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    830 3?HB ItBABBS. [N<*»88%Aajmss* 29 > 1...

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    THE SESSION. "Wh have had two parliament...

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    cations for military employment. Such ha...

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    Our Close Peerage. There Is To Be A Crea...

    the claimants of unweraal suffrage , the work ing classes do support ; any man . who demand * the removal © t iatoleran . ce » ----the working classes m this respect acting upon a spirit more chivalrous and' gentlemanly' than some who professedly stand above them . One great journal , which seemed to have been engaged for the purpose of influencing ! Lord John RusselIi upon the point , urged him to go up into the House of Lords on the mission of

    persuading the peers next session to pass the Oaths Bill or the Beform Bill ; no easy task for the distinguished commoner . But the very demand upon him thus to perform a parody on the sacrifice of Cttrtitts shows how remote the peers have become from the action of English politics . Ifc is necessary , as it were , to have an ambassador from the House of Commons in order to bring them to a sense of the concession required by the public opinion , the feeling , and the progress o £ k thia country . And the notion that new blood in the shape of a single man should thus correct the vis inerties of the House of Lords , was in itself quite visionary .

    On the whole , it is a subject on which the country can take no interest . Plain men are daily losing their sympathy with these honours ; which are indeed too remote to be easily understood by the vulgar . A large class is growing up which cannot perceive the great advantage that a Marquis will derive from henceforward being called ' I > uke . ' It is generally thought that IiANSDOWiTE will be pretty much the same , whatever the prefix may be ; while it is distinctly perceived that if Lord Johw Uttsselii be made a Peer it

    would be actually a promotion downwards . The separation between the Peerage and the Commonalty is widening so far , that the two classes are becoming incapable of understanding each other ' s feelings . The distinction is maintained by the practice of intermarriages , and that of recruiting the * upper * class chiefly from its own cadets , as the royal class is recruited and is kept apart from the country . At present , Lords and the connexions of Lords have a monopoly of political power and . of political influence , the substitutes for their fo rmer territorial power . With a public opinion formed in their own class , with habits

    oi thought and association limited to the same class , they care comparatively little for the sentiments or judgment of other classes ; so long as the Commonalty can be induced to pass convenient votes through the House of Commons , As the royal class stands chiefly connected with its own class throughout Europe , and is only to a slight extent national , so the noble class is become decidedly separated from England . The creation of 'peerages is a wonderment which used to excite some admiration amongst the vulgar ; it now , in these humbler strata , exoitea less admiration than amusement .

    830 3?Hb Itbabbs. [N<*»88%Aajmss* 29 > 1...

    830 3 ? HB ItBABBS . [ N <*» 88 % Aajmss * 29 > 1857 . ^ ¦ ——> - ^ . ^ I ^^ M ^^^^—^^^^^^^^ B ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ - — ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ r ^ m _ _ _ _ ^^^^^^^ M ^^^^^^ M ^ fc ^^^^^ M ^ B ^^^^^^^ M ^^ MB ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ fc

    The Session. "Wh Have Had Two Parliament...

    THE SESSION . "Wh have had two parliamentary sessions this year , and it is possible we may have a third . China was the battle-ground in the first , Divorce in the second ; if there be another , India will be the field of discussion . There have been debates on the Bengal mutiny , on Persia , on the "West Indies , on our Italian diplomacy , the ballot , church rates , the county

    franchise , parliamentary oaths , Maynooth , education , crime ,, Ministers' money , the sale of poisons and beer , and the National Gallery . The House of Commons , on questions of economy , has been chiefly moved by its youngest members . Setting aside the sham opposition of Mr . Bobjbuck :, the job of the Pjrinokss Royal ' s dowry was almost exclusively resisted by gentlemen in their first session . Much the same remark applies to the administration pf the National Gallery . We have

    thua an iliuafcration of the practical value of ttsw fclodd in Parliament . £ a * ge ; political , questions have been poorly dealt with , The , ballot debate was a disgrace to a popular legislative assembly . Whether from apath y * incapacity , or cowardice , the Liberals were all but dumb , and Mr . BasKBiiiiY was ridden down ; by a silent majority . Mr . Locke Kikg ' s ; annual motion was naturally lost , owing to the reluctance of the House to entertain the subject of the franchise while a Government Seooneb

    pledge is looming in the future . Mr . , with his anti-Maynooth fanaticism , was left in a minority which , if he were a man of intelligence , would dissuade him from future appeals to sectional bigotry . We will not say he has no desire to carry out hk opinions , since , without Maynooth , Mr . Spooiteb would be no more ^ success sinking him into obscurity . That is a very vulgar and deceptive notion , which we leave to those who doubt Mr . Berkeley ' s sincerity on the subject of the ballot . The educational debates have

