Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-09-23 00:00:00

THE

a safer handling had it been discussed in public,
and reported in newspapers all over India!
We don't think they would." The Daily Neuv
proposes Lord Elgin as the new Gwernor General
of India—" Had the government at all anticipated
such a revolt, Lord Canning would never have tree n
sept to India. There was apparently serious work
to be done in China, and then Lord Elgin was
called in. But in India the rule ought to have
been, not confidence in our position, nor a belief
that it was safe to send a mediocre person ; but
mistrust., and a discredit, that -Ay man, however
wise, able, or experienced, could really fathom our
situation there. As it is, Lord Canning is placed
in a position for whiela those nearest to 'him hold
him to be unequal, and for which there is nothing,
either in his antecedents or his acts, that can in-
spire confidence in those at a distance'!"
At •a meeting in support of the Indian Relief
Fund which was held in London, on Monday ever-
' inc,t, the Rev. Dr. Wilson, the rector of the parish,
read a very interesting letter frc m his father, the
Bishop of Calcutta. The venerable prelate took a
very gloomy view of the state of affairs at the time
his letter was written, and says that General
Wilson makes the alarming statement that Delhi
cannot be assaulted without the probable loss of
10;000 men,
Another boat accident has occurred on the
River Ribble, by which we regret to say five lives
have been lost. Five men left Preston, by boat,
for Lytham, on Saturday, and arrived there the
same day. They left Lytham at four o'clock on
Sunday for the purpose of returning to Preston.
They were seen entering the Ribble, but nothing
was heard of them until Monday, when the boat
was found ashore on the banks of the river, two
miles from Lytham. There was the body of a man
near it, but the other bodies are missing.
Another of those brutal exhibitions, known as
prize fights, came off yes'erday, near Tilbury,
between Ben Cqunt, and Langan. The former was
declared the winner after a fight of one hour and
forty minutes
The first seizure of obscene books and prints
made under Lord Campbell's new act, was made
yesterday in Hplywell and Wych-streets, London.
Dr. Bowen, the new Bishop of Sierra Leone,
was consecrated on Monday. He is the third
bishop who has been appointed since the establish-
ment of the see in 1854. A metropolitan print
adds :—" We are sorry that the Government should
resolve upon sending another Englishman to the
deadly climate of Western Africa, when there was
an African clergyman in the person of Mr. Crow-
ther, who was eminently qualified to occupy even
the highest offiee in the Anglican Church."

The continental news is rather interesting this
morning. Cholera continues to make numerous
victims in StoLdtholtn. At Upsal it is sa had that
desolation and panic prevails, and at Christiansund
300 persons have been carried ofl•. In Norway also
it is committing sad magi s, and it has broken
out with great violence at. Kortngsberg, attacking
its victims without any premonitory symptoms.
Most of the eases prove fatal.

A note from the-Danish Gitvernment has been
presented to the Cabinet of St. Petersburg on the
affair of the Duchies. It sets forth the reasons
which, in the opinion of the Dan;sh Cabinet.
prevent the affair being submitted to the exclusive
decision of the Germanic Confederation. A simi-
lar despatch has been presented by the Danish
minister at Paris to Count Walews A. It is pro-
bable that the question will be seriously examined
in a European point of view by the two Emperors at
Stuttgardt.
Feats are entertaine•.-1 of new disturbances at
Leghorn. Th.,3 number of persons that are to be
tried, who were implicated in tha movement of
June, am-unt to about 70, but it is not known
when the trial will take place.
It is said that the Bay of. Tunis, in order to
secure hirnaelf in the 'possession of his dominions,
has asked the protection of France.

The States General of the Kingdom of H >Hap'
were ope ied ou MoLsd'ay by the King. In the
speech from the throne, th Dutch people are
informed that their affairs abroad and at li. me are
in the most peaceful and prosperous condiftm ;
and internal impr)vements, material and lega', are
annonneed.

