follow.

" To remedy all these evils and to fix on a firmer
basis the British power in the East your petitioners
cata_alone appeal to the British nation.
"Your petitioners can look for no redress to the
powers to whom the Government of this great
country is delegated, they having shown themselves
unequal to the task.
" The Gevernment of the East India Company have
neither men, mosey, nor credit; what credit they
had was destroyed by their conduct in the lute
financial operations.
" The army has dissolved itself, the treasures
have either been plundered by the rebels or ex-
hausted by the public service, and a loan, even at
6 per cent., would scarcely find subscribers.
" When tranquillity is once restored, her
Majesty's Ministers will find that many millions
sterling have been added to the Indian debt, and
that the annual deficits of the In..lian budget will
be materially increased ; but under good govern-
ment your petitioners have the fullest confidence
that the boundless resources of this vast country
are sufficient to meet all necessary demands of the
State. The system under which the country had
been hitherto governed, utterly antagonistic as it
has ever been to the encouragement of British
settlement and enterprise in India, has entirely
failed to preserve the power of the Queen, to win
the affections of the natives, or to secure the con-
fidence of the British in India. •
`• Your petitioners, therefore, humbly pray that
your hon. House will adopt such measures as may
be necessary for removing the government of this
country from the East India Company, and sub-
stituting in its place the direct government of her
Majesty the Queen, with an open Legislative
Council, suitable to the requirements of the coun•
try, and compatible with the British supremacy,
Queen's courts presided over by trained lawyers,
and with the English language as the official court