The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-09 00:00:00

'THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 9, ISM.

doubt," writes Lord NAPIER, on September 1, " of
the extremities of distress which they have endured
and still eadure. Some of the Ooryah cottages I
have myself visited, where destitution and starva-
tion, might be seen in every pathetic and terrible
form. The miserable condition of whole villages
was a ttested by the emaciated appearance of their
leadir ig inhabitants, sent in numerous deputations to
solicit help from the Collector at Chetterpore. The
road were full of wretched creatures prostrated on
the ,earth. In many places I was pursued by cla-
morous crowds, which might be likened to flocks
of skeletons or ghosts." This is indeed a
startling picture, and its fidelity is unfortunately
confirmed by the official report, which, up to the
time of Lord NApfEit's departure, returned the
deaths from starvation at 1,600 ; and this number
does not include the unknown wanderers who have
died in the woods and byeways, or the large number
who have perished from disease and debility, the
direct consequences of want. It affords a singular
instance of the intensity of the Hindoo superstitions
that no amount of hunger will induce the ryot to
slaughter the sacred animal. " The Hindoo peasant
will perish by hunger beside a fat bullock." The failure
of the food crops has not affected the forage, and
the cattle are thriving. In one sense this supersti-
tion is beneficial, since the oxen in India are indis-
pensable to the cultivation of the land, and are
difficult to replace, so that their immunity from
slaughter secures the means of future exertion. The
vagrant or mendicant class are not of course troubled
with any such scruples, but when they have an
opportunity steal and kill oxen and cows. This class
fastened at once upon the relief houses, and whether
from their wandering propensities, greater har-
dihood, or less scruples, they were the least
emaciated of the miserable assemblage. In fact,
Lord Napier says they offered " a vexatious contrast
to the labouring classes who sat beside them and to
the ryots who stood afar off." The coolies or rural

labourers without land have naturally suffered
severely, since the absorption of money in the mere
purchase of food naturally arrested the demand for
labour, and the coolies without savings and without
credit suffered heavily. The same causes affected
the small tradesmen, for business of all kinds in the
towns has been terribly depressed.
The Government latterly has been making great
efforts, though Lord NAPIER does not hesitate
to confess that much valuable time was

lost at the outset, partly from a want of accurate
and detailed information, and partly from a want
of conviction that public health was absolutely neces-
sary. Lord NAPIER, in attempting to extenuate

this negligence, says "Governments are slow be-
lievers in public calamity, and they entertain a jus-

tifiable reluctance to sanction the commencement of
gratuitous relief—a measure of which no one can

foretell economical and moral consequences." But
such a plea can hardly avail, seeing that
at the first rumour of a coming famine it
would have been easy to appoint impartial
commissioners to inquire into the prospects of the
crop, the supplies in reserve, and the prospects of
the people in case of a total failure of the crops.
Had this been done there must have been a better
knowledge at headquarters, and it would have been
possible to have organised an effectual system
of relief before the famine rose to so fright-

ful a height. If all preliminary arrangements
had been made, and plans decided upon before
hand, it would have been comparatively easy
to have grappled with the disaster, and to have con-
trolled it in some measure. As it is a vast outlay
will have been required. The people have suffered
terribly, the prestige of the Government is weakened,
and the financial effects of the famine will be felt
for some time to come throughout all classes. Lord
NAPIER regards the calamity as in some measure
irremediable, and thinks that no amount of care or
prudence can avoid the risk of occasional famine.
Much, however, may be done, and until the water
supply of India is managed on a totally different
scale from what it is at present, we should be very
unwilling to believe that much cannot be done to
avert such disasters.

CORRESPONDENCE PROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Thursday Evening.

The Moniteur has the following important and
satisfactory explanation in regard to the affairs of
the East :
" The latest news received from the island of
Crete states that the insurrection has been appeased.
From the moment that the Turkish Government,
by making the concessions asked for Moustapha
Paella, did justice to the legitimate demands of the
inhabitants, the insurrectional movement having no
serious cause of support, suffered a certain check.
Three questions have been agitated in the East
during the course of this year—the affairs of the
Principalities, those of Montenegro, and those of
Candia. The first question has been settled in a
manner as satisfactory for Roumania as for the
Porte. The personal relations which have just
been established between the Sultan and the Prince
de Hohenzollern cannot be more satisfactory, and
the prince, on his return to Bucharest, was received
with such cordiality as to prove how the Moldo-
Wallachian populations congratulated themselves
upon the agreement so happily established at Con-
stantinople. The situation of Montenegro is equally
ameliorated. The cause of the constant quarrels
which divided the Turks and the populations of the
Black Mountains was the possession of the con-
tested territories, where the Montenegroes brought
their cattle at the commencement of every spring.
These territories having been given up to them for
the future, there will be no further pretence for con-
flicts ; and it is to be hoped that the relations of
good neighbourhood will succeed the hostile rivalry
which formerly prevailed. As to the affairs of
Crete they may now be arranged in a spirit of wis-
dom and peace. At Athens, as at Constantinople,
the insurrection is considered as terminated. It is
now the province of the Porte to give defini-
tive calm to the public mind, and to grant
the reforms promised to
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its influence has always been exerted in a pacific and
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The Moniteur de l' Armee denies the report that the
Army Commission intend to substitute a sort of
National Guard for the Regular Army. It adds.—
" It is not at the time when the events just accom-
plished in Europe impose upon the Government of
France the duty of placing her military forces upon
a level with those of neighbouring Powers that there
can be any idea of reducing the effective condition of
the Army. It is to be presumed, on the contrary,
that one of the first resolutions of the Commission
will be to maintain the principle propounded long
since of having an army of 400,000 men in time of
peace. The object of the labours of the Commission
will probably be to consider the means of having a
powerful Reserve, to provide, in case of need, for
the establishment of a respectable effective army on
the war footing."
A letter from Venice, dated November 1, says—
" It would seem that Venice wishes to forget in a
moment all that was odious in the past. She
breathes liberty with free lungs, newspapers are to
be established, and clubs founded. The Patriotic
Club is in course of formation. Its object is the
increase of strength, of welfare, and national glory
by all legitimate means. There is also an electoral
association to procure freedom and purity of eke-
tiou. With all this excitement Venice is quite tran-