The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-18 00:00:00

LONDON, THIIRSDAY, FEB. 18,8.

The East India Company has followed the
example of Parliament, and passed numerous
votes of thanks, to different persons concerned in
the recent events in India. Of course their own
Governor-General was the head of the list, and
the name of Mr. fIALLIDAv, Lieutenant-Governor
of Bengal, which had been omitted by Parlia-
ment, was added to the list. We cannot feel
greatly surprised that the Directors should take
advantage of the short time during which they
may still exercise the forms of government, to
puff themaelTes, and the first resolution praising
their subordinates was virtually praising them-
selves, and if the present opportunity had been
relinquished,, no other might have occurred. It
would, however, have been better for Lord CAN-
NING if the matter had been deferred until the nation
generally had been better qualified to pronounce
a more decided opinion ou the vexed question of
the value and 'efficiency of his services, and the
resolution could -be carried without qualification
or opposition. At present it was taken cum grand
salts. An amendment was proposed, not
merely
that Lord CANNING'S name should be omitted,
but practically amounting to a censure on the
Noble Lord, and-referring to the " want of fore-
sight, ignorance, and obstinacy on the part of the
supreme Government, which refused to employ
those resources which were within his power ; to
adopt measures obviously called for ; and to
attend to the communications which were set
before him." This led to a very damaging expla-
nation, which materially diminished the value
of the vote. The Chairman declared that no
member was bound by the resolution to an approval
of the whole policy of Lord CANNING, but simply
thanking him for th,e energy and ability with
which he employed the resources at his command.
The Court diet not even go so far as to say that
Lord CANNING did not cause the mutiny—did not
say te yea or ipy upon that point." The strongest
argument used was, that " if it were premature
to acquit Lord CANNING, it was premature to
condemn him."

Buf, surely, while serious doubts were enter

tains(' there could be no imputation in refraining
from an active demonstration in favour of the
accused, while the matters in dispute were sub
judice. As we have already intimated, the proper
time would have been when the rebellion had
been completely repressed, and peace and tran-
quillity completely restored in India, or when,
through loss of health or other unforeseen causes,
he was returning from the position he had occu-
pied. " Then his conduct might be fairly and
impartially canvassed, and the fiat of the British
Parliament and the British nation expressed on his
exertions. Then the expression of public opinion
would be unalloyed ; then it would be truly satis-
factory." But by the premature ventilation of
the question the whole matter has been rendered
ridiculous, and the value of the testimonial to
those whom the nation delighted to honour mate-
rially deteriorated.

We cannot, as yet, even concur in the very
limited manner in which the resolution was car-
ried—viz., " for the energy and ability with which
he employed the resources at his command." In
this we do not allude to the general indignation of
all the European inhabitants of Calcutta and
Bengal, untrammelled by official ties. We restrict
ourselves within the very narrow bounds assigned.
It has been stated, and we believe without con-
tradiction, that he refused the valuable aid tendered
by JUNG BAHADOOR and his valiant Ghoorkas—
aid that had been partially accepted by the local
authorities, who were snubbed for having dared
to break through a single red-tapist fetter without
the sanction of the Governor-General in Council.
The Nepaulese Prince was not permitted to advance
his troops into Oude. An important alliance might
have been endangered by the refusal ; and there
is but too much reason to believe that the awful
and heartrending massacre and other even more
terrible atrocities at Cawnpore, and the fearful
sufferings of the fugitives at Lucknow, were
occasioned thereby. It could scarcely be expected
that in so doing he had employed the resources
at his command to the best advantage, when such
frightful results attended not merely his inaction,
but his deliberate refuSal to avail himself thereof.
We may also ask whether there was that dis-
play of energy and promptitude in disarming the
disaffected Sepoys, which might have prevented
the outbreak at Dinapore, and the loss of many of
our gallant soldiers, who, while marching to the
relief of Arrah, fell into the artful trap laid for
their reception ? and whether adequate prepara
tions were made for forwarding the reinforcements
from England, of whose anticipated arrival due
notice had been given, to the scene of action ?
When these interrogatories had been satisfactorily
answered, it would have been quite time to have
gone out of our way to thank Lord CANNING "for
the energy and ability with which he employed
the resources at his command to suppress the
widely spread mutiny." But until they are
suitably responded to, it seems to have been a
very serious mistake t) do so.

As to the gallant officers engaged there could
scarcely be a difference of opinion, and we rejoice
that the name of Sir W. PEEL has been added to
the number of those specified by name. Although
not a General, or ranking with a G&neral, he was
of the highest rank in the service to which he
belonged, and he had discharged the important
duties that devolved on him in that capacity in
such a manner as to elicit the highest approbation
of all classes in the community. The omission of
his name could only have been considered as a
slight to the Naval Brigade. It was unquestion-
ably a case to establish a precedent if none had pre-
viously existed. It was no trifling matter to bring
a number of 24-pounders under the very walls of
Luc-know. Perhaps no naval officer had ever be-
fore been called on to perform such services, and
every encouragement should be held forth for
similar exhibitions of zeal and ability, producing
such valuable results.

