The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-06-14 00:00:00

THE NIINISTERIAL INDIA BILL.

AFTER two adjournments, and a discussion in
which nearly all the argument has been against the
proposition, the Government have been allowed,
without a division, to bring in their bill for per-
petuating the abuses of the East India Company.
This is by no means a question in which the in-
terests of the proprietors of East India Stock are
solely concerned, but one upon which depends a
very large portion of the future commerce of the
country, from which it has long been debarred by
a system of exclusiveness directly at variance with
modern policy. All inquiry has tended to elicit the
fact that our vast possessions in the East, with their
?opulation, productive soil, and favour-

enormous

able climate, would prove a field for mercantile
enterprise such as the world has never yet witnessed,

1 _ ,
if their resources were duly developed ; and the sole
obstacle hitherto has been that peculiar policy which,

strangely enough, finds its advocates in a professing
Free-trade Ministry. After years of almost uncon-
trolled dominion by the nominees of a company,
the revenue of this immense empire is barely suffi-
cient to meet the increasing expenditure, although,
under judicious management, it might have proved
a mine of wealth to our national Exchequer; while
the trade, which, keeping pace with improvements,
might have quadrupled our exports, has been al-
most stationary. In the application of scientific
aid to the means of internal communication, in the
encouragement of cultivation, in the promotion of
commerce, and the extension of civilization, where
the field for operation was almost inexhaustible, the
company may be said to have done literally nothing.
So long as India yielded enormous salaries for the
proteges of the directors, and dividends for the
holders of stock, the interests of the mother country
were of no concern ; and now, after the lapse of
many years, it is as much a care and as little a profit
as it was before all these opportunities of advance-
ment had been neglected. Let us hope, however, that
the Legislature will not let the present opportunity
be thrown away, but insist either upon a measure
which shall place the affairs of India directly under
imperial control, or, by postponing the question
until next session, afford time for maturing an
efficient system for the future. The discussion
which has already taken place has shown that the
Government will meet with a vigorous opposition if
they attempt to pass the bill in its present shape ;
and, as it is a question in which parties on both
sides of the house may agree, there is a favourable
prospect of a more satisfactory decision being come
to. It is one in which Liverpool has an interest,
because an extension of our commercial relations
with the East would add materially to the trade of
the port ; and if there are really any grounds for
apprehending danger from the recent belligerent
manifestations between Russia and Turkey, it is
more than ever necessary that India should be
placed more directly under the management of our
own Government.

AFFAIRS IN THE EAST.

WAR WITH RUSSIA.

TIIE recent proceedings in Constantinople, and the
repor.s of movements of troops and preparations
for belligerent manifestations, have set all Europe in
a fever of apprehension that the flame of war is
about to be relighted; that the land having had
rest for nearly forty years, it is now about
to be broken. The alarm, however, is nut directly
the effect of the proceedings between Russia and
Turkey; for, during all the negotiations in Con-
stantinople, little faith was placed in their leading to
any serious rupture ; but since then reports have
been received of English and French fleets moving
towards the Bosphorus, and the sensitive pulse of the
monetary interest is throbbing in exciting response.
From all quarters, the Paris Bourse, the London.
Stock Exchange, the Share markets, the Manufac-
turing districts and the Commercial ports, we hear_
of the rumours of war operating to produce a stag-
nation in business, and a fall in the value of Secu-
rities, while the tenour of the various telegraphic
dispatches received through Paris and Vienna serve
to fan the flame and keep alive the feeling of alarm.
In this state of things it becomes the more neces-
sary to survey calmly the position of affairs, in
order, if possible, to arrive at a correct appre-
ciation of the alleged casus belli, and the proba-
bilities of its being acted upon. It has been confi-
dently assumed that the real design of the EMPEROR
of RUSSIA is to find a cause of quarrel with the
SULTAN of TURKEY, in order to avail himself of the
opportunity to seize on some of the Turkish provinces,
which lie in convenient proximity to his own Em-
pire, with the ultimate object of appropriating the
whole, and thereby possessing himself of the key to
the Black Sea and a highway to the East. To this,
however, it may he replied, that bad such been his
desire, he has had ample opportunity to gratify it,
without prolonging negotiations which have not
yet been brought to a close ; and though the
drawing near of English and French fleets may have
induced a prudent reserve, it should be remembered

