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

powerful general than of a lawless soldiery. The
writer has lately travelled through a considerible
part of the country within 500 or t3OO miles of Cal-
crate, 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 actud
state of affairs, and is strcngly confirmed in the
geaeral 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 anysheltering Christians
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
I o.her ruffianly outcasts, 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 means 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 suffering in
districts where the crops may have been deficient.
The struggle is, however, by no means over. Tee
forces finally collected in Oude 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 thing 4. A dissertat'on 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 vigorouelyreviewe I.
Why is there so marked a difference between the
government of the Punjaub and that emanating
from Calcutta ? The answer, we think, will be,
that there the magnitude of the danger was recog-
nised, re ward andpunishment were pro mptly meted
out, a lead was taken, the masses moved in our
favour. Here the danger was, as fer 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
exi-ting government. The difference is what
-might be expected from the different systems and
those who ate at the head of them. Much bidter
and indiscriminating abuse has been pub!ished 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 on
this subject.

HOW TO GOVERN INDIA.

(From the Times.)

The Punjab has again set a nobje 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 Christ;anity 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.
R. Montgomery, one of the officers engaged in the
administration of the Punjab ; and admirably, be-
yond doubt, was the document min-dated both to
expose the defects of our past policy ani to show
the facilities of improvement. It deserves to be
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 hat de-
spatches it had produced not a symptom of popular
animosity. Sir John Lawrence, therefore, in act-
ing upon such principles, took couus_l only of hi,
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 offers a o favour,
no bribes, no allurements to converts, but it pro-
allies that they shall not be sufferers for the sake o
the truth. It carries no interference with caste
prejudices, but it deprives caste pretensions of pre
ference. "The system of caste, it says, "can no
longer be permitted to rule in one services." The
institutionseansetdhbeyyany are ;ofthßeyrahwmil notilnisin b may
aytoucremainhed or threat-
precisely
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 class 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 these 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 fact 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.
True neutrality, it is evident, is expressed in the
words above quoted ; but these avowedly introduce
a policy unknown before. The old neutrality was
a deliberate proscription of Christianity for the
sake of keeping Hiudoos quiet. From a really
neutral Government Christianity bad a right to
expect exactly the same treatment as Brahroioism
or Mahomediem, 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 the
Public service six months ago would.assuredly hive
been received with coldness and would not h lye
been complied with." We should like very much
to hear how such a policy as t is could be just fled
even on those principles of indifference which have
been described as constituting the Drily safe rule for
the government of India. ehriisiia-pity h.s not
been floated with "indifference ;" it has been v•-
„earded with disfavour, and the simple proposal of
Air. Montgomery to advance the interests of native
Christians equally with those of Mshomedane and
Illindoes in aspect of public employment under a
Christian Government is not only announced as an
impoe taut "change,"
but willprobably be regarded
in some quarters as a perilous and uuwarran:Able
experiment. We must express our decide .1 opinion
p
that the doctrines of justice now recognised by the
Government of the Punjab are not only—as
nobody could deny—zighteous in themselves, but,
directly calculated t 3 strengthens our position and
esteb'ish our rule in the empire of India.
If ever there was a oli convicted by its fruits
it is surely that which Paso opposed to the policy of
Christian freedom we have p
in our-Indian dominions. No arguments or into.
rences can overrule or invalidate th's one great
fact, that after all our efforts in the way of deference
'and compromise we
have failed so utterly in con-
vine' ng 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 sy,tern which
were devised and raliutained for the sole purpose
of preventing iesurre lion have at last been at-
a 2 six months of mutiny.
tel led by an insurrecti )n of the most desperate
charactsr. Nor cin it be said that a cen:ury of
security may beset off ainst
Security was never our lot. There was no psricd
during this time at which revolts were nosappre-
Inucle7l. The explosion of 1857 is but the final
cat nstrophe of a system which always rendered ca-
t ,strophes probable. The regulating principle of
Indian administration was th-e dread of Sepoy re-
bellien. If such and such innovations were attempted
the "native army"
Of course the native army di ,cerne I its power its the
apprehensions with which it inspired its rulers, and
the consequences have been wituessnl in the un-
limited concessions which were made to its preten-
sions, and made in vain. If an accurate list could
have been anticipated, detected, or suppressed in
India during the last 50 years it would be seen hew
useless was our system ofpacification for any pue-
reat or little, which