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Leader (1850-1860), 12th December 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 11, Xo. 403 ,JDggEaggB 12,1857.] TUM X, E A ...

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      Transmission Of An Army To India. Ea.Hly...

      were in danger of massacre . The Government had an alternative before it . Reinforcements , miglit be sent through Egypt so as to arrive at their destination by the middle of August , or they might go round the Cape , to reach in November . The choice was between sis weeks and five months . No one in India doubted that the overland route might be made available . Lord Ca ^ nen-g made arrangements for bringing the troops from Suez . Lord Stra-TI-oed de Bedcliite

      so early as the end of June , telegraphed from Constantinople that he would procure from the Sultan the necessary firman . Nothing was wanting but the acquiescence of the departments at home . The Governor-G-eneral himself reported his preparations , and waited , anxiously expecting- the head of a column to appear at Suez . As the Daily News says , " When Lord Canning was

      dictating the above paragraph , Lord Panaiube was on his way to the Moors . " And what is the ministerial apology ? That if we had rescued India within two months instead of six , foreign nations might have sneered at us , because we had been compelled to . accept assistance from Egypt ! "We will not add one word to the astounding confessions of the Cabinet .

      Xo. 403 ,Jdggeaggb 12,1857.] Tum X, E A ...

      Xo . 403 , JDggEaggB 12 , 1857 . ] TUM X , E A B E R , 1187

      Indian Debate. There Have Been Several D...

      INDIAN DEBATE . There have been several discussions on Indian subjects in Parliament , chiefly in the House of Lords , followed by a meeting at the London Tavern . Two objects have been kept in view : that of insisting upon jv reformed government for India , and tliat of fixing upon particular individuals the re sponsibility of the Sepoy rebellion . The words of Fox , 'infamy attaches somewhere , ' might form the text of

      the successive interrogations pressed by independent politicians oil the Ministers of the Crown . These inquiries have hitherto failed , and must fail , if we depend upon the implicated bodies for evidence . They have the privilege of garbling public documents , of suppressing testimony , of intimidating witnesses—in fact , a prerogative of falsehood belongs to the Executive in Great Britain . Mr . Vhbttow Smith is asked in tlie plainest terms whether the Board of Control had ever

      received any communication from India since the Marquis of DjUjHottsie's annexations , suggesting an increase of the army . He answers that nothing of the kind passed officially between the local authorities and the Board in Cannon-row . It would be a gross mistake to infer , from , this , that Mr . Yansittart ' s question was not one clue to the mystd'y of incompetence and neglect which lias brought our Iudian empire to the brink of ruin . Parliament , however , is satisfied , and the abortive administration of the Board of

      Control remains without additional censure . It is not improbable , however , that Mr . Smith , in spite of the personal influences shielding 'him , will bo compelled to retire from the Cabinet . Even a "Whig Minister may be too liopelessly convicted to bo protected by the explanations of his colleagues . Public opinion does not demand any

      random sacrifice . It simply protests against IVfr . Yeknon" Smith , who has proved himself , from first to last , incapable of understanding the Indian crisis . Lord Pa . l-3 JER 6 TON must , at length , be convinced , we should imagine , that the actual President of the Board of Control is the weak point in bis government , and that to supersede him would close nt least one avenue of attack

      during the serious months of the session after Tebruary . Until then , by general consent , the opinions of tho House will not be explicitly taken on any question of permanent public interest ; Lord Derby , Lord ElTjEnhoiiougli , and a few other peers , have occupied the

      floor of the Lords , and returns have been moved from the Commons ; but ^ Parlia me nt intends to act , in reality , as a high Court of Inquisition and put Ministers upon their justification , no movement will be made until after the Christmas recess . Outside of Parliament agitation has begun . "We cannot be expected to treat seriously the few raw lectures delivered at ; local

      institutions , and wound up with perorations on the salt tax , the S udder Courts , and other topics freshly-gleaned from pamphlets and public journals ; but the London Tavern assemblage was of a political character . We should have thought more highly of the statesmanship of some of the members of Parliament present had they avoided committing themselves to a

      set of resolutions so desultory and violent , prefaced by a series of statements , many of which were incorrect in point of fact , and suggestive of totally false inferences . It is time to reform the Government of India ; but when will it be time for politicians to master the intricacies of the subject , and prepare themselves to deal with it in a , manner that

      will ; not excite a smile in any one of the three Presidencies ? The Wednesday meeting was told that England had taught the Sepoy that lesson of cruelty which has returned to plague the inventor . WV cannot trust ourselves to characterize such an assertion . Is it impossible to desire a better Government for India than that of the East India Company without going so far as to maintain that the King of Delhi ri pping open' forty English women , the Delhi

      rebels burning their wounded prisoners , and the Naista . Sahib choking a tank with the bodies of women and children , took the policy of England as their example , and might almost plead it as their justification ? The assertion refutes itself ! "What does the lowest demagogism ever utter that is more contemptible than this slanderous exaggeration ? We do not believe that any class

      ot Indian reformers , approaching their object in this uninformed and rancorous spirit , will accomplish much for India or Englaad . The work to be carried out is one of permanent consolidation , and to build securely in any country of Asia is difficult enough when the builders are not Asiatics . Hitherto , the oral discussions that have taken place on Indian topics , since the outbreak of the mutiny , have been of little practical import .

