The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-20 00:00:00

not making any remark that can be said to partake
of a party character, because, as far as I tts. aware,
all parties have concurred in making the change
that has taken place. The present system is not to
be ascribed to any one party of the State ; but when
we look back and see how many men of great dis-
tinction and eminent public services in India have
attained their distinction, not by proficiency in
books, but by an active and daring and fearless
spirit, sometimes in spite of inaptitude for scholastic
study, I doubt whether we do not shut out what
past experience has shown to be not the sole qualfi-
cation, but, combined with others, an efficient in-
strument of service. I hope you will forgive me
for making these remarks, and I will not further
detain you beyond inviting you to drink, with all
cordiality, the health of our distinguished guest,
and in expressing a hope that the administration of
India may derive fresh vigour and efficiency, ad-
ministered as it is by Lord Canning in India, and
so many servants of the Crown in this country.
(Applause.)
Sir CHARLES WOOD, who on rising was much
applauded, said,—l hope I may be permitted, before
replying to the toast proposed by my noble friend
on my left, to express very shortly my gratitude to
you, Mr. Mayor, and to those gentlemen to whose
kindness I am indebted for the honour and privilege
of being here to-day. I should have held it unbe-
coming if the Minister for India had not taken part
in these proceedings, and had not given his share
of the tribute due from all Englishmen and more
especially those who are interested in India
to the memory of that great man who has
truly been described as the founder of our
Indian Empire. I esteem it a piece of great
good fortune to myself that I happen at this moment
to hold that position which gave me some claim to
your invitation, and I have had the greatest grati-
fication in taking part in the ceremony, and joining
in that tribute which has been perhaps delayed too
long, but which has been at last paid in the most
appropriate manner and on the most appropriate
site. (Cheers.) I am now for the seventh time
connected with the Government of India, and the
more I see and the more I learn of that empire the
greater marvel I consider it to be in the history of
the world. Yet it is hardly more extraordinary
than the career of that great man who founded it.
When we look back to his history, and consider
what our Indian Empire is; when we carry back
our recollections to his early career, when he was a
humble and dispirited clerk in a mercantile house,
when the chiefs of the principal factions of India
were captives at Pondicherry, how little could we
have expected that our empire would expand to
such gigantic dimensions. It was his energy, gal-
lantry, and glory which in a few months struck a
fatal blow to the power of our enemies. Again, his
second visit saw him the victor of Plassy, by which
ono of the richest provinces of India was subjected
to the rule of this country. But Colonel Edwardes
has, among other things, truly told ns that on the
occasion of his last visit to India, Lord Clive ac-
hieved a triumph, not so brilliant perhaps as those
he had achieved before, but which redounds still
more to his credit, when he put an end to unparal-
leled evils and established our constitutional admi•
nistration upon a sound and proper footing, which
has, upon the whole, lasted to this day, and pro-
duced men of the first eminence. He quelled a
mutiny, not such as we have more recently witnessed,
but one much more difficult to deal with—a mutiny
among Indian officers. But how little could Lord
Clive, even in the brighest moments of :his ambition,
anticipate the dimensions to which our Indian em-
pire has since extended ; how little could he, who so
strongly depended upon the devoted attachment of
the Sepoy, suppose that that mighty empire could
be endangered by the mutiny of those very troops
I:am glad to see that the recent accounts we have re-
ceived show that the last embers of that fearful
mutiny, in the shape even of predatory bands, have
been trodden out. (Applause.) Much we have to
sorrow for in the events of the last three or four
years, but we have at least the pride—a melancholy
one though it be—of knowing that the inhabitants
of India, both soldiers and civilians, old and young,
the tenderest womau as the strongest soldier, have
shown energy, devotion, and resolution worthy of
this country, and worthy of those who founded our
power in that distant land. (Applause.) I am
glad to see that the Governor-General of India,
who by his firmness and energy contributed so much
to put an end to that dreadful state of affairs, is
now making a peaceful progress through the north-
ern provinces of the country, lately the scene of
mutiny and rebellion, confirming the loyalty of the
inhahitants, rewarding all those who faithfully
stood by us in the hour of need, and showing the
British character, as supposed to be depicted in the
far-famed banner of the Knights Templars' " Ter-
rible to foes, faithful to friends." I trust now for
a continuance of that peace so necessary for the de-
velopment of the prosperity and resources of that
great country. As you all know, a change has re-
cently been made in the government of India,
which was inaugurated under the auspices of a
noble lord, whose personal acquaintance with
India, added to his character for zeal and ability,
render him the fittest person to be placed at the
head of the Indian administration. I know of little
difference between his opinion and mine upon Indian
matters. (Cheers.) I am glad, therefore, to think that
in the course of the administrations which he has to
pursue under two different Governments, little or
no change is likely to occur, and that in adminis-
tering the affairs of that great empire we shall be
utterly and entirely free from those party differences
which, wholesome and inevitable as they may be in
domestic affairs, ought to be eliminated from a sub-
ject of such vast and Imperial importance as the ad-
ministration of the Queen's Indian dominions.