The other proceedings require but little obser-
vation. It might have been well to notice the
fidelity of a large majority of the native Princes.
The same reasons that induced the Court to with-
hold an expression of opinion until the mutiny or
rebellion was entirely suppressed, should a for-
tiori have operated. with regard to Lord CANNING,
with respect to whose conduct there were so many
different and conflicting views.

The minimum rate of discount, which at the
Bank of England was 10 per cent. up to the
24th December, has, since that time, been reduced
to 3 per cent., and even that is so far beyond the
current rates, that the Old Lady is unable to
find employment for her surplus capital. Good
trade bills are eagerly sought after, and readily
discounted at 21 or 2i per cent. Bullion is
accumulating in the Bank vaults and unemployed
notes in its till. At the last return the amount of
specie in both departments stood at 16,574,6471.,
and the reserve of notes at 10,617,4451., and
the next Gazette will probably show very consi-
derable augmentations in both items. We may
therefore confidently anticipate the speedy arrival
of that state of affairs known as " money being a
drug in the market," when the wildest specula-
tions will be fostered and stimulated, although
legitimate trade has not, and will not for a consi-
derable time, recover from the effects of the ter-
rible blows it sustained during the latter months
of 1857.

This is one of the inevitable results of the
Bank Charter Ac.. Indeed it must always
attend a purely metallic currency, or one closely
assimilated thereto, and varying with the amount
of bullion. There is a regular cycle, through
which matters move, when the culminating point
of prosperity has been attained. The descent is
steady, but gradual. The pace is then accelerated,
until the nation, and all classes save the hard cal-
culators, travel with fearful velocity on the road
to ruin. These gentlemen, who have created
the panic in the first instance, largely avail them-
selves of its effects, and transfer the property
acquired by the earnings of their softer com
panions to their own pockets. When that is
accomplished—when they have made their bargains

—the scene is changed, as if by the enchanter's
wand. Monetary ease is achieved, but that stage
is rapidly passed. Speculation and excitement
follow, until there is another mania, which will
certainly be succeeded by a crash and wild panic,
when sauve qui peat becomes the only motive byw h
rah the best hearted and most liberal men are
actuated.

The Bank must find employment for its extra
means. It is compelled to purchase all the gold offered at a fixed price, no matter how little it
may be required. It is too costly a material to
be suffered to lie idle, slumbering in its vaults.
The Directors know that the Proprietors expect
handsome dividends, and they feel bound to-
mote the interests of their
constituents, even a prot
the expense of the nation.
The
formally relieved from the regulatioy have been n
of the cur-
rency by the Act of 1844, and they do not feel
themselves bound to incur any present losses, no
matter how beneficial they may be to the commu-
nity at large. A circulating medium for domestic
use,
effect possessing
a s intrinsic value, has precisely the
same
the payment of interest on deposits
held at call, so loudly
tmustdeprecatedd
fibnyLoocredupOatviEonn:
STONE and the Tinto,

Men cannot afford to keep it useless and unpro-
ductive. Of course they will prefer unexception-
able investments, but if these cannot be procured
—and at present the demand largely exceeds the
supply—they must be contented with others of a
more doubtful character. Then it is that foreign
loans and all species of frauds are introduced.
Legitimate and cautious traders are outstripped by
reckless speculators without capital, who are pro-
vided with ample funds by parties anxious to find
employment for their money in any shape. Other
nations step forward to bleed JOHN BULL, who,
confident in the strength of his purse, and believ-
ing that all things will remain couleur de rose,
enters into engagements which he cannot perform
under different and more adverse circumstances.
The nation is thus drained of its bullion. The
hard calculators, who have produced the mischief,
closely button up their pockets, except at exorbi-
tant rates. They hoard their cash, and thus
paralyse the active circulation, and reduce to ruin
the dupes whom they encouraged in the first
instance. This is the regular course of events,
and we shall see a repetition of similar events so
long as the impolitic and iniquitous code is main-
tained without change or modification. Each
time the evil will be enhanced, as Government
will exhibit greater reluctance each time to inter-
fere with the working of the law. Probably they
will wait the next panic for a minimum rate of
12 per cent., for 15 the following one, and so on.
It is for the people to say how long they will
patiently endure the existence of such a law—
a constantly recurring source of mischief to the
industrious classes.

