The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-04 00:00:00

LETTERS FROM INDIA.

The following is from Calcutta. The refusal of
government to avail itself of the offer to raise a
troop of horse is a remarkable fact :
You will have heard of the result of the applica-
tion made by the Indigo Planters' Association to
government for compensation for losses during the
rebellion. The reply is as stiff and heartless as
most other things emanating from the government,
and comes to this :—" The Governor-General in
Council is not prepared to admit the claim which
the sufferers by the late disturbances intend to pre-
fer." This short and sweet negative to men who
have lost their all by the utter neglect, stupidity,
and mismanagement of this government, is worse
than was generally expected, as it cannot be doubted
for a moment that government, instead of losing,
will benefit immensely by the rebellion, from the
great number of confiscated estates, resumed
Jygeers, discontinued pensions, (Isc. When it was
seen how unable government was to protect pro-
perty, S— offered his services, and proposed to
raise 300 Sowers or Irregular Cavalry to act in
concert with 50 Europeans or Sikhs, as you will
see by the inclosed printed paper, copy of a letter
which he addressed to the Hon. F. J. Halliday, the
lieuten int-governor. These Irregulars he proposed
to raise from his ryots, whose relations were known
to him as respectable and trustworthy, and who
had lands and interests in his own villages. And
the objects he proposed were t-Ist. The capture
of Babon Cowar Sing, and his brother Umar Sing.
2d. The capture of mutineers and disasters, a consi-
derable number of whom were lurking in his dis-
trict. 3d. The capture of prisoners who were liber-
ated by the mutineers ; and 4th, the general protec-
tion of the district from marauders. Up to this
date, three weeks after the proposal was sent in, uo
answer has been given to it, and the meantime
Cower Sing and Umar Sing continue at large
spreading terror and ruin wherever they go. All
the remaining property of the Europeans has been
reduced to ashes, and the fine districts of Behar
and Shahabad continue in a state of anarchy and
misery which it would be difficult to describe. The
sth Irregular Cavalry, after beating and nearly
destroying Capt. Rattray's Sikhs at Bore Gyah,
same to the Gyah station, looted it (a second time),
burnt the gaol, and came towards Doudnugur,
looting all the country round without the least op-
position ; they encamped six days at Doudnugur,
burnt to the ground severalfactories, looted several
villages, and the seventh day crossed the Some,
&c. Had the Lieutenant-Governor accepted the
proposal of S— in time, all this probably, or a great
deal of it certainly, would have been averted ; the
sth Irregulars would not have crossed the Soano
unopposed as they did, and the chief rebels might
have been captured long ago. Instead of encour-
aging and appreciating the services, good feeling,
and. the co-operation of Europeans, they are all
treated as 5 has been ; not even an answer
deigned to a highly meritorious proposal. I have
described this as an example of how things are
managed by Messrs. Halliday, Beadon, and Co.
Although Delhi had fallen, or been re-taken, and
Lucknow relieved, do not imagine things are get-
ting on better ; the whole country is under-
mined, and in one moment explode in a more
fearful manner than the fire' explosion. We
have lost the charm that kept the country
down—the opinion, the esteem, the prestige is
gone, because the governing classes have done all
in their power to bring all Europeans out of the ser-
vice into contempt. Those "interlopers," the
" sweepings of Europe" (as the native Government
tutor and curator of the infant rayabs of Bengal
styled them), the natives have been taught to de-
spise, and that feeling, which the civil service in
particular has so sedulously ex eated and encouraged,
has now recoiled on the Government. But this, I
am sure, will not alter the views of the present Go-
vernment. To conciliate the natives at any cost is
the order of the day. To humble the Europeans and
exalt the natives, in spite of all that has happened,
is the unmistakeable determinaton of the present,
Government. Moonshee Ameer Ali was appointed
deputy coma, irsioner of the Pa.tna division, aro
created a Khan Bahadoor. A man who was
deeply implicated in the Patna conspiracy during
the Punjaub war, and who was, together with other
canspiratov, imprisoned in Arrah, has lately hie a
appointed a magistrate of Sasseram and of the
Shahabad district, and is shortly to receive a khelat
(a robe of honour) from Government of 10,000
rupees value. His name is Shah Kuberoodeen.
Another Mussulman named Azemoodeen lloosseicu
Khan has been entrusted v ith the settlement of the
confiscated estates of BalaJo Cowar Sing, and in-
stead of settling the estates with the European suf-
ferers, the fellow is doing what is most congenial to
his feelings, and excluding Christians ! Till when
is this miserable infatuation to last ? I fear till we
have a Queen's Government, and the miserable
civil service clique now in power is extinct.
I trust you will do what you can in England to get
us compensation and a change of government, for
we can expe4 nothing good from the present one.
Mr. W. Taylor, our late Commissioner of Patna;
was suspended on the ostensible ground that he
ordered the functionaries of Tirhoot and Gyah to
leave their stations and concentrate at Patna,
" when there was no ground fur such ill-judged
panic." The fact is that there was imminent danger
of losing their lives, and Mr. Taylor acted as every
man of good judgment and humanity would have
acted; but the real reason of his removal, and I may
say disgrace, was that he was very severe to the mu-
tineers and to the bad and dangerous I e )ple of
Patna; and inputting down conspiracy and intrigue
against Government, Mr. Taylor carried the le ws
into effect, and bung those who deserved it. Since
his successor, Mr. Samuels, and his deputy, Ameer
Ali, all such punishments have ceased. With this
example no one dares to punish the n dives.

