The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-15 00:00:00

LONDON, SBTIIRDAY, MAY 15, 1858.

The contest has been decided in one branch of
the. Legislature. It is still waging in the other.
Notwithstanding the disclaimer of any factious
motives by Lord SHAFTESBURY, the House re-
sponded to the truth and accuracy of Lord DERBY's
statements and arguments, and sympathised with
the high-minded and chivalrous declarations of the
Earl of ELLENBOROUGH. The result was a majority
of 25 of the Peers who heard or participated in
the discussion against the factious motion which
was reduced to 10 by the activity of the hunters
after proxies. The decision of the Lords was,
doubtless, a serious disappointment to the Pal-
merstonians. We do not see how Lord
SHAFTESBURY can henceforth insist on the
bitter observance of the Sabbath, when he lent
himself to the conspiracy hatched at Cambridge
Rouse on Sunday last. _ _ _

The manly and straightforward speech of Lord
ELLZNBOROUGH must have carried conviction with
it to every disinterested and unprejudiced person.
It enhances the regret that must be felt through-
out the entire kingdom at his resignation of the
office for which he was incomparably the best
qualified man in the United Kingdom. He might
not have written or forwarded the despatch, and
probably would not have published it had Mr.
SMITH— late of Cannon Row—furnished the in-
formation which, in justice and eTrity, he was
bound to forward to his successor, but which was
unfairly and unjustifiably withheld. He might,
we say, have changed his plans, but as it was we
honour him for the decision and promptitude with
which he repudiated the act of wholesalespoliation
and published that repudiation to the world;
boldly declaring that he neither invited nor
dreaded the resignation of Lord CANNING.
There is but one point about the entire
transaction for which Lord ELLENBOROUGH can
be blamed in the slightest degree. It was
for the resignation which he sent in without con-
sulting his colleagues, knowing that they would
unanimously reject the sacrifice, and believing
that no amount of factious feeling—no greed for
office, could stimulate any persons to go on after
the only person who could fairly be held respon-
sible had expiated his offence, if offence it could.
be called. But while on this point, and this only,
We condemn—we must also admire. There are
faults that almost become virtues, and such was
the sole mistake of Lord ELLENBOROUGH. Under
the circumstances it was impossible to cast cen-
sure on his colleagues, who were totally un-
'tuainted with the intended publication l Whe•
%her that publication were right or wrong, 11t3y
'could neither claim praise, nor receive reproach.
In
the CcanonP, Mr. CARDWELL shrunk fro .n
the real point in dispute. Ho knew that the
Emus could not sanction or maintain the intended
confiscation, and thereforer
he emphatically de-
clared that " on the proclamation it. was not his
intention to ask the
Souse
110 give any judg-
ment." This siding
off on a cot
atyesuoLfstsipteuctial
eral issue might
do very well during the palmy d
ear s g
demurrers, when paltry quibbles w
for sound argument ; but it was unbecoming ed
a
would-be Minister of the Crown, and unsuitable
to the atmosphere of a legislative assembly.
Admirably did Sir HUGH CAIRNS administer the
castigation so well merited by both Mr. CAxD-
'WELB and Mr. VERNON SMITH. His brilliant
speech was worthy of the best days of British
oratory, when there were intellectual giants in
the land. It exhausted the entire subject, and
might be placed on record as a noble vindication
of the Ministerial policy and proceedings with

respect to India, on which they might rest their
case. The ex-President of the India Board
winced and writhed under the lash. He again
displayed his petulant insolence, and manifested'
even more strongly than ever his total incapacity
and unfitness for office. It is difficult to say
whether ridicule or condemnation prevailed—
both were well merited—he felt that he deserved
them, and lost his temper. He attempted to play
the bully on a small scale, but received a painful
although salutary lesson, that insolence was not
argument, or unblushing assertion substantial
truth. He couli not, by any amount of raillery,
dispose of the stubborn fact, that he had impro-
perly kept back an important despatch, which he
was bound, by every principle of duty and honour,
to communicate to his successor in office, but
which, after consultation with Lord PALMERSTON,
he carefully and deliberately suppressed.
The debate will be resumed on Monday, but
although the recognised leaders remain to be
heard, we cannot anticipate any improvement on
the masterly address of Sir HUGH MeCALMONT
CAIRNS.