We give another, and, as our readers will see,
a very able and valuable testimony to the success
of the Ballot. Mr. PYIE, if otherwise unknown
to our readers, witnesses for his own competency
and trustworthiness, by the style and tone of his
address to the crowded meeting which listened to
him with such enthusiasm at Taunton. Indeed,
it is plain that no point in the Reform pro-
gramme commands more hearty and unquestion-
ing support than the Ballot. On the degree in
which the suffrage shall be lowered, on the dura-
tion of Parliaments, on the arrangement of con-
stituencies, honest Liberals differ ; but all hearty
Liberals are also hearty for the Ballot.
One of Mr. PYKE'S amusing revelations is that
of the hoax practised on the Times. People natu-
rally hoax the willing, and, at present, The Times
is willing enough to be hoaxed on the Ballot. We
all remember how it swallowed the tale of the rail-
way duels in Georgia ; and yet more eagerly, we
doubt not, it swallowed the story that the editor of
the Adelaide Dispatch had condemned the working
of the ballot in the colony of Victoria ; and much
it made of the testimony of a writer, too far off, if
he ever existed, to know anything about the mat-
ter. But, alas, the reason why none of us but
The Times knew anything about the Adelaide Dis-
patch, is because visitors to us from Australia
know nothing about it. Mr. PYKE had never
heard of such a paper. "He knew Adelaide well,
but he certainly must say he did not know the
A6lelaids Dispatch ; he had never heard of a
colonist that knew of such a paper till he saw it
quoted in the Times, and, for his part, he thought
it must be a kind of myth." His other audacious
remarks, respecting the "Leading journal," the
reasons that it had " now ceased to lead, and only
followed in the wake of public opinion," we can
hardly venture to repeat.
Mr. PYKE is of opinion that any want of suc-
cess with the ballot in California, France, or else-
where, may be easily accounted for by the want
of an efficient Registration, or from allowing candi-
dates to provide their own voting tickets. It cer-
tainly does seem impossible, with the simple precau-
tions adopted in Australia, with a registration aim
lar to our own, that fraud can be practised. A N-
I
turning officer, and the scrutineers of all the can-
didates, who are present throughout the time of
polling, must all be in ccllusion to render such a
thing practicable. Even a millionaire would find
it impossible to buy up such politically hostile,
not to say honourable, persons in a contested
election. If the voting-paper is delivered to the
voter, as it is in Australia, only in the room where
the scrutineers and his assessors are, if each paper
then endorsed with the returning officer's name
and the number of the voter on the register, if
the names rejected by the voter be then erased by
him in a private compartment, and the paper
dropped by him into the ballot-box in the pre-
sence of the officer and the scrutineers--it seems
impossible that even Professor FRIKELL could, by
any legerdemain, give more than his single vote.
Mr. PYKE thinks, with Sir H. ELTON, that the
Ballot is quite as much a conservative as a demo-
cratic measure. It was found to be so at Mel-
bourne. The mob and the rowdies found they
could do nothing in the way of intimidation. The
very candidates who were mobbed carried it at
the ballot-box. This is really ♦ery natural, and
is by no means to be set down to the peculiar
character of the Melbourne populace, where the
suffrage is almost universal. The noisy ones too
commonly pass themselves off for the people. The
real apeople, both here and in Melbourne, all
English as they are in temperament, are opposed
to violent changes, and on the whole trust their
superiors, and men of ability and character, far
more than their equals or than empty-pursed
demagogues.

One grievous defect, we confess, belongs to the
Ballot. As an Irishman said to Mr. PYKE on
the polling day, " Oh, Sir, this is as dull as a
funeral ; the people all look as if they were going
to church. Theic is no fun at all." Well, that
is very bad. We ought—no doubt Father CON-
WAY and Co. think so—to have a little Irish fun
at such times. Dulce est desipere in loco. Which
being translated means, it is delightful to get
drunk and crack heads at elections. Still there
are two opinions about the dulce of such doings,
and we ourselves do not like head-cracking at
least, either actively or passively. As to the other
species of "fun," why, "De gustibus," &c.
Still, the Ballot itself would not prevent Paddy
or a long-shore man from getting as "glorious"
as TAM 0' SHANTER—onIy Paddy must be glorious
at his own cost.

THE MERITS OF GENERAL WINDHAM.

1. Two nieces, co-heiresses, the Miss Win dhams ;
one, married to Lord Alfred Paget ; the other, to
Lord Macdonald, whose only brother is Private
Secretary to his Royal Highness the Duke of Cam-
bridge. Lady Macdonald was appointed a Lady of
the Bedchamber in 1855.

2. A brother-in-law, the late Earl of Listowel,
the intimate friend of Lord Palmerston, and Lord
of the Bedchamber to her Majesty. Vide
Peerage.

AN OLD K.C.B.

LAMBETH DISTRICT SUI?VEYOR.

ve7ore pfoorrcetihvee tßhaotrotuhgehTleocftioLn d
to-morrow. If the spirited and Liberal electors
know their own interest, they cannot do better
st oi;
.than choose a gentleman of great and acknow-
ledged eminence in his profession—Mr. Tress—a
most worthy candidate for the post. We have long
known Mr. Tress, and we cin honestly commend
him to the good people of Lambeth as a gentleman
npt easily to be matehed for such an appointment.