The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-31 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, JULY 31, 1857.

The opponeoti of the Divorce and Matrimonial
Causes Bill seem resolved to prevent the passing of
the measure by any meats in their power. There
was a manifest determination last night to obstruct
its progress, lay no means creditable to the parties
concerned. A very decided rea• •
ptlty---63, when
317 Members were present, rejected the adjourn-
ment of the debate, but this motion was renewed
in a different form, and the Government wer,,,
yield. It is surely time
eventually convened to
that a decisive majority should be protected
against the machinations of a tyrant minority.
The forms of the House may occasionally
be very properly resorted to where it is at-
tempted to obtain by surprise the Legislative sanc-
tion to a measure opposed to the general feeling
of the country. Bat such was not the case with
respect to the Divorce Bill. E had been carried
through the Upper House by unequivocal mak-
ritics, It ha I been fully discussed iu all its
details, and every possible opportunity was taken
to defeat the measure. But all in vain. The

principle triumphed, and it was sent down to the
Commons after every point had been completely
considered and decided on.

In the Commons there was last night an
unusually large attendance for so advanced
a period of the session. As we have stated, no less
than 317 members were present, and we may
asiume that 190 of their number were with the
Government. After the clear and unanswerable
argument of the Attorney-General, it was not
deemed necessary for any honourable gentleman
to speak in its favour. Opponent after opponent
was patiently listened to, but nothing was brought
forward but the old hackneyed topics, which re-
quired no answer. Therefore a division might
fairly be anticipated and pressed for. But
that was presented by what might, by
some persons, bo deemed factious oppo-
sltion ; and, consequently, much valuable
time was lost to the House and to the country.
We cannot conceive that the government will
surrender under such circumstances, and the only
result will be the prolongation of the Session,
probably into September.
The matter really lies in a nutshell. It is, as
the ATTORNEY-GENVIAL clearly explained, merely
to extend what has long been considered the re-
cognised law on the subject—to render the
remedy which has been invariably granted to
aggrieved husbands cheaper and more expe-
ditious than under the existing system—to give
to the party who had a few hundreds to spare
the same relief that could only be obtained by the
fortunate possessor of some thousands. It is
neither more nor less than the creation of an un-
exceptionable tribunal to decide cases that have
hitherto been disposed of by means of private
bills. Exceptional legislation is always objection-
able. It is in every instance a protest against the
existing law of the land. If every grievance
should have a suitable remedy, what can be
thought of a class of wrongs which cannot be
altogether abrogated, but for which each sufferer
must obtain a specific law ? We cannot conceive
anything more opposed to public policy, and all
the principles of equal justice.
We have long since explained our views on the
subject. We have shown that the present system
practically amounts to this, that there shall be
one law for the rich, and another for the poor !
And, therefore, the bill under notice, miserably
defective as it is in many particulars, is still one
that ought to be carried.
But, as we have stated, it is but an instalment,
and by no means a large one, of justice. Much
more is required before it can be placed on a sa-
tisfactory foundation. But we accept it as " the
introduction of the sharp end of the wedge" which
will eventually lead to justice to women, and the
establishment of a system of complete and perfect
reciprocity. There may be a few hard cases first ;
some innocent victims whose unmerited sufferings
will excite universal sympathy. But it is easier
to alter than to completely overturn the existing
law, and therefore we hail the present bill as a
valuable instalment, that may eventually be made
really beneficial to the community.

We have no doubt that the Government will
not suffer themselves to be foiled, but that they
will press on the matter vigorously so as to ensure
its pagsing during the present session.

Lord NAAS is entitled to great credit for the
straightforward and unflinching manner in which
he proceeded with the Superannuation Act Amend-
ment Bill. Had he displayed the slightest symp-
tom of vacillation or yielding, the measure would
have been shelved for the present session, and
perhaps permanently lost. For, be it remem-
bered, it could not be read a second time in the
Lords after the 7th of August, in consequence
of the resolution adopted on Tuesday last. The
Government—that is to say, Lord PALMERSTON—
yieIded gracefully to the clearly expressed opinion
of the House. We cannot, however, say sa much
for Sir G. C. LEWIS, who strove to get rid of the
measure by a side wind, suggesting its postpone-
ment, although well knowing that such postpone-
ment would be tantamount to its withdrawal, or
rather its being shelved for the present session.
The Premier, however, exhibited perfect good
faith, and, thanks to Lords NAAS and PALMER-
STON, there is now every prospect that the
swindle will be forthwith abolished, and that
the injured civil servants will, if they do
not receive compensltion for the pas', be no
longer subjected to unjustifiable deductions from
their hardly-earned salaries for the future.

The bill has now passed through committee,
and one more struggle will insure its success. We
heartily congratulate those who have been so
long aggrieved at the auspicious prospect now
before them, and also on having secured the ser-
vices of so faithful and efficient an advocate as
Viscount NAAslwho has immeasurably advanced
his Parliamentary reputation by bis conduct on
the occasion.

