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    French journals , supposed to serve official purposes , than by those in Russian interest , that i , peaceful accommodation is still possible . But it ia not easy to understand how that should be so . We do not attach much credit to the oscillations in the hopes and tone of the moneymarkets of the various capitals of Europe , since those sensitive , artificial creatures , the funds , fluctuate at the slightest change oi the political atmosphere ; nevertheless , they prove that the apprehension of war prevails very

    extensively ; therefore , it does not many quarter receive positive or authentic contradiction , une circumstance which has reached us , also implies that in quarters which ought to be well informed , hostilities with Eussia are expected ; very extensive purchases have been made in hides and tallow for English consumption . Possibly a Bothschild or Baring may consider tallow or iides a better investment under existing circumstances , than a Russian loan , and we should

    quite agree with them . Some doubts have arisen upon the probable course which Austria may take . We have already touched upon that point , and we find no reason as yet to change our opinion . A rumour that Russia had accepted the mediation of Austria , is evidently one of the fabrications of the electric telegraph , contradicted by subsequent reports , and then revived . The probable statement is , that Russia absolutely refuses all mediation . A responsible Vienna journal attempts to explain the " reason why . " The Moscow party has succeeded in separating

    Nicholas from his faithful and discreet minister , j Nesselrode , has promoted a great conspiracy of the South ScJavonians , intends to erect a separate empire with " Czarigrad , " once Byzantium , and more recently Constantinople , for its metropolis . This party has been able , says the Vienna Wanderer , to divert the Emperor so far from his usual course , as to carry on the communications with Prince Menzschikoff by his own

    hand . It is evident that some faith is put in this explanation by well-informed persons in London . To confess the truth , however , false reports are circulated with so much assiduity , and with so able a display of evidence to corroborate them , that we are quite unable to distinguish , them from the true . And we have reason to doubt the explananation of the Wanderer . It is an attempt to assimilate Russian parties to Western ideas , ¦ which will not hold . There is not that

    distinction between the Moscow and the St . Petersburg parties that we should understand if we considered them parties of Reaction and Progress . If we considered that the Emperor had just two sets of servants , one set in place and one set out , and that occasionally he turned the former out and the latter in , for a change , we should be nearer the truth . The one fact that appears to us probable , is , that the Emperor means to go on ; so that hides and tallow will realize a handsome profit to the present purchaser , and genuine freetraders will have an opportunity of displaying their inexorable adherence to principles , by subscribing to the next Russian loan .

    But , if Russia goes on , will war be limited to Turkey and her frontiers , or to the eastern side of Europe P That depends upon the amount of work which may be given to the Emperor , on the eastern side of Europe , and plenty of material could be found to busy his energies withal .

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    CONFESSIONS OF PARLIAMENT ABOUT INDIA . Madame dk Gknlis describes , in her Talcs of the Chateau , a place called " The Palace of Truth , " in which everybody was constrained to speak exactly as he thought , with a candour more conducive to the knowledge of facts than to the credit of the speaker . SomotimcH the spirit , of that involuntary candour seizes upon men even on the most important and publio occasions , and both Houses of Parliament appear to have been

    in some degree under such an influence on M . onday night ; as when , for example , Sir John Pakington confessed a fact , of which , bb lie justly said , the country was not aware—that the burden which the Government was about to impose was not the rich man ' s question so much as the poor iiiun's question . lie wns speaking of the Succession Tax , and tho meaning of his words Beorns obvious . Purliamont is about to cull upon owners of landed property to pay bo much towards the expenses or tho State , when they succeed to " that property , " but evidently , from Sir

    John Pakington ' s declaration—and of course he knows the feelings and motives of his own order —those heirs to landed property intend , when the tax is imposed , to try if they cannot transfer it to the shoulders of their farmers and labourers , upon whom they mean to throw the burden , if they can . That is the interpretation of which Sir John ' s words are capable . In anv country where patriotic motives prevail it ' is generally understood that each man

    shall contribute to the State , in some degree , according to his means ; but the privileged classes have systematically endeavoured to avoid that burden at the expense of the poorer classes ; and now Sir John Pakington announces this new purpose of wholesale evasion . The aristocracy which had the longest duration in the history ol the world , was that of Venice , which was characterized , during a large portion of its career , by a public spirit that made it sacrifice its means and its individual interests to the State .

    There is no more striking incident in history than that where the Venetian people made voluntary contributions towards the defence of their city against the Genoese , in the war of Chiozza ; and in that sacrifice the nobles took a leading part . Our own nobles , if they had been there , would have put forward the fishermen and porters of Venice to make the sacrifices in their lieu ! The past history of the world inclines us to believe , that the welfare of every State depends ,

    in a great degree , upon the amount of aristocratic feeling in its leading men ; giving to that word its justesi interpretation . It has happened in most states that the nobility , the gentry , by whatever name they may be called , have been actuated above all things by a spirit of self-sacrifice towards the principles of their order , and the welfare of their State . Whether they are called gentlemen or not , whether their incorporation is formed by some principle of election or is an hereditary appointment , the existence of an order

    animated by that spirit appears to be essential to the effective movement of popular influences . From the aristocracy of Venice or the Orders of Knighthood , to the " Order of the Lone Star , " in some form or other that spirit ought to be embodied . Lord Ellenborough , than whom no man is better informed on the subject of Indian affairs ; declares that the welfare and safety of our Indian Empire depends upon such a spirit . It is not , he says , " men crammed with knowledge that are wanted , "— " a horse-dealer would not feed his cattle in that manner . " It is not

