The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-05 00:00:00

‘(* Wax_ !

LONDON, FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 5, 1847.

We would willingly coincide with the Chairman
of the East India Company, in regarding yesterday
evening as a most auspicious evening for the Supreme
Government of llindostan. The congratulatory
banquet which W 33 then given at the London
Tavern to the Eight llon. the Earl of DALHOUSIE,
the newly-appointed Governor-General of India, and
the cordial enlogiums uttered upon the persona]
character and administrative talents of that nobleman,
not merely by the mercantile potentates of Leaden-
hall-street, but by the most distinguished members of
the present Administration, constitute more than a
merely complimentary inauguration of his govern-
ment in the Asiatic peninsula. The illustrious Peer
has been initiated into his new dignity by more than
the mere table-talk of men coaxed into good humour
by the raciness of tokay or the lusciousness of turtle. In
the applause bestowed upon the successor of Lord HMI..
DINeE we recognise more than idle palaver. Earnest as
were the encomiums with which his name was associated,
they were tempered by the mention of the profound and
onerous responsibilities of the splendid charge re-
signed to the protection and direction of his intelli-
gence. With sufficient pomp to dazzle his imagination
and sufficient authority to unsettle his judgment, the
Carl of DALHOUSIB hears at the moment of his ele-
vation a warning voice as solemn as that which pene-
trated the ears of the Macedonian PHILIP. While
the Chairman of the East Indian Directors reminds
bun that he has been summoned to rule over " the
most magnificent
alempire that has ever been ac-
quired by • thew
isdoournr of the soldier, or" re-
tained by the
recals to his recollection of the statesman, he
t
namerous and stupendous Chltleethe same time the
h•
him simultaneously with that
ewxalch devolve upon
The fact is brought to his remember
appointment.
Governor-Generalship
of
India
neoesaranita ranee, that the
administration otthe affairs of a territorytesa vigilant
containing
very many millions of the human race, "diversified'
their character, professing different religions,in
distinct
in their habits, in their feelings, in their moral and
phrigalcharacteristics." He is told in an authoritative
manner that his task is one requiring extraordinary
capacities, both of command and conciliation—that a
system of legislation is expected from his hands, at
once vigorous and temperate—that he must be a sa-
gacious financier, and an active administrator—that
be must be familiar with all judicial intricacies and ca-
pable
of directing the commercial enterprize of a vast
and diversified population. Beyond all this he is re-
rainded that he will have to pass through the ordeal
of a comparison with those distinguished statesmen
who have preceded him in the direction of the
Anglovernment, and that that ordeal will
be 110 (44:74etraried by the curiosity of his contem-
-1
" ---tVtieji'martiality of future historians.
"'ere arvteetivioafes *tow, in all conscience, that
the-Panegyriits of th
e Earl of DALHOUSIE did not
degenerat, luta
*m. lien are reasons

enow, in all conscience, why that noble-
man should enter upon his administration
with sentiments of awe and modesty rather than
those of a vain-glorious confidence. Looking, as he
himself acknowledges, to the memorable statesman
who had already trodden the ground upon which he
was about to adventure, he might readily feel solici-
tous as to the comparison. Remembering the mili-
tary genius of CLIVE, the immense and versatile ca-
pacities of HASTINGS, the vigorous intelligence of
Wm...LEsixr, the ardour of MOIRA, the assiduity of
BENTINCK, and the patriotic devotion of HARDINGE, it
is not surprising that Lord DALHOUSIE should mani-
fest no inconsiderable anxiety as to the future estimate
of his career, when contrasted with that of his re-
nowned predecessors. That these considerations are
fully appreciated by the new Governor-General is ob-
vious from the whole tenour of his address yesterday
evening, and we trust the same sense of his responsi-
bilities will be manifest from the tenour of his entire
Administration.

