The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 12, 1859.

that every ono almost has too much to do ; that is, if
he did it. Hence, in the civil departments work is

always hopelessly in arrear, and justice delayed till
the very delay becomes a penalty intolerable to the
injured party. " One of the crying evils of
says M. N. S., "is the very large extent of the
districts committed to the charge of the magistrates.

[magine one man being held responsible for
the safety, the immunity from crime, and the col-
Lection of the revenue of the whole of Wales. And

yet this is not a greater anomaly than the magistracy
and collectorship of Goruckpoor, the extreme points
of which are more than sixty miles from the magis-
trate's office, with a population of hundreds of
thousands." And what is the grand error of main-

raining but one magistrate for such vast provinces,

is also the error in regard to the supreme magis-

rate in India. All are overpaid for work beyond

their powers. The system, indeed, of individual and
personal responsibility for Governors of all grades is
adapted to India, because, the natives understand it;
but it should be not an extravagantly but reasonably

paid service for a reasonable amount of work. The
Governor-General is " the referee from all parts of

India; he has more work on hand than any Gover-
nor-General, however herculean, can perform ; he
is sadly overburdened ; the consequence is, every
department in India suffers from delay." M. N.
S. says that Mr. BRIGHT'S opinion, he feels certain,

is the correct one ; that it is, as the hon. member
maintains, utterly impossible for the Governor-Gene-
ral to conduct singly the duties of the Governor of
our immense Indian empire. The writer, therefore,
would have a general reduction of salaries from the
Viceroy downwards, but, therewith, a reduction of

;he work to be done to reasonable dimensions.

He gives, as an illustration, the task assigned to
himself when he must have been, we should think,
a young man, as he has now seen but ten years of
the service, which is entered very early. These,
then,were the duties of a young Englishman among a
people of a strange tongue and in a tropical climate :
" 1. Magistrate for a population something below
1,000,000 souls, with power to sentence to sev3n
years' imprisonment, and to inflict 100 lashes. 2.
Collector of revenue, and tax-gatherer for the dis-
trict (on an average, 30 agricultural suits filed daily).
3. Civil Judge, with power to try civil suits to any
amount (about 80 civil suits were filed daily—value
of suits from one rupee to one lac and upwards).
4. City tax-collector, and to perform all the duties
of municipal committees, sanitary boards, &c. &c.
5. Road overseer, and general architect. 6. Jail
superintendent. 7. Treasurer, with an expendi-
ture of 15 lacs, or £150,000 per mensem. 8. To
superintend education and mofussil schools. 9.
Surveyor. 10. Miscellaneous duties of all kinds,
such as supplying provisions to troops on the line
of march, correspondence with superior authorities
upon appeals, procedure, dismissals of native
ministerial officers, &c. Often as many as
500 letters were written in a month, the ave-
rage was certainly not, below 10 letters per diem."
and he adds that even this does not comprehend all
the duties which fall to the lot of district office-2s,
although it illustrates their variety.
It is evident that, for the cure of these radical
and obvious evils, we must begin at the beginning.
A splendid vice-royalty, to restore or build up the
fortunes of needy peers like Lord DALHOUSIE or
Lord CANNING, is a lucrative convenience that our
aristocracy will not easily surrender, not even for
the salvation of India. A seat in the superfluously
large Council for India, and the extravagantly
overpaid covenanted service, are plums which the
upper section of the middle classes, who have made
India their pre3erve so long, will be fought for
with all the influence which a long and splendid
patronage has given. It will not be without a
struggle that the first elements of good government
will be secured for India. They must be secured,
however, if we are to escape another mutiny ; if
we are to content the country ; if we are to reduce
that fatally large native force, which even now
exists chiefly to create posts for Anglo-Indians ;
and, if we are to have every part of
India improved in its government, social con-
dition, and commerce, as much as the Island of
Ceylon, which forms properly the southernmost
province of India. Had India been only governed,
as it might easily be, on the same reasonable prin-
ciples on which the Government of Ceylon has been
administered, we might by this time, instead of a
mutiny and a population ground to the dust by
taxation, have had a wealthy country, a reciprocal
commerce enriching Manchester, Birmingham, and
Sheffield, as well as India ; and instead of an empty
exchequer threatening one day to empty ours, a
revenue ample for Indian wants, ample to guarantee
railroads and irrigation works, and to change the
face of the land.,
We will not at present advert to other wants of
India, imperiously as they call for attention, One
thing we regard as certain—that we can no longer
afford to leave India to Governors-General and
Indian Secretaries with their Council. Indian Re-
form will soon become fully as important, indeed
we believe more urgent, than Parliamentary Re-
form, though the latter ought to be the way to the
former. It will not do to go on till an avalanche of
Indian Debt suddenly overwhelms our own Exche-
quer, and then to utter the silly old exclamation—
Non puturam !

LATEST NEWS.

WAR WITH CHINA.

A telegram, of which, as it arrived in cypher, the
substance only can be given, was received this
morning at the Foreign-office, through Alexandria
and Constantinople, from Mr. Rumbold, Secretary
to her Majesty's Mission in China, dated Aden,
Aug. 29 :

Admiral Hope arrived off the Peiho River on the
17th of June, and found that the fortifications had
been rebuilt, but no guns or men were visible.
The entrance into the river was barred with
booms and stakes.

The Plenipotentiaries joined the squadron on
the 20th, and no notice having been taken cf the
announcement of their arrival, an attempt was
made on the 25th to force a passage, when on a
sudden batteries, supported by a Mongol force of
apparently 20,000 men were unmasked, and opened
a destructive fire.

After a severe action, the squadron was obliged
to withdraw, with the loss of the Cormorant, Lee,
and Plover, and 464 killed and wounded.
The French had 14 killed and wounded out
of 60.

The Plenipotentiaries have returned to Shanghai

Rest of China reported quiet.
No fears are entertained about Canton, as the
Tartar troops had been disarmed as a matter of pre-

caution.

A further telegram received from her Majesty's
agent and consul-general in Egypt mentions that
7 officers were killed and 17 wounded. Admiral
Hope and Captains Shadwell and Vansittart are
mentioned as being wounded, but the other names
are too obscurely given in the telegram to be safely
published.

INDIA.
(BY THE RED SEA AND INDIA TELEGRAPH.)
We have been favoured with the following

telegrams :
ADEN TELEGRAPH OFFICE, AUG. 28.
" H. GISBORNE TO CHARLES L. PEEL, ESQ.,
LONDON.
" The Simla, from Calcutta, arrived to-day.
" Lord Clyde, in General Orders, warns Euro-
peans of the disadvantage of taking discharge; only
a few have withdrawn their names- The number
of discharged iu Bengal will reach 6,000.
" The Sikhs on the Nepaul frontiers have had
two successful engagements with rebels.
" The Five-and-a-Half per Cent. Loan, 5/ to
discount.

" Exchange on London. first-class paper, six
months, 2i.
" The English and French Secretaries of Lega-
tion to China are on board the Simla.
" ADEN TELEGRAPH OFFIC, SEPT. 1.
" H. GISBORNE TO CHARLES L. PEEL, ESQ.,