The conjectures of the Morning Post, to which
we gave insertion yesterday, as to the ions et
origo mali of the Indian mutinies, receive con-
siderable support from a letter addressed to Sir
MORTON PETO, the Treasurer of the Baptist Mis-
sionary Society, which was published on Wednes-
day in the ably conducted organ of that Denomi-
nation—The Freeman. The Baptists are well
known to all interested in Indian affairs as the
first denomination to send missionaries to our
great colony ; indeed, they were sent thither
when- the East India Company refused to allow
pLeaching to the natives, and they were compelled
ti establish themselves on the small Danish settle-
ment
and Island of Serampore, where they erected
a college, and where they have, we believe, ever
since, stood at the head of literary enterprise in
India ; hence, they have always had there a con-
siderable number of learned natives speaking moat
of the languages of India, and must have some
peculiar and important sources of information.

In the letter referred to, the writer, whom the
Editor of the Freeman speaks of as one of the
most int€lligent of their Missionaries, states that
the Missionaries, we presume, of all societies,
had just held a Conference, in which, of course,
they regarded the outbreak, from their own pint
of view, as a religious one, and conneeed with
intense hatred of Christianity, coupled with a per-
fectly groundless idea on the part of the Sepoys,
that the Government intended to make Christians
of them. But the writer of the letter is not merely
a Missionary, he looks around for the real cause
of the mutiny, and his account is worthy the
attention even of British senators. He says :
" But, it will be asked, What is the true cause
of this, so general an alienation ? The true cause
is a political one, without doubt. As yet iti real
authors are not known, but that there is a con-
spiracy somewhere to upset the British power is
now manifest to most. In seeking to accomplish
theirwicked purpose they have most dexterously
seize 1 or,a rreligiousoys, who are foreligiouseet the Seious motive, than which none was
a.) likely to affect
r the
most part high caste men, or Mahommedans."
He goes on to alio
may have become
ceedings of Missionaries
"There cannot be a doubt that show how
l their religious prejudices
ural y awakened by the pro-
and the Government. i
for some time
past an imp! es,ion has been widely spread that
Christianity will supplant Hinduism. The labours
of missionarit.z have laid the foundation for this
irapreF,si,m, wad so far we LaarpleaA guilty to the.
chugs now be,gililliDg to be regunitated agaiwg,

us. But more than thee, IT far, is the effect of
the college education now so widely given, to-
gether with the recent grants in aid by Govern-
ment, and the enactment of laws permitting tilt
re-marriage of widows, and the suppression of
polygamy. It is no unusual thing with thenativ€s
now to call the college alumni Christians—that is
despisers of caste and eaters of all polluted things,
for such the youth of Calcutta have become. Now
this is the only idea of Christianity which the mass
of the people have got, and as the Government
patronise these colleges, sic., the people imagine
that their object is to destroy caste. This is, then,
the instrument which the conspirators have wrought
with so effectually."
The conspirators have proceeded with consum-
mate skill, the skill of Asiatic cunning, disciplined
by European knowledge ; precisely that which is
taught and acquired so perfectly in the semi-
Asiatic capitals of the CZAR. The Bengal sepoys,
through having been petted, in all their unmilitary
superstitions, to an extent which made thorough
discipline almost impracticable, and from the mis-
sionaries beingprevented from preaching to them as
to other Hindoos, are actually farbehind the general
population in knowledge and liberal sentiment.
They are an army of Hindoo Puseyites—Puseyites
of Idolatry and Brahnsinism. They tremble for the
fall of superstitions, which must fall, if the mere
elements of modern science are but taught in the
schools of India. Observe, then, the cunning of
laying hold of this class, at once the most sus-
ceptible, and the most potent for mischief. Let
the reader also specially note the cunning dis-
played in the translation of, the word " grease" in
the cartridge business. The writer of the letter
observes—

" The Sepoys, as a class, are highly superstitious
and at the same time profoundly ignorant, and so
they have easily become their dupes. Some three
or four mouths since, the Government issued orders
for the use of a new kind of cartridge adapted to
the English rifle. This cartridge it is neslessary to
grease. It happened, unfortunately, that proper
care was not taken in th 6 transl stion of the term
grease,' and the translator used a word signifying
the fat of an animal (chorbhi), and this was laid
hold of to represent to the Sepoys that the Govern-
ment was about to defile them with bullock's suet,
than which nothing can be more hateful to a
Hindw, and the idea has taken so firm a hold that
it has been impossible to eradicate it. For the
Mahommedans it was said the word meant
hog's lard, and so, with wondrous dexterity, it
was made to serve both parties ! l My full im-
pression is that, whoever the conspirators may be,
it has formed a part of their plan to send emissaries
to all the regiments, probably as recruits, who would
1-e unsuspected, and these have wrought first upon
the native officers and then upon the men gene-
rally. It is well known, however, that for the last
three months an extensive c nrespondence has besn
going on between the Sepoy regiments from Cal-
cutta to Lahore, some of which has been seized."

