Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-05-24 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES, TUESDAY, MAY 24, 1859

warfare. And it is but '' honest and true " ..t o
acknowledge, that the General Election has resulted
in a decided gain to the Conservatiies :and, of
course, in a decided loss to the Liberals. At the
same time, it is equally "honest and true " to
maintain, that the Liberals are still the majority --
that the DERBY Ministry are still in a- minority ;
estimating the whole according to the received
method ; that is to say, there are more Liberals in
the House than Conservatives—more of such
Liberals as would oppose Lord DERBY'S Government
upon, general questions, than of Conservatives who
are to be depended upon as its supporters.

Still, we repeat, although t'ie Liberals."--or those
who are considered such —outnumber the Con-
servatives, there is a somewhat different complexion,
we think it will be found, given to the majority of
the House of Commons by the. General Election; if
not a more Conservative complexion, yet one that
will prove of a less Whig-Liberal hue than it was
before. The Law Times, examining the case, not so
much politically, as in conneetiou with the work of
law making, had some excellent remarks upon it in
a recent number, in which it was shown, that the
calculations founded on the usual classifications, and
particularly those of the Liberal press, are very
fallacious. "It is well known," it was observed,

" that a great number of the more advanced Liberals
will not assist in turning out Lord DERBY to put in
Lord PALMERSTON, or Lord JOHN RUsSELL, and not
a few of. the more moderate of them would side. with

the Conservatives against democracy. The nearest
approximation to an estimate would be to divide the
House into four parties, viz., Conservatives, Palmer-
stonians or Whigs, RusselLtes or Liberals, and
Brightites or Democrats ; for this is the true division
of the forces, and the game cannot be seen without
taking into account all the combinations that will

grow out of these divisions on every practical question.
They may be brought to agree upon some resolution
that involves no principle and pledges to no specific
measures ; but the moment they come to measures,
they will be at war with one another far more
fiercely than with the other side of the House."

There are

Now this is, in the main, most true
really and practically four distinct parties in th
House. The ConServatives are one party and one
that is within some 35 or 40, probably, of all the
other three put together,—those other three being
Liberals (so called) not only of different shades of
Liberalism, but, in many respects, of different
principles altogether,—yet ready to unite, it will-be
found, against what . they consider the " common
enemy " of bona fide Conservatism.

It was the "deadlock" which this uniting together
of the several adverse sections of the Liberals
occasioned to the course of what they consider
Conservative, Constitutional, legislative government
as exemplified in the treatment of the Ministerial
Reform Bill, that was the pretext for the Dissolution.
"It must be plain," says our legal contemporary
just. quoted, " to those who reflect at all, that this
dead lock' must be put an end to somehow. This
can only be done by bringing about some great and
marked divisions of party,_in 'which the Minor ones
may be swallowed up. It is plain, also, that every
.day there is an approach to that consummation.
The existing division into Conservative and Liberal
is perfectly false and unmeaning. Many so-called
Liberals are more conservative than many so-called
Conservatives ; and vice versa. The most skilful
politician, who should take the new Parlia-
meat, and classify it according to the opinions
(and not the party names) of its members, would
find himself baffled. But underlying all these
surface differences, there is a real diversity of
principle—a substantial, unmistakable distinction,
which it should be the object of all true patriots
to bring to the surface as soon as possible. There is
a democratic party, and an anti-democratic party ;
and to one or the other of these, ali politicians
belong, in fact, whatever they may call themselves.
This division will be seen, on close inspection, to be
at the foundation of all the great conflicts of the
present time. For obvious reasons there is great
reluctance on the part of one section of politicians to
make it manifest ; but they cannot but be painfully
conscious of its presence, and they have felt it at
every turn, both in and out of office."