    been , as usual , nearly without result . There has not been one brilliant debate during the past session . Not a spark of ITox or Bubke revived when the mighty crisis in Asia was under the consideration of Parliament . There was no one to say to a hushed House , ' It is good for us to be here ; clouds and darkness rest upon the future . ' Mr . Disbaeli lectured ; Mr . Vekstow Smith explained ; the Chancem-ok op the Exchequer stated ; Lord PAX . MEBSXOST talked ; the little oracles of the Tory Opposition rolled out their verbal rotundities ; but there was no gleam of genius , no sign that we have one great commoner . Indeed ,

    imperial questions seem too vast for the contemplation of Parliament , which prefers small vestry gossip and quiet colloquies to rousing eloquence and the war of parties . Finally , Lord PaIiMERSTobt , having managed the session , discovers that his House being in working order , is not so docile as in the early days of June . Therefore he dismisses it in a speech singularly patronizing . He praises its general good conduct , and distinctly announces himself its master . Perhaps , next session , when the Reformers reappear , there will be more Parliamentary independence in Parliament .

    Cations For Military Employment. Such Ha...

    cations for military employment . Such has been the rule ia Madras and Bombay , and its antrptluctio'Ji into Bengal impend no grievance on the soldiery , since the older Sepoys , having experience and seniority in their favour , would necessarily engross most

    BENGAL AND THE SEPOY . We have said that the Bengal mutiny is traceable to no single cause . India has been inefficiently governed , and her military system in Bengal having been more defective even than her civil administration , has been shattered by an outburst of fanaticism . There is no reason to believe that the revolt originated in any political movement , although secret political agitators have subsequently taken advantage of it in the interest of their employers * The Sepoy was probably offended by certain acts of the Government ; but it is sheer extravagance to say that he was goaded into rebellion . The English had not broken faith with him ; it had been distinctly explained that the reforms lately introduced were not to affect existing interests . The reforms themselves , in point of fact , were just and reasonable . Enlistment was to be henceforth for general instead of local service —a principle which had been safely and with good results introduced into the Madras and Bombay presidencies . Such a prospective arrangement was no real grievance to the Bengalese , since it did not affect those already enlisted , while , as to future recruits , there is no conscription , and no man was compelled to enlist it' he disliked the conditions of the service . Another source of complaint has been the order to accept men of all castes—in fact , to abolish-religious

    disqualifiof the promotion for several years . Other petty innovations were established , in order to assimilate / the systems of the three presidencies j but in no sense was the Bengal Sepoy deteriorated . Last of all came the greased cartridge business , which , taken alone , might have excited a murmur , but would never have stimulated an insurrection .

    But the Bengal Sepoy is a peculiar being ; he considers himself the member of a military aristocracy ; his son will be a Sepoy , or , if below the standard , a peon , or policeman . He has usually some little patrimony , or can spare some contributions from , his pay on which his sons may live until they can enlist . The privileges of the army have thus come to be regarded as matters of hereditary right , so that proposals of reform are construed by the Sepoy as attacks upon his class j when inferior castes are enlisted the

    highbred soldier complains that the bread has been taken out of the mouths of his posterity . Moreover , the Asiatic in general , and the Bengal Sepoy in particular , is the very incarnation of the Conservative principle ; he hates change for its own sake , whether it be for better or worse . He found reforms upon reforms coming thick and fast upon the army , and he fancied he could detect a scheme

    to Europeanize and Christianize Mitt . Newspapers and gentlemen at mess-tables had long been discussing the ' decline of caste' in India , and anticipating its total abolition ; and such , gossip being set afloat , found its way , exaggerated and deformed , into the native press , which , beyond measure incendiary , made the most of these ' opinions of our ! Feringhee masters . '

    Here , in a few words , we have , as we believe , one mainspring of the Bengal mutiny . It is a protest against European innovations . The Indian Government imagined that it had mastered the character of the Bengal Sepoy —a character more perverse , obstinate , and irrational than that of every other human being , except , perhaps , the Chinese Tartar . It was well known , of course , that nothing would be more perilous than an interference with caste , and care was taken not to infringe this sacred social law ; but ib was not foreseen that every species of innovation would be

    interpreted as an attempt to meddle ana deceive . The multiplication of European officers , under the existing system , would have availed but litfcle to break up the mutinous plots of the Bengal Sepoys , because the European , officer , in a native regim ent , is simply the leader in action and the paymaster and judge in quarters ; he never interferes with what may strictly be called the internal discipline of his men ; he cannot go among them , or form with them any intimate acquaintance . Caste is the gulf between the Englishman and the Bengal Sepoy . An entire omcoi

    army conspires , and not one British knows , or can know , anything of the conspiracy . Had there been fifty with every regiment they could have known no more . The men who did know were the native otticers , and they kept the secret . But tliere were ample reasons—the tone of the natl |® press being one—why the Government should have been on its guard . The European officer , in the regular native regiments , Beldom sustains his dignity . J- » Sepoys see him at goose-step ; they Beoftun e-oini ? to school to a munshi ; they see all are

    boyiah follies when he firat enters the service . Now , in Irregular corps , the natives have omy three or four European officers , who , it »< " <

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 29, 1857, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29081857/page/14/