Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-09-05 00:00:00

reason ; music, dancing, digging in the ground
were substituted for the lash, the strait waist-
coat, and the cold bath. GEORGE COMBE,
and the late JAMES SIMPSON, of Edinburgh,
are among our greatest and most moderate
of social and secular reformers. They
are listened to in England ; shall we say
that the are disregarded in Scotland, on the
principle that " a prophet bath no honour," &c.
The laws relating to Joint Stock Banks, and
Bankruptcy, are, of course, of supreme import-
ance in a commercial nation, and they, of neces-
sity, called attention during the last session.
But, next to the Indian War, it was the Divorce
and Matrimonial Bill that for Med the chief
interest of the session, and was the chief battle
ground, and drew out the best speeches. We
regret to find that it has not come out so
unharmed from the Upper Rouse as at one time
we fondly expected. It is still an improvertient,
but with many drawbacks. One excellent
feature of this measure, contemplated from the
beginning, was to lessen the expense of matri-
monial suits. This is only very partially accom-
plished, for still the expense will be considerable ;
and whereas an appeal to the quarter sessions
would have been convenient to the poor, and to
them an accessible tribunal, the Lords have
proposed to omit this from the list of courts
competent to try such cases, and the Commons
have consented,

As the bill left the Commons, it was proposed
to enact that conjugal infidelity, perpetrated
under the domestic roof, should be a ground to
the wife for claiming a divorce. For some
reason, to us incomprehensible, the Lords have
struck out this clause, and so, in our judgment,
improved the bill the wrong way. Still, we
would rather take it than want it. It is abe
ginning of reform in a most delicate and difficult
field of legislation. It will need to be altered,
and experience will suggest the needed modifi-
cations.

On the whole, though the session was a short
one of only three months' duration, it has been
productive of legislative results beyond the
average. We venture to prophecy that the
House will prove a good working House in
future sessions. It was elected at a great crisis
in our national history and in the world's
history. We had three wars upon our hands—
a Persian, a Chinese, and an Indian. At few
periods of our history has there been more de-
mand for comprehensive and far-seeing states-
manship. Some foreign journals affect to think
that the star of England, having culminated, is
now in its declination. We in England neither
fear nor think this. But at this time we do
pre-eminently and urgently need a House and a
Ministry that understand how to deal with the
portentous difficulties and dangers that loom on
our Indian Empire—that can vigorously use the
means which are necessary to attain wise and
justifiable ends—that, having subdued insurrec-
tion, can then undertake the more beneficent
work of reform in India—and so teach the world
that peace, order, and civilisation are intimately
connected with the undiminished sway of
England, and her empire uncurtailed.

OUR STRENGTH AND OUR WORK IN Ise:tete—The daily
announcements of the despatch of fresh reinfo-cements to
India, the long list of
,transports for the conveyance of
troops, the visits of great personages to the points of
embarkation, the magnificence of the vessels, and the
continued din and bustle of a great expedition, tend to
convince every one that astonishing efforts are being made
for the complete restoration of our power in India. People
in authority are ready with tabular statements of the
number and strength of the regiments proceeding to
India. It is remembered that there are already in that
country to many Queen's troops, and so many in the
service of the Company. The loyalty of the native armies
of Bombay and Madras is very justly reckoned upon ; and
Sikhs, Ghoorkas, and many other new levies are enumer-
ated. In short, 113 one doubts that, under every possible
contingency, and even though the numbers and perfidy of
the enemy may obtain for them some temporary success,
our final triumph is not far distant. But it is the duty
of those who wish to arrive at the real truth, and ascer-
tain the exact position of affairs, to discard all unneces-
sary details, and restrain a too sanguine spirit, which is,
no doubt, valuable in the moment of action, but must be
never suffered to influence our calcalatious. We wish on
the present occasion to take a sober—not, indeed, a
sombre—view of affairs, and of our disposable military
strength as regards the crisis in India, and as much as
possible to put ourselves in the position of a military
man whose task it might be to restore order out of the
present chaos with the means now available. It appears,
then, that there are of her Majesty's troops in India, or
proceeding thither, 8 regiments of cavalry, 45i of infantry,
and 3 troops and 10 companies of artillery. Reckoning
the infantry regiments at 900, the cavalry at 600 men
each, and the artillery at 200 men a troop and 150 men a
company, we have a total of 47,850 men—a great force
truly. To these are to be added 9 companies' regiments
of European Infantry, and 17 troops of horse and 49 com-
panies of foot artillery, in round numbers 20,000 men,
with a few hundreds of unattached officers belonging to
revolted regicneats,:and a handful of volunteers, forming a
grand total of about 70,000 European soldiers. To this
force must be added the native armies of Madras and
Bombay, the Sikh auxiliaries, Ghoorkas, and other levies,
and a few regiments of the Bengal army, which like the
31st, even yet :remain: stanch. Such a statement would
propably be quite sufficient for a person without Indian
experience and unacquainted with military matters, and
he would feel quite a-sured that even if India were in re-
bellion from Cape Comerin to Cashmere it would be easy
to reconquer it. A moment's reflection, however, will
suffice to show the matter in a somewhat different light-
In considering how the vast region from Benares to Delhi,
inclncling Oude, Bundlecund, Agra, and Rolailcund, now
in rebellion, is to be, recovered, we must strike out
of the account all the troops in the two minor presi-
denc:es—whether European or native—as well as those
that garrison the Puojaub. The Bombay army will have
enough to do in preserving order within the limits of its
own presidency, and in sending up reinforcements to
Scinde and thePunjaub so as to keep a good front towards
Affghan'stan and eersia. The columns which have moved
on Mhow and Indore may also recover and hold those
places. To expect further aid from the Bombay
army would be unwise. The Madras army has also quite
sufficient to occupy it within its ordinary limits, and
in overhawing Hyderabad and Nagpere, and the bigoted
Mahomedan population in other parts of the Madras
Presidency. The troops already in Bengal are not even
sufficient to garrison the principal points on the main lines
of communication and hold the great oities. Cawnpore
has fallen,:arecliithough.GeneraLßevelock:ihas :recovered