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    jJTo. : 426, May 22,1858.] THE LEADER. 4...

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    THE CENSURE DEBATE. If there was faction...

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    A DUEL "UNDER THE EMPIRE. Eveuy one has ...

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    Ouh Position In India. Sin Coltx Campbel...

    threatened from both sides by the enemy , and with little prospect of permanent relief for several -weeks to coma , s _ The operations of Sir Hugh Rose inBundelcund , although resulting in the capture of Jhansi and a movement—somewhat ambiguously reported— -upon Calpee , have obviously not broken-up the enemy ' s organization , for the escaped Ranee is said to have put herself at the head of a large force , and to have advanced to engage the British brigadier . Should she offer battle , we have no doabt but that Sir Hugli Rose will be glad . to exchange-a campaign of countermarching for an engagement in which he may hope to effect Ins great object , the complete rout of the icbel army , \ vithout wearing out . his men by pernetual and almost aimless t raj ects across an

    Asiatic territoi * y , with the hot season rapidly coming on . Still , with-the population restless , and immense armed multitudes at large , it is futile to hope that Sir Hugh Rose will be enabled , for some weelcs , so to co-operate with Sir Colin Campbell as to afford him that assistance which failed when the garrison of Lueknow retreated across the . Chide frontier . Brigadier Walpole , however , had marched northwards , and , after the combined attack—by himself , by Brigadier Coke , and by the Connnanderin-Cbief—upon Barcilly , there will be an army in the field competent to break into columns and to follow up the enemy , so far as the influences of the season will ' permit . ¦

    These speculations , however , must be qualified by the remark , that the ~ general proportion of our force , in relation to that of the rebels , is lamentably small , and we regret that the home Government finds it necessary to reserve the main body of its reinforcements until the end of June - Every commander in India needs urgently to liave his hands -strengthened—Sir Colin Campbell , Walpole , Seaton , and Coke in llohilcund , Rose in Bandelcaiid , Roberts at Kotah , Whitelock on the Chirka . rce-. and Bandali road , cast of Jhansi and north of Calpee , Lugard at Azimghuv , Grant at Fyzabad , ¦

    MJtxwcll at J 3 tawah , ISvans' among the Bhccl hills , with the commanders at Allahabad , Benares , and Patna , and others elsewhere , who , -with limited forces , have to deal with a scattered aggregate of at icast a hundred thousand men , with the population in many localities sullen , with hostile garrisons in possession of strong though isolated citadels , and with an enemy whose power of locomotion is incalculably superior to that of any European force . It appears a settled point-that we have not at our disposal iu India the means of putting down tho revolt . We may beat the enemy when in collision in

    tlic field , but we have virtually a new Maliratta and IPirularec suppression upon our hands . This work , vrc believe , will never be brought to its completion "by the mere application of force ; we must lvconqucr ¦ wha t we have lost , as we originally conquered if , ljy moral as well as ]) hysical influences , by enlisting the sympathies of the people , and holding out inducements to loyalty . Yet there is-much to be done , and that is the immediate task in hand , bv guns , cavalry , and infantry . The rebellion , though dislocated and crushed in parts , still disturbs an expanse of conn try

    stretching from Azimghur on tho Oudc borders to a point beyond Kotah in the Rajpoot territories , and from Calpee up the complicated line of road and water communication to Barcilly . A powerful Gwalior force , the groat . Hardily concentration , a second concentration at Calpee , the Kotah contingent , the rebels around Fyzabad and Azimghur , and the separate army of Kocr Sing , contributing a most formidable total , and apparently supplied in abundance with every necessity of warlnrc , are contending with infinite art and spirit for possession of the country . Their losses in artillery , stores , and men arc undoubtedly severe , but some mysterious agency replenishes their camps , and flicir fund of money and provisions seems inexhaustible . On