Following as he does in the footsteps
of Lord HAIIDINGB, Lord DALHOUSIE will
find an opportunity, we take it, for the better
demonstration of his regard for equity, peace, and
prudential improvement. The brilliant achievements
of a military character, which have imparted a lustre
to his immediate forerunner, will render the quies-
cence of his own rule as Governor-General more
possible, and the gradual consolidation into one
homogeneous empire of so many and such heterogene •
ous principalities, will facilitate in a remarkable
manner the introduction amongst the Asiatic race of
the more solid benefits of civilization. It was avowed
yesterday evening, by the Earl of DALHOUSIE, that
his loftiest ambition, as Governor-General of
India will be the promotion of the immediate com-
fort of the people entrusted to his charge, and the
development of such sources of prosperity and wealth
as must tend to their permanent social and moral
improvement. It is a noble ambition—an ambition
preferable to that of territorial aggrandizement, and
more remunerative than the least perilous and most
costly spoliation. Should the new Governor-General,
for example, be instrumental during his continuance
in authority, in effecting the establishment of ex-
tensive railroad communication in India, he will have
thereby entitled himself to the gratitude of
the mother country, as well as of British
India, of posterity as well as of the present
generation. For upon that extraordinary facilitation
of transit throughout the fertile provinces of Hindos-
tan! England will no longer remain dependent upon
the cotton-growers of the United States. A con-
tinual and abundant supply of the raw material
pulled from the pods of the cotton plants grown by
the Asiatics will be thereby brought into direct
competition with what has been hitherto almost en-
tirely imported from the American plantations. A
want of more rapid and less expensive transit has
heretofore crippled the cotton trade of Hindostan, the
laying down of railways would at once open speedy
and reasonable lines of communication, and the open-
ing of those lines of communication would render
Great Britain more independent, and India more
capable of affording profitable employment to its
many millions of inhabitants. Keeping such practical
considerations as these in view, and animated through-
out by those patriotic and conscientious principles
which he expressed yesterday evening in the presence
of her MAJESTY'S Ministers and of the Directors of the
East India Company, Lord DA.LHOUSIE need feel no
trepidation as to his labours being regarded as dis-
entitled to the national gratitude, when contrasted
with the brilliant services of Lord Hammon, or the
memorable deeds of those renowned statesmen who
have at different periods held their Court and orga-
nized their Government in the palace of Calcutta.

The deputation from Birmingham, appointed at the
meeting held in that,town on the 22d ult., had an
interview yesterday with Lord JOHN RUSSELL. As
we predicted, some plain and wholesome truths were
spoken in homely but vigorous language. The
baneful operation of the present monetary system was
clearly pointed out, and forcibly commented on. The
total inadequacy of the recent Government measure
for the relief of the existing distress, and the utter
impossibility of merchants or manufacturers borrow-
ing money for the purpose of investing it in their
trades, when the minimum rate of the Bank of
England was 8 per cent. on the most unexceptionable
securities, was explained. That rate might possibly
be submitted to for a short period, and loans
might be taken ; but as Mr. MusTz truly
stated, if such was the case, "it would only be to
meet engagements already entered into and pressing
upon them, but in no case to embark it in any new
undertaking." It must be obvious to any one pos-
sessing the slightest knowledge of trade, that no
business could continue in a prosperous or even
solvent state if such a rate of interest was to be paid

or the capital with which it was carried on. If a
stoppage was to take place, and the affairs of the
concern were brought before the Court of Bank-
ruptcy, the Commissioner would seize on the mere
fact of the payment of such a rate of interest as a
sufficient reason for the suspension of the certificate,
and would announce that it was an undoubted proof
of the want of solvency of the parties, their consenting
to pay a price for money accommodation which no
fair profits could justify. It might be said, that
parties should not embark in trade on
borrowed capital, or speculate upon funds
belonging to other parties, but no man will embark
his own money in trade or commerce, and encounter
all the risk of loss, the fatigue and personal exertion
incidental thereto, unless he has a reasonable pros-
pect of realising profits far more considerable than
those which he could obtain by lending his money to
other parties. The trouble and casualties attendant on
business will not be undertaken without some power-
ful motives to influence the parties thereto. It can-
not either be said, that the merchant's or manufac •
turer's gains are in proportion to the valuelsf money,
or that he will obtain better prices for his goods, in
consequence of the increased cost of their production,
but, on the contrary, it is quite the reverse, and
produce of every description is depreciated as the
rate of interest is enhanced, sales are forced, goods
are disposed of for whatever they may bring, in order
that the manufacturer or importer may escape from
the hands of the money-lender. The continuance of
such exorbitant rates of interest for any prolonged
period must act as a total prohibition to our manu-
factures—must effect the cessation of employment of
every description. We shall not now speculate on
the fearful consequences that would inevitably follow
such a state of things. We shall not permit ourselves
even to conjecture the extremity of suffering to which
the people might be reduced, or the lengths to which
they might go, in their resistance thereto, or in their
opposition to a Government by which it was sanctioned.
We do not believe that the present Ministry can
remain insensible to the misery of the great bulk of
the people, or to the causes to which those evils may
fairly be ascribed. Of the three great parties into
which the Legislature is divided, and from which
alone a Cabinet could be selected, the Whigs
hare ever, shown themselves most alive to
the grievances by which the public have been
afflicted, and the most ready to afford remedies there-
for. It is to their exertions that we are indebted for
all the great reforms that have been introduced to
the Legislature, and by which the popular liberties
have been advanced. If they were not in power
when the boons have been granted, the concessions
were chiefly owing to the indignant eloquence with
which they denounced the evils, and the determined
energy with which they demanded the alteration and
revision of the erroneous laws. To them, therefore,
do we turn with the greatest hope ; it is at their
hands that we may look for relief. But they must
not be contented to remain stationary. They must
not be satisfied to interpose objections to every sug-
gestion that is offered for the regeneration of their
country and the amelioration of the condition of the
people. They must exhibit vigour and energy to
rescue the nation from the daners by which it is
en vTirhoened.
question is one essential)
great bulk of they relating to the
class. Others will undoubtedly
people, to the
ent-ire, of the working
affected by the result, but it will i
ofe the more or less
be
emvost vital
, ,
importance—a matter of life and death—to
y
depending on his daily labour for his dailyerl)rme
amid.
There is no possible mode of accounting for the
general distress that is unhappily to be found in
every part of the country, but by ascribing it to the
fatalhive
y other oelerrationofertheemleomneenytlawofs.
pArotsptheisritmy7 nmernt weee