We hyle four Gays later news from America by
4*, v.. rs ridawhilt_ n
failures were announced on the New York S'o3k
Exchang,.. The most important was the suspen-
sion of Messrs. William J. Bell and Co , bankers,
whose assets, however, wore sail to largely exceed
their liabilities, and they confidently expected
soon to resume payment. The Convention with
New Granada was signed at Washington on the
10th. The Tehuantepec ques'ion has been set!bd
at Mexico by the annulment of both the Glray and
Sloo grants. Tlya municipal elution at Leaven-
worth, KaAsas, resulted in the elt?,c•:ion of the Free
State ticket ny 200 majority. The vomito was
abatino. at Vera Crenz.
Thet.Mont.norancy arrived in the Mersey yester-
day afternoon, from Melbourne, wi-h upwards of
50,000-ounces of gold. •

Jr. would puzzle the wisest philosOpher and
the cleverest politician of the present day to give
anything like an accurate idea as' to the exact
character and the true causes of the revolt in
India. It is next to impossible to state how far
-the outbreak should, be assigned to religious
fanaticism—what influence has been exercised_ by_
the impulses of caste or race—whether the
mutiny was occasioned by the Hindoo or
Mahommedan ; if both, how far each contributed
to the affair : nay, more, we have also to answer
whether the mutiny of different regiments at so
many places and times is to be traced to anything
approaching an arranged and_ organised con-
spiracy among the natives. Now, upon these
and such like points the news by the last Over-
land Mail leaves us quite ignorant, equally so as
when the first tidings of insurrection reached us
in May last. Daring the time that has inter-
vened—four months—although intelligence. p ain•
ful and thrilling in the extreme has ben reaching
us from every quarter of the disaffected provinces,
still they do not contain anything which approach
a solution of the queries we have just propounded.
UP to the present moment we are in the dark as
to any tangible reason which can be assigned for
the rebellion in . Bengal. Can it be that the
Ailing powers, either in Downing-street or Cal-
cutta, know more of the state of India than the
country at large. Our own opinion is, that
neither in Leadenhall-street nor at the Board of
Control—neither by Lord CANNING nor by Lord
PALMERSTON —does the true origin or the final
tendency of the revolt seem to be understood or
appreciated more accurately or certainly than by
the veriest ordinary reader of a newspaper.
Such, a state of things is mortifying. It places
the present military contest in which We -are
engaged beyond the ordinary category of such
conflicts, and suggests an inexplicable difference
between the existing struggle' and any o ther in
which the British nation has hith3rto' been
engaged. We have often been plunge d into
extensive and perilous wars ; nevertheless, we
knew with considerable accuracy the_ objects and
the strength of the enemy. We could also estimate
with considerable precision the amount of force
we had to employ ,to ,frustrate his designs as

well as arrange before hand the terms upon
which we would agree to a cessation of hos-
tilities. At the present moment we cannot do
this with regard to India. Daubt and uncer-
tainty besets our path on every side, and each
succeeding mail records same events, unex-
ampled and unexpected, on which we had not
calculated. As an illustration of our argument,
we may just mention that the last Overland Mail
brings us intelligence that Dinapore had fur-
nished its contingent of four regiments of Sepoys
to the mutiny. This we cannot help regarding
as a disastrous outbreak, as it placed Benares in
peril, and had interrupted the trunk road along
which reinforcements were being sent to
Delhi, Yet the very troops which revolted
at Delhi had done good service a few days
before they refused allegiance to the British
commanders, and had actual:y been engaged in
defeating the mutineers. The Government and
the officers in command had no reason to suspect
their fealty to the British flag. Each and all
believed them faithful to its honour and glory ;
but they, from some motive which appears inex-
plicable, turned round, and aided the savage
actions of the Delhi miscreants. Here we cannot
help remarking that had General LLOYD been as
sagacious and energetic as he should have been,
the Dinapore tragedies would not have taken
place. According to the most authentic advices,
we are given to understand that it was entirely
through his imbecility and want of foresight that
several Europeans met a cruel and a barbarous
end.