    the other hand , tho British sustain continual losses for which they arc not compensated by reinforcements , und which dearly pny for tlui ' actual successes obi aincd . Tho tale of casualties at Luc-know proves to have been serious , and at . Kotah , at . Umnsi in tho KiUpool . ni hills , a . 1 , Aziin ^ luir , I ' yzabiul and . Fuftehghur , officers and mon We : been lulling in considerable number * . To say the , trulh , our Indian avniy is wearing away , and the detents weintliet upon tho enemy scarcely correspond to tho ratrs at , which we purchase them . Wo doubt a gradual subsidence , of tho revolt is visible , and although in some district its popularity , it may he leaved , ls increasing , the . stonily disloik'ini ? of I ho enemy from the fortified places which they have occupied for mouths must , iu course of lime , result

    in a fixed military tenure on the part of the British Government . But the energies of the rebellion , added to the vis inertia of millions whose apathy mayor may not be construed into hostility , have unquestionably deranged the calculations of the Commander-in-Chief . Rose , Roberts , and Whitelock , whose heavy columns were to have svvept the insurrection into Oude last March , were still , in the middle of April , aoting upon their respective lines with separate campaigns before them . On the other hand , the pacification of Oude was progressing favourably , the capital and its contiguity having been settled . What effect had been produced by Lord Canning ' s proclamation has yet to be reported . The Indian journals up / to the 2 Mb of April were evidently unacquainted with the document , and their remarks up to that date were purely

    inferential . The general purport of the intelligence from India would not be unsatisfactory if we were convinced that the necessary exertions would be made at home at the proper time , to strengthen the hands of Sir Colin Campbell , aud to arm him with such an amount of force that , while operating without cessation against the rebels , he might encourage the Government to restore , with the least possible delay , the lenient authority of the Civil Courts .

    Jjto. : 426, May 22,1858.] The Leader. 4...

    jJTo . : 426 , May 22 , 1858 . ] THE LEADER . 495

    The Censure Debate. If There Was Faction...

    THE CENSURE DEBATE . If there was faction in the movements which . preceded the debate on Mr . Cardwell ' s motion , there lias been still more party bitterness in the debate itself . Scarcely a member of the House of Commons has spoken since Friday week without forcing into his speech matter more or less irrelevant arising from his consciousness that India , was being made the battle-ground of the Conservatives , the Whigs , and the independent Liberals , and from his total or partial . ¦ ¦ ac quiescence in the general sentiment . lYorii this charge Lord John Russell must in fairness be excepted . Whatever his motives may be , lie has the decency not to betray them . We wish the same " could be said of Mr . Bright . Earnest in purpose and pure in his political morality , Mr . Bright appeared ,-nevertheless , to ' act in some degree under the influence of strong and almost vindictive personal considerations , and his attack upon Lord John Husscll "was not -less unjustifiable than his appeal to the most factious instincts and interests of the Liberal party . Those who stand highest in Parliament have , at this crisis , descended from their superior level to fight with vulgar weapons , and from both the Opposition and Treasury benches

    clouds of sarcasms and invectives have arisen , eclipsing India , Lord' Ellenborough , and Lord Canning . We sec in this only an additional proof of the difficulty which must meet any attempt to govern tlve British Indian Empire through the direct agency of the House of Commons , and of the improbability that uny actual legislation , transferring the power of the Company to the Crown , will take place before next year . It must be conceded that much of the embarrassment arises frbin the

    false positions occupied by political parties . The Conservatives arc in olh ' ceat the head of a , minority , and to keep them in necessitates an artificial and unnatural strain upon tho independent benches , the plea being that the Whigs must be starved into a surrender . This has been the ground of nearly all the apologies set forth by the liberal opponents of Mr . Cardwell ' s resolution , and it lias been made free use of by the Government section . Now , we arc no partisans of Lord Palmcrston , When he left , oflice we hoped not soon to sec him again iu a ministerial capacity ; but we must protest against setting up any individual us a bugbear to frighten members of Parliament from an honest vote . It

    would have been more credit able to the House of Commons had it refrained from so many ileuionutralions of personal feeling . With all this parly spirit there has been n confusion of parties , The old family Whigs have reconciled their Montagu and Capulot ; but , simultaneously , llui ' friends and followers' of Sir Itohert Peel have had their schism . Sir Jamas Graham takes one side , Mr . Curdwell another ; Mr . ? Sidney Herbert and Mr . Gladstone are beliewd to have held opposite opinions , and the chief of the connexion , Lord Aberdeen , has held alool' from the question altogether . Thus , while tlio Whigs an , once more amalgamating , the Peelil . es are rent into sections . lint this h not the

