The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-28 00:00:00

less its hopes of subjugating it." Can anything
be more inconsistent than this style of reasoning,
because is it likely that one of the parties in a con-
flict would recognise the rights of the other ? and,
according to the showing of this speech, we must
wait to admit the independence of the South until
the North has done so. Further on, when he
discoursed upon more serious themes, the right hon.
gentleman rather forgot himself, and by his own
showing exhibited the great evils to which an
unequal policy had given rise. He stated that we
were threatened with a rival in the matter of a
national debt, and seemed likely to lose the repu-
tation of so long a standing as to being the highest
in such an affair. America, which had a public
debt not less than four hundred millions
sterling, must have an annual charge upon
it far more than ours. Does not this suffi-
ciently exemplify the inquiry that is accruing to
those whose cause we pretend to serve, and form a
striking warning to those who forsake the line of
action where duty points and to which honour calls,
in order to tread the devious paths of expediency
or the dangerous road of compromise. Mr. PEEL
gave a hint to his vehement peace friends, which they
will not thank him for, notwithstanding that there
is some truth in it. He stated that he desired an
increase of the franchise to a certain extent, but he
deprecated the proposals that some made of a
startling and sudden change. He argued that if
the mere numerical majority of those who lived
by their hand was in the constituencies,
the " House of Commons would become the repre-
sentative of one class, though not necessarily of one
opinion, and thereby would lose that characteristic
which it had so enjoyed of being the representative
of all classes and interests in the country, which
thus acted as a check upon each other, and secured
that everything done should be for the general
good." So ',much for the effect of Mr. BRIGHT'S
oratory and the arguments of his friend upon this
representative of the Treasury. The comparison
which the right hon. gentleman made concerning
the House of Commons and " Congress" was very
good, and indeed it furnished the most salient point,
of his speech. He said that they might well ask if
Congress had been blotted out of the institutions
of America, for it was most extraordinary that
at a time like this it should have been of so little
account. • All must agree with the passage which
expresses the impotence of the influence, and the
failure of the establishment of the National Assem-
bly in the crisis that has occurred. Has there been,
he effectively asked, " a voice out of Congress heard
with power sufficient to stir a single wave in that
great commotion ?" To do him justice, it would
seem as if in the latter part of his speech the right
hon. gentleman spoke more from his own observa-
tions and convictions, and less in the jargon of offi-
cial language, and hence it was incomparably the
best part of his harangue, though perhaps not quite
so calculated to win approval from those refined
j udges who reign supreme in the Treasury, and to
whom he naturally looks as the oracles of wit and
wisdom.

The intelligence from India is not of a striking

nature. Happily affairs are, generally speaking, in
a tranquil condition, and the political changes
which are being introduced are not very subversive
in their character. Mr. MAINE'S Bill for the aboli-
tion of grand juries in the Presidency towns, is very
unpopular among most classes ; but, for some reason
or other, it is likely to be carried by the Govern-
ment. Two other legal measures are looked on with
more favour—one being the extension of small
cause courts, and the other a Bill for amending the
constitution of the chief courts in the Punjaub and
its dependencies. European criminals will hence-
forward be amenable to courts in the Mofus-
sil, whereas hitherto it has been necessary
to bring such offenders to one of the
Presidency towns, a consideration which
naturally often prevented the prosecution of a cul-
prit, since a journey of a thousand miles is no light
undertaking as a preliminary to punishing a dis-

honest servant, or even to bringing a worse crimi-
nal to justice. The new measure establishes courts
in the large towns, which courts are to be presided
over by European judges travelling on circuit.. It is
not surprising that such a scheme should be gene-
rally approved, since its advantages over the pre-
sent system are at once apparent. The effects of
the late disastrous storm are still being severely felt
in Bengal. Terrible sickness and famine are prey-
ing upon the unhappy people, and it is difficult to
organise any system of relief commensurate with
their wants. The destruction of human life
in the great cyclone was appalling. It has been
calculated that 60,000 persons perished. The island
' of Saugor, which formerly contained 8,200 people,
now has only 1,200. The remaining 7,000 were

swept off and drowned by the terrible storm-wave
to which so much disaster was attributable. As a
natural consequence of the varied evils attendant
upon the catastrophe, epidemic sickness is raging
among the population, and in some places commit-
ting fearful havoc. Great complaints are made of
the indifference of the rich native Bengalese to the
sufferings of their poorer countrymen, whose num-
bers are so vast that they are with difficulty
reached by the comparatively few Europeans who are
scattered among them. The crops have also in parts
been much damaged by the inroads of the sea
water, and famine is therefore added to the other
horrors. It is a pitiable spectacle, and it is to be
hoped that the great cyclone of 1864 may long be
memorable, not only for its devastation, but its
singularity.

An interesting, though melancholy, piece of in.
telligence connected with India, reaches us from
another quarter. From Constantinople we hear
of the premature death of Col. PATRICK STEWART,
of the Royal Engineers, to whose unremitting exer-
tions and public spirit we owe the speedy prospect
of telegraphic communication with India. Un-
fortunately he fell a victim to his labours
in the public service ; and having nearly
seen the successful termination of his labours
he died at the early age of 32, of illness mainly
attributable to over exertion. He will be followed
to the grave by the unanimous regrets of his coun-
trymen, who have to deplore not only the loss of
an able and accomplished officer, but of aman whose
energy, perseverance, and force of character marked
him out for undertakings of exceptional difficulty
and importance.

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LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS FOR THE
aartt 7, ' jra. bGI
rea
yo f. Llougeas --
day—Engineers, at 8, Docks and Warehouses, Marseilles.'
Anthropological, at 8, Larynx of the Negro,' Skull Ex-
humed in Bedfordshire,' Dr. Peacock; History of Anthro-
pology,' Mr. Bendyshe. Royal Institution, at 3, ' Electri-
city,' Professor Tyndall. Wednesday—Society of Litera-
ture, at 81. Society of Arts, at 8, London Sewage and
Agriculture,' Mr. Morton. Thursday—Royal Institution,
at 3, Electricity,' Professor Tyndall. Royal Academy, at
8, Architecture,' Professor Smirke. Linnean, at 8,
Climbing Plants,' Mr. Darwin. Chemical, at 8, 'Lecture
Illustrations,' Dr. Hofmann. Royal, at 81. Antiquaries,
at 81. Friday—Archmological Institute, at 4. Philologi-
cal, at 8, Welsh eraanmar and Etymology,' Mr. Rhys and
Rev. G. C. Geldart. Royal Institution, at 8, Aluminium,
Ethide and Methide,' Professor Odling. Saturday—Royal
Institution, at 3, 'Nervous System,' Professor Marshall.—
Athena-um.
By advices received this mail the Hong Kong and
China Gas Company are informed of the successful light-
ing up of the city of Hong Kong with gas.