      The New Religious Liberty Clause. Out Of...

      THE NEW RELIGIOUS LIBERTY CLAUSE . Out of evil cometh good ; it seems probable that the resistance offered to the very modest measure with which Lord Siea . ftesbtjrt proposes to meet the Exeter Hall case may lead to such an agitation aa will increase the effect of his movement . The Special Services Committee appointed by members of the Church of England under the sanction of the Primate of all England , is thwarted in providing services according to the established forms , by the resistance of the incumbent of St .

      Michael's parish , who asserts tho privileges conferred upon the pastor of the pariah by the rule of our ' parochial system . ' The members of tho Church of England , clergy as well as laity , are thus precluded from offering divine service to the public in a manner which has proved at once attractive and beneficial , by tho impracticability of a parish

      clergyman . It was supposed that Mr . Edouaht objected to tho performances in Exeter Hull because they tended to draw away his own congregation ; but that ia not the caso : ho is actuated mainly by tho fact that his consent was not asked this year as it waa List year . The dignity of his oiUco has not been * suificiently respected , nnd the entreaties of his bishop have not sufficed to bond

      his inflexibility . If the pastor is answerable for the cure of souls throughout the pariah , the bishop is so througTiout tne diocese ; 'for the greater authority includes the less . But there are some persons , it seems , who "hold that the less includes the greater , that the lower authority is higher , and that the pastor can overrule the permission of his bisiop . There are bishops who think that such is not the law , and the Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench is

      of opinion that the bishop's authority is concurrent with that of the incumbent ; but , to settle all doubts , Lord Shaftesbttby has applied to Parliament . His bill only proposes to introduce , it may be said , an additional clause in the Act of 1855 , 'to secure the liberty of religious worship . ' That act ; Was principally intended to exempt from penalties those who perform divine service in une '

      onsecrated places ; Lord Shamesbttjjy ttow proposes that , except in parishes of a very small size , the incumbent should be unable to prohibit additional services save with the concurrence of his bishop . The bill , therefore , appears to amount to little more than a declaratory act ; and it ia specifically limited to an object which even the opponents of the particular step declare to be desirable if not

      necessary . Lord Shaftesbttby is met . by several objections ; one , that the congregation attending divine service in Exeter Hall did not belong to the working classes , for whom the special services were designed . But this ia ¦ met by positive evidence from witnesses of the highest character , who say that members of ; the . working . classes did form the ma-ss of the congregation . Another obj ection is , that

      the bill would make an important innovation in the parochial system : but it can only operate where the parochial system is used to repel numbers of the population from the ministrations of the Church of England . The closing of Exeter Hail against the members of the Church of England has , in the first place , called forth Nonconformists to take the place of the Established clergy , with the remarkable concession which we noticed last

      week , that the service of the Church of England was performed by a Nonconformist minister . It has also induced the dignitaries of the Church to prepare special services in great cathedrals . It is a question how far those buildings are suited to the delivering of the voice so that it can be heard in the-more

      open parts . But one fact is clearly established by these experiments . Members of the working classes decidedly object to go into many parish churches , where , as Lord Shaftesburt says , they are ' pewed up to the eyes , ' and where any but the pew-ranters are usually represented by a few paupers . In some of the new churches there are free

      sittings ; but here , again , members of the working class believe that they are only consulting their self-respect when they declineio be sorted away from the rest of the congregation ; those who can pay for excluaiveness being penned olY from the ' common people . When buildings ai ' e open to them , as Exeter Hall has been , without the slightest distinction of ran If , position , dress , or any

      precedence but that of ' first come first served 'when tho sormons are composed with tho special object of appealing to tho understandings and feelings of the congregation . —then ft crowded congregation exhibits the interesting spectacle of hiyh statesmen and distinguished persons mingled on the platform , or in tho body of the hall , with the humblest ; members of tho community .

      Members of different sects may object seriously to the doctrines which are put . for " - ward at some of these miscellaneous meetings . Churchmen will conscientiously con-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 12, 1857, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12121857/page/11/