It will be our duty, the duty of those who- are my
coadjutors in the administration of India—the
council and the other civil servants, one of whom I
am glad to see present—to recur to that policy—
which was only interrupted for a time—best calcu-
lated to promote the development of the internal
resources and the lasting benefit of that country. I
believe that by so doing we shall make India the
source of wealth, not only to her own sons, but to
this country also. I hope we may thus bind that
empire to us, not with the iron chain of the sword
or the bayonet, but by mutual interests and bene-
fits received and conferred. (Cheers.) On behalf,
sir, of my coadjutors and myself, I beg to return
you and the good company I am addressing our
warmest thanks for the manner in which the last
toast was proposed and received. (Applause.)
Sir C. WOOD again rose and said—Stranger as I
am to your county, perhaps I ought not to be called
upon again to address this assemblage, but a duty
has been imposed on me from which I cannot
shrink, since it is most grateful to me to have to
propose the health of a nobleman who is one of the
oldest friends I have, " The Lord-Lieutenant of the
County." (Cheers.) When we have been doing
honour to one native of this county who in a dis-
tant land and at a distant time achieved for him-
self imperishable fame, it is not unfitting to refer
to the memory of one who, nearer home, on the
fields of the Peninsula, acquired honours for him •
self which, have worthily descended to his suc-
cessor. You know him so much better than I do
that it would be unseemly in me to dilate, espe-
cially in his presence, on those good qualities
which I believe he possesses ; for I cannot per-
suade myself but that ho is a good landlord, a
good neighbour, and, in every sense of the word,
what I hold to be one of the noblest characters
—a good English country gentleman. (Applause.)
In that capacity, in which I propose his health
as your Lord-Lieutenant, I cannot but believe
that the military qualities of the family of Hill,
teste d inh smo manyfaithfully
fields,
and
somany instances,r, the
will
enable truly to discharge
duties of his situation ; and that under his care
your militia, your yeomanry, your rifle corps will
form a distinguished portion of that domestic force
without which no country can safely exist. (Cheers.)
I trust that by the mariner in which you will re-
' spond to the toast you will show that I, a stranger,
have not inadequately appreciated the sense you
entertain of his merits. (Applause.)
Viscount HILL, in responding, said,—l scarcely
know how to reply to the toast so kindly named to
you by one of my oldest associates, and one with
whom I spent the ,greatest part of my time during
my stay at the university ; and although we have
looked at one another for some years from opposite
sides of the house of Commons, I maintain the
same opinion of him as I held at Oxford, and be-
lieve him to be one of those who most conscienti-
ously does his duty in any situation in which he
may be placed. (Cheers.) I shall not trouble you
with any remarks upon the subject of the day,
which has already been treated by many eminent
men ; nor shall I trespasi on your time, except to
say that, connected as I am with this county, and
knowing the feelings which emanate from it, I may
congratulate myself and all around me upon our
having at last done what was needful in comme-
morating the genius of Lord Clive. Many plans of
this description are pursued upon the impulse of the
moment, just when great or daring acts have been
performed ; but this has been carried out by those
‘vho,,sfotuer.
r the lapse of' many years, prove how much
telolennected
country. vis indebted to the man whom we delight
to ion
county,m e n t t
0u i .with
boauitnlilite alson a
flex() e
of Cline, atsh those vll ahso
our
that are
the monument by an eminent artist
w
'T
t
this day erected be a lasting and fitting orna-
,own. (Applause.)
Mr. BERIAH TIO
sheus,
the courtesy which} M.P.—I thank you for
you
m
toifr
eL
resultord S Stanhope,
whosehope
as
labouresnlber and proposing the health
of that committee
Sou h_ aye this day wit-
nessed. When we look how rich English history
is in its materials, and how vast the fund which he
has contributed to it, we must k
ac nowledge that