The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-30 00:00:00

BELIEF YOB THE INDIAN SUFFERERS.

KINGTON.
A public meeting was held on Monday last at
Milner's Bete in this town for the purpose of pro-
moting a subscription in aid of the fund for the
relief of the sufferers by the Indian mutiny. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir- G. C. Lewis,
occupied the chair, and there was a good attend-
ance of the aristocracy and gentry of the town and
neighbourhood, including Rear Admiral Sir T.
Hastings, C. 8., Mr. J. IClCang, M.P., Lady The-
resa Lewis, Lady Hastings, Mrs. and Misses King,
Mrs. Pilkiugton Dawson, C.
Sir G. C. Lewes said—lt seems to me that this
is an occasion which at once recommends itself to
all your feelings, which does not require any rheto-
rical amplification on the part of the person whose
duty it is to state to you the object of the meeting.
We all know what a great catastrophe bas fallen
upon our Indian empire. Every one who reads the
daily papers must have perused with a shudder the
dreadful details of the atrocities which have been
oommit-ed by the insurgent soldiery of that coun-
try,
upon our unhappy countrymen, upon military'
officers and upon civil servants, their wives and
children, who have been suddenly attacked by those
whom they believed to be their faithful and obe-
dient servants and defenders. We know from these
details that the English residents in India—a class
of persons habituated to an affluent and comfortable
life—have suddenly, by the cruelty-and treachery
of the Sepoy regiments, been many of them deprived
of their property, that others have been treacher
ously assassinated, that their families in many cases
have been reduced to want and severe privation,
and that misfortunes have accumulated upon them
`Which would command the sympathy of an English
and Christian public. Plunged suddenly in the ex-
treme of suffering by this unexpected blow, they
have displayed the utmost heroismand courage, and
:itt no respect have they been wanting in those qua-
litkile which an English soldier or the servant of
len 'English Government, placed in such circurn-
:lattices, ought to have exhibited. (Hear, hear,
4teitr.) In this state of things can it he
dotitted the,tele response to the appeal which has
been maW-tra the country will arise from all quar-
ters. 'Etedirthe condition of our countrymen were
less deplorable than it is, even if we did not know
that such Sad cases of distress have arisen, we
should at all events be willing to exhibit our sym-
pathy with the sufferings of which we read the daily
accounts in the newspapers. Perhaps there may
be some who may be inclined to take a less favour-
able view of the merits of our unhappy country-
men, who may say that they were the means of
carrying on a Government oppresiive to the native
population of India. We read effsvions to such an
effect in some of the Irish papers, and some of the
organs of the ultra-Catholic party on the Continent.
Far from exhibiting any sympathy with the suffer-
ings of Englishmen in India they exult over them
as a righteous retribution for what they represent
as so much tyranny and oppr. ssEen exercised by
our Government. So far, however, from any such
feeling- having been generally exhibited, I think
that England may justly be pr nid of the sympathy
which has been exhibited in her favour by the voice
of the civilised world. When I read articles which
have appeared in French, in German, and in- Ame-
rican newspai ers, not expressing any ungenerous
exultation in. the temporary misfortune of this
country, but sympai hiring with the suffer-
ings of the servants of the English Government in-
the East, I cannot but rejoice, though I scarcely
expected ever to see the day when the base feelings
of international jealousy would have been so much
weakened among the great nations of the worl f.
(Hear.) Nevertheless, there have been symptoms
of a different feeling. Now, we naturally ask our-
selves what it-is that the natives of India complain
of when they have raised the standard of revolt,
when they have committed atrocities which the
pen must refuse to write, the tongue refuse
to utter, and over which the decorum of mo-
dern civilization compels us to throw the
veil ? What is it that the natives allege as
their justification for committing these atro-
cious cruelties I haye been much struck by
reading a proclamation which appears to have been
posted up in the town of Cawnpere by one of the
leading insurgents against English government in
India, whose name unhappily has become too fami-
liar to us—l mean N ana Sahib—a man with respect
to whom it would be a libel upon the brute creation
if we were to describe him as a mixture of the ser-
pent and the tiger. I think that proclamation throws
some light on the motives of the Hindoos for at-
tempting to throw off our government, and its au-
thenticity does not appear doubtful. The right hon.
