The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-12 00:00:00

MR. HENLEY ON INDIA.

In acknowledging the toast of " County Mem-
bers," at the meeting of the Thame Agricultural
Society, on Thursday, the Right Hen. Mr. Henley
said, speaking of the Indian revolt :
" Whatever cause of complaint against our rule tht re
may have been, it is impossible to suppose that there
was any real connection between it and what has taken
place. An army of 80,000 or 100,000 men, without
notice, without grievance, without rhyme or reason, have
turned against those whose salt they have eaten, whose
pay they have taken, and in the 'nest treacherous man-
ner have not only murdered their officers, whom they
were in duty bound to protect, but have either in their
own persons wreaked, or have permitted others more
wicked than themselves to wreak, the most horrid bar-
barities on women and children, before the very eyes of
those most nearly connected with them, who were spared
from butchery only long enough to see thwe most dear
to them ill-treatad and butchered, and ware then destroyed
themselves. I believe that history does not furnish so
terrible an example of what man is capable of be
coming when once he bursts the bonds of decency
and forbearance. Now for all this there must be a
day of reckoning. (Cheers.) They are English men,
and English women, and English children who have
been thus used ; and it is not in the nature of English.
men to allow those dear to them to be treated in this
manner without exacting a terrible :submit: (Cheers.)
If the 20,000 or 40,000 men who have been sent
out to set tnis matter straight are not sufficient, I feel
sure there will not be wanting 100,000 men te rectify
this terrible and grievous wrong. It is a metier which
sets aside all social questions for a time. We have a
mighty wrong to redress. But we must not be impa-
tient in this matter. I believe our best chance of the
mutiny being put down is that these black vagabonds
should continue to herd together in Den,. I call them
vagabonds, for the first thing they did was to throw
open the gaols and let loose all the thieves and cut-
throats they could find. In all revolutions you find that
if men are not honest the first thing they du is to let
loose others who are worse than themselves. Honest
men do not want such help as that. Now if these
fellows are all banded together in that city of Delhi, I
hope they will stay there till October or November, when
our reinforcements will arrive in the country, when they
will be like rats in a trap, and a good account will be
given of them. If by some mistake we were to march in
at one side and these blackguards match out at the other,
we shall have a great deal more trouhle to catch them.
Therefore, instead of regretting that we have not yet
accounts o' this city being taken, I believe it will be better
to let the thing come to a head. My experience in killing
all sorts of vermin is that it is much better to get then,
into a corner than to hunt them all over the field. I be-
lieve our permanent chances of success would not have
been so great if the city had been taken, and therefore
there is nothing to be disappointed about, great as the
crisis is. We have had greater struggles than this before
now. It is not wise to say it is not a great evil, to be
grappled with and overcome, but if I know anything of
the spirit of my countrymen, it is precisely when difficulties
are to be overcome that you find out what Englishmen
are. (Cheers.) In prosperous times nobody would believe
how Englishmen, when the hour of trial conies, will
throw aside all differences, and, seeing what is to be
done, will set shoulder to shoulder, and hang tcget'er to
do it. (Cheers.) It is just 100 years ago since a few
of our countrymen won this empire, and now, with our
power so much increased all over the world, with the
means of communication three Ones as rapid as they
were, I will not believe but that we cannot only con
quer again, but keep it with the utun et posoible safety.
(Cheers.)