Then the time selected marks the hands of con.
spirators :

" But it is time for me to put you in possession
of the sentiments of the best informed on the pre-
sent crisis and matters connected with if. I speak,
at least, the opinions of the Calcutta Mission Con-
f-rence, among whom are laymen possessing the
best information. First, then, it is felt that the
conspirators have arranged admirably as to time,
for never have we been so unprepared for such an
outbreak as at the present time. We had three
European regiments fewer than before the annexation
of Pegu and Oude !

The writer proceeds to observe and to comment
honestly on the mischievous policy of stripping the
army of half its officers, leaving the remaining
half mere lads. He notices the selfish motives of
the Company in doing this, and speaks with
decision, but without bitterness, on theldisregard
of fitness, and the unworthy regard to other con-
siderations in nominating to high office. He in-
stances the appointments of General ANsoN to the
Command-in-Chief of India, and of General
ISHisIIRNITAM in China, and describes the popu!ar
feeling as having been very strong against General
ANSON. It seems likely, indeed, that the horrid
atrocities at Meerut are chiefly due to that evil
system of promotion to which we owed so many
Crimean disasters. The letter tells us that
" The system also in vogue as to the command
of stations is universally repudiated. It goes by
seniority, without reference to ability. Hence the
brigadiers are old men, some very old, with phy-
sical and mental power far on the wane. The
brigadier at Meerut is a very old man, and in-
capable. When he imprisoned the 90 mutineers in
the common jail, he had no idea of the danger he
invoked, and therefore left the jail in its ordinary
protection, a few native policemen ; and, in the
evening, when the mutiny broke out, he was so
paralysed with fear, that, for two hours, white the
infuriated soldiers were killing their officers, &c.,
and burning their houses, he did nothing, gave no
orders, and so let the Sopoys get off unpunished.
He hld with him the lirgest force (European)
found at any station in this part of India. All
this is ascribed to the system in vogue."
The hat sentences of the letter are well worthy
of general attention, we need not add to them
comments of our own.

"If India is to be retained by Britain, there
must be very great changes in the system of govern-
ment and its administration. This revolt will
convulse Britain with surprise and alarm. It will
not be unreasonable ; the danger has been great,
and still is. Ido hope that the Parliament will
do the subject justice, and the nation generally be
aroused properly on the matter. The Company's
Government must be abolished, unless it grant the
reform needed. Will that be soon granted ? Will
the Court of Directors oppose all reform, and look
with displeasure upon everything that does not
emanate from themselves ? Hitherto the people
have not joined the sepoys, but I am sure their
sympathies are with them. Even the Calcutta
natives, who have most to bind them to the Go-
vernment, "sympathise strongly with the revolt.
Depend upon it there is much discontent among
all classes, and there is abundant reason for it.
More this time is wanted. More English troops—
fewer natives. The suspension of Government
educational projects. Change in the zemindari
system, and radical changes in the administration
of the laws. Tried men for high positions, and
the diligent promotion of evangelization. No
yielding to caste prejudices."

THE DEATH OF PRINCE CEIABLES
BONAP.ABTE.

Prince Charles Bonaparte, Prince of Canino,
eldest son of Prince Lucien, brother of the first
Napoleon, died yesterday at his residence in the
Rue de Lille, in Paris, at the age of 54, having
been born in 1803. He had married the Princess
Zenaide, only daughter of Joseph Bonaparte, King
of Spain. The deceased Prince has been a widower
since 1854. Be leaves eight children, of whom the
eldest, Prince Joseph Lucien Charles Bonaparte,
serves in the army, and the second, Prince Lucien
Louis Joseph, has embraced the clerical profession.
He is one of the Pope's Chamberlains, and is ex-
pected to be soon promoted to the purple. The de-
ceased Prince Charles was attended by his children
on his death-bed, and received the sacraments of
the Church from the hands of the cure of his
parish. The news of his death, caused by dropsy
of the chest, from which he has long suffered,
was at once sent by telegraph to the Em-
peror at the camp of Chalons-sur-Marne. M.
Fould, Minister of the Imperial Household, was
present at the last moments of the Prince, and, in
the absence of the Emperor, caused seals to be
placed on all his papers and personal effects. The
Prince of Canino was a distinguished savant. He
was corresponding member of most of the learned
academies of Europe and America, and his works on
natural history, and particularly ornithology, axe
spoken of as some of the most valuable contribu-
tions to science.

M. Ch. Dien has announced the discovery of another
comet, in the early part of the present week, in the con-
stellation Cameleopard.
A meeting of the Netherlands Land Enclosure Com-
pany took place yesterday, Mr. Charles Morrison in the
chair, when the report of the directors was unanimously
adopted.
DEATH OF M. 111131 ANN.—M. Hamann, former
Minister of Friona to the Court of Cassel, and son of
the finance minister of that name in the time of Louis
Philippe, has just died from apoplexy at Bareges.
THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAM—QUEENSTOWN, Thurs-
day.—The Agamemnon arrived this morning. The
paying-out experiments between Dover and Queenstown
have been perfectly successful. It is hoped the expo:li-
.tiOn will sail for Valehtia, late O keatArdaY•