The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-19 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TlMES.—There is, no doubt, much in the present
state of Greece exceedingly unsatisfactory to her-
self as well as to her friends and wellwishers. The
country has by no means recovered from the
paroxysm of revolution which so fiercely agitated
it two years ago. The evil times which it has gone
through have left their miserable legacy in the
shape of innumerable factions and inextinguishable
discontents. The work of reconstruction has hardly
commenced, and before anything can be done the
whole edifice has fairly crumbled about the ears of
the nation. King Otho with his heavy system of
repression, Queen Amelie with her restless and un-
tiring industry, are gone, and their places filled by
a Sovereign of another and a hostile race. An in-
credible number of Administrations have succeeded
each other. The army is more formidable to the capital
than the rebels or brigands, and the provinces are
sinking into an almost hopeless anarchy. We hear
of violent crimes at the very gates of Athens, and we
hear nothing of any serious effort to develope the
resources of the country or to put the finances on
a sound footing. Added to all these causes of con-
fusion there is the acquisition of the lonian Islands
and the necessity of amalgamating this extraneous
substance into a body possessing itself scarcely any
valid organisation. Nothing seems really active
but the Assembly, and that, as usual in such cases,
is quite taken up with the discussion of the funda-
mental law on which the Constitution is to be based.
Things seem pretty much in the state into which
they fell under the Government of Capo
No one who knows the past history of
.Greece, the
real and urgent difficulties with which she has to
struggle, and the exceedingly defective appliances
of all kinds with which that struggle has to be con-
ducted, will be surprised at this state of affairs. The
five-and-thirty years which have succeeded the
emancipation of the country from the Turkish rule
have been worse than wasted, and the whole work
of reconstruction has to be begun over again with-
out the ardour, without the enthusiasm, without
the great revolutionary names whose influence
seemed to make almost anything possible, It was
the practice of King Otho to employ in succession
all the public men and all the parties in the country;
it was a maxim of his Government never to employ
any one without as far as lay in his power degra4l-
- him in the eyes of his fellow-citizens, exacting
from him some concession, or engaging him in some
act justly obnoxious to public censure. Here is a
collection of difficulties sufficient to arouse the sym-
pathy and to command the forbearance of every
foreign country. Every allowance ought to be
made for an Oriental race struggling with means
so inadequate against such an overwhelming mass
of obstruction and anarchy ; yet we are informed
that Lord Russell has addressed a Note to the
Greek Cabinet, declaring that England recognises no
factions in Greece and condemns anarchical demon-
strations. The Note further states that, in case of
necessity, England will, in conjunction with France
and Russia, take measures for the maintenance
of order and the strengthening of the reigning
dynasty. We have only a summary of the despatch
before us, but we confess that, so far as we are able
to judge, we view the appearance of such a docu-
ment with regret. We do not doubt that there are
factions in Greece, just as we know there are factions
in Ireland; and we admit, without difficulty, that
it is not the duty of the English Government to re-
cognise any faction whatever. We are not aware
that we have ever done so ; but we must, on the
other hand, say that no expectation could be more
chimerical or absurd than the hope that Greece
could settle down under its new Government with-
out a long period of faction and discord. Faction
is but another name for party. We at least have
found it impossible to preserve freedom without the
instrumentality of party, and party must necessarily
have more weight and influence in proportion as
freedom is newer and Government less firmly esta-
blished. We therefore see no reason for speaking
with such extreme impatience and indignation of
the manifestations of party spirit with which Greece
abounds. The only question is, what is the best
way to put an end to tnis state of things ? On this
point we fear we are entirely at issue with Lord
Russell. If we are to believe the reports which
have reached us, he seems to think that the best
course is to put down the factious leaders by armed
force, and to strengthen the existing Government by
foreign intervention. No one, we suppose, doubts
the power of England, France, Russia, or any one
of them, to put down by main force any Greek
faction it pleases, but is it quite clear that such
a proceeding is the best way to secure the end
proposed ? The King of Greece cannot always be
supported like the Pope by foreign troops, and the
withdrawal of those troops is sure to be the signal
for the starting into existence of innumerable file.
tions. Are we prepared to make our intervention
permanent or intermittent, ceasing for a while, and
then recurring again as often as the necessity for it
arises ? No country can be permanently governed,
no society can be solidly established on such princi.
ples. The time must come at last when it must be
left to work out its own purification by its own in-
ternal fermentation, and when the only possibility
of peace will be in the victory of one faction over
another. The gift of liberty is but a mockery if it
is to be attended by perpetual interference whenever
it is not exercised to the satisfaction of those who
gave it. We might as well abolish it at once as de-
stroy it under the pressure of repeated interventions.
