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Leader (1850-1860), 19th December 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 11

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      The Currency Debates. The Houses Of Parl...

      terfere with fen indefinite isisue limited only by the discretion of thfe Director of the Bank of England and of the managers of jointstock banks . When they have succeeded in doing this , they may go on to make a fusion of Free-trade and Protection—of Liberty and Despotism—of Light and Darkness ; they naay deceive themselves and each Other , bat they will , be altogether in advance of the people of England , who have never yet been persuaded to agree to the simple preliminary proposition , that Black is White , and White is Black .

      Ho.404, Djttflmkttllk 19,1857>1 The Lead...

      Ho . 404 , DjttflMKttllk 19 , 1857 > 1 THE LEADEB . 1211

      " The Campaign In Oude. In Announcing Th...

      " THE CAMPAIGN IN OUDE . In announcing the fall of Delhi ( in our issue of the 31 st of October )) we expressed a hope that an event happy in itself might not be the means of engendering such false confidence as has but top often , proved the bane of military enterprise tinder British auspices . It was our conviction ., at the period already indicated , that the recapture of the imperial city would be regarded by our fellow-countrymen ( as it has been practically accepted

      at Astley ' s ) in the light of a brilliant and necessarily conclusive achievement—the final tableau of a grand military spectacle . We predicted that there would , nevertheless , be yet work enough ' to test the military genius of our " best and bravest commanders , and the endurance of our hardiest troops . ' These words are even now in course of verification , and we are glad also to find that the

      sentiments to -which , we liave referred are identical with those which the Friend of India ( a good authority on such matters ) had been recording about the very same date . The recapture of Delhi was , beyond doubt , a great fact . But in India , as the writer in the Friend justly notes , the effects of that ¦ exploit are more real than obvious . It was commemorated in General Orders and celebrated with royal salutes . But the joy which found vent in these demonstrations was

      already felt to have been excessive , and as the tide of reaction flowed , the results of a truly splendid success might , perhaps , come to be as much depreciated as they -were at first magnified . If this be ( and we are inclined to think that it is ) a correct representation o f the state of feeling in India , we cannot much vronder that here in England indifference hould soon supersede the temporary interest which late Indian events have excited in the

      mind of the British public . Hard upon the intelligence that Delhi was ngain under British rule , followed news that Imcknow had been relieved ; the mutineers were evacuating the open country , and dispersing in ail directions before the pursuit of our victorious troops ; the rebellion , as a concerted scheme , was virtually suppressed . All thia was the natural x * esult of a previously conceived impression that the King of Delhi was a prime mover in the revolt , whereas it is pretty certain that he was little more than an accidental , however willing , agent . The local ,

      and beyond doubt purely fortuitous , outbreak at Meerut converted his Majesty into a principal performer , and constituted him chief of the movement . Tho unhesitating selection of Delhi aa a point of rendezvous by tho Meerut rebola , evidences no moro than the existence of what are called ( in Oiumon-row and Lendenhall-street ) ' previous communications . ' After nil , thero were not above fourteen thousand mutineers—if so many—Avithin tho walls of Delhi , at the pcriqd of ' final assault ; and tho greator portion effected an orderly retreat .

      What then is tho actual state of nffnirs at presentP Why , something at all events very different from the realization of nil that

      public Opinion seemed to have decided on taking for gospel . Lucknow has not been , relieved , except in imagination . So far is the garrison from havmg been * relieved , ' in the military sense , that its position is , on the confcrary- ' -if ^ may credit official accounts , — - not much better than before . Q-enerals Otr-TttAM and Hatelock appear to have been Teduced to such an urgent necessity of eomnvunicating with the Allutnbagli force , that they expended nearly five hundred men in an unhappily ineffectual attempt to open the road , one or both of the commanders being wounded on the occasion , General Ou * iia . m

      Ivad officially stated his inability to hold out in his present position until the 10 th November , at the latest . Yet Sir Coxitf Campbell ( until whose arrival at the scene of action , no further movements were to be attempted ) did not leave Oawnpore until the morning of the 9 th November . As for the mutineers expelled from Delhi , their chief anxiety was ,

      no doubt , to effect an . unmolested escape , with bag and baggage , into Oude , on the one hand , or into the native states of Central India , on the other . Many accomplished this end , and in large bodies too , without molestation or challenge . The division -which Brigadier Giibatiebd followed down the trunk-road as far as

      Allyghur , evidently inflicted on the pursuers a loss heavier in proportion than it received ; and the complete destruction of the same party by Colonel Isl " . Wilson , is an incident based solely on the fact of that officer having commanded a force which was vainly sent in quest of them . Brigadier