It should be stated that the real majority for
Ministers was ten. One Peer, Viscount FALK-
LAND, voting as Lord HKAISDON, being twice en-
tered—viz., in person, and by proxy.

What course will be pursued by the inde-
pendent Liberals on the factious vote of censure ?
We can easily anticipate what the leaders will do
—what every man with any regard to his political
reputation will consider to be his bounden duty.
But there are small fry seeking for place, and
there is no doubt that the biddings will be high
from the hungry expectants of office. It will, how-
ever, be an unfortunate move for those who suffer
themselves to be seduced by the glittering bait.
The country will judge more justly of the matter
than the cliques, who care but little for the
opinions of their constituencies, so long as there
is not an impending dissolution. But should
there be a hostile vote Lord DERBY will unques-
tionably not resign without an appeal to the
people. Lord PALMERSTON adopted that course
on a previous occasion, and the result justified
his opinion. We believe that on the present
occasion it would be still more remark-
able, and that there would be even a
greater infusion of new blood. Those
who have as yet explained their views have
spoken clearly and unequivocally. Mr. DILLWYN
and Mr. LINDSAY have shown that they will not
give a factious vote to replace a really
Tory Government, sheltering itself under
a mask of liberality. Never was there
a time when the Liberal cause depended more
on the course pursued by professing Liberals.
As we have already stated, however, the nation
will not be misled by any sophistries that may be
resorted to, in order to justify a factious and un-
warrantable proceeding.

THE CAMBRIDGE HOUSE PLOT.

MEETING AT LORD PALMERSTON'S.

A meeting was held at Cambridge House yes-
terday. Upwards of 200 members of the House
of Commons were present, and considerable
unanimity prevailed. It was agreed that every
effort should be made to turn out the Government,
and the opinion was generally expressed that this
ought to be done, without loss of time. In the
event of a dissolution many of his Lordship's
present friends might find it very inconvenient to
attend another meeting of non-official intriguers !
Indeed, one member with more frankness than was
pleasant expressed a hope that if they succeeded
in their laudable endeavours to effect a turn out,
the new Government would not include such pre-
cious stones as the CLANRICARDE jewel! Where-
upon a murmur of applause and suppressed sobs
of " No ! no 1" mingled with " Hear, hears ! "
rather discomposed the conviviality of the expec-
tants 1 What the answer of their Premier wa4
seemed to awaken a very lively misgiving in some,
while others muttered that the whisper of the
joke was something like—Di, do, (bon !

THE SUPPRESSED LETTER:

SECOND EXHIBITION BY MR. SMITH.

Extraordinary as was the statement which Mr.
SMITH delivered on Thursday night, and which
we noticed in our third edition on that day, his
second appearance, in the debate on the CARDWELL
motion, was far more astounding than anything
which we have yet heard, even from that Right
Honourable Gentleman.

Oar readers will learn, by referring to Mr.
SMITH'S speech, by comparing it with his former
statement, to what a painful course of dishonesty
and equivocation the Right Honourable Gentle-
man has been committed by an inordinate appetite
for place.

As to the points on which Mr. SMITH'S second
statement is utterly at variance with the first, we
shall not, at present, attempt any discussion. We
shall await with patience the fifth version of this
strange story, which will probably differ from its
predecessors as much as they do from each other.

Mr. SMITH'S remarks were received with deri-
sive cheers, which indicated the conviction of the
House that he and Lord PALMERSTON have been
guilty of a base intrigue to keep Lord ELLEN BO-
ROUGH in ignorance of the real position of our
Indian empire.

Lord DERBY'S remarks upon this subject were
admirable, and no one who heard them can avoid
suspecting that this is not the only one of Lord
CANNING'S letters which the ex-Ministers have
shamefully suppressed.