There is still another objection in this despatch
which will not fail to suggest itself to the minds of
our readers. The one result that was obtained by
the great debate of last summer was believed to be
that henceforth our Government will be less pros
digal of their advice and interference in the affairs
of foreign countries. The feeling of Parliament was
unmistakably strong against armed intervention,
and still stronger against despatches which, if not
complied with by those to whom they were addressed
seemed to require armed intervention as their neces-
sary complement. We heard abundance of protests
against barking without biting, not because we
wanted to bite, but because we did not wish that
our wateh-dogs should continually Lark. The naa
tional feeling was humiliated not because we did
not assist the Danes, but because we adopted a tone
which seemed to place us on the very verge of dis-
honour if we did not come forward to assist them.
We are now in the month of October, a period
justly dreaded by the friends of peace and order as
the one which is usually selected for demonstrations
of extraordinary Ministerial vigour. We regret that
the precedent is allowed to become inveterate. We
certainly are on the safe side in this instance; we
have got France and Russia with us, and nothing
but some anarchical factions of poor little Greece
against us. There is no fear that we shall be treated
as we were at Berlin and Vienna. But while the
victory of one faction over the other, obtained by
internal means, may leave no element of discord
behind it, a victory by external force must ulti-
mately weaken the King's Government, and give
its enemies the opportunity of representing it as
supported by foreign bayonets against the will of
the nation. Such despatches as the one we have
been considering must necessarily have the effect
of exciting the feelings of every Greek patriot
against us, and doing that injury to our moral in.
fluence which it never fails to sustain when i
appeals to force instead of reason,

POST.—Few persons are better qualified to speak
on the subject of Indian finance than Mr Laing, for
although his residence in India during the period
when its exchequer was entrusted to his keeping
was brief, it was certainly during that time that the
majority of those reforms were effected which have
contributed so much to the present commercial
prosperity of our Eastern Empire. One is, there.
fore, inclined to overlook the egotism which more
than once betrayed itself in the course of an address
recently delivered by him at Kirkwall, in considera-
tion of the unquestionable services which he has
rendered to the State. The transition from the rule
of a trading company to that of the Imperial Go-
verniment could not be effected in India without the
change being severely felt; end the condition in
which India found herself at the time when that
change was rendered indispensable did not tend to
diminish the effects of the shock. Mr. Laing, no
doubt, correct:y describes the mutiny as having pro-
duced all the results of a revolution, and it unques-
tionably prepared the native population to transfer
their allegiance to a Government which in so
striking a manner had demonstrated its ability to
maintain supreme control within its dominions. The
territories of the East India Company had increased
to such an extent that it was impossible for it to
hope to retain in subjection the various races with
which they were peopled without th© establishment
of a despotism which, nevertheless, it wanted the
power to make irresistible. The rule of the company
may be said to have culminated in the viceroyalty
of the Marquis of Dalhousie; but, notwithstanding
no one possessed in a higher degree all the qualities
necessary to fit him for the arduous and almost irre-

sponsible position which he fillEd than that states-
man, the measures which he adopted precipitated
the catastrophe which has completely revolutionised
the Indian Empire. The rule of the Marquis of
Dalhousie was, as Mr. L.ing states, a splendid
despotism, but at the same time was rotten to the

core. That rottenness became apparent as Soon as
the Governor-General had left the Indian shores ;
and then, after a crisis which threatened the very
existence of the British supremacy. Hindostan,
a new era opened, which, if judged by the favour-
able auspices under which it has commenced, pro-
mises a future for India which might well be envied
by the moat favoured countries on the face of the

globe. The wars in which the East India Govert
ment was engaged during the latter years of 1i
existence, coupled with the mutiny which merge
the termination of its career, not merely drainer
the Indian exchequer, but seriously encumbered th
national finances and lessened the credit of the Go
vernment. So deeply involved, indeed,had the le:
ter become, and so insecure was the condition!)