The following is from one of the first firms in
Calcutta :

Calcutta, Nov. 23.
Operations are now being carried on according
to the more ordinary rules of warfare, and victories
will be not only gained at less cost, but bet‘er im-
proved than it was possible to do with the small
and imperfect organised forces hitherto available.
Tho want of cavalry has especially been felt, but it
is now partially supplied. The pacification of the
central provinces has been effected with muchvigour
and promptitude, and communications are already
opened to the Upp .r Provinces, though we dou
if confidence is as yet sufficiently b t
matured to indece
the wealthy natives t) disinter their buried trea-
sures. The large body of mutineers we referred to
on the 22d ult. as assembling at Banda, despairing
probably of raising the Rewah country, cro-sed to-
wards Oude, and suffered a complete rout on the
the line of the Grand Trunk rood. There are some
icings in Ceetral India, but rae her' we apprehend
social disturbances among tribes who readily "(Nett
to a predatory life thin political movements.
Apprehensions are entertained by some that the
war must he followed by a famine. Wo trust that
at the worst this evil will be partial. We hear
from reliable informetiou, chiefly from nat,ve
sources, that even in the provinces whicbhave b7en
the chief seat of the disturbances the country lees
neither been ravaged nor deserted, so the mischief
is confined to the line of march of the mutinous
forces, and though they have generally plundered
all that' was within their reach, the field of their
depredations has been limited. There are said to be
very large stocks of grain in Bareilly, iu the north
of Oude, which have not been touched. The de-
struction of
-on" on.
this way is a
Work
of one
Property has been very gree, but agri-
culture has e Indeed, ravaging a country in
the
greath 1 discipline beenid re-
laxed, and would be t lebour, not likely to b
' undertaken by troop
e uct rather of a ruthless and

powerful general than of a lawless soldiery. The'
writer has lately travelled through a considerable
part of the country within 500 or 600 miles of Cal-
cutta, including the large cities of Mirzapore,
Benares, Patna, and the fort of Allahabad, gather-
ing from very many sources much information
regarding the progress of the revolt and the actual
state of affairs, and is strcngly confirmed in the
general views previously expressed in our circulars.
The heart of the country never was in the rebellion,
though in the central provinces our rule was looked
upon universally as a thing of the past. The mu-
tineers threatened death to any sheltering Chris! inns
and to this must be ascribed the general refusal of
villagers to shelter fugitives. The cruelties and rob-
bery in the districts were the work of Goujars and
other ruffianly outoasts. who have been equally
ready to plunder and murder sepoys when
they were making off in small parties with
their ill-gotten gains. Manifestations of ardent
loyalty were not to be expected, and the predo-
minant feeling in the minds of most natives was,
doubtless, the selfish desire to keep themselves out
of harm's way, but had they entertained any hopes
of ameliorating their condition by a revolution, the
waste and greed of the Sepoy mutineers for plunder
of all kinds will have convinced them of their error.
Except in the immediate neighbourhood of the
mutineers a man may safely pass now in almost any
part of the country, carrying arms only as a pro-
tection against any casual plunderers who might be
emboldened by the relaxation of the civil power to
attack a defenceless traveller. The great difficulty
will now be that of obtaining the me ins of trans-
port, the scarcity of which will not only exercise an
injurious effect upon the trade of the Upper Pro
vinces especially, but may lead to much suffedng in
districts where the crops may have been deficient.
The struggle is, however, by no means over. The
forces finally collected in Oade are very numerous
and must be desperate. The numberless and inde-
scribable atrocities perpetrated by them-forbid the
offer of any terms, and it is a far more arduous
task to deal with such a body than to defeat an
army. We do not, however, share in the opinion
that the pacification must necessarily be a work of
years. With the means now available all will de-
pend. on the policy adopted. Our conviction is
that the power, usefulness, and prestige of our
name have been frittered away—we can find no
better expression—by weak over-refined schemes
of government ingeniously framed in the bureau by
men far better skilled in weaving theories than in
judging of men and things. A dissertation on go-
vernment would be out of place here, but the inte-
rests of this country and of Great Britain alike re-
quire that the policy under which so great a dis
aster has taken place should be vigorously reviewed.
Why is there so marked a difference between the
government of the Punjaub and that emanating
from Calcutta 1 The answer, we think, will be,
that there the magnitude of the danger was recog-
nised, reward andipunishment were promptly meted
out, a lead was taken, the masses moved in our
favour. Here the danger was, as far as possible,
ignored ; pardon and conciliation were talked of
before our power was established; and a native
lawyer of no local standing made to represent
government at a time when nothing but the indo-
mitable courage of a small band of British troops
could have saved the district and convinced the
classes naturally averse to war and all violent
change, that safety might yet be on the side of the
exiting government. The difference is what
might be expected from the different systems and
those who aro at the head of them. Much bitter
and indiscriminating abuse has been published from
this city, which meets little approval here, and
far less in the Mofussil, where the condemnation
of all parties is more justly levelled not only
against individuals but against the system, and the
principles upon which Indian government and re
formation has been attempted, and statesmen and
the public at home also will find much to reconsider
in the opinions heretofore generally received 011
this subject.