      GrREATHED , having post unaccountably diverged from , the main , road towards GaWnpore and liucknow , where his presence was urgently needed , was surprised in his own camp at Agra , and saved only by active aid from the garrison , which he had apparently come to assist . We did iiot much wonder to hear of this commander ' s

      immediate supercession by Brigadier Hope Gtka : nt . Again , we learn by last accounts that a severe action had been fought in the neighbourhood of Futtehpore , on tlie Grand Trunk-road , in which the British troops employed gained a useless victory , with the loss of their leader ( Colonel Powell ) , and a long list of killed and wounded . From Central India , too , the latest intelligence received is aught but encouraging ; whilst the districts

      of 3 Johilkund and Oude are still completely in possession of the insurgents . Even , in the Bengal provinces , and in a part of the country which has been the longest subject to British authority , the Commanderin-Chief had just had a narrow escape of falling into the hands of the mutineers of the 32 nd Itfative Infantry . How lamentably such a fact speaks for the information possessed by our officials , civil or military !

      We observe that an Indian journal received by tho last Mail heads its Summary of Events aa the * Tho Crisis ; ' and wo incline to think our contemporary is right in the view which such a heading implies , The fall of Delhi was a most desirable event : but , having been delayed beyond a certain period , it became an affair neither of to-day nor to-morrow . There was no positive emergency to be mot . Far differently must wo

      regard tho nicely-balanced scalo on which depends tho foto of Luclcnow . Wo shall expect tho arrival of tho next telegrams in earnest anticipation of good tidings . But in tho meantime , the task of translating doubtful reports or indifferent facts into savoury bulletins and texts of hopeful promise is a tnwk we steadily eschew . Such a perverse display of ingenuity would be discreditable to ourselves , and insulting to tho bettor judgment of our readers .

      Public Opinion And Parliamenta&Y Reform....

      PUBLIC OPINION AND PARLIAMENTA & Y REFORM . We believe that , before Parliament reassembles , an important Union of Befbrmeite will have been established . At length , there is some prospect of an influential party of independent Liberals acting together in the House of Commons . At present the movement is private . To this the public cannot fairly object , when it is considered that the intentions of the Reformers are already

      known . We are assured on all sides , by active politicians as well as by local journals , that the course we took in announcing the Ouildhall Coffee House consultation was most favourable to the cause , since it gave a signal for agitation , and converted Reform . into a general topic of the day . "We may also mention that the proposal to initiate a new set of political unions has been widely adopted , and that , in many towns , sectional Committees are being formed . The result

      will be seen , no doubt , in an . energetic amd powerful movement , which , within a few months , may revive in the minds of old Reformers reminiscences of 1 & 32 . We have no wish to see repeated the agitation of that memorable year ; but Parliamentary Reform , is a necessity of the times , and the temper of the working classes will depend upon the concessions of the classes that govern ; It is commonly and not inaccurately said , that Ho deep interest in the question is exhibibed . Wait awhile . " A hundred earnest men , combining , will set in motion a hundred towns

      already Sheffield , Birmingham , Oldham , and other large localities , have demonstrated their strong political feeliiags ; the metropolis is about to act ; and when the leaders of the movement appear in a compact and influential phalaux , it will be seen whether the indifference of the country is such as it is reparesented . The best possiblesigii is that theworking-classes , releasing themselves from , the dictationof their former * friends , ' appear willing to adopt a moderate programme , instead of insisting , in and out of season , upon their six points . It is the agreed opinion of their most sincere advocates that to ride what are called

      principles to death , would be the death of the liberal party , aa it lias been the ruin of successive movements . Principles are indispensable , and it is essential to lay them down broadly and generally , but it is by policy that men must be governed , and it is by exigencies that legislation must be measured . The word Formula contains the history of half the failures of liberty on the Continent . In finance and currency it condemns a man . or a clique to rank among the impossibles ; in

      politics it is a balloon that may be inflated and set afloat—carrying four or five pera & nB —but is of no valno as a means of practical locomotion . A doctrinaire in power must either abandon the severity of his faith , or be outvoted by the pupils of expediency . ! Lord Palmerstok is no docirinairo , and that is his strength ; but he has no political principle , and that is his weakness ,, Tho main object which sensible men will keep in view ., now that a Reform Bill has been promised ) is the preparation of a common platform or ground of action . Thia , wo think , has boen offered in

      tho programme lately published . It readjusts the electoral system , by approKimating representation to population j itabolishes the property qualification ~~ and thus Bfwes tho Legislature i ram hypocrisies tto infamous as tho prosecution of Mr . vStbphrn AuoiEMirrir G-iiOVKii ; and it substitutes tho Ballot for open voting . A middle and working clusa union would secure these objects , and replace tho hereditary and aristocratic by tho ' competitive and tho representative . Parliamentary Re-form ia another namo for Ministerial Responsibility . A a unreformed

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 19, 1857, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19121857/page/11/