The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-26 00:00:00

THE INDIAN MUTINY RELIEF FUND.

The Lord Mayor has addressed the following
letter to the editor of the Morning Post :
Sir,—The very judicious and thoughtful obser-
vations which yq,u gave to the public in your lead-
ing article of to day with reference to this subject
appear to me to require and to deserve a prompt
e ,cplanatory reply. Such a reply naturally divides
itseif into two part;—fint, a delineation of the
:,,3heme and principles on which it is intended to
administer this fund ; and next, a statement, if pos-
stble, of the nature and extent of the distress which
will require relief, and the probablo amount which
will be necessary for the purpose.

The first of these topics I enter upon with the
more willingness, becau e the committee are speci-
ally desirous that the strongest light of publicity
-hould be thrown on overy part of their proceed-
ings. With relation to the gortoral principles by
wh:ch they have re •olved to I” guided in the dis-
tribution of relief, I may be krmitted to present a
series of rcsolution3 which has alr,:ady b3en adver-
tised in your columns
"1. The object of this committee is to relievf>, as far
as !nay i,e prooticAble and neeesssry, the distress caused
by the rautihies in ILdia.
" 2. In doing so, eareshould be taken not to supersede
the asehtance which ought to be given by the Govern-
,cent, by the established Widows' and.Orphans' Funds,
or by the relations of the sufferers ; but to suppleinent it
to the extent to which it falls short of ajust muslin of

" 3. Compensation for losses, as such, wilt in no case

bl given.
" 4. Subject to the preceding conditions, the efforts of
the committee will be specially directed—
" Fir:4. To enable the sufferers to live with frugality
in their respective states of life until other mane of sub.
si -;tence.are

• " S••eand, To provide for the maintenance and educa-
t,i•in of children iri ca czin which ithasiz=uititcyruptc.l.
nr provcutrd 17y ea-kunl.is arising, cut of thOi inn it,y, and
it cannot be provided fz.r from other 8cl:iron&

"Third. To assi4 SjlTerEra to c one to thin coun-

try or to go to India, when the &rcumitances render it
proper that they shod I do so, and the mean,' of paying
,or their passage cannot be obtained from any other
q,u

- " Fourth. To afford reasonable aid, by loan or olpher.
wise, to officers and others who have lost their equip
:mont•r, fornit ure, or other property, by the neceseity of
sudden fight from their st 'Mons or the destruction of
their d.vellings, when, . without such they would be
involved in pecuniary etnbarrassmopts.
"5. That relief according to these privaciples be given,
without distinction of religion or nationality, to every
perf.on of whatever rank who has a just claim upon the
yrnpathy and aQ.,istance of the British people."
These resolutions have, been transmitted t) the
Relief Committee at Calcutta, and although the Cen-
tral Committee have not yet received a reply to
their communication ; still, from documents in

!heir possession, they have roman to believe that
the principl,s on which they have agreed for their
own regulation will substantially form the basis.of
tie ad Ministration of the fund in India.

With respect to the more detailed arrangements
c.f the committee in the admtnistration of relief,
the information which they thsirz3 to afford to the
public should be distributed under two heads—that
:shich refers t) the sufferers in built, and that
which has respect to those at home, and under their
own eyes, who have been reduced to distress by the
suspension of remittances and other disastrous con-
sequences of the inutinito.

As to the first the coraMiltao have already con-
signed to the case of the Governor-General at Cal-
cotta the sum of 40,0001., remitted iu company's
bills and specie, to be placed at the disposal of the
relief committee there.. They have further QOll-
- to Lord Elphinstone 3,0001. for the tem-
porary relief of sufferers in his presidency, and have
sent 6,0001. to Sir John Lawrence, the Chief Com-
missioner at Lahore, for similar application in that
district, and have entrusted to him 1,0001. in aid
of the funds of the Lawrence Asylum.
The applications for relief which have been made
to the committee during the brief period of its
existence have necessarily been few in number, and
cmlined to cases of distress in our own country.
The bulk of the funds already expended by the
committee have been applied to the relief of
sufferers in the East-. But, in anticipation of the
influx of cases which must necessarily be expected
on the arrival in England of persons reduced to
destitution abroad, the committee have requested
the transmission to them' by every mail, of the
most precise information from their co-operators
in Calcutta embracing a comprehensive _record of
their proceedings—an account of their receipts and
expenditure, and a minute detail of all the par-
ticulars of cases to which they have supplied relief,
including the name and condition in. life of the
applicant, the nature and extent of his loss or dis-
tress, and the mode and degree to which that
distress has been relieved.

Prior to any grant to cases, whether domestic or
b foreign,
sye thet9 most
interrogatory
rigid
esrreissd o
prosecuted
ci
t
y a m ofthe
rimcuimla-
y s r
stari
o applicant,
etba t athned
eeamsebreacanin
system of inquiry addressed to referees, and a
bearing
not only on the particular nature and extent of the
bu involve, veCovlevrey, material
b
applicant's necessities, t alsoupon the condition of
his relatives and connections, and upon everything
which can throw light on his future prospects of
independence of fortune.
Upon the second topic mooted in your article of
to-day no such precise and detailed information
can be afforded to the public. Sufficient time has
uire
d in
the India
not yet elapsed since the outbreak of these oda-
mi to u s events
datat fooar allonwy
how-
ever vague, as to the extent which these disasters
ocaflthcuelat committee
ion,
having a
may reach, or of the loss of life and property Which
they may entail. Probably at th's, moment the
Governor in Council and the Relief Committee at
i _

Calcutta would profess I:o inoreab-Ifity to form any-
thing which would deserve the name of a reliable
estimate. Of this, however, the public may rest
assured, that all thit_information which (the com-
mittee receives from'indid, and all the proceedings
which they take upon suchinformation,
shall be as
thisthefubnedri efibonce that
fully known to the world as to themselves, and that
: supplied.
the British public and theirCbenevolent fellow-
workers in every quarter of the globe shall, with
respectf
witinformation orthaetiaolnlo:,sataioronpio:,
as
raised it.
The committee are most deeply sensible of the
magnitude of that responsibility which has been
devolved upon them, and their chief resource under
that pressure is that entire publicity which shall at
once constitute the e o f guarante
and the solicitation ‘, _
their
own integrity
0/ the suggestions of put lie
opinion,