ROW TO GOVERN INDIA.

(From the Times. )

The Punjab has again set a noble example to the
rest of India. Sir John Lawrence—the man who
crushed every sepoy in his own province and pro-
vided Sir Archdale Wilson with the means of
achieving the like success at Delhi—has now taken
the decisive step of liberating Christianity from its
disabilities and relieving the profession of the Gos-
pel from stigma or prejudice with the limits of his
government. Our Calcutta correspondence con-
tained on Friday last a notification issued by Mr.
U. Montgomery, one of the officers engaged in the
administration of the Punjab ; and admirably, be-
yond doubt, was the document calculated both to
expose the defects of our past policy and to show
the facilities of improvement. It deserves to bs
remarked that the ordinance, which we, shall pre-
sently describe, appeared more than four months
ag,), that is to say, before the prospects of the mu-
tineers had been visibly demolished by the capture
of Delhi ; and that up to the date of our last de-
spatches it had produced not a symptom of popular
animosity. Sir John Lawrence, therefore, in act-
ing upon such principles, took counsel only of his
own true foresight and daring, and his policy, even
at this crisis of religious emotions, has been at-
tended with entire success.
It is surprising how much, and yet how little,
the decree really ordains. It conveys not the
smallest menace to native faiths, and yeti t raises
Christianity from depression. It offersno favour,
no bribes, no allurements to converts, but it pro-
but dep caste retensions of pre
miies that they shall not be sufferers for the sake o
the truth. It carries no interference with caste
fpe
say, " can norrte'jntiedei.ces," Theit system of castep, it
longer be permitted to rule in oar services." Tho
institutions of Brahminism may remain precisely
as they are ; they will not be touched or threat-
ened by any act of authority, but for the future
they will not be allowed to govern the policy of
a Christian Administration. "Soldiers and
Government servants of every clam must be
entertained for their merits irrespective of creed,
class, or caste." We should be utterly at a loss to
imagine how such principles as those could be im-
peached, even by the most resolute advocates of
traditionary policy, if the language of the docu-
ment before us did not reveal a tact of the most
significant kind. The truth is that the "neutrality"
hitherto professed by the Indian Government in
religious matters has been no neutrality at all.
awT True a
el
policy
y unknown
butnk n
neutrality, it t
ei tdb
before. is evident,
t theseTii avowedly introduce
expressed in tho
Titois
old
d
neutrality was
a deliberate proscription of Christianity for the
sake of keeping Hindoos quiet. From a really
neutral Government Christianity had a right to
expect exactly the same treatment as Brahrainism
or Mahomedism, whereas it received nothing of the
kind. It was placed under positive disadvantages,
and visited with political penalties. The state-
ments of Mr. Montgomery's circular leave no room
for doubt or cavil upon the point-. "The native
Christians, as a body, have, with rare exceptions,
been set aside. I know net one in the Punjab (to
our disgrace be it said) in any employment under
Government ; a proposition to employ them in Ilse
public service six months ago would assuredly have
been reeeived with coldness and would nut have
even
been complied with." We should like very much
to v
e hear how
principles
chapoliey as ti could be just fled
n onr
of indifference which heve
been described as constituting the only safe rule for
the government of India. Chrisdanity has not
been treated with "indifference ;" it has been re-
garded with disfavour, and the simple proposal of
Mr. Montgomery to advance the interests of native
Christians equally with those of Mehomedans and
Hindoos in respect of public employment under a
Christian Government is not only announced as an
important "change," but will probably be regarded
in some quarters as a perilous and unwarrantable
experiment. We must express our ell cid ed opinion
that the doctrines of justice now recognised by the
Gaverunient of the Punjab are not only—as
nobody could deny—righteous in themselves, but
directly calculated to strengthen our position and
establish our rule hi the empire of India.
If ever there was a policy convicted by its fruits
it is surely that which, as opposed to the policy of
Christian freedom we have pursued for a century
in our Indian dominions. No arguments or lute •
rences can overrule or invalidate tlis one great
fact, that after all our efforts in the way of dt ference
and compromise we have failed so utterly in con-
vincing the natives of our intentions that they have
at last risen against us in murderous ferocity on the
identical grounds which we so laboured to remove.
The very principles and the very
system which
were devised and maintained for the sole purpose
tnided by an insurrection of the most desperate
of preventing iusutreetion have le, last been at-
character. Nor can it be said that a century of
security may be set off aeainst six months of mutiny.
Security was never our lot. There was no p rid
during this time at which revolts were hot appre-
lionde7l. Tho explosion of 1857 is but the final
catastrophe of a system which always rendered ca-
t ,strephes probable. The regulating principle of
Indian administration was the dread of I:elepoy re-
bellion. If such and such innovations were attempted
the "native army"
could not be di vended upen.•
Of course the native army diecernacl its power in the
apprehensions with which it iuspirod its millets, and ,
the consequences have been witneseed in the till- '
limited concessions which were made to its preten-
sions, and made in vain. If an accurate list could
detected, or suppiessed in
be published of the mutinies, great or little, which
have been anticipated,
India during the last 50 years it would be seems how
uselesswas our system of .pacification for any pur-