In these considerations, then,—and they are most
reasonable and timely,—we see what was mainly
the object of the Dissolution,—that it was, "to
substitute this natural division of parties for the
chaos of parties that has lately impeded. legislation,
and bidden fair to make government impossible."
And we quite agree also with the remark, that " it
will be a great gain if public men stand compelled
to take one side or the other—for democracy or

against it."
Well, then, it is evident that there was a reason-
able
and a forcible pretext for having recourse
to a Dissolution. There was a manifest object
to be gained by it, over and above any increase
that might accrue to the ministerial strength.
As the exponent of law we have referred
to further shows,—" Government is paralysed
by the present state of parties. No matter which
party is in place, the result is, and must be, the
same—the many parties out of place, combined, will
always be stronger than the one party in power. It
is, therefore, for the interest of the country--perhaps
essential to its safety—that an end should be put to
this novel species of anarchy, an unexpected result
of Parliamentary Governmerit. It was not seen
before the Reform Bill, because the Parliament then
did not represent the community, but only the
aristocracy, who were divided into two parties, the
Outs and the Ins, with no other substantial
difference. But, now that the community is repre-
sented, almost every phase of opinion prevailing in
it, finds its organ in the Legislature, and hence the
diversities of parties."
A House of Commons, then, elected under such
circumstances, and with any fair measure of
success for the object in view, is certainly a more
hopeful one for the country than that which was
avowedly elected under circumstances, and with an
' object, much less favourable towards the independent
interests of the country. We say this with no party
feeling, and for no party purpose. We are humbly
endeavouring to represent the case as it really is, so
that we may rightly inform the judgment of our
readers. The new Parliament will be at work in
about a fortnight, or so : there will ,soon, therefore,
be afforded opportunities of manifesting its real
character.

of whom._ it could only be too
_truly said, in the
words of Shakspeare's Prince Henry, that

" Their rebels' arms triumph'd in massacres,"
—in massacres, too, on this occasion, not only of the
most savage but of the most dastardly character.
When defenceless women and children are made the
victims even of a cruel and pitiless revenge, the
soldier who inflicts it is transformed into the vilest
of assassins,—into a thing unnatural and horrible in
human shape—unnatural, because quite out of the
common order of nature ; and horrible, as being
guilty of such wickedness and cruelty. It is only
now, that these authors and abettors of atrocities
so revolting to human nature, as most sanguinary
and inhuman, are being captured and disposed of,
that we are receiving positive assurances of their
beginning to kill the snake, not merely to scotch it.

We mean nothing disparaging of the valiant efforts
of our troops, and the noble bearing of their leaders,
in the successful suppression of that most fearful
insurrection. , Ungrateful, indeed, would it be, to
speak slightingly of those deeds of heroism, and
prowess, and endurance, on the part of the British
troops, in that fearful field of internicine war in our
Eastern empire. They have won for themselves
immortal honour and glory ; and they deserve, most
truly, their country's heartfelt gratitude. It has
been from no fault of their's, assuredly, that the
capture of one of these monsters was so long un-
accomplished. But even after breaking the neck,
at it were, of the rebellion, —after defeating and
subduing one rebellious legion after another, until
they were no where to be seen any more, save in
some few miserable remnants that were scattered,
here and there, throughout their remotest mountain
fastnesses,—Ahey had yet to penetrate and puncture
still more deeply, ere the very vitality of the
-seditious and rebellious conspiracy could be said to
be put out.