    your " over-educated men" who are most necessary . " I have usually observed that , in public life , the men who are the most useless , and in society the men who are the most intolerable bores , were over-educated men—they are generally useful for nothing . " "It is not to qualities similar to these which you propose to impart , that the people of India look—they look to character . " And from tho context of his speech ,

    it would be implied that ho anticipates " character" for birth . Ho objects to the principle of competition as the introduction , especially to the army . There have been disgraceful actions in tho Indian army , he says , there have been courts-martial ; yet " tho general character of tho officers of the Indian army is free from any imputation ; they are gentlemen in every sense that can bo attached to the word . " This is an

    important declaration ; but in the application of it we are inevitably driven to two conclusions . If we receive Lord Ellenborough's word " gentleman" in its ordinary sense , we must suppose the officers of the Indian uriny to hv , persona of high , birth , of chivalrous bearing , of unquestionably honourable conduct in every relation of life ; and then we are driven to ask , how it happens that commissions sometimes find their way into the hands of persona of low birth , of low moral conduct , disgraceful for their drunkenness , their

    debauchery , their laziness , their ignorance , their vulgarity , their dishonourable conduct , and , to complete tho bill of indictment , their vile personal appearance ; for , to say tho truth , whether wo look at the Queen ' s service or tho Company ' s service , it happens unfortunutely that gciitlomoii bearing hor Majesty ' s or the Company ' s commission too often fall under tho description ju « t given . Splendid exceptions there always are , of course ; even our denoription applies to exceptions ; but how is it that they occur at all V Is it that practically the patronage , the want of competition , lets in persons bo ill complying with

    Lord Ellenborough ' s requisition ? or is it that those who are responsible for the Government of affairs in India often substitute the spurious and base article for that which is genuineP It is not for us to answer these questions . We only aBfc them , because it does appear to us that 6 tunted stature , vulgar , bloated features , bad grammar , inebriated stuttering , dense ignorance , idle proftitracv , reckless debt , low company , and

    stupidity , are not to be regarded as attributes ol tne English gentleman . Unless , indeed , we are mistaken in this particular , and we must accept all Indian officers , however they may look , speak , and act , as veritable English gentlemen ; and , if so , we have only to say that the English aristocracy is doomed , — -that a race amongst whom there are men claiming the description which we have given above , is written down in the books of fate .

    Lord Ellenborough , however , with the candour of the Monday night , declares to us that it is upon maintaining a class of public servants , superior either to horse-dealers or to over-educated men , that the character and feeling of the services , the high moral tone , and therefore the security of the Indian Empire depend . It probably is so ; but then we would ask , if the sethe hih

    curity of our empire depended upon g moral tone , how is it promoted by giving commissions to gentlemen , of whom , if you ask General Sir Charles Napier about their business obligations , he will tell you that they are ruinously and universally in debt ; or , if you ask any one acquainted with the habits of life prevalent amongst the many , he will enlighten you with allusions , as a matter of course , to " the soldiers *

    wives ! # There is , however , one being who sits up aloft to watch o ' er the life of poor India , and who is altogether a superior to the peccadillos ; he is a person upon whom everything depends ; "in every war he manages the minutest details in every department , " including " the commissariat . " Now the commissariat implies the providence of biscuit , of rum , meat , vegetables occasionally , fruit , refreshments of every kind , and some subsidiary conveniences ; and all these ,

    from a cockchafer to a rotten cork , are under the surveillance of that one individual . He does the same , we are told b y Lord Ellenborough , for " every possible branch of the Government . " This person , thus wise , thus all present , has no aid . Unlike any English minister—Lord Aberdeen , for instance , who is surrounded by persons almost his equals— " he is alone ; " " he cannot , by possibility , know one man in the country , when he lands ; " nay , his very ministers may oppose him , —their views and policy may have been altogether different from his own . This person is the Governor-General . We have literally and exactly copied Lord Ellenborough ' a account of

    that functionary , introduced with a solemn disclaimer of " trifling with their lordships . " There is , therefore , by a special law , ono person upon whom everything depends , all-present , allknowing , without assistance , superior to perversion , upon whom the whole character of the Government of India must entirely rely . Of course , isolated , unassisted , alien to the country , ho must know all that he has to do by inspiration . Supposing all this possible , aud wo have no disposition to contradict it , we then come to the most extraordinary statement of tho whole series of confessions .

    " In this country , " says Lord Ellenborough , " if my noble friend who is at tho head of tho Government does thnt which is for tho advantage of the people , tho people hero acknowledge it . The press supports that which is u benefit to tho people ; mid ho is at tho head of a strong government . But in India the public in not tho people . What we hero call the Indian public

    is coin ] K > Hcd altogether of English ottieiuls , whose interests may he , mid often are , I regret to say , considered altogether at variance with the intcreatH of the peoplo , while tho press represents men and not tho people . It niuyso happen that the unanimous combination of what in called tho Engliah public ! ami of the press against tho Uovcrnor-Ueneral may be tho surest indication tlmt ho i » doin g his duty by tho peoplo . "

    I huB those gentlemen , those persons selected to form tho government , nro nil but so many false media , misgoverning , misrepresenting , opposing tho real people . Take away the Governor-General , and India remains un immense people , with its Government opposed , in every conceivable way , to its rights , its interests , its voice , its justice . Let us , for one instant , bup-

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    THE LEADER . [ Satp&daY , « OO ¦ . : — =

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 18, 1853, page 588, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1991/page/12/