    only schism . Tin ; independent Liberals who , last week , cohered for a moment , are galloping abroad like the sis horses which fore Diunicn to nieces , and , between them , they are likely to inflict the

    same mutilation upon the cause they are supposed to represent . The metropolitan members moved in one direction , the midland in another , and the representatives of scattered boroughs were each like the pig in the fable—running to and fro so fast that he could not be couated . If the truth must be said , the explanation of this anarchy is a reproach upon the Legislature . ' In point of fact , that political body has few or ao opinions of any kind on Indiaii subjects . With perhaps five or six exceptions—including the heads of parties on both sides , and Mr . Bright—ao one appears to have a clear idea of the scope or influence of

    Lord Canning ' s Proclamation ,: of British policy generally in Oude , or of the course in future to be pursued . Reduced to its literal meaning , the doubt has been whether it is not too soon to turnout Lord Derby ' s Government , whether the Whigs have been punished enough , whether , if a new ministry were formed , its leaders would repent them of the error of their ways , and turn from the exclusiveness of which Mr . Headlara had complained . Some Liberals have been convinced that the time lias not yet come for a change ; others , that three mouths in opposition having reunited

    Lord Palmevston . " and "Lord John Russell , the iron is hot and should be struck ; but who have asked themselves whether , apart from these questions ., the treatment of Lord Canning has been just in a private , or politic in a public sense ? Yet this "was the only point at issue . We have avast Indian empire to maintain , and the problem submitted by Mr . Cardwell was one to be solved by opinion , ana not by passion . Passion , however , is at the head of the forces , and the victory—had any victory been gained—would have been one of selfishness , which enlisted in its favour all the honest sinerity on either side .

    The immorality of faction appears to have rooted itself in the new House of Commons , and _ much of the evil may be imputed to the spirit with which the candidates went to tke hustings at the last general election . The issue then raised in tlie country was personal , ' as is the issue now raised in Parliament ; and for much of that personality , vitiating every motive of the Legislature , Lord Palmerston and his friends are responsible . They

    did their worst when they appealed to the country , and the late political storm in Westminster was of their own creation . Inconvenient as another general election would at this moment have been , it might have had its good results if an effort could have been made with zeal and integrity , by those who influence public opinion , to secure the return of as many candidates as possible upon purely political grounds , irrespective of all personal pretensions or party views whatever .

    A Duel "Under The Empire. Eveuy One Has ...

    A DUEL "UNDER THE EMPIRE . Eveuy one has not iced , more or less , the graduallyincreasing importance assumed by the French aimy since the Coup d'Etat ; but no one has been surprised . Indeed , it is rather worthy of remark that the Praetorians have been so cautious and so slow in their advances . The present regime was established in pursuance of a compact with them . Various prices were paid , from half a million francs down to a bottle of champagne and a sandwich ; but , of course , officers and men had " expectations ;" and , to their credit be it said , they have not urged their claims unreasonably .

    However , we have now come to a period when the military clement threatens to assume insolent proportions . Already there is a General , Minister of the Interior ; there arc military ambassadors and military prefects ; avc hate had military addresses nearly leading to a collision between France and England ; and people still talk vaguely of the possibility of a declaration of war taking plnce by

    military acclamation . All this has had a very natural result . The soldiery have become more insolent and reckless ; and civilians have begun to look upon them with increased dislike and jealousy . The anccdoto of M . dc Talleyrand has been otfen recalled with pleasure . ' " We call pc' / t -i / i whoever is not military , " said an odi ^ cr to him . " Aud we call military whoever is not . civil , " was the reply .

    Several recent incidents have laid bare the profound demoralization of flu ; army . The ; murders of Captain Doineau , considered to be so much in accordance with the spirit of the army thai , : i free pardon was elided iroin the li ' mperor ; tho cowardly assassination of a comrade by M . do Mercy , also" condemned to death , aud now expecting- Ins grace . The other day , ; ui ofliuer happening to loam

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 22, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22051858/page/15/