THE GREA.T DEBATE . 71,-

The debate on the spoliation of Oude COM-
menced in both houses la,t night. Mr. Cardwell's
speech was pompous, feeble, and full of cant. The
Right Hon. Gentleman, who, it is known, will
have a high place in the Palmerstonian Cabinet
should the Cambridge-House intrigue succeed,
insulted the understanding of the House by de-
claring that he moved his resolution in " the
performance of a painful duty !" The House
testified its incredulity of this self-sacrifice by
loud cries of " Oh," which were renewed and
sustained when the Right Honourable Gentleman
abandoned the defence of the Proclamation.

In the House of Lords, the Evangelical
Intriguer, although he spoke with fluency, was
disingenuous in argument and verbose in style.
He declared himself to be " not as other men arc,"
but far removed beyond the influence of factious
motives. This ridiculous piece of deoeit would
not go down at all, it being generally known
that the object of the motion was to restore Lord
PALMERSTON to office, who is SHAFTESBURY'S
father-in-law. Lord DERBY disposed of the
Noble Earl's claims to superior integrity in his
most felicitous strain.

Lord ELLENBOROUGIe s speech deserves to be
studied, for it was statesmanlike in conception,
n fien t
and lofty in spirit.
The d by
-e
greatinsueexceperseossn
tiothe,
night was achieved
the Solicitor-General, whose masteie
rly speech will
do much to influence public opinion. It pro-
duced a great effect in the House and the hon-
ourable gentleman when he sat down, was
cheered to the echo, for several minutes. We
give a full report of this speech and recommend
it to the attention of our readers.

The Duke of Beaufort came to town last evening.
His grace gives a full-dress banquet to-morrow, in cele-
bration of the Queen's birthday.
THE ALHAMBRA PALACE.--Ticr Majesty, the Prince
Consort, with the members of the Royal Family and
suite, honoured Ms. E. T. S nith's Alhambra Palace in
Leicester-square with a visit last evening, to HO the
celebrated American stud now pelf .:raring there. The
buildir.g was decorat _d and clo,.ed to the general public.
T' e royal visitors were received by Messrs. Bowe aed
Cushing, and on leaving expressed the gr: tiacation with
which they had witnessed the performances.
We hear, with much regret, Viet although Mr. Gye
has by great exertion been enabled to perform hi., pro-
mise to the public, that the Royal Italian Opera should
dna
goat rby eimob I
me to be completed so as to be opened this evening, be is so
okebethpi
mach prostrated by the labour he has undergone that he
rsetrixenptiaonnattiioren,ocbeeacsaiuogne.
tlhte
will
by way of testifying their sense of the skill and energy
displayed in the construction of such a
edificean energy
so short a time, might call for Mr.witbu Gye to receive their
colgratulations, and his ab,euwill ce now be attributed
to the proper cause.—Timos.

LATEST NEWS.

INDIA AND CHINA.

By the arrival of the Calcutta mail we have received
our private correspondence and files of papers from
Calcutta to the 10th of April, and from Hong Kong to
the 29th of March. The following is the letter of our
Calcutta correspondent :