But the mutiny at Dinapore is only one of a
class among which we may include the outbreak
at Kolapore, belonging to the Bombay Presi-
dency. What appears to be the guiding princi-
ple of action in one portion of the mutinous
districts is discarded in the other, show-
ing that among these Indian rebels there
is an absence of unity of action,
and that there is not much wisdom in the
counsels by which their movements are directed.
While this is so, the most provoking diversity of
opinion appears to prevail in the sentiments pro-
mulgated by the most experienced officers on
the spot; and the conclusions arrived at by the
writers in India, London, and elsewhere is, that
religion, and an assertion that an affront had
been offered to the high caste prejudices of
certain Bengal Sepoys, were the chief causes of
the mutiny. And while such an opinion pre-
vailed, there was cause to expect that the
mutiny would not proceed further than Bengal ;
that it would be confined to the regiments corn-
poled of Brahmin and RAjhperot Hindoos, and
that the Mahommedan -portion of the native
army was safe. Subsequent events have shown
that these calculations were not accurate, for
now both Hindoo and Mahommedan troops are
against us in the struggle, and we fear that the
great festival of Mohurrun, which began on the
....a uILIuIV, w uuLu Lela a Tearful tate against
British prestige in India.
We might continue citing' fact upon fact to
show that both caste and religion are ranged
against us in India, and that the chief rulers.
whom we least suspected, •are- our bitterest
foes in the contest. Nor can the Indian autho-
rities sent out from this country be held entirely
blameless. Take NENA Suira and JUNG BAHA-
Molt as an example. Reliance was placed on
the one—the proffered assistance of the other
was rejected. What says Lord CANNING to this ?
The people of Calcutta, demand his recall. The
Board of Control have a heavy account to settle
with the Briti,h nation.

WHY lIAS INDIA REVOLTED ?—.l century has elapse]
since tha ' triumph of our arms" gave us a footing in
India, ant, by a succession of victories p, iced us as
conquerors, in possession of a heathen c, untry, Had ih
power placed i i our hanls been properly directed, the
present deplorable rebeili in might possibly have been
p evetit:d. Instead of missionaries to preach the Gospel
in an unenlightened country, it shonld have been our era y
to intro.:lnc:3 its doctrines by. degrees, by the establishment
of schools throughout the empire, and to hwe initite.ei
the rising generation in the Bible tru hs, and by education
hayea?pornplished that which can oaly now be, done by
fOrci of arms. But the ambition cf wealth has preceded
all other considerations, and so long as the East India
Cop/3mq and our merchants mid And a_ profitable trading,
other ear.sii.e-alions have been neglected. M y tie Sew, fit by
past experience; and direct onra'tention, hereafter, to the
sp:ritua' improvem nit of so vast a rooulltion,' whic‘a "it
has please] the A'rnighty to pl ice un British vvecn-
ment. Let national schools ba established in every
popul ,us district, and let the l'ght of the Gospel shine
tbieuzbout Ingia; anl- then we may look forward to an
Almighty blessing on our rule, and that peace and con-
tentment will hereafter be its asscciates.-,Commtinicated.

THE WnONGS or INDIA.—A London cotemporary of
yesterday, publishes the following :—The liberty of the
press, which continues in England, permits us to ask
whether the causes of the present terrible outbreak are
to remain without prompt examination and remedy ?
We have "sown to the wind and reaped the whirlwind;'
let us learn at once to give up our employment. The
causes c f our calamity it is.not ycry difficult to discover
Enormous territory has been acquired by us. how we
came by it is very questionable.; but it is certain th'at we
have governed it with much indifference to righteousness
and truth. We have levied an amount of taxation
grossly excessive, and , in. modes . most injurious and
severe. It is not commonly kuown, but it is a fact, that
our Indian fellow subjects have been taxed to the extent
of 53 days' labour in the year, per head of the population;
in England we pay to the:extent only of 13. We tax the
land at an enormous cost of collection, and expose the
cultivator to unbounded oppression and robbery. We
-tax the salt, which is especially required by-the poorer
classes, and in price and adulteration we raise it
nearly one thousand per cent. We monopolise the
growth of opium, and sell it to intoxicate- the
Chinese, and so obtain an eighth of our Indian revenue.
In the administration of justice, our judges have
shown themselves ignorant, stupid, and without ex-
perience.' Our courts for natives have been• distinct from
t hox for Europeans, enormous charges are levied for
privileges of litigation; our native officials practice,
without rebuke or hindrauce,t he most unlimited extortion
and bribery, and we still often combine in one person the
office of magistrate anel collector of revenue. Europeans
in the pay of Government received immense salaees. and
,devolved their work Ph ,Slll.4.rdiliateS who are miserably