Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-10-20 00:00:00

destinies of our Indian Empire. In order that we
may estimate, in its true character, the proclama-
tion in question, we must briefly glance at the
circumstances and condition of the country where
it was published. The city of Delhi was still
unsubdued. Our troops, by encountering and
defeating bodies of the mutineers at Hissar and
Nujuffghur, had commenced to circumscribe the
limits of country under their command. From
the frontier of Rajpootana on the west, to the
frontier of Oude on the east, and from Jubblepore
Mhow on the south, to the bases of the Himalaya
on the north, British rule was limited to those
few isolated spots which were in the actual
occupation of our troops. Over all other portions
of that vast region the mutineers, aided and
abetted by the scum and refuse of the country—
the inmates of gaols, and the leaders of small
bands of retainers impatient of law and order—
ravaged and robbed with impunity and at pleasure.
They had both the power and the will to carry
on their game of destruction of person and pro-
perty. Police vigilance and magisterial control
were alike given up. Yet, in the face of all the
atrocities which were committed daily, out came
the proclamation to which we have alluded. The
then existing state of society could only be
amended by the establishment of martial law.
Desperate diseases require desperate remedies,
but that is a policy which Lord CANNING
has ignored, for he and his council
embraced the opportunity, when anarchy was at
its height, and life and property most insecure
• ,
to aim at transferring all power of dealing with
deserters, rebels, and murderers from the military
to the civil tribunals. All deserters from regi-
ments which live not mutinied, who were appre-
hended without the actual possession of arms,
were to be delivered up to the civil authorities,
and by them sent back to their respective regi-
ments. Again, all mutineers were to be located,
if possible, at Allahabad, and these surrendered
to the commandant. In case this was found
difficult or impossible, they were to be impri-
soned until the pleasure of the Government could
be made known ; and it is ordered that mutineers
belonging to any regiment which had killed any
Europeans might be tried by the civil power.
The intent of those " instructions" must have
been to take out of the hands of military officers
the means of inflicting summary and con-
dign punishment upon the mutineers. and
holding over the disaffected the terrors which
martial law never fails to inspire in the minds of
any people subject to its requirements.

'We observe that the necessity for issuing the
"instructions" has been vindicated on the ground
of the undue severity which, it is alleged, that
officers in command of detached parties inflicted.
This, however, we cannot believe, because the
instructions were drafted out about the latter end
of July, and some time before the attack of some
men, supposed to belong to the 10th Regiment,
upon the disarmed Seyoys at Dinapore, or the
suspicions of General W
TrArly that spvAral t;lrpQ
had been murdered before Delhi. We cannot
help regarding the ". instruction" both uncalled
for and totally impracticable. To send all muti-
neers and other prisoners to Allahabad would be
simply to scatter the British forces now in India
all over the country into small detachments,
which would be powerless for the government of

the country.
The more we consider the character of the
"instructions," and their ultimate result, the more
are we satisfied that they were drawn by men
totally ignorant of the pressing wants of the
country, of human nature, and of the character
of Indian rebels. The framers of the instruc-
tions are too fond of routine and red tape.
The Governor-General and his Council have a
feeling of contempt for military authority. Th eir
own dignity and importance dictates all their
policy, and seeing that Lord CANNING has thus
deprived military officers from exercising those
powers of dealing without delay with every
instance of mutiny, desertion, and robbery, we
think the time has come for the Premier to
demand that the East India Company shall recall
the Governor-General, and that his successor
shall instantly be sent out to take the place of
one who has afforded ground for the universal
indignation of the people of Great Britain.
And, indeed, the latter have already expressed
themselves in unmistakeable terms on the sub-
ject, and have demanded LORD CANNING'S recall.
This is not the time to go on blundering, and
tampering with a numerous, a deceitful and a
dangerous enemy, We consi ler the position of
Sir COLIN CAMPBELL should be that of military
dictator until the mutiny was crushed, and the
future Government. placed upon a satisfactory and
permanent basis.