Daily national Democrat., 1858-10-10
Punishment In India.

ticle published in the Philadelphia North
American
The policy Of cruelty, even if Immediately
successtul-even if it awes into inaction-
instead of arousing into vigor, nevertheless
| plants the seeds of hatred and revenge. 1t
may secure present repose, but provides arms
for future retaliation and war. 1t would
seem, from Lord Canning's proclamation to
the insurgents of Dude, that the future poll.
cy in India is TO derive its inspiration from
moderation and prudence, rather than from
passion and revenge The principles which
nis lordships proclamation announces are
just and such rs must command the approval
of the world. TO all parties concerned in
! the murder of Christian British subjects, no
hope of pardon is offered. " 1hey must pay
the forfeit the law of this and every civilized
country have decreed to mere brutal and
gratuitous slaughter of the unprepared, the
detenseless and the innocent; they are out of
the pale of humanity, and the magnitude of
their oifense, while they live, will ever call
aloud for retritution. With these the British
Government can make no terms" Those
ho have offered asylum to such murderers,
knowing them to have been such or have
been leading movers against the authority of
the British Government and have persistent
iy acted throughout the rebellion against the
paramount power Of the land, will be pun
ished-not with death, but in some other
mode, and in proportion to the ofenses they
have committed against the State. All those
who shall surrender before the 30th day of
the ensuing December are guaranteed their
lives. All others, who are not acting on their
own free will and authority, the Governor.
General offers at once general amnesty
If this iudicous policy had been adopted
on the fail of Delhi if punishment had been
ineted out III accordance with the principles
of Lord Canning's proclamation if discrim-
lnation had been the rule instead Of whole
sale slaughter, llindoo and Mussuaan alike
would have been struck with its Justice,
strong impression of the equity and modera-
ton of the conquerors would have been made,
and warm sentiment of gratitude for their
clemency have been inspired. BY adopting
the sterner, aye, the unjust and cruel policy,
the English will hereafter reap a harvest of
hatred. The flame of resentment, though
stitled for the present, will be communicated
from sire to son, and burst out at last with ir-
repressible fury.
The July numl er of Frazer's Magazine
contains description of Delhi, and hint of
the punishment that has been visited upon
its Inhabitants. The writer was an eve wit.
ness to what he describes, and his statement
is interesting and doubtless reliable. "Wel
did Delhi" he says, deserve to be called i'm
perial 1t is not the enormous size of the
present city, nor the marvellous traces of
former far more surprising greatness, nor
the JuJicious design of the streets, nor the
beauty of the Chandui Chol, nor the splen-
dor of the Palace, nor the glory of the Juma
Masjid, that most impress one with the reali-
- pf tho MAhnrnpta.lnp mil TIKI,
ion is created chiefly by the enormous mum
her Of ruined public buildings. From Delhi
to the Rostak-a distance of twelve miles
the country is n wilderness of mosques and
public gardens. Where the Mabammedan
rulers found the money for all these works,
is complete puzzle to their English success
sors who have 50 little to show in the way
OF brick and mortar and yet even for that
little have been obliged to mortgage the pro-
vinces of India"
Such was the city that was given up to
wholesale punshment--a punishment which
this writer defends. Thousands have teen
ruined who took no part against the British.
Between two and three hundred have been
tried by special commission and hanged
The capital crimes We're these to have aided
or abetted the murder or piunder of Euro
pean; to have been a Sepoy in one of the
mutinous regiments that fought at Delhi
The punishment thus inflicted has been most
severe. We have seen a letter from an old
inhabitant Of Delhi, in which the writer de-
cared that Nadir Shah's irruption was joke
TO his business. He came and went, and all
was over. Now ruin had been let loose for
eight months at once. Doubtless the pun
.shnent has been enormous; but an enormous
punishment was indispensably required 1t
has also been just. The city of Delhi had
stood by and looked on when the English
were murdered.
1t is an awful thing to punish a city, but
such punishment was needful and was made
as indiscriminate as a wholesale punishment
can be-"
We venture to predict that the future will
prove that this wholesale punishment was
vastly impolitie. That it was unjust is OBJ
vious