weeks have not elapsed since there was a national
thanksgiving for the bounteous and abundant
harvest with which the ALMIGHTY has been
pleased to favour us. There is no lack of
a demand for the productions of our skill
and industry—foreign orders have been more nume-
rous than heretofore ; there is no want of the raw
material for our manufactures, nor are the prices
thereof by any means unreasonable ; and there are
no large stocks on hand which must be disposed of
before the people can be employed in producing more ;
and yet, with all these fair prospects, we are enduring
almost unparalleled distress. Our operatives are cast
out of employment, our merchants and traders involved
in ruin, and there is a general stagnation of our
manufactures. The cup of prosperity that is within
our reach is snatched from our very lips by the
ruthless laws which theorists have forced upon us in
opposition to the repeated remonstrances of our prac-
tical men. The system is radically defective,
the foundation is rotten, and must be altogether
abandoned. There must be a total alteration. The
question should not be what can be done consistently
with a gold standard or a silver standard. A still
more comprehensive view must be taken, and the in-
quiry must be, what is best suited to the wants
of the people, by what means can the greatest
amount of national prosperity be obtained, and how
can it be permanently retained. We are not without
lights to guide and direct us, we may refer to the
history of former years, and we shall find that general
prosperity, a happy, contented, and fully employed
people, were ever to be found when there
was an abundant circulation, and that when that
circulation was diminished and became scanty, the
most painful results were apparent. There is an
abundant foundation on which a statesman may
work, with credit to himself and advantage to the
country—on which we trust the Whig Ministers
may raise a durable erection, that will conduce to
their own fame, and remain to future ages a "monu-
, menton acre perennius."

The Federal Gazette of Switzerland, of the 31st
ult., announces that, in consequence of the present
state of things, it. will provisionally discontinue its
publication in a regular way, but will publish a bul-
letin of events, without comments.
A meeting of the Swiss Diet was held on the
evening of the 30th ult. to take into consideration the
report of the Committee charged to present proposi-
tions relative to the difficulties made by Neufchatel
with respect to the calling out of its contingent. The
Committee proposed that the Diet should decide that
Neufchatel should be summoned to call out its contin-
gent immediately, and to place it at the disposition of
the Federal Commandant, making it responsible for
the consequences of its refusal or delay, with a reserve
to the Diet to take further measures. After the Com-

mittee's report was read, the deputy of Thurgau, who
drew it up, contended that Neufchatel could not

be permitted to take a neutral position, as it pre-
tended itself entitled to do. A letter was next
read from the deputy of .Neufchatel to the President

of the Diet, protesting against troops being sent to
that canton. The deputy of Neufchatel then argued
that his state could not and ought not to be called on
to co-operate with a military force in carrying into
effect a decree against confederates whose convictions
it shares. The deputies of Zurica, Glaris, Soleure,
Schaffhausen, Appenaell Exterior, Saint Gall, Argau,
Thurgau, Tessino, Vaud, Geneva, and Berne, main-
tained that Neufchatel was bound to obey the
orders of the Diet ; and the deputies of AppenzeU
Exterior, and Bale Ville, spoke in favour of Neuf-
chatel. In the course of his speech the deputy
of Berne stated that the Envoy of the King of
Pius SIA had waited on him on the previous day,
and had expreesed in his Majesty's name the desire
that the troops should not be called out, to whom he
replied that he would communicate that desire to the
competent authorities. The Deputy of Neufchatel
demanded that his protest against the military occu-
pation of that canton should be inserted in.the pro-
tocol. A decision was then come to, when the
proposition of the Committee was adopted by the
twelve states and two half states of the majority.
The Diet subsequently decided, on the proposition of
the Federal Council of War, that the cantons which
do not make part of the Sunderbund shall be required
to hold their reserve or landwehr in readiness, in
order that the Federal military authority may be able
to dispose of it.