"CALCUTTA, APRIL 10.
"It seems clear that we have a hot weather campaign
upon our hands. The sepoys, some 3,000 expected, have
escaped, and are swarming into Rohilcund and the
provinces east of Benares. Bareilly overflows with them
and with the armed ruffians who, beaten everywhere,
still congregate wherever there is a chance of plunder or
of anarchy. Bahadoor Khan is rapidly building up a
regular administration, collecting revenue, founding
families, striking coin in his own name. All the
discontented seek his protection, and leader after
leader, the Nana being the first, submit to a man
risen from the ranks. He has, I am told, a strong
body of cavalry, in which he reposes great con-
fidence, some 25,000 Sepoys, and an armed rabble
which may be estimated at any number you please
to fix. A week of victory would bring it up to a
hundred thousand, and a day's reverse reduce it to a
few desperate fanatics. There is a strong desire in
some quarters not to attack him till the cold weather.
Our troops, it is argued, will melt away ; we are too
few to invest the province, and the Sepoys, the
nucleus of the rebellion, will again escape, as they
did from Delhi and Lucknow. It would be better
to wait for reinforcements and pour down in
oold weather in irresistible strength. On the other
hand, it is said the existence of one province in
rebellion keeps the remainder in excitement, encour-
ages the disaffected, fosters plotting, and prevents
the re-establishment of order, now as necessary for
the people as for us. To remain inactive during
the hot weather is, moreover, peculiarly dangerous.
The natives usually select the hot weather for activeope-
rations because they know it paralyses the Europeans,.
They did so in the last great war in the Punjab. They
did so last year, and there are apprehensions, vague, but
not groundless, that they may do so this. These reasons,
I am informed, have prevailed, and the hot-weather cam-
paign is to be commenced at once. The Commander in-
Chief has evidently distributed his army with this view.
Eight thousand men-6,500 of them Europeans—re-
main in Lucknow under Sir H. Grant. Goruckpore,
Cawnpore, Benares, Allahabad, and Dinapore have
been weakly garrisoned, and the ren a'niog 8 000
Europeans and 2,500 natives proceed to the North-
West—that is, to Rohilcund. The head-quarters
are transferred to Cawnpore, and Sir Colin
Campbell is expected to command the great attack in
person. His plans, however, have been somewhat dis-
arranged by an unfortunate incident.
"Colonel Milman, with 350 of her Majesty's 37th,
200 Madras Infantry, and 400 Madras Cavalry, was or-
dered from Allahabad to reinforce Azimghur. He
diverged towards the Oude frontier, as I previously in-
formed you, to attack Atrowba, and encounter Koer
Singh, who, with 800 followers, 1,200 of them sepoys,
was rushing from Oude homewards to Behar. Col. Mil-
man, full, I presume, of European ideas, thought it im
possible to resist such a force, abandoned his camp, made
a forced march of 40 miles and flung himself into
Azimghur. Keel. Singh, delighted, followed at speed;
and Colonel Milman, deceived, some say, by reports
as to the fidelity of his Madras cavalry, instead
of defending the city, abandoned it, and retired
into a little mud fort on the opposite side of the plain.
Koer Singh followed and besieged him. The garrison
had no supplies, and a sortie was suggested by the
younger officers. It was made and mismanaged, and
the garrison found themselves back in the fort with
9 zimghur lost, Captain Bedford and 11 Europeans
killed, and enemy all round. The Govornor-General
immediately ordered General Franks, with some 300
Europeans collected at Benares, to raise the siege.
This might have been done, but the Commander-in-
Chief, unaware of this plan, telegraphed an order pro.
hibitieg all offensive operations, and ordering the gar-
rison to await the arrival of a column from Out/ e.
Accordingly, General Franks proceeded on his way
to England—he is very ill—lnd Sir E. Lugard, with
a column of 4,000 men, has left Lucknow. The march
will occupy 14 days, and the enemy, driven out of
Azirughur, must of necessity retreat to the south-
eaet, A portion of the column will therefore, it is said,
oroceed rapidly to Benares, advancing, if necessary, to
Petra. There are no troops available to protect Behar
for we cannot leave Calcutta without a regiment, the
recruits, 1,000 of whom have just arrived per Jason, are
not yet fit for service, and the only other regiment, the
19th, is engaged watching the disarmed regiments at
Bsrrackpore. I doubt if Koer Singh, once beaten, can
keep his men together, but the affair is considered serious,
and Behar, with its opine' factories, is left very much
exposed. Panics have, of course, st r tad tf rauk,h the sta-
tions of the province, but Sir E. Lugard is an excellent
officer, and the danger cannot be Img protracted. It
places our true difficulty, however, in a strong light.
These districts must be garrisoned after they are won,
and we have not the force to do the work. There are
upwards of 40 of them, exclusive of Bengal Proper, all
in more or less danger, and varying in six, from districts
as large as Scotland to districts as small as Suffolk.
Each requires for the present one wing of an European
regiment. Where are they to come from ? Certainly
not from the force now in the country, for Sir Colin
Campbell, after garrisoning only a few stations, cannot
collect more than 8,000 Europeans for the attack on
fto'ailcund. 'We need more men if the war is to be
brought to an early termination. It was want of men
which frustrated the operations before Lucknow—so
frustrated them, that officers of experience hold our posi-
tion actually worse than before we entered Oude. This
i I no doubt, an unjust view, dictated in pert by the
dislike a section of the army feel Sir Cohn Campbell.
It is, however, I fear thus far correct, that we have to
defeat an enemy as strong as before, and scattered over
a very much wider surface.