that such a movement is simply a precaution against
possible contingency. The members of the Greek
Church in the vicinity of the Holy Sepulchre have
long enjoyed immunity from the Turkish Govern-
ment, and been allowed the first place among the
various sects of professing Christians who claim an
nterest in the Holy Places. This right of priority
was however interfered with by a firman, which
the French Minister artfully obtained from the
PORTE, in favour of the Latin monks, and Louis
NAPOLEON vauntingly claimed the title of Pro-
tector of the Holy Places. This roused the ire of
the Greek patriarchs, and upon an appeal to the
RUSSIAN EMPEROR, who assumes to be the Head
and Protector of the GreekiChurch, a remonstrance

was made, and the obnoxious firman was rendered
virtually of none effect. But this was not deemed
sufficient; and by way of a guarantee against any
future interference, Prince NIENSCHIKOFF was
despatched to Constantinople with a demand for a
Convention, by which the Protectorate of the Elll
PEROR OF RUSSIA over all members of the Greek
Church in the Ottoman Empire was specially recog-
nised. As this was virtually a claim of sovereignty
over a large portion of the Turkish population, it
formed a subject of anxious deliberation in the
Turkish Divan, and, backed by the diplomatic as-
sistance of the English and French Ministers, a
positive refusal was given to the demand, and Prince
MENSCHIKOFF took his departure. But so far
from his leave-taking being considered a declaration
of hostilities, such a construction of it was positively-

disavowed, and since then the RUSSIAN EMPEROR
has renewed his demand by a courier from St. Pe-
tersburg, giving further time for consideration, whi's
Count NESSELRODIZ has been despatched to Lon-
don to explain the intentions of the EMPEROR to
the British Cabinet. The attitude assumed by
Russia has, however, led to declarations from other
powers, and the co-operation of Austria and Prussia
with England and France is confidently reckoned
upon in favour of friendly mediation to secure the
SULTAN of Turkey against hostile demonstrations.
But the question has also led to dissensions in our
own Cabinet, for while Lord PALMERSTON, it is
said, would willingly have co-operated with France
in opposition to the Russian demands, both the Earl
of ABERDEEN and Lord JOHN RUSSELL held
aloof, and only co lsented to naval re-inforcernents
when they saw that public feeling in England was
against them, and that active interference could no
longer be delayed.
The important question, however, of the proba-
bility of actual warfare still remains to be solved ;
and, notwithstanding the threatening appearances
and the fall in the money markets, we are inclined
to the opinion that the affair will end as it began,—
in negotiation. It is now evident that the great
powers of Europe are disposed to protect Turkey
from aggression, and we cannot believe that the
EMPEROR OF RUSSIA will wilfully provoke the
hostility of such powerful opponents. Indeed the-
resources of Russia, as an antagonist, have been
much over-rated. She resembles the sloth, which,
though strong for defence, is almost powerless for
attack ; and, while she is secure in her means of
preserving her own mighty empire against foes
from without, she has never yet shown a capability
for carrying the war into an enemy's country.
England, on the contrary, has arms long and strong,
strengthai a
which compass the globe, and are as much to he
dreaded at the antipodes as at home ; and though
we may talk of the vast armies
of
Russia
nd her
lies
myriads of hardy subjects, their great
in defending their own territories, and not in in-
truding upon ours. For years has this great
Empire been baffled in its attempts to subdue the
handful of hardy mountaineers in the Caucasus ;
and though the Turkish provinces on the-Danube
may present an easier field of conquest, We can
have nothing to fear, when the whole interest of
Russia must be to preserve an alliance with so
mighty a state as Great Britain.