Indian finance, that the first care of the Itnperl6l
Government was to effect, if possible, such reform
as would at least enable India to emerge from be
state of chronic indebtedness. To Mr. Wilson via
entrusted this difficult task, and in endeavouring ti
accomplish it he sacrificed his life. Mr. Laing eel
needed him ; and although he pursued a policy di
ferent from that of his predecessor,
unjust to the memory of the former not to ache!,
that his labours lightened, in no inconsiderably
degree, the duty which the latter was called uPAe.II
to discharge. When Mr. Lain., landed in 115:11,
he tells us he found a deficit ofi £6,000,000, "di
new taxes unproductive and unpopular, the ere..
of the Government so low as to be unable to con
mend a loan even at six per cent., and the. es;
balances. in the Treasury at the lowest Pino,
it would b
which it was possible that the government. of 0
country. could be conducted. In this
affairs he addressed himself to the work of refedrei,
by making a sweeping reduction in the elPete
ture. The annual 'outlay was at this time !iv°
£28,000,000, and this was diminished forthwith
sti
the. extent of £5,000,000, and in the following Yeol
it was reduced by an additional £2,000,000' Ano,
.these
.sums, about £4,000,000 were saved by red
tons in the military and naval establishments, a.,1,
the remainder by pursuing a similar course vtoi'il
respect. to. the civil service departments. At these ns,
position _
time remissions were effected in taxation ; the and
lay on public works was increased, notwitheta",,e
ing
.which, owing to the buoyancy of the rev.au ;
deficits of previous years became converted inteßof
surplus. It is gratifying to know that the si teeeioi
obtained by Mr. Laing was not transient, and ~";o1
the prosecution of the same economical system scmiiil
he contributed so much to establish has since
departure from India been followed by the tto
good results. The great secret of financial B°l'7B
in India seems to be to bestow with no grudgli
hand all that is required for the development 011:41
material resources of the empire. Mr Laing,.cu
been. all his life a man of business, and the bin
which his recent address contained on the subJee',ol
remuneration. to the servants of the Goveronli'to,
merit the. closest attention. "Real economy is
gether inconsistent with cheeseparing. To do sq°ol
cheaply you must do it with the smallest nenthenroi
the best possible hands. To get this you eatisterbe.
only pay men well, but you must treat them oui
rally, and make them zealous and hearty in YA)I6
service." Mr Laing is a practical economist, enlanr,
can point to the results of the system he has P„-gl.
sued ; and we would therefore recommend the
.07"01
sell which he gives ,to the serious consideration 50
those gentlemen who, in the House of Common in
constantly manifest the interest which they tees of
the taxpayer by proposing to dock the salaries nt
public servants. Everyone knows that if they
the
work well done it must be well paid for, anur„"rd
Government are the last in the world who can si'vt
toignore this important fact. "To a Govertintea,
like that of India," says Mr Laing, "is worth s let to
lion a•year—as a mere question of money,
speak of higher considerations—that its whole Oto
of servants, civil and military, should feel that t
State is a generous master, whom it is a pop" ed
honour to serve faithfully." Mr Laing was the! it
fore careful, notwithstanding the great teroPts,n
to
.reduce the apparently large salaries of the le","ii.
public servants, to leave them comparatively pp'
touched.. Retrenchment is not always synonren-a.
with. economy. The maintenance of the vast "fo.
ministrative system which is needed for the Ple:os
meet of India must t,lways cost what to EuroPet,"Bo
may appear an extravagantly large sum ; but nu,
it is borne in mind how much depends on the e to
ciency of that administration, few will hesitate he
admit that if the paymasters err at all it should
on the side of generosity.