" The great Alcides, every labour past,
Had still these monsters to subdue at last.'
One cannot but regret that it should have been
necessary to have recourse to stratagem to take the
rebel chieftain, TANTIA TOPEE. Still, it was not
only justifiable, but, under the circumstances, in-
lispensable. It was through the betrayal of him
a former confederate, MAUN SINGH, that he was
discovered and taken. At this man's request, a
small party of native infantry was placed under his
orders, and sent quietly to Parone that evening,
MAUN SINGH having previously gone there himself
in the afternoon. The men were placed in ambush
by his people, and in a little while he took them
himself to the spot where TANTIA TOPEE was
sleeping with two pundits. MAUN SINGH seized
his arms, and he was at once secured. The pundits
escaped. Having been conveyed to Seepre, we learn,
a Court-martial was assembled immediately, and the
charge read over to the prisoner, who was directed
to prepare for the trial. The Court sat nearly a
whole day, the prisoner being handcuffed and
manacled, and under charge of an officers' guard of
Bengal Europeans. The charge against him was
that he, being a British subject, and resident of
Bhitoor in British India territories, was guilty of
rebellion in waging war against the British Govern-
ment. Nothing was said of cold-blooded and
inhuman massacres, these were, in martial law, we
suppose, minor offences : rebellion is the greater
crime, and the greater includes the less. It was
enough that he Was a rebel—and a chief of rebels.
But although not formally accused of the atrocities
at Cawnpore, • he gratuitously denied that he had
partaken of their guilt. He declared that, although
present, as fourth in command, neither he nor the
NANA had any hand in the massacre at that station,
the conception and execution of which he ascribed
wholly to the soldiery. But this is not credible.
If TANTIA and NANA did not themselves, with
their own hands, butcher indiscriminately the
helpless mothers and their innocent children at
Cawnpore, they at least consented unto it. We
believe they did far more. There is testimony
extant that brings home to them a direct participa-
tion in the perpetration of the most barbarous and
cold-blooded slaughter of the defenceless English
families that fell into their merciless hands. But
if the execution of it did actually belong to the
soldiery, TANTIA and NANA, there is no doubt,
sanctioned and gloated over it. Still, it was for
rebellion that the Court found him guilty, and
sentenced him to be hung. He expressed, it appears,
no wish to see his family, but a hope that the
Government would not punish them for his rebellion.
His execution took place the next day but one. It
is stated in the accounts of his last hours, that he
had declared he wanted no Court, but wished to be
dispatched from his misery (holding up his manacles)
as quickly as possible : he knew he must die for
fighting against the Government, and he wished it

over as soon as possible. At the appointed time he.
was brought from his tent in the Fort by an escort
of Bengal Europeans, and a considerable square was
formed, with the gallows in the centre. The troops,
both cavalry and infantry, formed the four sides. A
considerable number of natives were scattered all
over the plain, and any little elevation commanding
a view of the scaffold was quickly studded with
white-clad spectators. And in this martial and
1 I popular presence, he was, as our own newspapers
would say, " launched into eternity." And " thus
finished," says the account, " the career of the rebel
chief TANTIA TOPEE, with all the due solemnities of
British military routine. ' When the body became
motionless the troops were all marched off, and the
body remained hanging for the rest of the evening."
The Judge of such a rebel might have exclaimed, as
once POLIXENES, King of Bohemia, is reported to
have done,— ___ . . .

" Thy old traitor,—
I am sorry that, by hanging thee, I can but

Shorten thy life."
True, it has rid our Indian empire of a mischievous
monster of rebellion and massacre. But such an one
deserved, one cannot but think, a doom more terrible
and more terrifying than even the ignominious one
of the gallows. As a punishment, it was to such a
wretch, comparatively insignificant. To make him
an example was, or ought to have been, the great
object in view. To see him hanging by the neck for
his misdeeds,—as seen, it seems, he was. by native
troops and people, —was certainly to manifest that
retributive justice had, after a fashion, overtaken
him at last. Let us hope that, as an example, and
as a warning, it may not be lost on the native popu-
lation. But the Sepoys, more especially, can only
be impressed by striking terror deeply into their
breasts. TANTIA TOPEE was a Brahmin .of the
Deccan, having been born in the Ahmednug.Zillah,
and it is said was formerly in the military service of
the Company, His conversion to Christianity, of

course, was the last thing to be thought of, even in
the service of a Company of Christian Englishmen.
He, like many other Brahmins, was doubtless edu-
cated at one of the Company's schools. But though
this probably made him a more accomplished gentle-
man, it did not prevent his being an atrocious
monster. And here has been the fatal mistake.
Had we only made them good Christians, they
would never have become the sanguinary wretches
they were shown to be.