The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-13 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, FEB. 13, 1864.

Our vast Indian Empire is a legitimate object of
national pride and interest and anxiety. We may
feel justly exultant in the magnitude of our terri-
tories—

We call such a vast domain our own
That the sun never sets on our might.„
We may feel a very natural and almost parental in-
terest in those millions of our fello subjects, who
should look to us for all the blessings of civilisation
and Christianity, for their welfare and prosperity
in this world and the next, and especially bearing
in mind the dreadful events of 1857, which are
still so vivid in the remembrance of all, we c • nnot
but regard with heartfelt anxiety a responsibility
great and so pnearious. A very thoughtful and
earnest writer, who has deeply considered the
various workings of our Indian administration, has
just published a volume* on the subject, well
worthy of attention, careful examination, and
especial regard. Many of his opinions, as he him-
self is ready to expect, will be ngarded with doubt
and displeasure. He is one of those plain-spoken
friends who do not shrink from the utterance of un-
pleasant truths when tbey believe such utterance
to be impelled by duty. As an evidence of the
right spirit with which this observer regards our
influence in India, and the high mission

which Eagiaad is there called upon to fu.fil,
let us quote from some of his opening
observations on the subject, "We have done," he
says, "a great deal for the people of India. They
were blind, we have taught them to see ; they
were unthinking and unconscious, we have taught
them to be conscious and observant ; they were
accustomed only to a Government of force and
arbitrary caprice, which renders a whole people de-
pendent upon the personal disposition of the
Monarch,—we have shown them a government of
law and order of rights and principles. We can-
not stop here; we must allow them to touch, to
handle, to taste and to enjoy, all those glorious
fruits of British civilisation which we have taught
them to understand and to appreciate. We cannot
give and withhold at the same time. We must con-
tinue to show the way in reform and reconstruction ;
we must always confer and never concede: no long as
the British Government keeps moderately in ad-
vance of native opinion and native capacity, it will
preserve the moral support of the influential
classes, without which peace and good order will
for ever be precarious, and physical force will be a
doubtful and discreditable safeguard."

The power of right as opposed to might is
what Major BELL is anxious to enforce as the true
stronghold of British power. In the furtherance of
this opinion he expresses views on the subject of
territorial aggrandisement not likely to be palatable
to the acquisitive, While we do not agree with him
in all his views, we consider these views eminently
deserving the thoughtful attention of all'the friends
and the rulers of India. At the close of his remarks
he disclaims the reputation of being an alarmist.
" I fear," be says, " neither invasion nor rebellion,
but I wish always to feel that the right is on our
side. I wish to see every source of moral weakness,
every subject of rebuke, obliterated. I desire the
rights of every one to be respected, in order that
our own may be strengthened. It, is not," he added,
" because we have done so little, but because we
have done so much, that I wish to see our work
consolidated and naturalised." In furtherance of
which desirable object, Major BELL has done
good service by his fearless suggestions and his
plain-spoken reproofs.

It will be a matter of general satisfaction that
the House of Peers has made no opposition to the
appointment of the joint committee, which it is pro-
posed shall undertake the supervision of the myriad
railway schemes with which London is now threat-
ened. The public have seen with some alarm the
rapid extension of these projects until they have
reached an amount that is positively startling. As
Lord DERBY observed, there may well be a feeling
amounting almost to a panic, when the number,
extent, and variety of these schemes are contem-
plated. No less than 160 of our metropolitan streets
will be seriously interfered with, and as a proof that
these are no mere visionary designs which may
never be put into execution, even if admitted, the
noble earl tells us that 8 per cent. of the estimated
amount required-135,000,000—has been already
deposited. Railways are to intersect London north,
south, east, and west. Trains are to ply over our
heads, to rumble under our feet, and to rush along
side of us. The latter experiment is one of the
many modern fashions which have been set us by
the Americans ; but as our disregard for life and
limb does not yet equal theirs, we doubt whether it
will prove acceptable to English folks. It is a
matter of common remark and natural regret that
all these schemes are brcnght forward indepen-
dently and separately, without any reference to each
other. There is, therefore, good reason for doubt-
ing whether the interests of the public are
not secondary to the speculative ambition
of each particular company. It has been very truly
said in both houses, with regard to the proposed
committee, that the case of the metropolis is an ex-

( ceptioual one, In this country wa uociany look
with some suspicion on any attempt on the part of
the Government to direct or influence such matters,
preferring to leave them exclusively to private
enterprise. Bat in a matter in which sueh wide
interests are involved, and in which private enter-
prise seems to be outrunning an bounds, it is better,
as Lord DERBY said, to decide in such a manner
"as to exclude all • private interest or personal
consideration from any influence in the decision."
Lord REDESDALE, who is himself to be a member
of the committee, observed with reference to the
suggestion of a Royal Commission on the subject,
that it was usually found in practice that the re-
ports of such bodies possessed little weight, and he
doubted whether a commission would have the
requisite boldness to deal with these schemes, and
decide which should not go forward. After the
report was made, too, it would be quite possible to
disregard some of its recommendations, a course
which would be scarcely possible if a joint commit-
tee of the two Houses were concerned. The pro-
posed course will be more advantageous to the
schemers themselves than the ordinary one, for it
will save them a great outlay, perhaps, for no good.
If a company expend a large sum of money in
getting abillthrough a committee of the Lower House
only to have it thrown out by a committee of the
Peers they have not only the mortification to regret,
but the actual loss. The committee will have every
opportunity of dealing with the subject as a whole,
without any regard to particular cases or isolated
plans. They have already a report of the Board of
Trade on the subject, and Earl GRANVILLE has
promised them a supplementary report of an en-
gineering character, describing the effect of these
schemes. The Board of Works and the Corpora-
tion of London have also published reports which
will further enlighten them as to the views of the
citizens. The numerous public meetings which
have been held in different parts of London will
probably also have weight, although, of course, a
limited er factious opposition must not be allowed
to interfere with designs of general utility. It is
evidently quite time that something was done to
put the whole matter on an entirely new footing,
since the interests of a large body of the inhabitants
of the metropolis are at stake, and the comfort and
convenience of all_ There is no ground for fearing
at the present day, and with the names which com-
pose the committee, that any unnecessary obstacles
will be put in the way of improvement and enter-
prise; but the public will be more satisfied if they
see the matter placed in the hands of those who
will only regard the general good without regard
to private interests of any sort whatever; avoiding
alike the extreme of unnecessary meddling with
reasonable plans,
and the even more dangerous error
of encouraging
uulimitk el innovation.

The Earl of DERBY has shown great promptitude
in bringing the afflirs of the American Corres-
pondence before the House, and, much as it is to be
regretted that his efforts were so little successful,
still it is a satisfaction to find one in so prominent
a position as the noble earl exposing the inconsis-
tencies and declaring the my a teries that distinguish
and surround all the trans actions of oar Govern-
ment with that of Washingt4 m. In the first place,
what can be more conclusi' ie than the arguments
with which Lord DERBY co anted the statements
made by the noble Secret,i,-,ry for Foreign Affairs,
respecting the difficulties tha t stood in the way of
producing the papers. Irideek 1, a more trivial, un.
S never put forward,
founded, or shallow excrao Wa