A letter from Berne of the SOth says—
" The incident of the abrupt retreat of the Depu-
ties of the League, after the result of the vote on their
sretended conciliatory propositions had been made
known, was a scene concerted beforehand; what
proves this most clearly is, that half an hour had not
passed before they had all quitted Berne. Their de-
parture caused a sensation only in this sense, that it
put an end to negotiations, the inutility of which was
known beforehand. At present the preparations for
the struggle are redoubled; couriers and aides-de-
camp are being dispatched in all directions ; troops,
waggons filled with ammunition, and baggage-carts
are continually passing, and Switzerland may be said
to be one vast camp. The city of Berne scarcely con-
tains a man between 20 and 30 years of age, all having
repaired to the cantonments of the troops to which
they belong. M.l3lanchenay, President of the Coun -
cif of State of the canton of Vaud, arrived yesterday
evening at Berne, charged with a mission from his
Government. The troops of his canton, he says, to
the number of 32,000, had learned with the deepest
disappointment that there was some idea of nego.
tiating with an arrogant minority; they would be
well pleased to hear that the moment had come to
measure themselves with adversaries who affected
contempt for Vaudese troops. The zeal of these troops
exceeds all expression, without their discipline suffer
ing in the slightest degree. Letters from Zug an-
nounce that a large number of clear sighted Conser-
vatives are joining the Liberals to bring about the
withdrawal of that canton• from the Sonderbund.
The foreign Ministers only wait for the decree of
execution, which the Diet is to render, to quit the
Swiss terrltorv. En attendant, the envDy RoSsia,
Vrussia:„ and Bavaria have been here for several days.
The 'Minister of Prussia, M. de Sydow, yesterda3
paid a visit to M. Ochsenbein, to declare that he was
charged to support the demand of Neufchatel not to
furnish any military contingent to the army that is
to proceed against the Sonderbund. This question,
however, is to be decided to. day, for the Diet is con-
voyed for this evening to discuss the grave incident
raised by the refusal of the Government of the canton
principality. The last accounts from the canton of
Vaud announce that nearly the whole of the troops of
the Valais are concentrated on the extreme frontier of
the Vaudese territory, which leads to the idea that an
invasion of that territory is intended in order to be
able to render assistance to the people of Friburg, who
will probably have to support the first attack. Colonel
Ruliet, who commands the western division, has
already directed his attention to this point, and
has placed there a sufficient cordon of troops with
plenty of artillery. I learn this moment that four
divisions (of Ruliet, Bourckhardt, Donatz, and
Ziegler), have already received orders to march,
and that several reserved battalions were to-day called
out to reinforce the other troops."

Madrid papers of the 29th ult. have arrived.

The Gaceta announces the appointment of the
Marquis of MTRAFLORES as Governor of the Palace,
and of the Duke of BAYLEN (CAsTaxos), as Captain-
General of the Royal Halberdiers.
The rumour that EiPARTERO had accepted the
English Embassy appeared to gain credence in
Madrid.

The notorious General MAROTO died recently at
Santiago, in Chili.
Rumours of the accession of blox and PIDAL to
the Cabinet, continue to prevail.

MADRID BOLSA, OCT. 29.—The Three per Cents.
were done at 26k, at fifty days ; the Five per Cents.
at 16k, at forty-nine days ; the Debt without Inte-
rest, si, for paper; and the Coupons at 12i.

We h ve received the Paris papers of Wednesday.
They all comment on the affairs of Switzerland,
and reflect with deserved severity on the course
which the French Government is pursuing with re-
gard to Swiss affairs. The Constitutionnel takes a
view of the fallacious offers of the Sonderbund nearly
similar to that which we presented to our readers
yesterday. It says—

" To temporise, to negotiate, to wait until the
snow should have rendered the roads impracticable to
maintain temporalily the status quo, and to strike with
non-execution the decisions of the Diet, was probably
the project of the States of the Sonderbund. This is
what they imagined; they proposed to the majority
to submit to the arbitration of the Pope the two
getpiouaweznte:igsontegnoirouwisietihs§acteeeoi:fiiitsthdt.e Jesuists and of the convents of Argau.
This was to demand from the Diet a complete abdi-
gwheael:del:eaelgiar4Del;yiddleytin:ipsicitnregiotunatocLdenpbtoctyeiuintgh:egwtcatti:ianmutslp_ttduaetchhtgiaeuvtsoee.
declared implicty that the federal majority was no