nose but that of encouraging th© arrogance of the
military Brahmins.

We say, too, that these results were natural.
How far the apprehensions of a Hindoo for his
caste were originally sincere we cannot pretend
to determine, but we havo at all events taken the
very worst way to appease or remove them. In
reality, as every Christian knows, they were ab-
solutely groundless. The fear of compulsory con-
version entertained or professed by Hindoos could
never by any possibility have existed if the na-
ture of Christianity and the principles of Chris-
tian government had been fairly brought before
their eyes. It would be as reasonable to suspect
us of cannibalism as of proselytism by force.
Ignorance alone could have engendered these ter-
rors, and this ignorance we perpetuated by keep-
ing our religion out of sight. All that Hindoos
saw was that we were afraid of their suspicions,
and this itself was enough to give those suspicions
currency. They might have believed in the es-
sential peacefulness of Christianity if they had
been familiarised with its character, but they could
not believe in the sincerity of rulers who, instead
of professing and explaining their religion, were
willing to disguise, and even discourage it, under
terror of revolt. lieligious differences they could
not understand ; religious truth they were not
permitted to comprehend ; and they credited us
therefore with the only alternative which presented
itself to their minds—the religious fanaticism of
crusaders.

The very problem before us could only have
been created by a combination of unnatural im-
pressions. There is nothing to show that Hindoos
under any other rulers, although those rulers were
often bigoted professors of a proselytising creed,
were ever troubled with these frantic alarms about
their caste. The-ke is no example in any other part
of the globe of the Briiiih Government having been
embarrassed by any fear on the part of a subject
population that we should turn crusaders. In
British India alone have Hindoos become rebels
through religious agitation, and Protestant Chris-
tianity been charged with the attributes of
Mahomedanism. Why should Lord Canning have
been more an object of dread than Aurungzebe
or Tippoo Sahib ? Why, should we, who never
dreamt of crusading anywhere, and whose national
faith would not admit the idea of compulsory
baptism, be suspected of these terrible designs in
our Indian Empire ? If we had been suspected of
any political aggressiveness the impression would
have been natural enough. If Hindoos had always
been ready to run mad upon the subject of their
caste, we could not be turpris id at faring is other
conquerors of India had before us. The embar-
rassments, however, and the perils to which we were
exposed are so totally without warrant from prece-
dent, and so utterly opposed to the reality of things,
that nothing but a false policy could ever have
produced them. We first invested our own subjects
with preponderant military power. We then
showel ourselves perpetually anxious lest this
power should be turned against us. When Brah-
minism thus discerned its opportunity and claimed
excessive consideration for caste prejudices, we de-
ferred to these demands, as we must needs, under
the circumstances, have deferred to any, until at
length our constant deprecations produced an im-
pression of our insincerity, and we suffered under
the imputation of designs which we never enter-
tained, but which we had been incessantly forced
to disavow. This policy has now borne its fruit.
It has not secured the submission of the native
army, the only object to which it was directed ;
but it has invested us with a false and discreditable
character, and has threatened the safety of our
oriental empire. Certainly it is high time that
such a policy should be changed.

