The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-13 00:00:00

entirely under British rule, is not a little re-
markable. The Calcutta Enghshman expresses a
hope that this affair may lead to some effectual re-
form, and it is surely the duty of the authorities,
no less than the interest of the inhabitants, to see
this carried out. With her valuable ship-
ping, Calcutta ought to be well sup•
plied with steam floating engines, in addi-

tion to a proper and well manned supply
on shore, else we may chance to hear in some
hot, dry season the tale of some startling catas-
trophe. However, things are mending so rapidly
in India, and public afflirs are now presided over
by so energetic and capable an administrator,
that we may look for speedy progress in
of all such matters.: This generation will
have seen more changes in the internal organisa-
tion of India than all the years that have passed
since we first set foot on its soil ? The memory
of the oldest inhabitant must carry him through
startling changes. An interesting instance of such
a career is cited in the record of the death of a
British soldier. General AIIMUTY, the oldest officer
of the Indian army, died lately at Lahore. He
entered the Bengal Artillery seventy-five years
since in the palmy days of TIPPOO SULTAN, and
remembered the glories of Mysore and Assaye.
He took part in the siege of Delhi, in 1803, and
lived to share the perils of its second, and no less
memorable siege, half a century later. Such a
life recals us to the tact that the time of our
sway is as yet brief, and if we have cause to
deplore much neglect and error we may reason•
ably hope, under Providence, for opportunity to
do all we have left undone.

Lord DEBBY'S speech on the debate hi the House

of Lords on Monday is a very suggestive one, and
may serve to throw some light on the very intricate

and complex question of our foreign policy. The
noble earl on the first night of the session signalised

,he course pursued by the Ministers as the meddle

and muddle system and the experience which
we have since gleaned of these manoeuvres has only

served to confirm that opinion, and ratify that deci-

sion. In no concern in which they have been en-

gaged have our Government come out creditably,
and there is no nation, great or small, powerful or
insignificant, which can now feel any confidence in
the assurances of our protection or any dread of the
veracity of our threats. Earl RUSSELL must have
been mortified at the satirical allusions made to his
plodding and persevering assiduity in framing de-
spatches which no one paid head to, and whose
grandiloquent asseverations were totally disre-
garded. Who can refrain from coinciding with the
humorous description of the futile efforts of our
loquacious but inert Foreign Secretary. " The
noble earl has gone on spinning day after day his
political cobwebs, utterly regardless of every
single thread being swept away one after
another, spinning, spinning on, but at the
same time not making the slightest progress
towards the completion of his net, and not having
been able to catch a single diplomatic fly." This is
a droll but a decisive sketch of the proceedings
which ha►e distinguished the course of affairs at

Downing-street for months past, and bitterly must
the magnates in that precinct regret the recurrence
of the session which tears the veil from those ex-
ploits which can hardly afford to bear the light of
day, and holds up to scorn and ridicule the insincere
and insufficient mode of procedure that there reigns
supreme. It is very derogatory to the dignity of
a statesman, and not at all consonant with the posi-
tion of a Minister of the foremost country of tilt.

world, that he should exhaust himself in utterances

that are of no avail, that fall on unwilling ears, and
are quickly consigned to the limbo of things for-
gotten. Vox et preterea nihil is not the motto
which should be prefixed to the missives which
emanate from the councils of our rulers. Lord
DERBY'S rebuke to the noble lord regarding his
notions of peace was also very excellent and well-
timed. It was not surprising that one so high-
spirited as the Conservative Chief should be
amazed and aghast at the low standard
and grovelling motives which seem to actuate and
inform the Cabinet. It is truly the lowest ground
on which to place the policy of peace, that of pecu-
niary considerations, and also there are, as Lord
DERBY said, evils greater than war, " the sacrifice
of the honour of the country and the abandonment
of a friend who has placed himself in your hands."
It is really quite contemptible to go on preaching

of the horrors of war, ani the inconvenience to
which it would put the subjects of this country.
Those who have an opportunity of reply might well
retort on the ardent advocate of peace at any price,

that the responsibility must rest. heavily on those
who make no efforts to rescue or relieve other
nations from the horroes of war, and especially
those which are weaker, and have relied on the
good will and good faith of the Government of this
country, and thus what may be loss or annoyance
to us is death and ruin to tteir enterprise and com-
merce• It is the same in public as in private mat-
ters, nothing great can be achieved, nor solid
services rendered to others, if the nation or indi-
viduals be actuated by sordid motives, and if the
ruling spirit be not so much to prevent loss to others
as to secura gain to itself. Such is not the
way to impress the nations of the world with our
sense of honour or our love of justice, and it is not
the way to foster the growth or to encourage the
desire among all our people of public viz tue or of
public spirit. A more et uffling speech than that of
Earl RUSSELL'S cannot be conceived, and we see
the insincerity of his promises and the shallowness
of his arguments in a startling manner when we
compare his writings with his speeches, and his
words with his acts. If there is the slightest truth
or the smallest foundation for the assertion which
closed the statement put forth by the noble lord to
ha House that, for his part, he thought " a pacific
policy" was our true policy, he should have guarded
against misleading others, and not have attempted
to arbitrate among nations who had not fors worn
the sword. We are no match for the lands that
have armies ready for the field, and fleets that wait
the signal to weigh anchor, and set out to accom
plish the behests of their ruler and fulfil the policy
of their statesmen. When the decisive moment has
arrived no one will wait for the bungling diplomacy
of England to stay their march or supersede their
measures. There is more spirit in a sentence of
Lord DERBY'S than in a page of Earl RUSSELL'S
diatribes, and there is no impartial reader that can
fail to notice the difference and mark the contrast
between the speakers. It resolves itself into this,
that in one instance we peruse the sentiments of a❑
independent witness, and in the other ere presented
with well-dressed statements and principles so care
folly promulgated that it requires but a moderate
amount of ingenuity to read them either way.

The Countess de Montesquiou, an elderly lady,
residing at a chateau near Vendome (Loir-et-Cher),
had a narrow escape lately while returning in her
carriage from that town. The coachman, being
taken suddenly with a fit, fell from his teat, and the
horses, no longer feeling the check of the reins,
dashed off at a great pace. It so happened that M.
Maubert, agent of the lady, was accomp?.nying her
in the carriage. He climbed to the driving-box,
and then getting down on to the pole, sucocecied, at
the risk of his life in recovering the reins, which
were dragging on the ground, while the horses were
still rushing On. fla then again remounted to the
coachman's seat, and in a short time brought the
horses under control.