New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-08-14
THE INDIAN QUESTION.
c,,r,. ponaence Of THs N. y. Tribune

" The Dead House." BY Mr. Disrae'i, will gain
rather than lose by beieg read instead OF being
listened 70. For some time, Dir. Disraeli affects
an awful solemnity Of speech, an elaborate slow
! ness Of utterance, and pa"sionEess method Of
fsrmality, which, however CONSISTENT they may be
with his peculiar notions Of the dignity becoming
Minister in expectsnce are realiy distressing to
his tortured audience. Once he succeeded In CIV
ing even commonplaces the pointed appearance
Of epsrams Now he eontrives to bury even
epigrsns in the conventional dullness " respect
ability. An orator who, hke Mr. Disraei, excels
in banding the dagger rather than in WELDING the
sword, should have BEEN the lsst to forget Vol
taires warning, that "Tol- les genres sont hons
excepte le genre eDnnyeux."
Beside these technlcnl pecuE~ritss which char
scterize Mr.. Disraeli's present manner of elo.
quenee, be- since Palmerston's accession to power,
has taken good care to deprive his parliamentary
exhibitions Of every possible interest of actually.
His speeches not intended to carry his motions,
but his motions are intended to prepare for his
speeches. They might be called selfdenyng
motions, since they are 80 constructed as
neither to harm the adversary, il carried,
nor TO damsge the propOser, if lest. They
mean in fact. 10 be neither carried nor lost, bot
simply to be dropped. They belong neither to the
acids nor to the alkas, bat are born neatrals. Tie
speech is not the vehicle Of action, bat the hypocr,-
sy of action affords the opportunity for a speech.
Such indeed, may be the classical and 6nal form Of
parliamentary eloqBenee; but then at al events,
the final form Of parliamentary eloqaenee must not
demur to sharDg the fate of all final forms Of par
liamentarism-thst Of being ranged under the cate
CORY Of nuisances. Action, as Aristotle said, is
the ruling law Of the drama So it is Of political
oratory. Mr.. Disraeli speech on the Indian re-
volt might be published in the tracts
of the Society for the Propagation Of
l'seful knowledge, or it might be delivered
to mechanics institution, or rendered as prize
essay TO the Academy Of Berlin. THIS curious i'm
partality Of his speech as to the place where aud
the time when, al the occasion on which it was
delivered gees far to prove that it fitted neither
place, time, nor occasion. chapter on the decline
of the Roman Empire which might read exceed
ipgly we'll in SloDtesquieu or Gibbon would prove
sn enormous blander il put in the mouth Of Ro-
man Senator, whose peculiar business it
that in our modern parlisments, part
lacking reither dignity nor interest might be
imagined of an independent orator who, while des-
pairing of influencing the actual course oi events
Should content himself to assume position OF from
cal neutrality. Such part Was more or hess sue.
cessfuly PLAYED BY the lato NJ. GARNER Pages-not
| the GARNER Pages Of Provisional Government
memory in Louis Phippes Chamber OF Deputies;
but Dir Disraeli the svowed leader Oh an ooso-
Ii. Hid n ~
IA a supreme failure. The revolt oil the indlaa
army afforded certainly magnificent opportunity
tor 0ratorical display. But apart from his drenry
manner oi treating the subject, what was tn" gust
of the motion which he made the pretext Tor MS
speech! 1t motion at all. He feigned to be
anxious for becoming acquainted with two official
papers the one of which he not qaite
| sure to exist, and the other Of which he
vas sure not Immediately to bear on
| tie subject in question. Consequently his speech
and bis motion lacked any point OF contrast save
this, that the motion heralded speech without all
object and that the object confessed itself not worth
| a speech STILL as the highly elaborated opinion of
the most distinguished Out-OfOffice statesman OF
FL gland Mr.. Disraels speech ought TO attract The
attention Of foreign countries. shall content my
self with giving in his ipsissimo rerha short ana
y-s of his considerations on the decline OF the
Apgo-lndian Empire"
"Does tie disturbance in Indn indicate mi itsry
W. u
"the troops TIE consequence OF sudden impulse, ~
is it the result of organized conspiracy! Upon
these points Mir Dsrael asserts the whole question
| ~ hinge Until the last ten years, he affirmed, the
British empire in India was founded on the old pria,
cple If diridc ct mpcra-but that principle was put
into action BY respecting the different naona't"s
of which India consisted, by avoiding to ti,nper
With their religion, and by protecting their lance
| property The SepOy army served ~ safety valve
70 absorb the tut bslent spirits Of the country Ba'of
late wears new principle has been adopted Ia the gov
| srlnent ofIndIatbe principle OF destroying natph'
atty. The principle has been realized BY the brcioe
destruction Of native princes, the disturbance oi he
settlement of property. and the tamperng WIN Tue
religion of the pr, pie. In las the financial dli.
| 6rultirs IF the East Iadia Company had reached
| that point that it became necessary to augment lie
| revenues one way or the. other. Then minute III
| Council was published ia which Was lad down tue
utnciple, almost without disguise, that the only
| mode by which an Increased revenue coma Dr. oo'
| tanned was By enlargDg the British territories a'
the expense of the native princes. Accordingly, Oh
| tie death OF the Rash of Sattara, his adaptive
heir was not acknowledged by the East India Com
uany. but the Raj absorbed in its own doinnoiis'
| From that moment the system OF annexation was
acted upon whenever a native prince dieh "i'noui
| natural beirs The principle OF adoptlon--the very
! cornerstone of Indian sscety-Was sys'eui'hen!
| set aside by the Government. thus Were t"rclD'y
annexed to the British Empire the Rajs a more
| tlan a dozen independent princes from lcl--
| a. In 1854 the Raj OF Berar, which comprised
| 20 eco square miles of land, population IRON
| Geo 0OO TO 5000, 900, and enormous Urea
.,,res was foreibly seized. Mr.. Disraeh ends the
| r.t of fCrcble lamentations With Dude, which
| brought the Eas India Government In coils
| ion not oDly with the HIndoos, but also with tue
| MabomIledans Mr. Disreali then goes on showing
how the settlement Of property in India> was DIS
/ 4 L.. ho ot