OUR MOYETARY PROSPRCTS-PRODU-
CPIRS AND CONSUMERS.

(From the Derbyshire Courier.)

The nation commences the year 1858 with very
different prospects from those which we had in 1857
We have elsewhere referred to India. The mutiny
which in the past year caused so much surprise and
apprehension is, we may hope, in a fair way of being
entirely suppressed. But our home prospects pre-
sent many features of anxiety and doubt. The
commercial storm has lulled. The wrecks of many
edifices of commercial power and magnitude lie in
ruins, and it will take years of patient toil and
energy to restore them to their former state. By a
convulsion such as .that through which we have
passed a great national loss is occasioned. Every
one above the level of the shallow writer of the
Times' city articles knows that the rise in the rate
of discount, bad as it is in itself, is one of the minor
evils of a large contraction of the circulating me-
dium. A far greater is the ruinous depreciation of
the price of all commodities. This an avowed and
necessary principle of the Bank Charter Act.
Prices are-forced down in order to attract gold to
the country iu exchange for our .cheap goods. Now
in our market of depreciated goods and produce the
foreigner buys excellent bargains. Take, for exam-
ple, West India produce, which has, in some cases,
depreciated more than 50 per cent. The foreigner
buys this produce at its reduced price. He benefits,
the British producer or merchant loses. But if
the process of depreciation be traced out, it will
appear that in reality scarcely any persons at home
gain, while many lose. By far the greater part of
the English people ' are interested in production.
Nearly all may be classed among the producers.
This is the case with the great agricultural body.
Out landed proprietors all belong to the class of pro-
ducers. The tenant farmer is an agent of the no-
bleman in raising and selling the produce of his
estate. It is some time, indeed, before a deprecia •
tion of agricultural produce affec's a landlord.
But it is plain that everything which lowers the
value of the land itself, either to sell or to let. The
manufacturers in the busy hives of Lancashire,
Yorkshire, and Scotland belong to the producing
class, and in general all persons engaged in business
ate directly or indirectly interested in the welfare
of productive industry.
Now all this large body of persons suffer by un-
natural depreciation of prices, such as that caused
by a monetary crisis. They benefit to a trifling
extent as consumers. Their sugar, broad, anti
clothes may be cheaper. But they lose to a very
great extent by the diminution of their fair profits.
In many cases there is a complete stagnation.
Profits altogether cease. This is now the case
with many of those who deal in articles of luxury
—jewellers and artists.
The working classes are seriously injured. Bread
is cheap. But their wages are reduced. In many
cases they receive no:waees. Cheap:food without
money to buy any is no help to the poor man, and
the country loses immensely by the cessation of
labour. A hundred thousand industrious and
able-bodied man cease to produce anything. They
still consume. They must be maintained out of
the national stock, or their own past savings. But
all their strength, skill, and industry are thrown
out of gear, and remain unproductive.
There is a small class which gains by a deprecia-
tion. This is the class which consumes, without
producing. The person of fixed income, the an-
nuitant, the pensioner, the Government official,
gain by the low price of all they have to purchase.
The fundholder, provided he be in no way con-
nectel with the producing classes, gains.
And above all, the trader in the money market,
the capitalist; who watches the bank reserve, who
knows enough of the operation of the Bank Charter
Act to foresee when the contraction of the cur-
rency will enhance the value of his article—to him
the ruin of commerce, and the prostration of pro-
ductive industry opens an abundant harvest.
The Usurer, who by means of money dealers can
take advantage of the artificial dearth of money
created by Peel's Bills, gets his eight or nine per
cent, for his money, or buys securities depreciated
below their honest worth. _

Thus the " bard calculator," a cunning, but
of ten a very ignorant and narrow-minded creature,
the drone of the industrious hive of England, obtains
his thousands of profits, to enable him to do which
the nation per ioclicallyloses millions. At this pre-
sent moment this process is in operation. Peel's
Bi1!s have turned us into a nation of cannibals—one
usurer devours a thousand industrious traders.

THE PRESS, THE PULPIT, AND THE PETTICOAT.—The
first Fpreads the news, the second spread 3 religion, and
the last spreals—all over the pavement.

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