baronet here read the notorious proclamation of
Nana Sahib, and then continued—lt is very curious
that the Sultan of Turkel-, who is here supposed to
have a sympathy with the Indian insurg nts, has
shown his sympathy with the sufferings of English-
men in India, by contributing 1,0001. towards the
fund which we are met to promote. That procla-
mation shows the cause of the insurrection to be
one of religion, for ne complaint is made that the
English have plundered the natives of their posses-
sions, that justice has not been administered, that
the civil and military officers whose wives and chil-
dren have been so treacherously murdered have
not properly discharged their duties. Noth'ng of
this sort is alleged, but it is said that an attempt is
being made to destroy their religion. Now, un-
doubtedly there was a measure taken by the mili-
tary authorities upon the introduction of an im-
proved musk-t into the army which led to the un-
founded belief that there was an intention on the
part of the Government to destroy the creed and
the caste of the Hindoos. That intention, I need
not say, did not exist ; but the appearance gave an
opportunity to designing men to create among the
native soldiery the beliet that such a design was en-
tertained by the Government. Intriguing men
worked upon the simple minds of the sepoys ; and
the fact that such an event was used as the meansof
poisoning their minds against British rule proves
that there was no suhstantial ground of complaint,
—that the formidable mutiny that now exists did
not arise from any ground of misgovernment which
could in any sense be said tojustify or to excuse au
insurrection, or a resistance to Government in
any firm. to say nothing of the atrocious cha-
racter which this insurrection has assumed.
But whatever may be the c eu-e of the insurrection
we must all agree that the investigation of it must
`• • 'be postponed until a future period. What we are
now called Upon to do is to assiet our countrymen,
and to suppress the mutiny by all the means in our
power ; to restore tranquillity to the country, as
well as to afford protection to our countrymen. I
do not suppose that frow:olie end of the country to
the other a sing'e voice has been raised in fAvour of
suhm;t ing to the resistance which has been made
to our legitimate authority, yet let us put an hypo-
• thet;eal case, and ask what would he the condition
-of India if we were to withdraw from the country
an-1 leave it in the power of the Sepoys. The Chen-
' "miler here read extracts from a letter of a native
which was published in The Sun of the 18th Sept.,
showing since Delhi was in the hands of the muti-
neers every species of oppression had been prac-
tised, therich houses and shops had been plundered,
a number of poor shopkeepers killed for asking the
proper price for their things, that the bazaars were
n opened, that the shopkeepers and citizens curse
the mutineers from morning to evening, that work.
men starve, and widows cry in their huts, &c. Now
I can hardly (continued the right bon. bart.) con-
ceive a more striking picture of anarchy, of confu-
sion, of injustice, and of rapacity than is penned in
these few lines ; and we may hence judge to what
we should leave India if the protecting power of
the English Government . were withdrawn—for be
it observed that India has for centuries past been
hoverned by foreigners. It is long since the people
ave been ruled by native princes, and it is merely
a question with them whether the Government
should be transferred fronethe English to the Mll3-
sulmin` invaders, who preceded our rule. It has
been said that property has its duties as well as its
' rights; and so it'may be s tid with equal truth that
. conquests has its duties as well as its rights. By
eonquering and keeping the continent of India we
• have contracted certain important obligations to-
•w4ras the natives and inhabitants of- that country.
Without any reference to our own interests it is our
' • duty, so lie as we are able to do so practibally,
to- govern justly and to the advantage of the vast
population cf that extensive country. The struggle
which is going on in India is not, in-y opinion, to
regaided simply as a
struggle the British.
' against the Malsomedans and the Hindo not a
against the 84,0
struggle simply y mutineers nor
is it
still-lees the struggle' of Christianity against
Mahorvedauism and liindooism, but it is the con-
test of civilisation against barbarism. (Rear.) It is
an attempt Of the European Government to intro-
duce just and equitable rule among a great Oriehtal
population. (Applause.) If the account could be
made up between England and India, and the
balance- struck of the benefits which Englan 1 haft
derived from India, and the benefits which India
has derived from England, I cannot doubt it would
be found that the preponderance would lie.iu favotn
of India and against England ; that our ru'e? what-
evex &ejection may be made to it in detail, would
foutd to ha-6 conferred greater benefits upon
the people of India than England, in its turn, has
derived from the Government of those large pro-
vinces, (Applause.)
Mr. K. KING, M.P., moved a resolution expres-
sive of sympathy with the sufferings of our fellow-
countrymen and countrywomen in India, and re-
marked 'That there could be no doubt that the re
nb eirenrs would 1- ad to a very-extensive change
'4llll4lovernment of the country, and to the reor-
gan;sa :on of the lid an army. . • -
Mr. C. W. ALLEN eetsonded the resolution.
sic T, iiASZ/11;01, C. 8., melted the next re3olu-