" f must mention that the escape of the sepoys has
for the time impaired the confidence of the army in Sir
Cohn Campbell. The soldiers cannot, or will not, see
that, had the aepoys been surrounded and they had
fought with the desperation they showed in the de-
taehed houses by the river bank, we should have suf-
fered a loss which would have left the Sikhs and
Ghoorkas masters of the situation. The Commander-
in-Chief had that c,:r.tingency to think of as well as mere
victoryl
"Jung Bahadoor proceeds with his army to Fyz tbad,
a stronghold almost as great as Lucknow, and held by
some 30,000 men. It is watched rather than menaced by
Colonel Rowcrof, with Captain Sotheby's Naval Brigade
and some 900 Ghoorkas. Jung is at Allahabad on a
visit to the Governor-General, -and is said to be anxious
to avoid a hot weather cimpaign. His mountaineers
suffer nearly as much as we do, and he and his officers
are nervously desirous net to return with greatly. dimi-
nished numbers. He may be induced to remain, but
to attack Fyzabad he will need Europeans.
Sir John Lawrence has left Delhi for Lahore, having
submitted full proposals to Government for the military
and political defence of the territory. Arrange-
ments for the management of the confiscated
estates, Jhujhur, Desiree, and Bahadoorgurh—they
are as big as most English counties—have been com
p!eted. The prize property has been delivered over, and
exceeds tlready 40 lace of inpees (400,0001.) The
lliii-
tary Commission jueges rebels daily by the score,
though of course with less of severity, but they have
still 1,500 to try, The l‘lahouredans have been ad-
tnitted into the city, and ord r is gradually restored.
"Ia Bengal there is little doing, but the Coles are
still restles4, and about tan days ago a great battle was
fought between 50 sailors horn Chyebassa on one side,
and 4,000 Coles on the other. The Coles were beaten,
of course, but they fought angrily and had a few flint
muskets.

AUSTRALIA.

PLYMOUTH, FRIDAY EVENING.

•
The Duncan Dunbar, Captain Neatby, for London,
93 days from Sydney, having left February 10, was off
the port to-day. She has 55 cabin and 41 steerage pas-
sengers, and a cargo including 2,895 bales of wool, 269
casks of tallow, and 1,445 bags of copper, 39 packages,
and 242 ounces of gold.
The ship Water Nymph, Thomas Stewart, from
Adel...tido, February 4, for London, has alas passed up
Channel. She has a cargo of copper ore and wool,
and 500 ounces of gold. The Duncan Dunbar spoke,
March 14, the brig Sunbeam ; April 1, the bark Amelia
Gilbert, from Liverpool for Singapore ; sth, the French
ship Goniaevet Julie, the English ship General Herbert,
and the Hamburg ship Triton, all standing South ; on
the 231 the Campe. down, from Rio for Hamburg; May
4 the Martha flenz3ll, from Boston, and Venus, from
Efavannah for Falmouth ; on the 6th the barque
Oberon, for St. John's, and on the 11th the Ocean
Steed, from New Orleans for Havre. The Water Nymph
spoke March 19 the Prince Carl, and April 9 the
American ship Sunshine.
FALMOUTH, May 14. —The S wiftsure, from Mel-
bourne, with the February mail, arrived off Falmouth
to-day, with 82,000 ounces of golddust and about 250
passengers landed here with the mails.