Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-10-22 00:00:00

Ci:Jc ilorfhtru ti rin

7HURSD2II), OCTOBER 22 1857.

THE DAY'S NEWS.

We to-day supply our readers with the opinions
of several of the members of the present House
of Commons on the Indian revolt. It will be
seen that tin majority, if not the whole, call out
for vengeance on the Sepoys. It is asserted by
some that we have employed the violence of tyrants
without their policy, that we have plundered the
native poptfation, and in no way promoted the
moral and mate' ial progress of the territories
Ruder our charge. On the other hand, it is asserted,
by the advocates of Loa lenball-streea that we have
regenerated India, that we have accomplished
more than could have been expected, and that our
Government has omitted none of the duties ap-
pertaining to a conquering Soste, whose arms have
reduced more than a hundred millions of men to
absolute, political, and social dependence. The
truth is, that both these views are intensely over-
coloured, but the latter is mere accurate than the
former. We have committed many blunders in
the East, we have forgot en many responsibilities,
we have sometimes treated es a property that
which was only a trust; of recent years especially
•ur representatives in the East have been supine;
we have selected them from a lower order; Canning
sits in the place of Haetioes, Mangles in that of
Elphinstene, Vernon Smith in that of Minto. An
improved system of police might easily have been
established, wi h railway extensions, a
mitigated' land tax, a more liberal trade in
salt, and other reforms, praetical and finan-
cial, which would have operated greatly
to the benefit of the people of India. Bu', as a
London cotemperary remarks, only ignorance- or
bigotry can venture to essert that, upon the whole,
our supremacy has not been a blessing ; that we
have not redeemed matey devastated provinces;
that we have not considerably humanised the
natives ; that we have failed to vindicate our colas
plete authority, not only over the petty ancient
princes, but over the Brahmieical despotisms, and
those gorgeous Moguls whoa:" monuments of
encaustic and marble were reared amid the
groans and sufferings of innumerable millions. The
Times of yesterday has a long anicle on Indian
affairs; the writer m lintaining, that it is the duty
of the Government to put the best man in a place,
but that in eases where he must act on the
inspiration of the moment, we must respect
tnat inspiration, and not censure, clog, or
discourage him, unless there should be a
very strong case, indeed, agaiusi him. The Indian
Government, however, has taken the contrary
course. Daring the las': two months the successive
mails have brought the se.ri,us intelligence that
from Allahabad to Calcutta every city was fester-
ing with conspiracy and menaced with open ie
surrection, and that large bodies of mutineers
were roving about, at no great distance, in corres
pondence with traitors wi,hin. At Calcutta and
some other large cities the danger was removed
by the arrival of European troops. But at
One of the cities named as on the eve of an
outbreak confidence was all at once restored, and
the danger entirely dispelled, by the energetic
measures of the civil officer left in charge of the
place, by the simple exile lint of hanging up seve-
ral proved traitors, If we are correctly informed,
the re.-1-tapists of Calcutta have procure,' the
removal of this meritori us officer, on the ground
that he ought to have sent the men to Calcutta
for trial, or merely kept them under surveillance,
or that he ought to have let the city go through the
regular process of unbounded confidence, massacre,
conflagration, long siege, tardy rescue, and so
forth. We cannot respect—indeed, we utterly
despise, a truckling, huckstering humanity, which
shows itself at the cost of good men, and to the
encouragement of traitors and villians. The repu-
tation to be got by such a course is cheap feet
worthless ; and we trust the British people will
be so much of our opinion on this point as to
insist on justice being done to the victims of this
base policy. The Daily News is of opinion that,
come what may, India henceforth will
be governed by Europeans India is ours,
and will continue ours ; but to restore the
tranquility which has been disturbed by the revolt
of the Bengal army will cost us mush money and
great efforts; and every moment's delay, occasioned
by the ignorance, apathy, and indecision of our
rulers, increases the expense and difficulty of the
task of restoring order
An Indian Reform League, inaugurated at Cal-
cutta, and supported by the leading merchants,
lawyers, and professional men who have no connec-
tion with the Government, propose a changsain the
political and administrative condition of India,
involving the removal of all governing power from
the hands of the East India Company. The
League intend to press their views upon the
attention of the Parliament and people of Ells-
land ; and beside the radical change con-
templated, they further demand a uniform
administrati Nn of justice on the principles of
English law, she abolition of stamps and all other
taxes on the administretien of justice, the im-
provement of the police system, the revision of
iscal arrangements, and the throwing open of civi
employment to all Europeans (not native) with
out distinction, if they only possess the necessaey
qualifications. Of the inauguration of this important
movement. of the names of the individuals ass--
ciated with it, and of the speeches which have
been made in its defence, we learn nothing in the
Auglo-Indian journals, on account of the resnic•
tions placed on the liberty of the press, Wc
are, however, in possession of a full report of the
proceedings, and will at an early day publish
them.
Some gentlemen at Worcester, while anxious to
subsc_ibe to the Indian Mutinies Fund, felt reluc-
tance to do so, in the belief that no adequate
security was given for the proper administration
of the money. Sir John Pakington, to whom they
mentioned it, and who had heard the same feeling
expressed elsewhere, wrote to the Lerd Mayor of
London on the subject. The reply informs him
that the fund is applied on the general principles